Sakrant - 14th Jan, 2008

If I were to count the dates which Daddy looks forward to in the calendar, it would be my birthday, Mamma's birthday, his marriage anniversary & a bunch of other birthdays and anniversaries.

However, 14th January is the date he has the most fun. It's Makarsakranti, aka Sakrant, the festival of kites in Jaipur. The whole sky is filled with color & people have a gala time in the soothing winter sun. Jaipur is one of the world's most famous heritage cities and some of the festivals here attract tourists in large numbers. For the uninformed, a kite is known as 'Patang' in hindi while a person flying the kite is known as a 'Patangbaaz'. Daddy used to be a renowned kite flyer in his childhood days & he used to start as early as 5 AM in the morning. Grandma often had a very hard time making him study or even eat his food during January while he was in school.

This year was a bit different. He set off for the roof at around 9:30 AM (along with me). The number of kites was steadiliy increasing every minute & the sky was getting more colorful & more beautiful with every passsing minute. Very soon, everybody else (Grandpa, Grandma, Bhua & lastly Mamma) joined us on the rooftop.

In our neighbourhood, everywhere my eyes went, there were people & more people on the roofs of their houses. As soon as Daddy handed me over to Mamma, his kite was reaching out to the skies within minutes. The whole Kheterpal family enjoyed a delicious breakfast on the house roof. It was bright & sunny so we stayed on the roof while Daddy was busy with his kites. The lunch & evening tea were also served by Grandma while we were enjoying the pleasing sunlight of January.

It was a day of fun & frolic which I really enjoyed. I love colors & this day the sky looked like a colorful collage. Wishing everyday was as colorful and funfilled as this day!!

My First Lohri - 13th Jan, 2008

13th January is another auspicious day in Hindu Calendar, it's time to celebrate Lohri. The first Lohri assumes special significance for married couples and young ones as it's usually celebrated with friends and relatives arriving to bless them. However, it's a strange custom in our 'Punjabi Arora' famillies that it's only celebrated for male new borns & not for girls :(

Daddy does not agree with any useless customs/ superstitions & this one was no exception. So, we decided to have a small celebration at home to mark my first Lohri - I guess it's the official way of signifying that 'Vanisha Kheterpal' has arrived ;)

I was dressed up in a fabulous pink dress by Mamma. She says that pink colour suits me the most & I look best in it. Daddy says that every colour suits me & I look awesome in every dress including nappies (or without nappies for that matter.. shame shame). He just loves me too much to be honest about anything ;)

We lit fire using some wood & performed the usual rituals around it. Daddy had recieved invitations from a couple of relatives for Lohri celebrations. We set off for the first venue where as expected, I was the center of everybody's attraction with relatives queueing up to hold me in their arms. There were also a lot of small kids so I had a good time before I fell asleep because I was damn tired.

The scene was no different at the second venue and we were back home at 11 in the night. Some hindu rituals are terrific & some of them are terrible, this one comes in the terrific category & I had a great time :)

East or West, Home is the best !

Someone truly said that there's no place like home. We reached home at 10:30 AM after the long tiresome journey. As soon as daddy rang the doorbell, grandpa, grandma & bhua were out in a flash to meet me. They were all overjoyed to see me & I could see how much they had been missing me in the last one month.

Withing moments, our house which had been quiet for the last one month was buzzing with my chirps and everybody enjoying it. Till I was 8 weeks old, I did not have any set sleep pattern & it was a mission impossible to put me to sleep more often than not. Grandma, Mamma & Daddy used to try their own tricks to put me to sleep but I stood firm most of the time till they were tired & then I would budge so that we could all enjoy some dreams. Grandma's technique was the most efficient, she would make me lie down on her lap & recite chants & bhajans till I fell asleep. I hardly understand a word of what she said but it sounded nice so I would tend to fall asleep before I knew what was going on.

Some snaps were clicked to mark the occasion of my home coming before we all got a well deserved rest in the afternoon.

Meeting Daddy - 12th Jan, 2008

It was now exactly one month that I had been at Naani's place in Sirsa, my new home away from home. All this while, Daddy was missing me more than I/ Mamma missed him. He reached Sirsa at 5 AM in the morning on 12th January and the first thing he did then was the same thing he had done when he left me at Naani's house one month back - that was to kiss me almost 50 times !

