Pari, My Angel – Inching up closer

Today is Saturday, 7th Nov 2009. It’s 10:30AM, and I am resting comfortably on my bean bag. Winters have recently kicked in and I am absolutely loving the slight nip in the air. The morning fog is retreating back to the heavens slowly. From where I am seated, I am able to peek outside onto my balcony and the sun rising above. It looks warm and inviting, ready to pour onto the world it’s bucketful of gold. Away in the kitchen, my wife is preparing hot tea.

Just the right time to write a blog update on Pari, isn’t it? Well, here goes….

We felt it’s important to note the small developments as Pari inches up closer to 2 years of age, its now just two months away.

Pari’s height has increased well in the past few months. Though I haven’t measured, I think it’s two and a half feet, reaches up to four fingers below my waist. Her hair is curly, thick and has grown well after her mundan in Hardwar. (Head shaving ceremony) If not oiled, it looks tangled and unmanageable. Have to say though, when we comb her hair, split them in the middle and then tie them in two small knots in both ends, she looks like a charming gorgeous angel – My Snow white, if ever there was one. (Please refer to recent photo attached here.)

The Art of Saying Hello – “Oi” and “Ayy-o” – She used to keenly observe us talking on the phones from time to time. Initially, she started saying “Oi” by raising the phone to her ear imitating us. Sometimes when the phone was not available, anything could act as a substitute, a rope, a toy, even my ID card! Gradually she has now moved on to a more Clearer “Ayy-o”. Now when we ask her to say ‘Hello” or “Pari, phone par baat karo” (Pari – talk on the phone), she would immediately pick up the phone or anything lying nearby, or just her hands, take them to her ear and cutely say “Ayy-o”. The variation in voice is so cute, I am not able to put it in words.

Upwardly Mobile – She is quite well versed in using the I-Phone. She unlocks it by sliding her finger across the screen and opens up different applications from time to time. There is one she likes a lot…It’s got fishes swimming all over the screen…She touches them on the screen and says “Sish!”. Sometime she will open a game, give it to us and have that please-play-it-for-me look in her eyes and would say “Ikku. Ikku!”. She’s got her owns words and ways of addressing things. Another problem is that she has deleted half the good applications from the phone now while playing with it. Soon it would warrant a trip to Gaffar Market to get applications reloaded.

She likes sitting on my lap when I sit on my computer laptop every morning. And, if I leave the computer unattended for even a minute, she would press the switch off button and close all the applications instantly!

Musical Leanings – When ever my wife sings the devotional song ”Tu hi data, vishwa widhaata, Tu hi to hai radha ka shyaam….”, Pari immediately, as if on cue hums “ Ay AAAAam, Ay AAAAAm” The tonal variation, word stress, time delay and the music is always exactly the same as the words “Hey Ram, Hey Ram” in the original song. What becomes clear here is that she has a sharp music sense composed of sur, taal and timing. Something she takes on from her father, I guess.
Another one where she knows where to step in on cue. We sing “Ja-Ja-Ja, Jaane bhi de, ishq ki khushboo aane bhi de, dekha tujhko dil me mere….” and Pari, completes the phrase by saying “ E-E-OOOOOOO” (Original is “Uthi Hooook”) One more example of such a song is Kuke kuke Koyalia, rendered as Toote Toote.

Dance – Her style of dancing is moving her shoulders up and down whenever there is a good song playing. One way to get her dancing is to say the words “Dancee Dancee” when there is a peppy number on TV and she would immediately start her jiggle with a joyous expression on her face.

Imitiations – At times she picks up the broom and imitates the way the maid does the cleaning in the mornings (sweeping the floor). These days she also picks up a comb or a packet of Bindis and would pretend to comb her hair with the former and apply the latter to her forehead. Another thing she would imitate is worship. She would pick up the agarbatti stand and rotate it round and round in front of the Mandir (temple) uttering some words sounding like - om sai namo nama…..etc and pretending to pray.

