My First Hair Cut

It is a very important custom in my family to perform one's first haircut in front of the village deity. And it is scheduled at a convenient time in the 3rd year of the child. Mine was scheduled in mid-May 2011 during the summer vacation period ensuring maximum participation from everyone in the family.



It was a big event for all of us! Lots of shopping for everyone and of course specially for me! And the same cermony is combined with ear-peIrcing if it's a girl child. So I got beautiful set of gold earrings gifted by my maternal grandparents (Ammamma and thathagaru). The preparation started almost 10 days before the actual date when my Nannama (paternal grandmother) and babai went to our village to foresee all arrangements.



Myself along with my Mom/Dad and Aunt (Purna akka) went around 3 days in advance. My dad became very busy thereafter as he had to look after arrangements and most importantly visit the relatives in the village and its neighbourhood for inviting personally for the event. Finally the day came, and all our relatives started coming in.



Rajasekhar uncle, Sandhya Aunty and Aryan also came down to our village for the occasion. The first important custom was interesting. I was to be weighed in a large weighing balance against equal weight of jaggery. And that jaggery is offered as the Prasadam to the god and distributed to everyone. Next we started to the temple to complete the formalities. At the venue, Praveen mama commenced the task of cutting my hair which was completed by the Barber. After the hair was offered to the deity, I was given a Holy bath and made to wear a beautiful white gown. I was psychologically prepared for this event and trust me I didn't cry at all throughout the event.



Next morning the ear-piercing took place. I cried very little and everyone was surprised!. I enjoyed the rest of the vacation with a "Taklu" look and flaunting my new earrings!



By this time my school admission was already done. I was very much excited to go to school, which was starting in June 2011. Watch out for the next post!

My Second Birthday

Now I was aware what a Birthday is. It meant lots of things to me - New dress,blowing candles, cutting cake, birthday song and lots of balloons!! So I was all excited. I helped mom, dad & aunt with blowing balloons and decoration since morning. I was repeatedly asking for the cake, candles and knife.

My second birthday was celebrated at home with close relatives and friends. In the evening ammamma, thatagaru, uncles, aunties, other small kids started coming.


I was excited till that time but after looking at the number of people I slowly became nervous and was glued to my mom & dad.
I cut the cake with the help of mom & dad. Later all of us had cake and snacks followed by photo session.




While me, Rudransh & Aryan were involved in playing with toys, others were enjoying watching our play.

Overall it was a wonderful day. Thanks to all for making this day memorable.

My First Beach Experience

On the occasion of Sivaram uncle's marriage we had been to Ongole. We were six: me, my parents, Rajasekhar uncle, Sandhya aunty and Aryan. We had attended his marriage and by evenining we were back to the hotel in Ongole. The next morning we started to Kothapatnam beach which was roughly 20kms from Ongole.



This was my first visit to a beach. At the first site I got confused and stared at water for a long time. My mind was full of questions: What is this? So much of water spread all around? From where the water has come? I was a bit scared and tightly held my mom and dad. My facial expressions were reflecting my feelings.





The beach was clean with brown coloured sand. There were couple of families having fun with water. We kept our belongings aside and got ready to get into the water. We all started walking towards the water. Initially I was hesitant to get into the water but after sometime I got down and started walking. The tides were touching our feet and slowly I started getting excited. While me and mom were having fun with water, sandhya aunty and Aryan were also having similar experiece.

My dad and Rajasekhar uncle were busy with camera. After clicking few snaps they also joined us and we all enjoyed together. We spent about 2 hours in beach. I liked the place so much that I was reluctant to leave the place. Dad forcefully took me out and we returned back to hotel. Here is a video showing how I enjoyed :)



Apart from beach, I had another first experience: Watched movie in a threatre. On the way back to hotel, we decided to go for a movie. We had lunch and watched matinee show of "Maryada Ramanna". Me and Aryan fell asleep even before we reached theatre. Everyone expected that Aryan might not let us watch movie. To everyone's surprise, Aryan stayed calm throughout the movie and I started crying when the first song started and crowd started making lot of noice. Somehow dad managed first half with the help of Gems. By intermission all the Gems packets were completed and I couldn't stay in the hall. In later half of the movie I stayed out and mom and dad accompanied me in shifts.