Day: May 16, 2023

EVERGREEN MEMORIES- from the Random Reflections series by Jaya Sudhakar and Siddhanth Palaparti

Every mother or for that matter, every father remembers moments from her/his child’s growing years which remain close to the heart – forever evoking tender memories . Here,I would like to recount a couple of those…

Siddhanth was roughly around a year or so then – plus or minus a month or two. It was Sri Krishna Jayanthi, one of our most important festivals. I was working then and it wasn’t a declared holiday. So I had taken half a day’s casual leave and was home early, eager to start the preparations for the evening pooja.

One of the most significant parts of the pooja is the festive rangoli or kolam. We adorn the floor with small footprints of Lord Krishna using wet rice flour paste, right from the big rangoli outside the front door till the one inside the pooja room. The faithful believe that Bal Krishna or the child Krishna would grace our homes during the pooja hours and bless us.

Before starting with the footprint patterns, I sat Siddhanth down on the floor and put some toys in front of him. After that I got engrossed in my work. Within minutes, to my utter surprise, I saw Siddhanth getting up slowly and taking his first baby steps towards me. My joy knew no bounds to behold this milestone moment of his – I think it increased manifold owing to the auspicious timing.

I had always had this feeling that I might miss some of my toddler’s precious moments owing to my long working hours.Those were the days of only landlines.There were no smartphones where a caregiver could capture such moments or take a video and send it to a mom working in an office.

So naturally, I was grateful for witnessing it and this is one lovely memory that is forever etched in my mind.

There is one more incident which occurred when Siddhanth was around fifteen months old and which highlighted his early cognitive abilities. Back then, my husband had filled our room with huge, colourful cutouts of Disney characters which Siddhanth loved. One morning, I was in my office. At home, my father – in – law was showing Siddhanth a picture book of flowers. When they came to ‘daisy’ flower, Siddhanth took his grandfather’s hand and led him inside to point to the cutout of ‘Daisy Duck’. Clearly the name ‘Daisy’ had rung a bell in him!

I am sure my fellow parents will have many such sweet memories from their child’s early days – moments to celebrate, cherish and reminisce about.

Author Jaya Sudhakar

Jaya Sudhakar has done her Masters in Physics and was employed as an Asst.Manager in a PSU. Her son’s diagnosis urged her to seek voluntary retirement from service . She is actively involved with Forum for Autism, Nayi Disha and The Spectrum Autism. Friends,tending to plants, reading, writing, music, movies, travelling and a little bit of spirituality are her perennial energy boosters.

Typing of story in Word and Creative graphics done by CreativeSaathi Siddhanth Palaparti, Jaya’s son

Siddhanth is a budding graphic designer, coder and music lover. He has graduated in computer applications and completed several certificate courses. His work trajectory includes internships, freelancing and voluntary work for social causes. He derives immense happiness from remembering birthdays and wishing everyone for it. Swimming, travelling and playing music on the keyboard are his other passions.