Baby you’re a Firework !

You’ve just turned six about 10 days ago but we had your birthday party a fortnight ago – owing to lot many other birthdays in your class taking up the other weekends. As always, you were more excited about the party than the birthday itself. 

The party this year was a pottery painting workshop kinds and a relatively muted affair as compared to the last few years. It went well despite a tricky weather and all the girls (and one boy – Samyuktha’s brother) got to have little mementos of the pieces that each of you painted. You even had a plate with a little finger impression for each of the attendees and their names.

Your birthday itself, was a festive occasion as you got to lead prayers in school and even got a certificate for some comprehension work. you did at school. As always, we had friends over in the evening and that made it even more special. You had opened most fo your gifts by this time and were buzzing with excitement.

It was Father’s day a few days later and I got some gifts from you. Its nice to see the handiwork of that busy-brain of yours apparent in the thought process applied in selecting these gifts. Some little tools, some toiletries – based on the choices you had at your disposal but still applying your good self in seeking what I would like.

And then you lost your first tooth yesterday – 21st of June 2019. It’s a day you had been waiting for long. I’m not sure what made it so exciting for you – the peer pressure since almost everyone you know have gone through it, the growing up associated with it or the thrill of having that interaction with the tooth fairy.

So, the tooth fairy did visit you last night, bearing a little cash gift and a letter of thanks and motivation. You’ve since been going around your daily chores at home, carrying these artefacts around with you, beaming with a toothless smile – although the toothless bit is not really noticeable at this point !

You are pursuing and excelling in at least two art forms- drawing and singing and that’s the expert opinion of a heavily biased parent. I’ve recorded a few of your favourite songs into a little video. Hope it survives for you to see it after all the time.

You also did a little drawing (a poster as you call it) that had quite a few impressive details that took me by surprise. The street lights with glowing effects and colours, the little frilly tutu dress and the ballerina’s hair bun, the fumes from the little plane – all aspects demonstrating enough potential for a proud parent willing to imagine great things for a little budding artist!

On the way to school, we discussed what you thought the girl was upto and you were more than ready with the answers. Apparently, she is a 15 years old ballerina on her way for a performance, has got her confidence by focussing in her ballet class, has her makeup stuff, some ribbons (for ballet) in that little red bag. Further in the discussion you realised ( I may have gently nudged you to think) she might need a phone and some money as well and of course, she would need some of those iconic white wire earphones (apple) to listen to her music while she’s on the bus. The music aficionado in me quietly rejoiced on having inculcated you to the club as well as addition to detail in your imagination. Not that I needed any proof on either by now but such is the nature of parental pride.

Dear daughter,

Two of your all time favourite songs are Fireworks by Katy Perry and Gulaabo from the Hindi movie Shaandaar. While you struggle with the lyrics of Gulaabo, you are pretty good with Fireworks but nonetheless I don’t believe its simple enough for you to comprehend the meaning at this age. A few days ago, having done a few renditions of each of these on our way to the ballet class, I realised myself how the two songs had the same theme at their heart – Of realising your inner potential, call it your spark or light, and bringing it out in beautiful colours to let the world see what you truly are.
While Fireworks plays exactly to that point, Gulaabo is a peppy dance number at the surface but with the benefit of some context from the movie and video, coupled with the lyrics, one could get to the same message, albeit nuanced with traditional poetic language and innuendos. And at one point both songs use almost the same words to induce the best out of you.

Firework goes -
Baby, you're a firework
Come on, let your colors burst
Make 'em go, "ah, ah, ah"
You're gonna leave them all in awe, awe, awe
Boom, boom, boom
Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon

Whereas Gulaabo is much more efficient on such words –
Oye patakha, kar dhamaka
Bekhabar yoon ghoom-ghoom rahi

Call me old fashioned and biased, but I prefer the nuanced approach of Gulaabo. On one hand it is already the pick-me-up song for both of us with its tempo and works instantly to shrug off the blues. On the other hand, one can read a lot more into the lyrics if one wants to.

Dear daughter, I’m sure you will have many more songs, words and images in your life to motivate you. I hope and wish you always find the motivation you need, not just to show your fireworks to the world but also to brighten up your inner self.