Well, I was rulin' the roost,
And I had all the chicks to myself
Then suddenly it happened, that funny little feelin' i felt
Well, I tried to outrun it, but it finally caught up to me
Oh, but how can I run from somethin' i can't see
Oh ....that....
Little bitty teeny weeny thing they call the Lovebug
Nobody's ever seen it but it's got the whole world shook up
It all started with a little bitty kiss and a hug
It's a little bitty teeny weeny thing they call the Lovebug
~ The LoveBug
~~ George Jones
(The Lovebug, is a song that has played in our house every Sunday without fail, when my mother cooked biryani and my father opened his bottle of beer and poured us all (even my brother and I as a child, in our baby steel cups!) a glass and danced to this tune)
I've decided I am going to give up being sad and look at what I have in life instead of what I don't have. Counting your blessings is of course way more healthier than cribbing about what you don't have. I also need to write the next installment for my Aman and Treya story! They are still having breakfast in that cafe in Leh. It needs to move forward. And I even know what i want to write and where they're going to go. I just need to focus and get down to doing it. This weekend, I promise myself.
So, I am going to talk about people I love in my life. How can I not start this section with my parents. My father first. I am my father's daughter they say. When I was born, I looked exactly like him, like completely exact replica kinds. That happens with fathers and daughters no? But all his friends and colleagues would tease me saying " you're an exact replica of Cary (short for Cariappa)" And I used to bask in that compliment. My father is a very handsome man. Haha. Or I would like to believe so. When I meet some aunties who knew him when as a young officer in the army, they will all invariably say "all the girls in the station would be infatuated with your father". It is kind of weird to hear these things about your father, but it's quite entertaining as well.
My father was also supposedly very naughty. His father was in the police in Coorg and very strict it seems. I never met my grandfather, he passed away before I was born. But my family says, my father is very like my grandfather in many respects and was also this favorite son. He comes from a large family, 3 sisters and an elder brother. He is the youngest and has always been petted and shown extra care and love and attention and to an extent spoilt (that's what my grandmother says, not me!) But they lived in tough times, my father and his family, when they were kids. Not that they didn't have food on the table or a roof above their heads, but their means were limited and things had to be rationed. The sisters and their frocks were often restitched and worn by my father and his brother. They would get a specific allowance to go to the mela or fair and they had just that much to have their fun. Now it depends on you, what you wanted to do with it. Buy yourself a toy, or ride on the giant wheel or eat cotton candy. My father would finish his money on what he wanted to do and then go and emotionally blackmail his brother to him his money as well! Haha. But that was a long long time ago ! And they all remember it with so much love and fondness, it's beautiful to watch the brothers and sisters sit and talk and recollect these small small stories. Then there is this story of how my grandmother would send him to school with one of the field hands from the estate. This poor boy would leave my father at the school gate and start his journey back home. And before he could reach home, my father would have run back via a shortcut and get home. Haha.
All that stopped when my grandfather decided to send my father to Sainik School. These schools are a group of schools that impart military oriented education to students/cadets. I think that calmed my father's naughty streak down and instilled a strong sense of duty and discipline in him. These Sainik schools still exist and are among the premier educational institutions in the country. In fact very recently my father went back for the Golden Jubliee celebration of his Sainik school. Another invaluable asset this school gave my father, that like his values, have stayed with him in all these years, is loyal friends. I mean, that friendship is just something else. They meet each other at least once a year and are of course in touch with each other via email, but that camaraderie and that connect and that bond is just so beautiful to watch. And they are all such lovely lovely people! And they literally transform into a group of boys when they are together. Eh, a group of boys, with glasses of whiskey in their hands maybe. Haha. I sometimes wish I had that kind of friendship with that big a group. I mean, I do have my own gang, from school, but studying in different schools every three years doesn't give you enough time to develop that kind of a lifetime bond with people.
So yea, from there he went on to join the National Defense Academy (NDA) and again, the friends he made in those years in the academy are a bunch of absolute fun people! They are crazy. Like literally crazy. The wives, fortunately have also bonded like how the boys did and we are all like one big family. The kids are all of the same age. I am grateful for my father to have given me those friendships in life. And to see in such close proximity, how important it is to have a strong core group, that will always stand by you no matter what. That unshakable belief and trust in each other is something you have to cherish. It really did teach me the meaning of a true friend. It did.