I don't like it when he does'nt shave & kisses me on my cheeks but since he loves me a lot so I'll pardon him for that. I & Daddy were seeing each other after one month. He said to Mamma that my looks have changed a lot in past one month. That's true daddy ! It's the law of nature & that's how kids grow up. I've obviously become more cute than earlier & I've also gained some weight.. oops.. girls are never supposed to say that :)

The most important change he noticed was that I've started to smile a lot more than I used to earlier and respond to people's actions. Till I was 7 weeks old, I mostly smiled while sleeping & enjoying my dreams. But now, I've developed a cute social smile.

We set off for Jaipur the very same night.. yet another train journey for me :). This one was a bit longer than the Jaipur<->Sirsa journey a month back but I slept through out the night & woke up when the train had arrived at Jaipur railway station.

More in next post...

Polio Vaccination - 6th Jan, 2008

6th January was the first polio campaign for the year 2008. Mamma & Nani took me to a nearly Polio Vaccination booth & got me vaccinated. This is my third polio vaccination. The doctor had recommended to Daddy & Mamma that they should get me vaccinated each time there's such a campaign.

I don't really like the taste of polio drops but I don't mind it either as Mamma gives me a full spoon of honey after the vaccination. I absolutely love the taste of honey & I even cry to make Mamma realize that I want some more of it. What a pity that Mamma does not understand my language yet!

Anyway, it's very important for young kids especially those less than a year old. It is a must to eradicate a disease like Polio from our society as it has spoiled the lives of a large number of kids.

I'm quiet happy & so is Daddy as he's coming to Nani's place to take me to Jaipur. I'm excited to be going back home where Grandpa, Grandma & Bhua are also eager awaiting my arrival.

Hopefully, the next post will be from Jaipur with Daddy sitting besides me!

Missing Vanu!

For a change, I won't impersonate Vanu in this one post
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More than three weeks have passed since I dropped Vanu off to Sirsa. Meanwhile, I've been shuttling work & home between Gurgaon & Jaipur. I've been missing Vanu like anything. I see her albums every day (difficult to count how many times every day) & she's at the back of my mind through out day (& night - For whatever reasons, I get dreams almost every night ever since I turned 10, Vanu has featured in a lot of them off late)

To make things worse, the train service has been cancelled for January due to fog & poor visibility. I'm now in a fix as to how to bring Vanu back. A 10 hour long bus journey is not a feasible proposition while my in-laws are really apprehensive about me driving down to Sirsa. I slept at 10 in the night on new year's eve, never felt like going out with friends or watching TV, spent a lot of time imagining how I would spend New Year's Eve with Vanu the next time around.

I miss the warmth of carrying her in my arms, her sleeping on my shoulder, changing her nappies, everthing that she did :). I call Jyoti every day to know how her day went. Meanwhile, Vanu keeps everybody busy & entertained at her Nani's place in Sirsa.

I now realize how much I've changed after Vanisha was born & more so after she's been away for a few days. I've always loved & respected my parents a lot. Now that I'm a father myself, I understand what they feel for me and I respect them even more. I value relationships more than anything else in my life and I don't have words to describe the bond that I share with Vanu.

Perhaps, the more I write about it, the more I'll feel sad about it. So, I'll just wrap this up hoping that I meet Vanu soon.

Vanu, Daddy loves you & misses you a lot !!
Hugs & Kisses from Daddy

First Visit to Naani's place

It's a custom in Daddy's family that kids should not go out (to protect them from evil spirits.... yawn !!) before they are 40 days old. As soon as I touched 40 days, there were a number of phone calls from Naani asking Mamma to come over & spend some time with her. It was winter vacation time at Naani's school as well.

So, Daddy booked the tickets & we set off for Naani's place on 15th December, 2007. We took the 'Jaipur Amritsar Express' train which is usually on time & takes 9 hours to reach Sirsa from Jaipur. Since the weather was really cold, I was packed with clothes, more clothes & more of them :) to prevent me from the cold weather. The train departed at 19:30 PM in the evening & I was fast asleep till 1 in the night.

Daddy had read in one of the crap parenting blogs that young kids find it very difficult to cope up with the noise in rail travel, especially when another train passes by in the other direction. I wonder what makes Daddy believe in all these things !!

Anyway, I woke up at 1 & ensured that no one else could sleep till 2:30 AM. There was a doctor on the adjacent seat who took good care of me as well before I dozed off again into my dreams. By the time I woke up again, we had reached Naani's house at 5 in the morning.

