The Beauty & Humour of Genetic Make-up

                                                       mom & dad

We inherit all kinds of characteristics from our parents, grand parents and so on, either thanks to nature or nurture. With things like the colour of our skin or eyes and yes even personality traits that often arise in part due to our genetic make-up or family environment, mom and dad are blamed or celebrated for a number of things. :)

Although I know biology, genetics, family dynamics etc. and all that good stuff is amazing and often amazingly messy, I still love seeing commonly shared characteristics within families and experiencing a sense of marvel. It is pretty damn awesome!

There are definitely traits I wish I hadn't inherited, like the propensity to gain weight (thanks dad!) , but there are tons of other things I cherish and laugh at because I can see the source when I look at my parents or grand parents. And there are things you see in your siblings that you wish had been passed down to you as well – my brother's beautiful brown eyes and awesome singing voice come to mind - our paternal grand-mom Aie was a superb singer – whereas I got her super sensitive skin :)

Somehow the older I get, the more I love finding out about the commonalities. And seeing little bits of people passed on in various ways scattered across families, feels like another link and tie. Like for example in the picture of maternal grand-parents below, my grand-dad looks exactly like a mix of two of my cousin brothers!

                                                   nana & nanima

So instead of whining about things we may have inherited and don't like, today I want to celebrate the quirks and characteristics that we seem to have gotten from our families, both physical and not. Because a lot of them make us who we are. Off the top of my head, here's my list -

1. My mother's 'glass half full' outlook. Mom is so positive about most things and I seem to have gotten a little bit of that sunshine from her. Try as I may, and I really did during an angst ridden teenage poet phase, I can't ever be overly cynical. I have also heard of how my nanima, my mother's mother, was just like that and I can see that quality in both my mom's sisters are as well.

2. My dad's ability to zone out. Dad and I both tend to drift off into our own worlds, and stay there for a while quite happily. Although, dad often does this when he is working on something new and I'm just a perpetual day-dreamer, it means that we are both happy with our own company.

3. Being a good listener. Both mom and dad are great listeners and often the 'go-to' person for friends and family. My friends tell me I have some of that too and that makes me very happy.

4. My crooked front teeth. Now these I really disliked at one point and thought about braces, until I realised that dad has exactly the same overlap and the same shaped two front teeth. Now whenever I see them in the mirror or in a photo I think of my daddy. And it makes me smile some more, every single time.

5. My face. Not because of whether I think it is attractive or not, but because I look so much like either of my parents at different times! I look like me and yet like them, sometimes I look totally Maharashtrian (dad) or very Bohri-ish (mom) and I am a sum of their parts.

                                                                     aie & bapu

How about giving a shout-out to your gene pool?! Trust me, it makes you look at yourself in a totally different light. Write to me with lists of your own :)