Mahekiya (মাহেকীয়া) - Function to celebrate one month

We celebrate the completion of first month of a baby in Assam. There is some puja followed by lunch or dinner. When Krishu completed one year, there was no one from our families with us. (I wrote about it in an earlier post. My mother-in-law had to rush back home). We went to a temple in Banasvadi to offer puja on January 25th.  Since the next day was a holiday (Republic Day), we decided to host the lunch on January 26th, 2008. We were then living in a rented house at Kasturi Nagar (House#211, 1D Cross). Our landlord Shankar-Ramen was kind enough to allow us to host the party at the terrace of the house.  For us that was also an occasion to meet some of our old friends. We were new to Bangalore and haven't met many of them after reaching Bangalore three months back.

I was looking for a decent north-Indian restaurant in Indira Nagar area who also does catering for parties. One of my colleagues Ashok recommended Raga at CMH road. I went to Raga and discussed the menu with Sandhya Pujari, the owner of Raga. The food was good. We had about 50+ guests that day.

Here is the link to the photo album for this function.

First month

Oh yeah, first month was really a tough time. Ekagra didn't sleep during the night for almost the whole of the first month. He was probably getting adjusted to the new environment after coming out of the comfort of mother's womb.

Dabu (my cousin) went to Assam for his semester break. Gitika's mom were with us. But we got a bad news: one of Gitika's uncles passed away who were also their neighbour at their native place. So my mother-in-law had to go back home. In third week, we were alone with the new born baby. My parents couldn't come as it was the time for panchayat (local body at the village level) elections and my mother was on elections duty. I couldn't go to office and worked from home during that period.

Finally Junti khuri (my aunt) and my cousin Jaanmoni volunteered to come here from Assam. They stayed with us for about a month. We will forever be grateful to my auntie and Jaanmoni for that help.

From baby-of-Gitika to Ekagra (Krishu)

He was officially nameless and remained baby-of-Gitika for initial some days. But Gitika had already started calling him with probably hundred different nick names.

Before he was born, both Gitika and I shortlisted some names. We bought three books on Indian names of boys and girls. One of these were written by Menaka Gandhi. I don't remember the names of the other two books. We googled for names. Both of us don't believe in astrology. We thought we won't consult astrologers to give our baby a name. Instead we would decide his or her name. We had certain criteria for the name:

1. It should be a sanskrit name with a nice meaning.
2. It should not be a commonly used name. (Shout for Manjunath in a moderately crowded place in Bangalore and you'll be surprised if half of the people respond to you:-) )
3. It shouldn't be a tongue-twisting name (my name Jyotirmoy is kinda tongue-twisting for people from south-India)
4. It shouldn't be a long name, preferably within three syllable.

On the basis of our criteria, we shortlisted some ten names of a baby boy and some ten names of a girl. We liked the name Ekagra (একাগ্র in Assamese and एकाग्र in Hindi) most for a boy.  Eka in sanskrit and many other Indian languages means one. Ekagra is a sanskrit word which means one-pointed, fixing one's attention on one point. Ekagra is an adjective. The noun form is ekagrata (একাগ্রতা).  It is also used as ekagra-chitta. This was a really unique name.

Our parents consulted some astrologers and they said that the name of the baby should start with kri (কৃ).  Gitika and I decided that we would give his nick name with that. We immediately thought of Krish which is shortened form of Krishna. But Gitika thought Krish was too common a name. So she modified it to Krishu (কৃশু in Assamese and कृशु in Hindi). Both us liked the name Krishu.

When I registered his name at the BBMP office, the official there told me that he knew the meaning of the name. He said it was one of the most unique names he has ever registered in his whole career at the office.

One of our friends blessed him that may he always be ekagra-chitta (single-minded and focused), and may his focus be on excellence, goodness and greatness.  Amen!

Thus baby-of-Gitika became Ekagra (Krishu).

Four days at Manipal Hospital

Ekagra was born in Manipal Hospital, Bangalore. Dr Jaya Bhatt was the gynecologist of Gitika. We were very happy with the services of the hospital. We were there for four days. I was with Gitika and our new baby all the time. My cousin Dabu and mother-in-law would come to the hospital in the morning and go back to our rented house in the evening. Dabu finished his semester exam and stayed back with us instead of going home immediately after his exam.

Our baby was still nameless. He was called baby-of-Gitika in all the records of Manipal hospital during these days.

Christmas Eve morning, 2007

We were blessed with a baby boy on December 24th, 2007.  As Gitika was taken to the operation theater (OT) in the wee hours, I was waiting outside with my cousin Dabu and my mother-in-law. It looked like the rush-hour in the maternity ward of Manipal Hospital. As we waited eagerly for the good news, many other babies were born. Doctors, nurses, other hospital staffs were busy running around. We didn't know if it was going to be a boy or a girl. I thought it would be a girl. Gitika thought it would be a boy. At around 8AM, some hospital staff announced: baby of Gitika. All three of us rushed. We saw the cute little baby. We were told it was a baby boy. He weighed 3.52 kg. He was wrapped in a green cloth. As I tried to hold him, he passed his first motion :-).  The hospital staff then took him away.