Agraj, The Elder. My Grand Son.
We were all waiting for my daughter / son-in-law, Yamini / Srikanth’s First Child. Since 2007, at least.
They were married in 2005 and after giving them the desired Grace period of 2 years, we were rather becoming impatient for the Happy Event to happen. Grand parents-to-be, on both sides, were anxiously expecting the announcement of all announcements !
In the mean time my son / daughter-in-law, Avinash / Neetha’s daughter arrived. Ananya was born on September 23, 2009. First Grand Child in the Family on both sides ; our side and daughter-in-law’s side. Great Celebrations all over. For weeks there were events after events to welcome Ananya into our families..
Then one fine morning we got a call from Singapore ! The Great News ! Yamini is in the Family Way !! Would it be a grand son, this time or a grand daughter ? Suspense continued all through the pregnancy. We all decided to wait for the thrill ; and not make efforts to know.
And in February 2011, on a sunny Sunday, 20th. Feb., at 1 past 37 minutes in the afternoon, our beloved grand son arrived. Yamini’s wishes were fulfilled. Son-in-law Srikanth was in Singapore and was getting ready to fly in to Hyderabad that night. He was elated and drowned in Happiness when told of the Arrival of his Son !
Agraj, was named thus, as he happened to be the eldest for Yamini / Srikanth. Also he became the first grand son for his paternal grand parents. And, generally it was felt that the name was unique in its own way. An uncommon name at that.
As Agraj started growing up, he started displaying the uniqueness of being a boy. His looks, smiles and sounds he started making from the 3rd month onwards, all, unmistakeably sent out clear signals that he was a BOY !
The mischievous male twinkle in his tiny eyes and the shrill loud shrieks he makes in his playing time, are to be seen to be believed. His face displays a sober, dignified, “male member of the family”, look !!
The greatest joy is when we see our grand daughter ANANYA, now 19 months old and just uttering her first words, play with her cousin AGRAJ, in a very affectionately sweet manner, calling him “Aggajoo “, singing a lullaby and talking to him in her own childish language.
The astonishing part is the response of Agraj to Ananya, in sounds , characteristic of a 3 month old baby ! They discover their own world of children as compared to our world of adults. Their responses to each other are just spontaneous, sans any frills or unnatural imitations of a child’s way of talking. We adults are adept at making unsuccessful attempts to ape their behaviour or language. Whereas they do it naturally. And that sounds really sweet because its genuine.
Parsa V Ramachander Rao. Hyderabad. 24th May 2011.
