Happy Parent's Day. This is one of my favourite picture from my album. The love, warmth, joy, comfort, pride and care all depicted in one. No matter how many years and whatever situation we have been, these emotions have nurtured my character.
Last time, when Papa was in town, we drove to Greater Noida for a day out. When we were heading back home, looking at me driving with ease, he proudly put his hand on my head and said, "your my wonder woman... very strong lady."
Hmm.. while their emotions nurtured my character, my strength and the craze to fight my everyday fears came from Joanna.
I can never forget the day, when this 6 year old daughter of mine, had cupped my face with her tiny hands, looked straight into my teary eye and said, " Your a very strong woman Mumma...." Those words resonated so loud, that I had to believe it.
If, I weren't a parent, I would have never fought my fears. I would have never traveled alone, never even thought of swimming, never tried paragliding, never learnt to play guitar and definitely not in my wildest dreams would have ever driven a car. They were all my fears and distant ambitions. And the only way I dealt with them was when I wanted to give her that extra love, extra warmth, extra joy, extra comfort, extra moment to be proud and extra care.
So Happy Parent's Day to me too :)
As soon as I reached the school to pick Joe, she came rushing to show me something that she had covered in the palm of her hand. With all her excitement she said, " Mummmmaaaa Goood Newsssss!!! See what I got..."
She opened her palm and showed a pink hair band and then while clapping her hand she kept jumping on her toes.
And then she went on "You know what mumma... I searched for it so much. .. (rolling her eyes) in the cupboard, in the school bag, under the pillow... uffff... I didn't find it for two daysssss. Today... yes today, I found these in my jeans pocket. I am soooo happppy.. "
With the same enthusiasm, I gave her a high five and said, "Yeahhhh!!!! this is such a greattttt newssss!!!". Pulled her cheeks, hugged her tight, kissed her forehead and said, "Love You."
Most of the times, whats often so important to others are the silliest things for us. I could have just turned her off saying," A pink hair band ??? Just keep it inside Joe. Lets go!" If I had done that, I had failed to understand her small joys, her search for those tiny things that she missed dearly, and her find for her happiness.
How often are we considerate towards others small joys that they share with us? How often do we completely understand all the small need of a person even when your with them all the time? How often do you willingly be part of someones sheer joy of celebration?
#PayAttentionToEmotions #IWIlBeThereForYou #MomDaughterStories
Me:
Ofcourse! what we are doing now is communication ...
Jo:
Good!! Do you know the kinds of communication?
Me:
Have you kept your tiffin box in the bag?
Jo:
I did everything, tell me the answer?
Me:
Verbal, written and non verbal... like you say with actions.. u know.... (
enacting run we are getting late)
Jo:
verrryyy goooddd! And do you know what you do daily is called Mass
Communication?
Me:
Ahhhh! yeahhhh
Jo:
You have a responsible job.. hmmmm
Me:
hahahaha what "hmmmm" are we done with question answer round session
mam??
Jo:
Mumma !( stern face) You are responsible ... very responsible
Me:
I will remember that baby. And you know what mumma makes sure she is
responsible for whatever she says.
Jo:
Good girl. Even when I grow up and whatever I say in TV, Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram, I will make sure I dont say anything that would hurt anybody, I will
not lie, I will be good..... yeah even on Radio and Newspaper... and also
magazines...
Me:
(Laughing out loud) your a good girl too. Muah muah muah muah ...
"Mumma what is he carrying?" "It's kind a backpack", I replied. "Really, and what is he carrying in that? Clothes??.... but, its a small bag." "Hmmmm... It's his emotions, thoughts, worries, ideas ...etc etc". I was trying my best to explain in a way that she gets what cartoons can also be other than 'Shinchan'. Yes, I definitely failed, she didn't get what I said. So starts my storytelling about who made this cartoon and what he wanted to say with his art. And a child who loves history.. it's amazing to do the story telling. And lot more easier to dig into details of R K Laxman, with a smartphone in hand. And Joanna's response with her expressions makes it more worthwhile. After we were done and she hopped and said, "I want a photo with him. I want to show Ajji and Thata". "Sure stand." She grabbed a trolley nearby and said, "This is my front pack, and these are my emotions and ideas.... But you can't see it.. because we can't see such things.. ok mumma". And then she got framed with 'The Common Man'.
Kussu I was listening to the song “You Raise Me Up..”. I have listened to this song like forever. It's one of those special songs in my list, where I connect with Jesus. But when I heard it today, I suddenly started relating it to you…every word reflected our relationship so beautifully.
I don’t know how long it would take for you to understand what I am intending to mean here. I hope you do it soon.
Joe, from the very moment, I first knew you are silently breathing life in my womb, I felt you as my strongest power that would raise me up to more that I can be.
