Sarthak Childhood

My Dear Sarthak!!!

Well I have been lucky to experience absolute bliss and innocence for last 3 years. Thought of penning down some thoughts so that I will refer to this later.

While Sarthak enters his lower KG classes todaay, lets take a moment to go through some of glimpses of the journey so far

There was something special his Ajoba spotted in him from the day he saw him. He has the natural gift of the spreading joy and being joyful all the time. It was observed right from first day. 30-Jun-2012 an auspicious day of Ashadhi Ekadashi and our wedding anniversary was chosen to bring him home.

In the sixth month he had a stomach infection and was told to get off feeding and was not advised to take milk. The way he cooperated for those 2 days was amazing. Even now I struggle to have Soy milk. The first tensed moments were when he fell down from the sofa while his competitor Rajani Attya had come to visit him from Mysore. We were not sure how to react as we had never seen him crying that long till then,

In the 9th month he came to Canada. How could I forget the smile he gave after looking at me sitting in the stroller completely tired after a 24 hour journey. Adapting to any situation, location and circumstances seems to be his natural strength. He got adapted to Canadian weather easily. We started to realize that he is extremely fond of people. He could build his own relationships and connect with people individually at that age. He could entertain people of different age groups.Time went on nicely as we were lucky to get good neighbors who still belong to his fan club. Prashant (pashaa) Seema (Aaau), Dhana (Daddu) Shiva, Ruby (Dubby) and Gulshan (Chacha) were his favorite. Seema masi started speaking him and he started responding regularly learning first word ball (baa)

Sarthak turned one year old and then the first real mark where I could felt something really special came on.Time had come to get him off feeding and Deepa kept telling him about it for a week. One fine day feeding was stopped and he never complained cried. Well it showed he could grasp what Deepa taught him at that age and he showed how determined he was. Next he was told not to enter bathroom as he could lock the door accidentally and get alone inside. He never entered the bathroom after that unless told specifically.



Realizing that he responds very well, Deepa started getting ambitious and teaching him colors, alphabets, numbers and more and more stuff. I started teaching him cricket, running and introduced him to Indian classical music. I started enjoying the "waahhhhh" he use to say after finishing a classical song more than the song. Deepa got a printout of the world map and flags of countries. By the age of 18 months, Sarthak showed 23 countries without making any mistake. The learning continued for next 3 months and by now Sarthak was showing 110 counties on a world map and identifying the flags of these 110 countries.People around got to know about this story and one of Yash's friend visited Sarthak. He thought of making fun of Sarthak and asked him where is Namibia/Somalia on the map and Sarthak showed them with ease leaving the person in total awe.

We were lucky to meet Scientist Jayant Naralikar and Mangala Naralikar in Waterloo. Sarthak showed all the flags and got a chance to take ashirwad from such imminent personalities. Mangala kaku made a cake for Sarthak on his second birthday and got home.

Once Deepa was taking him in pram to Walmart, a lady met Sarthak and Sarthak gave a very cute smile. She told Deepa that she has lost her job today but Sarthak's smile has made her day.

Sarthak never broke any stuff or threw any things around. He was always reasonable and never stubborn. He was a cheerful naughty kid though. While eating cherries he had put one of the seeds in his nose which got stuck. We had to rush him to a walk-in clinic. The doctor could not take out the seed after trying a lot and we had to rush to Grand River Hospital emergency. It took 3 hours total by the time the seed came out of his nose. I still fear to bring home cherries or eat cherry after this incident. Thank God everything was fine.

Overall he was fabulous, very obedient and a pure bundle of joy at this age. After his second birthday Sarthak had to go to India for few months. He was very attached to his cousins Mukta and Nivedita there spending majority of the time with them. His and his Ajoba were a famous pair in the society now playing cricket, swing, slide etc in the gardens around our campus. He joined the smart kids nursery school. He got to meet his first school friend Arpit here. Sarthak started participating actively in all the school activities and came first in the running competition in the school and won his first "gold" medal here :).

Sarthak turned 2.5 years old and was now told that he is going to be an elder brother "Dada". During second delivery Deepa had to be admitted in the hospital for 5 days and Sarthak happily stayed with his cousins during this period. He was lucky to get exposure to both the worlds (India and Canada). He got to stay in a joint family kind of environment during this period with Govind Ajoba and Deepa's Attya at home and cousins around.

Then came the lil one Rucha Deshpande. It was again amazing the way Sarthak accepted her. We had heard about the elder sibling getting more possessive on parents or getting a feeling of not getting neglected. Deepa had mentored him wonderfully and Sarthak started sharing some responsibilities and taking care of his younger sister. The maturity he use to show at this age was incredible. He use to get off Deepa's lap as soon as he could hear Rucha crying and use to ask Deepa to look after Rucha first.

Then the journey back to Canada started and Sarthak was close to 3 now and Rucha was 4 months old. Sarthak was trained to hold the stroller and walked on the airports. He knew that he was not going to get picked up by Deepa although he was sleepy at times as Deepa had to carry luggage and Rucha. After reaching Canada his 3rd birthday was a big celebration.

I boast about my rational thought process in front of Deepa especially many a times but I know I get irrational when it comes to Sarthak and a very few other people. I don't want to put undue pressure on Sarthak and predict how he will turn out to be but the journey so far has been outstanding. Thanks for making the last few years truly fulfilling (aka Sarthak)


---Yashodhan (Waterloo) 16-Aug-2016