My Princess has Grown Up

 It was a very quiet Labour room in the Military Hospital Mhow on Friday the Thirteenth December 1996, a lull before the storm, which was to strike soon. Having waited the whole day, and after Preeti had demanded and gorged Bhanwarilal (famous sweet shop in Mhow) Samosas, finally when all the relations were shooed off by the Duty Matron, Ananya decided to finally grace the world in her physical form.

She was the best, and the most precious anniversary gift which could have come our way. Tiny little bundle of joy, that moment  when I held her in my hands is etched in my mind forever. As it was a while before I could hold   Abhijat when he was born in Indore, while I was at Pune for my degree course.  

She was a child in a hurry as she had so much more to convey to all and sundry and spread love and affection all around. She started to walk when she was just about eight months old. Similarly she started to speak when she wasn’t even an year old, I used to always joke that the period in the warmth of the womb has to be taken into account in her case as she was already preparing for it right there. Ever since then, she has kept us all regaled with her banter day in and day out.

My parents named me “Suyash” which was a unique and different name back in the sixties, I dare say, may be they should have taken a copyright on it. Now when it was my turn to name the kids I was naturally inclined to emulate that, so I suggested Shavak for my son, which means a “cub”, I always thought myself to be a tiger so my son had to be a cub, so I presumed, till I was vetoed by the better all knowing half, and I had to settle for Abhijat, meaning original. When it was Ananya’s turn I wanted to call her my precious “Pari” as in a fairy, fairylike, she undoubtedly was, so loving and affectionate. But this time her grandfather had already  christened her “Ananya” which means unique, although the name Ananya is quite common these days, back in the 90s it was not so. Anu was very proud of this fact and would go on to announce to all and sundry, the uniqueness  of her name, so much so that her mail id was “anu.unique@..” 

“Morning shows the day” as the saying goes, or in Hindi ‘poot ke paon palne men’. She was always crystal clear of what she wanted and from whom and how exactly to get that. So as a kid she would resent anyone encroaching her turf, Mrs Divya Mishra  would often lovingly take her home as they were our immediate neighbours. As long as she was the centre of attraction it was good but the moment, another neighbourhood kid entered the arena, she would start throwing tantrums. 

She has the natural grace of a dancer, not formally trained, but her movements are simply poetry in motion, which she has developed on her own and has often  surprised all and sundry with her immense talent. As just a four year old she would start teaching her grandfather dance steps for her then favourite song, “Pyar ki kashti mein’ from the film “Kaho na Pyar Hai” or when she surprised her mother by giving a flawless performance on “Chhote chhote shahron se” from the film “Bunty aur Babli” in Emerald Heights International School, where she was studying, winning accolades form all the staff and students. Dancing is something which comes to her naturally, so does showering love and affection for pets. As she was so fond of them I decided to get one in the Regiment when I was commanding, thinking that would satisfy her and she would get over it, realising being a pet parent is an even greater responsibility than raising two of our own. But she had her way and “Buddy” our Labrador came into our lives in Wellington, where there were more pet dogs than kids in each home. The poor fellow did not realise where he had landed with Anu naturally fawning all over him and showing him off as the handsomest specimen to all her friends and hardly ever leaving him alone. 

The other thing she was so clear and passionate about, was her desire for becoming a doctor, inspired by her bua Richa, a Neurosurgeon, even as a kid, she would hand out prescriptions to all her toys who were her supposed patients. Her Nana, in fact has preserved one such priceless gem even today. These days when kids are quite confused as to what  do they want to do with their lives, we have been extremely lucky, as both Abhi and Anu were very clearheaded as to where they saw themselves as they were growing up. Abhi, a Math geek obviously chose Computer Science and Anu just had to be a doctor and a very good one at that. So here we are, she is Dr Ananya Sharma, MBBS, MD ( Anaesthesia) ready to take on the world.

Somewhere while all this was going on, she met Amit in College and they became friends, with their love for dancing and the fact that their names being Amit and Ananya slotted their roll numbers one after the other, landed them both on the same table for the practicals. She liked his simple, no nonsense approach and a keenness to learn quite appealing. When her friends would come calling at home, he was also there, but we didn’t have an inkling what was brewing then. It was only later, after she had completed her graduation and was halfway through her post graduation that she let us in on this closely guarded secret. Mind you, her siblings were aware, but their code Omerta is so strong that we elders did not even get a hint. 

I think Amit and Ananya are like chalk and cheese, and yet so similar that I think they are ideally suited. Here is wishing them both all the love and happiness. I am sure they will live by my mantra  of “Joie-de-Vivre” and enjoy this journey ahead.