Tags:
Journalism of Courage
He called me papa,8221; my husband came inside, giggling. He had been talking to Prashant on his mobile. 8220;Is it? Wow! How come?8221; I didn8217;t know how to react but my mom was more forthright. 8220;What do you mean? He8217;ll still call you people uncle and aunty?8221;
She was right. After all, Prashant is our son-in-law now! It seemed funny, though. Our daughter8217;s batchmate and good friend, from whom we were so used to hearing 8220;uncle8221; and 8220;aunty8221;, was her husband now and had just called his father-in-law 8220;papa8221; for the first time!
When we went to a kindergarten for our elder one8217;s admission, we were so proud that we were going to be parents of a school going kid. And on her first day at school, I got so uneasy sitting at home thinking how she might be finding her new surroundings that I couldn8217;t resist cycling all the way to have a peek. She was playing in the park with her new friends. As I tried sneaking back without her noticing, she saw me and came running, tears welling up in her eyes, 8220;Ma, I8217;m sleepy,8221; making me so weak in my heart that I decided never to visit her during school hours!
Our younger one was a mast child. Nothing bothered her except for leaving for school early morning. At the sight of her school rickshaw, she howled every day for about a month! It was a funny sight seeing the rickshawalla hold her in his lap and paddle away with five more kids sitting behind!
Then there were the first tests, first report cards, school functions, dance competitions, board exams, college admissions and then competitive exams8230; The list is endless but the best and the most enthralling moments were hearing my daughters blabber 8220;mamamama8221; and 8220;papapapa8221; for the first time my hubby insists it was first 8220;papa8221; and then 8220;mama8221;.
The thrill was exactly the same when Prashant first called us 8216;papa8217; and 8216;ma8217;, making his father-in-law so proud that in this case too he swears 8220;papa8221; came before 8220;ma8221;!
