Bundle Of Joy

I was sitting in a bus, while traveling in Himachal Pradesh,a hilly region, when a man with a 6 month old baby climbed in. The bus was crowded, there were no empty seats. The man was struggling a little with the baby while the bus turned right and left frequently. I extended my arms towards the man, he gratefully handed the baby to me.

Now the baby was packaged well, head to toe completely covered. The baby was sitting on my right lap, so the baby's left flank was completely exposed to any onslaught. I lost no time in making a quick and sustained evaluation of the bundle. I found the package to be quite light weight, portable and very cute. (For more details see: https://picasaweb.google.com/114451897239202019349/BabyPhotosFromTrain_2011_Aug#5590236086899826690)

I wanted to smell the baby. So I poked my nose on the left side of the baby's cheek and head and rubbed my nose. The baby didn't tilt the head. He/She raised the left eyebrow, the pupils moved over to the top left corner of the eye and were looking at me sitting to the back and left. Almost as if telling me "I know you dunnit. I saw you". Well since the baby didn't say all this nor cry out aloud but communicated more through body language, I could continue my informal inspection.

Then I prepared for the sitzkrieg ("sitting war"). I sharpened the tip of my nose, rubbed the cheek of the baby gently and took a deep breath. Then I attacked. After I was done my nose was flattened and the baby's left cheek looked like a crater on the moon.

Then I put my forefinger near the baby's palm and sure enough the baby wrapped all its fingers around my finger. 

What surprised me was that there was not one little cry that emanated (from the baby I mean, not me). The baby was very comfortable looking everywhere and at me and at the man who presumably was the father.

All good things must come to an end. Soon a woman, who had been watching me and the baby amusedly, extended her arms and claimed the baby. Now the baby had no facial resemblance with that woman (the woman looked to be Nepali/Chinese while the baby looked Indian) but that didn't matter. The woman arrogated to herself the right to hold the baby and that was it. No questions.

Those minutes when I was holding the bundle were joyous.