Anna (Sailesh) Engagement (Post 1 of 2)

Posting the snaps taken in the Engagement Cermony of my anna (Sailesh) that happened on November 20, 2005.

The snap below has the groom, bride and parents with the pundit for the rituals. There was a 15 min puja followed by the formal annoucement of the wedding date by the pundit. The 'reading' of the wedding date is a formal statement that includes the family history information of the bride and groom's parents and the annoucement of the 'star of the muhurtam time'


After exchanges of clothes by the parents for the groom & the bride, the exchange of the garlands and the rings....


and the throne ...


and the exchange of sweets .... (i can say, a reluctant anna - shy to give vodhina the sweet & even more shy to accept one !)


Some side snaps:

Look for the matchmaker on the 3 row exteme left side (Pandu Anna) and his wife - Savithri Vodhina (Exterme right, second row). Sailu Anna is seen standing, right behind amma. In the centre of the front row - Pedaamma (Pandu Anna's amma) and on the extreme right side, Vodhina's mother.


This is a special snap of Dad's family:
Front row (From L to R): Durga Atha (First of 6 children of my grand father., a.k.a - 1/6), Sushila Bama (My Grand Mother's younger sister), Prabavathi Athaiya (a.k.a Papai Atha - last of the siblings, 6/6), Amma (no intro required - the jewel), Aruna aamma (the eldest of the family's daughter-in-law), nagalakmi pinni (the third & last of the DILs).
Back Row: Santha Atha (4/6), Santosh Mavaya (Santha Atha's husband), Nanna (3/6 - cannot be better said), Gandhi Pedananna (2/6 - Eldest Son of the family), Banu Babai (5/6 - youngest son)
Thus you would notice all the siblings of my father in the picture. The only notable absentees - Gopal Mavayya (Durga Athaiya's husband), Chukkarao Mavayya (Papai Athaiya's husband)


Another Special Snap:

Durga Athaiya's family: The snap includes two of her three sons, their wives and children as well as the children of her first son (Mavaya, Prasad Anna - her first son, his wife are the only absentees in the snap). Note the 2 kids of the family at the back - Banu Babai's son: Satish (the last of the 'sons' of the Chatrathi Family) and Raghava (The youngest of my cousins)

There and back again (!) ... once more

Quite a few people complained about the lack of posts in the blog that just surprised me no end. Thus the blog will be active for sometime, till the laziness creeps in again.

Hey, the legions of cousins and friends need to promise me that they will start leaving comments for this blog to survive for a long time.

Controversy is the best topic to kickstart the blogs again and so here goes article 1,05,764 of 1,08,199 criticizing Darrell Hair - the headstrong umpire from Australia. If anything, he is apt to be titled "The J---" of contemporary cricket. Be it the Murali no-ball, Inzy's run-out ruling (for once Inzy was not at fault) and yesterday, the ball tampering incident.

I remember a lesson in my english lesson of school days, where a bus conductor implements a rule on not allowing dogs on buses, but breaks the spirit of the rule. The same is the case with Darrell Hair. I am not going to contest, his decision on ball-tampering, nor awarding runs to England. The main fault of Darrell Hair is that he acted no mature than the young lads (ok, Inzy at 36, is no young blood!) of Pakistan. Pakistan was unhappy of the ruling and decided to stay indoors and they got the right treatment from the crowd when they emerged (boo-ed strongly). Had Darrell Hair walked onto the ground, the crowd would have cheered for him, appreciated that he held the post of umpire with dignity. Instead, by refusing to have Pakistan back, he showed that he is strong-headed, old-school person with the maturity of a 10 year old. Forever, the blame of the forfeited test will be put on the shoulder of Darrell Hair, a truth that he will carry on his soul forever - as it would seem wise for ICC to lay guidelines to its members to avoid such drastic action in future.

What happened yesterday, was not part of a gentleman's game (far from it!)