May 06 Part 2

So many things happened since may 02 (Tuesday)
On May 3rd, the doc gave an early morning visit to Lalitha ( she was still in the hospital) and told her that she would be discharged in a few hours.
Lalitha immediately called me up and we were both excited that she would be coming home soon.
I went to the hosp to get the discharge formalities done. Alas, that was not the case to be. The docs wanted to observe lalitha and Ananya for some more time before discharge. I had a lot of diapers for Ananya, but i was ignorant of the need for baby wipes. At around 4pm i had to rush to ASDA to get some wipes. Baby nappies and wipes get exhausted so quick!
Lalitha's Amma( mother) was at home preparing for the homecoming. She was anxious when we didnt turn up as expected. she called up to enquire if everything was well with lalitha and the baby. Though our reply was in affirmative, I was not sure if she was convinced enough. it was 7PM when the discharge formalities were complete. And it was half an hour more before i could get a taxi to ferry us home.
When we finally reached home at 8.20, lalitha's Amma welcomed us with a traditional prayer. She also did something called 'Dishti' ( not sure what they call in english, but it is an invocation to God to ward off the evil and undo any damages done by the evil spirit). Amma held some salt and sesame seeds and something else in each of her closed fists and rotated them clockwise and counter clockwise infront of lalitha and the baby after chanting a prayer. After rotating her hands thrice in each direction, she puts the contents in her hand in a garbage can. (Some people put the contents on the road, with the intent that whoever or whatever steps on the contents will catch the evil, thereby freeing the original person from the evil. I personally am strictly against wishing somebody pain just to keep us well. So we dumped the contents in the garbage so that no one would step on them)
Lalitha was gleaming with joy that she finally arrived at home sweet home. She could eat home food now.
Ananya was very comfortable in her new surroundings. It is her home, till such time Dad and Mom decide to move to another house. She slept after her attempts to suck her thumb from her mittens didnt work exactly the way she wanted it to be.