Avik's Story

I generally don’t attend marriages. I remember to stand only twice with grooms and brides on decorated podiums after I stood for the last time as a bachelor with Taniya before the perplexed faces of our parents. And both the time, my office colleagues were turned into revelers and the time was spent more on food and booze than meeting and greeting the newlywed couple. But this was different. And frankly, I never did attend something like this before. I had two women with me, both dressed gorgeously. Their beauty was swaying through the stealing glances of passersby and I wondered how they could ooze so much confidence. I looked at our friend, crisscrossed on a make-shift ritual podium, jeweled with golds and covered with bright lehenga . I could see only a portion of her face through the maze of heads surrounding her. I could hear the chant of priest and see lingering smoke rising slowly only to sparse at ceiling. I looked around. People were everywhere – laughing – chatting...

Vedantika is growing fast, and seriously we cannot keep pace with her growing. Specially, a dumb like me. That day, when I called her after reaching home – her first question was polite but firm. “Are you at home, papa? Can I video call you?” It took some good moments to precipitate her query into my crampy brain cells. She was of three years old, and she was seeking my permission for video call. It’s so odd that it’s kind of abusive to my understanding of my society and upbringing, where nobody cares for a permission. My avoidable defensive instinct instantly turned cautious - what was happening? Is she growing into something peculiar – something different? Other day, she told me that she missed me. She was with her favorite doll – a small stuffed animal DIY’ed by her mother from an old sock. We role-played a little through grainy video screen – I became the doctor and she was the worried caring mother for her little baby. I retorted that I missed her so much, and ...