Our bundle of joy from heaven :)

Dear Kunju,

I have tried writing about you since the very first time I saw you all cuddled up in a white blanket, looking in awe at your very own family.But nothing I write could suffix the tornado of emotions I feel every time I see you trotting towards me with that characteristic glee of yours or the tiny smile well hidden in the curve of your lips as you sleep listening to the lullaby that mom sings.

So, here goes  few things that I had tried in vain to express in so many of the posts still safely hidden in the draft folder of my blogs with the sole purpose as a self remainder on the number of posts that are still waiting to be completed about the sweetest boy who means the world to me :) . Someday I hope we would have some fun reading these together ;)

*  I want you to know that you have changed our lives in so many beautiful ways that we could never  have imagined.

*  Your first smile, the first time I held you, the first time I put you to sleep, the first time you started to crawl,the first time I heard your laughter , the first time you stood up shakily on your feet , the first time you called me "ammi" (well, coming from you even that sounded sweet :D ) and to many more firsts -  thank you for all those special moments you have given us.

*   How ever old you may grow, whenever i see you, I would always see that tiny figure who curled his small pink fingers around mine  the very first time I touched him, accepting me in an instant :)

*   You remind me how futile the noise and things I thought I would need to be happy are ; to have you cuddled up near me is an absolute bliss :)

*   You are my favorite alarm and it's awesomely cute when you try to climb up my bed every morning trying to sleep next to me.

*  With you, I never have to speak the smartest of things or care about the way I look because you have never loved me a bit less even when  i looked my worst, struggling with flu - my voice a mere crackle. I could never forget the way you insisted on being brought  near me :)

*  No sugar can make my tea sweeter than the way you do when you demand your sip from it and pay for it with that million dollar smile of yours.

*  I want you to know how privileged you make me feel when you blindly trust me and squeal with happiness when I toss you playfully around without a hint of doubt.

*  You make me fall short of words and remind me that the deepest of feelings can never be adorned in all justice with bare words.

*   I love you :)

As time flies by, there would be many people who would come to my life and yours too. You would grow up and move on to make your mark in the world, but I want you to know that you made me feel special as no one ever had and dad finally has a competition  with your arrival ;)

Love,

Achol  :)

For The Love Of Letters

Picture Source: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/aa/ba/65/aaba65810d48481867515c7ccab58eab.jpg

Today, as I was sitting idle at home - wondering what next to do,  I was reminded of all those old stuffs from school safely hidden away under the small staircase cabinet ; the one  that mom had been asking me to clear since ages!! I wasn't even sure of what all it had or even worse - who all lives with those things in there!!So, braving all those thoughts and the really tempting comfortable bed of mine, I finally decided to give it a go..
                                        The first thing that my hand managed to grab was an old bag with few papers, a key chain someone had gifted, a single anklet, few tiny colored stones , a number of friendship bands, multiple packets of glitter powder,few coloured feathers still in half opened packets (oh yeah!i remember the SCW classes and hat making now :D ) . I continued to empty the bag and finally  my hand hit gold !! Neatly tucked inside one of the pouches were a set of letters, that too handwritten letters in blue inland!! I could feel a rush of memories and could recollect how the message inside looked even before opening it.

The very feel of them between my fingers was like having a solid connection to my friend who had sent me those. I don't know where she is or what she is doing now,(Facebook or Orkut were yet to be developed at the time we parted and born to parents with transferable jobs meant ever changing phone numbers ) but somehow it felt like I have retained a part of our childhood right there in those papers.
              The letters do have charm of their own - a warmth and intimacy that Facebook or SMSs fail to convey. The whole effort to buy the inands/post cards, jotting down all those thoughts in your very own handwriting, adding those childish smileys or designs just for that extra touch of love, the last minute search for stamps,the wait for the reply - all these seem to belong to a whole different era when people made time for what matters the most; when keeping in touch with someone was not done by an SMS that you hurriedly text from your mobile; when love was adorned with patience-something that seems to have been lost amongst the "pokes" and "pings".

               I  still remember the gleam in my father's eyes while showing me the first letter that mom wrote to him, something he had treasured for long 34 years!!And I can almost understand why- Those hand written letters convey something a tiny weeny bit more than the words it holds: It shows that someone , somewhere had treasured you in their thoughts from the time they had spent filling in those blank papers to the time they had safely dropped them in that red box, And for that sometime , you were not a mere passing thought but  were truly remembered, truly loved! And today when time is all that people are short of, such an idea seems like a real luxury to me, something so priceless that I might even fall in love with the one person who sends me a hand written letter!(well, not literally though  :P )


P.S : Years after this post was written, I did find someone who writes me hand written letters and loves me to the core. Love does work in  mysterious ways!!

A Dream Like No Other

Picture Source: https://in.pinterest.com/pin/85427724151505726/

I have no clue why I wrote this post.It just popped up in my mind one rainy sunday afternoon as I woke up from an afternoon nap.May be it is one of those that is meant to be just written and not read.And if at all you happen to read this one and your mind asks you "What is this lady talking about? "- just relax, because I don't think it would make sense to any sane person :)

In a blissful silence

she glided through the ballroom,

her hair dazzling in the sunlight

streaming through the pearl white curtains,

following her around,

at times twirling with her,

as she danced through the surrounding vastness

-her eyes closed to the world

-her voice a slight hum

-her heart beat the sole rhythm

-her feet tracing a pattern of their own

-her mind free as a stringless kite

-her grace her sole jewellery

 -her face adorned with nothing but a smile

she danced to the tunes

that flowed from her heart,

with no eyes to watch her,

with no voice to mock her mismatched steps

there was no one to please,

no one to tease...

Today within those gold ornate walls,

she was her own mistress

and she danced to the tunes

she had long forgotten...

She twirled with her arms raised,

feeling the rain within her

drenching her soul-

cleansing it of all the scars

it has undeservingly accepted,

filling her mind with a new rhythm,

seducing her closed eyes to open and take in the light...

Her steps growing steadier,

her arms raised to the heavens,

she twirled again one last time before succumbing to their whim..

With a smile and a vision she opened her eyes..

the vision of a shadow beyond the gold ornate walls-

that of a stranger, one with a twisted smile!!

she lay there still smiling,

smiling at her one strange dream-

because never before had she felt so awake!

 it was a dream like no other,

and the meaning it holds, she could nonetheless decipher..

I look back at the journey traversed so far,

at the milestones achieved ,

at the ditches once fallen..

I see them muddied, i seem them running dry..

but all through the ups and downs,

I see you with me.. your footprints near mine..

The times do change, i hear you say..

it is not mine rite now, but it wouldn't forever be the same..

You give me my trials, a pretty fair share this time

I tremble with the load, it is indeed my first time..

But know I will find a light at the end of it all..

And I go ahead with this faith..

The same faith being my single guiding torch, this sole idea gripping me all along..

My faith trembles at times,a ploy of my humanness..

Doubts cloud my mind, my feet retreats in weariness..

Yet My heart, it chants your name with every single beat..

comforting my soul, letting me know I am safe with you around..

Try me however you may, my devotion wouldn't as much as sway...

You show me my tears - Alas! I do not have  command over them..

The soul  you gave- Yes! It still trembles facing insensitivity

The heart  you raised -  Yes! It  still defends the sword that strikes,,

But my lips still holds a smile for you , amidst the lines of worry or fears or unruly tears

Because hide however you may, I have known you around all along..

Wrapped in your blessings and held in your faith,

I would go on till the end, where my rightful joy awaits...