Letters To Koko

Dear Koko,  There is a question which was asked very often when I was a child. It was one of those questions adults would throw your way and expect you to give a very intelligent answer. “What will you be when you grow up?” I want to be a doctor or I want to be an engineer were obvious prime picks back then. I believe they still are. It shows your ambition or industriousness. I found it difficult to answer always. How is a 10-year old supposed to know which way life would take her? I am not very sure I still know the answer of what I want to become, or what is my true calling. I see so many people in my immediate vicinity who are still struggling with this question. They are every successful mind you, in the eyes of the world. Earning fat sums of money, owning houses and cars and everything the heart fancies. Some of these people are still little boys and girls trying to figure out their lives.  So, no pressure. Do what you want. This is the reason why I never ask you this que...

  Hey Koko, Since you are six years old now and in Class 1, I have started treating you like a big boy. I don’t need to do everything for you, so I encourage you to independently complete your work. Finish your food, dress yourself, comb your hair, keep you room arranged. The initiative is well, in the initiative stage still. Have not seen a great amount of success very honestly. Routinely I see unfinished food on the table and you sitting somewhere far away, daydreaming, or playing or some such. The room is a mess, the hairstyle is suspect, and don’t get me started on the t-shirt worn wrong. Now your father has an insatiable appetite to put up with such whims, I do not. After being patient for a while, I feel, the boy will go hungry, let me feed him. He will learn to finish food another day. If things go this way, his hair will never be properly combed, so I brush your hair again. You wear your pants such that the drawstrings are at the back and you pretend to be monkey. No mo...

  Hi Koko, The last letter about your birthday was a little heavy, huh? Let's talk about bright new and shiny things then. Gifts! Bright beautiful, wrapped in the most exquisite paper, with ribbons and that smell of excitement and surprise bundled into it. I legit loved birthday parties when I was a kid just to wait till the time I would unwrap my presents. The swoosh of fresh paper being cut - not with scissors, but with bare hands is something else. The entire feeling of what it could be, the anticipation, the wait and then the final moment of unravelling it from the box. Nothing compares to that heady feeling. To me the best ones are still the surprise ones. Don’t ask me what I want I say, I could buy what I want myself, if you want to give me something, surprise me! So one of the (many) gifts you received this year was Game of Life. Now when I was a child, I remember playing Game of Life with cousins. That beautiful Hasbro game with a Spin a Wheel mechanic right on the bo...

  Dearest Koko,  There was a time when birthdays meant one day when you could do almost anything. Do what you want, go where you feel like, jump on the couch, sing out loud – literally anything that you want. There had to be a grand birthday cake, and streamers and balloons, some friends have to come over, some party games would be fun More than the birthday itself, just planning it would be so much fun. You and I would contemplate a million themes, then buy the party favors, get the decorations in place. Last year when you turned 5, I was really looking forward to that milestone birthday. Like I have said before, your birthday is not just a special day for you, but also for me. It is after all a sign that I have been at this job for these many years and not being completely hopeless at it. Also, right after your birthday, my birthday comes. Generally, I always take a leave on my birthday, watch a movie go out shopping. Last year I hadn’t – what’s the point? There’s nowhere to...