Daddy returned to Gurgaon the very next day to resume office duties. He knew I would be away for atleast two weeks so he tried to make up for it by kissing me at least 50 times in less than 10 minutes before he left for Gurgaon. Daddy, your beard hurts !!

More on 'Names' :)

India is a country of more than a billion people & Daddy now realized why India is topping the charts in population the world over. I was born in October, 2007 & in last three odd months, a large (very large) number of Daddy's friends/ relatives/ colleagues/ classmates have experienced the joy of parenthood :)

Some of the names chosen by the recent (& not so recent) parents are amazing ('Rocking' as daddy calls them) so he had to dedicate a post to them. So, here's the list in no particular order:

Mehek - Daughter of Amit & Shikha (Dua & Dui as daddy fondly calls them). They are both good friends of daddy since his college days in SLIET. 'Mehek' means fragrance & is a lovely name. Mehek was born in Feb, 2007.

Vivaan - Son of Ashish & Jaspreet (Chabbu & Jas - 2 more of Daddy's gang members from SLIET). Daddy had never heard of it earlier. Since Chabbu & Jas stay in US, a modern name like 'Vivaan' is a perfect fit. It means Lord Shiva. Vivaan was born in Nov, 2006.

Vihaan - Son of Meghna & Vikrant. Meghna (or Meghna Madam in Mamma's language) was Mamma's colleague at Amity School of Engg & Tech in Delhi. Not sure what it means but it sounds good & is not very common either. Vihaan is 1.5 years old now.

Akshit - Son of Praveen & Deepika, Daddy's neighbours in Gurgaon. They initially named him 'Jiyesh' as the starting letter came out as 'J'. Akshit sounds better any day, thank god that they decided to change his name :). Akshit is close to turning 2 years old.

Bhavik - Son of Asit & Sukriti. Asit is another one of Daddy's classmate & friend from his SLIET days. He was perhaps the naughtiest character in his class. It's another nice & uncommon name. Bhavik turned 2 years old on this New Year's eve.

Sharon - Daughter of Manju & Pradeep. Manju (err Manju Madam) was Mamma's colleague at Amity & is now based in US. That's one name which sounds more american than indian ! Sharon was born on 2nd Oct, 2007

Aprajita - Daughter of Meenu & Sanjay. Meenu is one of Mamma's childhood friends & neighbours from Sirsa. Daddy says it's a beautiful name & it sure is :). Aprajita was born in May, 2007

Jiya - Daughter of Maninder, a colleague of Daddy from Alcatel. This one is from the 'Karan Johar Book of Names' - short & sweet. One of the meanings is 'Heart'. Maninder is based in Sydney, Australia. Jiya is 2 weeks old now (Hurray, finally some one younger than me :)

Ishaan - Son of Poonam & Munish (Poonam was a classmate of Daddy in SLIET). This one is a bit more common than others. Out of the 50 odd serials that Mamma watches on TV, two of them have kids with this name. Nice name though ! Ishaan was born in September, 2006 (or 2005 - Daddy's fading memory ??).

Rushil - Son of Vikas & Vandana. Vikas was a colleague of Daddy from Alcatel. This one is easily the most innovative & unheard of the lot! It means 'Charming'. Rushil was born in Dec, 2007.

Diya - Son of Puja (Puja was a classmate of Daddy in SLIET). Daddy has lost touch with her after college & he picked this one up from Puja's blog. Diya means 'light', 'dazzling personality'. She shares her name with one of the most beautiful actresses from the Indian Film Industry - Diya Mirza. A name which really appears 'soft' & pleasing to the ears. Diya was born in December, 2007.

Daddy loves the letter 'A' so here are some of them with his favourite letter:

Aarav - Son of Reeti & Dheeraj (SLIET again !!).
Arnav - Son of Malkiat & Preeti (SLIET - is that too hard to guess? :)
Arohi - Daughter of Ritu (ex-Colleague from Alcatel)
Ambreen - Daughter of Manpreet (SLIET's here again)

Okay.. that's been a long list already. Some of the parents have gone the more conventional way & picked more common names, here are some of them:

Siddharth - Son of Vishal & Suprika (Daddy's friends from SLIET)
Krishna - Son of Ajay (a school friend of Daddy)

The list is not yet complete as some of my friends are on their way to planet earth in the coming months :) Daddy, please ensure that you update this list when they are here :)

The 'Name Saaga' continues

Daddy has a habit of going into a shell once in a while and hence a long break since last post :(
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I turned two months old on 29th December, 2007. Daddy read an article few days back in one of the leading newspapers which said:-

