A Letter To My Daughter Aaradhya - How To Live

My Dear Daughter,

You are almost 2.9 years and a pretty smart girl. You are growing up and gaining a lot of wisdom. Here are some things that I want you to always remember:

• You are loved! By everyone in the family and so many others. You have lots of friends – some will stay with you for a lifetime and many will come and go. This is life. You are a really good girl.

• Love your body. You are beautiful. Take care of your body – exercise and eat healthy and you will be beautiful.

• Love yourself. No one is perfect and we always have something we could be better at; sometimes we make mistakes – learn from them and move on. Take responsibility for your part, resolve to not make the same mistake again and forgive yourself.

• Do the best you can in school and don't worry so much about what your grades are. Believe in yourself. I believe in you. You are going to be a great at whatever you choose to do; the only thing you have to do is believe in yourself.

• If you can’t find the perfect path in life, create one. Ask for a job that doesn’t exist. Define your own identity, even if the universe doesn’t agree. Never stay static in something that doesn’t challenge, terrify and elate you, congruently. Life demands change.

• Don’t be afraid to work hard. I know sometimes it sucks to have to work hard at something, but if you can work at it, without giving up, you will find it gets easier. I promise. But you can’t give up! You are only giving up on yourself. I will never give up on you.

• Don’t be defeated by “NO”. You will hear it many times before you hear “YES”. But also know that sometimes no means no and it’s important to respect that. When you respect the “NO” of others, they will respect yours. Learn to know when you should push or when you should respect a “NO”. I know it’s confusing now, but with practice you will learn to know the difference.

• You can’t change people. Not men, not your friends. Accept the ones you want to accept, move on from the ones you don’t. You won’t look back, I promise.

• When you feel down, find something that makes you happy, listen to music, draw, write a song or a poem. You are very creative and when you are doing something creative, you will find peace and happiness. Put more into the world than you take away. Never stop creating things: write, read, draw, dance. Try new things and never stop trying.

• Know that you are in charge of you and you can choose to feel any way you want to. It takes work to be your own master – don’t let the thought monsters control you! You can control them! Don’t accept defeat, just keep working at it. Even I struggle with those buggers from time to time. Know that it will all be ok, especially if you love yourself and remember that your dad will always love you no matter what- you are never alone.

• Don't believe the negative thoughts and stories that sometimes pop into your mind – they aren’t true. Go back and read all of this again- this is the truth!

• The love I have for you can never be broken or taken away from you. It is a constant you can always count on.

Dear Aaradhya, on December 18, 2016, it was really a panic day for me. You burned you right arm with the hot water when you were with your mother. She never care about you and always blame you. I can feel your burn pain but she? no way....

Love you my Cheeku :). I love you with all my heart. You are my greatest gift.

A Letter to my Daughter Aaradhya on her 2nd Birthday

The Apple Of My Eyes, My Ever So Adorable Daughter Aaradhya!

I am writing this to you on your 2nd birthday. I can’t believe you are turning 2 today.

These are my wishes for you as you continue to grow up and become your own woman in this magnificent world.

May you always be so proud of your body pointing out your beautiful belly and happy to see your reflection in the mirror.

The time really does fly when you have a little one. You looked so different then and still so much the same in many ways. As I perused through those early photos of you in my phone’s camera roll last night, I saw many of your expressions that I have come to know and love. Especially that serious little gaze you have when you are deep in thought.

I took you back from the hands of your mother's parents (your nana, nani) on April 24, 2015. I can't express my feelings in words when you first time came to Chandigarh with me.

It was truly magical. You started talking right around 18 months and you haven’t stopped since. Your language has seriously just exploded and you are constantly coming up with something new and you are so good at putting together pieces about the world around you.

At bed time you made me sing “Nanha Munna Rahi Hun, Om Jai Jagdish, Shiv Kailasho Re...” to you at least ten times and after each rendition you tell “Just one more time Papa. This is the last time.”

Currently your favorite songs are “Sabse Pyara Kon Hai..., Choti Si Nahi si Pyari Si... And some Rhymes Eyo o o, eyo o o, O o o o o, Baba Black Sheep and Johny Johny Yes Papa". You request to listen to these songs multiple times on a daily basis and usually we oblige, because it makes you so blissfully happy. You sang your birthday song , "Happa happa to you...".

This year you showed us your love for animals. You pretty much want to cuddle any furry creature you come in contact with. It makes me happy how much you love animals and sometimes I wonder if you’ll always have such a love for them. You completely adore them and carry them around everywhere. You pretty much always have at least one doll or stuffed animal tagging along with you at a given moment. Oh no...!! when you saw a real Camel first time at Sukhna Lake Chanidgarh, you start crying with fear!

You have made some good friends here, you play with them and enjoy your life with them. Meeshu bua :) was your favorite friend included Nanha, Jiya, Simmi and Saloni.

This year we have also learned that you are tenacious and determined. You always know exactly what you want and you have no problem letting your desires be known. Many times you will wake up and the first thing out of your mouth is your breakfast order. No Good Morning Mama/Papa. Just “I wanna eat milk.” It always makes me laugh.

You are also real into reading people’s emotions. Just the other day we saw a little pug while we were out and you said, “Papa, doggy royi royi kar rahi hai..". Be happy doggy!” You don’t like anyone to be sad. I actually think it makes you uneasy when one of us is unhappy. The other day I was pretending to be sad when you would not share something with me and you got pretty upset about it.

You have a silly, little spirit that we just love and a little laugh I adore. You have a raspy, throaty little chuckle that matches your little voice. I thought you would grow out of it by now, but it’s still around and it’s my favorite. I hope it lasts forever.

I could go on and on about all the things I have learned to love about you this year, but I’ll end by just saying that I am so thankful and blessed to be your papa. I can’t wait to enjoy this next year of adventures with you my sweet CHEEKU!

I hope I can always help guide you in the right direction. I hope I allow you enough freedom to make your own decisions. In the meantime, I have loved every single second of watching you learn and explore and grow. You are turning from a baby to a child far too quickly, I hate it.

Here is something about your mother, your mother has some psycho problem. Every time she used to make some non-sense issues for nothing and create problems. She always wants to show me inferior in front of her parents and society.

She never speaks mannerly enough to me. She always talked rudely. When ever I tried to make her understand the things she get angry and make issues. That is really her ego! She always used to talk useless things to her mother over the phone. Every time when I tried to call her, her mobile found busy answering "the person you are calling is busy to talk to another person". For long time she did not picked up my calls.

She always used false statement to show me inferior. Over the phone call to her mother she always produce a feeling of alarm.

Whenever we go to market, she swipes several things from the shop, which is very shameful to her. I always tried to make her understand and asks to return the stolen goods to the shop. Even I complaint this to her mother, but she (her mother) also used the same thing. I have some recorded voice of her mother, which you can find here. They always tried to separate you from me. How can a mother tell her married daughter, "Just do time pass with your husband".

I would love to keep you exactly how you are at this moment forever, but I know I can’t. What I can do is cherish every single second of right now. Savor your high pitched giggles and tickle your quickly disappearing baby thighs.

I have no doubts that you will conquer every obstacle in your future. You are wonderful. You are amazing. You are worthy. You are gorgeous. You are you.

I love you. Happy birthday. We celebrate your beautiful little soul today, and every day. Keep shining your light.

Love you my Apricot! :) Cheeku :)