Tag Archives: LIFE

by | February 26, 2018 · 7:14 pm

DAY 1, YEAR 2

A year ago we sold our place in Jersey City and moved in with one set of our parents in Edison, NJ. It was supposed to be for a short while. A few months. And as we all know, life happens.

Over the course of that year, Satinder Chadha and Daljit Chadha have been nothing short of life savers. We are their kids.

Of course.

Jaan and Anaiya are their grandkids.

Of course.

We know that. And academically, philosophically, hypothetically, we all know that they will always be there, doors, arms, hearts, wide open. But the past year has been anything but academic, philosophical, or hypothetical. We’ve invaded their house and their lives and they’ve gone above and beyond on a minute-by-minute basis to spoil us and their grandkids rotten.

Living space.

Food and nourishment. Laundry. Pick ups and drop offs. Peace of mind. More than anything, peace of mind.

For all the transactional things that saved us time and energy, they bigger picture is peace of mind. All they did for us that can’t be recounted individually can be summed into peace of mind.

Filling every waking moment of our lives with love, support, and all the unsaid, unspoken words and deeds in a way only parents can.

Sure, during work travel and late nights, it was invaluable to have the 24/7 support they provided. But that pales in comparison to where we find ourselves today.

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Never more has this support been on fuller display than the past 3 weeks, while I’ve been away. Just this morning, in what’s become routine, Dad is dropping Priya off at the train station only after taking the kids to school; and on the flip side of the day Mom will be there to pick the kids up and bring them home while Priya attends to a late work meeting.

What the hell would we do without them? I have no words. I’ve got nothing but immense gratitude.

#iamgrateful and #iamthankful for you guys. I know Renu Bhatt and Anu Kiran are. And I know Daddy died feeling at peace knowing your love and guiding hands were on our shoulders at all times.

We’ve been roommates for a year, Mom and Dad. So I guess, happy anniversary? Love ya. 🙂

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by | February 14, 2018 · 4:31 pm

LOVE or THE INSANELY FINITE

The ability to feel love, is for all intents and purposes, eternal. You express it involuntarily from the moment you’re born, and you express it in whatever form possible for as long as you’re humanly capable. But the ability to show that love to someone, to extend it to the people you love, to know they feel it in return, is incredibly finite. The ability to make someone feel loved is INsanely finite.

For today, for this Valentine’s Day, I hope you are motivated by the insanely finite in pursuit of the infinite.

#iamgrateful and #iamthankful that I kissed my Daddy on the cheek every single time I saw him, and every single time I said goodbye. Including when I landed in India last week. My love for my father is infinite and will carry with me until my own last breath.

My ability to say it to him directly, and to know that he has heard me, to make sure he knows he was loved, feels today, very much in the realm of the finite. Love your family. Love your friends. Love the people around you. Not the way you want to love them, but the way they want to be loved.

Love them not so you can say aloud that you expressed your love, but rather, so that someone very comfortably and very consistently and very clearly says “I know you love me.”

Love you all. I do.

Happy Valentine’s Day.

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by | February 10, 2018 · 8:46 am

MY SIS or CREATING SPACE

My sis is my guardian angel. She always did everything at home, for my family, for our parents, so I could run off and explore the world. For 17 years, splitting time with my mom, she was the primary daily caretaker of my bedridden ba (grandmother).

While I was off being a kid and a teenager, my sis went from 11yo to grownup overnight. With a daily list of responsibilities that filled the day, and reset at midnight. It wasn’t until she was approaching 30, when my ba passed away, that she was able to focus on herself. But at that point, life was in full swing.

Work.

Expectations.

Society.

My sis never had a childhood and she never had the chance to truly focus on herself later in life.

That’s what my Daddy wanted for her more than anything. For her to take that step back, find out how amazing she is, achieve her fullest potential as one of the sincerest and purest and most loving people the world has ever known. They had that discussion in December before my parents left for India, and even in January he was telling her “2018 is your year.”

The power of love, with family and with friends, puts the world’s most powerful force (love) against the most delicate of subjects (human feelings). What my Daddy and my Mumma have always wanted for my sister is what they believe is best for her. It didn’t always work for both sides. For all the mutual want, she never had the space or the opportunity or the impetus to create that space for herself when the world wouldn’t give it to her.

As we search for our “why” around all of this mess, Anu Kiran, I have found one that gives me peace.

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Daddy wanted to give you space in a way nobody else in the world could.

The single thing that will make him the happiest (not would, but will, as this is not a past tense appreciation) is reading your note below, and watching you move forward with that torch firmly in hand.

#iamgrateful and #iamthankful for the power and selflessness that the most powerful father/daughter bond I have known for my lifetime, has created.

Godspeed, my angel. Godspeed.

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by | February 4, 2018 · 10:43 pm

A STAR

Yesterday, our Dad became a star. There’s still a lifetime of things to say, but here is step 1… Today I fly to India to join the strongest person I know, my mom, and a community of friends and family, to help the world say goodbye to his body. His light. His love. His spirit. His crappy jokes. His absolute moral perfection and purity.

Those will live on forever. Envelop us from moment-to-moment. Protect us. Remind us. Break us but only momentarily. Because his strength and resilience are also with us forever.

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#iamgrateful and #iamthankful to have called you Daddy for 42 years, and now, to close my eyes, or to look at the sky, or to look at your grandkids, and be reminded and fully inspired to do the same.

