What is Atharv upto these days - Part 1

March 11th 09
Atharv is becoming naughtier by the day. I need to tie him in his swing more than often now. Yesterday he was looking cute sitting up in his bouncy swing. I wanted to capture those expressions on his face and did not tie him up. Within less than 5 seconds, as I came back, there bhomm... right in front of my eyes, he falls on his head.. upside down over the carpet... I think I was about to cry before he would... but realized that he did not even understand what had happened, to I somehow managed to control my tears.

March 12th 09
Today he had been crying almost the entire day and I was so emotionally exhausted trying to console him hour after hour, that around evening I called Abhinav and said... "main tumharey betey ko nahin pahachanti hoon!!!". [I no longer know your son] In the next two minutes Abhinav had a meeting, where incidentally his colleagues asked him about Atharv. Abhinav replied... "just now my wife called and told me she no longer recognizes our son".. so his colleagues ask... "...then what are you doing here in the office?".. to that he says..."by staying in the office... I am ensuring that at least one parent continues to recognize him :) ".... LOL

March 13th 09
Atharv has just had his feed. He is lying down inclined with the support of my lap and a thick pillow beneath him. Abhinav is (as usual) lazing around in the morning.. even though he is already late for office. Its been 10 minutes, and I speak to my little one... "Beta chalo utho, diaper change karte hain tumhara". [Son, lets get up your diaper needs to be changed] To our surprise he instantaneously gets up. Abhinav laughs and teaches me ... how I need to have a vision into the future... and how I should have instead said.. "Beta utho,jao apna diaper change karo and phir wapis aajao" [Son, go, change your diaper and then come back].
So like a dutiful wife, the next time, I did as my husband suggested... nothing happened...then I thought let me try what I said this morning. That didn't work either... Finally after trying up a couple of times more, when I was about to give up, he did respond - in his usual way of course - by throwing up milk and then wailing out loud :)


March 14th 09
Abhinav was away in NJ for the weekend to perform at a Kavi Sammelan. Deepa was home to give me some help, when she decided to surf for a couple of minutes before continuing to play with Atharv. Suddenly Atharv shouts out so loud that poor Deepa gets scared herself. Petrified she looks at me, as if her eyes saying...'Deepti I did not do anything to him... believe me.' Well that's an important lesson to learn - "Deepa Mausi how can you sit next to me and not talk to me...huh"

March 15th 09
As I type all this, Atharv is staring at the monitor, trying to make sense of all that is happening on the monitor. He is wondering 'Huh how about me trying to hit one of those black keys... to see what happens... after all there is something magical about them that keeps mommy and papa so much occupied with them, that each time I have to cry out loud enough to grab back their attention.

Hindi Kavi ka English mein Interview :)

This week's edition of 'The South Asian Times' has published a beautiful article on Abhinav.

Abhinav Shukla, magic through poetry
- by Archana Chaudhary/SATimes

"Engineering and poetry are extremely diverse fields but young Hindi poet Abhinav Shukla is a perfect blend of the two. Abhinav’s poetic journey began while he was still in school. He continued to keep the poet in him alive through school, college and even while studying for his Masters in Engineering by participating in national level Hindi poem meets. No wonder, moving to a foreign country didn’t deter him from following what he calls his “passion”, his love for poetry and Hindi language led him to pursue Hindi poetry in the US."

Click Here to Read The Whole Interview - page 15