To dearest daughter on your 4^th birthday

30^th April 2017

Gurgaon, New Delhi

Oh my God! Oh my God! Today is your birthday! Aamu, you biggurl, you hear this; you are all of 4 today!

Hey, you know what, you have done those many rotations around Uncle Sun and we (I and your Maa) maybe a few hundred rotations around you…just kidding!

…Aamu have your food, Aamu sit still, Aamu will you attend to your potty today, Aamu don’t put your dirty finger in dad’s  nostrils, Aamu don’t color the walls, Aamu don’t stomp on the cockroaches, Aamu don’t, Aamu no, Aamu this, Aamu that, Aamu, Aamu, Aamu and the year toddled on…

Phew! What a year?  Where time never existed, and everything around you (including you) has been incredulous! Your questions (and you have thousands of them) have been silly, weird and at times very profound. We simply adored your incessant chatter and long ramblings (although we did put on a show of being pissed with all of it.) We, as two super proud parents, would be on Mt. Everest each time you came back from school and innocently flaunted the stars your class teacher Bhupi Ma’m marked on your work sheet. Our hearts filled with pride seeing you perform so well in the weekly show and tell events; we must have watched those clips almost like a dozen times or maybe even more.

If one thing that parenthood has taught us over these four years, it is this – time flies by so quickly, you need to hang on to every second to savor it fully! I still remember the moment you were handed over to us by Doctor Aunty and we held the “oh so tiny you” in our arms. The beautiful eyes and the lovely gaze had us mesmerized then!

And today, when you confidently whisper, “Baba please don’t ask the Aaya didi (school maid) or any other Didi (senior girl student) to take me to my class, I will manage,” you mesmerize me again!

So every morning as I drop you at school, I stand looking at you meandering your way through a bevy of boys and girls. Up the ramp way, and then as you wait at the bend to waive me good-bye and then walk up again to your class, my heart skips a beat, dad’s little daughter is all grown up now!

Think of it, it has been just a year that you have begun school. I love your confident transition from an infant to a toddler when you started pre-school, and now this summer, as you bid adieu to being a toddler and smartly step into girlhood in full regalia! 

So why is this exciting and terrifying at the same time for us? Much as we welcome this lovely metamorphosis in you, we are also anxious of letting go of our cherub baby with chubby cheeks, the snugly cuddles, the giggles and chuckles, the silly sidekick who would always follow her Maa and drown her with so many questions!

Aamu, these four years you have been the affirmation of all things good. We have found our life’s aspiration in your guise. Your presence is unspeakable joy, pristine beauty and boundless grace bestowed upon us. You have given us such treasured moments; that both I and your Maa; will cherish them forever. Sigh! It is unlikely that you will remember these tiny details as you grow up.

Don’t worry; we will go through this letter together many times over.

Today on your 4^th birthday, I pray and thank Him for choosing us to be your parents! Hope we prove worthy of this great calling.

Wishing you again a very happy 4^th birthday, may you have the best of all you deserve and much more!

Love you to the end of the galaxy and back!

With lotsa potsa love, hugs and kisses!

Yours Baba

P.S. You will be almost 6 or 7 years when you can read this and understand it fully, but that is okay, we will wait for the day eagerly.