On your birthday

Dear Atharv,

Six years ago you lit up our world. You have brought me nothing but pure joy since that very first moment. Watching you grow, absorbing the world around you, inquisitive and delighted to learn, I am reminded each day of the treasure you bring into my world.

As all mothers do, I have goals, dreams and wishes for you. I have, as you can imagine, dozens of them, but on this 6th birthday, I will limit myself to the six I wish for most.

I wish for the kind heart I see you in now to stay firmly in place.  Keep it, nurture it, handle it with care.  Don’t ever let anyone tell you that you are too sensitive. You feel extremely sad when I accidentally cut my fingers while chopping veggies. I still remember when you were two years old, my hand accidentally got stuck into the windom and got a big cut on my finger there was blood all over; you ran to your father and asked for band-aid for me.The best part of my day is the joy infused by your smile, your hugs, the tender way you put your hand on my face or suddenly say, “Mommy, how was YOUR day?”  I couldn’t live without your affection and kindness.

Don’t ever apologize for who you are, for what you want, for how hard you have worked or where you are going in life. I don’t doubt you will work hard, but I can already see signs that you are quick to apologize, to back down. Don’t. You have learned this from me and I wish I could take it back.  Stand your ground, be proud of you.  Do not live to make others happy or to measure up to someone else’s expectations.  Be Atharv.  This is enough.

Be a student.  Be a teacher.  Learn at every opportunity.  Read. Be inquisitive. Ask. And when you know something and know it well – teach others.  Do not hoard your knowledge, your gifts – share them.  There is inherent beauty in being both student and teacher.  It is a gift to learn and a privilege to teach.

I wish you wins and losses, trophies and empty shelves.  As much as I would love to see you succeed in everything you do… as much as I believe in your gifts, I must wish you challenges.  For it is within the losses, the 3rd, 4th and 5th places, and the failures that your character will be built. It is my job, as your mom, to do my best to guide you through these moments. If everything was to be easy for you, you would be ill-prepared for the ‘real’ world.  I promise you, life is not always easy.

Your dreams: do them.  Your heart: follow it.  Your family: treasure them. Your friends: be loyal to them. Your fears: embrace them and allow them to make you stronger.  The money you earn: Respect it. Your passion: LIVE IT. For rest you have Nicherein Daishonin’s Buddhism and Gonhonzon. Base your life on Buddhism. It will make your goal easier and will give you enough strength to pursue your dreams.

Seek joy.  Every single day, find something that makes you happy and do it.  Be it big or small – an act of kindness, listening to a song you love, calling a friend, watching a any game with your dad – it quite simply doesn’t matter.  What matters is that you spend a portion of each day smiling and laughing.  This is how you came in to the world, it is only fitting that keep the tradition going.

And my ‘one to grow on’ - I wish to be here for each of your moments…. to keep you on track.

Atharv, you are what bliss looks like in a little boy.  You are adorable, disciplined, independent, courageous and a fine boy. You snuggle and love me. I melt when you say, “I haven’t had my hugs and kisses yet today, Mommy”. Sometimes I wonder why you call me Mommy and not Mummy J or Mumma J, I adore that you need to be burrowed into your bed at night in order to sleep. You read so much at this age is no joke. This summer in a month you read more than 60 books and logged 1848 minutes of reading. Scholastic Publisher even gifted you a book for loggin so many minutes. Both your dad and me are very proud of you.

And nothing gets to me more than hearing you say, “I love you, my Mommy”. Thank you, sweet, small dude – for completing our family.

I will always love you, my buddy.

Happy 6^th birthday Atharv

My boy amazeball

Before it struck 12, I am writing a thank you note to dear Atharv.

