...And did I mention my caesareans?

Arpita Khan

 

 

Today, I will talk about my kids. They’re my joy, my lifelines, my pride and basically, two of the reasons I am. But did I tell you that one came soon after the other, so to speak, since they are 11 months apart?
So my son, he’s going to be 10 soon. He is thin and already reaches up to my ear. O! I had to undergo an emergency caesarean to have him. 14 stitches and 2 bottles of a stranger’s blood (God bless him!) Anyway, so my son is quite witty. He loves being challenged. That stems from the 10-odd hours he had to struggle inside my womb when the umbilical cord was choking him, I think.
My daughter, she also cost me 14 stitches but no blood transfusion this time. She is very creative; she loves to paint, is an excellent mime and keeps me in splits though I got stitched up very well both the times, thank you very much.
Now does it jar, the way I am talking about my kids? That I keep flashing back to how I got them? That their being what they are isn’t as important as it is how I had them, even after so many years? What would bother readers is how my kids don’t seem to mean to me as much as what I went through for them does. How come, then, nobody finds it weird when people talk about a girl’s wedding and keep mentioning how she was adopted? What is the connection, even if the girl in question is Salman Khan’s sister Arpita?
On social media, every other person has taken it upon himself to advocate Salman’s heart of gold (a la-aap toh purush hi nahin hain, aap toh maha purush hain!) But if he is such a good person, who I am sure he must be, would he have picked up this orphan off the streets just so he could earn brownie points from the masses? I don’t think I have ever come across Salman talking about this grandiose gesture of his anywhere. So who are we to talk about it?
Come to think of it, we don’t even talk about our pets like that. “You know my dog won this competition. Did I tell you how I got him?” And we are talking about a human being like that. This young woman is a family member for them. She means something to each one of them. So we should just look at the wedding photos doing the rounds now, and feel good vicariously. And why should every action of a public figure reflect on his qualities as a human being? So Salman buys her a 3BHK apartment or a Rolls Royce (or is it a Range Rover). Big deal!! My brother also got me whatever he could, for my wedding. So why are we talking about Salman’s gifts and the fact that Arpita was adopted in the same breath?
  Seriously! The world is inhabited by people who are more faaltu than I could ever be.