The first Mumbai visit
Hey Bumpsie,
I finally got some time today to write. Yes, the last few weeks have been busy and you should know that in the last month, you just completed your first ever trip to Mumbai. That's your real 'hometown' as such.
There were two major reasons for the visit. I'll mention the second reason first - and that is to celebrate Papa abu's 65th birthday on 9th of September, 2018
We went to one of his favourite restaurant in MiG club and ordered some of his favourite food
Your Mumma went and brought 3 nice shirts that day and she told me that I could keep one of them, but he liked all 3 and kept them all :)
The cake was yummy too and trust me, as you are growing there will still be multiple visits to MiG club and you are going to be showered by gifts from both Papa abu and Mumma aaji
The primary reason, however, was to celebrate the festival of Ganeshotsav
I just want to stop and give you some perspective here, as I will be introducing you to several new characters who you will be seeing in your lifetime
We always celebrate Ganpati in our family home in Ghatkopar, which is a surburb in Mumbai. Your Papa abu stayed there for a long time and even I grew up in that house for the first 8 to 9 years' of my life. The custom of bringing Ganpati was started my grandmother (whom we all call as Amma) almost 50+ years' back and in those early days, the Ganpati festival would be celebrated for all 11 days. However, since her death in 1989, we only celebrate it for 1.5 days
Right now, Papa abu's elder brother - Baba abu stays there with his family and hosts the festival and we all go there and help out with the decoration, food prep and other activities
The process starts a day earlier with what we call as Vayana Puja, where the married ladies of the house perform a puja with decorated coconuts. The rest of us help with the decoration of the pandal where Ganpati bappa would eventually sit
This year, since everyone was busy, I did most of the decoration and since we decided to keep it simple, it turned out to be quite quick and nice
Here is what we normally start with:
And this is what it finally turns out to be:
I shall not get into the technical details of the decoration process right now, but trust me every little bit you do goes a long way in making this festival a success
Apart from all the pujas and yummy food, it is also a perfect oppurtunity to catch with with friends and cousins in one go
So, all in all, this was a quick summary of the first visit to Mumbai through your Mumma's womb. Next year, hopefully, you will be able to attend in person, though I doubt very much you would understand or make sense of any of it
Just take care and don't cry if you happen to see too many strangers :)
I finally got some time today to write. Yes, the last few weeks have been busy and you should know that in the last month, you just completed your first ever trip to Mumbai. That's your real 'hometown' as such.
There were two major reasons for the visit. I'll mention the second reason first - and that is to celebrate Papa abu's 65th birthday on 9th of September, 2018
We went to one of his favourite restaurant in MiG club and ordered some of his favourite food
Your Mumma went and brought 3 nice shirts that day and she told me that I could keep one of them, but he liked all 3 and kept them all :)
The cake was yummy too and trust me, as you are growing there will still be multiple visits to MiG club and you are going to be showered by gifts from both Papa abu and Mumma aaji
The primary reason, however, was to celebrate the festival of Ganeshotsav
I just want to stop and give you some perspective here, as I will be introducing you to several new characters who you will be seeing in your lifetime
We always celebrate Ganpati in our family home in Ghatkopar, which is a surburb in Mumbai. Your Papa abu stayed there for a long time and even I grew up in that house for the first 8 to 9 years' of my life. The custom of bringing Ganpati was started my grandmother (whom we all call as Amma) almost 50+ years' back and in those early days, the Ganpati festival would be celebrated for all 11 days. However, since her death in 1989, we only celebrate it for 1.5 days
Right now, Papa abu's elder brother - Baba abu stays there with his family and hosts the festival and we all go there and help out with the decoration, food prep and other activities
The process starts a day earlier with what we call as Vayana Puja, where the married ladies of the house perform a puja with decorated coconuts. The rest of us help with the decoration of the pandal where Ganpati bappa would eventually sit
This year, since everyone was busy, I did most of the decoration and since we decided to keep it simple, it turned out to be quite quick and nice
Here is what we normally start with:
And this is what it finally turns out to be:
Apart from all the pujas and yummy food, it is also a perfect oppurtunity to catch with with friends and cousins in one go
So, all in all, this was a quick summary of the first visit to Mumbai through your Mumma's womb. Next year, hopefully, you will be able to attend in person, though I doubt very much you would understand or make sense of any of it
Just take care and don't cry if you happen to see too many strangers :)
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