1992 was the year I got married and my sister-in-law Zeeta was pregnant with Lorenze. As is customary in Indian families, a girl returns to her parental home during her first pregnancy, for her confinement and delivery. Zeeta came to live with her parents, my in-laws for the last 2 months of her pregnancy which were busy spent in preparing for the arrival of the first grand child of the family.
On the evening of the 24th October, Zeeta went into labor and Lorenzo was born at 9:24 pm. He was swaddled in white when the nurses brought him out of the Labor room and handed him over, first to his uncle Egbert and then to me. I'm not exaggerating, but he smelled of brown rum, his father Ludger's favorite drink!! It was the first time I held a new born in my arms and I held him gingerly but with great caution not really knowing whether I would drop him with my clumsiness or worse yet crush him with my nervous hands. Battling this fear, I peered into this little bundle with wrinkled skin and eyes that were unwilling to open since he would peer with an eye and shut it immediately as if afraid to look at the world, and I fell in love. Completely.
Lorenze spent the first 2 months of his life in the family home and it was the most heavenly time. As a young bride adjusting into the ways and culture of a new home, it was like Lorenze and me were doing the same thing, taking first baby steps into an unknown realm and I guess we bonded. As he grew, he couldn't pronounce my name and since he was a year old, he's been calling me 'Bitta', which is now fashionably shortened to 'Bits'.
Onzo, our name for him, would come to Mangalore thrice or four times a year and we would go to Bangalore as many times to be with him. Every time it was time to part, he would begin crying and I would promptly join. We have shed many a tear at bus stations, him in the bus and me on the road, him wailing 'Bitta' and me sobbing uncontrollably. That child held my heart in his hands and still does as a 20 year old young man today.
My Lorenzo is 20 years old and is a rare gem, he is completely lovable, terribly intelligent, a brilliant orator, an awful singer, a prolific bassist, an organised student pursuing his engineering studies and above all and most importantly, is the young man you wish was yours. He is gentle, kind, and an accomplished diplomat far mature than his young years. Onzo is our first child and will always be special, the beauty of being him is that he has never let us down. Has always proved our faith in him and every year he acquires better skills, is more polished and is on the way to being a complete man.
ONZO... this is for you... my life changed the minute you walked into it. I became a better person. You are everything I love and I love everything about you, including your crooked long nose that showed promise of being like mine but ended up like your dad's. You are a gift to me and our family crazy as it is, will be bound by our common love for you and you will be the strongest link that will hold us I'm sure. May the future rise up to meet you with a promise of brilliance and when success comes a calling 'cos she sure as hell will, may you be humble enough to be affable and tenacious enough to sustain.
