I am a grandma now and so the dilemma now is how should Lakshmi be spelt. Is it with an ‘a’or an ‘e’? Anyway her Aunt is upset and thinks it should be an e as that is the malayalee way of saying it and a is the Tamil or North Indian version. Kavitha is threatening to spell it as ‘Luxmi’, if anyone interferes, So I’m staying out of it.
Next question is, who does the baby look like? As if it matters. Again, Anitha thinks she looks like her aunt and dad. Louise’s sister thinks she looks like her son when he was born. Anitha also thinks she is the reincarnation of her mum, because the due date was on her birthday and the baby was born on her nakshathram.
More confusion came from from my urology surgeon, who said the child is going to grow up confused whether she is Welsh, English, Indian or Malaysian. I don’t know where the Malaysian part of it came from.
Mine and Louise’s worry is what the baby is going to call us. Should it be granny, grandma, nanny or nana for Louise and ammoomma or ammamma or all of the above for me. Some of the people I’ve known for ages were quite surprised when I said that I’m a grandma now. They think I’m too young to be a grandma. One even asked me if I had Kavitha when I was two years old. I really really like him. How old do they think I am?? Somebody else said that I was a yummy granny, I can live with that.
So I think she can call me Chits ( or rather granny Chits) as that’s what her mother does when she feels affectionate and wants something.
Anyway the only thing I know for certain that is not confusing is how loved the little baba is going to be. Starting from her doting dad, the grumpy Kavitha who has turned all gooey since the birth, all her grandparents, great grandparents, aunts, uncles, great aunts, uncles and all who know her, I think she will be a thoroughly spoilt, loved, cherished and cared for little one.
