So far, by God's grace

Monday, April 27, 2009

Ribbons and Roses

* DISCLAIMER: This post was written in a hurry, in the short time I get while my baby naps! So please ignore spelling or grammatical mistakes and even repeated or missed sentences. This disclaimer is particularly meant for my naughty cousins who will otherwise not let me hear the end of their "and you call yourself an English teacher?" comments!

Some kids who came to see my baby made a comment that she looks like a boy! I know I should just laugh it off and let it be, after all I do know for sure that my baby is most certainly a girl and not a boy! ...BUT...it's been on my mind...I don't like that people (even naughty 5 year old boys count as people, right?) think my little girl looks like a boy! Its most probably because her hair is still so short. So I pestered my ever creative mother to make her a cute hairband. We hunted around and found some old satin ribbon and a button to make her a lovely white bow.

Putting it on her, I was reminded of the last time I had ribbons in my hair. No, it wasn't when I was a kid myself. It was in college!  I got my bachelors degree from  Women's Christian College in Chennai. I don't know if this is a regular feature at most girls colleges, but we had these special "theme days" that we looked forward to. There was 'ethnic day', 'twins day', 'headgear day', 'pirates day', 'wacky hair day' and lots more. My favourite was "ribbons 'n roses day"- our own version of 'friendship day'

It usually was on a Friday  so that hostelers like me could go out on Wednesday ( we were only allowed out of the campus on Wed, Fri, Sat and Sun!!!) and buy a stack of ribbons. We could have bought roses too, but when you're living in the college hostel and feeding on unpalatable messy "mess" food, you want to keep aside a chunk of the meagre pocket money your parents send you to go out and eat! The ribbons were originally meant to be used like friendship bands, and that's how we'd start out - cutting off a piece of ribbon and tying  around friends' wrists. But soon the number of friends would outnumber the length of the ribbon! So we'd cut off tiny bits and tie it anywhere - on the hair, spectacle frames, earrings, noserings, necklaces, bangles, wristwatches, fingers, rings, toes,toerings....U get the picture??

By evening, the girls pouring out of the college would be a sight to see, pretty smiling faces covered in bits of multicoloured ribbons from head to toe, all bearing testimony to the joy of friendship.

7 comments:

  1. Thanks for the visit and comment on the blog. Love the image you created of your school days. And definitely don't take comments about your daughter "looking like a boy" to heart. Society spends waaay too much time on how someone looks and not a person's (baby's) personality, ability, dreams or hopes!

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  2. i could find myself smiling imagining girls covered in bits of ribbon all over.......such a innocent and sweet way of sharing the joy of friendship....
    And at the age where your daughter is, don't u think it is little too early for people to comment on how she looks...All babies are beautiful and angelic and bring so much joy to the world around....

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  3. I can sympathise with your written-in-a-hurry-post. Both my daughters were mistaken as boys ('babas' not 'baby-s') when they were younger.

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  4. She lookin like a boy comments shouldn't matter at all...she is beautiful! and lady, the last book 'breaking dawn' is ANYTHIN but chess-y - that was just imagery :P

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  5. Aleyamma: Thank you! I need to keep reminding myself of that!

    Koel: I'm glad I brought a smile to your face!

    Sucharita: Phew! So I'm not the only one!

    Penny: Thank you, but the credit goes to God!!!

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  6. i understand your hurry. me too a blessed Papa of an angel, she was born in Feb this year, and my wife is ever busy, even to take my call. makes me sad, but i understand.Baby needs all the attention.and being away, miss both the angels like hell. but guess what, they would join me soon here, so feeling happy about it. TC

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  7. lol, i keep saying that right? "and you call yourself an english teacher" haha.

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