𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘩, 2017
𝘗𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘬𝘢

Twilight melted away, majestic sunrise, red-orange glow trickling over the horizon as if the light itself was being poured from a molten sun. Powerful rays flood over the city beautiful, shimmering its sumptuous excellence in the sunshine, lighting every blade of grass, shining from each leaf. I breathed comfortably in the tranquil and chirpy air of Chandigarh, standing in my gallery. I could see the beautiful, lushed-green Shivalik sierras of the Himalayas.

Morning tea was already brewed and savoured by us, breakfast would be now on the platter to be served and my plan for the date with Yuvraj Hippo was shrewdly destroyed as I needed to go for shopping with Simran Pabhi and Mr Lawyer too had some meetings lined up on his amaranthine list.

Dad and Veer Ji had already departed for police station; grandpa, grandma and mum had left yesterday for Amritsar as they wanted to visit the Harmandir Sahib.

Only I, Harnoor and Simran Pabhi was in the house now which we too would be relinquishing very soon as we needed to leave for the Elante mall from where we'd be purchasing the quintessential goods for our house as there was an off-season sale on everything, plus on the grocery items too, Simran Pabhi's words not mine. I was just for giving the needed company, I groaned dejectedly. I too had fancied going for the date but I think this was not intended to be.

All my playfulness', smiles' and bubbliness' bubbles were smashed by the abandonment of the plan, I had even selected an elegant apparel for the occasion, I had even applied the Himalaya face mask along with the cutting of my long nails as I had heard, lawyers generally are neat-freaks, now all this was for what? Cancel, Cancel, Cancel? I breathed out lamentably.

Looking at my waxed hands, I retrieved the preceding dusk where I was screeching shrilly like a crotchety kid when the ruthless and heartless beautician was applying molten wax on my thinly nurtured and deficiently-proliferated areas of body hair on my limbs as I had selected a one-piece dress for today's event but for what? Cancel, Cancel, Cancel?

I had never waxed my body before, either some hair-removing creams or had just left them like that as the growth was not even noticeable; but just because of my self-consciousness having an antagonistic effect on me, I did that and the whole night I was sobbing; first because of the peppering pain on my beautiful yet delicate limbs and second, because all this was for nothing, the idea of our first date was aborted.

Grieving like a two-year-old whose lollipop had been dropped on the ground, I heard my Harnoor's shrilly crying sound. She usually cried when she would wake up and would find no one around her or when she would pee. Did she pee or was she awake, I couldn't distinguish and sprint towards Simran Pabhi's room as our doll was snoring there only when I had last checked.

Noor wasn't a diaper loving baby. So even in her first pee, she used to feel uncomfortable and then she would cry. I confirmed when I got inside the room and saw how screechingly she was bawling her eyes out with her body system's water entirely befallen on the bed. How adorable, I mused laughingly and took her in my arms. Like a perfect aunt-cum-second-mother to her, I changed her baby pants and patted her back to soothe her down. Children are truly the crankiest after waking up in the morning, with that thought, I got up from the bed with Noor in my arms and trudged towards the terrace.

Harnoor loved to watch birds and aircraft manoeuvring in the vast blue sky. She would scream every time in absolute joviality and euphoria in her baby voice whenever an airliner would make a show above her head in the firmament. The depth of the sky's blue was as our love, that only over the years to we notice the strength of the hue. She was not even a year old yet she became the most invaluable part of my life with whom my every sun glistened and with whom my every night shadowed.

"..P.." she grasped my face in her baby hands and called my name showing me her eight teeth, four on her upper jaw and four on lower making her look more lovable with that charming smile doing salsa on her lips, I tittered back at her. All my worries, regrets, gloominess was washed away with just handful heartbeats spent with my Jaan, my Noor.

"So, here the two musketeers are, Preet get ready baby, we are going to go for shopping and please make sure Harnoor is bathed, she hates when I make her bathe, you're a pro, so, do the honours and be ready in half an hour, I am making the breakfast," didn't I tell you roughly four days back that Simran Pabhi was striving to make Guinness books of World record in delivering lengthy sentences in a single breath. She articulated and left us, making Harnoor and me chortle at her imperceptibly comic appearance as her bun was opened haphazardly and dust flour was present on her cheek.

She was very infamous for creating havoc inside the kitchen whenever she touched wheat flour. They never got along, I laughed and after playing silly babyish games with Noor, I made her bath inside her pink baby tub and made her ready in a polka-dotted yellow cotton dress. After exactly an hour late of Pabhi's estimated time for departure, we left for the mall with Noor sitting on my lap and Pabhi driving our motor.

"Ranveer Bhai motor chale pam, pam, pam," I was crooning in my croaking voice and our doll was busy laughing and clapping her hands at her aunt's singing impressions. The seatbelt was securely fastened around my torso and I shouted more powerfully, "Ranveer Bhai motor chale pam, pam, pam," making Simran Pabhi chuckle too the way I was using her hubby's name in this entertaining and euphoric song.

