Parents' Pride

I got a present from my school after I did well in tenth grade state exams. It is a piece of art, of Lord Krishna explaining Bhagwad Gita to Arjuna. I got it on August 15th, 1993, from the hands of the then education minister of AP, Mr. P.V. Ranga Rao. This present and a picture of me receiving this present from the said minister are displayed prominently on the walls of our house in Hyderabad. Anyone that walked into our home for the first time since August 1993 and as much as stared at either of these two items longer than a blink have experienced my father gently steering the conversation towards my tenth grade excellence story. Our servant maid, the guy that delivered milk, the tenants that rented our home upstairs have all heard this story. Though I now joke about it, there were times when I had to leave a conversation abruptly out of sheer embarrassment when my father launched into this story. 

Prized Possessions!

I got a costco spice rack as a x-mas present a couple of years ago that I rarely use. I recently decided to put away all the jars of spices from the rack in a drawer so they don't accumulate dust. As I was thinking out loud what I should do with the bulky rack itself, Raaga suggested that I turn that into a banana stand. It was not her original idea; she said she saw the chef from her favorite cooking show on youtube do something similar. I was thrilled! It made perfect sense to use it as such and it has been used in that capacity ever since. I feel very proud of Raaga every time I see that banana stand. I narrated the story of her invention to my parents. I however could not tell based on her expressions whether or not she liked my sharing this story. 

Why was I so embarrassed to hear my father talk highly of my accomplishments? Why was Raaga so uncomfortable when she heard me talk about her banana rack invention? There must be a fine line between being proud and bragging to annoying levels. Or may be it is just that the parents always feel proud of their kids and the kids are always embarrassed by their parents regardless of the context. Now I am suddenly worried about my recent inundation of FB wall with photos and updates of Raaga's summer. What if she thinks I am a shallow show-off mom when she grows up? Perhaps I should tone it down a little on FB. The irony of this post going on FB feed in a few minutes makes me chuckle :)

At any rate, I have to say that there thankfully exist certain things that every generation can be equally proud of. My parents treat our mango tree as their third daughter. They worry about its well being when away from home. They bring a doctor in for its annual checkups. And in summers when the tree has hundreds of fruit harvested, they are proud parents. I was reminded of my parent's mango tree pride when we noticed our pears and apples in our backyard today. Even Raaga was very proud of our harvest! 

Hyderabad Mangoes and Portland Pears and Apples with their proud parents :)