Family Celebrations

The last weekend of 2007 and the first weekend of 2008 were filled with gaiety, family bonding and celebrations.

Just before the year ended my cousin sisters from America threw a surprise bash for their parents on the occasion of my aunt and uncle’s 40th wedding anniversary is style at the Carcosa Seri Negara, a midst a colonial landscape. Joining merriment were family members and very close friends.

My cousin sisters and their families produced a book capturing the significant journey of their parents from India, subsequent marriage in Kuala Lumpur, their travels and their final home in Washington. It was really great to see black and white photos of yonder years…the growing up years… up to present moment. It brought back memories… I, of course looked very slim…so many years ago…ah…ah! Lots of thought and effort must have been put in by all of them in producing the book and the end product was simple breathtaking.

My cousin’s eldest 8 year old son gave a welcoming speech for his grandparents which he proudly wrote himself, portraying images of young blood in the family trees.

It was really great of my cousin sisters to celebrate this joyous occasion, as my motto is all occasions must be celebrated in a big or small scale, family moments with young and old must be cherished.

The second function was spent in Singapore. My granduncle celebrated his 80^th birthday or Sathabhishekam. My family including my brothers and their families joined this grand gala. My granduncle and grandaunt have in fact seen their 3rd generation as they now have 2 great grand children, besides 6 grandchildren. So there were immediate families, extended families, distant relatives, friends, about 600 people gracing this religious celebration in the Sri Thendayuthapani Temple in Singapore with traditional pomp and flair.

The function consisted of two parts, which on the Saturday night, a pooja (prayer) was held and on Sunday morning there was a wedding ceremony where my granduncle and grandaunt renewed their matrimonial vows. Both bride and bridegroom, looked energetic, radiant and had an air of accomplishment. Yap! It not every other day people get a chance to celebrate their 80^th birthday and renew their marriage vows at that age…it was a wonderful sight to watch and to record in our memories.