The kindergarten diaries [being the genesis of the kindergarten diaries]

Mr. Teddy Graham came home for the weekend. This had been much anticipated and discussed ad nauseum since the beginning of the school year. Noori was really excited. Mr. Graham’s heavy ‘suitcase’(a bag pack really) stuffed with odds and ends, was a treasure trove for my little one.

Mr. Graham is likely the most essential, most peripatetic, and most photographed (think paparazzi), kindergartner that has ever existed. He gets to travel to each kid’s home for the weekend. He gets dressed in different outfits and then enjoys different places (parks, restaurants, movie theaters, malls, to name just a few) and gets his 

photos taken in those settings.

A letter is written by the student about that weekend spent with Mr. Graham and along with photographs, the ‘compilation’ is filed away and thus a legacy is created.

Upon first introduction, what struck me as a bit odd was that Mr. Graham was very comfortable in a dress. Unlike his name, he appeared to be a hot pink ballerina. He was also adorned with a tiara and shoes to die for. When I asked Noori why Mr. Graham was in a dress, she simply stated, “Teddy likes dresses”. I didn’t correct her. I didn’t tell her that it is considered highly anomalous if a male were to cross-dress like that. I guess, what my child was really saying, “Grow up baba… learn to be tolerant of others”.

Mr. Graham was a lovely guest. He did not complain to Noori that the food was unpalatable, or that the bed was uncomfortable. He was oblivious to his surroundings, except when his special host was in front of him. That’s when he was unstoppable, as was his host. What amazed me the most was that he was as comfortable in clothes as he was without.

I think I was more saddened than Noori to see Teddy’s sojourn end. But it was uplifting that he had created so much happiness in us all. I want to go back to kindergarten, if not for anything else, than to keep learning from Teddy.

I want to re-learn the lessons that kindergarten has to offer. After being to the apogee of graduate school, I realize that the simple messages that kindergarten has to offer are in certain ways much more compatible and consistent with happiness.

In a somewhat pensive mind frame I’m reminded of Robert Fulghum’s “All I really need to know I learned in kindergarten”. He mentions a few of the things that he learned in kindergarten: share everything, play fair, don’t hit people, put things back where you found them, clean up your own mess, don’t take things that aren’t yours, and so on.

Think about it: How can we possibly go wrong if we were to re-live or re-enact the kindergarten diaries?

[from the kindergarten diaries]

Acknowledgment: This story was published as 'Ted' (chapter 22) in the book 'An Itinerant Observer'.