Saturday 28 January 2017

A to Z Challenge: Y is for Yearn, Yonder, and Youth

Becoming a parent fu*ks you up in ways you cannot imagine. Your priorities change, but the paradoxes of those changing priorities tear you asunder in opposing directions. 

You yearn for your child when she is away from you but you also yearn for the good old days when the pressure of not fu*king up her life was not on your shoulder. If you are a mother, you yearn for the good old days when a whole night's sleep was not a luxury.

You look yonder; in time and in space. What and where is the best future for your child? Is it in line with that for you and the rest of your family? You Yo-Yo between what you think is best for your child and what you think is best for you, and you are wrong both ways. 

You pause to think about the two youths that stare you in the eye. 

One is the youth you see when you look at your child. The youth that is eager to come into its own, moving at breakneck speed to its crest, learning and teaching something new everyday, asking you to be a guiding light but requesting you not to blind it by the brightness. 

The other is the youth that stares back when you face the mirror. The youth that is anxious, wants to know if you are going to give up on it in favour of your new muse, scared that its best days maybe behind it, not wanting to go down without a good fight. It has been there, done that, knows that it is wasted on the young and that it'll be gone before you take notice.

You then look around for your wife, your mother, your father, your brother, or best friend to look you in the eye, put their hand on your shoulder, and tell you that everything will be alright.

Then you go back to being Awesome. 

True Story.

Thursday 12 January 2017

Blabbermouth person

Beckett is now a person.

She answers questions that my mother asks me during our video calls (like 'ketla vagya?' (what's the time?) and before I can answer, pat comes the reply. 'Chaar vagya' (it's 4 o clock)). She asks my mother to cover up Mickey Mouse because he is feeling cold. Today she offered me 'Nana ni Dava' (grandfather's medicine) and told me 'Patang chagavvani vaar che' (It's not yet time to fly kites). 

Of course her palette still needs practice and clarity. But she is learning at such an astounding rate.

On a completely different note, the book 'Between Parent and Child' by Haim Ginott should be mandatory reading for the entire human race. Not just for parents, but for the whole of humanity. Am reading it and have benefitted from it tremendously with all my relationships - professional and personal.  

Friday 6 January 2017

A to Z Challenge: X is for X

This post has got nothing to do with Beckett. Even writer (blogger) fathers should take a break from their muse once in a while.

Beckett is busy oscillating perilously on the swing in the playground. She's now perfected the art of the dismount as well as the science of using her own momentum to swing without having to touch her feet on the ground.

But did you guys know that X is the most versatile letter of the alphabet? Used to convey mystery (X-Factor or in Algebra - Find X). One of only 7 letters used in the Roman numerals, can be used as a multiplication sign, is a letter word (like I), is second only to Z when it comes to least number of words starting with it, used as a multiplication sign as well as a symbol for wrong, can mean both a popular Hollywood movie franchise or a genre of porn movies when used thrice (XXX), is used as a symbol to mark a spot, is the horizontal axis in the cartesian system.

Here's to being as versatile as X and having the X-Factor.