(Exclusive) Actors Paritosh Tripathi and Meenakshi Chand on becoming parents: We always wanted a baby girl

Actor-couple Paritosh Tripathi and Meenakshi Chand became parents to a baby girl on May 23.

In an exclusive chat with us, the new father says, “She arrived on May Friday at 10.10pm, on the auspicious occasion of Ekadashi. We manifested a daughter and here she is. She is like a divine blessing for us. Just three days before Meena’s delivery, I told her: ‘Bitiya hi aa rahi hai’. I had a gut feeling. For parents, a kid is a blessing. Beta hota toh bhi achcha hota, par beti hui toh bahut achcha lag raha hai.”

New mum Meenakshi, 36, who starred in Zaban Sambhal Ke (2018), says, “When I took her in my arms, it was a divine feeling. Our families have already started matching our daughter’s facial features to us. She’s a perfect combo of Uttarakhand (her native state) and Purvanchal (Paritosh is from Deoria, Uttar Pradesh).”

In the annoucement post, Paritosh wrote: ‘Bahut bolne wala chup-chaap hai, barasti aankhen keh rahi hai woh bitiya ka baap hai.’

The couple is still finalising the name for their newborn. “We will come up with a name for her based on astrology. After Meena recovers, we will visit my hometown (Deoria) to seek blessings from our kuldevi,” says Paritosh, 37.

The actor adds that he would keep it low-key on the work front to spend more time with his wife and daughter. “I was shooting for the film Gram Panchayat Amrika on the outskirts of Lucknow, but as the due date arrived, I came to Meena. Now, the shoot has been shifted to mid-June for me. I don’t know how I would manage now, but I will surely want to be with my wife and daughter,” says the Ludo (2020) actor.

Meenakshi has been on an acting break since marriage and continues to do for the time being, she adds.

On a signing off note, the poet in Paritosh adds, “Hum gumnami mein paida hue pata bhi na chai aur bitya hui aur sab jagah news mein chaai hui hai! Now, I feel I will have less of romantic poems and they will have mamtatva (fatherly-motherly) factor in it more.”