Ananya's second Birthday

It has been a long time since we posted..partly because there was no internet in the new
house where we moved to.
Our earlier house in Bangalore was an independent house, and our biggest challenge was to find playmates for Ananya.
We delayed joining her to a play school as we were informed that our own new apartment would be ready for possession by this june. This apartment was far away from our present house and therefore there was no point in enrolling Ananya to a nearby play school.
We did hope to be in our new house atleast by august.
So, we then decided that we will rent a new apartment with a decent play area and plenty of
kids. And rent we did, in a nice apartment complex in one of the upcoming areas in
bangalore.
As a bonus, I found a shorter route to my office. The most dreaded seven letter word for
bangaloreans "TRAFFIC" was no longer a nightmare for me as my route to work was relatively
less dotted with vehicles.
In the midst of our moving in activites, Ananya celebrated her second birthday in our new home.
For the month preceding her birthday, while lalitha and i were busy shopping for the event,
our little angel used to ask us why were were shopping (ofcourse in her own words). Lalitha
always used to reply "For your birthday,darling".. And Ananya used to immediately say "Happy
birday Ananya".While at home, she used to ask Lalitha "Mommy,give me sweet" and smiled so
cutely that lalitha invariably used to give her a sweet. Ananya used to get this sweet to me
and place it on my hand and say "happy birday Ananya" She used to do this so often, but
each time with a subtle variation, that never did it appear repeated to us. I really hope
that we continue to maintain the same levels of excitement in her for her coming birthdays.

For her traditional birthday per the Hindu calender on May 9th, we organised a private
"Ayushya Homa" in a temple. Ayushya Homa is a ritual performed over 9 days culminating in a
grand offering of Ghee and Food and sweets to the messenger of the Lord -"Fire". A section of
Hindus consider that the most sacred of the offerings to the Almighty will be made through
the medium of Fire. It is personal belief that this ritual will cleanse our mind and soul,
bringing us to peace with ourselves,thereby increasing longevity.
For her calender birthday on May 1st, We had a nice chocolate studded Winnie the Pooh cake
for her. Lalitha's parents were in for the birthday, as were a couple of my good friends.
We originally scouted for a outdoor venue for the birthday. But with the threat of rains
looming large ( it rained heavily in bangalore the few days on the run up to her birthday)
we dropped the idea and instead invited a truncated guest list to our house.The choice was made mostly to include parents and their toddlers.The birthday went great with Lalitha making some nice recipes and her by now famous Kaju barfi :-)
The event ended on a wonderful note. I will add the pictures shortly.