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Memoirs
Fathers and Princesses
by Monisha Sen
I
lost my husband the day my daughter was born. She mesmerized him when
she was barely a few seconds old. I remember looking up at him after the
drama of the birth, and I will never forget the look on his face as he
gazed down at her tiny face.
He had wanted a son. To watch cricket on TV with, to teach him how to
swim, to wash the car on Sundays with … all the father-son rites became
irrelevant the first time he held his baby daughter. And the minutes old
baby looked up at him, already a gleam in her eyes that said she knew
his heart was hers.
The little princess is now 2 years old. She demands to wear her Baba’s
favorite clothes after the days play is done-so that, “Baba will say oh
my feetopie” when he returns from office. She has figured that with one
little whisper, “Baba, kaju”, her Baba will drop his remote, stop
watching TV and get up to oblige (a feat I have not managed in all the
time we have been married).
With me she knows her treats are limited, her TV restricted to certain
programs at certain times of the day, and she better have her milk or
else.… She also knows that when it is her fathers turn to take care of
her, she is sure to get ice cream for lunch. I am the wicked witch in
her life!
To him, she is the lode star, the one he comes home to after the stress
of work, the one he spends his Sundays with, the one he misses and calls
home to find out what she has been up to. I have been relegated to being
the ogre in their lives who announces, “bed time”.
I have watched him holding her close, absorbing her baby smells.
Treasuring the way her unformed face looks, imagining what she will look
like all grown up. Enthralled by the look of peace on a very mobile face
as she sleeps. Playing “here comes the bride” in his head when she
bursts from her room demanding his attention to her new pink frock. All
the sights, sounds and smells to be treasured to help him through the
days when she is no longer little. For the day when his little baby will
announce, “ I want you to meet someone” and in will walk the scruffiest,
hairiest boyfriend a girl could possibly have! For the time, some time
soon, when she needs us less and requires more than food, shelter and
cuddles.
His first thought, while in a plane that had hit a turbulence, was his
daughter. A fear of leaving her fatherless, of not protecting her and
watching her grow.
I guess my own father, in his generation and time, felt the same. I did
not really think about the man who made me his princess, till I saw my
husband with my own little girl.
March
12, 2006
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Memoirs
The Week of March 12, 2006
Global
Democracy: India, not America, Should Take Lead by Rajinder Puri
Not Again! Mr. Advani by Usha Kakkar
The 'Great Indian Middle Class" Needs to
... by Dr. Subhash Kapila
US History - Lesser Known
Facts, Analogies & Surmises Part 5 by Gaurang Bhatt, MD
Zahira Sheikh vs Jessica Lal by Usha
Kakkar
Respect All, Shun Casteism by Naira
Yaqoob
Flex and Stretch Yourself to Good
Health by Rajgopal Nidamboor
Homeopathy
and Toxic Exposure by Dr. Muneeb Faraaz
A Dialogue with Victoria Valentine
by Dr. Amitabh Mitra
Is Human Life Complete Without
Poetry? by TA Ramesh
Urvashi: The Poetry of Love's Victory
by Suniti Chandra Mishra
Concepts Immaculate by J. Ajith Kumar
A Tribute to Geeta and Guru Dutt by MH Ahsan
Aarti Agarwal – Alone in a Crowd by MH Ahsan
How to Celebrate
Holi with Kids by Garima Gupta
Tugging Ear Infections by Dr. Muneeb
Faraaz
A Moment Called Death by PGR Nair
Far Horizon by Dhiraj Bhimji Raniga
Fathers and Princesses by Monisha Sen
Helping with the Basics by Susan Philip
What Women Want by Stephanie Hiller
When Scarf and Jacket Talk by Naunidhi
Kaur
Opening Windows of Learning: A feature
on Nasreen Awan from Pakistan
Vastu Purush Mandala: Home Design and
Happiness by Niranjan Babu Bangalore
Methodology and Effects of Mercury in
Various Houses by Dr. Shanker Adawal
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