A Little Angel

I thought I'd feel older when I became a grandfather. I could not have been more off the mark. My granddaughter was pretty much a stranger to me during the initial months, as breastfeeding and nappy changing are not my forte'.  But now that she is almost two, I can only describe her and our relationship as - Bliss! She epitomizes what family bonds mean. Her innocence is something to admire, having lost mine in so many ways. Her speech is pure and sweet as the nightingale's. Watching her toddle around is to marvel at the innate balance we have. Let me now restrain myself before I break out into poetry. I do wish I could kick a ball around with her, but her interest in football has not emerged yet. I do dream of a time when she can play for the Nepali or the US national women's team, presuming she will have dual nationality by then. The other sport I can play, tennis, will have to wait maybe two more years before I can take her out to the courts. This time, I will dispose her in the hands of a professional coach; I tried teaching my daughter, her mother, with unexpected results! Perhaps some day she will play tennis with the grace of a Sharapova, minus the grunts, the power of a Serena and the internal strength of a Hingis.

Wishing her Good Morning makes my day. She comes with me to blow out the candle I have burning most of the time, a personal oddity. I help her blow out the flame and then she's good to go for the day, meeting uncles and aunts next-doors and frolicking in the garden. Her outdoorsyness more than balances my generally reclusive indoor life. After her oil massage and bath she comes in her dress, already chosen by herself, with a black mascara 'Tika' on her forehead. The Tika looks good, though its main purpose as per local urban legend is to ward off the 'evil eye'. I can hear her talking and shouting, very rarely crying, through the day as she keeps the house lively while I lead my quiet retired life.

I was with her, in the third floor of the house, on that fateful day last year when the earthquake visited. Huddled together with her nanny, she screaming all the while, we rode out the shaking and the humming until it was safe to run down the stairs. It was a blessing that she bore no trauma, maybe because she was only ten months old and too young.

My mention above of "family bond" is not light. A premature retirement from the UN meant returning home; I had never given a thought to retiring anywhere else though there were choices. The extended family and old friends drew me, without hesitation, to Nepal. Eight years later, despite disappointments when one idealizes too much, I have no regrets. My daughter and son-in-law joining us three years ago, to pursue their career interests here, was simply icing on the cake. The nuclear family, if one can call it that, is complete - the little angel at its head, not me.