Forever.

I will see your body soon. I will do my best to live in a way that makes you proud and is worthy of your legacy. See you soon, Daddy. You’d be proud and brought to tears if you heard Anaiya explain her love for you, and, how she knows you’ll always be with us. I’ll whisper it in your ear when I see you. ❤

Also, go Eagles. You earned this Super Bowl run with a near lifetime of dedicated fandom. 🙂

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Thank you all for your love and support. It’s a testament to the person he will always be and the person my mom is. Send love. Send strength.

Shed no tears. Channel that emotion deeply and powerfully toward the people you love.

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by | December 10, 2017 · 8:17 am

HBD DAD

This first picture says it all.

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What you are doing for Jaanu in this pic is what you do for all around you. Smile. Laugh. Support. Lift up. And perhaps most inconspicuously…fall to the background.

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You’ve raised an amazing daughter who u am lucky enough to call a wife. You have taught her to expect the best and that she deserves to be treated like royalty. All by example. We love you, Dad. Happy 70th. #iamgrateful and #iamthankful for the bar you have set.

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by | November 23, 2017 · 9:41 pm

THINKIN’ ‘BOUT THINKIN’

It’s always helpful to think about…how you think. #iamgrateful and #iamthankful for our kids. And how wonderful they are to each other, to us, and to everyone they meet. Some of this stuff feels natural to them. Not deliberate, just natural.

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by | November 21, 2017 · 9:24 pm

KTU

He’s been rocking a fever (up to 103.5 super early this morning/late last night) for a good 12 hours. Was awake from 10:45pm-2:45am. Fighting a fever and something viral. Plus, the way he is going at his gums, we know he is teething. Yet. Sleepless. Infected. In pain. And this is how he acts at 2am. I love this kid.

And #iamgrateful and #iamthankful for the flexibility to just spend time with him on days like today. Lucky me.

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by | November 19, 2017 · 7:49 am

H(e)BD DADAJI

This…is literally all that matters in the world. We look at all the insanity out there and we just try our darnedest to make sense of it. And we can’t. And the problem is…it’s all layers of artifice. Opinions stacked upon interpretations stacked upon assumptions stacked upon baggage.

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Which is why life gets hard.

You know when life gets easy?

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When you watch this video. And you see Anaiya express just precisely how she feels about one of the most important people in her life. One of the two people who her brother was named after. It’s just pure love.

And it brings out the best in my family and it turns my Dad, one of the purest and sincerest people, the person I know whose heart is most always on his sleeve, the person we know who is unfamiliar, downright allergic to formality and artifice…it brings out the best in him and the happiest in him. We were happy to be there for it. Jaan made it pretty far. 🙂 But on the eve of Dad’s Birthday, Anaiya hung out quite late and is about to make her way to bed.Guess who she is sleeping with?Dadaji and Dadaji.Game, set, match. On love and life.#iamgrateful and #iathankful for all of it.

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by | November 17, 2017 · 10:50 am

MOM (TBD)

Long post about Satinder Chadha.

Get in on Mom C. 🙂Anyone who knows me worth a lick knows that my mom is responsible for (any of the modest) good I have done. Not only am I grateful or thankful to her, I am eternally humbled and indebted.

My mom is the world. And I am blessed because my extraordinary wife Priya KC Bhatt sees it and benefits from it too. But one person blesses me on the next level. My “mother-in-law”. Drop the in-law. She’s Mom.

She is a blessing. She is a Nani for the ages. She is a mom who made my wife so incredible. And gave these kids an amazing Mamu in Deepal Chadha. Undeniably through the amazing partnership with Daljit Chadha. 🙂

She is a second mom to one of the most special people in my life, my sis Anu Kiran. But also my sisters geographically removed who ALL love and adore her (Sapna Bhuta McCarthy, Anuja Silady, Rakhee Bhatt, Chand Knee). She is an adorable, loving Aunty to everyone I know.

She is the heartbeat of our daily family life in a Edison: She is more than glue, she is fuel.

We have benefitted ungracefully from her love and generosity for 8 months as invaders of her home. All she has done is loved, embraces, helped, cooked, supported. CRUSHED.

Today she is on a flight to India. Where for one of the rarest moments in he life she gets to focus on herself. She goes to spend time with family.

I wish her all the lifetimes of happiness. She has earned all of it. The best compliment and twist to this story?

Brings the story back to my Mumma, Renu Bhatt. Who is happy because I have someone like you, Mom C, to call Mom, too. The person who raised me is the biggest fan of the person who raises us daily, now. She feels doses of bliss everyday knowing I was lucky enough to get you in this awesome package deal.

My Mumma, loves and appreciates my Mom. That’s some next level special love. It’s rare. And that’s my blessing. TBD because you were worth the wait. 🙂Mom C. Nani.

#iamgrateful and #iamthankful for you. Have an amazing trip. We will miss you. 🙂The photo is a result of what you make possible. We love you. But let’s be clear…I LOVE YOU.

See you soon!!!

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by | November 15, 2017 · 6:44 am

TIMING

This … is amazing. Timing was perfect. I watched it a few times and just lost myself in it. I feel like I’m kind of lost in it now in less of a virtual way.

#iamgrateful and #iamthankful to whoever the hell took the time to bring this to life in this way. And to Sid Shah for sharing it. I’m wiped.

Good night folks.

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