Function aarthi ()

Function aarthi()
{
     Invite_people();
     Buy_ingredients();
     Cook_food();
     Get_ready();
     Welcome_guests();
     Celebrate();
     Take_photos();
     Eat();
     Say_goodbye();
}

Software engineer mentality hehehee :-D. In a gist, the above was the format of the aarthi function mom held for me on Sunday 14th october 2007.

Before I start off on my (usually huggge) account of the event, just wanted to mention that today is another "Highlight point" of my pregnancy, what with me completing 32 weeks. Babies born after 32 weeks generally do well and are supposed not to have any breathing problems. Not to mention that in general, the longer the baby stays in the womb the better. But well, one hurdle crossed, in 4 weeks the baby will become "full-term" :-D.

Coming to the aarthi function, many people were surprised in the beginning that my mom was coming to US so early. I mean, she was here almost 3 months before my due date. Most of the times, the mothers arrive almost during the last month, so that they can remain longer after the baby is born. But in my case, I had different plans and moreover, mom wanted to hold a small aarthi function for me in my 7th month (it can be held only in 5th or 7th or 9th month according to the "rules" :-D and 9th month is kinda too late). Previously I had planned to be in India in the 5th month, so we could have the function there with all the relatives. But our travel plans did not work out :( and that was that. So after mom arrived, we decided to have the function on that Sunday.

I called up and invited 5 families in total, but 2 of them informed me that they couldn't make it, what with one travelling to India and another's child having a competition the very same day. 3 families confirmed, but another family had some issues last minute, so they couldn't make it. Well, it finally ended up with 2 families, but we just had to accept that.

The preparations started on saturday itself. We bought all the fruits, coconuts, beetle leaves and nuts (ele-adike) required. Mom wanted to make oththu shaavige, which is a type of shaavige made from scratch in Udupi and surrounding areas. She got a grinder for me from India (weighing more than 10 Kg!) and another contraption to press idlis (made for shaavige) into shaavige! I helped around in making the idlis and later Sri helped in pressing them into shaavige. Mom also made chakkulis for the occasion.

Next day she made some khaarada kaddi (she's unstoppable :-D) and after noon I helped her in making kaabul kadle usli, oththu shaavige chitranna and normal shaavige paayasa :). My MIL sent sweets and my cousin Rajeshwari sent packets of puri unde. So we arranged everything in front of God.




The kaabul kadle usli, oththu shaavige chitranna and normal shaavige paayasa are not in the snap as they had already been taken out to serve the guests by the time this photo was taken :-\.

Firstly, Sriram presented the saree that my MIL had sent for me to me to wear. The best part of it all was that my inlaws had logged in at 1:30 AM their time to see the whole function! After I wore the saree, mom put a nice plait and decorated it with fresh flowers from the garden :-D.




I had also put on mehendi on my hands the previous night (not really professional, so no snaps :-p). Then we waited for guests to arrive.

Once the guests came in, we started off with Sri first putting green bangles in my hands (bale todsodu) and later doing the udi tumbsodu (in this he puts rice, coconut, dry fruits, arshina kumkuma etc into my saree pallu). My MIL sent all the ingredients required for that.




Later mom repeated the ritual with stuff she brought, a saree and ear-rings she bought for me.




She again repeated the udi-tumsodu with stuff my cousin Rajeshwari sent (she sent a saree and bangles and mom carried everything :-\). After this, the guests also did udi-tumsodu.

Then with the help of the guests, mom did aarthi to me and Sriram (I'm not putting up the others' photos here due to obvious privacy concerns :-D) and posed for photos :-D.




Once that was done, I changed into the saree mom had brought for me. Meanwhile the guests were served food. After eating and enjoying conversations, they all left. And we clicked a last photo with us all together and me in the changed saree.




That was it. I didn't really expect the function to be as grand as it ended up being. It was really satisfying to have everything go well :). But I do wish that dad could have been here :(. If wishes were horses....