"It is scientifically proven that children with names starting with the first few letters of the english language (A,B up to G.. all right... stretch it up to M) tend to do a lot better academically than those with names starting with the last few letters (T-Z)"

I know that it's ridiculous however Daddy is fond of getting worried on getting almost everything as perfect as possible for me. He's had the following argument on this theory:

* The roll number convention in majority of schools is based on the starting alphabet of first name of the child. His schooling story was pretty much the same. A guy named 'Ambreesh' was well & truly a cut above the rest & easily the best student in his class. Dad believed that he got an unfair advantage because his roll number was in the beginning (I know it sounds RUBBISH, that's the way daddy is :)

Anyway, he loves my name & me more than anything else so he won't change it now (that's what I hope). My family has already derived a lot of nick names for me, the list goes as follows:

Vanu - Daddy's favourite, now it's been taken over by Mamma as well
Vini - Granpda's favourite
Pari - Bhua's favourite
Vanisha - GrandMa always insists on calling me by my name. She did'nt have a nick name for daddy either when he was born :)

What's in a name?

William Shakespeare did'nt have kids for sure, otherwise he would have never said those words. As Daddy and Mamma realized, it's a nerve-racking exercise in itself. It's a common custom in hindu religion that the pundit tells the first alphabet of the name based on a child's place and time of birth.

Daddy had already done his homework and created a big database of latest hindu names. He maintained a list of his favorite names for boys as well as girls. The internet is a big aid in finding baby names. It also confuses people all the more with so many choices cropping up!!

When I was a week old, Daddy and GrandPa went to the pundit to find out the first alphabet of my name. He told them that it's a "V". I'm a scorpio (it's called Vrish in hindi) by sun sign. It was'nt the best alphabet daddy could have hoped for and both he and Mamma did'nt agree on a name with 'V'.

So, the went for a second round of alphabet from the near by Gurudwara. The way Gurudwara does the naming it is based on fetching any page from the Guru Granth Sahib and it's belived that it is god's choice. Any how, the alphabet from gurudwara given out was 'P'.

The second round caused more problems than solving any. Daddy and Mamma were more confused than ever and the list began to grow. Here is the first list of names from 'V' that they thought about:-

Vaanya (Mamma's favourite)
Vartika
Vedika
Vanshika

They had a back up plan for alphabet 'P' as well:-

Prachi (Daddy's favourite)
Pragya
Payal
Preksha

Mamma then found some more:-

Vrishika
Vandita
Vanisha

It finally came down to between Vedika, Vaanya and Vanisha. They decided that it's better off going with 'V' rather than 'P' as it aligns well astrologically. The day soon arrived when Dad had to set off to get my birth certificate. It was still a toss between Vedika and Vanisha. The argument followed:-

Vedika - Good Meaning but too common (Moreover, it was the name for one of the villains in Mamma's favourite TV serial)

Vaanya - Mamma absolutely loved this name. Daddy did'nt like it as he believed that it's a bit too modern for India. It sounds similar to Vanya which means forest. Vaanya itself means queen of the forest. The meaning killed this one !!

Vanisha - This is a name that's not very common, it means 'pure' 'purest'. Sounds good and means great !! After much discussion, they decided that I'll be named Vanisha. Every body loved this name !!

Mamma further wanted it to be spelled as Vaneesha but Daddy was adamant to keep it as Vanisha. He convinced Mamma & she agreed to keep it that way. Though she absolutely loves this name, the only part that she does'nt like it is that most people hear it as 'Manisha' which is perhaps the most common name amongst girls in India.

Diwali 2007 - My Chola Ceremony !!

Time flew by and 10 days passed, 9th November arrived. It was Diwali - the biggest festival of India, the biggest celebration, the time to shop & eat lots of sweets. The time to catch up with friends and relatives and wish them well for the next year!

It is also the noisiest festival in India with people bursting crackers till the wee hours. Daddy was already worried that I'll find it difficult to cope up with the noise of firecrackers and he had contingency plans to stick some cotton in my ears. Thankfully, that was not needed as I slept though the night without even noticing what was going on around me.

Since it's one of the most auspicious days in the Hindu Calendar, Daddy thought that it would be a perfect occasion to take me to the gurudwara & seek Baba Ji's blessings. I dressed up in a beautiful pink dress which Daddy absolutely loved. The ritual was short and sweet and we were back home within an hour. Daddy clicked a few snaps of mine that day too, he was fond of doing it every day. He just did'nt want to miss any moment that was worth a click on his camera. Some day, I'll be old enough to see all my pics and take a flash back down the memory lane to my yester years.

