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02:21 PM
Bikram Vohra
JournalismPakistan.com
May 17, 2013
In every family there is one person who keeps things under control, never flaps, is the voice of reason, calm and with his wits about him. Strong, is the word that springs to mind.
I am that sort of person, much like that guy in the poem by Rudyard Kipling, the sort who keeps his head while everyone else around is kind of losing theirs. You need to be like that, someone has to be. I can hold my emotions. It is a mature thing, not all of us are blessed by that virtue.
Like last evening we all arrived at the hospital because my daughter was delivering and my wife Ambika was a complete mess, all stressed and motherly and fussing about the place and I was clasping her hand and soothing her, the in-laws Nirmal and Jyoti were stretched and drawn like rubber bands, newly-weds Nandini and Vishal pacing up and down the tiles like they were doing rounds of the park, with fixed smiles but you could feel the tension ripple like a rogue wave in the nursery waiting room as they tried to maintain a semblance of normality.
There I was, the rock, first being the cheerful, relaxed one telling my pregnant Priyanka not to get stressed this was Nature at work, it was all natural and I could understand why she said, dad, can you please shut up because most womenfolk do get a bit het up 10 minutes before they deliver. It is these contractions and I am so glad I was able to do my bit making funny remarks to divert her attention, it's an art.
And my son in law was biting his lip and I was putting my arm around him and getting coffee for everyone, being the balm and reassuring them that things would go fine, relax people, and sit down, don’t be so nervous and don’t catch every nurse that comes by and ask her how things are going, in good time, here have some more coffee.
I think they all secretly admired my poise and my grace under pressure and even the hospital staff was impressed by how I held the family in check from badgering them. Not that they said that but I know.
And then at five minutes past four this morning, a little baby boy became a brother to Naya. So what if I laughed a little, cried a little, it was love at first sight and even we iron men occasionally have to soften that hard mettle core…yeah, right.
(The writer is a Senior Editorial Advisor of Khaleej Times and the paper’s former Editor. He has also been the Editor of Gulf News, Gulf Today, Emirates Today and Bahrain Tribune)
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