"Pamm, pamm, pamm," doll too harmonised with me in her broken babyish voice, clapping her hands more feverishly as even she knew that today was one of her favourite days, yes, the Ghumi, Ghumi days which she always used to anticipate for. I and Pabhi could only cachinnate at her cherubic frolics, she was learning new words every day.

Our Noor had brought the umpteenth abundance of optimism, love and contentment in our occupied lives. Our distressed days used not to be gloomy anymore, her one smile was able to gladden up our every grouchy spirit. But one thing she always wanted was abundant love, pampering and attention from all of us. In fact, every baby is born to seek love, to be in that beautiful protective web of emotions that give, nurture and guard one another. They invite us to be the best versions of ourselves, to rewind, to cast away the bitterness that poisons and instead make the loving web their intuition searches for. Their hearts are a compass, the needle spinning until it finds real love, their true north and ours.

With her thoughts in my mind and another song already breaking the glass windows of our motor, we subsequently reached the place from where we would buy our necessities.

After a lot of scuffling from one store to another with at most succinct five times circumventing from the mall-to-motor and motor-to-mall, we were now in the baby store for purchasing clothes for our doll as her outfits had turned small, she was budding day-by-day. Before we could've asked for the sky blue frock that had caught our eyes, Noor started crying loudly.

Red Alert!

Noor had wee-weed, I glanced at Simran Pabhi and we partook the same look. At least five frocks were already decided, we couldn't leave the shop just like that. "Pabhi, I will change her nappy, you continue," I promptly cradled Noor in my arms after picking her up from the ground where she was formerly sitting and rushed towards the female washroom with a big purse hanging on my left side as Noor was cryingly situated on my right.

"Ssshh baby, shhh," I tried to hush her down but it appeared as if she didn't want to have uncomplicated, noiseless hospitality inside the crowded corridor of Elante as people started giving us those looks which clearly depicted; We-are-more-irritated-and-fretted-because-of-your-crotchety-baby. I hastened with self-consciousness conferring a white flag on the Mount Everest and lastly, I reached the destination. Phew!

Changing the diaper at an eagle's speed, I gasped and wiped off the microscopic droplets of transudation on my forehead. A winning and heartwarming feeling swelled within me and I couldn't stop myself from kissing those pudgy cheeks of Noor, her mood too was gladdened just like her bladder, I joked and renounced the washroom after a bunch of women was done doing"Awwlelele" with my baby.

I was traversing towards the store where Simran Pabhi was busy buying clothes for Noor when out of the blue Noor pulled my earring, trying to play with that damn 'Glittery' thing. I squawked in utter torment and concussion. Labyrinths are the most sensitive part for a person who's carrying a baby like that of Noor who could pull it anytime and the cherry on the cake is dropped when the ears are adorned with some earrings too, I breathed out in excruciating pain but doll still didn't hinder doing that.

Kids always find earrings and hair the most winning and interesting thing to play with which is shunned despicably by the ladies as the pull bewails extravagantly.

"Ouch! Noor! No!" I almost bellowed, stopping abruptly in the tracks towards the store. But wayward Noor giggled more at that, dispensing me her eight-packed teeth.

"Noor! No Baby! Bua is getting hurt," I solicited again but Noor continued doing her frolics and antics with my antique hearing parts established since twenty-four years and still counting.

"Okay! I'll call the monster then," I have had enough with Noor being a rebellious lamb, I ultimately threatened her using my stringent tone. I slowly put my right palm on my optical sensors and after twenty seconds, I displaced my palm and opened my eyes which were proliferated as huge as saucers which I had made willfully to frighten Noor, and with a concise menacing voice with a perfect 'O' shaped mouth, I started boo-ing "BOO... BOOO", elongating "OO" that instantly resulted in Noor's scary physiognomy and she burrowed her face promptly inside my neck, I could feel her baby spittle falling on my neck, she surely was total terrified.

No one could adhere my boo, baby boo, I discerned laughingly and furthermore continued vocalising "BOO", so that Noor wouldn't do that again to me or any other person.

Harnoor Kaur Bajwa had always apprehended that "BOO" sound and my monster-like look. Whenever she used to be extra-cranky, I was always ready with my ultra-fancy expressions.

I was still "BOO-ING" and cruising towards the KIDS SECTION while watching the innocent Noor with a winning smile on my face that I didn't see the wall present in front of me and slammed into it, too hard.

But how come walls had hands?

Was it some new technology to safeguard cumbersome girls like me?

"You frighten kids too with your "BOO", my bubble gum?" the wall could speak too? And wait, why this voice appeared very familiar?

And, MY BUBBLE GUM? 

~**⁕**~