Tales of Saarthi: Pranav & Prerna, Pallabi, Jagganath ✨

The earliest memory I have of Pranav (Gudu) is when I received his first picture via letters as 32 MP phones and WhatsApp were not there back in 2005. So the picture was clicked in a studio and he was on his stomach playing with toys, and that’s all it took to fall for my baby brother who resembled the fluffiest teddy bear as if golgappas were stuffed in his cheeks. I met him when he was almost a year old and I was 14 years old. It was nearly impossible to pick him up because of his weight, but also impossible to not poke him up as he was just that cute! I have two brothers and both of them are polar opposites to each other. You have to run behind one to feed him and then there’s another one with whom you have to hide food because he’ll eat up everything, you can guess who’s who. Gudu is a foodie, big time! And I think he got that part from my Papa, his bade papa! I remember Pallu and I used to carry chocolates and chips to the terrace and eat in the darkness just to hide from Gudu. I’ll always remember the summer vacations where all this fun happened, where my brothers were still cute and a little obedient to us.

Things have changed for our family for the last 5 years (after Gudu’s diagnosis with Autism at age 10 and seizure episodes) there is struggle and pain in seeing Gudu go through all the changes, but honestly, I don’t see him any differently. He is still the foodie he was and still as innocent as he was as a baby.