Daddy Cool

It was during the bus travel from Yavatmal to Darwha with lil Hriday, that it came to my mind. I reached my town by 1:45, and hired a hand rikshaw. Hriday is a freak - he likes Hand rikshaw ride more than bike or car. And he is moody when it comes to choosing an option between his car or a state transport bus for a distant travel.

So, both of us went on a noisy riot once in home. Everyone except for Bai (granny) n Anjali were taking the lazy afternoon nap, but we spared none. Goldie was confused to the core. She is too young to understand why she was woken up, and why her Papa n Hriday are laughing and making noises. She was crying and Mom trying to pacify her. That's when Bai declared - Aj to Hriday se bhi chhota ho gaya hai. I am not wrong in saying that, I am growing younger with each birthday.

Post lunch, after checking on few routine things like the backyard tin shades and counting custard apples, along with checking if there are any signs of life in the soil where I planted green chilly seeds. There was no sign :-(

I had convinced Amu for hiking the mountain behind the railway track, near Chintamani temple. Mummy n Bai were opposing to take Papa for this hike. Mummy finally gave up saying that - you take him out, but dont let him hike. But I was not sure, if dad would agree and join us. So, I convinced Amu to convince Papa. But Papa said yes, upon asking for the first time itself. I was all excited.

The weather was too good. Cloudy but not dull, with spells of sun rays in between. The country side was lush green, and it rained the previous few days. We were a gang of four for the hike - Papa, Hriday, Amu n myself. So we finally reached the spot on the road, from where we would start the hike. Hriday was excited to see the 'train ki patri'. Upon crossing that, we reached the point where there were a lot of white stones (the ones which we played with as young kids, striking them against each other in dark, to see the sparks). Dad was the first kid to start collecting those, and giving ideas as to what can be done with them. When the hike became a bit more vertical, we kept all those stones at a point. Hriday was as if looking for this opportunity and asked me to lift in arms, as it was his first time. I was all prepared for this, as Hriday is just 5 year old. But his fear and probable tiredness was short lived, coz he asked me to ground him; and he happily hiked to the top without any fuss.

After spending some 15-20 min on the top, taking snaps in dad's mobile camera, it was time to get back. Collecting those white stones, we got into the car, then to the Chintamani temple. And as usual, I asked for the steering wheel while returning. Don't know how long it will take for me to master the four wheeler drive; but myself and Hriday have a story to tell our buddies about what we did last weekend.