The Grown up Deeksha

Deeksha has grown up now and she is in her high school !!!! Time runs so fast..... :)

I still remember. It was June 15th, 1997.
When Deeksha was born, she weighed 2 kilos and 500 grams. She was born one month earlier than tha scheduled date. A couple of days later, she caught up with Jaundice (this is the case with quite a few newborn children nowadays). The doctor spoke to us and told that the intensity of Jaundice was bit high. In that context, we were asked to put Deeksha in the incubator with artificial yellow light. We used make Deeksha sleep one hour with her facing the light (did she get that instinct of facing the arclight on stage with this ?? :) ) and one hour in the ulta position where the light used to fall on her back. By this way, they wanted to activate the liver functioning. At this point of time, doctor told us that the jaundice level was at 8 (not sure what was the measuring unit). She said that if it reaches 12, then the blood transfusion has to be done. For this, everyday, they used to take her blood for testing. That got us into a bit of worry and confusion. Somehow, she was able to come out of Jaundice. At this point of time, doctor said that she was worried about the parity of lungs since Deeksha was born one month early. But, the lungs were normal.

Back home, we started seeing Deeksha slowly responding to the sounds, voices. We got a cradle done specially for her from Chennapattana, the place known for colorful wooden toys. We got a walker again made from Chennapattana for her. This was one of those colorful traditional triangular wooden walker with 3 wheels (that walker has already crossed 7 children !!! :))

Deeksha slowly started crawling around, trying to converse with us. We were finding it extremely difficult to understand what she was trying to say... :) One fine day, she started walking with support and we were quite happy about it.

Above all, she had a ear for music !!! We used to put music in the night before she went for sleep... surprisingly, even today, she has the habit of putting on the music and sleep !!

She was 6 years and she started developing the sense of rhythm. We observed that and decided to put her to learn dance. I wanted her to learn a different format of dance and hence put her under Vyjayanthi Kashi for Kuchipudi. Most children learn Bharatanatyam. But I wanted Kuchipudi as that was more story oriented and Abhinaya oriented. This had the combination of theatre, music and dance. Deeksha liked the form instantly. It was very nice to see her going through the learning sessions. She must have been around 3 feet and we got her a small uniform stitched for the dance class. It was very interesting to see her dancing to the rhythm.
In the school also, she started participating in the extra curriculums. Every dance event, every music event, till date, she is part of that in her school since her LKG days. From the time she was dancing with colorful umbrellas when she was in her 1st or 2nd standard, to now, where she performs her solos, it's been a wonderful journey for her. Academically also, she has been on A and A+ which I am not really bothered. What I believe is that the children have to grow in the external world and not in the world of bookish education.

She wants to do her fine arts or journalism when she completes her 10th standard. I want her to see the practical world more than the imaginary world which we all provide to our children. She do not want to become an engineer or a doctor as she do not like science and mathematics.

I still have kept the option open for her. I am not forcing her to do what I like (But, for sure, I have spoken to her about how studying fine arts or journalism would enrich her life and exepriences). She want to continue her dancing and she wants to be in the field of arts. There remains the target as of now... :) :)