My Birthday My Day....

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........

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My First Rakhshabandhan

As mentioned in my previous post, we reached our Dehradun home at around 10.15 am; my dadee was waiting at the gate to receive us or should I say me! She took me inside while my dada took care of Rudra bhai.......My Renu bua gave me a bear hug; waiting next in line were my visiting Shivvi mamaji (papa’s maternal uncle) and my great grandmother (my dadee’s mother). Mamaji had come to visit my dadee for Rakshabandhan and also take my great grandmother along with him. They were supposed to leave early but decided to wait for us to arrive home; and left right afterwards.

After half an hour wait, my Renu bua directed her brothers to get ready for tying Rakhi on their wrists. And then came our turn......My Ridhima didi was visibly excited and so was my Rudra bhai while I was trying to make some sense of all the excitement. As soon as I figured it out, I too joined them........My papa managed to capture those moments in the following video......

I, being the youngest sister got the mandate to tie Rakhi on his wrist followed by my Ridhima didi.
Rudra bhai gave us a gold pendent each as our Rakhi gift, incidentally with same alphabet “R” inscribed in the middle. In order to maintain the parity, my Ashu chacha got one for him as well; and his too has “R” in the middle........By now you must have figured out the reasons for so many “R”s- Actually; our respective names begin with this alphabet only - Ridhima, Rudra and Reveda.

And that’s how I celebrated my first Rakhi festival with my family. Technically speaking, this was my second Rakhi festival; first one was mentioned here .......

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My Road Trip To Dehradun

How would you react upon hearing this song at 3.45am in the morning? Well, mine wasn’t on the expected lines as I woke up with a big smile on my face; second one to get up after my papa............ Then, I did a role reversal on my mom to wake her up; she wanted to sleep for another five minutes but I didn’t relent nor did my papa as he waited for her to get up to put the phone alarm back on the snooze mode..........

“You have 45 minutes to get ready” order was passed; we managed to save 5 minutes as we would hit the road at 4.25am with my papa on wheels. I was seated next to him on my mom’s lap with my Ashu chacha, Shikha chachee, Rudra bhai and Santoshi didi on the rear seats. Soon, everyone was off to sleep barring my papa and FM radio.

As NH24 highway is notorious for frequent traffic jams, my papa took an alternate route which runs along “Gang Nehar “ canal and passes through villages and green fields. We stopped at one dhaba (road-side eatery) for our morning tea. While all majors were enjoying their teas, we minors found our own ways to keep ourselves busy- my eyes were busy watching birds,
while, Rudra bhai was spotted sipping mango juice.......
I also managed to ride a bullock-cart, thanks to a village folk.......
As our destination was our Dehradun home and not the dhaba, we were back on the road in 30 minutes to reach our destination at 10.15am........

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First Day Of June

.......was lot different as compared to past one week; the hustle and bustle of past few days was missing. All the delicate things have found their way back to their original place and the house is looking neat and organised again. There was no throwing around of toys and rattles, no act of shouting out each other, no boxing bouts between Rudra bhai and Ridhima didi, no running around to make them eat ...............I can go on compiling these "no’s". But then all “no’s” fade away in front of one “yes”- my answer to a question “if I am missing them”.

My Ashu chacha, Shikha chachee and Rudra bhai have gone to Dehradun to drop my Renu bua and Ridhima didi there at our home. That would mean that my dadee and I will have to spend a quiet day in our Gurgaon home.

My dadee understands and takes timely care of my needs; you can even adjust your watch seeing her do that. She has been doing that since my birth with one month break in between. And, she has never complained about anything but my sleeping habit- I don’t sleep for more than an hour or so during the entire day. Both of us play together as best of friends with my rattles, balls, soft toys and a piano mat- my latest addition. I just love it as it plays music whenever my dadee puts me on top of that- it is always nice to have someone competing with you in a noise making competition; more so after the sudden exit of two boisterous competitors. But I will join them in Dehradun soon; and I have 9 more days to learn a thing or two to compete with them again......

Watching three sub-three category kids playing together is always a treat to every one's eyes and ears; but only when you can relish it! Actually, one has no choice but to relish it.......

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My Encounter With The White Tiger

..... ....will remain etched in my memory for long and this post will certainly help.
But what brought me face to face with the White tiger (real one and not Arwind Adiga's) is what this post is about.

