Being Santa

The moment the email from Blogadda came through and informed me about this lovely competition, I was flabbergasted by the prizes and the creativity of the topic.  Then I realized that it was going to be a hard battle for me, but I would take it up as a challenge. Well, the reason that this is going to be a real tough challenge for me is my age. I’m just above the level of being called a kid, but theoretically I’m still a kid. Now you are shocked, but yes, I hate it too; I can’t drive, vote, and many other things as well. I’ll just wait some more months, and then i’ll theoretically not be a kid.

I used the word theoretically twice above, and yes it was intentional. For my parents, my age will never matter, and for them I will eternally be a kid, and for me, they will forever remain as my idols. Coming back to the topic, I would like to thank my parents for giving me anything and everything needed for a proper upbringing and for a secure future. Well, I would like to follow in their footsteps, and I would like to bring my child up (when the time comes) the same way as they have done.

It’s not a tough task to bring together all that my parents did for me as a child, though I could miss some stuff in my collection, as I do have very distinct memories which shall remain forever with me. The hard part is the one where I have to choose 5 from that, only 5! Damn!

Confused and without an idea on how I will proceed from this point I just sit and think imagining what I would do for my kid, if I had one. Co-incidentally, I love kids, though many guys of my age don’t, and they love me back as well. So here I am, imagining my adventures with a kid, my kid, a cute sweet baby. Gee, now I sound like a teenage girl who imagines such feelings.

I would have made a list and listed my points directly, but the main problem is that I don’t have points. Now I’m winding back my clock and I’m going to turn the reel back to the time when I was a little kid.

Just as I was born, I got a strong bout of jaundice, and then some years later I was down with bronchitis and some allergies as well. I remember those nights my parents stayed awake when I was drenched in sweat with a fever, and the other days when they stayed hungry just because I couldn’t eat ‘cause of those coughing fits. Some years after this, I was all fine, and I did get over it all, but for that the main reason was the care my parents gave me.

Me and dad

My dad was always the more careful one, and he would take care such that I would not get a single cut, or even a minute scratch. I was pampered a lot, and I got the things I wanted even before I asked for them. Toys ruled my world at a later stage, but at the start I was completely into books. The collection of my books now lies scattered with smaller kids, or in cartons which fill up the attic, and even now, I love reading. Comics, story books, encyclopedias and other kinds as well were read, and re-read again and again, all by my mother, at an age when I could speak just some words, and only recognize pictures.

As I grew older, my dad exposed me to sports, and I got a cycle, a cricket set and also roller skates at a very small age. People used to ask them questions like what they would get from spending that much, but they just had my happiness to see.

Education was the next factor, and my parents enrolled me in the best of schools, and at a level, without any thought of extra expenses, they shifted me to a new and better school. I have notes in my school diaries which sport paining hands, or headaches as reasons of not doing homework, just because I would be playing on the computer, or I would be completely immersed into some book. This doesn’t end here, as my blog is all because of my parents who thought I wrote well, and I should obtain some space to do more of it.

Well, not that there haven’t been any fights, but my parents have always loved me more and more. My tempers, my tantrums, and even my shouts as well. Never have they hit me, yes that is true, and they have cherished every moment with me as a treasure. Well, I love them a lot, and always will.

Me with mom

Now how can I forget those weird and strange behaviors I have always had, the latest one being late nights. Even as a child, I used to stay awake during the nights to play with toys or to read, and then my parents used to keep me company. They never forced me to sleep, or to not stay awake to enjoy, but they gave me my freedom, and even now, though the lights are troubling when I’m sitting on the PC and writing or doing some other activity, they do not say a word. I have also been given the freedom to choose what I want to do in my life, and to choose my profession and education.

There are many more memories which I have with my parents, but to say it in a single line, they gave me the best in everything.

I have chosen not to cover some other nostalgic moments as well, as I would like to hide them away in my personal memory box. Well, as I said earlier, I would like to raise my child the same way my parents raised me. So, here is my list of 5 things I would give my child for a better and secure future.

In an earlier post, I had mentioned that we always ask God first for wealth or prosperity, but is that correct? No! Even if we have loads of wealth and success, it will all be in vain without the jewel of a good health. For a child to obtain success in all endeavors, an all round protection is needed on the grounds of health. The new medicines are not large factors, but the environment and feeding habits at home play very important parts. Yes, that is my first wish. I want to provide my child with a perfect health such that he/she never falls ill and remains in perfect health all his life.

After promising my angel good health eternally, I would like to imbibe the basic moral values of acceptance, honesty, humility, politeness, equality, and the quality to understand what is right and what is wrong. As the generations go by, we can see that these values are slowly getting lighter in the people, and that is surely leading to some of the problems our world currently faces. But as we see, these values are what make us humans, and this is what separates us from other beings. Thus I would like my child to obtain these moral values to a great extent such that he/she uses them and forever remains a good person at heart and in life.

Moral values and basic ethics always have another part which talks about the proper education of a child. In today’s world, education is one of the most important aspects of a person and that is what makes or breaks a person. I would like to provide my child with the best resources to learn what he wishes to, not necessarily the common studies in the fields of science, or commerce, but the new and unique ones like music, art, dance and even writing. That’s completely his wish.

Taking on from where I ended the last wish of mine, I would like to provide my child with the freedom I got. The freedom to think, the freedom to dream, the freedom to live life the way he/she wants. I never want to object my child to any restraints on the way he wishes to live life. There is the need to understand what is right and what is wrong, and that is something I wished for earlier; so I have the trust that he will do what he desires in the most correct way.

Lastly, but the most important, I would provide my child with the right environment which allows him to grow and develop in an all round manner. Made with love and care, I would pamper my child and provide him with all the happiness in the world a father can give his child, just like my father did for me.

All I wished for would be counted as future planning, ‘cause there is still lot of time till I reach that level. But I guess there’s nothing bad in hoping for the best and for wishing to secure a good future for my child.

Whenever I become a father, I would also wish to provide my child with wealth and enough security such that he can enjoy his life and can remain happy at all times. But for that, I have the YoungStar plans at HDFC Life which would allow me to stay content and they reassure me that I need not worry about my child’s future on the monetary front. For that, I’m secure, and they will never allow me to bow my head with the pressures and tensions of my child’s future. All they would say to me is, “Sar utha ke jiyo”. 


This post is a part of the 1001 Gifts Activity by HDFC Life in association with BlogAdda