Posts

Birthdays

Image
Date: 12/2/2024   Hi Kapish, In the past 3 weeks' since celebrating your Birthday, you also happened to attend 3 other birthdays and you showed some very encouraging behaviour    First, was your friend Arvi's 6th birthday. You took active part in it and became very social mixing around with friends from DSR   Second, was Apurva's birthday - she turned 8 and had you attended the party with a different set if audience and even played musical chair and variety of other games. In the quiz section, you answered the name of the planet with rings and also brought home a nice 5 Star chocolate    Third, was our new neighbour, Dhairya's 11th Birthday. You were obviously the tiniest tot in the room, but there was one incident which Mumma distinctly remembered - One of the cakes was a sports themed cake and while the boys in the room literally fought for which topping they wanted, you went on your own - picked a few Oreos', a Mazza and sat on the sofa and enjoyed yours...

I call her Doctor

Image
Date: 9/2/2024 Hi Kapish, We visited your Panaji aaji twice last last year - once in September (just after Ganpati) and then again in December. During the second visit, you decided on your own that you will take along the Doctors' Kit which we had brought for you in Christmas. You loved the bag so much that you had practically insisted that you take the bag along everywhere you go  You also happened to take it to Thane, where you were a bit surprised when Chaya aaji, who is a real doctor, showed you her real Doctors' Bag. You sat on the couch and explored it for over 1hour and even helped examine Abu while you were at it  Your Panaji aaji sitting quietly at the table observed all of this and when I went to visit her last week, she asked me about you and said, "I call her Doctor now" You even posed with her before we left - in what happens to be the last picture of you with Panaji aaji! I do remember her telling me that it was her deepest desire that one of her great-g...

Goodbye Aaji!

Image
Date: 6/2/2024 Dear Kapish, Growing up, a teenage Dadoo went through a lot of hardships. And while I never asked anyone for help, there was one person who sort of understood what was on my mind and always extended a helping hand - that person was my Aaji (your Panaji aaji) She would call me to Thane very often and just as I was about to leave, she would place a little roll of cash (some 1000 or 1500) in may hand and tell me to use it for travel or studies. Over sometime, I realized that this was money she had saved up from her expenses, just for me. And I in turn, being an ideal grandson - saved up as much as possible of that money and kept the rest as back-up - to be used only in cases of emergency She was a genuine and very hard-working lady who lost her husband at a very early age. She did not have a job and had to make sure that she brings up her 3 young daughters at the same time. It was at this time that she show-cased her courage and resilience and whatever we are today is testi...

Dont go Dadoo!

Image
  Date: 31 st Jan 2024   Dear Kapish, I did speak to you yesterday, but also wanted to capture it here. I will be going away for next 4 days and you will have to spend time with Mumma, Nani aaji and Namma I have traveled before as well, but this morning was the first time you actually asked me ‘not to go’! I was a little emotional, but want to tell you that traveling is part of what I do and though we will take a lot of trips together, there will be times when I will be away on my own This time though, I am going for a jungle safari with Nitin Kaka to Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve on the border of Maharashtra and Telangana. I will fly to Mumbai today and then leave tomorrow morning to Tadoba (via Nagpur) I also wanted to mention here about my camera. I am very proud of the investment I have made in this I hope to see and capture a Tiger or Leopard on this trip I also hope that someday you will have a camera of your own and capture some special moments a...

Hi-Five!

Image
Date: 21st Jan 2024 Hi Kapish, Yes, it's 2024 and you have turned 5 already! A major milestone in your journey on this planet and like last year, we did 2 celebrations The first one was on your actual Birthday (17th Jan) where you wore a nice frock and took 5 books to be donated to the Kinfolk library  In the evening, you got a surprise visit by the smallest baby you have seen - little 2 month old Misha Followed by a small cake-cutting The real big celebration followed on the Saturday (20th of Jan) and this year we picked the theme which had caught your attention the most - Peppa Pig We still can't believe our little princess is growing up so soon, but trust me - we are super duper proud of who you are already  Love you loads Dadoo

Mumma's copycat

Image
Date: 6th Jan 2024 Hi Kapus, You would probably know by now that your Mumma like writing down her ideas and thoughts into a little dairy or book which would change every year. Another word for it is Journaling..It's similar to writing a blog, but you write more often and just about anything and everything This year too, Mumma brought herself some journals (including one from the Jeevan book store in Vile Parle Mumbai). However, she was not alone this time around Being inspired by her, you too made demands to have a journal of your own and after a lot of searching around the house - we finally found something which you could jot down stuff in sitting close to Mumma Now, what you write or draw in your little brown journals - only time will tell, but there is another thing which you have started doing a lot and that is drawing  And your favourite drawing is that of a house with a little family (which obsessionally also includes Peppa Pig or Elsa and Anna) FYI - you would also make sur...

Welcome to 2024

Hi Kapus, Welcome to 2024! Last month was very eventful and I will try and cover many of the things we did, but I wanted to start this blog in the new year with something else  Well, if you a little grown up now and had seen your Dadoo as a fat, 42 year old man, I am aure you would have pushed me to become fitter - and I have been feeling the same lately having put on weight in the past few months  However, last month, as I was waiting to attend your parent-teacher meet, I happened to park near KTPO and saw a lot of morning joggers. The time was almost 9:30 - well past the typical jogging hour for enthusiast - so I got out of the car and waled up to the gate of KTPO to read a large banner which read "Bengaluru Midnight Marathon"  Maybe it was like a sign for me and at that moment I decided that in the year 2024, I will run the 5km version of the midnight marathon Now, running / jogging is not something which comes naturally to me and this is going to take a lot of effort....