Lets talk.

Today we were sitting at the kitchen table, just the 2 of us and Ben started talking about India. Completely out of the blue. His little face was so serious as he struggled to find the right English words to tell me all he wanted to say. He told me all about being at a police station and that he was hungry and that they gave him a banana. Then Surekha-Aunty came and took him home. He told me that he was scared and sad. The he fast-forwarded to when Vijay-didi told him that he had a Mummy and how he was happy. He talked about some of the other kids we have photos of ... A little girl who would bite, Karishma who would cry all the time, and Babbu who would get his bottom spanked because he wouldnt sit down and watch TV. Ben was adamant that he would sit and watch TV and get "no bottom spanked" because he was a good boy. He even bent over and wrapped his little arms behind his knees to show me the stance of the kids who got spankings. (now before I'm inundated with emails asking me if these kids were being abused, the answer is a HUGE no! The most common form of punishment was to make these kids stand in a corner and pull on their own ears. In all honesty I can't see Surekha ever raising a hand to these kids, although having met Babbu I'm sure he knew exactly how to push all of the right buttons.)

I asked him if he remembered anything BEFORE the police station and he said he didn't know.

He told me he waited for Mummy for a long time. I'm not sure if he was referring to me or his first mother. I asked him if he meant me, or his "India-mummy" and he changed the subject.

End of conversation ... he wanted to go bounce on the trampoline. I'm hopeful there will be more talks like this, as the information he gives me now is all I have to give him when he's older.