TO OUR CLOWN PRINCESS ON HER 3RD BIRTHDAY

Well, I started out to blog about Puddi, my puddacious daughter, for her upcoming third birthday. But words, my constant companions in everything I do failed me this time. I just couldn't find the right words to encapsulate what she means to me, how she lights up our lives, to describe her kooky personality and the things she does...So I decided to hand over my pen ( keyboard in this case) to my better 1/3rd, as he is far more gifted with words than I am, to tell our dear daughter how we feel about her.

All I can bring myself to say is that if I could have imagined a daughter and brought her to life, she would have been such a pale, insipid thing compared to my beautiful butterfly of a Puddi. You fill up my heart, darling. Happy birthday!

Love, Mama

Guest post by A

My dearest Puddi,

What can I say about you which words can capture adequately?

Let me try comparisons. There was Lucille Ball. There was Sridevi. And now there’s you. The same impish personality, and the same ability to make everyone laugh by doing something completely kooky, even as they’re gasping over how pretty you are. The same gift of just walking into a room and stealing a scene, simply by ensuring that no one can take their eyes off your face.

How about food metaphors? You’re like an ice-cream rolled into a lemon meringue pie, to which lots of cream has been added, with some spice on top for taste. And all that’s actually just in the first spoonful.

Hmm – let’s try just talking about life with you. I never cease to be amazed by how you can look like a tomboy in T-shirt and shorts, and transform into a little lady the moment you’re in a frock or a dress. I love how you wake up frowning with your wild hair all mussed, and then suddenly make the morning good by switching on that dazzling smile. Your thirst for adventure and desire for new experiences (inherited in spades from your mom) lift my spirits and remind me just how full of possibilities life can be. It’s a joy to watch you playing with your two brothers - I hope they’ll always appreciate what a loving, fun sister they have. It breaks my heart to see your small face crumple and tears roll down your soft cheeks if your mom or I scold you – it feels as if we’ve violated a sacred vow. I can’t bear the thought of anything so much as scratching you (that’s my alibi for being the exceptionally protective father that you’ll soon discover I am – your boyfriends better watch out!).

Nah. You know what, there’s no point in trying to describe you – it’s like chasing a rainbow with a butterfly net.

So let me just say that you’re a big chunk of my heart, that I didn’t know what having a daughter would change my life in so many ways, and that I already choke up when I think of you going away one day.

So have a very happy birthday sweetheart, and here’s hoping each of your birthdays celebrates a year which was better than the last.

You make us feel truly blessed. Thank you for being our daughter.


With all my love
Abba

Chubbock's Birthday

After all the weekends spent planning and all the worry about whether we were over or under doing it by comparison with his school friends, Chubbocks's birthday party is over. I find it hard to believe this little guy is already five and, according to Hindu tradition, no longer in the baby stage but the boy stage - Kaumarya. I was looking through our hundreds of digi-photos of him as a toddler and wishing I had pressed the freeze-frame button.

It was a slightly bizarre day. He woke up all cranky for some reason - usually he and Puddi wake up with a smile on their faces - and continued to be not his usual self all day. He was less full of beans than usual and less talkative, and for the life of us we haven't managed to figure out why.


The mood lasted all weekend, and we're wondering if perhaps he had been anticipating the party for too long, or whether he expected to look or feel different now that he had reached this mature stage. He did respond with his own bizarre logic, later, that he thought all his friends would turn 5 that day (???).

Anyway, since I was determined to make it a home-grown party, we were hosting it in a big park within our residential community. The people manning the Columbus came by 8 am, because it apparently takes them a few hours to get it assembled. I decided that not only did I have to cook the food for the party but that we also had to have a traditional birthday meal at home, with Chubs's favourite things, so I was in the kitchen from early on, churning out saaru ( his favourite) and lemon rice, while mom offered to make the payasa and the sabzi. I also had to churn out Bhaaji enough for about 50 people, as well as macaroni with veggies. Chubs had asked for Bhelpuri, so we had to keep the ingredients ready so that it could be made in the nick of time. We decided to order in some food to make it a little easier, so dhoklas and rasbhari ( mini-rasgullas soaked in sugar syrup) were ordered. My in-laws turned up, lugging the return gifts for the boys - a simple but fun toy that shoots discs into the air, like a modern-day Sudarshan Chakra, and we ran around packing those.

Let's just say it was a hectic day, between the powercuts and scheduling baths when we had hot water to the cooking and cleaning...we never got the time to run down to the park until it was almost time for the party, and I was horrified to find: a. A bunch of boys playing cricket in the middle of the park and having torn a nice, muddy, dusty strip out of the grass; b. The balloons still being put up; c. No chairs having been placed for the adults and d. Tons of dust from the commercial buildings surrounding the colony, which seem to have sprung up out of nowhere in the last couple of months. I like having things ready in plenty of time, so my BP must have rushed to all kinds of levels as I ran around waking up A and hustling chairs and tables out of our house and into the park. Thankfully, things just about fell into place by the time our guests arrived.

All in all, the party went well. The Columbus was not a sophisticated piece of equipment as I had feared, but more like something commandeered from a village fair,
but all the kids loved it and sat on it all together, which was just heart-warming. I wonder what it is, about the swing, that gets everyone hooked on. Of course, the people manning it had faulty wires and half the time there was no power so they were manually swinging it but the kids had fun. The puppet show guy was pretty good too, as he was really funny, rather than go all traditional, and we had a horse riding poor Amar Singh Rathod and a snake which used to get the more violent as the madaari played his been so the kids were screaming with laughter.

Eventually, despite the expense of the Columbus and tattoo artist et al, just the simple fact that we were holding the party in a neighbourhood park, without a fancy tent and that none of the chairs for the adults matched ( 6 of our dining chairs, 6 of my parents', our 8 garden chairs and assorted moodahs) made the atmosphere of the party just what I wanted - unsophisticated and ( that most hateful word used to describe marriageable women) homely. Of course, next year I want to invite more work upon myself by hosting it at home, by which time we'll hopefully have a larger home, to make it completely middle class. Everyone loved the food and wiped out most of it, including a rather large Spiderman cake.
As for Chubbocks, after a weekend full of silence, he has more or less reverted to his normal self. Puddi had lots of fun and danced more than the puppets, when the puppeteer sang and played his dholak, and looked too cute with braids and beads in her hair.


I think it's true that kids grow to expect that which we lead them to expect. I could see the kids having a good time chasing each other around the park and swinging away. They don't necessarily need expensive props and 'amusements' in order to have a good time - all they need is each other and some space. So that's going to be my aim for birthday parties from now on.

Ps. Will try and put up some pics later.

Pics added, as well as anti-jinx!