Another beginning

It's been ages since I have lifted my pen, or rather sat down and opened blogger to pen down my musings. Of course there is always something or the other and yet I seemed to have lost my motivation to write. Things happened - big and small - everyday things and milestones - and yet I wasn't moved. My mother, even she tried, but somehow their wasn't enough time in the world.

As the new year starts I decided I need to at least make the effort of doing a year end post to note things I still remember from last year. Kochu closed out kindergarten in style and enjoyed every minute of school. He made many new friends and by the end of the school year grown to love his teachers, his school and his new friends.  Now in First grade he seems to be building his social skills some more. He tried his hand at basketball and continue to flourish in swim lessons.

Kunju had his second birthday and he seems to have skipped being a baby altogether. Learning about superheroes and ninjas, he bypassed the whole PBS days of curious George, Thomas the train and other things. Picking up from his older brother saying No to everything is often times the first answer to everything. The terrible twos phase is passing us by - hopefully the new year will curb it some.

During summer we made another Europe trip - this time to Paris, Belgium, Amsterdam and a ride through German countryside. Traveling with two boys had it's own share of adventure and craziness. Paris was just like the movies - all the flair and not much substance. Belgium was a surprise - absolutely great food (fries - actually invented here and not France, waffles, and chocolates - YUM). The car ride through Germany was a great experience in terms of traveling through small towns and enjoying the true countryside. The people were friendly and the places around the Rhine river was just breathtaking. Like someone once said, it was beautiful to take the road less traveled - to wander, to slow down and enjoy the moments.

This past month we went down to Lake Tahoe and Kochu for the first time tried his hand (or should I say leg) at skiing. He took to it like fish to water. Enjoying going downhill and playing with his cousins and friends we made most out of the snow. Halloween, Diwali, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year celebrations had it's own style and fun. The boys dressed up as Captain America and Iron Man for Halloween while for Diwali they blew phuljharies and lit diyas outside the house. We did many day trips around the bay area and enjoyed all the holidays.

As the new year starts, new things are beginning to shape up; just as old things keep us strong. Kochu starts back on swimming and basketball lessons. He is learning chess and wants to enroll into piano as well. I have take a new job and Kunju should soon start at daycare. No idea how my writing will shape up ... but we'll give it a shot.

One, Two Maybe

With my parents in town, there was a debate on where Kunju’s choroonu should occur. The plan was for all of us to go to India in Nov/Dec and do his choroonu in India. But that could not materialize as we were pretty laid back with applying for the necessary paperwork for travel (as usual). So after much debate we decided to do his choroonu here in US. So my mother-in-law joined us for the big event.

Once the decision was made, the debate moved to choosing the temple versus doing it at home. We decided to do the function at Livermore temple and set the date for 22nd September. As we started getting ready we started the usual comparison of what happens (only) in India and what happens here. Talking to a couple of priests we realized that in different regions of India there are big pujas that are done, the food given to the infant was also different. So to avoid major confusions we asked around the temple to see if they had any priest that knows Malayalam and in turn was aware of how we do our choroonu. We were in luck and we booked the 10 AM slot with him.

According to traditions, the first time that the infant is given food one needs to ensure the entire palette of flavors is available to him from sweet to spicy, salty to tangy and everything in between. To ensure this a sadya is given with a minimum of 4 curries, rice and payasam as sweet. Of course the infant is not really ready for solids so in reality it only means that the father of the infant touches each of the different foods/curries with his finger and mix (and mashes) it with a very tiny portion of rice to give it to the baby. The rest of the family gives a drop of payasam.

Last time around, everything was taken care of by the temple and all we had to do was to show up at the appropriate time for the ceremony. This time though we had to prepare the sadya ourselves and even carry some puja items. So the day before we bought a bunch of items for the puja (betal leaves, flowers, haldi-kumkum etc) and early next morning prepared the sadya. We used Kochu’s little lunch boxes to take a little bit of everything to the temple. In between the preparations we all got ready to get to the temple a little early.

When we reached the temple the priest suggested my dad to get some plantain leaves from the back of the temple to use that for placing all the foods. He then proceeded to do puja calling on all the deities to bless Kunju. The nice touch was that the place we were seated was in front of Radha-Krishna mandap and as my mom pointed out it was a perfect setting to imagine ourselves to be in front of Lord Guruvayoorappan.

Kunju sat on my lap as the puja proceeded and throughout he was quiet and happy. He even seemed to enjoy the few morsels of rice and curries. And then came the turn of everyone to give him payasam which he seemed devour. Right after, he started to cry and within minutes was fast asleep in my arms. We gave the priest the dakshina and cleared the areas and then proceeded to seek blessings of the different deities and have prasadam. A little later we headed home for our own sadya.

Though the event was widely different from Kochu’s Choroonu which seemed to have been a fleeting moment, this was an hour long affair. We were able to take lots of pictures as long as we avoided the deity in the shot. And thus our little baby stepped into adulthood.

28 Days

The naming ceremony is the first major celebration in a child's life. In our community, traditionally this ceremony is performed at six months along with the Choroonu ceremony, but somewhere along the way 28th day or the one month mark caught fancy. Often until this day the baby is kept inside the house. I have heard that some other days like the 6th day, 10th day are also used by other communities to perform the naming ceremony. Last time with Kochunni, when we had asked around, we found out there were priests at the local Hindu temple who were ready to perform the ceremony at the temple or at our house for a fee. But even then we opted for the small simple affair at home.

Of course being in US means that one has to decide the name and provide the details by the 3rd day of the newborn's life to ensure birth certificates and other paperwork are completed in a timely manner. But still the "naam-karan" ceremony marks an important aspect of a child's life. Just like with Kochunni to maintain some semblance of an old, forgotten way of life we tried our best to not use the chosen name until the auspicious day. This time around though it was slightly more difficult with a 3 year old around. We had to ensure that Kochunni used the pet name or referred to his sibling as the 'baby' until this day.


Now the ceremony itself is a simple affair. We bathed and dressed the baby in traditional mundu (yellowish white cloth tied around the waist). Traditional lamps were lit in front of the alter and flowers were placed. The baby sat on his father's lap and after a little prayer he whispered his name into the baby's right ear three times for the very first time. Next, the rest of the family did the same. My mom tied a black chord around his waist along with some kajal to his eyes and cheek to ward of the evil eye. We prepared a small sadya in honor of the event and of course had a grand photo session during and after the small affair to commemorate the event.

And thus K-baby had received his name, Kunju.


The first picture is of Kochunni, while the second is Kunju. Yes, it seems baldness runs in the husband's family! :)