Letter to my daughter on her second birthday!

 My dear birdie,

 

Today you turn two, how we’ve gotten to this point I don’t know? Today, I am the stereotypical emotional mother who can’t believe how much you have grown and evolved since you were that impossibly small little being whose appearance changed the course of our lives. 

 

I remember looking outside the window to a pink beautiful burning sky the moment you were born. It was as if the sky had lit candles to welcome you, and that was the moment we decided to name you ‘Dia’. Forever lighting up our lives. 

 

I remember Ansh eagerly awaiting your arrival. Don’t be fooled by his video when he first saw you. He was expecting a little sister who would immediately pop put of mama’s belly and start playing with him ;) You can’t blame him. We had build up your arrival to him a lot. His first words on seeing you were, “Mama, is there another one coming”… lol But since then, he has only loved you, adored you and protected you with all his heart. 

You are the one that completed our family jigsaw, the one we wanted more than anything…

You are the sister that I dreamt of having for Ansh. You pull his hair, you bully him, you want to play with all his toys, but you also give him the best hugs. You wait for him to wake up and you love giving him ‘gentle touch’. Your relationship is why I wanted you so badly. Mom and Maasi shared a similar relationship and I wanted Ansh to have that too. A best friend for life.

 

My doll, when I think of you so many words come to mind…cute, funny, mischievous, loving, adorable, loud, a handful, cheeky, huggable and above all a content happy little girl. You’re the one who lights up every room with her presence. You smile and laugh to your hearts content and the world laughs with you. It’s truly contagious. I hope you see all the videos of your laughter and keep reminding yourself to always laugh like this. The noise of your laughter is the most amazing thing in my life. I pray that never changes. You are a marvel! 

You bring happiness to so many people’s lives and I am more and more convinced that you’ll always be this content, happy, positive bird brightening the world around you! 

However, in the last two years we’ve also learnt to not be fooled by that innocent, sweet smile of yours. You are one naughty kid. Lately, you’ve been taking something from your brother’s room or mommy’s drawer and hiding it at places. I found my apple watch after 2 whole days, lying in your toy bin. And when spotted those little legs of yours run as fast as they can with the naughtiest little giggle and scream following behind. Sometimes when dada and I scold you, you simply close your eyes. That’s our favorite thing to watch. Like everything disappeared for you. 

You are curious, wild, adventurous and daring – nothing is too high, too big or too fast for you.

Doll, I promise that at some point mummy will admit you are no longer a baby and move you from your cot to a bed. I will stop starting at your tiny little face and click a million pictures a day. 

But please a little request from mummy. Don’t grow up too quickly, I’m not ready for it yet. I will never stop smothering you with kisses.

I am so incredibly proud to be called your mama my little 2 year old wild child, and always remember I loved you then, I love you now, and I will love you forevermore!

Happy 2nd Birthday my Sweetie Pie!

 

Don’t ever stop smiling, my little smiley girl…

 

Six short years since we officially met!

Today I am the mother of a six-year-old. I have no idea how this happened. 

They say, “the days are long, but the years are short” and that is never truer than when you look at your children.

Has it really only been just six years?

Six short years since we officially met.

Six short years since your first breath.

Six short years since you made me a mother and life before you just faded away.

For six years now, I have watched you grow. I have watched you succeed; I have watched you fail, I have watched you persist through your challenges.

I have watched you develop into a strong, witty (you get that from your dad), inquisitive, spirited yet so compassionate and kind little boy. My heart sometimes fears that for the sweet boy that you are, people might push you over. But your dad thinks that you’re smart enough to stand up for yourself. 

This has been a big year of you. Kindergarten started amidst the pandemic, but you love it (even if you’ve never seen your classmates without a mask). Of course, your favorite activities are lunch and recess, but when I push you on what activity IN the classroom you like most, you tell me ‘gym’ ;)

You’re learning to read, and I love to hear you sound out words. You don’t quite love reading as much as you love math and get quite frustrated when you get something wrong. It’s such a tough thing to learn and understand. Learning takes time and you have to be patient. You can’t be good at absolutely everything, but I am quite sure you are going to try.

Thanks to the pandemic, we spent a lot of time locked up in the house together. Some really fun times watching Disney movies, playing board games, and some not-so fun times. But you’ve to remember, mama only gets frustrated at you, because she has too much on her mind and when you ask the same question 100 times, it’s not so much fun for me anymore ;)

This year, you also got to spend a lot of time with Masi, CK, Arth and Yogi. They stayed with us for a few months and your excitement knew no bounds. You used to get a little disappointed when I came to pick you up from school, and not Masi. But it's okay, I think Masi is more fun too :)

You still love playing outdoors. You were spending a lot of time playing in the sand box at our neighbor’s house, so mama and dadda got you a tree house in our backyard. It had swings and slide, monkey bars, climbing ropes. You were very excited and played in it for one whole day, and then went back to the sandbox at our neighbor’s house. ;)

You love your gym classes and now you’re teaching me how to do a cartwheel. Obviously, mama doesn’t have a core as strong as you, so I keep falling. You have also started loving swimming AGAIN. After our “incident” in Atlanta, you were scared to step inside a pool again. But thanks to Nikita and Kevin’s encouragement, you’re back to being a water baby, and now you insist on saving everyone from drowning J

This year, you also had your first sleepover! Yay! I was excited and nervous, but you were just plain excited. Spending first night away from home, can be an experience fraught with worry. What if you must go potty in the middle of the night? What if you have a nightmare and want to cuddle with me? Are a few thoughts that would usually cross my mind. But you were spending the night with Tanya and Abhishek, two people who love you with all their might and I had nothing to worry about. You couldn’t wait for me to leave J You played UNO till late night and crashed, like you always do. 

