My friend Baby Jesus' birthday is coming up...

The New Christian

Nathan finally joined the Lord's army of love on 28th September, 2008. Friends and family from all over the country trooped to Mumbai to attend the ceremony and spend some
time in a sort of reunion around him...

Apparently, the Christening also attracted the attention of some Heavenly scribes.

As usual, my sources have managed to get a grab of this cover... wish we could see the rest of the writeup, but in God's way, all will be revealed... as His loved ones continue through this journey called LIFE.

Eating Out (not really)

Only just past his 2nd Month Birthday, and lil Nathan is becoming quite a man about town! After a tour of Newmarket (He slept thru Chaos??!) a few days back, it was time for eating out at a fancy Chinese restaurant. The occasion: Geoff's Birthday. So, off he went to Free School Street, in Mama's and Mamagran's arms; in a big yellow taxi... At Tong Fong, he was exceptionally well-mannered, he charmed the ladies and was as much the man of the hour as Uncle Geoff, who was also looking dashing and young... But Nathan managed all this asleep!! Imagine what he'd do with his eyes open! Anyway, all of us enjoyed the food... and Mama Sonali showed her skill with chopsticks!! ;) Nathan sweetly didn't complain that we didn't even get him a takeaway...

Nathan's First (Month) Bash!

On July 15, 2008, Mama Sonali, MamaGran Jeanette, Sonia and Bea gathered round to celebrate Little Nathan's First Month!! The bash was complete with a delicious cake from Cookie Jar (Which Nathan ceremoniously cut, by dropping his arm on to it, ) sadly the rest of us weren't invited - from the spy video here, it looks like fun!! Enjoy!!

The Tiny Traveller

He seemed quite unconcerned at the 1124 kms he had covered. Certainly, he looked as fresh as, well, a baby. Little Nathan is in Calcutta (Kolkata) and the world should know! Welcome to the city of Joy, home turf of Papa Nikhil, home to MamaGran and Papa Dan... enjoy your stay... Mama Sona, too :)!

Visitors on day one: Jacqui and Geoff, Farrell...

Get me to the Airport on time!

Mamagran Jeannette made it! But only just... After a mix up discovered a couple of hours before departure (with the name on her ID and in eticket) and the cheerful people at Indigo ("No, ma'am , you cannot fly, but WE can cancel your ticket, no problem at all! Should we? Should we? Can we... please...") a teleconference with Papa Nikhil, ("Cancel it. Just get to the airport and buy a ticket there,") and finally, the rain and the cabdriver who loved circles (wider the better,) which predictably wasn't too great for Mamagran's blood pressure. Anyway, we reached, and ladyluck's deputy smiled with a ticket to Nagpur available, 20 minutes to takeoff, and the helpful Indigo airport staff.

So, with the new ticket clutched in one panic-stricken hand and a pram for little Nathan as her luggage trolley, Mamagran strode - no, charged -through the gate security without so much as a nod - much less showing an edge of her ticket. The guards watched in astonishment - they were caught unawares at the late entry - and then simply threw their hands up in despair... they let her go. I hope she never becomes a terrorist in later life - if she pulls that act - be very afraid.

Baggage check in was uneventful... seeing a senior jumping up and down with such energetic vigour obviously shamed the usually lethargic Indigo girls to accompany all carrying and hauling, and they even deputed another staff member to lead see her through to boarding. Some minutes later came a call. Cool, relaxed and unworried, "I'm going to board... everything is fine." That's good - Mamagran needs her nerves for little Nathan.

Blue is for (Baby) Boys

Well, here it is - Nathan's blog in Nathan's favourite colour! Its only natural... blue is for boys, they say... so I just had to get down to uploading all the itsy-bitsy gifs and ugly code! But he's worth it, no? More improvements soon... and keep coming for daily updates of pictures by Papa Nikhil!!

The Godfather

June the 15th, a day which he would be made to remember, as he lay there, floating in equilibrium, enveloped by the covering that protected him from the elements. Crouched, asleep, unaware of what was happening around him, he gave into teleportation, from his never never land into reality, as he lay there in his most angelic dimension.

He slowly opened his eyes, fighting the resistance that light endured on his being. The warmth of the wavelengths on his eyelids slowly started to form vague lines that seemed to coalesce and then disseminate and then coalesce again to form the outline of abstractness; the aura of objects. Color began to illuminate the surface of the objects and then fade a bit only to finally refurbish a different hue.

He exhaled, releasing the sensations that crept through his nerves; the air unwinding its way into the open only to be sucked back in. And in doing so igniting a million sensory buds as they came alive, deciphering the crisp smell of the cold air; a pungent subtleness intermingled with it, finally exposing itself; a brush with ambience; the flavor of freshness.

And then he exhaled again as a faint sound reverberated through his chest cavity, waxing its way through his larynx, entering the hollow of his mouth for sometime only to find its way back down that tube to its source; waning, waning as it went down, dying out in silent staccato attempts and then the cavity lay barren.

His tongue traced its way through his lips as they broke free from each other, revealing the pinkish tip that licked their rims, quickly sneaking back in to examine the taste as it mixed with saliva.

His hand brushed the fabric that lay beneath his self and as he moved, his fingertips unconsciously traced the patterns that embedded the sheet. The smooth friction between touch and being touched, transferred a tingling sensation through his palms and wrists and his fingers twitched.

Slowly drowsiness and resistance gave in as the objects began to darken, the smell slowly fading, the sound unwinding, taste stagnating and touch losing its sensation. And like a newborn, unconsciously experiencing its first sensations, he slowly drifted back into never never land.

And then the phone rang, awaking him from his reverie and he heard a voice at the other end, "Water broke. Going to the hospital".

People all over the world...

Yes! Nathan went live today! Viewers from India, the Middle East, Singapore and US tuned in to the debut webcast, all the way from Nagpur... and did baby N deliver. We saw smiles and sighs, and finger wriggles... delightful! Distraction... but delightful... count the man hours lost in the offices...

Nathan Begins

Into the world came brave Nathan... and here we hope to follow his wonderful adventures, as papa Nik and mama Sona, lead and follow in the dance he is destined to take them...

All the while the faithful following of scribes (relatives and friends) will record and recount his glorious tales on these electronic pages!! They will sing paeans and post snaps, talk excitedly of his deeds and write them here! You won't miss a day; Nathan has begun... Now everyone can go on and on - about him!

Cheers... let the blogging begin!