Which Baaba u  guess?? Baaba Ram Dev? Sri Sri Ravishankar? or Asha ram Bapu?????   No..No, my baaba is better than all of them. I call my papa’s eldest brother as my baaba!!! He is a retired Civil Engineer but I have been seeing him from my child hood in “dhoti” when not in office. I remember..he used to talk to his God very loudly in a language that is only understood by his god… “om bhu..bhurbaswa…taswa bituh baranyam..bhargo devosya dhi mahi..dhi..yoh..nah prachodayat.. etc”…..and I would run to him and push him forward and back ward…jump on him left n right. He would shout on my “Bou”,( I call bou to mu Bada-bou)…to take me away…..it was a daily routine in early morning. Finally my Baaba started to close the door and talk silently to his god. I heard….no one taught me to call him as baaba…but automatically I started addressing him as Baaba and he loves to be called by that style. I learnt that papa was staying at Mumbai alone and mama was staying with baaba n bou at Delta Irrigation Colony at Bhubaneswar and I was born there under his care. He loves me more that anyone else of our family. He only calls me ‘Gayatri’. I started growing up under his care……found a never ending bondage between my Baaba and me. When he sees papa shouting on me for one or other reason, he would immediately twist papa’s ear and give him a slap before every one’s presence. This is my baaba.  None of my exams completes without taking blessings from him and he would also never rest without taking feedback from me……….this continued from my standard one to final year of Engineering. Recently papa was arranging his old file and found one letter written in an INLAND LETTER on 4th April1991 mentioning the news of my birth to papa, when he was in Bombay. I was so happy to see the very original data of my birth. After papa went to his office, I rushed to Baba’s house to show that letter carrying the news of my birth. My Baaba was dumbfounded to see his own hand written letter, written  more than two decades back……I saw tears rolling down from his eyes!!!! .. I just could not follow anything….he came to his normalcy and said  ‘’ how many people on earth can preserve a brother’s letter for so many years…more than two decades!!...... only my brother can do it, your papa can do it in today’s world….i swear no one can”.  Honestly, I fail to understand as to whether he loves me  or he loves my papa??  I could not measure…..as to whether he loves me more than my papa or he loves him more than me??..........and two drops of tear fell down from my eyes unknowingly…. I preferred hiding my face behind the door screen.

When I narrated the incidence to my papa when he came back……. Two drops of tear also rolled down from his eyes!!!!

So much of love , so much of respect and so much connection exists among the extended family members even  in today’s world!!!  

Try , find and feel the pulse of it….all of u.

Best wishes to Sanjay Bhai, Dillip Bahi, Sanmay Bhai, Bitan Bhai, Lagnajit, Susant Bhai, Renu bhauja, Madhurita di, Mamta Di, Lovelin di, Reeta aunty..............and all brothers ....