The answer lies in somewhat weird choice to visit Delhi Zoo on a bright sunny Mother’s day Sunday afternoon. What led my papa to choose Delhi Zoo over various other options will remain a mystery to me. But, in the hindsight, we all now feel that it was the best choice on that day. Our entire family (my dada, dadee, papa, mummy, Ashu chacha, Shikha chachee and Rudra bhai) left for Zoo in a hired Toyota Innova. Much to our surprise, we found out the place full of people. Actually, to expect lesser people at a public place in a country of a billion plus population is akin to asking for the moon.

After buying the tickets, we hired an electric vehicle for touring inside the Zoo. It proved to be a smart move as soon thereafter hot sun gave way to the dark clouds and rain came pouring down along with the hailstorm. Nature again proved its might by replacing the simmering heat with cool breeze in no time.

Our vehicle tour of zoo ended near the cage of the White Tiger. Rains too had stopped by then and the tiger was also enjoying the weather. You know, tigers have such an imposing personality; no wonder their writ runs large over the jungle populace. But it is sad to know that despite its entire prowess, tigers are faced with the threat of extinction at the hands of human beings.......

After our brief encounter came to an end, we decided to head out of zoo; but not before clicking this pic; my papa is behind the camera!
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After our zoo visit, we decided to visit Dilli Haat , a place that carries a special place in the hearts of my parents. They first met each other at this place more than 6 years ago. In fact, my papa narrated the whole incident and also showed us the exact spot where he first saw my mom seated waiting for him- A nostalgic moment! We spent close to two hours at the place, everyone had their lunch (mine was meshed bananas) and we came back home; tired.

It was a perfectly enjoyable Sunday outing.....but choice of Delhi Zoo is still a mystery to me!

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Happy Marriage Anniversary

.....to my dear mummy and papa. You both have completed four years of your marriage today. I know that on this day of 2005 you tied your nuptial knot. Naturally, I wasn't present there on that day but I am with you today to celebrate your fourth anniversary along with my dada, dadee, chacha, chachee and Rudra bhai.

I am lovin' it. Let me document this special day for my reading in future....

My dada and dadee were the first ones to wish my parents followed by a sms message from my Renu bua. She had sent it last night but my papa managed to read it this morning only. I too woke up earlier than usual and wished them in my own way. I liked it when my dadee said- "Reveda-you would have been three today had you come out early." I told my dadee- "I agree but then my parents are to be blamed for that. Apparantely they were in no hurry to bring me into this world earlier than when I eventually did.

Later in the evening we all (my dada, dadee, mummy, papa, chacha, chachee, Rudra bhai, Anil mama and Shubham bhai) went our for dinner. Incidentally, it turned out to be my first restaurant outing as well.

Before I end this post, I again wish my parents on their Anniversary. This day is very special for me too as but for this day, I would not have been here.......at least by Indian standards!

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My Annaprashan Ceremony

Day came and went but not before leaving memories that I am going to treasure for the rest of my life. The significance of this day began to sink in only after I wore my new dress that mom got stitched for the occasion. I was basking in the glory of that dress with happiness written all over my face.
As you know Annaprashan ceremony is about food, so my dadee first cooked the rice-pudding (kheer) for the prasad (first bite of solid food that I will eat once rituals are complete). After my dadee finished cooking kheer, my chachee took charge of kitchen for cooking the rest of the lunch.

The ceremony started at around 11.30 amidst chanting of sacred hymns followed by a Yajna or Havan . Here is the picture of Havan... It went on for 1 and half hours and I slept through it to wake up in time for my moment. As soon as I woke up, the priest placed a book (symbolising interest in learning), currency note (symbolising interest in accumulating wealth) and a pen (symbolising wisdom) in front of me. I chose book as well as pen leaving the currency note behind. Now, what does this signify; time alone will tell!

Soon afterwards, the priest asked my dadee to give me my first bite of solid foods. This is how the prasad plate was looking with kheer, puree (fried bread), choley and paneer (farmer’s cheese).

My dadee used a silver spoon (that she gifted me along with a silver glass for the occasion) to feed me the prasad. I would eat all the rice pudding off the spoon as soon as she brought it closer to my mouth. Here is the moment as captured by lens........ After this, it was my dada’s turn to give me the prasad followed by my nanee, mummy, Mamta mausi, Sunil mausa, chachee and papa. I was enjoying the taste as well as the attention that I was getting. This day will always remain special to me.

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Happy 5th Monthly Birthday

to me as I completed 5 months today. A brief of the month gone by:

1. Learnt to turn on my own; now they can't expect me to lay on bed on my back.....I turn, I raise my head with my entire weight on my stomach. I cry out of frustration when I am unable to move my hand stuck under my stomach but then I rejoice as soon as I manage to do that.

