Vaccination Day

17 December is my Vaccination day and my mother would help me get ready early. She would put my green coloured top on me; I seem to have developed some kind of fascination for this top. We would then reach Doon Valley Hospital in my nana's car; where I am given two different vaccines-Pentorium (combination vaccine for DTP and other diseases)and Rotarix (read more at- http://www.rotarix.com/features.html). My vaccination was bit painful and it will unsettle me from that point onwards for the rest of the day. I would cry more frequently than I usually do. My worried mother would give me crocin drops as she feels that I am feverish. I guess mothers tend to worry more as I could hear my father telling my mother over phone that it is normal for kids to feel so after vaccination. I too feel that this one day long inconvenience is nothing in front of the mental peace and comfort these vaccines helps bring for the rest of my life.

In the end, one noticeable incident that I must mention here is that today my highly disorganised father booked his to and fro train ticket between New Delhi and Dehradun- full 2 days in advance. Trust me, it is an absolutely amazing achievement for him- must have required lot of effort and dedication from him......

Good job indeed my dad!

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My Voice

I have successfully adapted myself to my nana’s place and am now beginning to enjoy all the attention I am getting from the visitors and my nana’s family. However, my voice is sitting 280 kilometres away from me and this state of separation does obstruct my ability to communicate my story, as seen by my eyes. But, modern technology has come to my rescue as using that, my father can anytime pick up the phone and gather those words that he deems fit to communicate my story, thus successfully keeping my promise.

Very mention of the word "separation" makes me wonder as to what separates the word “separation” from its real meaning- I found it is nothing but “an interval or space” that separates the two. Indeed so, it is nothing but an interval or space that has come to exist between myself and everyone of mine including my father, my dada, my dadee, my chacha, my chachee and my Rudra bhai; albeit temporarily so. However, my lifeline-my mom is there with me all the time. 16th December, for me started with my father calling my mother to enquire about us. I was crying and that is when my mom would put the receiver near my ear drums and make me hear my father’s voice; silence crept in soon afterwards and normalcy was restored-a feat that I would repeat again in the evening. Thus proving beyond doubt that I, now have begin to respond to a known voice- cause for celebration on a very significant achievement; as it points not only to my ability to hear but memorise as well. Well, all my other daily chores are going on as usual and some occasional visits too. That smile on my face is also beginning to grow bigger and I seem to have found favour with the gene that help scalp hairs grow. Humans, no doubt are one of the best creation of God and everything right from conceiving stage proves it every day. But, then I always wonder why some characters/faces in the garb of humans are out to harm this greatest creation of God-The Supreme Power.

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A Week of Mixed Emotions

My father is back in Gurgaon. I would now get to meet him only around Christmas, when he visit us in Dehradun.

My daily chores are progressing as usual with a slight change that from today i.e. 13th December onwards, it will be my nanee who will give me my daily massage and bath until we go back to our house.

We came to our nanee’s place yesterday; I know my dada and dadee are missing me very much. My dadee broke into tears when she spoke to my father over phone after we had left. She was feeling bad as they were missing my in-frequent smiles; something that I started doing from 9th December onwards. Earlier, I used to flash my smiles only while sleeping; but it was from that day onwards; I began flashing it even when awake. My first one for records was flashed while I was in my mother’s lap; she was talking to me and all of a sudden I would start to smile. She was so elated that she instantly called my dadee to join the dekko. That one incident would make my emotional repertoire see its first signification addition-“ability to smile” to an innate one -“ability to cry”.

My dadee would take my mother to Dr Sethi auntie for her check-up; I too joined in. Sethi auntie has been our family doctor ever since my father was born and such is her knowledge about him that upon being enquired about the reasons behind me making strange noises while taking my feed, she shot back-“after all she is Alok’s daughter; you might have forgotten that he too used to do that”.

I have acclimatised well to my Dehradun house but it will not be much before I will have to revisit the whole business of acclimatisation again as we leave for my nanee’s house on 12th. My mother would complete the packing well in time for my nanee to come and pick us from our house and we would reach my nanee’s house at around 2 pm in the afternoon. I am visiting their house for the second time; first was when I came here as an unborn for the house warming ceremony. I would be staying at my nana’s place with my mother for sometime; and I know that while I am here my dada and dadee would miss me a lot, especially my dadee who has been with me ever since I was born. However, they will visit me every now and then as our house is not very far from my nana’s place.

You know this past week was full of mixed emotions-crying, separation, union, smile, nostalgia, spiritual journey, bright colours and so many others. But then that is what life is all about. Isn’t that true?

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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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Visit to Sri Sai Baba Temple

8th December would start on a normal note but as the day progresses; it will turn out to be a memorable day for me. The day started with my dadee giving me my daily olive oil massage followed by bath. I would wear a white printed jacket top for my daily dose of sun-bath. I woke up around 1.30pm only. After a quick feeding session, I found myself inside our car with my dadee, mummy and Himmu dadee giving me company. My father was on the steering wheel going towards our destination- Sri Sai Baba temple on the Rajpur Road. Ours is a religious family and it is natural for me to be taken to a temple first, on the day when I step out of my home for the first time in my life. My dada and dadee chose Sri Sai Baba Temple as they regularly visited the temple for offering their prayers for my safe and secure delivery. We would reach the temple gate at 2.09pm. After walking up the stairs, we entered into the main prayer hall- a very calm, quiet and peaceful place with Sri Sai Baba’s statue right in the middle. My dadee would hand me over to the priest who will put me into Sri Sai Baba’s lap to seek His blessings for me and every member of my family- A pure divine experience is how I would describe it. After offering our prayers we came back to our home. My dada could not accompany us to the temple as he had gone to the railway station for booking my father’s train ticket to Delhi.

I would soon begin to feel bad as I come to understand that my father would leave for Delhi in the night. And the night would soon arrive.... it is time to leave for railway station. My father would take me in his arms and give me a warm hug and a kiss on my forehead. I could spot the sudden remarkable change in the environment- my mother in a sombre mood trying her best to successfully hide her tears; but not my dada and dadee who have tears rolling down on to their cheeks; with my father no different than my dada and dadee......

However no one can see my tears as I am too small to shed one but then my heart alone knows that I also can feel the same amount of pain; in fact more as with my limited expressions I cannot express it same as others can..... Kids have so much to do to learn those expressions.

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