COUSINS & Me

I feel guilty for not updating my blog since a long time..........As i was pondering over what to write, I suddenly realized that this past month of mine was hustle and bustle time with my cousins.

As it was the marriage time of my cousin cum best friend, Veena (height of co-incidence: my other cousin sister Karunakka also got married on the same day 9 yrs back, so both the Enagandula daughter's got married on the same day), we cousins had a gala gettogether in the past month. We met each other almost every other day for shopping, for the rituals and functions. As Cousins, we usually make it a point to meet atleast 3-4 times a year for our annual get-togethers: once usually in summer, the other for Raksha Bandhan and once more for paying tribute to our forefathers. The fun and joy whenever we meet is beyond words.....
Nowadays life has become mechanical and everybody is very very busy in their own lives. But moments like weddings and get-together's bring everybody from their hiding closet. When we started off as kids, I remember my grandfather used to proudly announce that he has 19 grandchildren. But now this family has become very very big: sorry i lost the count. With most of my cousins married and only a few of the younger lot being single, we have a lot of kids running amuck at every occasion. The oldest among the next generation is 10 yrs old Ritika and the youngest is the cute 1 yr old Vidhi. All the chintar-pintar's call me AKKA (BUA in my family is referred to as AKKA). Only 2 of the chintar-pintar's Vrinda & Bhairavi (my cousin Karunakka's daughter) call me PINNI (Choti Maa). The rarer the word, the more fond you are of that. Hence I love hearing PINNI from Vrinda's cute little mouth. Bhairu is too young & shy to call me yet.
This year at Veena's marriage i also met my cousin Saritakka's kids who live in Nizamabad for the first time - Sanmukhasai(Sai) and Himavaishnavi(Vaishu). Like all kids they are amazingly cute and sweet. Must add that Sai is also very very smart. All of 5 yrs and he impressed me with his strong memory and excellent communication skills. I was surprised that he missed me when he couldn't see me for a day or two and was asking his mom for me. Both the kids and my cousin's later went Mumbai Darshan to Juhu Beach & Iskon temple in the evening.
The Wedding preparation and excitement towards the wedding had bundled up for over a month but in hardly a few hours time the Wedding was over. The next 2 days were the usual rituals of pooja and feast as happens in all weddings and we cousins had few more reasons to meet up. Now that the wedding is over, everybody is back to their own busy lives. Now I guess another grand get together of us cousins would be due on Raksha Bandhan. Until then telephones hain na!!!!!!!!!!!!