Saturday, April 23, 2005

A boy named Happy.

Happy bought a lot of happiness into the household. I remember the exact moments when he was born. I was seven and akka was 9.
I did'nt like Happy the first time I saw him. A 10 pound something bonny baby wrapped in a homemade quilt.(that grandmom made out of her irritatingly soft voil sarees) He was not given a name yet. He looked in all directions and could not hold his eyeballs for more than 10 seconds without squinting. happy was absolutely bald with no trace of hair on his head. He had pronounced features and a cute pouty mouth and a complexion that became the envy and admiration of his elder sister's friends within no time.
Happy was a very happy baby. He was the attention grabber every where we went. People used to take him from amma's hands in temples, movie theaters and restaurants. He was cute as a kitten and a button and my eyes shone with pride every time a friend came to visit and could'nt get over his natural charm.
Happy was a menace once he became a toddler. We slowly started discovering he is a left hander. He ate from his left hand, played soccer with his left foot, banged into his peers' faces with his left fist.
Happy used to sing "ayeyya suku suku" from Junglee and looked like a mini Shammi kapoor.
Happy started growing thick, black curly hair. His cherubic face was framed with a square jaw and a perfectly sharp nose. His lips were pouty, baby lips dripping with innocence.
I remember an outfit he wore and the way he looked in that outfit. A blue and white striped sleevless T with matching shorts. His chubby biceps bulged at the seams of the shirt and his fat feet looked like they were carved out of marble. Happy had a particular fascination with little babies and he thought they were dolls. Amma saved a couple of babies from his iron fists on a couple of occasions and decided to buy him a doll so that mothers around the neighborhood, including her own sister that had the little baby, accepted her into their circle.
Happy had an imaginary blue puppy in his world and I ised to make him do everything he would otherwise never do by promising him that his cute little Blue puppy will be his birthday present. Happy loved icecream and playing with water like most of the toddlers his age and he had a face bursting with expression. happy was also fascinated about having a mustache and I sometimes used to sketch black mush around his face to make him happy.
Santosh my happy brother is 21 now, officially an adult and is atleast 5 inches taller than me. He speaks a lot of sense about books and movies and computers (he is a computer engineer) he has a tan face now, filled with numerous pimples (just like the way I was sometime ago) and his square jaw ans sharp nose still stand out in his face. You can miss him in a crowd and get annoyed when he offers his left hand for a handshake (out of sheer habit). But talk to him, get to know him and understand what he really is and you will love him as much as I do.

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