And soon the day would arrive..

.. when naani would be packing her suitcases and flying back home. I feel awful.. and I want to cry... cry out loud! I still remember how carefully we had planned our move to Cleveland so that we would be comfortably settled down before she arrives from India. But momma proposes and God disposes; and we had moved to the new city just one week before and to the new flat just two days before she landed! Chini was just a few weeks away from her scheduled landing!

Nonetheless, a perfect timing! Naani gladly helped us in settling down in the new place - ever since she landed, she had been on her foot along with us to shop for our stuff - from groceries to cutlery, from furniture to car and from babies wardrobe to her daughter's (We had moved from LA, so sold most of our stuff, had to buy everything from scratch). After returning from our hectic trips (and in fact before going out,too), she would cook for the entire family, giving her daughter the much needed rest in the last stage of pregnancy. All this and never complaining for her tiredness (she has a very high sugar level and minor spondylitis which has reduced her strength considerably), but concerned for her daughter - who, according to her, shouldn't have gotten into this trouble of moving and settling down at this stage. And she repeatedly conveyed this, much to my annoyance. I could not understand her, then. Now, when I am a mother, I know how she felt.

And then, when we had barely managed to settle down and just started to buy baby's stuff, Chini decided to enter into this world- ten days earlier. Once again, naani took the reins and decided to take care of the home, sending the much needed home food for the Mom and cooking separately for herself and Dad. This she continued for long after we returned from our extended stay in the hospital. She gave me the much needed rest and massage, thus, strengthening me physically and mentally.

With her around, I do not have to care for a thing. She takes care of the kitchen - which always remains spotlessly clean. She takes care of the dishes and goes around the house dusting every piece of furniture every day and assists me with the laundry.

She is the one who gave Chini her first bath. She is the one who massaged her for the first time. She is the one who would console Chini, during her crying fits, cradling her in her arms until she goes off to sleep. She is the one who would change and wash her nappies all the time. She is the one who introduced grapes to her, which Chini took to instantly and loves even now. She is the first one to whom Chini talked to for the very first time! She is the first one to be delighted over Chini's cycling legs and boxing arms! How I wish Chini could remember all that naani did for her! By the time we would visit India, which should be sometime these winters, Chini would have forgotten her naani and naani's touch!

Whatever is bound to happen will happen, how much ever you dread it or try to prolong it. I dread the emptiness in the house once she leaves. I have never stayed with her for so long ever since I had left home for my education. Soon after I had finished my college, I had to join the job which was in a different city and later, got married in another city. It's been almost ten years and I would have hardly spent a few days with her per year. Also, it's almost five years now that I have been working and I hardly took any time off from my work. This is the first time, in years, that I have spent so many cherished days with her. And I dread to see her go back. In fact, a part of me, doesn't want her to go. But to go, she has. She did her part. She did all that she could as a mother. And I enjoyed every moment of it- moments lived both as a mother and as a child; moments spent taking care and taken care of; moments spent nurturing and being nurtured!