The day I was born.. :)

18th November 1994,

She was wriggling in pain...she felt as if she would die, any moment...she could sense her lower body going numb...complete palsy, perhaps...the pain was getting unbearable...she held on to the pillows, as those were the only things around her, which could tolerate all the scratches made by her neatly manicured nails...

"Aaaahhh!! save me...I can't bear this any more...pllleeeaasseee"


She shouted her lungs out!
Satish stood outside the emergency ward. Rubbing his temples, he looked at the clock. It was 2:24 a.m.


05th February 1994,

The results were in her hand, and they were positive! She walked out of the room, to the hall where her husband was anxiously waiting for her.

"Satish , it's positive...the pregnancy test is positive!!!"


Rashmi was always the perfect person, according to Satish ...perfect human, perfect daughter, perfect sister, perfect wife and now, she would be a perfect mother! The calmness reflecting on her face, even when she broke such a big news, was something that made him fall in love with her...each time he saw her!
Rashmi walked upto him slowly, Satish got up and embraced her...She felt secure and safe, she always did when he held her close to his body...the warmth of his body and his voice made her go weak on her knees!


He moved the hair near her ear and whispered, "I love you Rashmi.."
He then, moved his hands towards her stomach...he realized that in it, she was carrying something that was his...something that would be a beautiful, living epitome of their love..
Rashmi couldn't help but smile at all this..She sensed the first feeling of being a mother..the tingling sensation in her stomach! It was wonderful...and more than anything else, Satish was happy!

Then began a journey...which cannot be expressed in words! It can only be experienced, by a woman! 9 months..19th November was the expected due date. The "to-be" parents were in a state of ecstatic bliss 24/7...

"You feed me one more dose of that bitter sticky thing, and I swear I'll throw you outta here."
"But you gotta have it baby, there's no alternative"
"No no no...I'll throw up AGAIN..."

But Satish had already stuffed the spoon inside her mouth.Hardly a month or so was left, and Rashmi looked perfectly plump, round and glowing. She had grown accustomed to all the nausea, the periodic kicks, the regular visits and tests in the hospital, attending counselling sessions, thinking twice before eating or even speaking anything! Talking to the li'l one...browsing names...she had even grown immune to the discomfort in sleeping in a single position...She had to do it, she wanted to do it! It was HER baby!


Satish wanted a girl...he was very sure it would be a girl...he had even decided the name of the child...

"What would you do if it's a boy? You won't love it that much?"
"I am telling you naa...it's gonna be a girl...take it from me!"

Satish even spoke to the child referring to it as a "she"...All this made Rashmi a li'l tensed.

The labor pain began on 17th November, a little late after midnight...just as predicted!

"Man, this child is on-time!" Satish thought to himself...holding Rashmi's hands and trying to calm her down was proving to be a herculean task..

"Breathe, Rashmi, don't scream continuously...break le thoda beech mein!"
"Tereko nahi samjhega...I AM THE ONE GOING THROUGH ALL THIS..."
And, she screamt again...Satish was almost sure that by the time the baby was born, he would go half deaf!

They reached the hospital and Rashmi was hurried into the room for some tests to ensure that the baby is safe and sound. 

The doctor came in, all ready and dressed, "Would you like to see how the delivery takes place?"
"No, doc! Please! I am fine here", Satish said, wiping the sweat off his forehead. The last time he felt soo nervous and dumbstruck was when he saw Rashmi for the first time...big eyes, long hair and a smile that could melt anyone!

Satish sat on the couch, dreaming and assuring himself that everything is going to be fine. Rashmi would perfectly handle it...she went to work till the 8th month of pregnancy, hanging from Mumbai's crowded local trains...she could do this too...THIS was the last part! And, he dozed off. After a while, he could hear his mother-in-law's voice asking him to wake up!
He woke up with a start , and felt bad that he had fallen asleep.
"The doctor is calling the father" his mother-in-law said..

He went in, hoping that everything was fine...and saw a child, moving its limbs...as he neared the child, it turned its face towards him...
And, that was the most beautiful thing he saw...big eyes, long forehead garnished with black, curly hair, red cheeks, fair and chubby with a visibly big depression in the chin! IT WAS A GIRL!!
His daughter was lying on the weighing scale, staring the room, with eyes wide open!

The doctor came upto Satish and said, "She is a beauty!"
Satish smiled and asked, "Can I hold her?"
The doctor nodded and he lifted that tiny thing and brought it close to his heart 'coz that was her rightful position!
That day he made a silent promise...that he would always, come what may, protect her...He would not allow anything in the world harm his doll..he would stand by her come what may! He realized that it wasn't the last part...It was the beginning! It was the birth of an important role of his life- as a father...
He waited for this moment 9 months...and his daughter was staring at him, in his arms giving a slight smile without any teeth!

He took the child to Rashmi, emotional as she was, burst into tears...
"She's a scorpion!"
They both gazed at the child and Rashmi asked Satish,

"What are we gonna name her?"

"What I had already decided...!"

The entire family clapped..

And as far as the tiny tot was concerned, she loved being the center of attraction! :)

Do you remember the first time you held me, Dad?

Each one's "story of birth" is special...So go ahead, ask your parents about yours...

And don't forget to thank them

Afterall, as Karan Johar says:

"It's all about loving your parents!" 

A father is someone who

holds your hand at the fair...

makes sure you do what your mother says...

holds you from playing when you are sick...

brushes your hair when it is tangled because mother is too busy!

lets you eat ice cream for breakfast.. 

but only when mother is away!

he walks you down the aisle...

and tells you everythings gonna be ok...

– Anonymous

I love you, Dad..why?

"Because any fool can be a father, but it takes a man to be a daddy!!"

