Saturday, November 7, 2009

If I were a baby again



This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 4; the fourth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.


They say be careful for what you wish for. For it may come true.
Nothing seemed to be going Siddharth's way till one day The Almighty decided to pay him a visit and grant him a wish. Siddharth always wondered, how it would be to go back to being a baby again, a baby with a small part of his 24 year old brain with him. Could I do things different, he asked himself. He didn't much remember anything of his baby years though.
Luckily for him today he was given a chance to go back, all he had to do was utter the magical words

'If I were a baby again'


Come on lets listen to Siddharth.

Siddharth Speaks
'Gaga gugu'
( I woke up on that fine Sunday morning to find myself in the cradle again, my fingers tightly clutching a leg of the wooden horse. The room looked empty and dull; I lay there thinking what to do next, when the baby in me let out a loud cry.
A beautiful lady came running in. Who is this beautiful lady, so gentle and caring.
'How are you my little prince?' she seemed to ask me lifting me from my cradle, with a bright smile.
'Gaga gugu' (Mom. That’s you mom. God you look so pretty.)

She took me to the living room, wooden furniture everywhere I looked, the drapes, the absence of television, they all contributed to the sweet charm that danced around the room.

'Hey Sidu. Come to papa, come, come, come... Good boy'
'Ga!' (Dad, that's you, you... you... you have so much hair.)
I had to touch it to be sure, if they were real. I grabbed at it
'No Sidy. No pulling papa's hair' dad gently pulled my arm away from his hair.
'Gaga ge' (Don't worry dad, they are not going to last for a long time, anyway.)

My elder brother ran in, he looked tiny as ever. He looked to be having problems with his homework, and urged dad to help him. Dad took me along with him to help Arjun with his homework. He put me down on the bed, beside the book. Before he could take a look at the math problem, grand mom called out.
'Subbu, come here, help me bring this box down'
Dad ran leaving Arjun in charge of me. Clearly granny ruled the house from the start. Just couldn't believe she would end up bed ridden requiring help from others to move around in her last few years.

Arjun looked to be busy with his homework; I pepped in to see the math problem.
What is 3+3 =?
"Gugegu" (Six the answer, idiot. This guy is going to grow up to clear IIT and IIM.)
"Gaa" (How? How?)

"Arjun, come for breakfast, bring Sidu along with you" mom called out

My elder brother, carefully lifted me off the bed and walked slowly, as he walked he made weird shapes with his hand, and asked me to smile. I couldn't control, the baby in me let out a smile. Seeing me smile, Arjun hugged me tight with joy, and placed a kiss on my cheeks. The 24 year old in me had tears, but the baby had more smiles for Arjun.
I just can't believe from this, we go onto to grow up, mostly fighting and shouting at each other, to even not talking to each other.

I was made to sit on the table, with mom holding me. Arjun's plate was filled with chapatti and palak. Mom brought out a spoon filled with white looking substance near my mouth.
"Gegega" (What is this? I want the palak. Give me the palak.)
"Come on Siddy, open, open" mom requested
"Gege" (You feed Arjun palak and me some white substance, no wonder I drop out, and he goes to clear IIM)
The palak conflict in my head was too much for the baby in me, and it let out a loud cry.
"What happened? Why is Siddharth crying?" granny came running in
"May be his diaper is wet" mom felt

Together they started undressing me, in front of both my brother, my father and my house maid.
I cried louder and started shouting
"HeGaGUGU" (What are you people doing, don't undress me in front of all these people. Please don't, I will be scared for life. NO NO)
They were in no mood to listen to me. I was stripped naked in the middle of the dining room. Once they opened my diaper a foul smell engulfed the room, the odor was powerful enough to send Arjun and dad run away from the dining room.
"Gege" (God that is some bad smell)
"Gaduga" (What? Is it from me. Oh, lord its from me)

After the embarrassing breakfast, granny took me out with her to get milk from the milk man. She was visibly upset to see him come late. I was not a lest bit interested, but she wanted to show me the cows.
"You have come late again, and your milk its nothing but white water" granny shouted at him
"Guhudu" (Wait a minute, this milkman looks a lot familiar. Where have I seen him)
"GAAA" (Oh my God, granny that milk man is going to grow up to become our Railway minister. Don't shout at him, don't granny.)
"Gegee)" (If not anything, we may atleast get free railway tickets. Please don't shout at him granny. Take me near him, I want to touch the future Railway Minister of India.)

She was clearly in no mood for anything I had to say, if only she could understand what I was telling her.
Two more ladies looked to enter our house with a baby with them. Granny greeted them, pinched the baby's cheeks and welcomed them in.
They put both of us in the same cradle, and stood near by talking about the milkman/ future Railway minister.
"Gygegu" (Hi! What is your name. Do you understand me?)
"Hugutu" (Of course I do, moron) the baby pinched my arm
I let out a loud cry due to the immense pain. Granny came running
"Oh, did Prachi pinch you again"
"Ga" (Is that Prachi, Prachi, who I grow up to have a hug crush on. Is it her?)
"Guhuta" (She looks cute. May be I should tell her I like her. The most she can do is pinch me, she can't complain to mom or dad)

I had made up my mind to tell Prachi, about my huge crush for her, when mom came running in

"Why is he crying still"
"May be his diaper is wet, lets check"
"GERUGE" (NO, please NO. Not in front of Prachi please. Mom please stop no.)
"GerGu" (I hate being a baby again, take me back God, please, please.)
)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He brought me back, exactly after they had stripped me naked. Franky the experience was a mixture of good and bad. Before I forget I have to run and give my elder brother a hug. So I am off. You guys keep wishing, for you never know, who is listening.


