The weekend went past in a snap. We pretty much spent the whole time in Kompally, just arriving home to catch some sleep and take showers. Being busy with socializing, I couldn’t take many pictures.

Kids had a great time during the entire weekend. All their gang teamed up to play a lot of games, given that we have lot of vacant area in the Kompally garden. The guest house here is constructed in record 81 days, for hosting the wedding.

After a very long time, got a glimpse of cricket (for about 3 overs) on Sunday evening. The 3rd ODI between India and Srilanka.

Ritu’s wedding on Sunday night is well attended. Could meet a lot of people during the event. Due to absence of rains this weekend, there are no glitches in arrangements. All items served in dinner are very tasty. Since there is a maratorium on non-veg during marriage, there are several veg specialities. One that stands out is the biriyani made with pieces of raw jackfruit. Not a common item you would find in dinner menus.

It is about 2.00am on Monday by the time we came home and settled for sleep. Kids are tired a lot. Waking them up on Monday morning was a little tough.

Friday night is Mehendi Function for Ritu’s wedding. After work, we headed to Kompally. Once done with the usual social hellos to every one there, it is chaat (don’t confuse this food type with the online thing we do) time. Then its time for snacks and wine. Tasted a glass of Nine Hills from Seagram’s for the first time. Thats enough for the day (or week?).

Meanwhile, kids and ladies are busy with the mehendi function along with activities and games. Once they are done, we had a long photo session. Beyond the photo session, kids (and some elder kids) danced to the music.

Rohit did a good job dancing to a couple of numbers. Spurthi solo danced very well for a couple of numbers. Anshu and Alekhya kept on dancing till the DJ guy is tired. 🙂

Here are some pics from the evening:

MehendiAug2008

The Sankranti get-together is fabulous. I am busy the entire Saturday with my directory work. I spent the Sunday morning planning for the activities for ladies and kids. Nirmala and myself had a brief chat about the gifts and material required for the planned games. I also played cricket with kids for a short time. After lunch, we headed for Antervedi in 3 cars. We took some pictures at Godavari on Chinchinada bridge. We went to beach for a couple of hours. Ladies and kids had a good time there. After that, we went to the temple at Antarvedi. It was late in the evening by the time we returned home, after picking up a couple of relatives from Sakhinetipalli village.

I spent the entire Sunday night out with friends and relatives, most of the time playing card games. I returned home at 5.30am next morning and managed an hour of sleep before I got ready for Bhogi. We lit a small campfire that morning, which is the tradition for that festive day. This is the first day of the get-together and we had a breakfast at one of the makeshift tents at the activity venue. After breakfast, Nirmala started with activities for ladies and kids. We had a 30 minute show of Gangireddu (the bull fully decorated with clothes, beads and garlands). In this show, the front legs of the heavy bull are balanced on the legs/chest of the man from the team.

Nirmala did a very good job of engaging a couple of hundred ladies and about 25 kids till lunch. About 500 people took lunch on Monday at the venue. After lunch, I spent some time with friends and relatives socializing. The socializing went on till 4.00pm. In the evening, it is food time again. This time, the numbers are similar to that of lunch. For desserts, I bought about 20 ice cream cones for kids at home. It really cooled off the tummies that are full of spicy biriyanis and chicken/lamb curries. I was so tired by 11.00pm that I slept till 6.00am next morning. Meanwhile Surya, Rohit and other kids had a nice time (even in the middle of the night) with the festive activities around.

Tuesday is a relatively low activity day in terms of people. I think the turnout would be about 400 people for breakfast and lunch. I spent most of my time distributing the directories. In the evening, we packed our bags and headed back to Hyderabad, leaving behind another one and half days of festival. It is tough to come out of such a festive atmosphere, but Spurthi and Surya have schools the next morning and we can’t help it.

Sankranti2008

Once the planned movie is canceled, we headed to Kompally village for lunch. Rohit, my brother’s son, joined us along with Sekar’s family. We went to Magna food court on Kompally highway, which is close to RK’s place. RK’s family accompanied us for lunch. Once we had lunch, all of us (except RK) went to Splendid Aparna’s model house. This time I took my camera to shoot some pics, but I ran out of batteries very soon. I managed to cover all the rooms. I may upload the pictures later in the weekend.

We went to RK’s place in the evening and kids spent some time playing there. We headed home by 6.45pm and reached home by 7.30pm for dinner.

We had a get together of the family members on Saturday night. The event is to make sure that Sunitha and kids meet all the close relatives, without the need to actually go and visit them. We initially wanted to do this event when Ravi is around, but his short trip didn’t give a chance for such a planned event.

The get together is at a local club in Film Nagar area. We expected about 60-70 guests and our calculations are right on spot. We started gathering at about 6.30pm and the party went on till about 10.00pm. Kids have enough room to play and they also watched part of the movie being played on big screen.

Nidhi is a little tired earlier in the day, but she did very well through out the party. Nikhil is on high spirits for the entire session. Spurthi and Surya are in their usual mood of high spirits during the party.

It is also a chance for me to try out my new formal wardrobe. :-). It indeed surprised many guests to see me in a dress other than shorts or jeans.

Being part of the hosting family, couldn’t manage to cover everyone in my photographs. Here are some memories from the get together.

Party