A cute story

Hetal and I are great friends and have been colleagues since many years now. We left our home country for jobs. Hetal got married back home while I was still a bachelor then .Time passed very quickly. One day he was back from holidays and was sharing with me the experiences with his infant daughter Bhavya. He would share his fatherhood experiences with me and I never felt the same exceptional emotions he showed while describing Bhavya. He was happier talking about her than any other topic. He was not the same before she came into this world. He seemed a changed person and I liked him that way. He brought his family along with him a year later and we became neighbors. Bhavya was 20 months old then.

Hetal often visited my house with Bhavya. She was the center of attraction as kids always are. She started liking the visits after her initial resistance to meet strange people.She would babble my name hesitantly and that cute enlightening kiddie smile which followed was so adorable. Slowly but surely she discovered a comfort zone around.

Hetal was happy to see me witness the experience he always talked about. I found friendship with Bhavya and she was the most beautiful kid I saw. I would play with her and teach her certain things.

She was a very insistent child. She would pull my hair, mess with the things, spill over liquids and all sorts of crazy things kids do. I love her so much. We were always trying to teach her certain things like holding a pen, draw a smiley etc.

I would take out two pens from my bag; hand over one to her and try to teach her how to write. She would scribble the paper and draw crooked lines crossing well beyond the range of the paper. Next day she would sternly want the same two pens from the bag and it was the same old story. One fine day Bhavya held my hand and looked at me. It was the most wonderful feeling. She led to the same bag and took out the pens herself and gave one to me. She started scribbling as always but I couldn’t concentrate because something had struck me pleasantly. That feeling when she took my hand and wanted me to be with her and teach her like everyday really touched me from within. It was as if a baby angel was walking with me. Her soft little hands and the way she looked at me. As if all the innocence in the world had gathered at that place and she was the only thing I could see. I described to Hetal how special I felt that day and that I would not forget that day ever.

I remembered my father who would mention to me sometimes how stupid little things I did during childhood and that experience meant so much for him. We never see our parents as children but they remember the look of our face and each expression and behavior from the beginning and that is how they can see the child within us no matter how old we get.