In our childhood days, all of us had an imaginary character fabricated by our elders (mostly grandparents) to make us complete the "then" Herculean tasks of our lives like finishing food from the plate, drinking milk bottoms up, accomplishing homework everyday, etc.
These days the methods of parenting have changed and most of us are staying in nuclear units. Which means the interaction of our children with grandparents has been limited to video calls and occasions when either we travel to our hometown or they come over to our place.
This pandemic gave us the chance to spend quality time with our parents. For our children, it came like a blessing in disguise with the opportunity to live with their grandparents both paternal and maternal.
So, we were visiting my parents' place. One day my 4 year old son was having a candid conversation with his Nani (maternal grandmother) which I happened to overhear. It appeared to be a very serious discussion so I did not want to interrupt it. At the end of their chat my son acquired this new concept of "Black Pari".
Over the next few days, I kept hearing about Black Pari giving him blessings(power) and small gifts once in a while. My son being a fan of superhero movies is obsessed with the word "Power", which I feel is superficial but I will let him be for now. Also, his tantrums while drinking milk and finishing his food were curtailed as supposedly Black Pari got really angry and took away all powers of the child who did not complete his work on time.
I kind of got an idea but still out of curiosity asked my son one day "Beta, who is this Black Pari?"
He first questioned me with surprise but then gave me a detailed description of his new found belief - "Mumma, you don't know Black Pari? She lives behind Nani's house and keeps monitoring all the kids in this area. She punishes the kids who do not complete their tasks, fight with other children, do not sleep on time, tell lies and disobey elders"
I interrogated again "So are you afraid of Black Pari that she might punish you?"
He chuckled and answered back "No! she is Nani's friend and only punishes the children who are doing something bad or not completing their work. But she also gives power and gifts to good children"
I was quite amazed by the fact that even though this fictitious character had been created with the motive of making him follow rules, it did not scare him. On the contrary, he wanted to obey so that Black Pari gave him lots of power and gifts as well.
This hypothesis I found very insightful because usually the color "Black" is linked to something bad or dark. But connecting it with a power which gives blessings and gifts is making it equally charming as any other shade of hue.
I understand the technical glitches behind this concept of Black Pari if we observe from a critic point of view.
But it makes me really happy that my son is learning to follow rules in a very subtle manner which does not involve any kind of physical punishment. Also unknowingly he is developing this concept at the back of his mind that Black is not necessarily linked to something evil or of less significance.
It is so rightly said that grandparents are those Guardian angels who are just as vital as vitamins in a person's lives.
P.S. - Please share your comments and thoughts. Also mention the fictitious character in your child's life in the comments section.
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