Neha and I got married in May last year. Around 15 days after our marriage, Neha's brother Vipin became father to a baby boy. Neha became a buoyant bua and I became a ready made fufaji. This cute bundle of joy was named Duggu. No, nobody was Hrithik Roshan's fan there, people around were just plain lazy. And also because my brother in law's pet-name is Guddu, so the family found Duggu, son of Guddu a convenient self intro.
(NOTE: Gossiping about the in-laws publicly may land you in trouble. Don't try this at Home.) Duggu is a very intelligent kid. In his first year growing up, he displayed the traits of a sharp observer. He hardly ever cried initially, a fact very peculiar to his age. And quite quickly, Duggu picked up the nasty habits of dragging his weight around sharp corners, exploring the inside and backside of the fridge, sliding under the kitchen slabs to overturn oil containers and slipping out of the main door to catch the passing by vehicles. Enough to drive his mom and grandma crazy.
Soon after his first birthday, Duggu began walking and uttering a few words- 'baba', 'mummum', 'maa' and the one I hate the most- 'bua'. I hate it because whenever like others, I too tried persuading him to say- 'fufaji' or 'fuji', Duggu would just stare blank at me. And to irritate me further sometimes, he would utter back defiantly- 'bua, bua, bua'. The family finds it hilarious watching Duggu and I converse face to face or on mobile speaker.
Recently, Duggu went to his maternal grandparents for about a month. One month away from home at such tender age is sufficient to make a kid nostalgic as it disrupted his routine. On return Duggu was overwhelmed seeing his dada-dadi, papa and 'buas'. He cried with wonder. He shrieked with joy. He hugged and clutched hard at family members.
In fact, when my wife Neha called at home, Duggu was so overjoyed hearing her voice, he snatched the phone away from grandma and went out in the large courtyard. There he started telling her things in gibberish like we adults do, while pacing from one end to the other- "gibberish gibberish Bua.. babababooodooduuukkk Bua.."
Neha was not able to understand a single thing, but she was laughing uncontrollably at the other end hearing him, as were others watching at home for full 10 minutes. The real funny thing about this incident is, Duggu roamed across the hall and chatted on phone this way, because Neha too has the exact same habit. Subconsciously, the kid was talking to his Bua mirroring the same manner he has seen her exhibiting many times over. Another similar incident occurred when his grandma caught him stealing his grandfather's eye drops. Thankfully the bottle was capped tightly, but Duggu believed as if he dropped the bottle's fluid successfully in his eyes. Because of this belief, when his grandma caught him alone in a room, she found him wincing his face and blinking his eyes. There was nothing though in the eyes, just mirroring how his grandfather does after taking the eye drops. Thankfully it was just another scary pranks of this one and half year old goofball.
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Duggu being a child hasn't complicated it as yet. He thinks not much before mimicking the mannerisms of adults around him. But we grown ups- orators, actors and storytellers, we often find it challenging expressing a character. Perhaps because we rather over complicate this stuff by trying to create a body language, mannerism and vocal delivery around our characters.
Whereas at the simplest level, it's all about observing, visualizing and feeling as the character himself/herself would feel. The body language, mannerisms and voice expressions will care of themselves automatically. When a child expresses, he expresses it the way he is feeling at the inside.
Storyteller's Tip:
"To visualize and feel inside as a character is of paramount importance. The external mannerisms and body language expression then become a child's play quite naturally."
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