2. Learning to crawl- I pedal my legs and manages few inches of displacement from the original position to feel tired soon afterwards. Drooling off my mouth, I lay my head to rest for few moments and catch hold of my breath to start the process all over again; and continue it until I am completely exhausted. As a result, I manage to cover quite a distance- my achievement for the effort. With that, one more self learning exercise in my pursuit towards full scale crawling gets over......Next one will start at my will as per my convenience.

3. After they call my name, their wait for an eye contact with me equals the time that I take to be face to face with them........I follow their voice, move my neck to be able to look into their face and smile.....they forget whatever is worrying them.

4. As soon as I see my milk-bottle, I reach out for it; hold it to drink the milk off it. Not only this, I also reach out for the objects lying around me; if I manage to hold them, I rejoice in my achievement but if I am unsuccessful I cry zillions.

5. It is normal to see me use my fingers (or knuckles at times) in my fight against my hardened gums- all my fingers inside my mouth is a common sight these days.

6. I fully recognise my family members; but a stranger to me is bound to get a cold stare initially. And, when I see recognisable faces, my arms reach out for their embrace with a smile on my face.

7. I see off my papa every morning with a smile to return it again in the evening as soon as he is back.

8. When at my playful best, I often imitate the sounds that I hear.

9. I now have my own pram and a big green bath tub.

10. Last but not the least, my first hand to move is always the right one.....so unlike my father who is a natural lefthander. He still has hopes that I will be a lefty too.

All these achievements of mine were celebrated by cutting a cake. My mom ordered it and my Rudra bhai helped me slice it down the middle. The chocolate cake was surrounded by 6 jelly filled coloured candles. My mummy, papa, chacha, chachee, Tinku chacha and Rudra bhai were present there while my dada and dadee joined in over phone. My papa will upload the pictures later as he is unable to locate the chord.

As I said earlier, the beauty of time is that it just flies without anyone coming to know of it- it just occcured to me that winters are gone, so is spring and now blistering summers are knocking at the doors. And with those changes in the seasons, this small kid is now a 5 month old..

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Tiny Life Cell & The Big Bang

My nearly 5-month old journey from the world of unknown into the world of known is no different than Big-bang. What began as a small cell at some finite point of time continues to expand taking me into territories unknown to me.

Until sometime back, the only constituent of my world used to be my family members through their touch, voice or sight; a gear that would help me move from one emotion to another in a course of few seconds; they still do that. But just as you need more than one gear to fully enjoy the car, I too am beginning to ask and do more to enjoy the life that almighty has bestowed on me -Moving from one corner of bed to other, imitating a sound, responding to a smile, or simply a desire to touch or hold- a not so infinite list of things; but a list that continues to expand on a daily basis.

The most profound of the above list is the desire to touch or hold. All along these five months I experienced it in so many forms-whether it was my mom feeding me or running her fingers on my face, my dadee massaging me or giving me bath, my dada putting me on to sleep, my papa holding me or those innumerable soft pecks on my cheeks or fingers etc. But, now is my turn to give it back to them as I run my soft and tender fingers on their cheeks whenever they lie by my side or gently hold their arms when being held. The more I do it the more they crave for it.

But what surprises my family most is my desire to touch and hold the objects lying around me......be it newspaper or a soft toy or a piece of cloth, I desire everything......Seeds of love for material things have since been planted.....

Isn’t that what makes me more human!

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Our Dehradun Home

Our Dehradun home is the shining statement of the amount of hard work put in by my dada and dadee. From the conversations I heard while inside my mother’s womb; I know that we used to live in a two room government accommodation and my dada and dadee always used to tell anyone asking them about their own personal house that-“our kids are our house”. P

aucity of financial resources made them work hard to earn extra and place greater emphasis on their kid’s education and upbringing; their hard work paid off in the form of our house- around 4500 sq ft structure standing tall on a 900 yards (approx) plot. Construction of our house was completed in Jan 05 and it took my dada exactly 6months to construct it under his personal supervision. My dadee provided him the moral support and strength with my bua and chacha doing the building design and also ensuring that supplies reach on time and my father taking care of the loan instalments. This house is like a fourth kid for my dada and dadee; no wonder that they do not like to stay in Gurgaon for long. In fact everyone is attached to this house and that attachment and affection makes this house- “Our Home”. Here are some pictures ...........................

View of our house from the edge of the lawns-

Side-view of our house-

Our sidelawns with house in the background-

This is our front lawn-

And this is part of the kitchen garden-

From the porch-

Lawn & drive-way from the rooftop terrace-

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My First Monthly Birthday

You know, I am a 1 month old little girl today. It feels little unusual as the feeling of being called as-"one month old" is yet to sink in. Time just flies....it was just few days back when I was in the hospital waiting to come home. But that is past and so is this first month after my birth.

