The month of June always brought a lot of excitement for Chiku, first because it was his birthday month and second, it was the time of school's reopening.
Although his school was closed in between due to pandemic, Kavish had loved his pre-school days. In those 2 years he went there, he had made a lot of new friends. And now he was going be in 1st grade and way more excited than other first graders. Piya on the other hand who was now going to be in 2nd was happy too, although she was not as fond of making friends as Chiku. She liked school though, especially the part where her teacher would make them recite rhymes.
And then this year, two more Raizada kids were going to join same school albeit in pre-school, Arohi Singh Raizada, and Shriya Singh Raizada!
All Raizada kids went to one of the most reputed schools of the country, D.A.V. school, as Arnav, Akash themselves were alumni of the same. But unlike their bhaiyya, twins had never known what was school and this was going to be their first experience.
And in all this, two more people were having mixed emotions, Arnav and Khushi. After all, this was again that time of their lives when they had to send their babies away, first time ever!
--*--
When Chiku had gone to school for the first time back in 2018, it was the toughest for his parents. Until then, they had never let their baby be away from their eyes even for a minute and now he was going to spend many hours away from their watch. That thought alone was enough to make Arnav anxious and Khushi nervous.
However, when Chiku enjoyed his pre-school and made so many new friends, slowly Arnav-Khushi's anxiety and nervousness faded away. Their son was a charmer and very soon became a popular kid amongst his toddler classmates as well as teachers. He had finished his pre-school with more fun than they could imagine and just as he was going to be in KG, schools got closed due to covid pandemic.
And now, 4 years later, they were going to face same day again, but this time for their daughters...
The night before school's first day:
"Hey. Are you awake?" Arnav asked, whispering near her ears, as she was sleeping with her back to him.
"Hmm. good morning Arnavji." Khushi turned while answering, stifling a yawn, and reached to look time in her mobile phone which showed 4.30 am
"Can't sleep?" Arnav asked further
"Aap bhi toh jage hue ho(You too are awake)." she stated the obvious
"They will be fine, right? I mean, Pari takes so much time to open up (he didn't want to admit that she never opened up to anyone easily) and my princess, Aru doesn't like staying confined at one place for so long..." he trailed off
"I am more worried for their food. They are not used to eating by themselves; we feed them..." Khushi voiced her concern
"Hmm. you know what this reminds me? Kavish's first week at school." Arnav said and chuckled as they both remembered how Chiku had been sweetly taking care of his friends who cried on their first week at school
Flashback from Chiku's pre-school first week, June 2018:
It was Kavish's first day at school and they had been anxiously waiting to receive him outside his preschool. Along with them were few other parents too including Jatin and Nisha, Rucha's parents. Arnav and Khushi had actually never left the school premises after dropping Kavish and kept strolling around in case their son asked for them. But to their pleasant surprise, when the school time ended, a cheerful happy Chiku with spring in his step, ran to their arms, while a slightly grumpy Rucha went in her father's arms.
"Your son is a sweetheart Mr. and Mrs. Raizada. he even helped us calm down another child who was crying." Their teacher who had come out to greet parents, told them indicating to Rucha. "How sweetly he pacified her, 'don't cry, tumhari mamma aa jayegi (you mamma will come).'" the teacher laughingly added.
After hearing that, while Arnav was amused and proud of his son, but Khushi was crying...happy tears that it. Kavish seemed to have inherited his mother's tact of winning people's hearts and some of Arnav's charm,
"Mamma, I am a good boy na?" Chiku asked keeping his small palms on her cheeks, worried why his maa was upset?
"Yes, my Chiku, you are a very good boy and I am so proud of you." Khushi said wiping her happy tears and showered him with hugs and kisses making him giggle
End of flashback
Khushi laughed as she remembered how Chiku had won many hearts in his school within those 2 years. Would their daughters do the same? They knew Pari had some challenges and Aru was too pampered to listen to her teachers...
So finally, at 5 am, chiku and twins' mummy-papa were completely awake and nervous, wondering how the day would turn out to be.
--*--
"Mamma, what is in this box?" Chiku asked as Khushi was keeping few things in his new school bag.
"Aapko kya lagta hain (what do you think)?" she asked with a huge smile
"Jalebi?" he asked with a matching grin
"haha Bilkul sahi. But khane se pehle hand wash karna ok?" Khushi told him and then handed him a glass of milk to finish before they left for his school.
Chiku's school timing was longer while twins had school for 3 hours only. However, they were asked to carry some snacks and water bottle, which Khushi had packed for all kids as per their separate likings. But she was not sure how much would her daughters be able to eat...
That reminded her to tell Chiku to keep an eye on his sisters if they ever needed him during school time
"And Chiku, now your sisters are going to join your school too, so if they ever need you or Piya, unka dhyan rakhna, thik hain?" Khushi told him and he excitedly nodded
"Yay! Yes mamma. My chotu sisters will join my school. I will show them our cool playground, they will love it." he said clapping his hands as Arnav was tying his shoelaces and Khushi put a kajal dot behind Chiku's ears!
--*--
"shkool (school)?" Aru asked as her parents had gotten her and Pari ready is cute frocks and matching hair bands and shoes, small princess backpacks with cute water bottles and tiffin
"Yes princess, it is a very good place and there will be many small kids like you there, and many toys. you will like it, ok?" Arnav told his baby for the umpteenth time since last night, but to be honest he himself needed to be assured that it will be fine.
