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[ A new addition - The Mozart of Madras makes my blog space more gorgeous with his melodies. ( just look to your right and scroll down). Soothe your ear drums and start reading the post ]

You must be wondering how dumb I’ve been in posting this article without a title. Well, it was intentional and I would like you to suggest one after reading. A few sentences have been written in Tamil just to maintain the originality of the conversations.

Before posting this article, I read at least 10 times and got emotional every time I read

And I feel this is the best article in my blog as on date.

Here we go...…

Below is my conversation with Nandhini ( I call her Nandhu, affectionately )

Rajesh: Hi...

Nandhu: Hi…

Rajesh: Well. So what did you do today?

Nandhu: Nothing great. So what about you?

Rajesh: Just killing time here…what did you have for lunch today?

Nandhu: Chappathi with Bindi Masala

Rajesh: How’s Ishika?

Nandhu: Yeah…fine. Just back home from her place

…………………………………………………

……………………………blah…..blah….……

……………………………blah…..blah……....

…………………………………………….......

As I finish the conversation, a sense of fulfillment pervades my heart and the chat with her makes me FEEL GOOD.

How would you describe this relationship?

?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?

?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Well, this is the conversation I had with my cousin last evening. She’s a 7- year old girl with:

~ Charming looks

~ Incisive thoughts

~ Glitzy artistic skills

~ Oodles of confidence

And above all, she’s a girl who gets along with people very easily in a quick span of time.

( Click to enlarge )

To be precise, I’ve five younger cousins but none of them have impressed me as much as this tot. It’s not uncommon to shower so much love on a kid but what I’ve for her is not just affection, but adulation. Each and every aspect of her character is admirable ; the way she carries herself, her gimmicks, her bravado at banters, the timely one-liners she renders and the involvement / dedication with which she goes about her work….and the list is endless. To describe a little more, she looks adorable when she protrudes her lower jaw and winks just one eye of her. It is a real treat when you watch her do that.

My recent visit to her place in Bangalore provided a fantastic opportunity to observe those minuscule yet cute actions of hers. Watching her talk is so enchanting - the pause she takes after every sentence ( her eyeballs alone move up with the brows staying still ) gives her that extra time to frame the next sentence. Most often, people don’t tend to appreciate small things and what they lose is ’ an indeterminate sense of joy that erases all the worries troubling their mind and dispels unwanted feelings stemming from their heart ( at least for a while ) ’. Being someone who finds pleasure in even the smallest things around, I enjoyed every second I spent with her. Her cheerful attitude gave me immense delight and she painted the walls of my heart with warmth and exuberance. Let me describe just one afternoon we spent when her mom had dozed off while her dad stayed glued to his laptop. I feel this should suffice for you to yearn for a cousin like Nandhu.

This was the afternoon I arrived from Chennai and naturally the intimacy was quite understandable. The moment I hit the bed, she cuddled me, pushed me flat and sat on my tummy. They say, ‘ You can’t serve two masters at a time ’, but Nandhu is too good at discussing at least four or five topics at a time. She begins every conversation with ‘ Unakku Onnu theriyumaaa ???' ( you know something ?? ). The moment I try to get deeper into the first topic, she loses patience to answer and moves to the next with so much desperation, that, if I try still harder to get back to the former, she shoots back “ Iru Rajesh…naa solli mudichurren” ( wait Rajesh… let me finish ). It gets even better if I pretend to be mystified by trivial issues. When I remark “ Apdiyaaa, Nandhu ???'' ( Is it, Nandhu ???) , she vividly replies “ Aamaa Rajesh, theriyaadhaa ?? '' ( Ya Rajesh, don’t you know ??). It’s real fun to watch her respond that way. Then, she started rambling on her entire list of friends – the ones who were closer in LKG but not quite so in UKG and vice versa, people who are friendlier now compared to last year in UKG…and the permutations and combinations went on and on. She doesn’t get tired of reciting English words with their spellings. Ironically, it is I who get tired of asking while she stays quite zealous and wants me to shoot more words at her. There’s so much entertainment with her but they’re better enjoyed tête-à-tête rather than narrating here and I strongly feel, these jolly moments can’t be explained in words beyond a point ( I’m unsure if I was successful enough in making you get a real feel of how enjoyable that afternoon was ).

( Click to enlarge )

Another aspect that I have a high regard for, is her eagerness to learn new things - especially English words. She makes a sincere effort to build letters, with her pronunciation close to perfection, and one such instance was during our holiday at Mysore. We had stayed in a hotel, and there, I was amazed to see her read, quite effortlessly, a full page listing the rules and regulations to be followed in that hotel. I can’t recollect one word she pronounced incorrectly. The fluency in language apart, one has to appreciate her keenness to read a flurry of words which is otherwise a tough task for any child of her age. Hats off !!!! Also worth mentioning is her recollection of characters in the mega serials being telecast and she gives her mom the much-needed company. One look at an artist and she’s capable of mentioning the serials he/she has acted, is acting including the character names he/she portrays and the same applies to cine actors as well. Her impeccable drawing skills deserve special mention here and she has adorned the walls of her room with paintings all over. Just have a look at her works.

( Click to enlarge )

Her proficiency in the recent Hindi film songs is incredible and the fact is, I’ve got to know some of the best songs from her humming. She starts predicting a song by just listening to its opening BGMs. Undoubtedly, the one song which reminds me of Nandhu every time I listen is ‘ Teri Yaadon Mein’ ( The Killer ) and precisely the lines ‘Phirtaa rahoon dar badar milta nahin tera nishaan’ . Still etched in my memory is that cloudy evening at Mysore when she sang a few lines of that song and every time I started with ‘ Phirtaa rahoon ’, she was quick to follow it up with ‘ dar badar milta nahin tera nishaan ’. I guess we made a better pair than KK & Shreya Ghoshal. Her Hindi diction is quite good and I’m in awe of the efforts she puts in to initiate a conversation in Hindi. Astoundingly, she corrects herself immediately, if there happens to be a wrong usage and makes sure it doesn’t repeat the next time.

Two things which really moved me were, when :

~ She wanted me to sleep next to her on the penultimate day of stay there ( so touching , isn’t it? )

~ She missed me so much that she actually started weeping soon after I left for Chennai ( I came to know of this from my aunt and what exactly Nandhu had told her mom was, I quote “ Mom, Rajesh was here last week and we had a very nice time with him, we went to Mysore also and now, why did he go back to Chennai ??? ” ). What more can I ask for ??? …

Thanks sweety !!!

Just scroll up and start counting the adjectives that have been used to describe her …..well….far too many. To put things in a nutshell, if it is Shreya Ghoshal’s voice that woos me, it is Nandhu’s attitude that mesmerizes me.

I’m sure Nandhu will have put every effort to read this blog of mine. Let me take this opportunity to pass on my best wishes.

@ Nandhu

May God bless you with the best things in life !! I’m sure you’ll taste success in everything. Keep Rocking dear !!!

Let me sign off with these lines of our favorite song ‘ Teri Yaadon Mein ’.

‘ Phirtaa rahoon dar badar milta nahin tera nishaan ’.

P.S : Kindly don’t forget to suggest a title in the comments page.