Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Namakaranam a.k.a Naming Ceremony

This is the day, I got my offical name(s) (religiously, not legally).

According to family tradition, this is done on 21st day of my birth.(30 Dec 2007)
As per my mother's wish, the ritual is performed in temple(Sri Siva Vishnu temple). My dad thought it would be appropriate to do in presence of Goddess Saraswathi, after all, I was named after her. Well, I was not old enough to make my wishes clear, so the ceremony was done according to their wishes. On this day, I had to be named with 3 different names with each of them having its own significance, so the priest says.
  1. Nakshatra Naamam - Yogya (Based on birth star, has to start with telugu alphabet "YO")
  2. Vyavahara Naaman - Sahiti (Social/Legal Name)
  3. Maasa Naamam - Srinidhi (Based on birth month, has to be one of Goddess Lakshmi's names) -
My dad had to write all the three names with his ring in a rice plate. Besides that, all I remember from that day is my mom and dad speaking (may be, telling me) those name in my right ear three times.
In case you are wondering, I don't have any pictures from the ceremony, as it is performed in the temple and photography is prohibited inside the main temple.

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Semblance and resemblances

Hi there,
First of all, thanks everyone to check out my blog and special thanks to people who took time to post their precious comments. As you all know, I wanted to blog more often, but this delay has to be attributed to my lazy dad. Anyway, I made him promise (part of new year resolutions) that he would post at least once a week, if not more.
Coming to the topic of today's post, I wanted to gather as my opinions on my features (like I took after my mom or dad). Many people were not able to offer any opinion saying that it is difficult to say for new born, they keep changing very often, etc.
But these are the excerpts from the few experts who dare to offer their opinion.

  • Looks like my paternal aunt (Vani), especially when I was in new-born stage.
  • Cheeks and chin like my mom.
  • Nose is like my aunt, Vani.
  • My dad says ears are like his.
  • My dad also says my toes are especially like his.
I wonder if anybody looks at toes and tries to elicit comparisons, till one day, one of my visitor (my father's friend Hari) mentioned the same that my feet are like my dad's. May be, my dad has a point too.
I'll ask my dad to add some more pictures for your validation of above points. What say you.