She is my best friend, she is the spring in my step, the golden sun glow in my day, the song in my heart, the forever in my soul, the smile on my face, the loudness in my carefree laughter and she is all of six. She IS my very being, yet Mommies often underestimate their own dollies, so when I learnt she was playing the central character of ‘Miss George’ in an adaptation of the eternal ‘Sound of Music” in her annual program at school, I was happy, delighted not just because of what role she was getting to play but simply with at the very joy any parent would cherish of getting to see a part of them perform on a stage, in front of an audience. I would go to pick her up at school everyday and my heart would fill with pride and admiration each time someone would mention what a wonderful show she was putting up, even more, when I would hear her rehearse at home, not just her part but everyone else’s too, uninterrupted in one go, over and over again. Kids can amaze you.
You ought to have seen my little girl on the D-day, both before the program and certainly during the show. She was a star, as for me I was a super excited mom, at the venue sharp at five for a program that was scheduled to start only at 6:45 PM, only to take the very first chair in the very first row, so that I could see her and she could see every glint of pride and awe in her mommie’s eyes, so that I could shout out, wave and hoot, yes, you read that right, I did every bit of it, I waved incessantly just to let her know that her mom was totally totally watching every bit of what she was doing there. I will for all my life remember the moment her eyes had met mine that evening across the stage and how her lips had broken apart into a smile, a broad one that went straight from one eye to another and how my eyes had welled up, over the brim, beyond that moment. Yes, I love her.
It certainly was a big day for me and for once, I admit to putting in a deliberate thought into what I would wear for the special day. A saree it was, which I had picked up in 2011 from the Khadi Gramudyog at Mumbai. I had instantly fallen in love with it. An off white silk with prominent yet thin black stripes alternating with thinner yellow ones, both running vertically all over, broad sun yellow borders on either end and a plain same yellow coloured pallu. Teamed it up with a neckpiece from Kohar, one of my very favourites, a Mother of Pearl silver ring and some black metal bangles interspersed by whites and yellow wooden kadas all the way from Shimla.
Here are glimpses from the day, of someone who rocked it, with all the aplomb my sweetheart and a mom who only keeps being more and more in awe of her little bundle.
Cheers to her mentors at school who made it happen, wholly, solely and so beautifully. The accolades are all yours. So is the gratitude of a mother’s happy heart.