Onam 2019 Fremont
Divya is busy making palada to complete her responsibilities for the onasadya we would have with Amruth/Anjana family, and Anjana's friend Anju and her mother. I am busy, buying last minute items like "thengakothu" for the payasam, trying to get the bathroom tubelights fixed etc.
Once cooking was complete, got busy, getting into traditional clothes. Meanwhile, Amruth and family arrived. But they were not in traditional clothes. Soon after Anju and family arrived as well. They were not in traditional clothes either. Amruth commented "This looks as though a bunch of north Indian families have barged into a malayali household".
Amruth had come, armed with a tripod and Canon Rebel. We walked around in the backyard, scouting for good spots to place the tripod. Based on a recent DOP experience with re-creating a childhood photo of my wife's cousin group, I knew that this is no trivial exercise. Amruth seemed to have clarity on what backgrounds would work well, and I contributed by not offering worse ideas.
Anju's son developed humidity related nose bleeding. While not alarming, Anju and her mother spent time helping Juan till the bleeding subsided.
We did our photographies - family photography, and group photography. Smooth and easy sessions.
Now, the question is how do we seat up for the sadya. I hardly had a plan on the seating arrangement. Amruth suggested that we just sit down on the floor and eat. Placed two table sheets in a line, and kept the plantain leaves on top. As the servings from the three homes filled the leaf, sadya looked very impressive. We had non-vegetarian items as well- prawns fry and chicken curry.
Sitting cross-legged and eating through was a bit painful to the heels which was being pressed down by the body weight. Amruth is a fast eater and was done before I got halfway. As the ladies were yet to eat, I was a bit under pressure to finish up enough rice to consume the fifteen curries that I had on the plantain leaf.
Once eating was over, it was time to serve food to the ladies. It has been ages since I have served against such a setting. I remember I used to love serving at gatherings in Thikkoti(native place) when I was in my sixth/seventh classes.
After all that eating, it is time for the some rest. As it was warm inside, Amruth suggested that we sit outside. Relaxed in our easy chairs, half sleepy. Meanwhile, it was tea time, and Divya brought us tea and snacks. Somewhere around this time, Anju and family left. Divya and Anjana also sat outside and we had our conversations.
Kids were all excited and playing with each other. Ishu (Amruth's younger one) and Kittu hung around with the dads and the moms. Ishu has gotten much more expressive.
It was about 6:30 PM now. Divya suggested that instead of going through the trouble of going home and setting dinner there, Anjana and Amruth could have dinner here and go home just to sleep. That was a pretty good idea. So we watched the movie "Thamasha" from inside the home now. That is when the topic of buying a soundbar to enhance the movie watching experience in TV came up. That will most likely happen.
After the movie, we had dinner. The dinner was a short one as the lunch had been a major one. After the quick dinner, we bade Amruth's family good bye. After the good byes, sat down at the blog. This is our second Onasadya this Onam, first one before Onam with Oak Park friends, and second one after Onam with bay area friends. Grateful to the friendships,
Once cooking was complete, got busy, getting into traditional clothes. Meanwhile, Amruth and family arrived. But they were not in traditional clothes. Soon after Anju and family arrived as well. They were not in traditional clothes either. Amruth commented "This looks as though a bunch of north Indian families have barged into a malayali household".
Amruth had come, armed with a tripod and Canon Rebel. We walked around in the backyard, scouting for good spots to place the tripod. Based on a recent DOP experience with re-creating a childhood photo of my wife's cousin group, I knew that this is no trivial exercise. Amruth seemed to have clarity on what backgrounds would work well, and I contributed by not offering worse ideas.
Anju's son developed humidity related nose bleeding. While not alarming, Anju and her mother spent time helping Juan till the bleeding subsided.
We did our photographies - family photography, and group photography. Smooth and easy sessions.
Now, the question is how do we seat up for the sadya. I hardly had a plan on the seating arrangement. Amruth suggested that we just sit down on the floor and eat. Placed two table sheets in a line, and kept the plantain leaves on top. As the servings from the three homes filled the leaf, sadya looked very impressive. We had non-vegetarian items as well- prawns fry and chicken curry.
Sitting cross-legged and eating through was a bit painful to the heels which was being pressed down by the body weight. Amruth is a fast eater and was done before I got halfway. As the ladies were yet to eat, I was a bit under pressure to finish up enough rice to consume the fifteen curries that I had on the plantain leaf.
Once eating was over, it was time to serve food to the ladies. It has been ages since I have served against such a setting. I remember I used to love serving at gatherings in Thikkoti(native place) when I was in my sixth/seventh classes.
After all that eating, it is time for the some rest. As it was warm inside, Amruth suggested that we sit outside. Relaxed in our easy chairs, half sleepy. Meanwhile, it was tea time, and Divya brought us tea and snacks. Somewhere around this time, Anju and family left. Divya and Anjana also sat outside and we had our conversations.
Kids were all excited and playing with each other. Ishu (Amruth's younger one) and Kittu hung around with the dads and the moms. Ishu has gotten much more expressive.
It was about 6:30 PM now. Divya suggested that instead of going through the trouble of going home and setting dinner there, Anjana and Amruth could have dinner here and go home just to sleep. That was a pretty good idea. So we watched the movie "Thamasha" from inside the home now. That is when the topic of buying a soundbar to enhance the movie watching experience in TV came up. That will most likely happen.
After the movie, we had dinner. The dinner was a short one as the lunch had been a major one. After the quick dinner, we bade Amruth's family good bye. After the good byes, sat down at the blog. This is our second Onasadya this Onam, first one before Onam with Oak Park friends, and second one after Onam with bay area friends. Grateful to the friendships,
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