Men..the opposite sex, always attracted her ! She kept on searching and seeking for completeness, always from the men. She always desired to be around men.

As far as she could remember, her oldest memories of men were present since she was just about 3-4 years...

..She sat below a big peepal tree near the Hanuman temple every evening, where she went along with her grandma.All old ladies gathered near the tree and sat there from late afternoon till early night chatting with each other until they were called for dinner. They gossiped, sang Bhajans and had loud laughter . But she didn't feel any fun there. She forcibly sang the "Ramraksha and Manache Shlok" when her turn came and quickly got up and moved away from the group as soon as her task of singing the verses was done.

Visible from the spot behind the trees trunk, she looked at the old Poojari wearing a white Dhoti, his back slightly humped. He wore no shirt and had a single thread around his shoulder. His whole appearance, the calmness and dedication to the stone statue, naturally attracted her attention. She kept on watching every single move and action he did and she wondered, 'Can he himself be the Rama, returning his favors to Hanuman by being the Poojari? ' The figure of Hanuman just behind the Poojari with swollen cheeks and glittering naughty eyes seemed to scold her for watching Poojari and thinking weird. While she felt Hanuman was very approachable God, she has a dire attraction to touch Rama's statue and so was the attraction to go near Poojari..she wanted to watch him from near to verify if he was Lord Rama or no, but her Grandma never went inside the temple.

She was most fascinated by Lord Ram, more than child friendly Krishna all her childhood. 

She took her eyes off the old Poojari, when she heard her father calling her name..  " Tai dee..." ( The name she loved, it was coined by her father meaning a big sister) soon she was going to be! 

Every evening her father returned from work, exactly the same time as that of the arathi in temple and every time he screamed and called her in the same pitch..."Tai dee". Seeing his sparkling smile and hearing his voice, she swiftly ran and jumped on him like a squirrel. He carried her home from there, signalling her grandma that he was going home with her. 

Being physically close to her father gave her an intense satisfaction

and immediate warmth and there was no other man as loving as her father to her. He was her hero. He worked as an accountant in the bus depot of the town and had a routine as firm as the sun. Even when he walked every evening through muddy road and spend his whole day in dust and diesel around him, he still seemed so fresh. She found his white trouser and white shirt as clean as it was in morning and she believed , he is divinely powers keep him so bright. 

While he carried her home in his laps, her father's curly hairs behind his ears attracted her so much, just the way Lord Rama had curls behind his ears in the picture that hanged in her house.  She instantly felt angry on herself for not having curly hairs like him.

They shared a very special bond. Her mother was away from them in her maternal house as they were expecting a new baby in home. She always fought and was an unmanageable notorious child as per her mother. She nagged her mother so much that there was no day that she didn't get beaten up. She had screamed and made a horrific scene when her mother was departing for baby delivery. She did not want to accompany her. The whole town labelled her the first small kid known for crying in order to stay 'away, from her mother. 

But, the reality was, she was dreaded to stay away from her father. She couldn't express and tell this to anybody and she simply screamed and screamed..not to take her away from him. 

Finally after few tantrums and some beatings, her mother left her behind, both in tears. She wondered why her mother went crying when she was the one to beat her.  But anyways, she was happy, she didn't need to part from her father.

Throughout her growing years, her craze and her desire to spend time with her father kept on intensifying..He meant the world for her. She had a big group of cousins staying in the same building as theirs was a big joint family with every hours hustle bustle around. But all her day was spent to wait for her father.

She played the whole day, with an indispensable energy in her and made a mental note of everything that she did so that she could tell all that to her father when he would return in evening. 

They chatted for hours and hours..she  kept on speaking at length for several minutes whereas the only words her father nodded in each interval was....."then...then..then......"

The sky glittered with stars and her father took her to terrace, put the mosquito net and hugged her and slept within minutes. She kept on talking to him even after that...until the darkness soaked all her energy and finally she started dozing off, hugging him tightly, curling around him fearing that while she would sleep, the black fellow behind clouds should not take him away from her. 

The mid night, chill air around and the warmth of hug of her father was the most blissful moment that she experienced. 

Weeks passed. She got a news that she got a baby brother. All uncles and aunties were cherishing the news and distributing sugar. 

" Pinky..get ready fast. You will go to see the baby. Your papa is coming to pick you early today." Her aunt gave her the bag which was slightly heavy for her to carry, calling her by her nickname. She hated that name..it sounded a foreign language and she felt like an alien. Because she was neither fair, nor pink. She loved only one voice calling her.."Tai de".. of her father. 

Ignoring her name, she was feeling excited, not for the news, but for the fact is she would travel with her father alone and nobody would be between them on the long journey. She can ask all what she wanted and she knew, nobody , especially her mother would be there to object her demands.

As expected, her father came and they immediately started to leave for her maternal grandma's home. Her demands started getting fulfilled the moment they crossed the lane. The sugar candies on first turn, the Parle G biscuit packet from the fourth shop on right turn, the comics and kids colouring books from the bus stall, the whistle and a gas balloon from the street vendor....

Her father was gathering more stuff than her aunt packed and her was balancing and carrying it all on shoulders, while she merrily hopped holding his finger, not bothering of his imbalance...

He loved seeing her bubbly and happy face, and she loved the fact the he loved her demands. The duo made the happiest team on the street and bliss was spilling wherever they went......