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It’s now officially a decade since Abhay came into this
world and while he is at the cusp of tween or pre-teen years before heading
into the dreaded (so as far as parents are concerned!) teen years, there are
many angles and moments during which he still seems like a little boy! Though
he looks every bit and probably as cheeky as any ten year old, there are some
elements of his personality that continue to remind us of his toddler or
pre-schooler days ….. like he still winces as the pressure cooker whistle goes
off or still employs toddler lingo references to some everyday things. Though
he may not like my bringing this up, but as parents we cannot be blamed for
finding the same endearing as we try to hold on to some of the last traces of
his early childhood. Somehow as he turned ten on September 11th, it
felt different as if he were going to be in a different league now…..and I
could only think of the famous ABBA song….to paraphrase the same…. …..
Slipping
through our fingers all the time…
As we try to
capture every moment……
Slipping through our fingers all the time
Do
we really see what’s in his mind
Each time we think we’re close to knowing
He keeps on growing Slipping through our fingers all the time….
As Abhay hit the first big ten, he was very clear that he
wanted a birthday bash thrown at home, and presented us with a big list of do’s and don’ts,
with invitees being all his favourite people, including close cousins,
schoolmates and neighbors. Though it was a particularly hectic week for both of
us, we hurriedly managed to put together a decent show - a birthday party with games, gifts and a
quick-fix-easy-to-make piñata that the kids enjoyed breaking and smashing. Finally
as the guests left and it was time to clean up, Abhay announced the party to be
a grand success…..and Boy! Were we glad to live up to the expectations of our
big little man!! :-)
On the occasion of celebrating ten years of Abhayhood……..we
went on a philosophical tour on life and living from our all time favourite author Ruskin
Bond “What’s your dream?”, that we read as
a part of the compilation “The Room of Many Colours”, a thoughtful piece
on dreams and life. Written in first person (as most of Ruskin Bond’s stories),
the story involves a young boy’s encounter with an English speaking beggar, who
stumps him with one question “What’s your dream…..something you wants most in
his life?”. As the boy answers that his dream is to have a room of his own, the
man begins to probe further leading to a intriguing conversation on the significance
of dreams in one’s life, with the old man giving out pearls of wisdom drawn
from his own experience on how it is important to work towards your dream and
move towards it all the time, and most importantly, if you don’t expect too
many things too quickly, you’ll find your dream. While children are natural
dreamers, they end up losing their natural ability to dream as they grow up. With
a layered narrative that likens dreams to freedom and growing up to losing that
freedom, the story beautifully conveys that while it is important to follow
your dream, it is also important not to take other people’s dreams. The story
ends with the boy left to ponder over the old man’s words of wisdom….and is the
reader. As this is the age for Abhay to dream and build castles in the air, we couldn’t
have asked for a better story to celebrate his foray into pre-teenhood….So here’s
wishing Abhay a very happy birthday….dream on…my boy as there is no life without
dreams! :-)
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