A tribute to my childhood with Dear Father.

This evening while going for a walk, the sight of a young child playing with his puppy and his father bringing out a bowl of “Pedigree” for it, reminded me of my own childhood, my pets and my dear father (Deta). It seems time just gone by!! I brood over all the headaches I gave Deta and how he tolerated my irritable ways without grumbling or complaining. I am fond of pets. My childhood memories that I still cherish are knitted with them and Deta. All the “tamashas” I created for my pets, all the torment Deta went through for them, made me realise how much he loved me to endure all of it for me. I would like to share some of those crazy innocent days with you all. Those were the golden days of my life. As I said I had many pets, the craziest pet I had was a duckling. I loved her so much that I named her ‘Kiti’ which sounds similar to my name ‘Pipi’. Kiti and Pipi were inseparable. We grew up together. I felt like a queen when Kiti followed me where ever I went, quacking behind me. I kept her in my room giving her every liberty to do whatever she wished and quack as loud as she wanted. Nothing about Kiti ever annoyed me, but Deta used to get furious seeing the duckling making a mess all around his well-polished house. He threatened to throw both of us out of the house. Several times, he tried to take Kiti away from me. But I held Kiti close and cried many nights, thinking no one loved us, and believing that my Dad loves his house more than me. Finally Deta brought me a puppy and Kiti was sent back to her real mom. I again fell in love with the puppy and named it Niki, again something similar to my name. I made sure Niki bathed in my bathroom with my shampoo and slept with me in my bed. I was always covered with Niki’s furs and Deta used to drag me to the washroom before food to wash me thoroughly with Dettol and to make sure I didn’t swallow Niki’s hair as a side dish. However something happened to Niki which I cannot remember now. After Niki came a kitten. Deta hates cat and I always smiled and cuddled seeing one. I was growing up by then and I named her Noorjahan Hazarika. Noorjahan sounded like my best friend’s name Sabrina who is still very dear to me and Hazarika, was my surname! Deta was furious when he saw her. He actually got violent when he learned her surname and he had a lot of awful days with her. She never stopped meowing, wagging her tail high up in the sky and Deta made her run for her life whenever he saw her. Even in the middle of the night Deta would come to my room, take her out of my bed, holding her by the ears and throwing her out of the house. Sweet Noorjahan would come back to me from the ventilator meowing and again Deta would chase her and this circle would go on and on. From my bed, I used to watch them running around for a while and then I’d go back to sleep. Dear Deta had many sleepless nights over her. Noorjahan went and then came rabbits. Two pairs initially which multiplied very soon and became twelve. I named them all. Sweety, Piki, Miki etc. etc. and strangely I was able to identify each of them by their names. Deta was more relaxed as they neither made noise nor littered his house and they were too smart to let anyone hold them for long. So there was no dragging me to the washroom every day! But every evening Deta and I spent almost an hour running in the garden to catch them all and put them back safely in their little house. As we all know catching a rabbit is a big challenge. Deta did this for me every evening. Sometimes, when dogs barked late at night, Deta (with his long iron torch) and I used to come out in the garden to see if the rabbits were secure. After all these years of growing from an innocent silly girl to a responsible mature woman, when I look back to those days, I wonder how Deta tolerated all those irritations! It must have been arduous for him to have to go through all those episodes especially after a long day at work and with so much to worry and think about! He could have easily abolished all of it in a wink by throwing out that duckling and the cat from the house. Why did he bother to bring a puppy to replace the duckling and why did he care enough to run after my rabbits instead of asking the watchman to do that for me? I asked him the reasons but he told me ‘you will find it yourself one day’ and I did now. He could have easily rejected it all but that would have broken my innocent heart and I would have misjudged him, thinking he didn’t understand or care for me. He replaced the duckling with a puppy to divert my attention and to foster my little heart. Being my partner in taking care of the rabbits, he lived my childhood with me, making me realise that he is always there for me and the bond of friendship and understanding we built, grew stronger over time. By nurturing my childhood with such love and care, Deta taught me the important lessons of acceptance, patience and tolerance for the ones we love. He taught me to accept the things or attributes our dear ones adore and delicately handle situations without hurting their feelings. He also taught me to have the patience to listen or accept things which may be trivial for us but important for the ones we love. It is important to nourish a strong bond with our loved ones to enable us to spend time together and have beautiful memories to cherish as the years goes by. Thank you Deta for giving me such a wonderful childhood, for taking care of my little heart, for being a great partner and for all the lessons you taught me as I was growing. That made me stronger and better every day. You are my Super Hero and my best partner ever.

THE PATH CALLED LIFE

Walking along this path unknown, I meet many eyes, Some smiles and frowns, Numerous beauties enthral me; And makes me feel blessed to be born. When the path looks hostile, I try to keep my steps firm, With chin high and shoulders strong; I stumble and tumble several times Yet manage to move on. I exude serenity, A pride within me that I dared not give up, Dared not freeze or mourn; And I’m still moving on. I hear vaguely, A maiden’s melodious tune, Like Wordsworth’s Solitary Reaper, A song of ease and contentment; I smile, letting my hair, Dance with the wind; And murmur merrily, rhyming With my unknown friend; And I continue to move on.