My children, they seem to be growing by leaps and bounds. And I want time to pass really slowly for some years; in fact, I wish I could freeze it for a few years, starting now. It would have been great if we had some sort of a Magic Wand, to freeze or stretch the time when we feel happiness and joy; and fast forward a period of grief or sadness. This world would be full of contented and happy souls then, with less bitterness around us.
Coming back to my girls. They are galloping ahead with the years, with full force. It seems like yesterday when Anya, my elder child, and I learnt swimming together, three years back. Together, we overcame the initial fear of deep waters and learnt to move the arms and legs. Together, we stood in line to jump from the diving boards. I stopped at 3 meters and she jumps from the 7 meters high board now. She has outgrown almost all of her clothes now and has also outgrown her fascination with “frocks”.
She fiercely put a stop to my penchant for dressing both my girls in similar dresses, and refuses to step out of the house if the colors of their respective dresses match even a teeny weeny bit. Last year, she insisted on growing her hair and now it is reaching well below her shoulders. Yes, I plead guilty in this case too. They had the same hairstyle too, an inverted bob, for quite a few years. Her dad and I still try our luck sometimes, and ask her if she would like to get a haircut as it would be easier on her head. Both of us feel that she looks grown up , with her long hair. We miss our little Anya, who was quite the charmer, with her never ending renditions of poems and songs. We miss her “littleness”.
Coming to our firecracker “Taidu” now. That’s the nickname given by Anya to her little sister Anika. ( pronounced A..E. NIKA . mind you, as she keeps telling one and all ) Her father named her after the famous Swedish golf player. But if only Taidu would stay still in one place long enough to hold the golf stick properly! A complete chatterbox, she was the darling of the whole colony when we were staying in the Dehradun cantt. She was chubby enough to mistaken for a Baby Sumo wrestler when she was a toddler. Sadly, she has lost all that baby fat and looks almost scrawny to me now. Why didn’t I have the magic wand back then? I would have frozen that period of time, the period of roly poly Taidu, for at least 5 years. We used to call her Chubbo, and Chubbo would run through the colony, stealing everyone’s hearts effortlessly.
Spunky to the core, she was the quintessential devil- may-care Dada. But now, a pinch of that chutzpah has faded, busy as she is with the school and homework routine. Again, a pinch only, mind you! My husband and I keep talking of her Sumo days and even remember the various expressions on her chubby, baby face those days. We miss her “littleness”.
My darling munchkins, why do you have to grow so fast? Dear God, where is that magic wand that I have been wishing for? Let me savour every happy moment with them to the fullest. Let me revel in their innocence some more. Let me find joy in their “littleness” for some more time.
© May 2017 Sapna Dhyani Devrani
