......as we are busy moving into a new apartment. There is lot of stuff that needs to be packed and moved to that apartment.
Well, this house will always hold very special place in my heart as I began my life journey from this place only..... Thank you mom for reminding me about that!
.......a head peeps in through our bedroom door; sheepishly moving his lips , he murmurs - "Bobby (my mom's name) behan nin-neee (Is sister sleeping?)"
My mom- "Yes, behan nin-nee (sister is sleeping)"
Head moves out and the door is slammed on my mom; but makes enough noise to rattle me out of my sleep.....Mom pats my back and I go back to sleep.
Couple of minutes later, that head peeps in again and repeats the previous question; this time with much energy and conviction in his voice......
Mom repeats her answer and the door is slammed back on her; with much brutal force enough to rattle me, again. Refusing to sleep, I sit on my knees with my eyes staring at the door, for I know that the head will peep in again for the third time....
The door opens for the third time, head peeps in and seeing me up, bursts into joy; that grim-looking questioning face of previously failed two attempts gives way to an ear to ear smile. Matching his joy and excitement frame by frame, I get down off my bed...he too is running towards my bed .........hugging me, he exclaims- "Bobby, behan no nin-nee".......My Rudra bhai knows that he got successful in his third attempt and with that, we start our another day!
This is no one off incident but a story of every morning...... Surprisingly, repetition has failed to take sheen off this every morning splendor and joyous moments!
26th November is the first anniversary of Mumbai carnage in which around 200 lives were lost to the mindless act of terror and hatred. I was a 23 day old kid then and even after adding one year to my life, my reasoning and understanding of that carnage hasn't changed a wee bit.....Perhaps, I will never be able to understand it. But, one thing that I know for sure is that all those 200 lives will never come back......No one left behind will ever get back their sons, daughters, husbands, wives, nephews etc etc.......Tears will dry up but pain never will........ Memories will stay for ever.....So many life flames flickered out by those bullets; yet those flames will continue to burn inside the heart of their loved ones.....forever!
May their souls rest in peace! Here is a video from YouTube to keep that flame alive forever. One could not have asked for any better song than the one being played in the background!
I was recently threatened by my mom that she will not take me to the market again! My fault? That, I walked in to a chemist shop only to walk out with Johnson's baby cream in my hand. My mom rated this as shop-lifting and was naturally furious at me; whereas I feel that it was nothing but the result of me feeling at home in that shop.You know, we frequently visit that shop to buy our medicine stuff and every time I enter inside, the owner uncle smiles at me talks to me thus making me feel at home. So, I don't know what was in it for my mom to be so furious at me? All I did at that shop was what I do at my home many times during the day..........
Perhaps, I would get to know the real meaning only when I will grow up. But for the time being, I enjoy lifting stuff and will continue to do so. You better keep a watch over me!
Monday morning blues seems to have struck me as well and I am not yet ready to get out from my bed. I guess part of the reason lies in it being an unusually cold morning after an extremely hectic weekend that started with a Friday night show of newly released movie "Kurbaan"- high on reviews and claims but low on the idea; can safely be called as watered down version of NewYork. Movie got over at around 2 in the morning. It took my mom long to convince me to go into sleep. Despite that, I was the first one to get out of bed next morning; mom and papa had no option but to follow me as well.....
My mom, then took me and my Rudra bhai out to the neighborhood park- well it amazes me that they have discovered this park towards the fag end of our stay in this rented house- we are set to vacate this on 1st December. The park falls bang opposite this house and I don't remember going to this park ever in more than a year. I guess they are realising the importance of this park now when they know that it won't be staring on their face anymore post 1st December- but then better late then never.
In the evening, I went out with my parents to the market. My papa was scheduled to meet the builder of our own apartment, so he dropped us at the nearby shopping mall before heading for his meeting. Both, me and my mom walked our way through the length and breadth of the Metropolitan Mall- my mom had a tough time managing me. I was wearing my magenta coloured trousers and white sweater with ankle high shoes and a purple coloured broach- sadly they forgot to click any picture. I was at my smiling best, which would attract lot of people to me- and most of them would pinch or tap my cheeks. Soon, my cheeks turned red which led my mom to compare me with a cartoon movie character; but I knew that she wasn't right- else how would you explain so many people calling me "cutie baby" in that mall? Later, we took a rikshaw to JMD Square as my papa was about to finish his meeting. You know my mom never misses any chance to take a rikshaw as I love riding it.
