BEING A FATHER...

She was just a month old when I first met her and she didn’t even have a name yet. So I called her Zara and that’s because I wanted to name her Zara,but her mother overruled me and named her Ayat .She is my niece just born to my younger brother. Zara is just now 4 months old but I have plans for the rest of her life; about how I want to spoil her rotten, how she will be the princess in Disney land and I will buy her every outfit that she will ever wear 

for the rest of her life, what she will be doing on her 18^th Birthday. Details are still being planned out but I do have a broad plan in mind. Her favorite football club will be Manchester United ,She will love cooking ,she will travel the world and almost everything else too . So Ayat is going to be one spoilt child and nothing will be off the table for her.

And then there is Arsh, my younger brother’s son. He is 5 years old and he calls me “Bade Papa”. Arsh is a name I gave him and that is what he was called. He is also the apple of my eye. He’s already a Manchester United fan and loves football and cricket, both of which are indulged by me. He took his first unaccompanied trip out of Bangalore at the age of 5 and that was to spend a week with me here and if it wasn’t for him, I don’t think I would have gone to see the Avengers first day first show to the theatres or even gone to see Madagascar 3 at all. He is my “call-when-feeling-low” friend and has this knack of making me feel better with his innocence. He has the ability to make life’s problems seem small when compared to his problem. I mean how can any problem be bigger than him not being to play on his PS3 as he still has to finish his homework?!

My cousin sister has two daughters, Tavishi and Arohi. Tavishi is 9 and Arohi is 6 and both think I am a rock star! They live in Delhi and for them Samar Mama is a rock star who works in the film industry and comes to Delhi once in a while with tales of the film world and autographs of Hrithik Roshan or Ranbir Kapoor or whoever is the flavor of the month. For me they will drop everything and anything and come stay with me . Spend a day with Samar Mama because I am their Santa Claus and they my two princesses. Tavishi has a boyfriend who is her latest obsession and only Mom and Samar Mama know about him. So for any advice on men, I am the man to turn to.

Ameya is 18 years old, my younger Mamas daughter and the youngest of my cousins. For my 40^th birthday she made a website dedicated to me and got my friends and family to record messages for me on that. She is someone who has grown up in front of my eyes; from her first crush to her latest heartbreak. I have seen her through all that.

She was devastated when I got divorced and didn’t understand it. Hated me for a long time until one day understood what had happened and forgave me. I am her best friend who she can confide her problems in whenever she needs a perspective about life without the fear of being judged. She knows I’m here.

Ayaaz is 30 and married but as my youngest brother, I have seen him though school and college, bought him his first cigarette, had a drink with him and got drunk with him, swore in front of him and got him married off. He is today after so many years someone I can confide in and allow him to buy me gifts. Almost like you allow your son to buy you gifts one day when he finally grows up.

Alishka is Anita’s daughter who is my Rakhi sister. Alishka is 28 years old today and I know her since she was 11; another kid who has grown up in front of me. Her greatest fear is me embarrassing her in public with my antics, which I must admit, I do quite regularly. She hides her boyfriends from me as I feel no one is good enough for her and also make them go through the third degree. She is an adult now but for me, she is still the 11 year old who needs to be protected from the world.

It’s been almost 11 years since I got divorced and the questions always asked have been; why don’t you get married again? Why don’t you want to have kids? Don’t you feel the urge to be a father? I don’t have one single reason for that, I just gave you 7 J