Illustration 1
Ashwin: "Aditya....Do you want to go out to play?"
Aditya: "Yes I do."
Ashwin: "Good...Then you ask dad...go, go."
Aditya: "Why? You also want to go?"
Ashwin: "Yes!"
Aditya: "Why should I ask? You can't ask?"
Ashwin: "No"
Aditya: "Oooooh (clearly showing annoyance) ok I will."
Ashwin smiles and breaths a sigh of relief.
Illustration 2
Aditya persuades his elder brother to help him with the jigsaw puzzle.
Ashwin: "No I'm busy with my books."
Aditya: "Please....please"
Ashwin: "NO.....I SAID NO."
Aditya: "No you have to, pleeaaaaase." (pulls Ashwins arm)
Ashwin gets angry and pushes Aditya. He falls back and hurts himself, yells in pain.
Ashwin stops what he is doing and rushes to his brother. "Don't cry, please don't cry, don't make noise please please"
Aditya not giving up, and yells even louder.
Ashwin tries to close his mouth and tells him..."ok ok I'll help you. Don't cryyy..., hit me if that makes you happy."
Illustration 3
Guests arrive at home who are strangers to the kids.
Guest: Looking at Ashwin. "What is your name?"
Smiles and utters his name, barely audible.
Guest: Looks at Aditya.
Aditya: "My name is Aditya" :-)
Guest & Aditya are in conversation while Ashwin just looks on the proceedings.
I thought I'd start with these illustrations before I went on to boast about the ultimate power of 'the Gene'. It is not an excerpt from a bollywood movie but are just some of the real life conversations between my kids and their distinct characters.
We all know that the gene pass genetic traits to our offspring. There cannot be any better way to illustrate this than the examples I've given above. The character my elder son Ashwin exhibits, is just a carbon copy of mine, when I was his age. What is more interesting is that the gestures and the speech are spot on. Watching them grow up reminds me of my childhood and my relationship with my brother. History repeats itself, if I can call it that.
Flashback: Ashwin becomes Biju & Aditya becomes Prasad. If I can bring these timezones into one frame it would be difficult to differentiate them.
Its just amazing how genetics are so meticulously defined that there are no scope for any errors.
