Long, long back, there was a little girl who used to wear 2 little pony tails when she went to school. She was a quiet girl who sat among the last benchers, not because she was dumb, but because she was low on confidence. She was just average in studies. She loved dancing, but only when she was alone.
Long back, almost during the same time, there was a little guy, who was the naughty devil of his class. He jumped around, played in mud, ran behind cockroaches and never studied! He was interested in drawing and painting. But his concerned parents tried to make him concentrate only on studies. He too was an average student till his HSC. Then he was bit by a worm called seriousness!
None of these kids knew the other.
They then came into their 20s. They grew up to be successful engineers employed in IT firms. Destiny then brought them together. Their families met and were keen on getting their kids married. Soon, their alliance was fixed. Skeptical and apprehensive, the young couple accepted their families' decision. They got married soon after to realize that they were made for each other. They laughed together, shared joys, frustrations, sorrows, hobbies, workplace jokes, and became each other's best friends. It was miraculous that 2 individuals who were so diverse in their childhood became each other's best companions. Maybe that is why they say, "Opposites attract."
Today, 2.5 years have passed after their marriage. One fine day, they got to know that they would be stepping into a whole new world called parenthood. Their and their families' joy knows no bounds.
A new sense of responsibility, excitement, enthrallment and exhilaration has filled the couple.
This girl is none other than me!
In a few months, our home will take on a new look: rattles, soft toys, wind chimes, little bottles, cartoon character posters, colourful pram, little clothes and loads of more cute stuff. As a song goes:
Mann mei mere tu basa hai,
Rom rom mei samaaya hai,
Pal pal phir bhi tera intezaar hai,
Ek tere aa jaane se,
Jannat mera sansaar hai!
Ok. Here, the 'Hum Aapke Hain Kaun' kind of story is over. Now, the fun part titled 'Chupke Chupke' follows!
A universally known fact is that the moment your second anniversary arrives, people start pestering you on 'Good news'. (Sometimes it's earlier.) Now that we have given them the 'good news', they are filled to the brim with advice. Now, I understand that the earlier pestering was laying a foundation so that people can enjoy giving advice later on! How people love giving advice even when I am not remotely hinting, let alone craving for it.
Our family's first reaction on hearing the news was, "How wonderful, we're so happy, literally on the ninth cloud! But do not make haste to tell everyone about this. We should tell it only to our close relatives now and reveal the news to everyone only after 3 months are over."
So chupke chupke, the 'close relatives' list was immediately made verbally- Mom's and mother-in-law's siblings and parents and their spouses. (Amounting to 10 in all) Although the male family members - dad and father-in-law were not too interested to reveal it to their siblings and their respective spouses right then (6 in all), they were apprehensive that if the former 10 would somehow come in touch with the latter 6 (facebook is such a bane), a tsunami or earthquake would surely take place. "How could you not bother to tell us about this wonderful news? We got to know from those outsiders. It was embarrassing." They would have said.
So now the number of 'close relatives' who knew our 'good news' went up to 16. How could these 16 not tell their children about it? So, within no time, our mail box filled with congrats messages from long lost cousins before we could say, "Hey, you too know?"
But the elders still maintained, "You should not even tell your close friend about it." Funny, since I meet my friends at workplace everyday and they are dear to me, whereas people we had met only at our wedding almost 3 years back knew the news! I didn't even remember their faces. But I kept the secret!
Anyway, by the time 3 months were complete, all our relatives(close and distant) were well updated. The only people left were our friends and our innocent maid! But regarding the maid, this was my misconception. One day, finally after the 'Chupke Chupke 3 Months' got over, I told her the news. The following dialog took place:
