As you turn 8 today...
My dear Nithila,Another year with you has cruised by… another year of dreams and imaginations, of explorations and experiments, of singing and dancing, of your questions and my answers, of getting independent and growing up…
Your growing up is just too fast for me to keep pace with, your getting independent is too winged for me to let you fly out of my sheath, your dreams are too quirky for me to build on, your questions are getting too quizzical for me to respond to your satisfaction… here are some resolves and decisions that you announced, by yourself, independently, at various occasions through the year, some very vociferously, some in a subdued manner, yet letting us know that you will have it your way… many of these are actually your dreams… which have mostly emanated from your imaginations, but also fuelled by my hopes and desires…
· You will grow up to earn so much money that you don’t need to ask any money from me for your needs (you better do that sweetie…).. When you earn money, you will buy me things that only you want to and not what I want to… because that’s how I treat you today… (I have noted this…)· You always choose what I should wear or Niky should wear, but by no means will you decide your clothes for yourself… you will always ask me, every single day, on every occasion, as to what you should wear… to the extent that of the three sets of uniforms you have, you need me to tell you which one to wear everyday !! and this is non-negotiable… huh! (will see though how long this decision of yours lasts!)
· You will not cut your hair short because you want long hair like me… Aaji told you someday how she took care of my hair and you want me to do the same with your hair diligently… (you generally team up with your Aaji and Dadi to put me in a spot, and I can do quite little about it…)
· You will not join any classical dance or singing or art class (howmuchever I try to convince you to) because you find it boring to learn from anyone else… instead you got me to teach you dance on some Marathi songs (laavnis) and you have picked them up pretty well I must say… you have demanded that we together do these activities, or don’t do at all … (dancing is indeed so enjoyable with you, I readily agreed)
· You will do better than Veer in golf, better than Anvi in Tennis, better than Meher in Swimming and better than Dia in school, the ‘next time’… these guys are top performers in respective areas and that ‘next time’ has not yet come after so many months… (am glad you have set your targets right atleast!)
· You will not strengthen your backhand, because you want to play like Djokovic with both hands and not like Federer with one hand… (I like Federer more, and not because of his backhand exactly ;) , so I am ok with Djokovic also.. Seriously)
· You will not tell me nuances of your golf and tennis games because then I will learn and might play better than you… You feel I do everything better than you do and you have to then up your level… (I am not sure how to react here….)
· You will cook as good as I do and have already started doing things independently in the kitchen (please please do this better than me because I am very average here)... by the way, the green tea you brew every evening for me is totally rejuvenating, I can’t have that otherwise bland tea any other way now…
· You will learn to fly aircrafts and buy one because there are too many controls in the cockpit to confuse me and I will not be able to take control of the music in aircraft like I do in the car (I get it!)
· You will study by yourself, because Mumma anyways does not have all the answers and you have to go back to google to get them… you actually prepared for all your exams – Spellbee, IMO, Olympiads by yourself this year… (not a good feeling this, but its alright, as long as you score well too!)
· You will make one Robot who will listen to all my instructions, so then I don’t complain that no one listens to me (this is not such a good idea, but is the only practical solution I see)
· You need to meet your friends every single day, you will plan special dates with them on weekends and holidays, you will bring them home whenever you or they feel like, the home phone will ring continuously to co-ordinate these gatherings and playdates… and I should not have problem with any of these because the pre-conditions I have put down are always fulfilled by you (what you probably have not figured out yet is that my tactical pre-conditions ensure that you behave responsibly while gallivanting with your friends and don’t compromise on studies, food, health, safety…)
· You will marry Papa when you grow up and never go away from us (I suppose every girl your age says this, and also believe every girl goes back on her words !)
· You and Niky will sleep on the same single bed, even if there is not enough space there… and I should not object because you don’t object to me and Papa sleeping on one bed !! (fine, I take a bow and give up!!)
Inspite of all the independence and candor you show, I must admit that, you are growing to be extremely loving, responsible and thoughtful… knowing that we could not celebrate Niky’s birthday this year with her friends, you did not insist celebrating your birthday today… instead you decided to wait for Kaira (your youngest sister) to join you next week so that you give Kaira her first birthday party experience… when I told this to Ankoo bua, she was in tears !!
Nithila, it is so fulfilling to spend a life with you, to share a laugh with you, to tire out in a dance with you, to create a piece of craft with you, to travel to a new place with you, to play a mindless girly game with you…it is absolutely satiating to just live by your side… in return, all I can, and want to give you is heaps of confidence to build your dreams…. loads of determination to chase them… strong belief in yourself to realize your worth and through all this incessant faith in us to know how truly madly deeply loved you are…
God bless you...
Yours
Mumma…
1 comments
as candid, interesting...thoughtful and full of love as always...i look forward to these blogs of ur Gauri!
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