Jul 30
Jun 29
Laya was here sometime back to visit Akshara. Laya is Akshara’s cousin (Vidhya’s bro’s daughter!) and she is 2 months younger to Akshara. We wanted to take a picture of all the girls, Vidhya, Srividya (Laya’s mom), Laya and Akshara. 4 girls in one perfect photograph, that would have been quite an achievement!
After Vidhya and Srividya settled down to a comfortable pose, we had to get the kids looking in the right direction, into the camera. It was easier said than done. Since i was behind the camera, i needed help in getting the attention of Akshara and also someone else to make laya look towards the camera.
Below is the photographic story of the attempt. I am writing “attempt” here, because it remained an attempt until the end!
First, both the kids decided to look left.
Then, they decided to turn right. Can’t blame the kids. There was something so distracting there, that one of the moms also decided to turn in that direction!
Then, their gaze slowly moved down. Maybe, they were sizing up some guy from top to bottom.
By then, Akshara wanted to get things moving on and gave a menacing stare at Laya as if saying “Cmon, look at the camera”, but without realising that Laya was indeed looking in the right direction.
Laya somehow sensed the stare and not wanting to be left behind, decided to stare back, right when Akshara had finished her stare and started looking at the camera!
Now, both realised that they were fooling around and decided to pose properly. Alas, they missed their target by a few degrees, each in a different direction.
Enough was Enough. Each one was getting frustrated at the inability of the other to concentrate and pose. A face-off was unavoidable at this stage. It reflected in a mean stare at each other.
To prevent things from getting worse, the moms had to intervene and act on a peace-making deal between Laya and Akshara. Finally, as every known fable goes, they became friends, for ever.
Nov 05
Akshara went through the thottil ceremony, not once but twice, one at Vidhya’s house and one at mine. Vidhya told me that Akshara had calmly gone through the make-up and “dress rehearsal” inflicted upon her. Below are some of the photos from the 2 ceremonies. I can’t wait to go to India, at least to take good photos of Akshara 
It is difficult to photograph Akshara without a flash, as she always seems to be in her stretching routines!
She really looks concerned in the photo above, with the amount of jewelry adorning her. She always seems to be more relaxed in someone’s arms, as is seen in the photos below with my dad and my brother.
