Starting off with a huge shout-out to one and all who helped make our little Aadi’s first birthday an unforgettable one, including kith and compadres who went to great lengths to fire up the event and the J.W.Mariott group for leaving no stone unturned to make it as grandiose as possible. And who needs trained anchors when the guest list includes professional singers and gleeful youngsters, pouncing at the slightest opportunity to put their craft on display! The event managers, decorators, music jockeys and videographers too did a phenomenal job to bring out the exuberance pervading the atmosphere.
Dear son, it has been no less than wizardry over this past year to be an integral part and bear witness as you took your first steps, as you spoke your first words, as your palms became large enough to lift your first toy and all the little milestones along the way. Having to leave you on weekday mornings to attend office is undoubtedly the most difficile part of the day, while returning home to your vibrant laughter, which has evolved from a confused toothless smile to a recognizing chuckle with four rabbit-like milk-teeth, is the sweetest. Watching you sit up like the Undertaker barely two minutes after a two hour long effort putting you to sleep, is nothing short of rib-tickling. These jiffs may vex us now, but before long they will become enamored remembrances to be enshrined.
Now, although your mum and I have had to make do with only a couple of hours of light slumber for day after week after month, every second with you has been more than invaluable. And we know that at times it has not been easy for you either, with our consulting pediatric hospital often becoming a pied-à-terre of sorts, but alas you were born into a family as nutty as a fruitcake and against all odds, have been on no less than eleven separate flights in the very first year of your life itself, when most wouldn’t even dare to undertake air travel at all! Haha… This is probably too early for you to understand, but if your mum and I can be such parents who could even remotely be looked up to not now, but even when you are in your thirties or forties, then and only then would we even start considering ourselves somewhat successful in this herculean task of parenting.
And this is not about passing on my family torch, whose flame to be frank has been flickering ever since I can recall. Honestly, I always thought that my parents would be the ones to form a bridge between any past Cimmerian shade and normalcy, but as it turns out just making a decent livelihood and moving to a relatively developed city doesn’t help, if one’s mind is unwilling to overcome and thrives in the dark void it was born into, turning a potential first success to just another failed attempt. While they always bragged about not having any substantial inheritance, I too am where I am today without so much as a glance at my family’s trinkets, and I am gratified to say that there is already an astronomical accrual from my own childhood to my son’s.
Somewhere along the journey to adulthood, I think a switch gets flipped in most of us as we realize that not everyone deserves our warmest and kindest version, but it is indeed a shame if members of one's own family willingly walk into that list. As my wife and I bear the mantle of both a shield for our child and a sword for our own penchants, the past half-year having made the boundaries of our congenial sphere abundantly clear, it is time to end this wasteful cycle of every generation starting from the ground up, having to reinvent the wheel thanks to senile geezers, instead of pooling in knowledge and resources for greater accomplishments. I have always braved an uphill climb, be it in my personal or professional life, but now it seems to be at its steepest.
Raising a toast to inseparability and many more of our darling’s birthdays to follow…
HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY AADI…!!!
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