It was earlier this month when I visited my five-year-old cousin Gulu. He is my favorite cousin and I love him a lot. Compared to other five-year-old kids, he is very matured and different. He speaks sentences fluently with a very sweet accent, His mind has the brightest of ideas and he will always come up with an answer, no matter what you ask him. If he understands your question, you always get a practical and valid answer. But if he does not get your question, you always get a whimsical answer.

His favorite song is “Gangnam Style” and he loves playing games on my laptop. So, whenever I visit him, I never forget to take my laptop for him. During this visit too, I took it to him and he started playing games as usual. But suddenly he remembered that he had accidentally deleted his favorite song from his mom’s phone, which was also void of games. He held my hand and handed me the phone and urged me to send him the song and also download some ‘monkey-panda-racing’ games for him.

I took the phone and did my ‘assigned tasks’. As I handed him the phone while he was busy playing games on my laptop, he paused the game. He took the phone and glimpsed through the new games and asked me to teach him where to locate his favorite song. He has just learnt the English alphabet; so I told taught him to search for “G” in the music player. He paid the best attention he could, so that he had no trouble locating the song later. Looking at his eyes at that moment almost made me laugh out loud. It was a splendid sight! And then, after he had finished his ‘verification work’ he asked me to lean down. He had something to say, it seemed. And has I leaned down, he wrapped his tiny hands around my neck and placed two short, soft kisses each, on both of my cheeks. Before I could realize why he did that, he said with a beautiful smile and twinkling eyes, “These are called the ‘ice-cream’ kisses. I give them to the ones I love very much. And you are the one I love the most. Thank you!”

My joys knew no bounds when I heard him say that. A five-year-old, thanking me for something which I do not even consider as a task but for him, which was something that filled his heart with utmost delight. I was surprised to see that he is so grateful. Even at such a tender age, he knew of gratitude, something which even most grown-ups lacked! I learnt a lot from him that day. I lifted him up, hugged him and kissed him back with two ‘ice-cream’ kisses on his lovely cheeks. It was a great feeling then and it will always remain a sweet lesson, bringing a smile to my face whenever I think of it.

© Barnadhya Rwitam Sharma