He is a lovely man, my father. He is kind, gentle, thoughtful, very very mature and has a calm mind in situations of crisis. He might be the youngest in the family, but his opinions matter a lot. But he is also very forgetful, tends to get lost in his own world and i think (and my mom will agree) a bad listener. Or maybe, a good listener and bad at expressing himself. They are two different things you know. There are times when the family is talking on the dining table (mostly my mom and me) and mom will ask him for his opinion and he will be like "what is this about again" haha. But he is getting better. I see the change in him with age. He is very stubborn. Yea, i think that's where I get it from. Actually both my parents are very stubborn. That is where it comes from. Wow. I hope they don't read this. :) But they know it, and see it in me and i get it very badly when I am stubborn. Really badly actually.
Dad, i actually all him Dada. Both my brother and I call him dada. I remember my cousins from my mom's side of the family would also call him dada when we were kids because that's just what we called him. Anyway, so dada is also a voracious reader. He loves to read. That's where both my brother and I picked it up from. We love to read, anything. From the newspaper to things online to books to magazines to comic books. As kids we loved travelling on the train with dada, on our annual vacation home to Coorg, because he would buy us a HUGE stack of tinkle comics from the station vendor :). We just love to read !
He is not a crazy cricket fan, he likes a lot of other sports a lot more than he likes cricket. Of course being Indian, the natural idea of an India-Pak ODI excites him, but that's it. He taught me all the sports I know. He taught me squash, basketball, volleyball, badminton, tried teaching me tennis and has hinted about Golf, but I couldn't for the life of me play golf. But, you never know. He is not a very good teacher. Or maybe he is. He doesn't mollycoddle you. If you aren't doing something right, he will tell you so. He is pretty rough when he is playing sports with you as well. But then, I learnt that way. So no complaints. Yes, I guess apart from swimming, which my mom taught me, he pretty much is the reason i know to play these sports. Doesn't mean, I regularly play them, but I know how to and used to at one point in time.
Oh I remember, when I was learning how to drive, he and mom used to take turns to accompany me in the car (you never know with driving schools in Delhi). And whenever mom came with me, it was always a smooth ride, but with dad, I would be a little agitated. Maybe because of my own need to impress him, but also because he would click his tongue and shake his head and comment, and say "oh come on!" and I would be like, "dude Im learning, positive reinforcement will be good" haha. He was also like that when he taught me maths. I used to hate maths as a child, i went on to love it in my senior years at school. But as a child, I would fear it and cry, like actually cry. I didn't get the concept of decimal points for a long time. Like I just didn't get it. When i look back now, I wonder why! My father finally sat me down and taught me the 'philosophy' behind it and when i still didn't get it, he scolded me so badly, that from fear, I learnt. haha. I didn't want to go back to him saying, 'I don't understand" so i learnt. But that is only one instance i remember of him teaching me something and me getting scared. Later in life, i used to go to him with maths problems and he would patiently teach me. Sometimes he would lose it and say "Arre yaar, you're not getting this", but most of the time, he was really good. He has learnt to be patient with time. I get my impatience from him.
He always wanted me to take science in 11th and 12th. I used to do well in physics and biology, but chemistry would mess with my head. Almost like the English alphabet used to mess with Ishaan in Taare Zameen Par. I mean, especially balancing equations, really man, I still don't get it! I never made the effort also frankly. I loved history and economics and english. And that's what I wanted to do in high school, so I choose "Arts". He was a little upset with my decision. but when I told him, I am going to continue with Maths, he was happy again.
He helped a lot with my college admissions. Especially Stephens, he really wanted me to get into Stephens for Economics hons. I really wanted to get into Hansraj (It's where Shahrukh did Eco hons from) But I didn't make through either of them. I think he was a little disappointed in me then. But I did well at college, so he wasn't too upset for too long. When firms started coming to college for placements, I got through Google and Ernst and Young. I wanted Google and he wanted me to join Ernst and Young. And as usual I had my way, joined Google, moved to Hyderabad. And I am so glad i took that decision. That is a good thing about my father. He will advise me, even tell me at times, what to do and what not to do. But he will leave the decision to me. And it's not the "do what you want" that my mom says :) Where you know that she wants you to do exactly what she wants. My father really means it. So once I have made my decision, he backs me and trusts me and is with me completely. All the way.
