Aloha Bumi Matha

I was born on the 15th of July at 11.37 p.m. Amma had exactly 24 hours of labour, but gosh, I was more exhausted after all the work I did.


When I came squealing out, the doctor who delivered me, Dr Fong, showed me to Amma. The nurses took me away to clean me and then Amma nursed me. I don’t have much recollection of what happened after that because I think I must have fallen asleep. Appa said he held me in his arms and whispered “Om Nama Shivaya” in my ears three times. Then I was bathed and wrapped and I spent my first night outside the comfort of Amma’s womb sleeping by her side in a glass cot.

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Next morning, I was still sleeping, but then I was rudely awakened by a nurse who jabbed me with a sharp object. I cried, but fell asleep again because I guess when you’re tiny, sleep prevails even pain =). Amma and I were discharged after the pediatrician checked me. I remember her comments, “He’s fast asleep.”
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I came home to my Ammama’s house in a red suit that Appa bought for me. The suit will only fit me perfectly only when I was about 5 weeks old, so when Amma put it on me when I was hardly a day’s old, I was floating in it. I slept in the car, naturally, on the way to Ammama’s house. Appa’s car is a big, big, black car.

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Amma said I slept a lot the first two days. In fact I was sleeping through all my feeds and I was very grumpy when I was awakened to feed. I was bathed once a day, and then they smoked me over sambrani. I knew I smelled good because everyone kept sniffing my hair.

Oh, did I mention that I was born with a head full of hair! The first hair was curly, according to Amma. People who came to see me would ask Appa if I was delivered through vacuum because I had a longish head. Appa bought me a baby rocker to shape my head again, and I loved sleeping in the rocker.

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Over the next 60 days, Amma and Appa came to learn that I had inherited Amma’s short-temperedness and Appa’s impatience. Amma said that I would drink noisily after wailing long and hard whenever I was hungry. Hey, what’s a baby to? I need milk when I need milk!

Life in Ammama’s house was bliss. Whenever I was sleepy, Ammama would rock me and so would Tata. Ammama was always singing incomprehensible songs to me, but Tata’s one song was a lot of “dodododo” in the Jingle Bells tune! Then there was my Nithi Mama and my Loshini Chinnama who adore me.

Bless me because Ammama said I was the Prince. And I was the new Appu……..

muahahahaha Mama........your Appu days are OVER!