Dear Maitreyi,
I am going to safely assume you know me from my weird faces, dancing theatrics and whistles which seem to amuse you on our daily hangout sessions. I am also going to assume that you completely understand how important it is to support Arsenal because your father has certainly gone to the dark side of the football world crouching alongside malnourished Moyes, neanderthal Neville and kid-me-not Keane along with other tosh. Now clear your mind and listen to me.
The only reason you were born is because me and Amru chitti decided to move back to India. You see, your parents rarely got alone-time with us around and after a sound yet public thrashing that I received from your grandmother, we had no option but to run away from the country. She was so appalled at having us at your house all the time, that she dragged me to a godforsaken place called Thorpe park and tied me upside down on all the scariest rides. I could have used having you around to advice me on the best diapers in the market before this episode. Nevertheless, we ran away and it is no surprise that exactly 9 months to the first alone weekend your parents got, you came into this world a year ago, today.
On our first ever hangout with you that day, you looked at amru and yawned and then you looked at me and had quite a shock of your first few hours of life. You were so exquisite that god clearly didn’t quite prepare you for 7 blunders of the world and starting with me that would be, lets be frank, horrifying. I though am blessed for the fact that you have warmed up to me over the last year. You seem to have inherited your love for food from your obvious source. I have seen your mom finish off an upma faster than your father getting upset on hearing about an impending social visit. I have also seen your father finish off a packet of pani puri faster than the 30 second fifa online game pause. You seem to love your books. Pulling them
out of the book shelf and climbing on the new pile to pull off more from the top shelf is pure class I admit.
I am also proud of the the fact that ‘Gimme thunder’ was unnecessarily used way ahead for your time, I’m told. Kudos. One can only be a true master of zen when one can unsettle the other just by breathing out. Off one’s backside. Especially on unsuspecting day care teachers. Bravo.
You are an absolute treat and our each day is incomplete without you. I could go to war with your single baby tooth by my side. You are an unbelievable combination of sheer determination and pure intelligence, of ridiculous charisma and never ending warmth, of wittiest analogies and the wisest minds. You are everything success waits for. You are the purest definition of love.
Love you baby.
Happy birthday.
-Tanmay chittappa and Amru chitti
mrtanmay.com 