Your sister adores you and wants to do everything you do. We are so lucky that you two enjoy each other the way you do. You play way more than you fight. Don’t be fooled by the hair-pulling and pushing incidents. That’s her way to showing you her love J

Ansh, six seems so very big at times, but you are still my little boy. As grown up as you seem, I am so thankful that you still like to cuddle with me. You love to give me kisses and insist I sleep in your bed. I’m sorry I am not around much during your bedtime, but I hope you’ll understand and forgive me for that. But dadda makes sure he reads you a book every night and plays tickles with you. Truly, it’s my loss. 

You have taught me what love is. What loving with my whole heart looks like and holding nothing back.

 

Most importantly though, being your mother has protected me from myself. In days of doubt, hours of stress and anxiety you have pulled me out the other side and shown me how to persevere.

Being your mother has been an honour and a privilege and not a day goes by that I am not grateful for you.

I am a better person today because of you and this journey that you have taken me on has been profoundly the best time of my life.

My darling boy, words can’t express the depth of pride I have for the small person I have raised. You show kindness and consideration for all those you meet. You are loyal, thoughtful and wise. You demonstrate fairness and tolerance in all things and beyond all, you treat others with dignity.

My precious boy, I wish you the world. I want for you; all your hopes and dreams and I will be here to make sure you achieve them all.

Happiest of birthdays to you.

And now, as per ritual, I’m jotting down a few of my favorite things you’ve said in the last one year. Your sarcastic humor comes from your dad and I’m so thankful for it J

1.     The toilet roll holder in our bathroom is falling out. It’s created a crack in a little section of the wall. The other day, I heard you tell your friends, “My house is falling apart”. Lol 

2.     I took you to the ATM with me to withdraw money and showed you the process of inserting a card and how the cash is dispensed. After that, you wanted to hold cash in your hand. To which, I told you that, “Kids can’t hold money. Mama and dadda work really hard to get money, and kids might lose it”. To which, without a pause, you replied, “But mama, I just saw you get money. That didn’t look hard”

3.     I got an email from your class teacher asking me for our new address. Apparently, you went and told her that we have recently moved houses

4.     This one time, your hair was not behaving very well. So, I asked you, “what’s going on with your hair?” To which, of course, your response was, “You didn’t fix it. Maybe that’s what’s going on with my hair”

5.     The other day, you said, “Mama, you know I’ve been to the moon.” And when I asked, with whom? You said, “Oh! You don’t know her. She looks like you, but she’s my old mama. She has longer hair.”

Oh Ansh, I love you so much bud. I wish you a lifetime of happiness. I am so proud to be your mama.

Love

Why I love Hrithik Roshan

I know, Hrithik has a million fans out there who claim to be his biggest fans and I’m not oblivious to the fact that I, probably, do not exist for him. Though, that one time that our eyes crossed each other at an award function in Mumbai, I did feel like we had a connection 😉

People ask me often why I love Hrithik so much. It’s not only because of his good looks (oh my! His Greek-God looks 🤤 ), or his dance, or his acting abilities. Yes! Yes! I have seen Main Prem ki deewani hoon, but I’ve also seen Lakshay, Guzaarish, Koi Mil Gaya, Dhoom 2, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, Super 30, Kaho na pyar hain, Fiza, Mission Kashmir, Jodha Akbar… want me to go on? 

But the real reason I idolize Hrithik Roshan is because he is a real motivator. To me, he personifies “Defeat Defeat”. I gather so much encouragement from his stories and it motivates me to never give up. 

💫He used to stammer as a kid, and still does sometimes, but he never gives up  

💫At a young age, he was diagnosed with Scoliosis-Curved Spinal Cord. He was told he could be on wheelchair for life if he took up a physically exerting career.  He fought through it and how! 

💫He was diagnosed with a bad knee and had to undergo multiple surgeries. You’ll never see that come through in his movies.

💫A blood clot was spotted in his brain and he had to go under the knife once again, but this time he had infinitesimal chances of recovery

💫He is kind and generous. I still remember reading about how he took time off from a shooting and spent hours with a cancer patient during her last days, after she expressed her desire to meet her favorite star on social media. And so many more stories.

💫In short, he is one of us – was bullied as a kid, is a doting father, has two thumbs, divorced, faces challenges everyday, faces more failures than success. 

My takeaway from Hrithik’s life is, WE HAVE TO KEEP PUSHING. Find what scares you the most, picture it every second of everyday, internal motivation will automatically push you to hitherto unknown limits.

Happy Birthday my source of motivation! 🥳❤️🤩