You @ 8 : Of Stars & Stories...
My Dear Niky,
Wish you a very happy birthday… and it is time for my annual letter to you, about your 8th year, a year full of starry stories… let me try to recollect a few of them, stories where you have been the centerpoint… stories that you spew up from your tiny cerebra… with vivid descriptions, striking characters, dramatic narratives… stories that happened to you, others weaved for you… stories that define you and have become a part of you…
A few days back you told me a story of a mermaid and her friends… the theme of the story was her beach birthday party and many gifts she received from the Mamma mermaid… besides all the fun she had, she was most delighted with one of the gifts, a remote controlled airplane, a very thoughtful gift as per you… why? “see Mumma, the mermaid can already swim in water by herself… she cannot walk, skate or even ride a bicycle due to her tail shape… but then she can sit in the airplane and fly in the sky… and because the school does not teach how to fly airplane, she can use remote control which is easy… isn’t it amazing?”… yes indeed… very deep, yet amusing… this story was also a clever way to remind me of your upcoming birthday and the gift idea… while I was in awe of your thinking, I was not convinced about getting you a remote controlled airplane… so the cleverer me, came up with another idea of giving you a surprise gift instead... you began your countdown that very day, 42 days then to be precise, and reminded me every other day that I had to plan a surprise… the busy me, rather the lazy me, pushed it to the next day everytime..
While I did manage to buy lots of gifts for you, the surprise element seemed missing… but as always, the one person who comes to my rescue last minute is your Aajji… her ‘secretly planned’ visit for your birthday turned into my surprise to you… so today, when I brought Aaji and Aaba home, you were startled and jumped with joy… the gifts, the wishes from everyone around brought lot of smiles, but this surprise brought a whole lot of happiness to you… this is how you are, very attached to your people – be it family or friends… and the excitement of having them around is unparalleled…
This excitement is at its crest when you are with your age-mates, your cousins.. and it is a sheer coincidence that you actually could spend time with all your cousins this year, inspite of the distances we all are at – Aryaman, Advay, Kshitij dada, Kshipra, Kaira and Ishika… you all are an inseparable and an unstoppable riot when together, yet full of affection and adoration for each other… they are now part of your daily conversations… they are characters (good ones!) in your stories too… in those stories, you have explored Disney Land with your ‘little friend’ Kaira where she gets lost and you find her with the help of Winnie the Pooh… in another, you climbed a huge mountain with the help of Kshitij Dada and made a tent on the top by pulling down a few clouds… you went skiing with Advay, searched for Santa there and asked for chocolates from Santa because Advay had finished his stock and cannot ‘survive’ without them… you landed in NewYork during a war to save Ishika but you did not have weapons so you befriended the soldiers instead… you played a football match against Aryaman with Ronaldo in your team and Messi in his team but during the match you decided to change sides and Aryaman and you together defeated those two ‘silly players’… Kshipra and you secretly spent the mornings plucking flowers from neighbors’ garden, sold those flowers to buy a gift for your Mami and me on Mothers day… I have to mention here that somehow Nithila gets a special place in your stories, albeit of a negative character (sibling love of the next level this is!).. but all these characters are inspired from your real experiences and from the books you read… you include them as companions in your imaginary journeys..
As for me, I wish to, and genuinely try to expand the horizons for your journeys, so you can go farther… and like you say ‘ride on the stars’… :) once, after learning a chapter on solar system in school, you had told me “ma’am said there could be people living on other planets but they are still finding them by sending our people onto those planets, why cant they ask the stars instead? Stars would know”.. I told you stars cannot see or speak Niky, how can they? To which you said “they do talk, they talk to me, they tell me how beautiful everything looks from where they are… they tell me I can ride on them too, but I don’t know how to reach them”… you will, one day… just keep dreaming, keep talking to them… they will tell you the way :)
Beautiful you also find everything from where you are, wherever you go… We had been to Iceland earlier this year and I saw a beautiful icy world, not just because Iceland is indeed beautiful, but seeing through your eyes, it appeared all the more gorgeous… the black winding road in middle of snow did actually feel like a black satin ribbon pulling our bus ahead through the snow… the sun shining on the glaciers seemed like honey topping on vanilla ice cream, the frozen waterfalls were actually strings of glittering stars hanging from the sky.. the steam coming off the geysers is nothing new for you, just a regular winter phenomenon like how it oozes out of our mouth during winters (this actually got me to compose a picture of you exhaling that steam)… the best was the Northern lights which you imagined to be the green Ganga and blue Yamuna meeting in the sky… whoaaa what astounding imaginations you come up with, giving a completely magical twist to the experiences…
Today you have started another ‘short story’ of Ella and Jessica, two singers who have started a journey from London to India, singing all the way, carrying a guitar and a flute!! I am extremely keen to read about their journey.. or should I say, a journey of your imagination…
These journeys are a silent part of you… they are hidden behind your non-stop chatter, and you share them only with special someone… I am privileged to be that special someone, so far atleast!… these imaginary journeys you embark on, every now and then, take you, and me, to a surreal world… you chart them, you walk them, you believe in them… I want you to know (whenever you read this) that others may not understand them today and may not comprehend even tomorrow… and that is fine because these journeys are yours, solely yours… and not theirs… you must live them your way… they will lead you to the stars that are waiting to show you the beautiful world…
Love always
Mamma
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