....and they lived happily ever after

         'What if?'  I always wonder 'what if?' What if i would have become an actor? What if your mother would have settled in the USA? What if she would have stuck to her decision of not marrying at all? What if i never had posted that profile on matrimonial site for fun?
         But, Life is something which happens to you when you are planning something else. Me and your mother both had different paths of life, but we were meant to meet on a crossroad and then make the journey together. It was not exactly a walk in the sunshine, but both of us shared an umbrella of love and survived all storms together.
         There was love, romance, togetherness, happiness. Family time, eating out, festivals, movies, weekend binge, vacations. There was a everything a happy couple needs. There were memories of togetherness, forgiveness of mistakes and a promise to never give up on each other.
         But, it was a bubble of happiness. A hollow bubble filled with emptiness. A life which was incomplete. Something was missing. The jigsaw of our marriage lacked a very important piece. And it took 9 years for us to complete it.
         Between 9th November 2010 to 9th November 2019, we celebrated 8 marriage anniversaries, partied with family, remembered our love. But this year was different. This year, our marriage seemed complete. Marriage is held together by threads, hundreds of tiny threads which are sewn together through years. But, you are the strong bond, which is going to keep these threads together and make our marriage stronger.
       We celebrated at home with malwani food in the afternoon, celebrated again at night with some starters and cold drinks, celebrated the next day afternoon at deepa restaurant along with Aatu to celebrate her birthday and celebrated again on Sunday evening at Priya mavshi's home along with Kala aaji and all Kelekars. The only difference between this year's celebration was you were a part of all celebrations.Rather, this year we were not celebrating our marriage; we were celebrating the reason we were destined to marry - YOU.

....तोचि दिवाळी दसरा

        Memory has always been my strongest asset. And most of my childhood memories; the good ones; have been asoociated with festivals, celebrated with friends and families. Ganpati, diwali, raksha bandhan, bhaubeej, holi have given me some real sweet moments of my life. And the moments became sweeter when your mother came into my life. Diwali had more lights and Holi was more colourful, with her around.
        This is your year of firsts and for us, your first festivals made them more meaningful. After celebrating gatari along with your monthly birthday on 1st August, we were ready for Shravan with great anticipation and excitement.
       On 15th august, we celebrated your first ever rakshabandhan. Madhavi (bhurra) aatu came to our place along with aaryaa tai and aadyaa tai. You were extremely fascinated by the huge doll-like figure tied on your hand. Later you were more attached to your first ever return gift - diapers.
      There was another rakshabandhan on 18th August. Yogesh mama and Shekhar mama had come home to tai rakhi to your aai along with all the mavshis (swapna, priya, sonali). Sanveda tai and Sannah tai tied very cute rakhis on your hand, One was a chhota bheem and other one was a light-emitting doremon. There will be a day when you will be attending weddings of all the tai-log. You are the youngest child in both families and hence are getting the most amount of love from them. I hope you return the love and stand like a rock besides them when they need you.
     18th August was not only the day of rakshabandhan, but also the day of your first Satynarayan puja. We were doing it since last 2 years, and i hope when you are reading this, we would have done a puja every year. It brings the whole family together in a much different way than a party. I can't explain it, but there is vibrancy and a positive energy in the air.
     Aai wanted Khadilkar guruji for the puja and her wish came true. Deu was assigned with the food, but the breakfast (sabudana khichdi) was prepared by your aai and the prasad was made by Mah-aaji.
You made a cute picture with white kurta with jacket and white dhoti. Looking like a shetji, your aura was competing with that of the almighty. And above all, like a good kid, you did not trouble us at all and allowed the whole puja to be conducted smoothly. There will be a time in a few years, when we will do your 'MOONJ' and then you will be the one who will be doing the puja and dadda will be sitting on the sofa with a tear in one eye and pride in the other.
     One more interesting festival we celebrated was Dahihandi. Aatu, Aadyaa tai and Aaryaa tai painted the handi. I had bought a lot of things to dress you up like a bal-krishna and you looked exactly that. Tying the handi on the rope was a task, but getting you up on my back to break the handi was great fun. The handi never broke, but there was dahi on our clothes and the floor. There was mess and laughter everywhere and another day to remember.
     Ganpati for me were the happy days at dombivali, which has made the bond between the Vengpande cousins stonger. For you, it will be the happy days at Mulund, where you will create memories with Aadyaa tai, Anusha Tai, Yana Tai. One day, you will be singing aartis loudly and feasting on modaks. I hope the next generation of cousins will continue our legacy.
    Along with these festivals, there was also Sanveda tai's birthday, Dah-aaji's 70th birthday and Aditi aatya's baby shower. Navratri and dusshera followed and Aatu gifted you a gold 'Aapta' leaf. Your 'ushtavan' was a major function which i have discussed in the previous blog. One more major happening was your first haircut by a barber in vagdevi.
     But, one thing me and aai were waiting for was Diwali. With your birth, this was indeed a 'diwali' for us. There was shopping, lights, lanterns, kandil, diyas and rangoli. There was the early morning songs, the ritualistc oil massage and bath with 'ootna'. There was the ovalni, the breaking of 'kaarit', the faral and ovalni at aaba's place, the visit to aatu's place and then the celebration at Vagdevi.
   There was the usual gift and envelope sharing. There was bhaubeej- 3 of them. There was a bhaubeej with aatu and aaryaa-aadyaa tai at our place, one with kelekars at swapna aatu's place and one with kamat family at sona resort, kelve. There was the annual aai's irritation with crackers and there was also a 3 day stay by priya mavshi.
    Amongst all these, there were you. Shining like a bright light in an orange kurta, absorbing all the adulation, being the centre of attraction, being carried by various people, playing, eating and sleeping (with a little bit of cough). Diwali was always bright and auspicious, but it was more than that this year. Because, there were you.