Karvachauth

Ever since Daddy & Mamma landed in Jaipur, they had been contemplating whether Mamma would keep a fast on Karvachauth or not. Daddy was'nt too keen on it but Mamma said that she would try it out.

As fate would have it, she spent most of the day on Karvachauth in labour pain. GrandMa also skipped keeping her fast as it was almost impossible to find time for ceremonies in the evening. This was probably the first time she had done so in her marriage of 38 years !

Welcome Home !!

The first 2 nights in this world were'nt exactly the best I could have hoped for, I was not able to take feeds from Mamma who tried ever so hard. Mamma & Daddy were really sad when they saw me crying at the top of my voice (at 2 AM in the night :). It was a big change for me coming into this world from the secure prison where I stayed for last 8.5 months :)

Anyway, every body was very pleased when I arrived at home and they were always queueing up to hold me in their arms. More relatives & daddy's friends visited us in the next couple of days. After a couple of days, I started taking feeds from Mamma and every body had a huge sigh of relief !!

When I was born, I weighed 2.7 kg which is rather low. A normal healthy baby in India weighs somewhere around 3 kg in India while the norm in US & other developed countries is closer to 3.5 kg.

I got a couple of vital vaccination injections which made Daddy cry more than me :). Daddy soon informed his office colleagues about it and more blessings followed me.

29th Oct, 2007@4:42 PM: I've arrived !!

Daddy & GrandMa were waiting anxiously outside the operation theatre for the last one & a half hour. Daddy had already asked GrandMa about five times as to how long it would take and each time GrandMa said that it could be any moment now !!

Anyhow, the moment did come when the nurse came out and informed Daddy that he's been blessed with a beautiful daughter. She asked for the baby's clothes and went back inside the operation theatre.

Daddy was overjoyed to know that he was blessed with a baby girl. A million thoughts crossed his mind the very same moment - carrying me on his lap, dropping me to school when I grow up, seeing me go to college and even marrying me off to the prince of my dreams. He's got quiet an imagination as you can see ;)

The nurse came back after 5 minutes carrying me in her arms and handed me over to Daddy. The last few months had been emotionally & physically draining for him as well as Mamma and he broke down in tears with joy as he held me close to his heart. This was the moment he had waited for all his life, fatherhood - what a special feeling !!

Mamma came out of the operation theatre after another 5 minutes & daddy gave her the longest hug of her life :). Usually, it's the mother who touches the baby first as the doctors do it that way. In my case, daddy was the one who held me first as Mamma was still in the operation theatre. No wonder why I'm daddy's girl !!

It was then Mamma's turn to hold me in her arms. Those were moment that Daddy and Mamma will never forget. What a pity that I am too young to realize those :(. After Mamma, grandma held me in her arms and I loved it. It was probably my first smile (while sleeping) after entering this world.

They informed Grandpa and Bhua at home who were equally happy to hear the news. Within a couple of hours, all close relatives (Naani, Daddy's Mama Ji etc.) and friends were informed and the blessings were coming thick and fast from all corners.

The next day Naani arrived from Sirsa. One of daddy's closest childhood friends visited us the next day as well. They were followed by a bunch of relatives who just kept coming :)

Mamma stayed 2 nights in the hospital before we were discharged on Wednesday morning and I was set to visit my home for the first time.

The very next day !!

If Daddy were to count things that Mamma is scared of, the list would be endless. However, dogs and labour pain (or rather the fear of labour pain) would top the list any day.

It was sunday 10 PM when Mamma felt untolerable pain in her stomach. Daddy was unsure as to whether it was labour pain or some other illness. A couple of hours passed by and the pain refused to go away, Daddy took Mamma to the hospital with grandma.

At the hospital, the doctor examined Mamma again & told daddy that perhaps their child was eager to meet them so they'll have to prepone the delivery. She said that we could expect the baby next morning @ 11 AM. It was one of the most difficult nights to pass for Daddy with Mamma crying in pain on his shoulder and there was pretty much nothing he could do about it. Further, Mamma was given pain drips to increase the pain & ensure that she went into labour timely. None of them - Daddy, Mamma and GrandMa slept that night. They kept talking to Mamma and hoped that the night would pass soon. It did pass, slowly and by morning, rather unfortunately, Mamma's pain went away as well. She was induced further pain drips to sustain the labour pain. Daddy says that it was the longest and most painful night of his life.

