Maybe she was talking about microwave ovens!

“Do you know why we are all so attached to our mothers?”, Sr. Carmel asked.

I considered the question too unworthy to answer. And I was more ‘attached’ to my father. So I concentrated on trying to straighten Namitha’s hair.

“The umbilical cord is the connecting link. We were all once attached to our mothers through that. Now it’s the heart that continues the legacy”.

“What cord?” Ammu asked me. "Which part of the body is she talking about?"

I pressed my finger to her navel and tickled her. “There”.
Ammu giggled.
Sr. Carmel frowned.

I was wondering what was this new concoction that mummy had packed to ruin me, when I heard Ammu tell the rest of them.

“I finally know from where babies come”.

I stopped what I was doing. I was the educator. And I wasn’t too sure. I knew the region but not the location.

Lifting her shirt she pointed to her navel, “This cord thing, it’s like a door. First the baby is inside and when its ready- it kicks. You can open it and take it out. And…” she paused for emphasis, “You have to cut the cord. You can’t walk about with a baby dangling can you?”