Little mail from a little fella, Samu

Ever since I got engaged to this RK fella, I have been introduced to more cousins, aunts, uncles and all those in-law kinda people who come free with marriage. Not that I make efforts to remember their names or how they are related to RK or how I am supposed to address them or how they are related to my couzin’s wife’s sister’s uncle or any such connections. Actually, I truly believe that every amchi is related to every other amchi with the blessing of some cosmically present invisible uncle or aunt.

I myself was born into a family brimming with overflowing uncles and aunts and cousins. My maternal family and paternal family often threatened me with their battalion of relatives whom my brain refused to register-recognize-recall. Other than my immediate relatives, my knowledge of extended family was limited to ‘everyone is either an aunty or an uncle’. And then my cousins got married and added a little more family into already jam-packed relatives. Now we had every other person as my couz’s-husband’s-uncles’-son-in-laws’- sister’s-nephew kind of relations. So, now with my dear RK’s family added, I am at a total risk of family drama and in-law topping.

But this heart of mine is total fida with one little fella from RK’s family, his elder brother’s son-Samu. I am not sure if I am to call him would-be-nephew or nephew-in-law or whatever, I will stick Samubaba. This little fellow is just a little over 4 years and already an absolute darling. Full of energy and questions and talk, this fella is a bundle packed with fun.

For me, it was love at the first sight! The sleepy head was just up from his nap and recovering from his jet lag after the travel from US. Curious and reluctant to socialize with me at first, I kinda bribed him with chocolates and story books. Now, which kid can resist chocolate? And we hit on great, maybe a little better than his uncle too.

These days, every Saturday nights I am seen waiting on yahoo, hoping for him to come online. Then we talk, me chats with bold-caps-easy questions; he with his newly learnt phonetics spellings. Between us, we manage to strike a decent conversation about Thomas the train, Disney and animals. We also do a little of photo sharing and I must tell you, this fella has amazing grasp for spellings for a kid of his age.

This week he sent me a mail, his first mail to me. And I was thrilled beyond words! I got a mail from my nephew! Maybe, it’s his first mail and he writes it to me! Not to his uncles or grandparents, but to me! And it’s the first time a four year old has ever written to me all by himself! Great! I have something to save and show him when he grows up.

It’s a small mail with hardly 4 lines, lot of spelling mistakes, and nothing much to tell.
See:

HI DARMOO PACHI (pachi-aunt)
CUM HER (come here)
I HAD FUN ON HALOVEEN (halloween)
I SO SKARE TINGS (saw scary things?)

But, who cares?

I guess marriage has its own addition of people into our lives and some definitely become dearer to us than our own relations. This mail touched my heart in a different way that neither the family dinner nor the engagement ritual had. It made me feel a part of my new family, a sense of being accepted. It made me feel welcome and it made feel loved. Some day, when he grows up, I will tell Samu what his mail meant to me. I am sure we will have more mails to share, but this one will always be cherished.

But right now, I am a proud pachi showing off this mail to everyone, a mail written to her by her four year old Samubaba.