To You My Parents

This is the picture of the two people I respect the most in this world. Earlier I would have added the word 'love' too, but now there is a very tiny but very very strong candidate who has successfully captured that position forever - my own daughter.

These two people in the photograph are the ones who brought me into this world. They are my parents, the two people who know me probably much better than I know myself.

From the time I first opened my eyes to when I first tried to utter a word, when I sat up on my own or turned on my stomach, that first step I took and the first time I ate on my own - they are the two people who have seen and cherished it all. They are the ones who held my finger and taught me to walk, and later helped me hold a pencil in my hand and learn the first script. The ones who introduced me to the enchanting world of books, taught me how to express myself through words, told me that always coming first in life was not important, what was important was to give everything your best shot and to know that you did your best while at the same time being fair.

They are the ones who have always loved me unconditionally, even when I threw tantrums or was unreasonable and stubborn, their love and faith in me never wavered. When I was upset or angry they were always there to calm me, when I needed my space they always made sure I had my privacy while knowing they were just an arm's distance away.

They have always known me better than me, these two people, my parents.

When I was young I always told them not to worry about me, or, after I grew up, when they would talk about me - what I did when I was small and all those things of the past - I would tell them not to dwell on old things, I told them to stop thinking only about me and to do more about their own life. But I never realised that one day, I too would become just like them, that I too would be a parent. And that the only world I would know then would be the world around my child.

I understand their concerns now as I feel the same towards my daughter. I can share their excitement or their love in the way they talk about me when I was a little baby. I can recall each and every moment of my daughter's life myself and only I know how much joy it brings me to sometimes just sit back and reminisce. I can understand now why they worried so much all the time, I am no different a parent, I can now feel their anxieties and fears too.

What I am feeling only now is what they have felt for these last so many years.

These two precious people in my life, who never complained at any of my faults or idiosyncracies, who loved and believed in me despite all my greys and negatives, who were and still are the best parents ever, much more than I can ever imagine to be.

For everything good and important and helpful that I have, and will ever do as a parent, everything I have learned from you two.