The nurses would come every 2 hours to make sure that everything was normal. By noon, the labour pain reached it's prime and Mamma was barely able to talk to us. She's always been scared of labour pain & now the moment had arrived. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, she was moved to operation theatre.

I wish Daddy wrote about what happened afterwards but he just does'nt have the courage to do so ;)

The penultimate visit to doctor's clinic !

27th Oct, 2007:- A day after landing in Jaipur, Daddy decided to take Mamma for a health checkup. Daddy tried to find out the best doctors and hospitals in Jaipur before they moved there. He finally zeroed in on 'Holy Family' hospital in Raja Park, Jaipur. The hospital is a 5 minute drive/ 15 minute walk from our home in Adarsh Nagar.

The owner of Holy Family hospital is Dr. Neeta Ahluwalia, one of the most reputed doctors in Jaipur. She's from a defence background and very professional as far as work is concerned. After examining Mamma, she told that every thing is normal & the due date would be 3rd November (saturday). Daddy and Mamma went back home reassured and hoping that a week would pass by in a fly !

Those Nine Months !

Perhaps it's more appropriate that Mamma write this blog rather than Daddy but she's not too fond of writing and she's always busy taking care of me, so daddy will do the honours :)

It's often said that the birth of a child is nature's most amazing creation. The nine months leading up to the birth are a mixed bag of emotions for the mother, father and the child. As my gandpa was not well, so my parents were on their own in Gurgaon during my mother's pregnancy. Daddy used to tell Mamma that he's always been there for her and will always be there for her. Mamma is his best friend (not any more, I'm his latest crush) and will always be.

Mamma coped up well during the first couple of months of her pregnancy without any health problems. She attended college regularly so that she did'nt miss the gossip sessions with her colleagues about the latest TV serials, movies and actors. She taught students in spare time as well ;). Daddy used to drop her to college in the morning and pick her up in the evening. He adjusted his work schedule so that he would spend maximum time with Mamma during this critical period. His was a tough job, working all day in office and then attending late night conference calls but he enjoyed doing it. Mamma often says that he's born to work and office is like his second wife :).

There were times when Mamma's health went up and down but she managed well with Daddy on her side. There would be times when she would place her head on daddy's shoulder and ask him about their future, their child. Daddy always assured her that everything will be fine. Daddy felt guilty that he was not taking enough care of Mamma and always tried to do better with every passing day.

They celebrated their anniversary (12th Sep) and Mamma's birthday (19th Sep) meanwhile and very happy to know that I'll be joining them next year onwards in those celebrations.

On 26th October, 2007, they moved to Jaipur as the due date was just two weeks away. Mamma took a break from her work schedule while Daddy took a short break from his office.

Due Date

Call it a conicidence or whatever, the doctors gave a due date of 9th November, 2007 for my birth. 9th November, 2007 was Diwali which is perhaps the most auspicious date in Hindu Calendar year. It symbolizes the victory of good over evil and the day when God Rama returned home after an exile of 14 long years.

Perhaps, god had decided that my and Rama's home coming should be on the same day ;)

Good News

3rd March, 2007: It was a usual lazy saturday morning for daddy and he was fast asleep till 9 o'clock in the morning. Mamma woke him up with a gentle hug and gave him the good news that their little angel was about to enter this world. It was the happiest moment in Daddy's life and he was overjoyed. He and Mamma visited the near by temple to thank god and seek his blessings (for me :).

They consulted a specialist doctor the next weekend who asked Mamma to take rest and asked Daddy to take good care of her. They consulted Dr. Aruna Kalra at a nearby hospital in Sector 15, Gurgaon. She's a very good doctor, very caring and made Mamma feel at ease right from the very first meeting. Daddy's little world of dreams was about to flourish and he was very excited. Mamma was a lot more composed, happy and a bit scared of the things to come ;).

The Wedding !

12th December 2005: D-day came before Daddy & Mamma realized the flight of time. As daddy calls it, he wanted a simple no non-sense wedding rather than a typical punjabi wedding with pomp & plendor. Anyway, his and Mamma's friends & relatives attended the ceremonies and had great fun. Daddy looked over joyed while Mamma was blushing all the time during wedding ceremonies.

And then, Daddy and Mamma were 'Happily Married'. As Daddy puts it, he's 'Married' while 'Mamma 'is happy.