Child’s Play – Akshara Rajaram

After many months of deliberations based on the dates suggested by Georgian, Victorian, Tamilian, Google, Flight and What-Not Calendars, we finally ended up at Tirupati for Akshara’s first mottai/Tonsure of head/Mundan/haircut. We were in for some royal treatment, thanks to some high-profile connections. So, the barber came over to our room rather than we going to the common area for the mottai. Akshara had witnessed Laya’s (her cousin) mottai and after having seen what Laya went through, she was very clearly not interested in the whole thing. But, after explaining her the benefits of a haircut (e.g. you get loooooong hair) and many such fictional stories, she was “ok” with the idea and was eager (presumably) for her first mottai.

But, it was much smoother than expected, thanks to modern technology. We showed a video of Laya speaking/singing a rhyme and Akshara thought that she was having a video conversation with her and got distracted. The mottai was done and Akshara was happy about it to the extent that she didn’t want to have a head-bath as she felt that the “mottai” would go away!

Her hairless condition meant that she could get ready at a moment’s notice to go out

Couple of weeks back, orbis school had organised a fancy dress event with the theme being “A community helper”, which incidentally was one of the themes in Tree House last year, when she went dressed up as a police woman/security guard. This year, she dressed up as a Dhobi/Laundry Wala, which kind of blended with her current hairstyle (or the lack of it).

written by Rajaram S

Last year, it was Krishna. This year, the plan was for Radha. Also, her playschool had asked all girls to be dressed up as Radha and the guys as Krishna for their Janmashtami celebrations. Akshara wore a demo-version to school as it would have been too much to expect her to keep everything on during the 2 hours at school.

So, in the evening, before the official puja/snack time, Radha was up and ready! Akshara is now very comfortable before the camera and very accommodating with her poses, but she is on a world of her own when it comes to her expressions! The matka, which was given to each student in her playschool, was her favourite prop for the day.

Akshara wanted to take part in the Puja. My uncle was also here and he was the one doing the pooja. if you see the photo below, you will notice the change in times. The sloka was being read out from a downloaded text file on the laptop

With lot of snacks like Murukku, Cheedai, Mysore Pak etc being prepared and kept right in front of our eyes, it turned out to be too tempting for Akshara. But, mom said that kids are exempted from the naivedhyam-ritual for god and are allowed to bite-in anytime and this is particularly applicable for naivedhyams to Krishna! I will never grasp the complexity of the rules of all the rituals.

With mama, mami and my mom also in Pune, the traditional as well as the culinary aspects of Krishna Jayanti were experienced to the fullest.

written by Rajaram S

written by Rajaram S

It was time for Akshara’s ayush-homam function, the one that is done on the first star-birthday and sometimes accompanied by the ear-piercing ceremony (pictures of this in a separate post). The “english-birthday” party in Chennai didnt require invitations to be sent as it was only for close family members. But, this one was an important function and required the presence of a much bigger group of relatives. The usual traditional invite was sent to the relatives by snail mail.

With so many people having an online presence nowadays, including cctogenarians, it was imperative to send out an email invite. I didn’t want to just scan the traditional invite and send it across. How many of us can understand the hardcore tamil stuff written on such invites? So, we wanted to prepare a collage to be sent along with email invite

We had bought the below photo-frame-clock in Lepus store in Cyprus (a great store for all kinds of trinkets!) with the idea that one day we would put in photos of Akshara taken on different months. Currently, the clock hangs in our hall, but with no photos. This concept seemed to fit a first birthday party.

I then got the image of a circular clock face to be super-imposed on top of the existing clock, so that i would be easily able to play around with the colours.

Then came the toughest part – choosing photos to put for every month of the first year. The first one was easy. That was the first photo of Akshara taken in the hospital in Cyprus. For every photo after this one, there was lot of debate between Vidhya and me. I would short-list the photos based on the time they were taken (1st month, 2nd month etc) and then we would choose the one to put on the invite. Also, i moved the minute hand of the clock a little to the right, as the function was actually 2 weeks after her actual birthday!

So, here it is, the collage showing the first 12 months of Akshara.

written by Rajaram S

Kholu time is the time to dress up well (at least for the girls of the house) every day. But, this doesnt mean that the guy in the house could have a field day. It meant that i had to maintain decorum in the house and also be in a presentable manner ! My mom was here and she had done her usual thing, the big Rangoli, which never fails to impress

Akshara seemed to relish the fact that friends came over every day. Of course, the best part she liked was getting dressed up in traditional clothes and being photographed!

written by Rajaram S