Birthday - 4 (From Diu's mum)

My dearest Divyu,

Happy Birthday to You.

Happy 18th Birthday to You.

The most memorable moment in my life is when You were born at 3.38 p.m., on Wednesday, ninth January, 1991. Nine months of pregnancy and two days of labour - and it was all worth it - just to see You lying next to me, yelling as best as You could. For a tiny little 3.2 kgs bundle, You certainly created a racket.

I had prayed long and hard to Lord Ganesha for a tiny baby girl, and my prayers had been answered -yippee! You are my best achievement in life, because I feel motherhood is the ultimate happiness, not comparable to anything else, ever. The first thing I did was to count to

see if you had ten fingers and ten toes, and then, I painted one to prevent your getting exchanged with someone else!

Divya - Your name was chosen because You are the light of our lives, and You will remain so throughout our lives.

You were the nicest baby I could ask for - happy so long as You were well-fed and dry. Somehow, You felt that night was THE time to be awake - but that was ok, too, because it was nice to sleep with Your gurgles acting as a lullaby, for You and for me.

You took to school life really well - the first three days, I wept more at the bus- stop than You did, much to the embarrassment of

Ramya. The fourth day, though, I stopped - and You started

bawling. Poor Ramya.

The twelve years upto Your college entry are a maze of memories.

- Your first five birthdays with aarti and cakes.

- Pijjo (great grandfather) and You in our garden together.

-Ajjo(grandfather) and You on the Kinetic,and the way you adored each other.

- Your look of delight when You saw bol radha bol, after which Rishi Kapoor summarily became Your uncle.

- You learn to cycle and to swim.

- You start off at two and a half feet and then slowly reach my eye level and now I have to look up to talk to You.

-Your pride when You became akka(sister) to Shreya, Nandita, Shilpa,Shruti and Rahul

- The sonn phool experience.

-Nitinanna and You dragging Your feet and going to computer classes in summer holidays.

- Your joy when Neethu joined Little Rock and voila, Your best friend became Your permanent bus companion .

- How badly I missed You when I was with Jyothi mayi.

- Shreya and You almost setting the room on fire one night.

-You lose Your baby fat and chubby look.

- The bad haircuts and Your embarrassment over them.


- Your joy when You got the Box Pack and the spanking new Harry Potter books gifted by Rekha pachi.

-the day You were so ecstatic that You got a diary with a lock.

- Your new cycle and then yet again another new cycle.

–Your misery and dejection when Ajjo(grandfather) passed away ( I still remember how you stayed with him at the Hospital when he went for his check ups – walking down to get coffee for him)

- The tension during the tenth standard boards.

- The difficult decision to cut the semi- umbilical cord with Little Rock.

- The almost foregone decision to take science in college.

........and lots more.

Your Pre University life - You were a hazy figure at home - just saw You in between Your tuitions and coaching classes - but I guess it was all worth it – You got the course You desired. And I was really happy for You. Also I was really glad when You came right out and told me that my frequent queries about Your marks pressured you – my intention was never to do that – it was just to find out how Little Rock students were faring as opposed to others – after that, I just stopped asking because I felt then , as I feel now, that after 10th standard , children do, more or less, what they feel like – nagging does not achieve anything whatsoever. I remember sitting in that pokey internet café and our sweaty palms held together when we scanned the net for your results –Wow, were they good!I was more happy than proud because you had slogged so hard, and the results showed Your efforts. And you were so relieved.

The CET counseling decided your academic future and now you are set to be an engineer – I hope your ensuing career will be as fruitful as you want it to be.

Annu(dad) and You share a lovely relationship - and I am really grateful to the Lord for that - because i hate squabbles and having to take sides in family fights. Annu likes to think that he is very strict and firm with You - but the thing is , he is as firm as a ball of butter in the fiery sunlight - and You know it so well - this really amuses me and irritates me in turns. If it were not for the fact that I have a lovely equation with my Annu, I think I would have been really resentful about this. As it stands now - I have a great equation with my Annu, You have a great equation with Your Annu - and that is as it should be. He really is such a mother hen where You are concerned -has she eaten, has she slept, should we do this for her, should we do that - Gawd!!!! I don't think I shall ever forget his "idea" to shift to Karkala to make life easier for You. I think that did not just takethe cake, it took the whole bakery ....... and then some. I really dread to think of his reactions once You are in the hostel. Already it is –like – is the food good enough, is there enough light in the room, is there enough air in the room, is there water round the clock, so on and so forth. I hope and pray that your vibes get better over the years.

You

Make me happy by just being there, thereby affirming my maternal instincts.

Make me proud by the way you interact with anama, concealing your impatience

Make me feel great by your sensitive handling of Ajjo at Bangalore and how you take time off for him,

Make me contented, when you fool around with Annu,

You are truly the only person he unwinds with.

Make me teary-eyed, I feel chill around the heart when I think that soon you will be

In the hostel away from us.

Its been a great 18 years Divyu – and somewhere along the way,

It is heartwarming to know, I have not only a daughter, but also

A friend and a confidant in you. I pray to Lord Ganesha every day,

That our equation gets better with age.I have been

The best mother I knew how to be, but I am sure that

There have been faults and lacunae, and that I

Have disappointed and even hurt You at times,

And for that I am deeply sorry and regretful.I just want

You to know that it was really unintentional.

Please remember, always, that I am here for you always.

Also, any problem however bad, can be solved by us, and who’s

To know, we may even come out the better for it.

With all the possible love in the world,

Your Amma.

The capital letter Y used when I refer to You, is not

blasphemy, it is just to show You how important

You are, and always will be, in my life.












( I love you very very much, ma. I cannot say it enough. You and dad mean the world to me. Thankyou for giving me such a wonderful childhood, a wonderful life. What I am today, I am because of you)