Today is the golden jubilee day of our celebration of your vibrant life. And what better way to celebrate it than by recounting the antics of those you loved the most: आपके तीन चिराग़ (your three sons).
Mumma, you were blessed with 3 of the most mischievous kids before they became adults. You had to manage their acts and discipline them through any and every means you had at your disposal (this once included using a Bata चप्पल (flip flop) for the more notorious ones like Manoj). I recall the stories you told us about dreading to go to visit Nani (grandma) in Agra or any other relatives with these 3 boys. They could get up to a lot of mischief and no one would know it was them. As they were almost the same age, they fought like crazy and would do bizarre things that no one could possibly think of. One classic incident was when papa got a nice mechanical airplane from abroad for Atul Bhaiya and as soon as you and the 3 brats reached Agra, even before the intended recipient of the gift could lay his hands on it, the boys opened it up and split it apart into pieces. You were so embarrassed in situations like this but always resolved the awkwardness by gracefully moving on and trying to find humor in it. Also, when you had to travel for the first time with Papa to Bangkok and Hong Kong, you decided to leave the boys behind with Madhu Bhabhi for about 15 days. Such was the challenge in managing these kids that after those 15 days Madhu Bhabhi ने तौबा की (swore to herself) that never again would she consider babysitting this mafia. They say “Everybody knows that if you’ve got a brother, you’re going to fight”. I guess this was very true for the three of them and they used to get into fights at the drop of a hat.
Surprisingly enough, the three of them sobered down so much over the years that it is unbelievable to see how formal and respectful they are towards each other now. You surely had some special skills to be able to survive the notoriety of these three over those early years and then were rewarded with this extreme changeover in the later years. Cheers to your 77 years with these three brats!