"What is it Maa Baba?" Rudhi asked, sitting on Anirudh's lap while her Maa was combing her hair.

Everyone in the house had seemed so happy this evening. But Rudhi had no idea why. Yesterday Maa had been so sick. But she seemed so happy today! Why was Dida filling Rudhi's mouth with sweets when she came back after playing?

Rudhi couldn't think of anything special she had done... so why was everyone congratulating her Maa Baba?

"Mishti," Anirudh smiled, kissing Rudhi's cheek lovingly.
"If Baba asks you something, will you be honest?" He asked with a happy smile.

"Ofcourse Baba! Do I ever lie to you like a bad girl?" She frowned and smiled at him. Bondita had finished tying Rudhi's hair in two little pigtails by now.

Anirudh smiled at Bondita as she sat beside him and then looked at Rudhi again.

"How would it be if you get a new little brother or a sister?" He asked with a smile which held both happiness and nervousness.

What if Mishti said No?

"I have Vansh already Baba!" Rudhi said mindlessly and then she thought about it.

"Yeah, but another? Who would be really small?" Bondita asked with an expectant smile.

"Really small?" Rudhi asked in fascination.
"A baby?" She held her hands a few inches apart to indicate how small a baby was.

"Yes, a baby! A baby sister or maybe a baby brother? Who'd be just yours." Anirudh wrapped his arms around her even tighter.

"Oh yes I want one!! My classmate Vrinda just got a little baby sister. And she is so cute!" Rudhi jumped off Anirudh's lap in excitement.
"I also want a baby! Where can we get it?" She asked with gleaming eyes.

"You'll get a little baby sibling soon, Puchki!" Bondita laughed and hugged her tightly.

"When? Let's go buy one today!" She asked and then pouted anxiously.

"You don't buy a baby from the market, Mishti!" He laughed.
"It'll take nine months for it to come to you." He told, ready for her million questions.

"So where is my Baby?" She demanded with hands rested on her hips and frowned at her parents.

"It's here." Anirudh kept a gentle hand on Bondita's belly.
"In Maa's belly." He smiled at Rudhi's confusion.

Rudhi looked horrified. She looked at Bondita's belly with huge, shock struck eyes. Then she looked up at her smiling mother with another horrified look.

"In Maa's belly?" She looked at Anirudh and confirmed.

"Yes Puchki, it's here for now." Bondita smiled at her and pointed to her belly.

"Maa you ATE THE BABYY?" Rudhi almost yelled in fear and made both her parents laugh.

"Mishti!" Anirudh laughed and pulled her into an embrace.
"You're so cute." He grinned and kissed the tip of her nose.

"I did not EAT the baby, Puchki. It's just here for now. It will live here and frow in my belly for nine months. Then it will be out of me and you'll be able to hold him or her!" Bondita tried to explain.

"But how did it get IN THERE??" Rudhi was too co fused and still a bit horrified.

What if Maa ate her too?

"Bondita." Anirudh whispered in Bondita's ears.
"I have already planned the whole thing. Just see how well I explain this to her!" He winked and wrapped an arm around her as well.

"Mishti. Listen to me carefully now. This is serious." Anirudh said and Rudhi instantly sat up straight on his lap.

"I'm listening Baba." She looked up.

"You remember, in Siliguri you'd planted a seedling into the soil?" Anirudh asked.

"Bhola Kaka must me taking care of it." Rudhi remembered.

"Yes. That's the same with a baby, Mishti." He explained.

"Oh I got it! A seedling grew up into a tree of babies. And Maa plucked one baby and ate it. Now I will get it in nine months?" Rudhi laughed at her story with fascination.

"Will you listen to me first, Madame?" Anirudh glared at her and she bit her tongue.

"Sorry Baba, I'm listening."

"Good. So now let's suppose, your Maa is the soil. She is the earth who has all the love in her heart. Your Maa and I decided to have another little baby, because we wanted a sibling for you." He was saying and Rudhi listening patiently.

"Then, Baba gave a seedling to Maa. Which.... she has kept safe in her belly. That seedling is what will grow up to become your baby sibling, Mishti." He said and Rudhi was already up with her list of questions.

"So where did you get that seedling? And how can a seed become a baby? And isn't it such a small place for the baby to live? Why didn't Maa keep the baby in my room, safely?" She rained her questions.

"Mishti." Anirudh sighed.

"Pati Babu, explain her nicely." Bondita teased with a giggle.

"You can do it better I suppose." He teased back.
"Go ahead."

"If you insist!" She raised her eyebrows and started.
"Puchki listen. Just like a seed meeds love, nourishment and food to grow up into a small sapling. A baby needs a lot more care and nourishment to frow up. They are really delicate, okay? Even the air can harm them. So god has made this amazing plan." Bondita explained.

"What plan?" Rudhi asked.

"The plan is to keep the baby safe in it's mother's womb."

"A womb?!" Rudhi asked.

"Yes a womb!" Bondita placed her hand a bit lower to her stomach.
"Here, the seed is protected by many layers and it doesn't get amy harm by the outside world. It eats what the mother eats. It will drink the eater when I drink the water. It will also listen what I listen!" Bondita told a fascinated Rudhi.

"You mean I can talk to my baby sister? Or baby brother?" Rudhi was already confused between this.

"Yes you can! But they won't talk back right now. They're too small to speak." Bondita chuckled.
"Also, you thought this place was too small for the baby? It will grow. My belly will grow bigger as the baby grows up and needs more space. You'll be ae to see that." She told.

"Wowww!" Rudhi was totally shook by this new fantasy.

"But what would I get? A baby brother or a baby sister?" She asked looking between both her parents.
"Baba what seed did you gave Maa? Don't you know what is it?" She asked impatiently.

"No Mishti. Only Dugga Maa knows that. That's gonna be a surprise for all of us. Even Maa won't know if it's a baby girl or a baby boy." Anirudh smiled at her.

"A surprise? Wow! I love surprises." Rudhi clapped her hands.
"And this is gonna be a surprise from Dugga Maa! That's so amazing!" She grinned a toothy smile.

"Ofcourse it is!" Bondita smiled too.

"I'll go tell Kaka Dadu!" Rudhi happily ran out of the room.

As Rudhi went away Anirudh held Bondita's hand with a smile.

"Thankyou" He said caressing her hand with love.

Bondita grinned and rested her heas on his shoulder. His arm wrapping around her instinctively.

"You always wanted this baby, didn't you?" She asked with a smile. Her hand rested on her stomach.

"Honestly, yes." Anirudh confessed.
"I was just too scared to let you know. I feared it might affect your decision making." He told.

........

That's all for this part.❤️
I hope you all liked this one!❤️

Note: I did not want Anirudh and Bondita to lie to Rudhi about this most common question among children. In our childhood, we've all wondered where did babies come from?
I've seen parents giving various illogical answers just to put an end to their child's questions. When the child grows up and gets to know the truth, they seem to laugh it off but that also inculcates a sense of suspicion in their minds. A suspicion about whether whatever was told to them in their childhood was a lie?

Here, I've tried to solve this problem by finding a better way to frame this answer for kids. Which won't be too much knowledge and at the same time won't be a lie as well.

Do let me how did you find this part.

Also let me know how did your parents tell you about the origin of babies when you were a kid? 😂

Love
Author!❤️

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