My niece- date of entry- April4,2007

Shail aunty’s blog on her niece inspired me to write this. Actually I was planning to write this since last month. As I have mentioned earlier, I have a very close cousin, (whom I thought was really my sister, till I was 6 or 7 yrs old).



And now on April 4, 2007, she gave birth to a baby girl. Actually she was way due the proposed delivery date. In fact she was admitted to hospital one week before and was shuttling in and out of labour room, because the baby didn’t want to come outside, even after a number of shots for inducing pain.

I used to call her twice a day, and finally she told me “Chechi, I just want this baby to come out, some how. This child is teasing me even before its birth”.

And you know what happened?

We Hindus have a custom of looking forward to the star(constellations) in which new-borns come into this world. Now my cousin had her first labour inducing shot on Sunday. The star was “atham” (aka Hasta). So, we all thought the baby’s star will be “atham”. But she didn’t deliver.
Another shot on Monday – she didn’t deliver, star on that day was again “atham”.
Another shot on Tuesday – she didn’t deliver, star was “chithra”

On Tuesday evening I told her, “You know, why this baby is not coming. It’s because it is waiting for my star - chothi, which falls on Wednesday. Baby will come tomorrow.”

Next day, “chithra” ended on 11:20 am. She gave birth to a baby girl (contradicting scan results of being a boy!) at 11:30 am, to be born on my star “chothi” aka swati.

Now, my cousin says, she knows why the delivery got delayed by one week. And she very well remembers how I created difficult times to my mom, when I was young (and even now!). She told me innocently “Chechi you are right. I think this daughter of mine will give me tough times, just like you did to Valiamma(my mom)”

He…he…he…. And I laugh my heart out! And who is laughing more - my own mom!!

Rumour is that she told my cousin that she can give her valuable tips on “How to raise a girl born on “chothi” and still be sane!”

This is Divyashree:

DOB: April 4, 2007

Star: swati (chothi)

Job: Making her mom loose her marbles, by refusing to stop crying 24*7.

Results: Our neighbours who even saw us (sis and me) grow up say, that they haven’t seen this kind of cry-baby as long as they could remember.