Veer's First Word

Veer was about eight months old and yet to utter any meaningful word. He was sleeping in the hall when I was getting ready for office. I kept looking at him in regular intervals. Both his mother and I were waiting eagerly for Veer to talk to us. "What would be his first word?", whenever my wife asked, I would reply, "They say, the child's first word is 'ma'." Anyway, I always thought I would not be able to experience it when he utters his first word as I might be in office. I got ready and was about to open the door, when I heard "Papa". Almost into tears, I looked back at Veer. In that span of second, I went through one thousand emotions. Veer repeated, "Papa" when my eyes fell on him. However, he was not looking at me but at his mother in the kitchen. I smiled and left for office.

I think, Veer got confused whom to address first. He couldn't decide how to get rid of this dilemma. However, eventually, he managed to satisfy the ego of both his parents. When my wife looked at him, I cleverly said, "See, Veer is addressing you as papa."