Perfect Day!

As a mom, there are only a few days you can call perfect - the first day you see you baby smile, turn over, or start walking. For me, these were mostly moments - but to have the entire day to be perfect - it takes the right stars to be aligned in this perfect position and the right phase of the moon - basically its almost rare.

For me, it was April 29th, 2012. I had signed up for a 5k race that was organized for CU Alumni. That race has a special significance to me - I had raced the exact same race pregnant with my son. This year, they allowed parents to run with strollers and I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to take my li'l boy with me to this race. I wasn't sure how it would turn out - I asked a few friends to see if they would like to join me. Secretly though I was hoping nobody did cause this was a special event - for me it was taking this real boy to an event that I had done when he was inside of me. I tried not to hype it too much, I did not want anything to jinx it.

We arrived at 8:30 am at the race start, got our packet, pinned in the race number. Adhrit was upset he was not given a race number. In the packet was a can holder and it was yellow and had CU written on it - Adhrit grabbed that right away. So, he asked me "Mama, why are we here?". "We are doing a race Adhrit". He didn't quite follow it, cause we run a lot together but not with so many other people.

As the race director said "Ready, Set, Go" - he saw all the people running along with our stroller. He was just very excited to see everybody run along with us. He was just wondering what was going on. Since we just started, and had fresh set of lungs, I told him that we are all going to find the "Buff Bus" and we need to run fast to get to the "Buff Bus". Now, he loves riding the bus, and he has seen the "Buff Bus" several times but never actually ridden on it. So, he was really pumped up to find this Buff Bus, and actually ride it. For me, it was one way to keep him entertained through the race, and was hoping it was a good enough carrot to keep him guessing and not get bored.

He was singing, talking to people, and cheering me along. Every time, we go up the hill, I have trained him to say "Go Mama, Go. Go Go Go" - he kept saying that to me at the right moments. We were passing runners that were running without joggers and definitely getting a lot of attention. As the pack thinned, he surprised me completely. He was actually counting the number of runners ahead of us. That was a good carrot for me to run harder and catch runners ahead of me. In a way, he actually got me pumped. We had a blast, and finished just at 26 minutes which really is a PR for me, and that too with a 30+ pounder.

Once we got to the finish, he asked the right question: "Where is the Buff Bus Mama?". We asked around and found out that it ran a little later on Sundays. We packed up, and then went to the start of the Buff Bus. We did find it, and rode it. The happiness of his face was just too infectious. We were both very happy as we took a ride in the Buff Bus.

After the ride, he was in no mood to go home, so we decided to get a hair cut. I had some LivingSocial Deals that were going to expire, so I decided to drive to the mall, and get a hair cut. I was not sure what to expect as we were driving to the salon - this was his first hair cut outside. We went to the mall, found the salon, and once we got there, I knew it was the right place. He saw a motorcycle there, and he immediately wanted to sit on it - and that was his chair for the haircut.

I could sense his excitement, and when the lady came over to cut his hair, he hardly moved - the excitement of being on the motor cycle outweighed everything that was going on around him. What a smart salon! They had elephant seats, a seat that was a vintage car with real steering wheel, and rhino seat. Hell, I wanted to get a hair cut there.

After a hair cut, and two lollipops later, we got back home for some well-deserved lunch and nap!


Running is one activity that makes me happy, and can transform any day into a perfect day. But to share it with Adhrit - and have such a perfect race was just an icing on the cake.

Aba-chi Gunal

My parents have been the biggest influence in my life but along with them my grandparents have played a very significant role. On a day to day basis, I find myself thinking about how my parents would react or what they would say to situations that come up. My grand mother was a huge influence on both me and my sister growing up - I see myself emulating the things she would teach us - mainly as women to be independent both mentally and financially, and to be strong in tough situations. I could write an entire article on my grand mother, but not today. 

As I went for a long run, I thought about my grand father (we called him Aba - short for Azoba)  and not so much what I learned from him, but more about our time together. My earliest memories of Aba were from pictures from my childhood. I could see a lot of joy and extreme happiness on both our faces, but what I do remember is that Aba spoke to me and my sister in Marathi very early on.

Aba was a professor and he mainly taught languages at school. From what I remember he was fluent in Marathi, French, Portuguese, and knew Latin. He particularly was fond of Marathi and attended many morchas as a Marathi supporter. I still remember there used to always be a heated discussion at home when we had to fill out forms that asked for our mother tongue. He insisted it was Marathi and not Konkani. 

He took immense pleasure teaching us language classes. He was very happy when we scored well in those subjects. He taught me French and was always eager to see how I did after my exams were done. He would literally answer the entire set of questions once I got back home. He would come to our house changing multiple buses just to see how I did on my French paper. 

I do remember the one incident where he came over home and I had finished my French exam, but he did not want to go over the answers with me. He complained of pain in his shoulder and his back - he ended up having multiple heart attacks that evening. He did survive those attacks, and went on to live a lot longer. He always had a very good and healthy vegetarian diet, but after the heart attacks, he further amended his diet to take away oily foods.

Aba has been the most composed person I have known in my life. He always seemed to have the patience required to deal with any given situation. I still remember him narrating to me one incident in his career as a Professor where he lost his temper. He told me that he regretted it - I do not remember the exact details of the incident but it was definitely a case where the student had misbehaved. 

My sister and I spent summer vacations with Aba and Aji. As any grand parents, they pampered us a lot. Aba used to tell us stories that had some moral where as Aji would tell us stories from the Mahabharatha and Ramayana. Aba encouraged us to read books, and he had a huge library of books that spanned multiple languages. When we were around, the house was in constant disarray. Aba did not like if we moved his pens, and pencils. He wanted his desk neat and clean with a table cloth over it. He was very organized, and liked a sense of order in his life. 

Every year on our birthday, he would send money to "Matruchhaya" trust - an adoption home for orphan kids. He would also take our old clothes, books, pens, pencils and donate it to the kids at the trust. He would send them a money order. When I look back, that is such a noble thing to do - and it teaches you a sense of sharing, and making a difference to a stranger's life. He did that every single year. 

Aba would write letters to me - especially when I started living outside of Goa. I still have couple of letters that he wrote to me. He would write about his health, and how he keeps himself busy and always asked about my health and studies. They were concise but I remember it was always nice to read them. They were also written in Marathi. I have tried to keep up with my Marathi by talking to a few friends who are from Pune, but I feel bad that the fluency in writing and reading is degrading every single day. 

Aba and Aji had a very interesting marriage. They were definitely a "Yin and Yang" couple - more like Yin and Yaaaaaannnng couple.  Aba was the silent, patient, mild-mannered Yin and Aji was the loud, strong-willed Yaaaaaannnng. As kids, we always saw them argue with one another, but I knew that deep inside they did love each other. I remember the one incident when Aji passed away, and Aba started using her walking stick. He told me that he missed her a lot and felt a lot closer to her when he used her walking stick.

From among his grand children, I could sense that he had a soft-corner towards me. He called me "Gunal". I remember I had gifted him a cashmere shawl from Germany. He was an early morning person, and he would wake up around 5 am, and would engage himself doing chores - cleaning the leaves, organizing his desk, or reading some books. But he would wear the shawl every morning. 

It is indeed an honor for me to write about my beloved Aba. As I finished my run, I did Surya Namaskar sequence three times facing the Sun in his honor.  Long live Aba!