Our relationship now is weirdly comforting. When I visit home, we don't sit and talk about life and future and marriage, but just be with each other. He will sometimes tell me about things at his work, I will tell him about mine. It's all good. We sit in front of the T.V., no one talks, we will be watching some or the other sitcom and we'll just be happy. Sometimes we will make comments, but just sitting with him, watching Friends or the Mentalist or The Big Bang Theory, and laughing like mad, is enough for me. It is very different from the relationship I share with my mom. Both have their uniqueness and I wouldn't change anything about either one of them. We can't talk face to face. I think I get that side of me from my Father. I suck at face to face conversations. A phone call or an email or an sms works brilliantly. So whenever i am at a crossroads in life, i write him an email. And he will reply will his usual, practical, logical reasoning. It's actually very dry, my emails will be full of emotion and drama and excitement and his will be very formal, "Dear Nayana....Love Dad" kinds. Haha. But we get out points across and understand what we are trying to say to each other. It gives me a weird kind of solace. Emailing my father. Almost like, "Oh I have this problem, I have emailed dada and he will come back with a solution and then my problem will vanish" :)
For your parents you are always a child. Always. And for you, your parents are always a part of your life that will solve your problems, in whose embrace you could forget everything, nothing anyone said ever matters because your parents love you so much and that's enough for you.
So yea, that's my father. There is so much more to him, but I couldn't possibly put down the man he is on paper, neither can I narrate small stories or quote him or talk about his characteristics on this blog and define him as a whole. He is just one man, I'll always love more than ShahRukh Khan :)
I took him for Chennai Express when I went home in August and he loved the movie. He laughed and laughed and laughed and had to wipe the tears from his face at some points in the movie. And I was sitting to his right and my mom to his left [my brother couldn't care less about a Shah movie :)]. And in the theatre that day, where the only light was the glow emanating from the millions of colors on the movie screen, my parents' faces were lit up, with laughter and gaiety . I took one look at them, and everything was ok in life.
And I had all the chicks to myself
Then suddenly it happened, that funny little feelin' i felt
Well, I tried to outrun it, but it finally caught up to me
Oh, but how can I run from somethin' i can't see
Oh ....that....
Little bitty teeny weeny thing they call the Lovebug
Nobody's ever seen it but it's got the whole world shook up
It all started with a little bitty kiss and a hug
It's a little bitty teeny weeny thing they call the Lovebug
~ The LoveBug
~~ George Jones
(The Lovebug, is a song that has played in our house every Sunday without fail, when my mother cooked biryani and my father opened his bottle of beer and poured us all (even my brother and I as a child, in our baby steel cups!) a glass and danced to this tune)
I've decided I am going to give up being sad and look at what I have in life instead of what I don't have. Counting your blessings is of course way more healthier than cribbing about what you don't have. I also need to write the next installment for my Aman and Treya story! They are still having breakfast in that cafe in Leh. It needs to move forward. And I even know what i want to write and where they're going to go. I just need to focus and get down to doing it. This weekend, I promise myself.
So, I am going to talk about people I love in my life. How can I not start this section with my parents. My father first. I am my father's daughter they say. When I was born, I looked exactly like him, like completely exact replica kinds. That happens with fathers and daughters no? But all his friends and colleagues would tease me saying " you're an exact replica of Cary (short for Cariappa)" And I used to bask in that compliment. My father is a very handsome man. Haha. Or I would like to believe so. When I meet some aunties who knew him when as a young officer in the army, they will all invariably say "all the girls in the station would be infatuated with your father". It is kind of weird to hear these things about your father, but it's quite entertaining as well.
