Its all about loving your parents

People often say that nothing can feel more special than to be loved and to love in return. That is true. But there is a corollary as well. And its about the unconditional love of parents.

Innumerable moments with T have been special beyond limit. The first 3 weeks when we grew to know each other and love and respect each other were memorable. The growing realization during that time of her being the one was a feeling of elation, of exaltation that I can never forget. The day I proposed to her, the times at MSB and Worli seaface, our marriage, our honeymoon; there are too many such unforgettable moments. But if there are some moments that are really etched in my memory like a rock, they have to be the ones involving Papa Mummy.

I remember when I called up Mummy and told her that I will be proposing her and that she is really the one for me. She obviously was thrilled without comparison. I went home that weekend on Saturday, and the hug she gave me was the tightest, warmest and the most passionate hug I have ever had. It said everything about how she was feeling for me, and it was special beyond limit.

The next weekend was our rokna; the first time my parents actually met T. But with everything happening so fast and so many people there, they could hardly interact with her and know her better. So the big day for them was the next Sunday (it was Ganesh Chaturthi), when she came home. And the way she said ‘mumma’ and ‘papa’ in a ‘I know you since I was born’ tone; I knew her magic had already started. She hugged them both like their child and chatted in abandon. And Mummy lost it there itself. She started blabbering as only a person in delirious bliss can do, speaking half sentences and articulating incoherently as she tried to convey the sheer storm of giddy emotions she was going through as she realized how lucky her son was to have found the perfect life partner.

T left in the evening and then it was my usually controlled Papa’s turn to give me a bear hug. He started jumping like a child and animatedly called up Tauji and Chacha and told them I was bringing home a Kohinoor. The poet and the father in him then joined hands as he wrote some amazing and really moving kavitas for his daughter T.

Such moments continue to come every Sunday when we visit home, somehow escaping from our tight schedules. Last week it was Mummy who, in another mad and sentimental moment of hers (they keep coming routinely now), told me that she can never thank me enough for getting T home. This week it was Papa who kept his clinic closed to surprise her by coming over here on her birthday and got a humongous hug in return, as Mummy’s eyes filled with envy and pride as she looked on!

While every moment with T is special, what feels even more special is to see your parents feel so giddily happy for you. So T, thank you, this time not for all that you have done for me by coming into my life, but for all that you have made Mummy Papa feel by being there and accepting them as your own. Parents’ love is always unconditional; they revel in your happiness and share your pain like only parents can. But for you to love them equally unconditionally is something I am really grateful to God about. Because its all about loving your parents, isn’t it!