Letters To Koko

  Hi Koko, Last night we were having a strange conversation. I was scrolling through old photographs of vacations and you suddenly said, “I have been to these places, but I don’t remember.” I can see that dejected and languishing look on your face.  And I thought to myself, your excuse is that you were too young, what is my excuse for having these memories lost? So I will try to think back and write to you some memories which are unique to us when we visited these places. I am not going to go all Lonely Planet on you and explain which flight we took and what famous sights we saw, but I will be talking more about what made our trip to these places special. We made distinct and once-in-a-life-time experiences here. Maybe, some day, when things are better and we can freely move about again, we will go to distant lands again – to make new memories. Till then, let me regale you about the old ones.  Let me start with one particular experience in the last awesome trip that we t...

Hi Koko, You turn four today! Four years, that’s a milestone – for you (and for me). I cannot believe I have spent such a long time at this new job called parenthood. I can’t say I am perfect at it, I don’t think I will ever be. But I think I am doing a pretty good job at it; so yes, even if I guilt myself into leaving you at daycare each day, or every time I scold you for extra screen time, today I shall give a small pat on my back. Anyway, today is about you and not me. So let’s talk about you, and maybe I’ll share a couple of parent-worthy gems of advice on the way. This year is going to be a milestone, in many ways. You are going to big school, you’ll be travelling on the bus on your own, you keep disappearing for hours as you are at some friend’s place. You are already a well-travelled young boy, you have been to places that were a dream for me when I was a kid. You have been to Disney Land, you have seen the Eiffel tower, you have been to the Colosseum, you know ho...