heaven

Two grown men, with beards in need urgent trimming and a friendship going back someway, meet after a long time and are catching up over coffee. The talk turns to their kids and after going around for a while finds its groove in the extremely intricate art of preparing them for school every morning, and the multifarious forms this seemingly innocuous task can take. Understanding the relativity of time, it turns out, does not need mastery over complicated mathematical equations. "Those fifteen minutes" are enough to understand all that is needed to be understood on the topic.

"and then there are days", says one of them, "when he just does it all by himself. It is hard to believe that it can be really so simple". The other concurs, the two friends encountering a brief plane of intersection in their separate lives, and lets his words diffuse slowly into the silence "these days are heaven".

hoo-ha-hai

Picture this: A 8 month old is lying on her tummy, palms pressed on floor, arms straight, head up, in a classical bhujangasana pose, and surveying her domain. Her eyes come to rest on her father who was trying to watch her unobserved. She holds her gaze as their eyes lock. The moment continues to prolong and eventually reaches a criticality. It becomes obvious that something must happen. Somebody has to say something. The father gets excited. She is going to say her first proper word, of course, it is going to be 'appa'. As if reading his thoughts, she flashes a winning smile. The father moves to the edge of the seat. Aha, here it comes...he holds his breath...she says "hoo-ha-hai", and turns away to continue her survey.

There is of course no doubt that at some point of time in history, in the lineage of some language, spoken somewhere, this word relates to fatherhood. Question : When where and which is it ?