IRIDESCENT.

I fell in love with love. . Age 2. I fell in love with the sound of cuckoos chirping in the balcony. The melodies brought me happiness, the sight of a bird taking flight brought me wondrous curiosity. Love, I realised, was happiness. . Age 4. I fell in love with my toy cars. Playing around with them all day and all night, imagining all the car races I have to win, the sound of my engine revving past the finish line. Love, I realised, was desire and obsession. . Age 6. I fell in love with the sight of planes in the sky. The way they took off from the ground, giving flight to themselves and to my dreams of growing up to be a pilot. I wanted to see more of the word and know more of the world. Love, I realised, was burning curiosity and wonder. . Age 8. I fell in love with football. Beckoning my friends from the minute I came home till the minute my mom called me because dinner was being served, and then wearing my favourite jersey and watching my dream team

I recently learnt from my mistakes, that everything in the world is temporary and short-lived, except the love of your family and your upbringing that they inculcate in you. It’s a wise lesson I learnt at the age of 17, but it has been the foundation of your value system from your early childhood. . While I run behind the allure of having “friends”, you gave that up without a second thought, to let your life revolve around the needs and wants and desires of your family. I do not know how you do it every single day, time and again, living the sacrifice and working yourself to the point where your body just aches and your mind craves peace and rest. . I can only try to be like you one day, looking up to you and staring at the love and pain you carry in your eyes. While I don’t acknowledge you enough, I truly believe that nobody can compare to you, not even your father. You, like the meaning behind your name, Pankaj, are the kind of person who blossoms and grows and prospers, ev