Dear Atharv,

Today on my birthday you treated me like a princess. You woke up before me and planted a sweet kiss on my cheek and wished me Happy Birthday. When you came back from school at 1.15, you asked for Gulab Jamuns that I had prepared for us. I had made your favorite food on my birthday. You enjoyed the meal. As I was planning to rest after lunch, you asked me for a huge card paper and asked to folded it and stick it. Then you asked me to go in the bedroom and not come out in the hall. I was reading a book and after 20 minutes you came to the room and asked me to close my eyes. When I opened my eyes there was this beautiful card that you made for me. I was so touched and surprised to see how awesome that card was, That was one of your best creations. I checked with you and posted it on Facebook, 

In the evening you wanted me to wear a long dress just like how princesses wear, so I wore a long gown. When your daddy was generally asking me something you told him,"what are you doing daddy talk to mom nicely, be nice to her, its her birthday today and you kept repeating that." Your daddy kept teasing you whole evening but obviously you were too small to understand his jokes.

You are a fine boy Atharv, I hope you will always take care of yourself and our family.

Like Sensei says; Be courageous, strong and free.

Thanks for all the love my son. We love you so much.

With loads of love.

Mumma

Atharv's ran his first marathon..A 2 km run

Every day is a surprise!

Trick photography..It was very dark when we started from home.

All getting set to run

yes I am very excited to run papa..are you?

Can we please start runnnninnnngggggg?

Still waiting

And finally our family did it. Check our bands.

Atharv sports day:K2 Bears, NPS, Singapore

Every day is a surprise!

The torch bearer

The emcee

Spot our boy who is moving on DJs music

Here comes my jumbo boy

Crossing the hurdle and approaching the banana

Pluck it and runnnn

and he did it..reached first,,

hmmmm...cant let go

recap..take a closer look

One more

Ms Shweta and Ms Sonia

Deliberately holding the certificate upside down  

Best friend Neomi

Neomi and Atharv having fun

Every day is a surprise!

Life

Like I say - Everyday is a surprise. And that's way I love life because it has many names, new shapes, new hopes, new excitements, new obstacles to overcome, some sorrows to forget, lots of happiness and unconditional love to remember.

With all these feelings, today I am leaving my mother India behind and I am embarking on a new journey called life with my family to Singapore. I was amazed that without knowing I had spread so much of love and happiness that people actually cried during my farewell. Not just close ones but the ones who barely knew me. My farewell was so good that I can never forget. I am happy that I had touched so many lives and made so many friends for life. Some closed ones did break my heart but that was again a surprise and was welcomed too. Life is much more than what we think to hold grudge in our hearts. I have promised life that I will expand my heart so much that there is no place for hatred, grudge, unhappiness and wrong feelings or things.

I thank god for giving me a wonderful husband and a child, who are blessed with immense love, happiness and understand the meaning of life and value it too. 

Every day is a surprise!

Evening at China Town:

Chinese New Year, also known as Lunar New Year, or the Spring Festival, is one of the most eagerly anticipated occasions each year in Singapore as I have been told. This is the biggest and most significant event of the Chinese community, and it is observed by Singaporeans from all walks of life. I was lucky to witness the prep part of it.

The streets of China town were lit so well as if it was celebration of life. While walking through the cluttered eating joints I loved the aroma of food which engulfed me completely. I loved the get together at the eating joints, the long queue, people waiting for their loved ones and the laughter. The lanes were full of Chinese spices, clothes, pinwheels, paintings, shoes, bags, nail art, cosmetics, kitchen appliances, and whole lots of stuff. I enjoyed the madness. Both Chetan and I sipped on lovely and extremely chilled Thailand coconuts which was bliss.

We bought a lovely pinwheel for Atharv which you can spot in his hands. Oh! I love the crowd. People were oozing happiness and love. There was so much excitement. I just felt like it was Christmas, which is one of my favorite festival.

We sat at Clarke at late night and enjoyed the hustle bustle since it was Friday night. We could hear the live bands, the screams of crazy people who were enjoying crazy freefall swings. Atharv was very excited to watch them. We walked back to Hotel Grand Park City Hall with a smile and satisfaction on our faces.

Oh! What lovely time I spent in Sg with two lovely people: Chetan and Atharv.

Noodle Doodle

Atharv learnt to eat with chop sticks in minutes..