What's in a name?

It was another one of those beautiful morning conversations....

R: "Why did you name me Raghav?", was the question today, as he sat with a lost look in his eyes, inside his most favourite place in the world - the tub! :)

Me: "I don't know....it just felt right....that was the name I wanted for you if you were a boy."

R: "But why did you choose that name? Why didn't you choose something else?"

Me: "I just felt that it was perfect for you, even before you were born...I just knew it inside."
"And then, after you were born, appa's parents i.e. your patti and thatha wanted to follow the custom of naming their grandson or grand-daughter after the grandfather or grandmother and wanted a naming ceremony. I was thinking about it and realised that Raghav was perfect because it had a part of both your thathas' names! It all worked out so beautifully."

R: Why do they have a naming ceremony?

Me: I don't know. I will have to find out. No one was able to answer when I asked them then.

R: I think choosing a name should be done like voting. Whichever name gets the maximum votes should be chosen.

Me: But I don't think I would have been happy if by voting, another name had come up for you. I really liked the name 'Raghav' and wanted that for you. I would perhaps be the one calling your name the most, and if it was not something that I was happy with, I would have been sad all the time. So I don't think voting is a good idea.

R: Yeah....I also don't think I would have liked any other name. I actually like my name. I think it is perfect for me!

Me: Why? Why do you feel that it is perfect for you?

R: Because I feel I am like that.....the way I act....80% of the time I am happy....only 20% of the time I am sad....so I feel that it is perfect for me. It makes me happy. I like my name. It is also not very common no?

:)

A little later, when I was in the balcony sorting out the compost, he came up to me quietly from the back to say this:

"I think you are the perfect amma for me.....even if you don't act like me or like the things I do."

What a beautiful gift to receive to start the day! :)

What's in a name anyway? 
Everything is perfect as it is....just as it should be.

~

P.S. - After he was born and his grandparents were figuring out his birth star (nakshatram) according to the Tamil calendar, I came to know that he shared the same birth star as Rama, and was born at around noon just like Rama....and the name that I had chosen for him was another name for Rama! 
(I didn't believe in astrology then nor mythology and related with them as figments of imagination and as just another story) 
But speak of coincidences and synchronicity! :)

The Road to Kailash Kher, Kailasa and Kailash Parbat!

We just got back after an incredible show by Kailash Kher ( a Hindi pop-singer) in Chennai! Raghav and we had been counting the days to this one and now it is over :( Had such an awesome time after all the adventure before the show :)

R decided to make a gift for his hero - Kailash Kher at the last minute...amidst all the errands I had to do this morning, he wanted to record a song as a karaoke and put it on a CD to give to KK (in case we got a chance to meet him!)...then we remembered some Lego creations he had done, of Kailash Kher earlier, and a drawing, which he wanted to be made into a slideshow; all to be put together into the CD....and all this was being done at 5pm when the show was at 7:30 and we were more than an hour's drive away!!

They (S & R) thought we were going to miss a good part of the programme, but I trusted my thoughts on this and kept thinking positively about reaching on time, hearing some favourite songs of ours sung by him, and perhaps even getting down to meeting him! Trust me, mind control works and how!

The drive was like a huge soap opera with climax et al....the traffic peaking just before the place, many red signals just when we needed green :)....but we reached on time.....it was a nail-biting finish! Whew!

Then, he sang so many many of Raghav's and our favourite songs which we were totally immersed in - heart and soul! Raghav thoroughly enjoyed himself, singing loudly with his hero from his seat! My day was made too when he sang a song by Kabir - 'Naiharwa' and another favourite one - 'Tu Jaane Na'! By then I was almost in tears!

Kailash Kher told us a bit about his life during the show and guess what? He hated school and studies, but loved music....did not like schedules and the discipline that goes with learning music from a guru, and so taught himself music! :) I am somehow beginning to feel that souls that somehow vibe together, know these things about each other at a very deep level....Perhaps that is why R likes Kailash Kher so much! :)

At the end of the show, while S hesitated to go back stage, I goaded him into it for R's sake. There was absolutely no security and we went up on stage to see Naresh and Paresh (lead guitarists) leaving. We were lucky to meet KK's manager though who was very sweet and listened to us patiently. We handed over R's gift to him and asked if he could give it to Kailash Kher somehow. He promised us that he would.

We then had a quick, yummy chaat dinner at "Kailash Parbat" and sang his songs all the way back home - fulfilled and happy....now on twelfth heaven! :)

Does this story make you trust synchronicity and your heart just a little more? I hope it does! Because for me it was yet another lesson on trusting the Universe and following one's heart.

Feeling very blessed and grateful! ....The visuals on a DVD I had watched long ago, of a little bird that leaves its young in the freezer (Antarctica) to fly thousands of miles just to get a beak full of food for its young one, is etched in my memory forever...nothing that I do as a mother now, seems as much as what that little bird does for its little one....but that little bird gives me enough inspiration to keep trying.

Here is the video of R singing one of his favourite Kailash Kher songs - "Ujaale Baant Lo" (karaoke style) that we made for him as a gift by putting it on a CD...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9nj_K3RCcM

Here is a slideshow of some of his Lego creations depicting Kailash Kher on stage and a drawing he made of his dream - to sing with KK on stage some day - about two years ago!

Kailash kher from prisri30