The BIG joys that come out of SMALL things

Vrinda’s first smile. The first time she said “mama” and wrapped her hand around my fingers, so that I would take her out, or give her a hug, or merely pick her up. The way her eyes follow me when I walk around the house. From our living room, to kitchen, to even the bathroom, which follows the sadness in them when I shut the door  for a few minutes, and the way they would glow up like a star as I would return. 

The way she kicks crazily when she’s in her bath tub, like she’s trying to swim or something or at the sight of anything that has anything to do with water(her mum-mum). When with water or in water, its like she is at the top of the world, like there are no worries, past, present or future. Its just that moment which counts, for her, for me and for the sheer happiness it brings to the both of us. 

 

  

The tiniest things put the biggest smiles on my face, and I never knew I could find such joy in something as simple as a look or a sound, a wink or a frown. How she calls for me as she wakes up first thing in the morning. Or the way in which she smiles when I tickle her before a good night’s sleep. Or the way she cries and gets upset if I try to tuck her in early to bed.

How she says a ‘hi’ and bye-c u’ to every single person that pass by, and how she becomes the center of attraction wherever she goes; may it be a supermarket, or a hospital, or a mall or a post office. Her actions, big or small, bring about a new direction in which I can love her even more. Everything she does amuses me to the core, making me go crazy myself by being in love with her, madly in love with her. 

 

Each such moment reconfirms my decision every single day that I was, indeed, meant to be a mother. Being a mother has by far been the best thing that has happened to me, apart from everything else that I have or I am. Today she defines my world; she is my gravitational pull, which keeps me moving each day, closer and closer to her being, letting me discover new heights of a happy motherhood!

 

Pictures by Y P Arora

'Rakshabandhan' - Forging Bonds Forever

As children we always waited for this festival to arrive, as it brought with it, visits to the market, refrigerators full of ‘mithais’, holiday/holidays (an added bonus, if it fell on a Saturday or a Monday) and meeting so many relatives on a single day. All year long none of us ( we three sisters) felt the need to have a brother. But on this day we wondered who we tie this beautiful thread ‘called Rakhi’ to ??!!

Since childhood, the person who came to our rescue on this day was our father. Every 'Rakhi Morning' we would get ready and he would hold his hand out so we could tie him the Rakhis our aunt's had sent for him and also the ones that were from our side for 'a brother'. On the flip side, celebrating this beautiful day and the bond it represents was not restricted to us having a brother, because we never had one. And why not? After all, our father was the one who protected us all year long. Isn’t why this day is celebrated? 

On a parallel platform, we also have four sworn brothers, who have been our brothers since we were babies. They were our neighbors. No sister for them. No brother for us. Hence the start of a relationship between them and us which completes about 25 years this Rakhi. We have hardly been in the same city but the first Rakhis that they tie is ours, even before their own cousins’. This is the bond that I cherish. Not a bond of blood, but the bond of Love.

With Vrinda’s birth, she became the first baby girl in my maternal family. My sisters already had one boy each. She brought with her a new chapter of ‘Rakshabandhan’, in the next generation. This is her 2nd Rakhi and I have already sent out her letters and Rakhis to all her cousins. What a beautiful feeling of contentment I derive from this.

Here is a basic draft of a letter from her to her brothers :-)

Dear Bhaiya,

Hope you are doing well and enjoying. I am sending Rakhi for you. Please tie it on the day Rakhi is celebrated.Hope you will like it and enjoy wearing it.
 
Please convey my regards to all elders and love to all young ones.

Your Little Sister
Vrinda a.k.a. Kuhu

Today she is too young to understand the meaning of this festival, these bonds that it forges, but as she will grow up, she will soon realize its worth and hopefully find immense pleasure in sending them out to her brothers.

 

This whole process of buying Rakhis , making the parcels and being excited about how her brothers will feel when they tie them on their wrist, really makes me happy and fulfilled as a mother.

The ritual that we followed as children, I am going to start the same for her from this Rakhi. Vrinda will be tying Rakhi to her papa from this year, professing the protection that she seeks from him as a daughter as well as a baby sister :-)

But more than anything else, I would want her to believe in the strength of relations, relations that she seek to build over time with her brothers. Tying a Rakhi is only symbolic, what matters is that she forges such strong bonds with them that go a long way in their lives for all times to come!