My father was also supposedly very naughty. His father was in the police in Coorg and very strict it seems. I never met my grandfather, he passed away before I was born. But my family says, my father is very like my grandfather in many respects and was also this favorite son. He comes from a large family, 3 sisters and an elder brother. He is the youngest and has always been petted and shown extra care and love and attention and to an extent spoilt (that's what my grandmother says, not me!) But they lived in tough times, my father and his family, when they were kids. Not that they didn't have food on the table or a roof above their heads, but their means were limited and things had to be rationed. The sisters and their frocks were often restitched and worn by my father and his brother. They would get a specific allowance to go to the mela or fair and they had just that much to have their fun. Now it depends on you, what you wanted to do with it. Buy yourself a toy, or ride on the giant wheel or eat cotton candy. My father would finish his money on what he wanted to do and then go and emotionally blackmail his brother to him his money as well! Haha. But that was a long long time ago ! And they all remember it with so much love and fondness, it's beautiful to watch the brothers and sisters sit and talk and recollect these small small stories. Then there is this story of how my grandmother would send him to school with one of the field hands from the estate. This poor boy would leave my father at the school gate and start his journey back home. And before he could reach home, my father would have run back via a shortcut and get home. Haha.
All that stopped when my grandfather decided to send my father to Sainik School. These schools are a group of schools that impart military oriented education to students/cadets. I think that calmed my father's naughty streak down and instilled a strong sense of duty and discipline in him. These Sainik schools still exist and are among the premier educational institutions in the country. In fact very recently my father went back for the Golden Jubliee celebration of his Sainik school. Another invaluable asset this school gave my father, that like his values, have stayed with him in all these years, is loyal friends. I mean, that friendship is just something else. They meet each other at least once a year and are of course in touch with each other via email, but that camaraderie and that connect and that bond is just so beautiful to watch. And they are all such lovely lovely people! And they literally transform into a group of boys when they are together. Eh, a group of boys, with glasses of whiskey in their hands maybe. Haha. I sometimes wish I had that kind of friendship with that big a group. I mean, I do have my own gang, from school, but studying in different schools every three years doesn't give you enough time to develop that kind of a lifetime bond with people.
So yea, from there he went on to join the National Defense Academy (NDA) and again, the friends he made in those years in the academy are a bunch of absolute fun people! They are crazy. Like literally crazy. The wives, fortunately have also bonded like how the boys did and we are all like one big family. The kids are all of the same age. I am grateful for my father to have given me those friendships in life. And to see in such close proximity, how important it is to have a strong core group, that will always stand by you no matter what. That unshakable belief and trust in each other is something you have to cherish. It really did teach me the meaning of a true friend. It did.
He is a lovely man, my father. He is kind, gentle, thoughtful, very very mature and has a calm mind in situations of crisis. He might be the youngest in the family, but his opinions matter a lot. But he is also very forgetful, tends to get lost in his own world and i think (and my mom will agree) a bad listener. Or maybe, a good listener and bad at expressing himself. They are two different things you know. There are times when the family is talking on the dining table (mostly my mom and me) and mom will ask him for his opinion and he will be like "what is this about again" haha. But he is getting better. I see the change in him with age. He is very stubborn. Yea, i think that's where I get it from. Actually both my parents are very stubborn. That is where it comes from. Wow. I hope they don't read this. :) But they know it, and see it in me and i get it very badly when I am stubborn. Really badly actually.
Dad, i actually all him Dada. Both my brother and I call him dada. I remember my cousins from my mom's side of the family would also call him dada when we were kids because that's just what we called him. Anyway, so dada is also a voracious reader. He loves to read. That's where both my brother and I picked it up from. We love to read, anything. From the newspaper to things online to books to magazines to comic books. As kids we loved travelling on the train with dada, on our annual vacation home to Coorg, because he would buy us a HUGE stack of tinkle comics from the station vendor :). We just love to read !
He is not a crazy cricket fan, he likes a lot of other sports a lot more than he likes cricket. Of course being Indian, the natural idea of an India-Pak ODI excites him, but that's it. He taught me all the sports I know. He taught me squash, basketball, volleyball, badminton, tried teaching me tennis and has hinted about Golf, but I couldn't for the life of me play golf. But, you never know. He is not a very good teacher. Or maybe he is. He doesn't mollycoddle you. If you aren't doing something right, he will tell you so. He is pretty rough when he is playing sports with you as well. But then, I learnt that way. So no complaints. Yes, I guess apart from swimming, which my mom taught me, he pretty much is the reason i know to play these sports. Doesn't mean, I regularly play them, but I know how to and used to at one point in time.