Actions – She has learnt actions which go with some poems like Johnny Johnny Yes Papa, Twinkle Twinkle little star, Chubby Cheeks etc. Often me/Pooja say the words, she does the actions and at end of the poem, we all including her burst into applause saying “Yeeeaaaaah!” She does say one/two words every now and then, but never the whole sentence. Some examples of her words are Tinka Tinka for “Twinkle Twinkle” and Howwaa for “How I”.

We are still waiting for her to start talking though…!

Thanks for going through this blog. These blogs for me, are more of online memoirs. May 20 years on, me/Pari/my family will read them, remember the times gone by and smile. For now, however, I must put down my pen. More soon…

Regards,

Varun

Pari - Musical Role Reversal

Pari, my daughter, is almost 20 months old now. Though she occasionally utters words like Papa (sometimes when prompted to speak – she doesn’t yet address me as “Papa”), Mamma, Mum-Mum (for water), she has not gone beyond that and some other gibberish which is a dialect privy to her alone. Needless to say, we are anxious to hear her start to speak words and sentences cutely. And it’s a seemingly long wait….

These days, one of her favorite pass times is listening to songs and dancing. She dances by lifting her shoulders up and down, twisting her hands or jiggling her waist. It’s a funny sight to watch. She likes all new Hindi songs on TV and starts gyrating when one of her favorite numbers is playing. These days, she just cant seem to get enough of the song, “Pappu cant dance saala”. At some parts of the song, when the choir goes, "Hey Hey Hey Hey", Pari also joins in saying "Hey Hey Hey Hey" with the same rhythm and a lot of enthusiasm. So much for music sense!! Whenever I am singing the song for her and I pause at the right time, she fills in with the four Hey's with applaudable energy. At times, we would play Duflee (Indian percussion instrument) and sing songs, she would start dancing the way I have described above. If we ever pause for breath, she would cry (artificially) till we start singing again. When we do start singing again, she would stop crying and start dancing immediately. This rapid change of mood she displays always makes us laugh uncontrollably.

Two days ago, I tried a variation in this routine and it had an extremely comic outcome which I am now blogging about.. Pari was playing the Dufflee which was emanating sounds like "Chann Chann". All of a sudden, I started imitating her dancing style. If she paused, I would start to cry artificially like she did. She immediately resumed banging the percussion instrument and I started dancing like a carefree child. She surely must be wondering, "Whats happened to my dad, he is acting like I should!?" Now she is absolutely loving this change of routine. When I am playing with her and say her name "Pari" in a wailing voice (like I am about to cry) she would just get down on the floor and start beating it with her two hands if she doesn't see the dufflee lying around. And, as if on cue, I would start dancing again..!! She would have that great smile on her face and would let out little chuckles when she sees me do this...This is the smile I love to see. I am willing to act like a clown, jump around like a frog and make silly faces all day to see her smile, my biggest stress reliever. It's doesn't make much difference to me if the world feels that I have lost it temporarily.

Hope you have enjoyed reading this…and I hope Pari likes it too when she is old enough to read and understand this blog.

More soon....

VJ

Pari - The First 17 months

I am writing this blog on Tuesday 2nd June. Pari has completed 17 months of age today.

My work at an International BPO keeps me occupied through the course of the week, Mondays to Fridays. On weekends, I am normally home either browsing the net (Orkut, Youtube and Gmail are my staple favorites) or watching movies or going out for shopping or eating somewhere by the mossy stone in Old Delhi! I havent been able to document in detail about the growth of Pari in a chronological order. However, in this blog I will try and compress the first 17 months and talk about the key developments and events we noticed and we were elated about.

It might so happen that the sequence of events gets jumbled somewhat, however, it is an honest attempt by a doting father to record his feelings about his varied experiences about his daughter's growth.

Her Smiles – One asset Pari has had since the time of her birth was her smiles. Even when she could not talk or say words, her smile made the day look so much brighter. Sometimes when she was sleeping or at times when I made funny faces, she broke into a beautiful smile which could take your heart away and make the hardest stones melt into nothingness.

Massage Time – The first 40 days after her birth were days when both she and her mom could not leave the house as per tradition. A lady used to come each day to give them an oil massage. What I clearly remember about this daily ritual is no matter how heavily the lady went about applying pressure to Pari’s limbs, she would not mind, rather, she would have a look of great contentment on her face and she enjoyed it thoroughly.

