Parenting

I write this in all earnest that nothing and I mean nothing prepares you for the joy of parenthood. Compare this to an exotic location that you always wanted to visit. The tourist guide ( if it's a pre arranged tour ) tells you that sunrise at x point is the greatest from the vantage point specified. You and your spouse deciding to abandon the sleep that has been so precious all these years decide to venture ( after all your pocket has been lighter in making the trip !!). Also you think of all the hardships that you/family have undergone all these years. So would want to make this the most exciting spectacle. Woolens wrapped up, thermos flasks carrying coffee, in the stillnes of the night you trudge along in the vehicle provided.

And then from the point the sun decides to throw light ( pun unintended !!). You could be mistaken in thinking that the sun too has a marketable angle to it in the sense that there is coming soon, a shorter edit and a full length promo ( pardon these jargons !!). The joy of that vision multiplied many times over is what in my mind would give to the first touch of the baby. You are so accustomed to the husband /wife syndrome that most of us end up asking the doctor " How's my wife ? " and then to the enquiry of the baby.

Creations dont come better than this. You have been at it for 6 months right from the time the tests have been proved to be positive. Every visit to the gynaecologist is tinged with a sense of expectancy about the development , about a life being formed. There is a feeling of being the supreme creator.And when the d day arrives ( and in this case it is delivery day ), your entire childhood zips past in a flash as somebody else would be ready to take on the mantle of childhood. It's a bitter sweet feeling as you dont want to let go of that piece of attention that the family has bestowed on you either being the only child or the youngest. But the old order changeth and so it shall be.

Following is the note that I wrote to my child on her birth :

I had to write this note 2 days back but as you would realise in the years to come your father has a little habit of procrastinating things. You are the grandchild of four of the simplest souls who believed in doing good rather than appearing good. You have a strong pedigree and I am sure you would do well. In the years to come you would hate us for the restrictions imposed, for the suggestions which would be deemed unnecassy. However whenever you are in a distant land some years from now and reading this note , the intensity of love shall remain the same.

Your dad