Oh September!

September is waiting at the threshold to give way to October to come in and start off. I mean the whole September just zipped by and I had no idea what happened to the days. Dates, ok. But days – it was so difficult to be sure what day it was, or is. The reason was because we were in the middle of a major project – shifting from our rented apartment to our own house. It was a big deal.

The process had started off a couple of weeks back but the actual chaos commenced in the beginning of this month. It began with the grihapravesham, a traditional Indian housewarming ceremony. We had a pandit come home to conduct the ceremonies, which included a few pujas like the Ganesh puja, the Navagraha puja, the Vaastu puja and a few more. Not much into traditions and ceremonies, my husband’s conditions were very specific – it has to be a quick, short and sweet ceremony. The traditional Indian ceremonies can go on and on and on for hours and days and months, if you allow it. So cut to the present-day, it was short and sweet, and of course brief. We sat through the whole thing without understanding much of what the pandit was chanting since it was I think in Sanskrit. The end result – we felt good; the house was blessed by the gods and now we were all set to move in.

Now started the next phase of the movement – the actual movement. The packers had to be called in to pack all the heavy wooden furniture so lovingly collected over the years, with no thought given whatsoever to such eventualities. Anyways, it happened. It took the whole day to pack everything up. That night it was a kind of adventure for the kids, to be sleeping on the floor with packed cartons all around them. Just something to look back on and narrate with incredulity and amusement. Finally, we moved the next day into our new house.

This was not the end of the drama. I had two days to get things organised before the Ganesh Chathurthi, a festival we celebrate with great vigour at our place. And to add to the excitement, it was my younger one’s birthday, tenth birthday to be more specific. So there goes, the clock was ticking away faster than we wished and we were working maniacally trying to get things into some form of order. The day went of with rounds of unending festivities. The morning was dedicated to the Ganesh puja. The decorations, Prasadam, muggus (or rangolis, as it is popularly known as) – the works. Everything was done with unmatched dedication and piety because it was the first puja in the house. After that we moved the attention to the little one and the birthday celebration in the evening. Believe me, it was one packed day.

But this was not the end of our festivities. A day later, a gang of five giggly girls landed up at our home (I love the sound of it, our home) to celebrate the birthday of their dear friend. So, there goes the weekend. The menu was dictated by the gang and of course customised to their palates. It’s always a pleasure to host these little devils. They make you feel like the best cook around. Anyways, that day too was no different but I think I would have enjoyed it more had it been after a few more days. Right then I was just too exhausted to relish the moment. But all’s well that ends well. And the gang of girls left happy and content, and I felt bliss. My little one was on top of the world having spent the whole day with her friends (I guess it kind of gets lonely when you move to a new place and you miss your friends even more).

Wait, its not over! Roll over the weekend and it’s my dear husband’s birthday. Poor guy, didn’t even get as much as a token gift. All he got was a hand made card from his princess (with his age marked nice and big on the cover!) and an amateurish chocolate cake. Trying to track first the ingredients then the baking dish was quite a task since we were still living out of suitcases and packing cartons. But we managed something, perseverance pays. The cake was not the best I had made (or wanted to make) but would do under the circumstances. Like he said on cutting the cake, it’s the efforts that matter. So there, full marks to me for the efforts. And double marks to him for being him.

So with his birthday ended our list of events for September. Did I tell you that all these above-mentioned events happened one after the other in about ten days or so? Yes, one  unavoidable event after another, every other day. I’m telling you, if you thought shifting was a nightmare, think about our state then?

Shifting we are used to. Have moved bag and baggage every two years or so (perks of being in the defence services). But this was like the ultimate test of our years of experience. Truly a test. And if I may say so, we passed with flying colours. The satisfaction at the end of it all to be able to move into one’s own home, celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi, have the birthdays – all in a span of twelve days was no joke. What made it memorable and kept us going was that we were doing it for us – our team of four – and that what matters.

So here’s to new beginnings!