100 Rays Of Son -79

Fight For Seat

This is not a political post. Honestly there can never be a political post in 100RaysOfSon because that would be something Rayyan would object to. The fight for the seat here is among Rayyan’s cousins to sit beside him when we are together. You will not believe me that sometimes I have to interfere to pacify my sister in this matter who really fights it out like politicians, because if her children do not get the seat beside Rayyan on their turn, she feels hurt as well. Sigh! We never get to choose our family.

Rayyan with his interest in computer games, adventure sports, trekking, swimming and other activities besides his pleasant and peaceful nature is an object of attraction to children, especially to his cousins. They have been attracted to him like moth to light. Without them realizing it, they imitate him to dot. Moreover, he can always end a dispute among them with his word or verdict, but he seldom does that.

There are four cousins and just one Rayyan. When we are out for a dinner, travelling, on a tour or picnic, all of them want the seat beside Rayyan. Sometimes, I have been tempted to auction the seat beside Rayyan to the highest bidder. If I can plan enough outings, I can quit my job and stay at home conveniently making enough money out of this. In fact, I can cut a fair share for Rayyan as well.

When we were in Byndoor, my family had shifted there for few years. My mom, father, brother, sis-in-law and her children lived there. Due to my mom’s cancer, we had to live together. His cousin Manal was a foodie and we had tough time getting our share of food from her even though she was tiny toddler. As for Rayyan, she would take care to keep away his share safely. In fact, even to this day I have trouble believing she did not eat it ever. We would never find it, no matter how much we searched, but as soon as Rayyan came from school, she would hand it over to him.

As for his another cousin Huzaif, he has tough time accepting anything we tell him. I had once defeated him in NFS Most Wanted game, and he would not accept defeat even with repeated attempts of me winning the game. But when he lost to Rayyan, he was all praise for his gaming abilities. He was proud that Rayyan won the game. Huh? This is how he is when he is with Rayyan. I haven’t seen him arguing or fighting over anything with Rayyan, though rest of us may have tough time convincing him about anything under the sun.

Shuraim, my brother’s son has in a way suffered due to Rayyan, though Rayyan actually did not actively participate in his suffering. He has completely different temperament and character but most of the time he is compared to Rayyan and given his example to behave. I am surprised that he hasn’t developed hatred towards the guy who makes his life miserable. He loves Rayyan like any of his cousins. One of the proud moment for me was when his mom was rebuking him, “Look at Rayyan. He obediently completes all the tasks his mother gives him unlike you, who is always arguing and refusing to do anything”.  Before I could open my mouth and tell how wrong it is to compare children, he replied, “Look at his Mom, she thanked him for giving her a glass of water. She appreciates him so much. Do I get that?” The matter ended there.

My sister’s youngest son is considered naughty and very smart. You can guess the result of this deadly combination. In fact, once I saw him hiding behind a door with the remote control and changing channels when something very interesting was going on in TV. He was just 3 or 4 that time. People engrossed in the TV were cursing the cable guy when he stood there silently playing with them. Rayyan is the only person we can trust to take care him. I mean, when he is not in front of us we wonder what he is up to, but only if he is with Rayyan and there is silence we can relax. If not, when he is silent, he is up to some prank and it gives us jitters to go see what he was doing.

I love my nephews and my niece quite a lot and in turn they love me as well, but I see that they have bonded much better with Rayyan. The incidents above are just few of them which shows they have overcome their normal behaviours and turned into angels when they are around Rayyan.

The stories I narrated above was something that happened in their childhood. They all loved and cared for Farheena as well, especially Huzaif who would show lot of concern for her wellbeing while he would torment his younger brother. Manal has been taking care of her at times as well. Both the younger cousins have never hurt her, but it was during travels, picnics and outings when they would fight for Rayyan. Now that they are growing up, they are being more sensitive to pay some attention to Farheena as well and make her feel important. Initially in their fight for the right over Rayyan, they were forgetting that someone is else is becoming grumpy and angry. Sometimes, I would get so frustrated with their fights that I would say, “No one gets Rayyan today. He will come and sit right beside me”. Even now, they do have a special place for Rayyan in their hearts, but they try to give Farheena more importance because they are sensible children.

I am good with children and have won their love, but I have to concede defeat to Rayyan when it comes to handling them. I remember one incident when I was working for Rashmi. We both had something important to catch up with and were in an emergency meeting. Rayyan had accompanied me and her daughter had accompanied her. The child was terribly bored as we discussed our presentations and we finally asked Rayyan to take care of her. We got engrossed in our work after that. When finally we finished, we realized it has nearly two hours since we forgot our children. What are they up to we wondered as we went in to find them both using the white board for creating stories with drawing. They had come up with very good drawing as well. Since then, whenever I speak to the child, the first question she would ask me was, “How is Rayyan anna (big brother)?”

I have never seen Rayyan showering children with love, hugs or kisses. In fact I don’t even recollect him doing it to any child other than Farheena when she was a baby. I don’t see him giving them chocolates, goodies or gifts as well. Yet he is loved by them. More than love there is kind of trust for him in children who meet him. They feel safe with him. If there is an empty seat beside him, every child will want to be there. This is something I feel good about because I love people who are good to children and love them. I am grateful to his cousins who have given him the love of his siblings.