With Arms Wide Open
Two Birthdays, a Homecoming, and a Dilemma
This week passed by in a flash. We welcomed our first child into this world, and have been spending quality time getting to know him. He was pretty determined to have his own birthday, and so he arrived two days before mine. It made for a pretty special birthday for me, unlike any other. One of my uncles wittily remarked that I basically relived my newborn memories from the hospital 32 years ago.
Our little one totally destroyed us the first night after we got him back home. It was a task to keep up with his needs while being groggy wrecks ourselves. It has steadily gotten easier since, and we have settled into a manageable rhythm.
He has been with us for just over a week, but it feels like we’ve known each other much longer. I don’t feel like going back to work.
We shortlisted three names for our son in the months leading up to his birth, but we wanted to spend some time with him before giving a lifelong identity. None of the shortlisted names seemed suitable after meeting him, and we thought of a different one in the week after his birth. It’s curious how children bring their own personality into this world.
These days the process of naming your offspring has become more confounding than bringing them into this world — everyone is looking for a unique name. It’s tougher for us Indians owing to the wide variety of choice, including but not limited to:
Mythological Characters
Alternate God Names
Sanskrit Words
Concatenation of Alternate God Name + Sanskrit Word
Tried and tested Bollywood Character Names
Our Beloved Cricketers
As exciting as it has been, I know that I don’t want to go through a name-selection exercise again.
A few details stand out in the blur of the past ten days.
The incredible kindness of the hospital staff despite the monotony of postnatal care for them as a job. It is amazing how they attend to everyone with a constant smile.
The absolute and utter delight a child brings to everyone in the family. I don’t think I have ever seen my folks this excited.
The importance of social capital. We had a smooth experience thanks to a marvellous set of local friends who helped us through the rigmarole of hospital formalities in a country where we aren’t fluent with the local language.
The completeness of change a child brings in your life. The first two lines of One Love come to mind.
It’s kinda funny how life can change
Can flip 180 in a matter of days…Last but not the least, the positivity and strength shown by Gaya through the entire process has been a masterclass in attitude-building.
The internet never leaves you alone. Here are a few interesting bits I stumbled upon between diaper changes.
Converse is sponsoring giant murals across the globe made with air pollutant-eating paint. It is a collaboration with artists who are using photocatalytic paint that breaks down pollutants and helps clean the air in congested cities.
After seeing a resurgence in wildlife during the pandemic, the Thailand environment minister plans to shut its national parks for up to four months annually to reduce environmental damage at popular tourist spots.
In groundbreaking new research, Australian scientists found that venom from honeybees was remarkably effective in killing aggressive breast cancer cells, while leaving healthy cells unharmed.
Here’s one of my favourites from the APOD NASA archives — a plot of the path of a neutron star (Vela Pulsar) born 10,000 years ago out of a massive supernova 800 light years from Earth. This image was traced over a period of two years from the Fermi Gamma-ray telescope, which orbits the earth every 95 minutes and traces gamma-ray sources.
Title credits to one of my favourite Creed tracks that Scott Stapp wrote after finding out he’s going to be a father.
If you know someone who would like to read this sort of stuff every week or so, forward it their way. Meanwhile, I always look forward to your replies.
I love everything about you my friend - except your taste of music ;-)