Tum Jiyo Hazaaron Saal...!

Yeah, its exactly a year that the little monster made a dashing entry into this world and before we could blink, he is already 1!! Time flew by so fast as it seems just yesterday that the news was broken at around 2.20PM in a sunny afternoon by the elderly maid in the hospital…’Ladka hua hai bai’ (that’s how its uttered in typical Bambaiya hindi). Those first few words of the news didn’t draw any expressions on my face as I didn’t know how to reciprocate to it though I was subconsciously trying to convey to myself the enormity of the news but to no avail! Probably I was too preoccupied with the well being of both the baby and the mother and the fact that I was expecting a baby girl all along. I took a deep breadth and told myself – Mr.D YOU ARE A PAPA NOW !!. When Chiku was first brought out of the theater room, I was too afraid to hold him as the tender and delicate appearance of the baby made me too conscious to touch him and vulnerable to my own fears of harming him inadvertently. After briefly holding him, out came the cameras/ video cam and I started taking the first few shots of the new born. Cell phones started ringing incessantly with congratulatory messages from near and dear ones and things were never the same again. For this one reason, Mumbai would always remain special for me and all.

The following days would be remembered for a lifetime since it was a totally different experience witnessing a baby’s world first hand and watching him grow, sometime him holding my fingers and sometimes me holding his little fingers. Along with all the tensions and apprehensions that come with the package, what touched me the most is the innocence a baby brings along with him and how he transforms your life even without you realizing it at all. I was so apprehensive about all the responsibility that a baby would bring along and I was so unsure how things would turn out to be. But as they say, nature is so naturally designed that you just fit into it seamlessly and the not the other way round! The cherubic smile that creases across his face when I get back home after a hectic day long work is simply ethereal and can not be described in words.

The first year as now I look back would be cherished for the sheer joy he brought in what with his antics and the histrionics getting doubled/ trebled with each day passing by. The list is serpentine - the day when he started rolling side wise (we had to then start building a pillow castle around him), the day when he started sitting up with mother’s support, the day he started imitating the surroundings be it his mom’s voice or be it my sneezing action, the day when he started to crawl (we started putting mattresses on the floor around the cot just in case he falls from the bed and he actually did once!!), the day he started standing up with a support (he would start basking in the glory of this big achievement of his own!!), the day he started walking without support with his hands up in air as if balancing himself on a tight rope looking at us in anticipation of a big applause, the day he started playing football with his first kick sending the featherweight balloon ball up in air to everyone’s cheers and finally the day when his first girlfriend Anna kissed him on his tender cheeks and he staring back at the little girl who is just a few months older to him in utter disgust (Chiku badly needs lessons here in this area from his papa!!).

Even though I know this is just the beginning of more exciting times to come, I just wish that he continues growing up at his own pace and experience the world the way he would like to.

Here is wishing you a very happy B'day my son!! Cheers...