Bua Diaries: Because Being An Aunt Is Amazing

Photo courtesy: Sara (the Beeya in the Aunty Tales)

This gorgeous little princess is my 2.5+ year old niece Maryam (Mannee, as she named herself!) sitting by the window looking out at the snow. The photo is from last winter (2016) and since Mannee is the first of our house, she will continue being the main lead of Bua Diaries, InshaAllah. The day she was born something changed in some very remote corner of my heart. She gave me a reason to believe that unaltered, pure love still exists . 

'Phuppo' is Urdu (Pakistan's mother language) for Aunt. That's why the Team Phuppo pride badges. I do; however, feel a personal disconnect from the word 'Phuppo'. I chose to have Maryam call me 'Bua' - an alternative word used in India. My Nani (maternal grandmother) was called Bua by all the children of her brothers until the end of her days. She holds special importance in my life because I know her as a woman of steel, a zero nonsense, emotionally metallic woman who lived a simple and grateful life. I'd like to carry her title forward. And, this has got to be the most sweetest word anybody has ever said to me. Sara (my sister) is the younger aunt and she was 'given' the name 'Beeya' by Mannee herself! She wanted Mannee to call her Buee (a smaller version of Bua) but just like her aunts, Mannee baby loves inventing her own. 

We live super simple lives away from the politics, hustle, and chaos of social circles. In our isolated little world, this cutesy intruded with such powerful     magnitude and turned around the definition of happiness for us. She is a playmate, a buddy, a friend, a daughter --- everything!

In Bua Diaries I will share the stories of the beautiful moments of life shared with my little one as she grows up, inshaAllah [by God's Will], to be a beautiful woman. 

Bua, Beeya & Mannee