Last Navaratri, Sahana had just graduated from moving around the house by holding onto the furniture to walking on her own by pushing the stools around.

This year, there she is, running all around the house dressed beautifully in a pattu pavadai with flowers adorning her two kudumis & the sounds of her golusu echoing everywhere. She loves getting dressed and going out and she has preferences about every single thing right from which dress to which slippers to even which Pampers (monkey, tweety, Bow bow,… – for the uninitiated, each diaper has a different character printed on it) she wants to wear! And it is she who decides which mode of transport we take! She has preferences on not just what she wants to wear, but even on what others wear. The latest condition is that her father has to wear a white shirt every time we go out!

P.S.: My husband is here in Madras on a vacation. So we go out often and my daughter simply refuses to come back home once we step out of the house!