CHAITALI!

My life would not have been the same without my daughter Chaitali.

Daughters are a mothers dream come true. What a woman could not achieve in her life, she wants her daughter to achieve.

A daughter fills the home with a lot of cheer, colour, music, noise and tantrums. She twists her father around her little finger. All her desires have to be fulfilled, all her needs are 'essential'. She knows what she wants and how she can get it!

What would the world be without these cute little people who make a tired mother feel refreshed with a cute little hug from her daughter?

Chaitali has always been a pillar of strength. My biggest support and trouble shooter.

Little girls with frilly skirts,ribbons and lots of bangles on their arms always bring the picture of Chaitali in front of my eyes.

Mummy, I want this, that and the other! 

A girl who started baking cakes from scratch at the age of eight and fought tooth and nail with me because she did not want to simply be a graduate. She wanted something more. Always a rebel....she had her way and joined a three year programme of Interior Design. This degree has remained simply a degree as she has like the jing bang crowd actually signed up for a three year course of Management at London. She has become a bureaucrat and works for the Greater London Authority, where she is very popular. As in school in Delhi she has still retained her image in London as the "smiling captain"!

Her daughter Aaliya is another chip of the block. She too is pretty, fond of baking and a typical girlie girl!

The way Chaitali disciplines her children, makes me look at her with astonishment. I was never that strict, I think.

One of her sentences which I like very much is, "Which part of that sentence did you not understand!"

I see myself reflected in my daughter. She is surely a much improved version of me, yet she is me.

She has been a little mother ever since she was a baby. Always taking charge of things, always being responsible, always caring for everyone. She has given very generously to everyone, her time, her love, her care and concern.She has been a good friend and runs to offer her shoulder to anyone who is in distress,without thinking about her own self.

She has been the most generous in loving stray dogs and puppies. Her ambition in life was to be a vet. Here again I had put my foot down, quite strongly. All the stray dogs and puppies in the neighbourhood and at her bus stop were her adopted family. At the age of eight she sneaked a little puppy into my house, because I was very adamant and refused to keep a pet. Nutty as that little puppy was called later on went all the way to Hyderabad from Chandigarh when I was transferred.

Chaitali a very loving, caring and beautiful girl makes me feel very proud to be her mother.

Thank you dear girl, thanks for coming into my life and making it so beautiful, colourful and lively.