On a foggy winter morning, the gynaecologist lovingly placed my cherub in my arms. As I cradled her marvelling at God’s benign grace, she opened her eyes and smiled. Tears welled up and that emotional moment is etched forever in my memory, vivid and unparalleled. A tapestry of dreams and promises engulfed me. Each day ushers in a new emotion and I offer thousand prayers of thanksgiving at her milestones.
As parents, we ransacked books of name and dictionaries in pursuit of a unique name: One which would include our alphabets, be meaningful and influence her persona. We named her Suvitti, a Sanskrit word, meaning creative, artistic, having good knowledge. Ancient Indian mythology says a person imbibes the qualities of her name and so has our daughter.
Her infectious smile is her biggest asset and wins over everyone. She has the uncanny ability to gel with all. I clearly remember her first day to school. She just let go of my finger and entered her nursery. In a jiffy, our daughter took to the school like a duck to water. In fact, she was consoling her sobbing new friends. Miss Nursery to Best All Rounder sums up her school journey. Besides academics, she has participated in almost all co-curricular activities: Poetry recitation, elocution, flower arrangement et all. The naughty elf wriggles herself into the hearts of her teachers as a winning mascot and the numerous mementoes adorn her shelf as testimony. Her zeal for participation is as lively today. Imagine an AI scholar opting for Mandala art as credit course or winning essay writing on Hindi Diwas.
Blessed with excellent oratory skills, she mastered the art of compering. Armed with the confidence of hosting school functions, she aspired for the annual fest. She stood before the faculty in-charge because her application was turned down simply because she was a fresher. To defuse the stalemate, he asked her for audition in 10 minutes in a language of her choice. Give me the mic, a topic, language now – pat came her reply. The rest is history. She not only compered the fest, club functions but formal functions such as book launches. We felt so proud of our daughter when she shared her photo with her IIT director shaking hands with her on stage for compering the Prime Minister’s function.
{{/usCountry}}Blessed with excellent oratory skills, she mastered the art of compering. Armed with the confidence of hosting school functions, she aspired for the annual fest. She stood before the faculty in-charge because her application was turned down simply because she was a fresher. To defuse the stalemate, he asked her for audition in 10 minutes in a language of her choice. Give me the mic, a topic, language now – pat came her reply. The rest is history. She not only compered the fest, club functions but formal functions such as book launches. We felt so proud of our daughter when she shared her photo with her IIT director shaking hands with her on stage for compering the Prime Minister’s function.
{{/usCountry}}A gregarious being, she has hordes of friends: Schoolmates, coaching mates, college mates, club mates, lab mates, hostel mates. She has this habit of introducing us to all of them. While on a trip, she would share her accompanying teacher and friends’ number, her roommate’s number, her lab mates’ number. Our home reverberates with love and laughter once she is home as hordes of friends call on.
Our dear daughter, we love you for the little girl you were in our arms only yesterday and for the amazing young girl you are turning into today. We are blessed to have you in our lives.
kalrasuruchi@yahoo.com
The writer is associate professor, English, at Hindu Girls College, Jagadhri