I was reminded of a japanese story where a farm girl was given a small plant to take care of - except that instead of plant, it was a planet! Suspended in the air a little above the pot, it was a planet with its own satellites and she had to diligently water it - if one day she would forget, it would dry up and fall down and she had to work hard, nurse it back. And gradually she started seeing plants grow on them. And then one day she finally saw tiny worms crawling on it. The planet was coming to life...was having its own ecosystem..Gradually the planet became too big for the village and there was no room for it - she had to finally go to the edge of the world on a spaceship and send it to the sky. But every night she could see it on the vibrant sky and know that the planet is hers.
Maybe motherhood is like that, gradually tending a small planet, seeing it come to life, letting it grow, and finally letting it find a spot in the sky..the mother like the young farm girl, looks at it from a distance worries, wonders and basks at the light it emits...
Maybe when I will be growing your planet I will also put all the nice things I see on earth on it...I will first put lots of imagination, throw in some nice books 100 years of solitude or house of mr biswas, or even the panchtantra version of mahabharat, put some philosopher and design notes and I will put in lots of sci-fi...but yesterday I saw a video of a seal playing with a human, and i thought no invention of man can be more beautiful that the smile of that seal...so I will surely put in lots of compassion for animals and nature in there..your planet will be filled with all the animals - squirrels, butterflies, dogs, tigers and wolves.
Your elder sister juno, will put some cuddles in there, cuddles and morning runs and pointless broad smiles. She will put in purity and true love there...she is writing a book - art of chilling - hope you get to read it :). Your dad in general is a very nice guy so he would pour in some niceness. Also he is always jumping and running away either with the dog or on his own and your planet people will learn to hop and play and run from him. I am saying that now, but I am sure he will also pour in lots of mathematics in your soil. And geo-politics..ok whatever...I hope you get to learn hardwork from your grandparents..they worked very hard, travelled very far so that I or you could get one extra smile. I hope you get to play with your uncles and aunts.
We will discover lots of new things together and we will keep pouring it on your planet. And when your planet is big, vibrant, happy and bouncy, we will send it up there and I will see it from earth, my face glowing in its reflected light and smiling - maybe I will be able to hear some music from it too. You planet will be a happy place, I know.
However, it is possible that some nights, I will sit with a telescope and I might also find some dark corners in there. But I hope you will have tamed them, tamed the unknowns. Like we people of earth did...or like you would do when while growing up, trying to walk you would fall and would find it impossible to get up, the idea of running a marathon 20 years later might seem impossible when you would have fallen but then a day later you would be up there again wobbly, trying to walk again...I hope your planet will be able to see its nights with the same perspective I would see from far away, and would wait for the mornings to give you new hopes. I hope you learn from your dad what sincerity and diligence is and from your mom how to derive joy in struggle and trying new things- every struggle will make you find new you and new things, so many new things that someday I might have to take a space ship to come and meet you.
I hope you find the joy of loving smaller animals in your planet and I hope your planet glows and glows and gives everyone lots of love and warmth. I know you will till your soil well.
