When we were in Chennai, I met one of Vish's cousins and her daughetrs for the first time. One of them is going to pre-medical school this year and another is perhaps in Grade 8 or 9. Lakshmi just took to them and decided that they would all draw.
Drawing maps is a fascination with her. We draw maps of the school, of where we live and sometimes an India map. She has a talking globe which has animals and some landmarks in it and so she is familiar with a world map. She plays with it for hours and has been doing so for a couple of years now. There is mount Everest near India, an Elephant in South India, a bald Eagle in LA where her periappa lives and the Statue of Liberty where her mama lives and these are her references.
She is however more familiar with the India Map. She knows where we live, where Pati in chennai lives, pati in Bangalore lives, where Chong Chong (her pre-school teacher) from Manipur lives, Where the Olive Ridley turtles come (from a book) and Kashmir where Gulla a character from a book lives. Over a period she kept asking me where different people live and I have now forgotten.
She asked me to draw her an India map. Then she made a dot in the neck and told them that
that is where she lived. She drew a line down approximately to the coast near the south and told them that was pati's house. She put a dot in the left fork and said "That was Gandhi's house". I did not know how she knew that. She drew mount Everest right in the middle of India. She gets most upset if you draw it outside. Then coloured map green and different colours and explained that that was how land was. Then coloured the area out side the whole map blue. India was surrounded by oceans! It was an island. Then she wanted us to draw the turtles and the elephants and tigers -- just where the head was.
This was the first time I had seen her put together everything she had heard at different times. What a picture!
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