HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

26th May! 3 beautiful years have passed in a wink! Its thank you time for me - first to the Almighty, then my li'l angel, my daughter & dear SIL. I consider myself very lucky to have spent these three years with my loved ones. My own parents have hardly seen my daughter growing up, in fact very few grand parents get this opportunity. I've seen and grown with my darling from the day one (after all, I'm also a 3 year old grandmother!).  

I've witnessed every milestone / achievement of Abhi, be it crawling, teething, walking, cycling, running singing, dancing...... I've laughed and cried with him. The process of growing up with him has taught me to be more patient, to enjoy small little things in life which we normally take it for granted, to laugh with open heart, to forgive and forget unhappy moments quickly. To put it in a nutshell, he has taught me to LIVE life. I'm going to cherish these invaluable moments all my life. I pray and hope to ride this joyous ride with Abhi for ever.... HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY DARLING!

My birthday boys!!!! 

P.S: I forgot to mention that Abi and my husband share their birthdays! Here's a picture of them celebrating together!

Never ending wait has ended!

       Coming...coming.... and finally the list has come. We had been waiting for the transfer order of our daughter since long. On every weekend there was this rumour that the list was coming. Knowing the uncertain nature of the job, we did not even bother to open our luggage completely. We kept telling our near and dear ones to visit us before we leave Bundi for it is a beautiful place full of greenery (little known fact is that it is the veritable rice bowl of Rajasthan) and quaint historical structures though many of the old beautiful buildings are in a dilapidated condition..

         After some time it became a joke. We too stopped listening to such rumours and happily immersed our self in planning for summer season gardening. LO...! Suddenly on a Thursday night my daughter woke me up (I go to bed early) to inform me that she has been transferred. It took me a few minutes to understand  the word 'transfer' as I thought it may be one of those pranks she plays with me. Finally the word sunk in and all the excitement caught on with me. I kept asking her so many questions in between the numerous calls she was receiving about the new place.

        

           After the initial excitement died down, the thought of packing and shifting began to haunt me. I've been doing this for umpteen number of years now. I must say that there were times I used to enjoy these shiftings but with time, how I wished to settle down in one place after retiring. I guess age is catching up with me! But with my daughter in a transferable job like my husband, that is not to be. Soon we busied ourselves with packing. It is only when you have to pack up your entire household does one realise how smart or foolish you have been in shopping.. do not ask me which category we fall into!! The Himalayan task was completed  in a week and it was time to move on.

        

          The most difficult part was saying good bye to all. The thought of leaving the house and the people in our lives made me very sad. I'm going to miss all those people, the beautiful, colourful tiny flying visitors, the menace of monkeys, the chirping of different birds and the ever daring and running squirrels. Even though it is a part of one's job, it is really hard to move away from people (and place) whom you have considered as your own and to a new place to make it your own once again. It is an emotional drain out. With great difficulty all of us put up a very brave face to say bye to the loved ones in Bundi. We have reached our new destination and now the second part of the show begins. The unpacking.....!

Expression of love

     Expression of love. The feeling of missing someone. Abi is yet to learn the normal way of showing his love to us. He is on a beating spree and crying mode these days. I'm the easiest target for him. He cries at the drop of a hat. Hits me without any provocation. Loves to throwing things which shouldnt be thrown. Milk no, food no, only chocolates are welcome. If you give him one and he wants more, he will first eat the one in his hand and then start crying and say,"mujhe yeh wala nahin khana tha, woh dusra chahiye!" (I didnt want to eat this one, it is the other one that I want). He has somehow made up his mind that there is no way he will get more chocolates otherwise.

     Going to school is better than what it used to be. But he still tries his best to resist going. Just to surprise him, one day I went to pick him up after school. He was so surprised and happy to see me that he jumped into the car and hugged me and my joy knew no bound!.On our way back, I bought some chocolates, ice cream and biscuits for him. The next day I did not go to pick him up and he was so upset. As soon as he reached home and saw me, he hugged me tightly and cried saying,"naani ko gaadi me hona chahiye tha". It took me quite some time to pacify him!

     At first I thought the change in weather is the culprit. But as things didn't improve even after a few days my daughter and I had a long discussion and web searching session. That's when we understood the reason (or at least one of the reasons) for this behaviour. His 'naanu' has been away for a few days now and Abi seems to be missing his 'naanu' a lot and he does not know how to express that. Naanu loves to spoil him, especially when we are trying to restrict him from watching the rhymes on youtube or discipline him. Now, every few hours he enters naanu's room and I suppose feels his absence. Slowly I made him understand that naanu is out and he 'll be back soon. Then I made him speak to 'naanu' on the phone, which he did nicely for the first time (earlier he would keep the phone to his ears to listen but not speak). He told naanu,"Abi nannu  ko dhoond raha tha". After speaking to him Abi has calmed down a bit.. at least I'm not getting anymore thrashing! My cute l'il angel is waiting for his 'naanu' to come back.. it is so sad to see him miss someone he loves at this age when he can't even express himself properly... 

Colouring obsession

Abi is bubbling with too much energy and I'm unable to keep pace with him. The days are too long and too hot. So we are not able to do any outdoor activities. He gets bored with his toys very soon. Not that he ever plays with them - he only likes to break them. Its very difficult to make him sit in one place for more than five minutes. He does not like to be disciplined or guided to do anything. Two things he does like are playing in water and colouring. So we play in water at around noon and evenings we try to paint something.

 Since long we had been thinking of preserving his hands and feet prints. But some how it has been delayed a lot, so we finally decided to do that today. He could sit patiently  for not more than a few minutes and watch us mix the colour, being as restless as he is. We could barely manage to get his hands and legs imprinted on a paper and soon after he snatched the brush, dug out a whole lot of paints (he wanted minimum of two colours) and splashed the colours all over the place. He made a merry mess of everything around him - painted his face, hands, legs and not to mention his clothes! The paper which I gave him to paint was too small for him, so the floor became the canvas. He happily splashed colours all over the place. His joy was so infectious, we joined in too and started throwing colours at him! I wanted to remember and cherish this joyous moments, so I captured it in my lens. My little M F Husain in the making...