Life Out Of A Song!

Scene 1
Mom- Alok, do you remember that song?
Papa (he knows the song mom is talking about) – I can’t remember the exact words

Silence follows; both are in deep thinking mode while I am playing with papa's cell phone. Papa manages to retrieve one line of the main song......and, humming follows

Scene 2
Papa- (singing) “हम और बंधेंगे , हम तुम कुछ और बंधेंगे” (we shall come closer, more closer)
Mom- (singing) “जीवन की बगिया महकेगी, लहकेगी” (Garden of life shall blossom)

YouTube search followed and song came to life......again......after two years! Yes; that’s what they told me.......

Scene 3
Both are playing this song on their respective laptops.......Confused me, is looking at both of them........ Mom had tears in her eyes and papa is no different either!

Here is the song that brought tears to their eyes! It is no brainer as to why tears came rolling down their cheeks........(papa will post English translation of lyrics soon)


History behind this song: Those were the days when my parents were debating on the question of bringing another life into this world.....Although they had complete unanimity on the need for a kid; timing was a big bone of contention ....... Papa was of the opinion that mom is highly career oriented, something that she should tone down first before planning a kid; while mom was not ready to discuss this subject at all ......And then, they stumbled upon this song by chance; developed an instant liking for the song and the lyrics......Our car-stereo player played this song non-stop for more than 3 months (Ruchi bua might remember mom telling her about this song).......From then on, it didn't take much for reality to dawn on them.......Soon, life-cell began to take shape inside my mom's womb .....That life cell is a 10 months old kid now; and can laugh, giggle, cry, touch, feel, crawl......Or should I say, is someone who is more than what this song describe!

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Love Abounds

.........everywhere; in that look into my eyes, in the soft touch that reaches out to me, in the words that creates a symphony in my ears, in your visits and your comments. It is everywhere; it is profound and universal.......

Finding my own reasons to smile or cry; I celebrate and rejoice my every moment. When I smile I treasure it and when I cry I shed the burden. All good memories and no baggage mean I have something to look forward to every other day. So, I rise and wake up with a smile, learn a new thing that life has to offer, enjoy it to live it and go to bed with a smile. .......Life is beautiful and simple!

My mantra to enjoy my life- “live life in present moments; treasure all fond memories; don’t burden self with a baggage-shed it then and there. Live life to the fullest and don't complicate it as life is indeed beautiful and simple”.

Everyone can do that- just go back to your childhood days....

Comeon! you have been there and done that!

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Gang Of Three Revisited

...........has now grown bigger; compare yourself from the two photographs. Me-barely 3 days old in my Ashu chacha's safe hands with my Rudra bhai & Ridhima didi on 6th November.....Read more here . . And now this one taken on 20th November Time just flies and things do change.....my Ridhima didi can now hold me, Rudra bhai can walk and talk and I can crawl! How right they were when they said "Change is the only constant"! I wonder why didn't they add "forward looking" to that saying.

Just imagine a life where our sphere of mutual love, trust, respect and bonding only grows stronger, bigger and for better..............How enjoyable that life would become; whole and complete. Imagine and live it!

I am definitely living it.

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School Dreams- Is There Any Hope?

Six months into life; I along with my family have already started to dream. Dreams, that are about my future- growing up as a kid and later as an adult. With every passing day that list continues to expand-few things gets added up while some are dropped. An essential constituent of that list is about the kind of schooling/education my parents would like me to give.

But, horrific incidents of past few days are beginning to affect me. Within a span of few days, two young girls (Shanno and Akkriti) have lost their lives. I have already mentioned about Shanno in one of my posts here. While, Akkriti, a 17 year old from Delhi’s Modern School lost her life following an asthma attack on Monday; apparently due to school’s negligence in administering her the required medical care. In their death, have gone all their dreams and that of their respective families. Their fault-they followed their respective school dream. Worse is that the incidents of Shanno and Akkriti are not stray incidents anymore; they are getting repeated at an alarming rate in different parts of the country. The lackadaisical approach of the administration in dealing with cases like that of Akkriti, Shanno and many other unfortunate kids is not helping either. If this is the way to deal with kids-incidentally the largest block of kids on the face of this planet; then I think something is terribly wrong with the school/education system of this country and the people who run it.

Here, I am left wondering- If a school is really worth it? Though my answer would still be an emphatic YES; but with a plea; that for God sake-
~ Please ban all these corporal punishments.
~ Set up fast track courts to deal with the cases of kids like Shanno, Akkriti, Aman and many others.
~ Make schools and its management accountable for the safety and security of the kids.
~ Make it mandatory for schools to maintain emergency medical care at school premises itself.

I don’t have any hopes left with our stupid politicians and heartless bureaucrats; but I hope that our Supreme Court is listening!

Edited to add: I request all the readers of this post to take up this issue in whatever manner they feel appropriate. Also, please write and urge your other blogger friends and colleagues to write posts on their blogs for creating an opinion on this issue so that no other Shanno, Akkriti or Aman lose his/her life while pursuing their school/college dreams. You can also use the comment tab of this post to write your views on this matter. Let us use the power of this medium to shake the administration so hard that it is left with no choice but to come out of its state of comatose. We don't need any more Shannos, Akkritis and Amans to happen to any other kid anymore. Enough is enough!

