Amber our cherubic grand daughter- who is going to be five soon- visited us along with her parents in the month of January. Her presence in our midst, though for a few days afforded us tremendous pleasure and joy. Her lovely gestures and innocent one liners transported us to an entirely different world of supreme happiness. Even after so many days since her departure, we are daily reliving those antics of hers. Her climbing the stairs to go to the roof of our house umpteen times, crushing and stomping over the fallen leaves of the Neem tree and enjoying the rustling sound or leaning over the parapet and talking to her mother down in the lawn while her mother warned her against leaning all the time. It is no gainsaying if I say, “She is as flighty as a feather and unpredictable as weather”. One moment she is frolicsome and playful and the next she is throwing tantrums to have her way in something which obviously can’t be met. Then she has to be brought round with some smart alternative offer and promise. Now let me tell you something interesting about her. She saw me using petroleum jelly on my lips and immediately asked what I was doing. I told her that my lips get dry often and I use it to moisturize them. After that her lips were getting dry every five minutes till I removed the bottle from the dressing table and hid it beyond her reach.
The moment she stepped into our house, her spontaneous exclamation with arms raised upwards was, “Nanu, such a big house! It is so nice.” we were instantly floored by the naturalness of the expression. And later when I agreed to cook noodles –her favorite- for her, she became so excited and thrilled that she ran to me and while enveloping my legs in her tiny arms remarked, “You are the best Nani Ma.” I could not but hug her tightly for the priceless joy which was mutually gratifying.
Now if I am allowed to describe her personality. Yes! she has a unique persona even at this tender age. She is fairly tall, delicately built and seems to have a sweet singing voice, that was evidenced when she was heard humming the current rage and craze, ‘ muni badnam hui darling tere liye’ in her own inimitable style . Obviously she didn’t understand a word but the beat tickled her. I would say that nature truly spent time in sculpting her body and mind. She is all girl - wears only matching tights and the likes with her frocks, no trousers for her. She is gifted with an exquisitely chiseled straight nose, bright and expressive eyes, light brown silky hair, a peach and butter complexion, perfect articulation and exceptional communication skills. You have to hear her to believe the aptness of her expression e.g. on seeing a dog on the road “Nani Ma look, look over there, the black dog is hopping on its three legs.”
Affection flows out of her being like ripples in a water body. We were seeing them off at our gate at the end of their visit and after the usual hugs and hand shakes they were finally seated in the van, when I saw Amber trying to open the door. Her mom opened the door and Amber stood in the door shouting, “Nanu ,Nani Ma I want to kiss you”. And we were blessed with those sweet parting kisses of hers and marveled at her sensitivity and sensibility. I am sure that Amber is going to forget all this but for us her grand parents this memory will be etched in our imagination and talked about hundreds of times in the days to come.
We hope and wish that Amber, who appears to be so promising, becomes a super achiever and grows into an accomplished young girl capable of spreading cheer and goodwill all around her.
She is a clean slate waiting for the right images to be drawn on it!
