Bathing and braiding

Have you ever bathed a child before? Well, I’m sure most of you have. Shockingly, in my 38 years, it is something i have never done before.
I have never been a babysitter. I never did that as a job when i was a teenager. Maybe once, but the kid was already clean.
I am not a “kid” person. Never have been. Never gravitated towards them. Not the person who, when a baby comes in the room, runs to hold them. No, not me. I hang in the back and offer to make dinner. Haha.
Today I bathed my first child, and it was a revelation. What a primal experience, right up there with building a fire, swimming in the ocean or making love. It is something your ancestors have been doing for generations and nothing about it changes. Nothing.
At first when presented with the prospect of having to clean a child, i was daunted for sure. Why me? HAHAHA. Well, because no one else is home and she is too young to do it all herself and well... she’s dirty. Haha. Ya. So i can step up to the plate. Its just a little girl, how hard can it be.
She already knows the drill, she is 6 after all (or 8, i can’t remember. Not much emphasis is put on age around here. Nakul can’t remember if he is 27 or 28. Kind of echoes my own situation where for the first 30 years of my life my mom was constantly confirming with me: “were you born in ‘73 or ‘74?” Anyhow, i digress, as usual), so it was easy as pie. I just didn’t expect that strange sensation of... what to call it? Calm? Peace? I don’t know, it had a slightly different quality than that, I cannot name.
She gets out her clothes while i go next door with a bucket to get hot water that has already been boiled by Nakul’s cousin’s wife. It is almost exactly 10 steps from my kitchen door to their door, our houses are about 5 feet apart, separated by a low wall. (Power is out so the hot water geyser’s don’t work of course when that happens). Thank you Rupa for the hot water.
The water is scalding so she pours only a few precious cups into the bottom of my bucket. As I walk back over to our house and down the hall to the bathroom carrying this bucket I marvel at how little water is taken or used to have a bath around here. I believe most Indians can and DO bath in half a gallon pail full (excuse my non-metric measurements here) of water on a regular basis. Wow. Impressive. For me at least I have to pour one full bucket full to get satisfyingly clean. Another point worth noting here is that... I am becoming a convert to the bucket-style Indian bath. This involves pouring warm water over your body using a large cup with a handle. This can be done either sitting, standing or squatting, your preference. It just feels good. Sensual even. And it is environmentally more friendly in that it uses much less water than a shower. Of course sometimes i am too lazy to mix a nice bucket of water the right temperature and just have a shower instead. But slowly slowly I am noticing its not quite as satisfying as the bucket method.
Ok.
So, back to Manu...
She finds her clothes herself. I have our bucket of scalding hot water in the bathroom now and I am adding cold to get it to a nice temperature for her. She comes in in her underwear (again, Indian style, bathe in your underwear and you get the two-in-one effect of giving your underwear a pre-soak cleaning before washing them). I gently begin to pour warm water over her head. We leave the door open to the outside because the sun is pouring in beautifully onto her tiny body and as anyone knows, it is much preferable to bathe with the sun kissing your skin, than it is to bathe in the shade.
First we shampoo. That is fun. We both join forces to scrub her hair so four hands are at the task. She does her own feet, hands, arms, legs. She is very thorough. I help her with the hard to reach places like her back and assist with the pouring on of water. But basically she is self sufficient. The hair part was the only tricky part.
So then i scrub her dry. She dresses. And to show off this fresh and clean girl, we finish with two French braids in her hair. Done. One clean child ready to go. So cool.