A’s school annual day was the next day as P’s. Last Sunday she dressed up in her ghagra and went to the auditorium all excited. The theme for her annual day was Indian folk dances. She was in a dance called Kumaoni folk from the northern state of Uttarakhand.

From the second she came on stage till the time the lights went out she was on a roll. First time on stage for her and she totally enjoyed every bit of it. She has a group of 4 girls in school. One couldn’t attend the show that day but the other 2 were there. After a point these 3 just seemed like they were have a party of their own up there. They were only looking at each other and dancing and kept giggling all through. It was so adorable to watch them!

A in the center in the floral lehenga looking at her friend and giggling.

I still remember the first time I saw P perform on stage. I was literally in tears. I had to dry my eyes after it was over. It wasn’t such an emotional moment with A (I feel guilty about it but honestly I dint feel like crying at all when I saw her). Proud…. yes. But not so emotional as to cry. I guess that’s what happens with the second born but she will just have to deal with it.

I pulled out P’s first performance pic. She was a butterfly.

….and the latest. They danced on Ghanan Ghanan from the movie Lagaan.

I have always been a performer myself. Been N number of times on stage. Dance being my forte. Classical, folk, Bollywood, western. Done it all. But there was nothing like watching my girls on stage. Its a different kind of high. You get transported in this different universe where its only you and your child on stage. The rest of the world becomes a blur for those few minutes. You can only hear the music roaring and your child dancing away. I don’t see ANYONE else in that dance but my girl. I usually carry my dslr to take pics ( the pics the schools give are pretty shitty). I look out for kids I know in the show and take their pics too. But when its my daughter’s performance…. my lens only sees her. I always have to apologise to parents of other kids in her dance that I cudnt take their child’s pic. Coz either I’m clicking her or I’m busy watching. (Most of the times I don’t even recognise some of them 😬)

It makes you proud to see your child being appreciated by people. Every time someone compliments them I feel my head go up slightly more. For their eyes (they both have grey eyes, which for the record are like my great grandmom) or for their performance. No one else in papa’s or my family have such eyes. In fact my great grandmom’s sister’s (they both had the same eyes) grandson lives here in my city. And its not even funny how similar his daughter and P look. Once at her birthday party somebody asked her parents why they changed their daughter’s clothes after seeing P! So message is loud and clear that she is totally on my side of the family. (Some people find that hard to believe )

Long story short….. seeing your child do well definitely makes a proud parent. Seeing all the effort they put in and trying their best is satisfaction on another level. I always try and teach my girls that whether you do well or not… its your effort which counts. As long as you gave it your best shot…. I will always be proud of you!