As soon as we reached home, my papa wore his chef hat (not literally though)and cooked some delicious non-veg dishes- Chicken Curry and Fried Masala Liver ...... Sandeep chacha and Pallavi chacha joined us for dinner. By the time, we wrapped up our day, it was already 12.
Again, I was the first one to get up on Sunday morning. As we were scheduled to go to Chetan uncle's place for lunch; our park visit didn't last longer. When we were coming back, we saw a tractor parked outside our home. My papa requested him to let him try his hands on the tractor. Next moment, my papa was on the wheels with me and my Rudra bhai seated on the side chairs.......Unlike me, my Rudra bhai is no adventure freak and started crying. Amusing it was; as his one year younger sister was smiling at his face. My papa had no option but to stop it after driving for few hundred meters.
Later, we drove down to Chetan uncle's place. It was good to meet Tanmaya and Tanvii didi. You know Tanmaya is an extremely naughty child- you got to see it to believe it. We had our own share of tussle over riding his bike but then Tanvi didi's intervention helped me and I could also ride it. We had lot of fun for close to 4 hours.
Chetan uncle was right when he said that after meeting naughty Tanmaya; I should hug my Rudra bhai to tell him that I was so wrong with him...... Oh! he is such an obedient child that he ends up being bullied by me.....I think he has made me complacent......I need some competition at home; time for him to pick some naughty tricks and acts!
When you have two happy-go-lucky kids sharing great camaraderie, love and affection inside four walls; all you can do to disturb that equilibrium is to throw in a new gadget in between and wait for the results......Striking it might seem as everything goes for the toss and becomes history and all you are left with is shrieks, screams, cries, bouts.......
My Shikha chachee bought Rudra bhai a cycle yesterday and our tussles hasn’t stopped ever since then. He was laying his sole claims on the bike whereas I wasn’t at all ready to accept it. With great grit and determination, I managed to dethrone him from his seat........
Initially he took it lightly, to come back soon with vengeance......a truce was brokered and equilibrium was restored......The golden rule of our truce is that we will take turns to sit in front atop bhai’s cycle with other one seated on the back.....and here is the pose for the camera...
Like that legendary Indo-Pak conflict, we are back at it again....fighting, truce conditions have already gone for the toss!
Mom/Papa talking to me- Mitthee (if it’s my mom) and Chutku (if it’s my papa) where is my phone?
Me- Will pick up the phones and hand them over to them; I don’t goof up on phones as I know which one belongs to whom....
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Mom- Mitthee, where is money?
Me- I go and pick up that ten rupee note, even when there are 5 different things lying nearby.....Oh, I can do this with comb, shoes, socks, glass, bottle, spoon etc. as well.
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Mom- Mitthee, where is your shadow?
Me- Bending down on my knees I search for it and touch it on the ground......Even change in the direction of light is not enough to confuse me....
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Papa- Chutku, where is moon?
Me- Raising my one finger, I point towards sky for the moon.......
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Papa- Chutku, go and close the door....
Me- Gets down from bed, walk upto the door and bang it goes with full force....smile on my face announces the closure the door....
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Papa- Chutku, where are your eyes and nose?
Me- I touch both one by one and my smile says the rest......
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Mom- Mitthee, where is your Bhai?
Me- Walk upto the stairs, move my head approximately 45 degrees; holding the staircase I shout his name......two-three more name-shouts and bhai emerges on the scene from nowhere....my smile announces his arrival.
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Mom- Mitthee, go and sleep....
Me- Crawls upto the pillow; putting down my head, I lie down flat, close my eyes- I am off to sleep.......Half a minute later, I open my one eye to see if anyone watching me sleep....
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Mom- Mitthee, go and play “hide and seek” with bhai
Me- Walking up to the nearby window, I wrap myself around the curtain to hide from my bhai....
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With 2 sub-two year olds sharing same roof, you can learn fairly quick as evident from above. My Rudra bhai deserves to be credited for whatever new things I am learning......he makes it look so easy, you know!
I consider myself lucky to have a full-time working mom by my side through the day; thanks to my mom’s company and her boss, both of whom were kind enough to allow her to work from home.
Before I proceed any further, let me tell you a little about my mom’s work as I don’t think I have ever done that. Well, my mom works as a Software Engineer for an American software company out of Gurgaon taking care of telephony and contact centre system support and development. Unlike my father; my mom is a much devoted employee and can be seen working at even 2 in the morning, if there is some work.