These lines,
“When I am down, and, oh, my soul, so weary
When troubles come, and my heart burdened be
Then, I am still and wait here in the silence
Until you come and sit awhile with me”
Darling, I have literally done that, I have waited in silence for you to come and just sit awhile with me… every time….every single time my soul was weary. Don’t know how many times I have hugged your tiny body and cried like a baby and you being the rock of my life, without even uttering a word just hugged me back until I let you go. No questions asked, no explanation seeked and the very next moment you ask … “ mumma you want water?” :)
Hmmmm…. Now moving to the next lines in the lyrics
“ You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains”
I have never been this so called, “goal oriented” person. I just went with the flow, whatever came my way, I ensured I gave my 100% and whatever chapters kept unfolding, sometimes I won and sometimes I failed. When I won … I was definitely good, but when I failed… gosh!! I was terrible. It took me months to recover. But with you in my life and the way you treated me like this never ceasing hero and this attitude of never settling down for anything that wouldn't make us happy. You unknowingly raised me up to stand on top of every mountain peak on my way. Strong and Beautiful.
These lines, “You raise me up to walk on stormy seas.”
I have always fell thud on my face during those ‘stormy’ days and the definite reason for it was the fear of not making it. Self pity that why me?? almost broke me down completely. But with you beside me my girl, fearing that the storm would harm you too, I have not just worked on surviving until the storm is over, but made every move to walk through it like a champ.
The last lines,
“I am strong when I am on your shoulders,
You raise me up to more than I can be”
Should actually be
“I am strong when You are on My shoulders,
You raise me up to more than I can be”. This explains itself .
Jo, you have raised me up to more than I can be… and I bet if any other human could have ever done this to me. As you grow up, I want to ensure that you feel the same way I felt for you. And most importantly I promise I will always be there when you need me and would never loose hope on you.
Joanna had to be picked up from school, than her regular drop from school bus today, due to Cauvery water dispute, Karnataka Bandh. Although the school administrative were keen enough of in ensuring the safety of the child, we still decided we pick her up in person.
Joanna was glad to see her dad waiting to ride her home. And even more glad to see me waiting near the gate eagerly, when she reached home.
Naturally, I was worried about her safety, and as soon I saw her I was all hugs and kisses. I carried her inside the house, made her sit on my lap and while I removed her shoes, I asked, "How was your day at school? Did you have fun?" (That's my everyday question once I see her after school). Till now she was actually enjoying the extra attention she was getting all cuddled on the sofa. Suddenly in a jiffy, she got down from the sofa with her eyes popped out and hand all widened and said, "Mumma, forget school, you know what happened when we were riding home? There was one shop.. and there were so many people who were throwing out things from this shop... so many... they were shouting so loud.." I dragged the dramatic princess close to me and asked, "Oh my baby! did you get scared?" , "No I wanted to see what all they were doing, but Papa didnt stop, he drove zoooop fastttt."
Somewhere, I didn't want it to panic her, so we laughed over it and put an end to the topic. After that we surfed almost all Bangalore news channels to see how the situation was, she noticed me talking to some journalist friends of mine on the events unwrapping, and whether they reached home safe...etc. I knew she was listening, so I kept telling her go to the other room and play. She obeyed. But frequently came back to ask, whats going on?
Finally, I said "its a FIGHT for water between two states... Karnataka and Tamil Nadu."
To that she responded with her signature style of surprise "something like Syria warrrrr?" (Yes we talk about news headline with utter maturity and in utmost simplicity.. may sound absurd but we do.)
I laughed out loud and said "Noooo, its not that bad, its nothing like Syria War.. don't compare. Thats too big an issue, this is small, should be over by evening".
She shrugged her shoulders and said "oh! so there will be no bomb blast here, building collapsing and swimmingggg to other countries ..."
To that I responded with a little laughter to ease her imagination "Errrr... just some burning of vehicles and destruction of hotels to summarise." "hmmm... "she said.
"But mumma, what are they fighting for?" she picked up the word fight in the conversation and paid no attention to the word water.
"I told you just now, because of waterrrr"
"What waterrrrr??" imitating me. Yes she wanted to know it in detail, and I better talk about it now.
"Ok listen, its like this ..... hmmmm... Its a hot summer day, you have a half filled bottle of water, which you have stored for the rest of the day in school. One of your classmate comes to you and asks for water, will you give it to her?
She shrugged and said "yeah!!, I still have half of it"
"Very good! but what if its not sufficient for both of you ..."
"If my bottle gets emptied, I will ask my friend Hannah to give me "
"Okey!! but what if even Hannah didn't have enough?"
"Then I will ask someone else who has. "
"What if nobody in the school has to give you?"
"hmmmm... someone will have ... if nobody has then I will go to the canteen and buy juice"
"Now what if you didn't have money to buy it?"
"hmmmm..."
"Ok so you have decided to not share the water at all? "
"No mumma, we both need it... let me think ..." and walks out of the room.
Well! she said she is going to think about it, but actually she kept me thinking at this hour of night.
In an urge to explain her a serious situation between two states and why people were reacting this way, I gave her all possible reasons to say that she should have the water for herself... and to have it she would rather fight. I was also somewhere anticipating she would say my classmate would fight with me and take the water bottle. So that I would be able to explain Cauvery Issue in ease. But she walked out showcasing LET ME THINK, WE HAVE A PROBLEM... THERE SHOULD BE A SOLUTION ... I AM GOING TO HELP THAT GIRL WHO NEEDS AND I AM GOING TO HELP MYSELF TOO.
