Picasso Pedicure

Hi Aaliyah,

Just got back from a holiday with you. Thats why the long pause. You and I had been to the Corbett national park to sight tigers which we did not by the way. There was a lot of no TV time so your Dad and you were deprived of Arnab Goswami for a few days. Please forgive me. This got your Dad to spend his time doing things for family. We played Table tennis and Carom and Chess, all according to your rules. I cannot even tell you the number of times your dad had to pick the ball and you were to serve ALL the time.

It was freezing outside so we decided to be indoors for a while. Now you decided that you wanted your nails painted. No questions asked, your Dad reached out to my toiletries pouch and started to paint your nails.

This took me about 10 years back when your dad and I had just got married and we had gone out to the store to buy some random things. There was a make up counter selling some girlie stuff and your dad asked me if I needed something and I was a lil shy to buy something from 'His' money and said no. He said 'take something na'. Then I went and bought a nail paint.

Later in the night I was painting my nails and your Dad was looking at them. Yes, I was thinking the exact same thing as you are. 'How romantic of him' until Picasso decided to point out that he can make out the 'Brush Strokes' and thats not how I should be doing it. My Jaw dropped open. He then said, 'give it to me I will show you how'. He started painting my toe nails and I thought the exact same thing in your head. . . . 'Mom is crazy, Daddy IS romantic' until he started to paint them like an amateur carpenter trying to fill in for the painter who did not turn up for work.

Anyways, it was still cute so I let him do the damage. Then he asked me how much it cost and I said '50 bucks'. He was shocked that a bottle so small cost so much when a whole box of poster colors cost much lesser. Yes, thats not what he said. That is what he was THINKING. He tried to take the wet paint from the last nail he had painted and put it back into the bottle and as he closed it tight he said, 'At this cost you should be painting only your finger nails and not toes, that too on special occasions'.

Flying back to 2012, as this episode ended playing on my head, your dad had finished painting 3 coats of my L'oreal nail paint which must have cost 5 times the older one on all twenty nails of yours and I am pretty sure he would have let you paint it on the walls too as your BAD MOM did not have the presence of mind to carry water colors for you.

Then your Dad sternly tells me, 'Aaliyah's nails are still wet, don't smudge them'.

You have any thoughts? Leave a comment Aaliyah! I am still recovering.