125 Waala Kaajal – Mummy had purchased a Shahnaz Hussain Kaajal (kohl) for her and used to apply it to her each day. Just because it cost Rs.125, we nicknamed it the 125 rupaye waala kaajal.

Holi Diwali – Her first Holi was great fun. We applied red colour to her palms and feet and took their imprints on paper. These were later cut out and pasted in her album. On her first Diwali we did the same thing to her feet again and imprinted them outside the door like steps of Goddess Lakshmi walking in. The marks stayed there for several months.

In my Office – She came to office once during family connect and was an instant hit. Everyone had seen her pics- On Orkut, on my workstation, on my mobile, and they were all glad to see her. Everyone keeps asking me, when are you going to get her next. Well soon, I always say.

Naming Her – We browsed several websites and shortlisted a list of names we liked. I remember Samreen (but it was rejected later due to religious reasons). Then there was Ridhima (Panditji had suggested that her name begin with R but we were not convinced.) Finally we pulled up a list of all Goddess names from the net. One of the names of Goddess Lakshmi was Shreya. We decided to keep the name for Pari.

Travelling (Before Birth, Car, Bike and Trip to Rishikesh) – Well, she has been travelling since she came into this world. We were recollecting the other day how she has been on the move….Haridwar, Rishikesh, Lansdowne, Karnal, Jaipur etc. It seems she is going to be a big ghumakkad (traveler) when she grows up.

Waiting for Papa – Very often she used to wait for me to return from office. After coming back I played some time with her and then she slept peacefully.

Her Night Shifts – Initially for the first 3-4 months, she used to stay awake for a greater part of the night, with her mom giving her company. This has improved with time, and now she wakes up only about twice.

Games she plays – When she was a few months old, she used to hold my index finger and thumb with her two hands and I used to move them close and away making funny sounds like khao-khao...etc.... (Not too sure if you can understand this...but I had to write this anyway...!)

One of her favorite games is when I hide behind the curtain, call her name and suddenly come to her running. She squeals with joy and runs to anyone who is nearby for cover. I normally repeat this several times just to hear her peals of laughter.
Jumping around on the bed, making funny faces is also something I do to make her laugh. Believe me, it’s a great stress buster.

First Attempts – I used to store all first attempts as texts in my mobile but lost the mobile later, hence losing all the data. She started crawling after 6 months and started taking support to stand at 8 months. At about 9 months, she started walking a few steps before falling down. However, now she has become very energetic and agile.

Mundan - Her Mundan took place in Haridwar in March 2009. We drove down and it was a great experience. Nothing like a dip in chilled Ganga river in the searing heat.

My Good Luck Charm – I feel she is my good luck charm. A lot of good things in my life have come to me after she came into my life. A stable job, Overseas travel, A laptop, good performance at work, New car, New House…the list goes on.

And Now – She is learning to talk and we can hardly wait for her to start! Words she has been saying are Boo…(water), Mi-Mi (mummy) and Mi (me, I guess).
She enjoys fun evenings in the park with me and her mom on weekends. Her favourite game is who reaches her mom first. I always tend to lose, pretending to cry after which there is great jubilation on her face. She walks with great gusto in the park, bullying any kid in sight by snatching their toy or pushing them away. She loves walking up and down steps and climbing any slopes. (Mountaineer in the making? I don’t know!)

Picking up objects and throwing them around is also something she loves. Like, for example, she would pickup a pillow and toss it at me and say “Da”. She would repeat this for all cushions on the sofa. When we find something missing in the house, we often wonder “Kahin Pari ne Da to nahi kar diya?” (Hope Pari has not Da-ed the thing?)

If she is feeling thirsty, she would get a bottle of water and place it her mom’s lap. She would then take sips from the bottle or a glass till her thirst is quenched. A simple act, but with loads of cuteness in it, specially since the child is still learning to communicate.

Since she is such an outdoors person, she wails loudly when I leave for work. Also if the main door is shut, she makes her displeasure known. When going out with family, she quickly waves a frantic bye to everyone and eagerly anticipates going out asap.

