There's a wedding in the family!!!!

A wedding is always a big event, immaterial of whether it is you who is getting maried or whether it is your cousin or friend or the neighbor next door... My cousin is getting married in a week, and my aunt, my dad's youngest sister has come all the way from Cuddalore.. Now I share a very nice relationship with this aunt in the sense that whenever there is a function at home, we love to take out all our finery and make joint decisions on who wears what saree, which blouse goes best with it.. What jewels to wear for each occassion (Remember Indian weddings span a complete 3 days!)..
I am looking so much forward to the wedding because, more than dressing up myself, I love to see certain people dress up.. like my aunt.. to her dresing up is a ritual and she always follows the same procedure... It starts with a Kerala style bath with coconut oil, followed by braiding hair in the traditional Kerala style, followed by draping the saree, cosmetics (only Cuticura powder and a Kumkum bindi), a light perfume, tucking in her starched and ironed hand kerchief, carefully wearing the selected jewels and replacing the rest into the safe (she would not talk to anyone when the jewelry part in on for fear of overlooking some precious piece of aurum!!!) wearing a nice string of jasmine in the hair, and a few minutes fine tuning in front of the mirror and she is ready to catch the limelight!!!! Though she is tending to her fifties soon, she looks so beautiful, and my dad loves to buy his baby sister nice things, ranging from sarees to other trinkets!!!

The sum and substance of this blog is- IAM LOOKING SO FORWARD TO THE WEDDING!!!!!

Avani Avittam

Today is Avani Avittam cum Raksha Bandhan. However, the family I am married into follows Sama Veda, so their sacred thread changing ceremony happens a day after Ganesh Chathurthi. Further my betterhalf is right now in South Africa. But this is what I did today. Morning, I adorned the threshold of the house with a nice "Kolam" out of rice flour and decorated it with "Semmann" which is basically red soil. I adorned myself with some additional jewellery. My cousin brothers had sent me Raakhi wishes on mail. (Gosh I totally forgot it is Raksha Bandhan today till I read that mail!!).

I'll be going to my mom's place this evening. She might have made some sweetmeads. Since my nephew Avinash donned "Kalla poonal" today, it will be a time of rejoicing at home. So that is good!

I wish a lot of family members were at home so that it would have been real fun!!! Previously when my cousins were in Chennai, I used to go to their place with the Raakhi and tie it around their wrists, and they in turn used to give us some gift- once it was a beautiful bangle set, once it was chocolates etc etc.

All these Hindu festivals foster oneness and solidarity in family. I hope we successfully pass on these lovely legacies to posterity, undiluted by the hectic pace of the civilised world.