Meet Sanu, my neighbor and ringleader of my notorious girlfriend gang of Choti Basti.
I often refer to Sanu as my Guru ji, in the way that all children are our teachers and in a way that is unique to Sanu.
This child has the local label of ‘pagal’, the literal translation of which is “mad’. The label doesn’t bother Sanu and neither does it bother the people who label her so. Pagal is just a broad general term used to describe anyone who doesn’t follow the prescribed social norms in India, it’s not definitive in any special way.
If she was a child in the west she would have some high faluting label, a team of specialists assigned to monitor her progress, professionals involved in her schooling, drugs probably and a whole lot of needless bureaucratic hurdles for her parents to jump through.
But most of all she would have a label, we could say Sanu is autistic or ADHD or some other trendy term that is used mostly I feel to make us feel better about the whole thing. But on ground level where the kid lives it’s life, labels don’t really matter at all.
And so it is with Sanu, she lives in a street where her extended family are dotted around, she is in and out of houses as often as any of the kids and she has a special place in my heart for giving me the name of Rosie Miss.
Where she got the name from I don’t know but she insists that is my name which delights me no end!
Unlike a lot of kids in the West, Sanu’s difference is what makes her special in the street. People understand that this childhood of hers is going to be the most precious time of her life and instinctively allow her the full reign of her personality.
She has a habit of asking everyone if she can come, which in Hindi is “Me Ao”. The street often rings to her “Me Ao?” asking people if she can come to their house.
Now of course the people in the street use the term as well, jokingly and with love “Me Ow” has become the catchword of the street.
Billi is the Hindi word for cat and Baba the term one uses to address a Guru, so I call her my Billi Baba and invite her to come as often as she asks!