No Dolls from Daddy

My Father got me everything that I have ever wanted and 90% of the times it was without me asking for it. Like all dads, he got me all sorts of toys, and games. But last night I started thinking and I realized that he has never got me a doll. I have got dolls as gifts from my friends on my birthday, but I have again never really played with them. I have never slept with them, dressed them up or taken them anywhere with me. They used to sit in a corner in their pretty dresses, pink lips, blue eyes and golden crops of head, keeping themselves company. 

So, what did he get me?

 

Kaku and Bahadur

My first friends, a brown squishy teddy bear and a snowy white polar bear. I do not know how their names came to be. Bahadur was my pal from the beginning but for the longest time I used to be afraid of Kaku until he started helping me with potty training! He would sit on the small baby pot till I finally had the courage to approach both of them. 

 

Chhotu

A brown puppy who came on my 2^nd birthday. Chhotu would come with me everywhere. He soon had a collar stitched by my mother and my old belts would be used as his leash. His favourite food was freshly baked cookies aka my collection of tazos which he used to nibble of a frisbee plate. He was formally renamed Timmy once I was introduced to The Famous Five. One summer evening at Chittaranjan Park he was sitting obediently by the side of the street while I was playing with my friends when the street dog actually carried him away. The poor fellow couldn’t even bark out for help. But that must have eventually worked in his favour because the bigger dog soon returned him home, realizing that Tim preferred to be carried around everywhere rather than follow with his tail wagging!

Kaku, Chhotu and Bahadur

As time passed, I stopped being around for Kaku, Bahadur and Chhotu. In May 2020, when I was in Hyderabad, I got a call from my mother, “I cannot find Kaku, Bahadur and Chhotu. I have searched for them everywhere. I am so sorry. I am sure I have never given them away with your old clothes and toys, but I just cannot remember. I must have had a lapse of judgement.” Since then, we have all searched the house, suitcases, the storage places, cupboards but did not find them. Of course, I was sad but I do think my mother was sadder because she thought she had given them away to someone. 

 

February 2023, our house was getting painted and in the midst of all the chaos, an old duffel bag was taken down from the storage above the kitchen to clear the space. “Why did we keep this bag?” wondered D as she unzipped it and lo behold, the three of them came out looking as though time had simply forgotten about them and passed them by without changing them even a bit. They are back, not to be forgotten again!

 

Pontu

1998, Dad went to Switzerland. He literally got me a bag full of Lindt but more importantly, he got me Pontu, a chubby baby boy with a mop of dark black hair. Pontu became my baby brother. On his naming ceremony I named him Rahul, after Rahul Dravid of course, but we all preferred to call him by his daak naam, Pontu. He did not miss the Swiss Alps and was most at home in both Delhi and Mumbai. For years, his birthday was celebrated but my baby brother did not grow up and preferred to continue living with Chhotu and Anduril, a much bigger dog who came in later on my 11^th birthday, while I moved out.

Pontu with Anduril

Olly

A calico elephant from Sri Lanka was my companion in AIIMS, Delhi. Whether it was 3 am in the morning when I returned from night duties, midnight studies before exams or early morning mayhem to get ready on time, Olly was around to witness some of the most turbulent yet fun three years of my life.

 

Giru and Rudi

A German Giraffe and a Canadian Moose made the unlikeliest duo to stick with me in Hyderabad. They were either sprawled on one side of my double bed or, on days that I cleaned my room, made their way to my windowsill.

 

Ootoo

He came from Dubai. The one with the most cheerful disposition, he was also the one who almost got away. There was only one of the brown camels left in the stall, the others were all of different colours. The shopkeeper at the stall refused to bargain and bring down the price for the unassuming tourists. Dad, unwillingly, said no to him. But he brought all his office colleagues on the desert safari with him to the stall to get the headgear fitted by the young apprentice at the shop. At the end of the day when they were all leaving after the safari and dinner, and the stalls were being dismantled, this apprentice ran after my mother with Ootoo, “Madam, your husband is a very good man, he got me so many clients. Take this for your daughter at the price you wanted.” 

 

Paddy

Wearing a red bush hat and a pair of red Wellingtons, a blue duffle coat with wooden toggles and a hood with tweed lining, Paddington came from the shop outside Westminster Abbey in London. Like the original character created by Michael Bond, he too has a label around his neck, “Please Look After This Bear. Thank You.” Paddy did not come to me from the Queen, but my King got him, maybe to keep my mementoes, scrapbook entries of my adventure and postcards in Paddy’s leather suitcase.

Olly, Giru, Rudi, Ootoo and Paddy

I still remember the winter mornings in Delhi

How you used to wake me up and wrap me, all warm and cuddly

You still wake me up every day

And your smile tells me, it will be a good day.

 

I still remember how you used to carry me to the bus stop

And tell me stories about my adventures non-stop

You still pick me up without thinking twice

Even if it means a stiff back, heat pads and pack of ice.

 

I still remember the Christmas presents under my pillow

A diary, a book, a Rubik cube, a marshmallow

And you still like to play my Santa yearly

Even though I guess you are up to something a little early.

 

I still remember you kicking the ball into the goal

Leading the team to victory, medals and drum roll

You still come back early to catch a Man-U match today

And sulk like a kid when we beg you not to play.

 

I still remember you dressing me up for a fancy dress party

Mera Naam Joker, Munna Doodhwala, a Wizard or even Vajpayee

You still skip away to Colaba Causeway in the Sun

‘Cause I want to be Sherlock just for fun.

 

I still remember you flying to meet me in a jiffy

No matter what, a sari wearing event or feeling a little nippy

One phone call was all it took

For you to be there, to take care and even cook.

 

You are still my one and only stress buster

You are ready with a message for courage to muster

You are my partner from ‘Taken’ to ‘Malamal Weekly’

From ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘Speed’ to ‘Hera Pheri’.

 

Okay, so there may be a small bald patch on that dome

But you still stay up till I come back home

Now I must borrow a line, “When I’m feeling blue,

All I have to do, is take a look at you’.

 

So as another Father’s Day you complete

I raise my bat for you, let the drums beat

Announcing the winner of the Coolest Dad in Town

I present thee with the Crown!

 

No Daddy, I am never going to complain that you never got me dolls because you brought me the World!

MS