The Story of My 2 Daughters

I’ve never been a kids person that is MDH’s domain. I’m rather miserable at it honestly – I don’t know what to entertain them with after a point and how to take the conversation ahead.

Blame it on the fact that I’m one of the youngest among all cousins; and was the kid in the family for long until my nieces and nephews came along. I was 6 when my first niece was born and I did not identify with the concept of “aunt”. My nieces in the age-group of 18-24 are more like my sisters. While they were growing up I was never entrusted with any responsibility, I was their friend or sister. I pamper them like a sis would, not the way an aunt would.

I didn’t identify with what exactly they call “motherly” feeling until I met little “C”. My first neighbour in Dubai, my first family. C used to spend tons of hours at our place entertaining us with her newly found tales of wisdom, song recitals and dance performances. MDH was her best friend, I was her “Mavshi ( mom’s sis)”. When they moved back to Mumbai, MDH and I were left with a void impossible to be filled up again. Fortunately, her parents (P & A) live close to our place in Mumbai and there has not been a single time in our visits back home that we do not meet them and their little angel.

When she started her schooling, she’d wave out to me every morning as she waited for her bus. Not a day went by without our little ritual. Today I have her snap on my mobile  - when my alarm goes off, it’s her smiling face that wakes me up every morning.

As P once told me, I treat you both like her second set of parents. So for me, C will remain my first daughter – the little angel who taught me to love:-)

You pine for someone for so long that when they arrive you don’t know how to react. That’s what happened when my Didi and Jiju’s little angel – Ira stepped into our lives. When I held the little one in my arms on day 1 – I was in complete awe of her. She was so special and she had brought million dollar smiles to the faces of everyone in my family. Didi is the first grandchild on my maternal side and hence her little one was always going to be the special one for all uncles,aunts and us cousins.

Ira is just 4 months old and growing up fast, I last saw her in June – all of 2 months. She has the most sweetest smile in the world, she makes me go weak in my knees. I miss her, I have her picture up on my desktop and the sight of her eases my tensions in office and brings back my lost smile. Yes she has that effect on me. I’ve a lovely video of her on my desktop, the one that MDH shot on his latest trip to India before Didi left for UK.  Ira is crying, laughing, and yawning at the same time. I laugh and cry at the same time every time I see that video. When Didi sends me her latest snaps ( which I get after much pestering cause when it comes to updating my sis is pretty lousy), I land up getting all emotional and start crying – yeah my hormones are playing havoc! Ira is my second daughter:-)

I hate living abroad, I cannot hold my little angels and hug them when I miss them dearly. I can’t be part of their daily lives. All I get is telephonic or email updates and I will get to see them for a few hours/day every year. But I thank god, for blessing me with the presence of these two little wonders in my life.

When I have my kids, will anything change – Nope. I’m an only child but my mom has her two daughters – my Didi( Ira’s mom) and Tai (my paternal cousin) and similarly for me little C and Ira will always remain my 2 daughters for the rest of my life.