For past days, her workplace has shifted as she is spending major part of her day in her office trying to resurrect her dead computer, after it caved in a couple of days back. It is highly ironic that although she works on cutting edge technologies, the computer that she uses is of archaic era- heavy and ugly looking Compaq. Who cares, as long as it enables my mom to discharge her work related duties. And, the good news is that it now will as it is back to life; again- 3rd time in last three years.
But, this post is not about dead computers; rather it is about giving back.......something my mom felt after her return from work. She was expecting me to run towards her and cry.......she was expecting me to lap her up................she was expecting me to give her a bear hug; so on and so forth.......Instead, she got a cold shoulder from me; no eye to eye contact, no smiles and no hugs for sure........Oh! She was feeling ignored; but that is how I was intending to make her feel. She got the taste of what I had felt through the day-ignored!
She did express her feelings to my papa and he remarked-“she is giving it back to you”....... But for my inability to speak as yet, I would have said- "Yes, I am".
For a change Sunday gone by was different for two reasons; firstly my papa didn’t go to Dehradun for his spot scouting trips (something he is doing regularly every weekend over past 4 months with just one exception) and then more importantly he took me and my Rudra bhai out to the neighbourhood park. We took some time to cut loose as the Gurgaon greens were all new to us- you know we are only used to concrete, asphalt and cement in this city........
Then, my father threw a football at us and it took us no time to discover those hidden Ronaldo and Pele inside us.....
Our dribbling and running skills were tested to the limit....
Rudra bhai did a Maradona (remember "Hand of God")on me
It didn’t matter if it was Greens or no Greens; you got to pick it 
Time to catch our breath as got tired of running....
Phone rang and I took it over from my papa- talking to my dadee
I don’t like to do the slides, I love climbing them.......
Those three pictures of me trying to climb the slide from wrong side is one of many dare-devil acts I love to indulge in!
5 falls within a span of 2 hours had my forehead bruised badly on both sides and a small scar on left cheek; enough to leave me and my parents shaken. Ice-packs kept coming back with an alarming frequency and so did those bruises. A tentative morning followed an uncomfortable night......but good news is that smile is intact but so is the pain- guess that's the price you pay for being an hyper-active kid!
Read more...
For last few days or perhaps weeks, I have been talking more in terms of videos and pictures..... Today, I am going to change that with this post by resisting all the temptations to let the video and pictures do all the talking.......!
You know I have come a long way in past 12 months. A cell, that I was more than a year back has not only grown in life but in size and acts as well. The hope and dream, that I was is a reality now, fuelling more dreams, hopes and aspirations. A touch, that everyone was longing for, is available at will.
Gone are the days when I used to wait for others to lift me to take me to different places/things; I walk on my own.....gone are the days when I used to wait for others to understand my implied needs, I express them in words and actions......gone are the days when only touch I knew of was that of my mom, I can differentiate..........gone are the days when I used to wake up hearing door open, I open it myself......gone are the days when I used to count my age in terms of days and months, I count it in years....... I am one! Yes I am one!
I can talk, I can walk.....I can speak, I can shriek.......I can dance....I am an infectious smile.....I am a soothing touch....I am a resonating voice.....I am a visual delight.......I am Reveda- a beloved grand-daughter, a daughter, a sister, a niece, a friend! And, I am loving it!
Did I say I am one? Yes I am one!
I had earlier posted about what few drops of Chivas Regal did to me and now comes the video ...
If music is playing somewhere, I have to dance irrespective of the place, music or sound.....Enjoy......
Do you have an un-tidy backyard in your home? If answer is in affirmative, you may contact me on this blog........Following video will give you a short demo of my expertise in providing mopping services......Enjoy!
PS: FYI my mom is busy making some chutney while Santoshi didi is preparing a paste of salt, chilly, garlic, cardamom, coriander leaves, etc...on that stone grinder with her hands.......black lid that my dadee opened is that of a large storage water tank in our backyard......
Completely unaware of the significance of the day, I started on a usual note. But, I was the only one behaving in a usual way; everyone else was greeting me differently today. It all started with an early morning call at 12.15 am from Uganda- my Renu bua was on phone to greet me on my birthday; she was the first one to do so. Next morning, I found myself under a flurry of hugs, kisses, pecks and birthday greetings with my mom, papa, dada and dadee showering it all over me......... I was enjoying all the attention and love......
