My Life.. My Thoughts..: Ganesh Puja Celebration with the kiddo!!

First things First.. wish you a very happy Ganesh Chaturthi!! J. Since I was a kid, I have always remembered bringing the Ganesha idol home for the 10 day celebration that goes on during this time. It used to be really fun filled days when we used to go to our ancestral home in the nearby village. There used to be daily morning and evening Aarti, evening kirtans, playing in our farmhouse, playing in the quaint little railway station in front of our home, catching dragonflys and the likes.. J After my marriage, I and M decided to continue this tradition too. With God’s grace, things have always fallen in place and we have been able to welcome Ganapati in our home each year. This year, it has been an even more special Ganapati Puja. This is the first one after Shaurya’s birth.. Puja celebrations with my own littlebal ganapati.. :-D

I was really looking forward to this since last month. I wanted to see how Shaurya will react when he sees the idol, will he allow us to do the decorations, will the decorations and lightings remain intact till end of the puja, how will he take to the morning and evening Aartis, etc. It has turned out pretty well till now. On Tuesday night, when we were doing the decorations, he was running here and there, happily getting himself wrapped in the decoration items and just enjoying all the fuss. J We had to keep the decorations very simple this year.. everything was pushed on to the wall and we have tried to keep as many things off limit for him as we could. And seeing all our excitement, Shaurya was also happy and excited when he saw the Idol. For the first 2 days he used to try to get the lights out or remove some of the things, but now he has got used to the idea. He enjoys the daily Aartis too.. M while doing the aarti holds the aarti thali with Shaurya and both of them together do a nice 360 degree turn.. praying the Lord in all directions.. :-D. Shaurya loves this.. as soon as I light the diya on the thali, he just stands in front and eagerly waits for M to do that little 360 degree turn with him.

The Little Devil

On the day of Ganesh Chaturthi, I had made a rangoli just outside our front door. Since it was auspicious to start the Puja in between 6-9 am in the morning, we did the Puja as soon as we had bathed and were ready. By the time Puja was over and we were done with our breakfast, it was late. So the Rangoli was made only around noon. After making it, I sat in the drawing room and was chatting with M and my sister Chinki. We have this huge Sofa in our drawing room and we were lounging on it. Shaurya as usual was running all over the house looking for new things to play with. After some time, he went near the front door and stood there. I just peeped to check on what he was doing. I could see him bowing his head & looking at the Rangoli. He was standing just inside the door and was looking down at the Rangoli. We thought that he is finding all those rangoli colors attractive and new and thus was happily looking at it.. a little in awe maybe. How wrong could we have been? When he was standing there for about 3-4 minutes and continuously looking at theRangoli, I got a little worried. He doesn’t sit still in place for more than 30 seconds.. 3-4 minutes is too much. He can’t be that much in Awe of the colors.. something wasn’t right. When I went to him, what do I see? He had this belan (rolling pin) in one hand (don’t know when he went to the kitchen and pulled it from the countertop), was holding on to the door frame with his other hand and was happily scribbling at the rangoli with the belan. All my efforts of the last 20 minutes went kaput.. the rangoli didn’t even survive 30 minutes. L And he wasn’t done just yet. I got this rangoli frame from my neighbor and had made ganesha with it on a plate. I had kept it in front of the Ganesha Idol. In the evening, Shaurya just went near the Idol. Gave this plate a slight shake.. just a light tap and then left, never to touch it again. However this small tap was just enough to mix all the colors together. L At least this rangoli survived till evening. J

My Desi Boy

As part of our society Ganesh Puja celebrations, there were many different events planned to keep the society members involved and make it fun for all. One such event was the fancy dress competition for children below 2 years of age. Shaurya being 11 months was eligible for the same. It was a working day for me.. since I am normally back by 4pm, I planned to buy an outfit for Shaurya and get him ready for this event which was scheduled for 7pm. It turned out to be a busy day @ office, my sister called me at 6 and reminded about the event. By the time I reached home it was already 6.30pm, I went to a few shops near our home but did not get any fancy dress outfit. I started discussing with M and my sister on what to do now. I realized that Shaurya has a white Dhoti Kurta that he wore for a Puja ceremony. We got him to wear this white dhoti kurta. My sister took out one of my red dupattas and tied it around Sharuya’s waist. M suggested we make a moustache on Shaurya’s face. Out came my never-before-used Kajal :-D and I made a moustache. A big red tikka using my lipstick and Shaurya was ready for the event. To complete his desi boy look, we gave him a white stick - improvised out of a curtain holder. Shaurya was looking very very cute. When we took him downstairs for the event, everyone was super excited on seeing Shaurya. Everyone was Oohing and Aaahing.. :D. All the other kids were dressed beautifully too. There were 2 little krishnas; both looking great. And our front door neighbor had made her daughter Radha.. she was looking so pretty!! It was nice seeing such small kids dressed up for the event. All of the kids were given a gift by M (our society treasurer and working committee member :D). You can call me a biased mother but I have to admit I found Shaurya the cutest of them all and ready as a perfect fancy dress participant J.

Trip to the Movie Theatre

Since Shaurya’s birth we have not gone to watch movie in a theatre. We have had ample opportunities to go to theatre. I have a full time maid at home and my sister also stays with us, so we could leave Shaurya with them and go for a movie together. However both M and I never felt it worth so much that we need to leave Shaurya behind. We did not want to take him to the theatre since there would be loud sounds in the movie and Shaurya is too small for all the noise. With Shaurya turning 1 next month, we decided to give it a try and see how he takes to it. Luckily for us, Barfi had just released. It’s a soft light movie so we were sure there would be no loud action sequences or sound in it. We booked the 11.30 am show so that Shaurya will be ready by his normal time and play a little. He usually sleeps by 12 pm so maybe 30-45 min into the movie, he can doze off on my lap. We reached the theatre by 11.10, Shaurya as usual was excited on seeing a new place. Everything was okay till we entered the hall. Shaurya was looking at the big screen and at everyone around. Then the lights were turned off J This may be triggered sleep hormones inside him, he started getting a little cranky. I gave him a biscuit to eat, let him sip little water and rocked him a little. The movie had soft melodious background score. When the first song started, I gently eased Shaurya into a sleeping position with his head in the nook of my arm. In 30 seconds flat, he was asleep listening to the soft tones. He never ever sleeps so easily. Maybe I should buy a songs DVD of Barfi :-D He woke up only towards the end of the movie. It was a great experience and not as dreadful as were thinking. We had gone mentally prepared to leave the movie in between and come back home if our son is not comfortable. Thankfully everything turned out to be good. My friend Amu calls it beginner’s luck.. :D hope it turns out to be more than that. Any which way, we were thankful for this dose of luck. J