Dear Roshni,
On this last day before your wedding, I look upon the life, the joy & the pleasure that is your life. As the youngest amongst us cousins, you are special to us. As the innocent one, you are special. As the funny one, you are special. Your childhood exploits and gags were always the highlight of our evenings.
I remember how talkative you were – from a very young age. My then joke was that you started talking and saying ancient hymns at the tender age of 3 days old. An exaggeration no doubt but you could recite some play at the age of 3 or 4. The songs that you liked as a kid and sung to us are always gonna be special for us.Your comical dialogues, you wanting to change your name to Susan, you saying about “no daddys or mummies here”, you writing a sorry letter to your dad for your naughtiness (claiming that it is not something that you can control )your announcement about a certain E.T., etc etc etc too many funny things to state here, are all memory points for me and the rest.
But memories are what defines us. Like a great lyricist & drummer stated in a song from 1987
“I’m not looking back
But I want to look around me now
Time stands still
See more of the people
And the places that surround me now
Time stands still
Freeze this moment
A little bit longer
Make each sensation
A little bit stronger
Summer’s going fast
Nights growing colder
Children growing up
Old friends growing older”
I saw that last night while your cousins, uncles and aunts celebrated your upcoming wedding. They danced and sang and we drank and ate but I wanted to go back in time and freeze you as a little girl who was so precious, precocious, intelligent, smart & hilarious who was the center of attention for all of us. But you have grown up and become a young, successful woman who is ready to start her own family life. Life just isn’t fair
All the best for the wedding and for a wonderful & happy life ahead. Your cousins – Kannan, Arun, Rakesh, Raakhee, Sherine, Shalini, Subin, Suraj, Manoj, Sandy, Navin, Priya, Balakrishnan, Jayakrishnan, Shekhar, Shankar & myself – will be proudly watching you and feeling nostalgic – a little sad but mostly happy for you!
Love
Roshan