Dear Jayanti, as you leave us to usher in a new chapter in your life

I cant help but look back on all the years that you have been with uncle & aunty…with us and wonder at the time flown by.

I have written to you before about how indebted I am to you for being there for us ( and I am hoping you would get your child[ren] read the letter one day and know how much you mean to me and my family), yet after all these years no amount of thank yous seem enough to truly express my heartfelt gratitude.

Although I knew this day was to come at some point in time, I never realized it would hit me so hard so soon…until you called me last night to say good-bye.  The minute you said, ‘ Didi mai jaa rahi hoon’ it dawned on me that the moment was here for real. I had so much to tell you but the sheer overwhelming nature of the situation made me struggle for words!

I wanted to tell you how much I was going to miss you. How much I would miss discussing the latest episodes of tele-soaps . How much I would miss calling out to you.

I wanted to tell you how bereft the house would seem without you around.

I wanted to tell you that when we come to Delhi, like always the first thing that Namnam’s eyes would look out for as soon as she enters the house would be you.

I wanted to tell you that she had drawn you in her family chart alongside her Ammachu, Ammamma and Thaatha. For her you are family. For us too, Jayanti

I wanted to tell you how much Namnam would miss running around you and cuddling up,

I wanted to tell you that she would terribly miss making your hair, undoing it and then combing it again and then undoing it and then clipping it again…and I would miss watching you sit through all of that patiently with your ever-effervescent smile

I wanted to tell you that I would miss watching you drum Achan-your uncle’s head playfully while waiting for him to finish his tea, hearing you recount a fun-ride you and Aunty had in a metro, watching the three of you laugh and crack jokes at each other. Even though watching you with uncle & aunty evoked a tinge of envy in me for the simple reason that the moments made me realize that you were getting to spend far more precious time with them than me. Yet those moments reassured how beautifully the three of you gelled with each other and how wonderfully you had accepted each other. For a daughter who lived so far away from her parents, believe me Jayanti, you were a great source of reassurance that my parents were in secure hands .

I wanted to tell you to stay being the ever-smiling, loving and caring girl that you are

I wanted to tell you that if ever you felt challenged in any walk of life, you must be bold and strong to face it. Be known that Uncle Aunty, Raghubhaiyya and I will always be there for you.

I wanted to tell you to always stick to your grounds, to never compromise on your ideals, for I know how strong willed and principled you are.

I wanted to tell you, as you gear up to embark on a new journey, to be accepting towards your new family and command as much acceptance from them. Having said that I hope and pray that you are blessed with a wonderful husband and a wonderful family

I wanted to tell you to be happy. And I remember now that I did tell you that. I really want you to be. You deserve to be. In every bit of the way, my dear girl. May God bless you with all the happiness in the world.

Love always

Didi

Your day ends on a perfect note…

…when your daughter comes running to you and says, ‘ Oh, mama, the whole day I didnt give you a hug’ and gives you the tightest hug before heading off to sleep

Night-night,people !

Weekend Randomness (NaBloPoMo- Take 3)

Good Morning!

Its going to be almost 10 in the morning and our day just started about half hour back. Namnam is still sleeping though and R & I are lazing around with our morning tea and laughing our heads off watching Friends. Yep, its weekend and we start the day on a laughing and a lazy note .

Courtesy Google Images

In fact the laziness starts to set in from Thursday evening itself. My kitchen becomes non-functional because I become non-functional, unless of course we have guests over. For someone who hates cooking, I find the whole process of scrounging through the refrigerator for vegetables and deciding on what to cook every single day and evening of the week extremely monotonous through the week, something I find very very boring. And to top it up with cutting those vegetables( thankfully I have my house-help who does that for me most of the days), taking the pan out , heating oil, sauting, boiling, adding spices, garnishing!! Grrrrr! So one of the reasons I look forward to weekends is that I get to stay away from cooking because we are out mostly.

And Y’day we applied the non-functional rule on the kitchen and ate out. R & I talked and talked about mundane things with Namnam chipping in with her own updates of her school life. And a constant reminder that she was to bake a cake right after we got home because she wanted to take it to her friend. I kept ‘aye-ing’ to her to escape the pestering. We got back around 10 in the night and madam still remembered her unfinished chore of baking the cake. The pestering went for another hour or so till I convinced her that it was too late bake and take the cake to her friend’s as she would be asleep and that it would be better if she made it in the morning.

And now Namnam is up and the first thing she says is that she has to bake! I wonder if she even slept through the night! Anyway I dont think there’s anymore scope to escape. So am off to help mademoiselle to bake the cake .

Guess the day is not going to be about being non-functional and lazing around after all!!

If the cake turns out well, it will settle my tomorrow’s NaBloPoMo post else will have to think of something else to bore you all with! Stay tuned!

On a different note though, what do you all think about the whole Osama-hullabaloo? Do you really believe all that is being said? I think there’s something fishy in the whole encounter. I somehow want to believe all that Obama & his commandos are conveying or are trying to but I cant help but notice the timing of all this announcement just when he is due to contest the election for the second consecutive run in office.

Anyway, have a wonderful weekend, all you living in this side of the world . And to the rest, have a great day ahead

Life’s little joys…mean the world sometimes

Sometimes life’s little joys bring the widest, purest of smiles, give you moments that you want to cherish forever.

Yesterday, while on our way back from the pool, Namnam had wanted to hear a song which for some reason I was unable to play in the car. So I suggested we took the CD home and played it there. No sooner had I played the song, than Namnam started shaking her hips. Seeing her excitement, I couldnt stop myself and joined her in shaking a leg or two. And in no time the two of us were dancing away to glory!

Now, I’m an absolute non-dancer. It will not be wrong to say that I have two left feet when it comes to dancing. I’ve never felt very comfortable while dancing. So much so that I get very conscious of my surroundings when I’m asked to dance.Forget about surroundings, parties or gatherings, I cant get myself to dancing even when I’m alone .

But yesterday, I just didn’t care two hoots about the world. Not that the world was watching me, but I didnt even care about my own inhibitions. I was probably putting even Sunny Deol to shame. But who cared! All I noticed was how happy Namnam was when I was dancing with her, how much it meant to her. All I cared about ware those smiles that lit up her face when she had me & R join her on the ‘dance floor’. Oh yes, R joined us too, a while later. And the three of us found the perfect way to close our 5 day loooong weekend!

Thats how little it takes sometimes, isnt it, to make one realize how some moments, howsoever small they seem, can bring so much of happiness? In our rush to catch up with our lives, many a times we forget to live these small, but precious moments to the fullest, dont you think?

Anyway here’s the song that had the three of us dance our heart out!