"Pari?" Aru asked if her sister was supposed to go with her too. It often surprised them that their twins always looked out for each other. It was not like Chiku did not, but as they say, twins have a very different connection because of sharing a womb for 9 months...
"Yes shona, pari will be with you too." Khushi told while kissing her daughter's rosy cheek and Akash clicked photos of them, as they had done for Piya's first day as well as chiku's.
"Pari, there will be a new teacher there, like your Rashmi teacher, you will talk to her, hai na?" Khushi once again asked Pari, her main concern being if Pari will give her new teacher a chance... they had decided to let her join school and see how it goes. Rashmi had managed to bring a few more words out of Pari so they hoped Pari was ready for school now.
"maa." Pari replied in monosyllable while playing with khushi's mangalsutra and khushi sighed. She hoped against hope that after attending school, Pari will start speaking more like her siblings and other kids her age...
--*--
Finally, Arnav Khushi and Akash reached D.A.V. sharp at 8 am. As soon as they parked their car, Chiku and Piya kissed their parents and got down. In no time, they found their friends and ran to their individual classes.
Now the toughest part of the day came, dropping twins to their classroom. Pari was in Khushi's arms and Aru with Akash's till now as Arnav had driven their SUV. But as soon as he parked his car, Arnav took Aru from Akash's arms who was looking around with scared gaze. Arnav could see she was overwhelmed. Pari was still oblivious to this new world, or probably like her usual self, did not bother where she was!
Thankfully, nursery kids were allowed to be dropped till their classes so they could go till the classroom door. But as they reached there, they put the twins down.
There were 3 teachers for this class of around 20 kids and they all were at the door to talk to parents personally as well as to welcome the kids.
When Arnav and Khushi asked the girls to go inside as there were many fun things there, somehow the girls got convinced to give it a try. Albeit, Arnav had told them he was just outside this 'fun-room'. Still looking behind her shoulder, Aru held Pari's hand as they moved to their classroom. Pari was calm as usual, watching her surrounding in between but not saying a word. Arohi, however, was not liking this place at all!
And as one of the teachers helped them be seated, Aru lost the sight of her parents and the anxiety kicked in!
"Hey sweetie pies, what are your names?" a teacher came near the twins and asked them
"Mamma chahiye (I want my mamma)" Aru said, frowning
"haan cutie, mamma is there too but tell me your name na?" the teacher tried once again. This was not new to her, every year at least a few kids showed similar reactions
"dada ke pash jana (I want to go to dada)." Aru once again made her point. She was not liking this new place where there were so many kids around her and she was not even allowed to run around like at her home or her nani's place...
"Yes baby, your daddy is here too. but tell us your name. come on"
"Mammmaaaa. dadaaa" Aru shouted and her big hazel eyes filled with tears and soon started flowing on her chubby cheeks...
The teacher turned to Pari in meanwhile, in a hope that her sister would help, as she was aware they were fraternal twins
"Hey sweetie, what's your name?"
Pari didn't not even look at her but kept looking at Aru
"hey, will you be my friend?" the teacher extended her hand to gain pari's attention but to no avail
"aru is crying" pari thought in her mind
"mum--maa--dad-aaa" Aru cried out once again getting up from her place now and the teacher gently held her,
"Shh. Calm down baby, you mummy-papa will come soon, ok? Till then, why don't we play with these nice toys? See, they are so beautiful, hai na?" the teacher tried her best-known tricks with all assorted toys but...
"Noooo" aru was beyond listening....
Somehow the three teachers managed to keep the class of 20 toddlers in one place for sometime. Since this was the first day, the school already anticipated that few kids will cry or find it tough to adjust, so the first day was only for 2 hours.
As soon as the classroom doors opened, Aru ran to her parents followed by a teacher carrying pari. Arnav and Khushi engulfed their princesses in their embrace. They were anxiously watching their daughters' faces and tears strains on aru's cheeks told them her story while Pari's grumpy face told hers. So it was going to be a bumpy rides with these two!
Whole ride back home, the girls stayed glued to their parents with Aru clutching Arnav's neck and Pari asleep in Khushi's lap.
Thankfully, arnav had asked mohan to come so he could drive them back home.
Over the next weeks, they would see Aru slowly getting used to her school and making new friends. Pari however did not change and would not utter a word. And in near future, one day her teachers would call Arnav and Khushi to inform them while their one daughter Arohi was doing quite well for a 2.5 years old, their other daughter had speech problem and was probably in need of a school for special kids...
For now, though, it looked like Raizada kids were in process of adapting to school...
--*--
A/N - Did anyone feel nostalgic? Gosh, I had given such a tough time to my parents on my first day at school and clearly remember bringing whole school down with crying because I didn't want to leave my mom-dad 😂 Chiku's behavior inspired from a cutie in my family, who actually loved, still loves his school so much and would help his teachers in pacifying other kids who cried in school lol. He would tell them 'don't cry, tumhari mummy aa jayegi ha?' and wipe their tears and all ❤
As for Pari, she will stay in that school for sometime and later Arnav will decide to home school her, we all know how perfect that will turn out :)
p.s. our chiku is turning 6 soon! Can you believe it? He is a big boy now :D
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Shilpi @shils28
+ 2
1 years ago
Yeah... Same boat.. and as a special mother.. anxiety!! 😐