She is a big fan of TV. She doesn’t eat food if songs are not playing, her fav channel being 9XM. She watches songs without blinking even once, and I know it cant be too good for her eyes, though! One song she loves is Bhaage re mann from Chameli…I am not sure why the child wont stop smiling once this song is on!

When I ask her to clap, she does it very cutely. When we give her the mobile and ask her to say Hello, She cutely puts one end of the phone to her ear like she’s going to start talking any minute.
In the end of this blog, I would just like to say that it's one of the most remarkable experiences in the world to have a child and see her grow. Every little step she takes, her first smile, her first attempt to sit upright makes us ecstatic with glee. We watch every move, every sound with great curiosity and try to anticipate the next move and action

More soon…

Cheers,
Varun

Pari - The Birth Of My Daughter

Pari on Day 1

Pari was born at 4:30Pm on Wednesday, 2nd January 2008 at Hemraj Jain Hospital in Janakpuri, New Delhi.

It all started with this. Pooja had a severe ache in her stomach the previous day which was actually a result of eating veg fried rolls in Janakpuri's District Center. The pain substantially increased at around 11Pm at the night of 1st Jan 08, and thats when we called the doctor who asked us to come to the hospital and get Pooja admitted since the due date was about 14 days later. A few uneasy hours later, the doctor examined Pooja in the morning and she was put on drip. They started giving injections to induce the delivery. (For accelerating the pains) All this while I was at Pooja's side. Her mom and Bhabhi came in from Gandhi nagar and sat by her bed. We were waiting and uneasy seeing Pooja convulse and writhe in Pain. Thats when Manju Bhabhi asked me to go home and come back in some time. (It's said that deliveries take time when the husband is standing with the wife.....I dont know any reasons why, but then I went with the flow of the moment.)

Hemraj Jain Hospital, Janakpuri

I went home, freshened up and before I could grab a quick bite, I got a call from the hospital, that Pooja had been taken to the Operating Theater for the delivery at around 4pm. Delighted, I fled in the car back to the hospital. Papa, Mummy, Me, Pooja's Mom, Manju Bhabhi were waiting anxiously outside while Pooja was going through a laborious time in the OT. I kept getting calls from Tappu (who was in his cab going to office) and Geeta from office to know the status. Everyone was a bit nervous and was pacing up and down the hall. I saw the wall clock which moved from 4:20 to 4:25PM and keep moving on. At that time it seemed that every second was passing by slowly. and a sharp contrast was our heartbeat which kept racing.

Just when the clock struck 4:30PM, I heard the sweetest sound in the world. Pari's shrill shrieks reverberated in the air. Our joy knew no bounds and we congratulated each other. At that time, we didn't even know whether it was a boy or a girl. Nevertheless, we were overjoyed. Some guessed it was a boy, coz boys cry with single note sounds like aaaaaaaaaaa in in different notes and girls cry with sounds like "angey....angey....angey....."

Anyways, we moved in Pooja's room in the hospital and waited. Mummy went out after some time and got the baby from the Nurse, who, while handling over the baby said, "Lakshmi Hai", Once in the room, Papa held the baby in his arms and whispered the Gayatri Mantra in her ears. Thats when I saw her open her eyes for the first time and look up at Papa. Next in line was me, and when I held Pari in my arms, I cant describe the joy and elation I felt. Touching her tiny hands and feet and kissing her on her small rosy cheeks was the best feeling in the world. People waited in turns to hold her in her arms, and everyone shared our happiness. Pooja came in after half an hour once the post operating procedures were over. Pooja was eventually discharged from hospital after 3 days.

The birth of my daughter was one of the most momentous occasions in my life. Though it's been over 5 months now since it happened, but I can remember every tiny detail as if it was just yesterday. I plan to continue blogging about my daughter, as much as I can, on how she is growing and what all she is learning and what all she is doing. And maybe one day when she is old enough to read and understand blogs, I would show her my posts. This would be my gift to her as a Dad.

P.S. I hope I stay on-plan as much as possible.