Happy Birthday Abhi...again!

Last Thursday, Ks parents organized a function to celebrate Abhi's first b'day. It was a grand celebration with lots of relatives.

We got up at 6am to get ready, which was a little hard since we have all not been sleeping well. Indian coffee really helps in this situation. The hall is located next door to the the building so we did not have far to go. We arrived about 830. K and I need to be there a bit early so I could have help putting on my sari and K could get his veshti (same Indian garb talked about in previous post) on. I was supposed to wear a 9 yard sari for this occasion but I wanted to be grand and wear one of my wedding saris which is only 6 yards (the regular length). One of Ks moms cousins, Vasanthi auntie, helped me put my sari on...there is a way you can wear a 6 yard sari in the style of wearing a 9 yard and she knows how to do it well. A 9 yard sari is only worn for special occasions and it is worn in a different style than a 6 yard. Abhi also had Indian dress for the occasion. He also wore a veshti (ready made for a baby) and a kurta as a top (long sleeve Indian top). He looked so cute and everyone was so impressed.

The event is called "Ayusha Homam" - basically a prayer event to ensure that good things happen, and is done at some specific times in a person's life - 1st b'day, 60th b'day, etc. Specifically in this case, it involved prayers to the Gods to bless Abhi with good health and a long life filled with happiness and all things good and successful. There were 3 priests there and things got under way (a fourth joined later). We started with a puja (prayers), the main event which lasted about 2 hours. There was a fire (controlled, and very significant in Hindu prayers) which K had to feed with sticks and ghee (clarified butter) to keep it going - it is a integral part of most Hindu events.





While K was busy saying the prayers, Abhi and I were also asked to come along and sit with K as he was saying those prayers on a few occasions (but not for more than 10 minutes in all). Other than that, Abhi had to do a few things; his involvement in the whole function was as follows:
1) Of course, he had to not only look cute, but also had to behave in a cute manner and impress everyone - which he did very handily, running around the entire place and making his usual cute sounds! He was also busy stealing the fruit from the prayer area which entertained everyone. There were cameras going off all the time trying to take Abhi's pictures - almost made it seem like the paparazzi were chasing the celebrity (Abhi)!!
2) K had to place a garland made of jasmine flowers around Abhi's neck, and Abhi did not like it at all - I think we kept it on just for a minute or two, and then were forced to take it off.
3) K and I had to feed Abhi a few bites of cooked rice mixed with ghee (clarified butter) and sugar. We were circumspect that Abhi would not like it, but to our surprise he liked it and ate more than a few bites. According to tradition, the 1st birthday (and this event) is when the child eats rice for the very first time - while not the case for Abhi and most kids these days, the significance was not lost on us, and it was nice to see Abhi eat it without any problems/hassles.
4) Abhi also had to bow with K and I to get blessings of the elders and the Gods - we did this a few times during the course of the entire prayer sessions. While Abhi does not know how to do this, K held him and got him to do this. The folks enjoyed it immensely, and Abhi doing something new also got a kick out of it.
5) Last but not the least, at the end of the ceremony, all the guests came one by one to give gifts to Abhi (and of course, all of them wanted Abhi to be the one receiving it) while he sat on my lap. Luckily for us, most of these were just envelopes (with cash, which is typical in the Indian setting), and there was one large toy. Abhi very graciously opened his right hand and grasped the envelopes and made it seem like he had done this many times before. This again thrilled K's relatives/other guests and impressed them very much as to how "smart" Abhi was. K let him hold these envelopes for a couple of seconds, before taking charge and piling them behind us. Here are some pix...Abhi stealing fruit, eating rice and accepting gifts...



The women were all there in there beautiful, colorful saris... (Ks mom is 3rd from left in first pic and Ks sister first in 2nd pic)


An Indian function/celebration would not be complete without food. Breakfast (catered out) was served early in the day as the event started. K, his parents, his sister and her family and I all ate quickly before the ceremonies commenced, while the guests ate as they arrived. Breakfast consisted of upma (kind of like cream of wheat made with veggies and spices) carrot halwa (sweet) and coffee. Then again, once the prayers were said, it was time to move on to lunch. Lunch (again catered) was served around 12:30 pm, and we ate off of plantain leaves with our hands - which again is typical of Hindu ceremonies. It was a delightful spread and all of us ate heartily and were stuffed at the end of the meal. For lunch there were just too many items to name here -plus I don't know all of them. It is interesting to eat rice and runny items with your hands on a leaf. If it gets to watery, you have to keep it from running of the leaf. Here are a couple pictures from lunch, the spread and me eating...