PurplePitara

LETTER TO MY DAUGHTER. Dear little Nishka, I write this as you are nearing the ending of your fifth year and all geared to step into the sixth. But I am giving it to you today when you are so much more bigger, entering the 14th. And I still feel as if your sixth birthday just passed!! Wow, you are all set to grow up. Yet, I cannot forget the day I first saw you and held you. Tiny little fingers and tiny little toes, big lovely eyes that shine so bright filled with curiosity and you were so pink – that is the image of how I first saw you. And I was so overwhelmed that soon after the doctor gave me sedatives and put me to sleep. But you were a sweetheart baby. No fuss about anything. You enjoyed your feeding time and your massage and bath time. No long nights (except a few and that are negligible). And in the blink of an eye, you were one. You were an easy baby to wean. Though fussy with milk you liked your solids and with none of the teething tantrums you were soon two-year-...

A wonderful book about Ruben David and his immense love and respect for animals -wild and domestic alike. Being a granddaughter of a forest conservator I have grown up on stories and incidents of wildlife. Whenever I used to spend vacations at my grandparents' place, it was a ritual, every evening, I’d be sprawled on the huge swing, he sitting ever so majestically on his chair on the porch and he would tell me fascinating stories. Some which were related to him and some to his friends. This book took me back to those wonderful days where I could imagine him narrating these beautiful stories to me.  Also, recently I came to know that certain stuffed ducks, which belonged to nanaji and are now at my maternal place were in fact gifted by Ruben David, founder of Ahmedabad zoo, to my nanaji and that somehow made this book more special to me. My Father’s Zoo by Esther David has described heartfelt incidents between Ruben David and animals. The way he could fearlessly walk into...