"Thatha, Paati " shouted our ten year old grandson. We rushed downstairs in despair. My daughter had just gone out leaving him under our care. Here in USA, it is not like India where boys and girls go out freely to their friend's houses and we too don't worry much about them. in the USA the children are not left alone (till they are twelve or thirteen) without their parent being at home or a baby sitter is at home taking care in their parent's absence. The cause for my grandson's cry was because he had lost a tooth. We told himto go and bury the tooth making sure that the fallen tooth was not exposed to the sun. If it was exposed then they would get a vampire's tooth. (It was called singa pallu) as this was what we told our children to do. My grandson was taken aback. "No! thatha patti you don't know. I have to wrap it and put it under my pillow. Only then will the tooth fairy come at night. How else will the tooth fairy know about my tooth?" This I feel is a nicer way to make a child feel proud of losing a tooth,because the tooth fairy is none other than the parent who has to put atleast a dollar under the pillow. My daughter in law once put a ghagra choli as a gift for her daughter who happened to lose a tooth while vacationing in India. Do other countries have the same story or are there any more interesting stories regarding the fallen tooth? Lakshmi
Lakshmi maam, This post of yours gave me nostalgic memories of how I used to walk down the stairs (from the 2nd floor where our house was located) with a broken laddle and with my broken tooth and how I used to dig a hole with the laddle and bury the tooth and come back home with a sense of achievement. Sometimes, I have buried my broken too(ee)th in school too. And have felt very contented. Without asking for the reason I had done that. But it kept me busy and kept me waiting anxiously for the next tooth to fall:biglaugh. The story about the tooth fairy is quite interesting. I am hearing this for the first time. My DS is 2 years now. I will tell him the tooth fairy story when time comes:thumbsup. I am sure that will make it interesting for him. Thanks for the post.
Thanks for initiating an interesting thread. I have heard of tooth fairy stories from my friends in school. But in my case, my Grandmother had asked me toss the tooth over the roof of our house....i still wonder why, never asked her though. May be now i can ask her :thumbsup But yes am sure to tell the tooth fairy story your grandson way when i have a kid. I always enjoy fantasy and wish we could continue to fantasize as adults too. Childhood is the best phase of life- Its like "so much to do but so little time" Looking forward to read more fantasizing versions of this practice.
