My son's upanayana - lighter moments

We have planned for our son's upanayanam on june 3rd at Chennai. As 99% ofour relatives are at Chennai we have planned at nanganallur. 3 of my Brother inlaws are staying there around the mandapa. I have invited all my relatives andfriends and every one came and blessed us on this joyous occasion. This is thefirst big function which we celebrating on my side without my FIL's help(He is nomore now). I planned carefully and doesn't want to take any chance. I got fullcooperations from my inlaw side. In spite of severe planning we haveencountered some problems, which every body took it in a lighter way. I wouldlike to share with you all the lighter side of my son's upanayanam.2ndmorning was Thadhiyaradhana evening Udhagasanthi, 3rd morning 6 o'clock murtham(wehave to get ready by 3.30 am for the rituals to be fulfilled)
Ihave asked my parents to come to the mandapa directly by 9 am on sunday so thatthat the thadhiyaradhana(Formal invitation to elders) can be started by 9.30am. My brother in laws were busy in shifting things and kids to mandapa. wehave to get blessings from elders and to reach mandapa before 9 to receive myparents at mandapa. As the elders took time in getting ready we were late. Ihave asked my brother in law's sons to load my big suitcase which has ourdresses for the function. They thought that last in first out principle andbeing big it was left out. I received a call from my brother saying we are atmandapam and no one is there. Hurriedly we got blessings and went by foot to mandapa(whichis at 5 minutes distance) with 9 yards saree was difficult.:spin I got scoldingsfrom my Brother in law for not on time and no one is there to receive ourpeople.:bonk I went to myfather. He said " I thought I would be late by 15 minutes. Since you said9 am I rushed the taxi driver and make it possible by 9. are you happy now":hide:
Everybody went to have the lunch except we 3(hubby, my son and myself). vadhiyarcame and asked my son to tie the veshti(Dhothi). I searched the suitcase and foundthat alone missing(safe in house). It was too late to get the key and go andbring the suitcase as all are busy in eating . We managed with my brother inlaw's angavastharam .
Vadhiyarasked us to get ready by 4 pm for udhagasanthi. My brother's wife, brother inlaw's wife, my husband's aunt took 2 hours to do padi kolam on dias andentrance. every body appreciated the work and very difficult to catch the workon phone as the dias was too big.
Wegot ready by 3 p.m. suddenly big rain started. It rained unexpectedly and soheavily. only handful people were at mandapa and my inlaws had gone home to getready. vadhiyar found it difficult to come. so my brother in law took the carto bring them one by one. slowly 7 vadhiyars has come for doing japa. it was4.29 and I asked the vadhiyar to start as the ragu kalam is about to start. Thedias where the function is to be done is full of water as we forget the closethe door. water was flowing like a small river. So we did the japa down with asmall kolam.
slowlymy relatives started coming. They were full wet. so we hunted for towels towipe. The rain came to halt by 6.30 pm. The subway was full of rain, and manywho has to use that way has to return as there is not other route available.
Fora change, for dinner, we opted for chappati chana,(without onion and masala),sambar rice, rasam rice, vadam, curd rice pal payasam, gulab jamoon. We wereworring what would be the feed back as it is against the tradition. But everybody liked it as it was light and options are there.
Thatnight we didn't sleep properly worrying morning muhurtham should not getaffected by rain and other flaws. We got ready by 3.30 am and vadhiyar came ontime saying "I didn't sleep whole night just seeing clock and to get readyon time"
oneof the important ritual to be done by barber who has to cut the hair and theimportant other things starts. Since it was a early muhurtham we asked themandapam's manager to make the arrangement and he should be there by 5 am. Hepromised that the will be there on dot time. But he didn't turned up. So mybrother in law went in search of local barber and begged him and brought him ontime. Every thing went on well and the muhurtham ended in a grand manner.:cheers

Ishould thank my father who is 86 now, actively participated in the wholefunction inspite of his age, my mother, my brothers and sisters family, myinlaws family my mother in law (she took extreme strain in travelling by trainfrom Bangalore to Chennai and sitting at one place through out the function),friends and relatives who made this function grand and memorable one.
Aspecial thanks to Mr. Narayanan and his wife who made deliicious food, sweetand savouries for the function. Every body liked and appreciated his taste.Without him the function won't be that much success.
Specialthanks to the manager who made necessary arrangements, back drop and floralarrangement.
Heartfelt thanks to the photographer who catched the moments.
Finallygreat great thanks to my son who is 11 years. without his cooperation andinvolvement there is no use in doing this function. Now he is sincerelylearning sandhya vandhanam. My daughter too enjoyed the function.
sowhat ever arrangement we make, we should always prepared to face theunexpected.