My dada instructed everyone to get ready as our priest was due to arrive early for my birthday prayers (pooja) - my dada and dadee organised it. I was the first one to get ready and got busy with my “picking and throwing” routine. 
Soon, our priest arrived and started performing pooja (prayers). 
I kept shifting between everyone’s lap seated with folded hands....... 
My dadee offered sweets and pakoras to the Lord. It is a Garhwali tradition to cook pakoras made of daal (lentils) and offer them to the Lord during prayers and celebrations. As soon as prayers got over, we assembled for our breakfast of delicious pakoras and parathas .
My dada and dadee left for market soon thereafter to fetch my birthday cake 
and my gift- a nice pink coloured blanket. As my nana- nanee, mausa- mausee and mama-mamee were planning to come over in the evening, my dada and dadee came back early enough to make preparations for dinner. My papa got busy decorating the house with balloons 
while my dada, dadee and mom cooked dinner; obviously with assistance from Santoshi didi.
Later in the evening, I wore my new birthday dress that my mom and papa had bought a day before my birthday. 
My nana-nanee and others arrived on time for cutting of my birthday cake.......I was visibly excited standing in front of my birthday cake..........
My papa captured my cake cutting ceremony on his camera phone........you must watch out for the sight of me eating cake from knife itself......
It would have been nice to have my Rudra bhai and Ridhima didi by my side when I had cut that cake but they made up for that by wishing me on phone. You know both of them were holding their papa’s phones to join me for my cake cutting ceremony over phone- a technological gift.......I got some real gifts too as my nana-nanee gave me a pair of ear-rings while my mausa-mausee presented me a beautiful dancing doll.....
It was time to serve dinner as my papa was scheduled to catch his train to Delhi at 11pm. For a change, I also ate my dinner sitting on the dining chair instead of my usual chair.......sign that I have definitely grown up.......
Oh yes! My unit of measurement of age also changed from month to year........
Earlier, I had posted about all the fun and masti I had on the occasion of my Anil mama's marriage......And, now comes few videos of those magical moments as captured by my papa:
29th October at Delhi
1. Me & my Ridhima didi were the first ones to hit the floor
2. Soon, other kids too joined in.....
31st October at Dehradun
1. Mom initiated me on to the dance floor....
2. And, then I took it over....
3. Looking to get in after my papa made me leave the floor...
.............from my papa’s glass on the eve of my birthday has made me do some unforgettable things. Consider this; it has-
~ made me go merry round and round and round.
~ made me eat a big piece of chapatti in one bite.
~ not only made me walk but also run on just one shoe.
~ made me eat a full piece of local speciality of sweet called “Baal Mithayee”.
~ made me dance just to the sound of foot tapping.
~ made my eyeballs drift from one corner to top side and back in a split second.
~ made me lie down on marble floor on a cold November night.
~ made me walk like a drunkard already down with many pegs of liquor.
~ made me dance non-stop to the music of bhajans (devotional songs)....
What about you? How many glasses/pegs do you have to gulp to do all these things?
Silly- it’s not those drops of Chivas Regal but my spirit that has made me do all this..........Remember, it’s your spirit that counts not the spirits!
........ has been the order of the day for past 4 days as I am busy attending my Anil mama's marriage functions; firstly in Delhi and now Dehradun.
His baraat (marriage procession) took place on 29th October. We joined the baraat in Delhi itself after it reached here on Thursday evening from Dehradun. Believe it or not, me and my Ridhima didi were the first ones to hit the dance floor at the bride's place. Both of us were dancing as if there will be no tomorrow. My papa had to request the DJ to switch it off for a minute to make us move from the floor. He didn't heed to his request in full and only lowered the volume- enough to break our rhythm. My Ridhima didi left after that as they had to do some last minute packing prior to their departure to leave for Uganda; they left yesterday night. I was in no mood to sleep and remained awake till 3 am in the morning.
Next morning, me and my mom left for Dehradun with the baraat (marriage procession) to attend the marriage reception on 31st- yesterday.
31st October again was about fun, dance and celebrations. Initially, I was bit hesitant to join the dance floor in the absence of my Ridhima didi; but gave in to my resistance soon only to find myself surrounded by tall boys dancing merrily. Well, my dance was more natural as it was not under the influence of liquor unlike those tall boys..... My papa will upload videos and pictures later as connection is not good here in Dehradun.
With marriage being over, my eyes are set on 3rd November.........2 more days to go......
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