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Human Behaviour- No Mystery

Human behaviour is an extremely complex arrangement of emotions and thoughts; negative and positive always jostling for space and fighting daily battles to gain an edge over one another to prove their respective supremacy. The end result is that complexity continues to grow to keep pace with the development of the human being. Soon, time comes when complexity grows to such an extent that both the “resident” aka “human behaviour” and the “host” alias “human being” come to become one; thus altering the course of life forever.

Ever wonder why we react differently to exactly similar situations or individuals for that matter? - In that merger lays the answer to all those questions.

Being an infant, I am still far away from all those complexities as my emotional repertoire is also in its early infancy just like me. However, this situation is not something carved in stone and it will not be very long when I too will eventually join this rat race; ready to face the world and react as it expects me to react.

I asked myself- is that how I would want to be; merely acting as a puppet with my strings in the hands of everyone else?

That’s when I came up with this answer through my father’s thought- my own blog. To my readers, this might sound too melodramatic or an abnormal statement. My plain retort to them is- when kids can come to become a life out of an union between two human beings, why should they be not allowed to convey/communicate their thoughts through those two beings. Afterall every kid, till he/she becomes self-reliant remain an inseparable part of their parents despite their biological separation; incidentally the separation occurs not out of their own wish but because of a God designed biological exigency that a mother’s womb cannot hold them beyond 9 months.

Born in a year, when Barack Obama managed to join the only missing piece in Martin Luther King’s famous assertion-“I have a dream”; this demanding daughter too dares to dream and her dream is- “to be an outstanding human being”. And, I am helped in my mission by my father who, through this blog is documenting my evolution as a human being during my formative years with an aim to make available to me; the crucial data points that will assist me unravel/demystify the mystery that shrouds the inconsistencies in human behaviour. After all, to tread on known rather than on unknown always helps and allows us to improve, lest we want otherwise!

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Experiencing My First Touch

My mom was moved into the room no. 303 at around 5 pm; where I would join her at around 5.30 pm. Hospital nurse would put me inside my cradle and move me into my room with my dadee and chachee escorting me.My dada, my mother and my bhai Rudra were waiting to welcome me. As soon as I entered that room, my dadee would embrace me and take me in her arms and I could feel that special touch– a soft touch of love, care, joy, excitement, fulfillment and blessings; a touch to thank God for ensuring safety of both me and my mother with prayer on her lips. My dada would then hold me and his touch was no different than that of my dadee- a touch full of love, care, excitement, joy and blessings while thanking God for His kindness. My chachee too would take his turn to hold me with Rudra bhai looking on. Last but not the least,my mom would take me in her arms and it was truly an amazing experience to be held by her for the first time after keeping me inside her womb for 9 months. The soft cuddle and the touchy sensation was once in a life time experience. I was living that moment fully and completely. Everyone’s eyes were talking to me and I was responding to them in my own way.

The room was completely filled with love, joy, excitement and gratitude. It was the space that I was waiting for long in general and since 9.17 am in particular. My father would enter the room and find him lost for words. He touched me and held me with care and love; prayers on his lips. If I were to describe all this experience in one sentence, I would say- truly a divine experience to be surrounded by my loved ones with expressions of love, care, happiness and gratitude to God. Life outside is wonderful.

My chacha would join us soon; he is an expert in holding kids and held me with such precision and care. He too was an expression of love and would become the first person to gift me- A hundred rupee note; something I am going to cherish throughout my life.

Later, we all would be joined by my Mamta auntie (my mother’s sister), Sunil uncle, Shubham Bhaiya and Riya didi. My auntie would take me into her arms and bless me. My total kitty would soon grow to Rs 200- 100% growth in a span of an hour and that too in such a severe economic downturn……

Now I am looking forward to the visit of Renu Bua, Rakesh Mama and Ridhima didi which would be next day i.e. 4th Nov.

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My Third Trimester-1st Month

Third trimester was the most exciting but dreadful phase and it began in Aug with the visit of my sister from Uganda- Ridhima didi,my Renu Bua & Rakesh mama (my auntie-uncle). My father is very attached to his sisters. In fact, Reveda name given by my father has its roots in that attachment only. My Renu Bua was visiting us for Rakhee(a festival celebrated by brothers and sisters). Rinki auntie, my father's sister of 30 years too came to our Gurgaon home. We all kids celebrated Rakhee together with Rudra (my uncle's son) and Pihu didi (Rinki auntie's daughter); albeit I was inside my mother's womb. My dada-dadee were with us in Gurgaon only.Since Iam talking about brothers & sisters; I must mention my Veda Bua here- she is my father's sister of 9 years from Indiana-US and very close indeed. I will write more about her later when I tell you about story behind my name-Reveda.Back to my Ridhima didi, who is so cute, just like a doll..you can even spot her easily in a crowd of thousands...I am sure we will make an excellent troika with our bhai Rudra,an ever smiling brother.

Visits to doctors continued as usual and mom's overnight back-aches kept their pace on with my development inside. My mother would often turn to Rakesh uncle & Vaishali auntie for advice during this phase. Both of them were in the different stages of parenthood. Rakesh uncle-my father's closest friend of 16 yrs and his wife (Deepu auntie)had twins in May; while Vaishali auntie (wife of Chetan uncle- my father's other close friend)was nearing her delivery. Besides, she had an army of advisors/counsellors in my Dadee, Renu bua, Rinki bua, Veda-bua.....

The 1st month of third trimester ended on 5th Sep and coincided with the birth of Tanmaya, Chetan uncle-Vaisali aunties's son. I now was two months away from my much awaited entry into the world.

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