Although it is an altogether different story that I can choose to go back into that one month as & when I would want to- open my blog and start reading the archives.... simple baba....My day started in a hurry as my papa has a lot of work to do at work as part of board meeting preparation. Besides, today is also my date with doctor Manish uncle. My father would drop us at the hospital and leave for his work. While my dadee and mummy would accompany me to doctor uncle. Uncle was happy at my progress and gave me my vaccination as per my chart. It was slightly painful initially but I negotiated it well. My dadee and mummy would then bring me home in a cab. I was little sleepy and I would soon go to sleep. My mother's colleagues from her work would visit us in the afternoon to meet me- yes, not my mother but me...I felt great meeting all the aunties- Poonam, Soma, Rajni, Rupinder, Sabina- all came with a nice gift hamper. My mother was visibly happy to meet her colleagues after a long hiatus. I am afraid she will have to wait little longer to be in that office again... Sad for her but great for me!

I would conveniently go to sleep afterwards to wake up in the evening only. My mother would send Tinku chacha for my first monthly birthday cake. I would wait endlessly as both my Chacha and Papa are working late in office. As soon as they reached home, my Rudra bhai would help me cut my cake-chocolate one.He would clap with both hands and look happy- after all he played a perfect elder brother tonight. It's time to eat cake (my mom tried it on me too)and dinner.While everyone is having dinner, I would wait for my mother finish hers and feed me afterwards. It would be a while before I go off to sleep and my mother would have no choice but to sit upright and feed me. Soon, when I am done with feed, I would go to sleep with a smile on my face- a smile meant to express my happiness on celebrating my first monthly birthday.

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My Naming Ceremony

Mumbai incident has jolted each one of us but then we cannot allow that incident affect us such that everything comes to a standstill- doing that means terrorists will win and we just cant let them win. So here I am back compiling my journey so far.

Hectic discussions were underway amongst my family members on the issue of my naming ceremony and it was decided to conduct puja and yagna on 13th Nov, being the 11th day from my birthday. You may want to know that Hindus usually conduct the naming ceremony of newly born kids on 11th day. My family in Gurgaon would be joined by my nana, nanee two days prior to that ceremony. They have come from Dehradun to see me and my mother. They brought me new clothes and a gold chain; which they would gift me on the day of my naming ceremony. They are happy to see me.

In between, my father would go to Dehradun for a day to attend Naresh chacha's wedding and be back by 12th night for my naming ceremony. On 13th, priest would come to do the prayers and the Yagna. I am excited about my day and I am the first one to get ready. My dadee would give me bath and put on my favorite pink coloured clothes. Priest would complete the prayers followed by Yagna. After prayers got over, the Prist would recite me my names.

As already mentioned, everybody has named me differently. First it was the the turn of my Renu bua; who would call me Prisha over telephone from Uganda. My dadee would name me Umankshi, while my dada call me Prateeksha. My chacha and chachee would name me Saarthaki; while my nana and nanee name me Aayushi. Later on, we would be joined by my Anil mama, Mamta auntie, Sunil uncle, Shubham bhaiya and Riya didi. My Mamta auntie would bring me ear rings Everyone was busy celebrating my naming ceremony and I was enjoying being the centre of attraction.

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My Third Trimester Continues

Next phase of my third trimester coincided with the festive season in India. First it was Dusshehra and then came the biggest of them all-"Diwali". In between my mom had to go to hospital with water bag leakage issue; something not serious though. Father shifted his job from Hines to NIIT and we moved into a new rented accommodation. My dada-dadee came to Gurgaon to help us do the shifting. Then they went back to Dehradun with my Renu Bua and Ridhima didi. We also went to Dehradun once as my nana-nanee moved into their new house and had their house-warming.

My parents started my shopping during Navratras and invariably they ended up buying all girlie colours. Then came Diwali and we all celebrated it together in Gurgaon. My dada-dadee came here with us as my mother was not in a condition to travel to Dehradun. The effect of financial crisis was clearly evident on the diwali festivities; but I decided to take a chill-pill as I was inside and was not affected by that crisis.

Doctor auntie told my parents to get prepared for delivery after Diwali. So my mother got her bag ready. Upon a doctor visit after Diwali, Meenakshi auntie told my mother to get admitted to Paras Hospital on 1st November. But my mother requested for 5th Nov, reason being my parents got married on 05-05-05, I was conceived on 5th as per medical science calculation so they might as well deliver me on 5th to make it a hat-trick. But then i had different plans................

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