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Indian power couple Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma turned parents on Jan 11 when they were blessed with a baby girl.
Announcing the arrival of their first child at the Breach Candy hospital in Mumbai, the pair shattered societal stereotypes.
While generally the colour blue for a boy and pink for a girl is used to announce the arrival of a child, Virat and Anushka opted for yellow.
With this non-binary colour, the couple appeared to be sending a message to the world - not to label children with gender and allow them to discover and see colours as they want to perceive them.
"We are thrilled to share with you that we have been blessed with a baby girl this afternoon. We thank you all for your love, prayers and good wishes. Anushka and the baby are both healthy and we are feeling beyond blessed to start this new chapter of our lives," Virat said in a statement.
This move from Anushka and Virat shows that they are true non-conformists.
In an interview previously, Anushka revealed that they don't plan on engaging their child on social media and that decision will be left to their child.
Ahead of their child's birth, the excited parents set up an animal-themed nursery too.
In order to safeguard their privacy, the couple asked for strict restrictions at the hospital. Even close relatives were not allowed to see the baby. They also decided not to accept flowers or other gifts. It is not known if the couple are preserving the first photos of the baby for exclusive use in a magazine. But the paparazzi have stationed themselves outside the hospital for the baby's shots.
Virat's brother Vikas Kohli posted a congratulatory message along with a photo of a baby's legs - which many thought was a first glimpse of the couple's daughter. Vikas later clarified that the image he shared was a representational one.
While congratulations poured in for the couple from political leaders, celebrities and cricketers in India, according to the news portal Peeping Moon, they have named the baby girl Anvi.
It said Anvi is a combination of their names and has a beautiful meaning: In Sanskrit, Anvi is one of the names of the Goddess Mahalaxmi.
Notably, as soon as Virat and Anuskha announced the arrival of their baby, #TaimurAliKhan started trending on Twitter, with netizens sharing hilarious memes involving the son of actors Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor.
While some compared the newborn's popularity with Taimur, others made funny memes depicting Taimur's reaction to the baby's arrival.
One of the users said: "Taimur's pap frenzy has just taken a hit. It's time for paps to chase the new girl in town. #virushkababy."
Anushka and Virat, who got married in 2017, revealed the pregnancy in August last year along with the detail that the baby is expected to arrive in January this year. Anushka was last seen in the film Zero while Virat took a break from the four-match Australia-India Test series Down Under and flew home just weeks before the baby's arrival.
Indo-Asian News Service
