Once upon a time, I prepared for the GRE which used to have a section for logical reasoning. Through all my preparations, I never came across a more perfect example than what I witnessed during my India visit.
My niece calls me 'Mayu'. It all started with my visit to the US in Dec 2008 when her brother was about to be born. She was 19 months old and just spoke a few words. We tried her to teach her 'mausi' but she got so confused that she would end up calling both of us 'Mama'. To differentiate, my sister taught her to call me 'Mai' (bhojpuri word for mother). 'Mai' gradually got distorted to 'Mayu'. And when her brother started talking, like all younger siblings he had to follow the rules set up by the older ones, and I became 'Mayu' for the whole household. (Other cousins are called Mausi as they entered into the scheme of things much later).
So, she now understands a bit about marriage and couples - she know 'Mama' is married to 'Papa' and 'Mayu' is married to 'Manas Mausa' and she is not my daughter but neice. However, she wants a sister and her mom has told her that she has to ask her 'Mayu' for a sister. She believes that my daughter will be her 'real' sister while others are 'cousins'. This time when we were in India, she talked incessantly about the forthcoming sister. She is a teacher at heart and keeps explaining things, so we learnt how the new sister would be MY daughter, not her mother's. Then we learnt a 'funny thing' ("come Maiyu I will tell you A very funny") - new sister will call Maiyu as Mama and Mama as Maiyu. It was indeed an interesting thing as she arrived at both conclusions "all by herself". I laughed my fake laugh (in fact I got a real laugh when I thought about 'A very funny'). Then I asked her what would the new sister call Manas Mausa? Prompt came the answer - "Papa". And then my question was what would new sister call her Papa? A perceptible hesitation while she mulled over the question and then came the answer "Manas Mausa"!
Smart girl 'logically reasoned' that since Mama and Maiyu got interchanged for the new sister, Papa and Manas Mausa should also have the same treatment.
Note - There is no new sister on the horizon so please dont draw any conclusion.
My niece calls me 'Mayu'. It all started with my visit to the US in Dec 2008 when her brother was about to be born. She was 19 months old and just spoke a few words. We tried her to teach her 'mausi' but she got so confused that she would end up calling both of us 'Mama'. To differentiate, my sister taught her to call me 'Mai' (bhojpuri word for mother). 'Mai' gradually got distorted to 'Mayu'. And when her brother started talking, like all younger siblings he had to follow the rules set up by the older ones, and I became 'Mayu' for the whole household. (Other cousins are called Mausi as they entered into the scheme of things much later).
So, she now understands a bit about marriage and couples - she know 'Mama' is married to 'Papa' and 'Mayu' is married to 'Manas Mausa' and she is not my daughter but neice. However, she wants a sister and her mom has told her that she has to ask her 'Mayu' for a sister. She believes that my daughter will be her 'real' sister while others are 'cousins'. This time when we were in India, she talked incessantly about the forthcoming sister. She is a teacher at heart and keeps explaining things, so we learnt how the new sister would be MY daughter, not her mother's. Then we learnt a 'funny thing' ("come Maiyu I will tell you A very funny") - new sister will call Maiyu as Mama and Mama as Maiyu. It was indeed an interesting thing as she arrived at both conclusions "all by herself". I laughed my fake laugh (in fact I got a real laugh when I thought about 'A very funny'). Then I asked her what would the new sister call Manas Mausa? Prompt came the answer - "Papa". And then my question was what would new sister call her Papa? A perceptible hesitation while she mulled over the question and then came the answer "Manas Mausa"!
Smart girl 'logically reasoned' that since Mama and Maiyu got interchanged for the new sister, Papa and Manas Mausa should also have the same treatment.
Note - There is no new sister on the horizon so please dont draw any conclusion.
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