Deepavali with the baby

The new arrival at 16 subra, joined us to celebrate deepavali this year. He is so tiny, just six weeks old. Years hence he will be wielding the giant match stick and blasting crackers in the roadside. Years later he cannot wait for deepavali to go shopping for the latest crackers hitting the market. Years later he would want trendy and latest fashion outfits for deepavali. Years later he would wait for the long holidays of deepavali to be with his grandparents. Years later he would be jabbering non stop on the phone/skype or any other latest communication tool to share his excitement as a run up to deepavali. Years later he would come back home grubby and hair all ruffled and demand his share of sweets and other eatables and having had his fill, will grab some more and rush out.

But for now, he slept through the morning  and had a nalangu done on his so so tiny feet. He had his ganga snanam in proper way with his mom singing 'ksheerabdi kanyakaku' and tenderly massaging oil on his body and scalp. He wore new dress alright; yes one among the 51 new dresses that he has acquired in such a short time. He then kept me and my daughter busy with his gimmicks, with the result, it was a while before I had my snanam and much later his mom was able to have hers. All set for 'legiyam' which we dutifully consumed. Junior would get his in due course!

All the calls from family and friends right from morning were about how the baby is coping with the noise.They gave free advice as to how to handle the situation!
In the evening the noise levels in the colony rose up alarmingly. D had already done some spadework and identified one room on the groundfloor which was relatively sound proof. So the baby and mother took refuge there and entertained themselves. Soon our neighbours knocked on the door and asked solicitously how the baby was coping up with the noise. We said he is so far managing okay. They said they are only doing some ground chakras and flower pots inside the compound. Not to stop with that they had gone out and requested the neighbours to take their loud crackers a little farther away as there is a tiny baby in the house. So touched. So touched that we really have good neighbours!

Later in the evening we had our rockets and flower pots and ground chakram session in the terrace.  While the flower pots, the giant ones were really good, the rockets were a bit of a disappointment. A giant rocket called '3 shots' promised to be the best for the day, but turned out otherwise. It did not rise, but burst on the ground and sent splinters all over. We were aghast and took shelter just in time in the staircase  headroom. We saw lots of 'vaana vedikai'  and enjoyed the sky all around being lit up with some fire works or the other from the enthusiastic neighbourhood.

We took turns in being with the baby. He was peaceful looked around.He could spot smiling faces and new ones every few minutes. He enjoyed being the centre of attention and attraction. Kaju kathlis and thathai and murukku were duly consumed and that was curtain down for this edition of deepavali.