Spies, underwear and other pertinent details (Blog marathon post 4)

"Mom, are you a spy?” was the question my seven year old (soon to be eight, as she insists) greeted me with when I picked her up from school today.

They have been learning about World War two and she impresses me with new facts most days. I did not know about Morrison shelters and Anderson shelters till she explained the whole thing to me with precise diagrams and sketches. After that of course I had to google it and I discovered she was absolutely right! (click on the coloured words if you want to know what they are)

She will even tell you about the Allied Forces and the role they played. She knows the years in which the war took place, how people used to take refuge in underground shelters and thanks to a good friend who sent me the whole 'Band of brothers' series, she has even seen some of the action, (The bits that were not too gory. I used my discretion) and is very interested and fascinated by the whole thing including how Hitler died and what life was like in 1940’s during War.

“Did you learn about spies today? What did you learn?” I asked her.

“Yes. I know all about spies. We saw a movie about it. Look ma,” she explained as if I was the seven year old, “Spies can look exactly like ordinary people. For example, you may look like Preeti Shenoy, you may dress like her and talk like her, you may even be her but you can also be a spy. So that is why I am asking you, are you a spy?”

“Hmmmm,” I said, “May be I am a spy.”

“Let me see,” she said thoughtfully. Then she tugged my hair gently and said it was my real hair and not a wig. So I reminded her that she had said that even if did not look it, I could still be a spy.

Then she said “You can never be a spy, ma”

“Why?” I asked, doing a quick mental comparsion of myself with Mata Hari.

“Because, spies don’t wash their babies underwear!” she exclaimed. (She refers to herself and her eleven year old brother as my babies, especially when she wants to get something out of me)

“And how do you know I wash your underwear?” I persisted.

“Simple.” she says “Otherwise it would stink.”

I smiled and of course did not lose a chance to hug her. Then I asked her “What do you think I do the whole day when you are at school, apart from washing your underwear?”

“You write books and do housework and cook and you think about us and papa and wait for us to come back.”

This one is going straight into my treasured mental memory storing chest where I file moments to remember.

It is lovely to learn new things. And it is not every day that you learn that real spies don’t wash their babies underwear! :-)

Ps: 1.To go to the game on Spies that my daughter played at her school today click here

2.On a completely different note (since more than three hundred visit me everyday) this same friend (who sent me the Band of Brothers series that I mention in this post ) is looking for a 3^rd flatmate for a fully furnished, really nice, 8th floor, 3 bedroom apartment in Gurgaon, which has full power back up and is ready to move in. So in case anyone knows anyone knows anyone (you get the drift) looking for a place to move into, please contact me (ps @ preetisatish.com) and I shall mail you his number.