Oh I remember, when I was learning how to drive, he and mom used to take turns to accompany me in the car (you never know with driving schools in Delhi). And whenever mom came with me, it was always a smooth ride, but with dad, I would be a little agitated. Maybe because of my own need to impress him, but also because he would click his tongue and shake his head and comment, and say "oh come on!" and I would be like, "dude Im learning, positive reinforcement will be good" haha. He was also like that when he taught me maths. I used to hate maths as a child, i went on to love it in my senior years at school. But as a child, I would fear it and cry, like actually cry. I didn't get the concept of decimal points for a long time. Like I just didn't get it. When i look back now, I wonder why! My father finally sat me down and taught me the 'philosophy' behind it and when i still didn't get it, he scolded me so badly, that from fear, I learnt. haha. I didn't want to go back to him saying, 'I don't understand" so i learnt. But that is only one instance i remember of him teaching me something and me getting scared. Later in life, i used to go to him with maths problems and he would patiently teach me. Sometimes he would lose it and say "Arre yaar, you're not getting this", but most of the time, he was really good. He has learnt to be patient with time. I get my impatience from him.
He always wanted me to take science in 11th and 12th. I used to do well in physics and biology, but chemistry would mess with my head. Almost like the English alphabet used to mess with Ishaan in Taare Zameen Par. I mean, especially balancing equations, really man, I still don't get it! I never made the effort also frankly. I loved history and economics and english. And that's what I wanted to do in high school, so I choose "Arts". He was a little upset with my decision. but when I told him, I am going to continue with Maths, he was happy again.
He helped a lot with my college admissions. Especially Stephens, he really wanted me to get into Stephens for Economics hons. I really wanted to get into Hansraj (It's where Shahrukh did Eco hons from) But I didn't make through either of them. I think he was a little disappointed in me then. But I did well at college, so he wasn't too upset for too long. When firms started coming to college for placements, I got through Google and Ernst and Young. I wanted Google and he wanted me to join Ernst and Young. And as usual I had my way, joined Google, moved to Hyderabad. And I am so glad i took that decision. That is a good thing about my father. He will advise me, even tell me at times, what to do and what not to do. But he will leave the decision to me. And it's not the "do what you want" that my mom says :) Where you know that she wants you to do exactly what she wants. My father really means it. So once I have made my decision, he backs me and trusts me and is with me completely. All the way.
Our relationship now is weirdly comforting. When I visit home, we don't sit and talk about life and future and marriage, but just be with each other. He will sometimes tell me about things at his work, I will tell him about mine. It's all good. We sit in front of the T.V., no one talks, we will be watching some or the other sitcom and we'll just be happy. Sometimes we will make comments, but just sitting with him, watching Friends or the Mentalist or The Big Bang Theory, and laughing like mad, is enough for me. It is very different from the relationship I share with my mom. Both have their uniqueness and I wouldn't change anything about either one of them. We can't talk face to face. I think I get that side of me from my Father. I suck at face to face conversations. A phone call or an email or an sms works brilliantly. So whenever i am at a crossroads in life, i write him an email. And he will reply will his usual, practical, logical reasoning. It's actually very dry, my emails will be full of emotion and drama and excitement and his will be very formal, "Dear Nayana....Love Dad" kinds. Haha. But we get out points across and understand what we are trying to say to each other. It gives me a weird kind of solace. Emailing my father. Almost like, "Oh I have this problem, I have emailed dada and he will come back with a solution and then my problem will vanish" :)
For your parents you are always a child. Always. And for you, your parents are always a part of your life that will solve your problems, in whose embrace you could forget everything, nothing anyone said ever matters because your parents love you so much and that's enough for you.
So yea, that's my father. There is so much more to him, but I couldn't possibly put down the man he is on paper, neither can I narrate small stories or quote him or talk about his characteristics on this blog and define him as a whole. He is just one man, I'll always love more than ShahRukh Khan :)
I took him for Chennai Express when I went home in August and he loved the movie. He laughed and laughed and laughed and had to wipe the tears from his face at some points in the movie. And I was sitting to his right and my mom to his left [my brother couldn't care less about a Shah movie :)]. And in the theatre that day, where the only light was the glow emanating from the millions of colors on the movie screen, my parents' faces were lit up, with laughter and gaiety . I took one look at them, and everything was ok in life.
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