Menu
“Here! Your baby has passed urine” announced the paediatrician attending to him. As I relaxed in relief lying on the OT table while still waiting to be stitched up by the angelic faced gynaecologist there just could not be better news. For a congenital hydroureteronephrosis diagnosed just a week before his birth this would mean no immediate surgery at least not for the urethral valves at least.
The baby cheated on the paediatric surgeon who said he would need a surgery if he doesn’t pass urine soon.
The gynaecologist cheated on the patient by inadvertently leaving a gauze piece inside the tummy of a shocked surgeon which would mean two surgeries instead of one.
The radiologist cheated by issuing a wrong report about the gauze’s presence and till date the mystery of the missing gauze remains unresolved.
‘*Shanidev(I) cheated by turning that particular ordinary Saturday into a “Shani Mahadasha “as we wisely and superstitiously concluded after a month.
The mother cheated on the baby by her inability to lactate as his rightful due thanks to the repercussions of an ordinary surgery gone haywire and the dreadful medicines that followed. The bond between the baby and mother was already in jeopardy “ Doodh ka naata wala “
To top it all God cheated the mother by gifting her baby with brownish-grey-green hue in the eyes instead of the absolute blue she had wished for.
It took us two days to realise that the little bundle lying in the nursery was trying to recognise us as his parents with those different eyes. It was impossible not to love him. He was just so beautiful, bouncy and pink like a trophy you take pride in flaunting. He was on prophylaxis for UTI for the next 7 yrs dutifully while I hoped and prayed that the surgery he escaped would not be required. He knew he could handle pain. He just knows. He never cried when his parents were away and wrote to his father battling cancer that he was being a good boy doing his homework and wished that he would soon return so that they both could play cricket and football. Incidentally these are two games both do not play! He would happily learn long poems to recite and record in small video clips for his ailing father as all told him that it would help him recover. His father took his own sweet time to recover but was there to escort him to the Paediatric surgeon waiting for 7 yrs to correct his defect.
He went in surgery singing *“Pingadi-pori “(II) and it was disturbing and heartbreaking to see him suffer those late night colics for a week yet he would smile at his sister in his own code language *“Santa potita”(III) and baby going going! The pain left him soon.
From telling the elderly neighbour in the pool that she was a little too endowed to be wearing a bikini in the common pool and warning Dr. uncle on his daughter’s birthday ” Ki uncle aaj aap ki waat lagaane wali hain aunty for coming late“ he can embarrass anyone anywhere. We know this for sure now.
He threatens his mother to play his favourite songs or else he would spill the beans in front of his Dadi about what all was said behind her back. He confidentially nomenclatures his favourite aunty in the “Fish family” as her sir name bears a “ Gill” and by that virtue alone she manages to swim so nicely !
His tactics, pranks and the uncontrollable laughter gets him noticed anywhere. A writer in his own right who lives in an imaginary world naming his characters and writing his own Mahabharata he is the modern *Ved Vyaas.(IV)
He practises to draw his favourite figures when he is supposed to be doing his homework and says “Load mat lo “ ! He is a potential lady killer in future as he taps his foot to the tune of “ Tere sayyain ji se kahen tune break up kar liya “ and has already charmed his paternal grandmother into marrying him soon as he does not want any hassles in life later.
As I see him enjoying the joyrides on his birthday both laughing and freaking out at the same time I am glad that he has actually managed to cheat us all in loving you effortlessly . Before he becomes mature let me fall in love more with your innocence, sparkle, spontaneity, laughter, and dependency on me unspoilt by time and people which is going to be a natural evolution.
Laasani ( Jiska koi sani na ho “the Incomparable “ ) as your grandfather would have liked to call you had he been alive ….May God give you wings to fly and pursue all your wishes in the times to come.
“Happy birthday son and may the sun shine upon you always just like that day when I was cheated”.
