The massive engine whirrs beneath your body, wind strikes your face and your hair whips around you.

The massive engine whirrs beneath your body, wind strikes your face and your hair whips around you. Every action has an immediate consequence when riding, according to Meeta Walavalkar, whose life motto is to live in the moment. However, the 40-year-old mother of three has not gone riding in the last 45 days.

On December 17, 2018, Meeta, her husband Amit, and their two sons welcomed their three-year-old daughter, Shambhavi, into their home. “My husband and I were so busy with all the paperwork at the time that we did not actually take in the fact that one of the ten children inside was going to be our daughter. We were more concerned about how she would react to coming home or if she would have any language barriers,” said the owner of Soul Bakery, which supplies organic food to Chennai and Bengaluru.

However, she said her two sons, Ved and Darsh, were inside, spending time with their new sister. Shambhavi, who came to Bengaluru from Chattisgarh. Now, she’s seen her 13-year-old and 10-year-old sons become protective of their sister.

In March 2016, after attending an inner engineering workshop with Sadhguru, the Bengaluru-based NGO consultant and her husband came away feeling lighter – spiritually and mentally. Meeta told her husband that she wanted to adopt a girl child, and Amit was onboard. After some discussion with her family, they applied for a girl child through the Central Adoption Resource Authority system, and two-and-a-half years later, they brought their daughter home.

Her name, Shambhavi, is the energy form consecrated in Sadhguru’s ashram in Coimbatore, said Meeta, who is a follower who can perform pujas. The day before Shambhavi came home, Meeta reminded her sons to express any concerns without fear of judgment.

The three-year-old loves school, and wakes up every day excited to learn. “She comes home before they boys do, and asks when her bhaiyas will come home. Before, the boys would come home, eat something, and go out to play. Now, they spend some time with their little sister before going,” said Meeta.

Coming from a family with many male children – Meeta’s father had two brothers, as did Amit’s father, and she has two sons – Meeta has found little changes in her parenting. “With the boys, if they fall and hurt themselves, I just have to put a little dettol and send them off. I’m not used to mollycoddling my children, but Shambhavi wants to be held and cuddled if she falls,” said Meeta.

There was some hesitancy from her and Amit’s parents initially. Meeta had a bustling daily schedule, and caring for a child would take up a lot of time. When the topic was broached to her parents, Meeta’s father was averse to the concept. “Now, he videocalls every other day to see her. You know the Queen song Bohemian Rhapsody? She calls out to him the same way they sing ‘Mama…’ in the song. So she’ll go, ‘Ajuba…’ and call out for him,” said Meeta.

Shabhavi has a high emotional intellect for a child her age, said Meeta. “The other day, my father called, and he had hurt his hand. He showed it to her, and she was very affected by it. She came into our room crying, saying that her Ajuba was hurt,” said Meeta. Another trigger for Shambhavi was when her plate was taken away from her, as in the funds-strapped orphanage she grew up in, that was a sign of having no food.

Meeta and her husband know that eventually, Shambhavi will want to meet her parents. “All I hope is that the process goes as smoothly as possible, for her. We will be there with her, of course,” said Meeta.
It’s too soon to plan for the future, she said. Meeta is not one to live in anything but the present, but for one instance – “When we ride, I take the youngest and Amit takes the older one. Now with Shambhavi, we need to figure out a way to take all of them when we go riding next.”

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bengaluru / by Rochana Mohan / Express News Service / February 04th, 2019