Onam

This Onam, we celebrated at my moms place. This is because my father is retiring, and this is the last Onam, in the house where they lived for the past 29 years. This April he would retire and my parents would go back to Kerala. My cousins who are studying in Chennai, also joined us. Mummy made a lovely Sadhya that included, rice, paruppu, papadam, pachadi, inji kari, achar, aviyal, sambar, moru kari, pradhaman , banana chips and sharkaraparati. Tarun baby thoroughly enjoyed himself eating the traditional way, from the banana leaf. We too had a good time.

28th Day - Irivathiyettu Kettu

For us Malayalees, the 28 day after the baby is born, there is a custom called irivathiyettu kettu, where a black cord / thread is first tied around the waist of the baby, followed by a gold chain called the arinjanam.

Abhinav’s irivathiyettu kettu happened in a very simple way. For Tarun, we had invited friends and family and the function was followed by lunch. For Abhinav – I guess, him being the second – there was nothing much. My parents, and inlaws were present. George had gone to Hyderabad, so it was just the five of us.My father tied the black thread around the baby’s waist and my father-in-law, the arinjanam. This was followed, by lunch cooked by my mom. A simple function indeed :)

Baby has a name - Finally !!!

After a lot of head breaking, we have finally decided a name for baby.
My first choice was Nikhil and George's was Rohan. We also liked Ashish and Rohit. George did'nt want Nikhil, as it was his boss's name, and he said, when he heard the name, only his boss’s face came to mind and not the baby’s ; and i didnt like Rohan.
Then came Abhinav Bindra, who won India’s only at the Olympics. We thought, OK lets name him Abhinav, after Bhindra, who won the gold the year baby was born. When we checked out the meaning of the name, coincidentally both Tarun and Abhinav mean young. So, finally baby has a name, Abhinav Angayil George.