Nalini's Annaprasan

We had a busy and wonderfully fun long weekend. On Wednesday evening, Didima arrived around dinnertime. Sonali waited up staring outside her window for hours after we put her to bed until Jishu Mama and Richa Mamima arrived as well. We were all so happy to have everyone together for the holiday. For Thanksgiving dinner, we all joined our old friends Avi and Bruce at their new home. The meal was delicious, the company was wonderful, and Nalini even let me sit down for about an hour!

Friday we all began the preparations for Nalini's rice eating ceremony by going to the temple in the morning to get blessings from Ganesh. Here we are just before leaving for the temple.



Ma then spent many hours in the kitchen putting together one of her signature gourmet meals for the Annaprasan luncheon on Sunday. As we spent the final moments getting the last details arranged, Jishu Mama and Nalini enjoyed some quality time together.



As the maternal uncle, Jishu had the honor of feeding Nalini for the first time. She began with traditional rice pudding, payesh.



While Sonali wasn't sure about this foreign texture, Nalini was quite happy to be experiencing something new and delicious. She opened wide as the rest of us, including Sonali, all took turns feeding her bites of payesh.



As Didima prepared Nalini's thali of food, Sonali helped us set up the part of the Annaprasan where Nalini chooses an object that is supposed to offer us some insight into her future career. She had to select from a pen (scholar), money (a businesswoman), a religious text (a religious leader), and grass and earth (a property owner). At first, Nalini wasn't very interested in any of the objects, but when Sonali offered the pen, it went right into her mouth, and dollar was about to go the same way as well. So perhaps she will be a scholarly businesswoman?



Next, Richa Mamima appeared with the thali of food for Nalini, and Jishu Mama fed her tastes of chicken, fish, chickpea curry, mixed vegetable curry, rice, yogurt, and sweets. She found all of it interesting and is definitely interested in this new eating adventure...



...but after all the excitement, she was truly exhausted!



Thank you to Didima, Jishu Mama, and Richa Mamima for joining us on this special occasion and for helping us to make it happen!