Present Tense talks to Past Tense

Nischal's older brother used to only speak Kannada while he was a child. But that became a problem once he joined day care. The teachers there ended up learning some kannada words so they could understand him. To help him, we parents started speaking more in english. That made him pick up english, but he forgot kannada completely. Even now at the age of 10 he is not able to speak Kannada.
So, with Nischal - we decided we'd just stick to Kannada, and english would come to him on it's own once he joined school.
That was not to be.
He started speaking in english on his own - just listening to us - and now has us also automatically replying to him in english.  The english needs work, but we don't correct him. I enjoy listening to the mistakes too - knowing that they are short lived. I know some of my present & old colleagues will find that hard to believe about me, but it's true. :)
Coming from a more streamlined language like kannada, he doesn't even consider the fact that present-past tense patterns vary for different words.
So, I broke from tradition one day when I corrected him after  "Papa, this Bhaagya (maid) is a bad guy! She waked me up so early in the morning today! "
"Nischal, she 'woke' you up this morning"  I said, "-not 'waked'  "
He looked at me, and smiled.

I couldn't help offering a couple more corrections over the next couple of days, and I was quite getting into the roll of things ( my friends are nodding their heads now).
Then one day, as I was taking off my shoes and putting them away, came another complaint  " Papa! This Anna (his elder brother)! In the birthday party, he drinked all the soda by himself! "
"Nischal, it's  'drank' - not 'drinked' "  I corrected automatically.

He then walked up to me,  and put his hand on my shoulder. I turned to looked at him. Since I was already bent down, we were eye to eye.
"Papa " he says, his face all seriousness, " It's not 'drank'.  'Carry - carried' , 'wait - waited' , 'wake - waked' and  'drink - drinked' ,  Ok ?"
As I scrambled for words; he broke into a slight smile,  turned and walked away with a slight spring in his step. 
Enough was Enough, I suppose.
And yes, those of you(my friends??) that are smiling ear to ear? You can stop now.

One Chapati Dinner

The cook had quit; She wanted to take care of her daughter whose child was due anytime.

For a few days - before we found another cook - Anu would cook. One of the nights, she insisted the kids & their dad sit down on the kitchen floor, and eat fresh chapatis right there as she made them. For those going 'aaaww, sho shweet..', our house chapatis tend to crack teeth if left out for too long.  Yea.. a different kind of 'aaww'.

So, here we were eating the fresh chapatis & curry;  even Nischal was eating eagerly - a very unexpected, but welcome change - when he talks about what happened in class.
"Teacher was asking us all about families"
We adults make encouraging noises, and the older brother continues to eat while in his own zone.

"I told her about Annaa (older brother), pappa, amma ."  Nischal continues.
"You didn't tell her about Ajji (grandmother) ? " asks his brother.
"No, Ajji is not with us here. That's a joint fa-ma-lee" says Nischal.
Now our appropriate noises become more authentic - glad to hear something he'd learnt, and also glad to hear that he'd learnt something.

"But Ajji also is our family, isn't she ? " continued his brother, " she ... "
Nischal interrupted him " No, Anna. We are a new-clear fa-ma-lee!"
Now, both of us adults are smiling and realizing that we aren't totally throwing away our money when we pay his school fees.

The older brother also nodded in grudging appreciation "Nuclear. I didn't know that word until last year (when he pored over wikipedia to sate his fascination for nuclear bombs)".

Nischal goes back to munching on those chapatis - they probably have gotten slightly colder.