For a girl, a dad is her first and mostly last hero! :D

Regards,

Rithika

Emotions..! ;)

April 2nd 2011,


World cup finals-India v/s SriLanka and India wins!! (yayiiee!) 
My li'l brother tired and exhausted of all the shouting and dancing sits next to me, watching the players rejoice and celebrate! The commentators were going gung-ho about the "tough" players getting all emotional and crying. While the SriLankan players were shown smiling, hiding their disappointment and shaking hands with Indian players. On seeing this, my brother turns to me and says, "Funny na? we won and these people are crying and they lost and they are smiling!"
Which got me wondering, it IS weird! I mean, the ones who lost must be crying, not the ones who won! 


Any emotion, if it is sincere, is involuntary.  ~Mark Twain


Emotions are soo spontaneous, and bring about soo many changes, many which go unnoticed and quite a few which make a huge difference! We have in us over 60 emotions, and never even realize before spending them! 


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_emotions


We have progressed soo much in every field...yet, there are soo many things which still remain a mystery...
Perhaps, that is why some questions are better when left unanswered...that's the beauty of human mind! :)


Regards,
Rithika

EDUCATION--> not mere degree, a way of living! :)

I always found personal response questions funny! Our English paper, every time has minimum 3 of such questions. Hmph. I never realized the logic of evaluating a person, and giving marks for his/her own opinion! Are you trying to encourage him to open up and express? Well, then imagine his plight when he would he receive the lowest marks for doing it. What an encouragement! :\

One of the topic for essay was--> "Role of educated women in development of the country."

"Okay, now WHAT DO I WRITE? what would fetch me a minimum 5.5 out of 10 for essay?" I tried, I thought..I racked my brains! Attractive proverbs? Couldn't remember any! (Damn it!)

Now what? I hardly had any time left..and still didn't have even the rough format prepared. I deleted few words from the title, focussed on "educated women" and "role in development."
And then, began my essay:

http://www.vri-online.org.uk/apk/index.php

According to the 2011 census, India's population is about 1.2 billion, while the sex ratio is 914 females against 1000 males, considered the lowest since independence (pehle ladkilog ko toh bachao!).. Still, Indian government makes efforts to improve women literacy in India Why? To increase the literacy rate! "Literacy" is a key-factor and indicator of a country's socio-economic progress. Now, if figures rise, India's position as a developing nation also rises (and, we also would feel a sense of satisfaction seeing an increase in rates!) 

What does education really mean? Z for zebra? teaching how many apples I would have if out of 10, 3 apples are taken away? knowing the names of Indian states? their geography, topography? history? No! The exams that we give are infact, mere milestones we cross, as we grow. And, finally end up getting a Bachelors or maybe, even a Phd. in a particular field. And always, we judge people their intelligence with THESE degrees! Elders never ask us, "How many NGOs have you joined, beta?" :P

Even, people who count census do the same! (For calculating "rates!")

Let's face it then, the government is doing its part and bringing about a statistical rise, but what about quality?

If the quality is not proper, how will a country with such a gigantic population ever "progress"?

I had once read definition of education in one of the websites as "the act or process imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgement, and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for a mature life." (Huff! big na? :P)

And I agree with it! 

You call yourself educated and still agree to pay a bribe just for getting things done quickly than others? You say you were a topper of your class and still believe that girls are not meant to work after marriage and can't compete with men just 'coz they can't afford to tear shirts in public! What, are u in search of Sal-woman?! (btw, I HAVE had that argument hence, am writing!)  You drive a 97 lakh worth BMW and spit at every other signal, and call yourself educated? You don't vote during elections and go out off the country thinking that "mere vote se kya hoga?" You get molested in a crowd yet keep quiet thinking " faltu ka court ka chakkar kaun katega?" (Who will take the trouble of running to a court?) You get discriminated on the basis of color/ religion/ language and still feel "Ab jhagda kaun karne jayega!" (Let it be, who wants to fight now!)


Doesn't your conscience never ever stop you from doing it? Because it is WRONG! Have you ever realized that, it might be those Gandhiji lessons, value education classes, environmental education talking! These are always "student-friendly and scoring" subjects! But in reality, they are actually the ones which teach us lessons, for life! What we don't realize is that, as we grow, we learn, a lot more than we are taught!  And, somehow as we grow, we remember the mischief we did in those lectures, but forget the values that were taught or in other words, we prefer sticking to those things which are more convenient and benefit us! We were taught to "face" problems, not adjust and flow with it!
These are just a few examples. And in each case reflects our complacency, we get adjusted to the environment very fast! Mumbai, is one such city, has faced everything from bomb blasts to floods and yet bounced back to normalcy each time. But for how long? We know that we don't deserve to die just because few jerks wanted to "display their valor"! They CANNOT decide our faith! Every morning we leave home, and most of the time we aren't even sure WHEN we will be back, forget HOW! 


We don't expect a dandi march all over again! But we can atleast ensure that we aren't destitute of our fundamental rights, any time! We can atleast ensure that our lives, lives about 1.2 billion are not tossed to-and-fro by handful of people sitting on those chairs! 
The main idea for educating people is so that, they can have a brain which functions and thinks on its own, and decides what is right and wrong....if u don't hve thoughts of ur own...ur degree is sheer waste of time, money and a tree! You are supposed to be doing what YOU feel is right! Break open those chains, open up your thoughts, don't let your brain get washed away by some moron! NO NO! You weren't taught to do that! Speak, shout and do!! People will listen, they will HAVE TO! 

I realize one thing, today...India will never progress...not if if the citizens, rather the youth keep running away from their homework everytime! 


P.S.: If my blog post doesn't fuel the fire, try watching A WEDNESDAY and RANG DE BASANTI! I'm sure films have their own way of advising! ;) 
Until next time, take care and do good! 


Regards,

Rithika