The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

34 comments:

Raji U said...

Aww... that was so sweet.. I loved it. now I'm going to give my sister that hug.:D
*hugs* to you too!!!

Guria said...

You should know why I am such a fan of your writing... :P
Another winner!!

Gomathy S said...

Hey very nicely written..

MADHU RAO | (INDImag.COM) said...

Nice story Harsha....

Neha said...

nice one harsha...loved the narration...good luck :)

Nikki said...

aww...that was so creative and cute. I actually feel like crying...lol...Anyway best of luck. Hope you win!!

Govind said...

A good one..actually a little similiar to mine !!

Nανєєη said...

gr8 write up ..... nicely narrated !!

Karthik said...

It was a nice read. Liked it.

Pinpaks said...

So sweet and so touching..I wonder what would happen if I were in your place - I have three elder sibs and was born in a place where diapers were unheard of! Nopes. Don't want to think about it at all anymore

Great blog. Love your style. All the best. :)

grace said...

This one was fantastic Harsha!I wish I had words enough to tell you how much I enjoyed reading it.
Great expression of wit and absolutely awesome imagination.
Superb!I am just too excited after reading this one.

Anonymous said...

That was really SWEET!!!very nicely written! loved the gagagegu part the most :))) One of the best posts for sure!!

Anonymous said...

very well narrated

Anonymous said...

"Don't worry dad, they are not going to last for a long time, anyway."
That cracked me up!! hahaha!!

very very well-written. It has a bit if everything- humour, sentimental-ism and thrills. A very comprehensive effort.

Anonymous said...

Why do all your baby words start with "G"?

Kidding....that was a lovely read :-)

Anonymous said...

Gaa-Gaa GuGuta ....go figure ... ;)

Chetan Maheshwari said...

i loved the ending
and that dad's hair was the bes part..well thought
good luck

Harsha Chittar said...

I want to thank you all for reading it, your comments made me really happy, sorry for the late reply my computer crashed on me.
@Rajalakshmi: Thank you, hugs to you too :)
@Guria: Very Kind of you, am a fan of your writing too
@Daisy: Thank you very much.

Harsha Chittar said...

@Madhu: Very happy you stopped by, thank you and hope you keep visiting:)
@Neha:thank you very much and hope you keep visiting
@Nicole: Very happy you liked it, Thank you very much, you are very kind.
@Govind: Ya it is similar.

Harsha Chittar said...

@Naveen: thank you and hope you keep visiting:)
@Karthik: Good to see you again, thank you very much for reading it.
@Rohini: thank you for reading it, i agree it would be very hard to imagine :). hope you keep visiting.
@Grace: You are just too nice :), always looking fwd to your comments :)

Harsha Chittar said...

@evanescentthoughts: Thank you very much, very kind of you. Hope you keep visiting :)
@scratchyoursoul:Thank you very much
@pulkits: Very happy to see you here :)Thank you for the comments, glad you liked it.
@debosmita: The first letter i learnt to write was 'G', hence all the words start with G :). Thank you for reading it, hope you keep visiting :)
@dmanji:I translate it as, "very well written, loved it" :) :), Thank you for stopping by :)
@Chetan: Thank you my friend, good luck to you too

grace said...

Ah! I am flattered. :)

Prashant Mehta said...

The use of "ga ga ge ge", etc made the post all the more interesting. Good job!

Shruti said...

Am completely addicted to your writings!
Awesome as usual! But this story is sooo sweet!

aativas said...

A baby with a 24 year old brain is a good idea. Very well written. The humor added the test of the post.

Neeraj Shinde said...

Creative!

Harsha Chittar said...

@Prashant: Thank you very much, please do keep visiting.
@Shruti: Very kind of you, Thank you very much.
@aativas: Thank you very much
@Neeraj: Thank you bro. Hope you keep visiting.

Mahesh Aadhya Kalal said...

Creative with innovative narration....
Liked it childishly :)
Great work :)

Vipul Grover said...

Gugu ga gebu gugee go gu..
Oh sorry :D
Very cute post, loved all those gugu's :)
well, full points to u as u hav stuck to the topic entirely (unlike many of us including me) and brought it out beautifully :)
Jus see how um all smilies smilies :)

Harsha Chittar said...

Thank you everyone for reading the story. Another successful Blog-A-Ton has come to an end. Thank you Aativas and Vipul for your votes and cheers it made my day.
@Mahesh: Thank you very much. Hope you keep visiting :)

grace said...

You know what, tonight my best friend, Rays and I were reading your blog post and we had a good time reading out "If I Were A Baby Again" and "Battlefield" to each other. My friend too was amused at this post and touched by "Battlefield".
So here I am mouthing Rays appreciation and good wishes for you.
Congrats for being quite a wonder with words that mean so much.
Good luck!

Harsha Chittar said...

@Grace: You are just too nice to me. I am flattered humbled and also lost for words reading your comment. I sometimes think of giving up blogging but comments such as yours keep me writing. I thank you and your friend from the bottom of my heart for taking time out to read my stories, there is nothing better to a writer than being appreciated :)
I hope i can continue writing stories that keep you coming back, and keep you entertained.

grace said...

Dear Harsha, if you feel that I am just too nice to you, then trust me you deserve it. Please don't think of quitting blogging, you are too good a writer to even think of that.

I know it means a lot for a writer to be read and appreciated and thats precisely the reason why I communicated Rays compliments to you.

Looking forward to a lot more on your blog.

Cheers

Anonymous said...

ga ga gu gu ge ge ghhhh (That was really sweet talk dude..)