I rarely step out of my house in the scorching afternoon heat of Singapore to take my children out to the outdoor play areas. But today morning had me having enough of fridge door banging by my son, ice cube playing by both the kids, refusal from both to play with each other and, as always, repeated requests for watching TV. I had had enough of mopping spilt water, mango juice, etc. That’s when we came to their favourite play area.
It didn’t matter that the play area was hot. No cleaner comes to clean the play area during weekends. So there are dried fallen leaves and twigs scattered all through and that was enough to instantly grab the attention of my kids. Both run all around the play area collecting twigs and leaves, crushing the crispy, dried leaves with their small hands and feeling the difference in texture between dried and fresh leaves.
After a while, the daughter gets comfortably settled at the end of the tunnel slide, while the son runs around picking up leaves and bringing it to her. They both are lost on a world of their own, playing together without fighting.
I walk for a while, then sit back on the wooden bench and gaze at the clear blue sky up above, a huge cotton-candy-like cloud on one side, the tall towering palm-like trees on the other side, the pinkish-red vrikshi flowers blooming on the trees nearby and the mynahs alternating between sitting and flying all around the play area. The music from a keyboard played by somebody in the nearby apartment fills the air.
It has been a couple of hours already! Their interest is slowly waning. There is a slight breeze blowing on and off. Light gray clouds slowly start coming together to cover the blue sky. Maybe the daily drizzle will start in a while or maybe not. But we are happy that we have had our daily share of the happy outdoor time. For now, the mind is happy that it can idle around for a while and refuses to think about all the never-ending ever-growing to-do lists.
