Spontaneous Serendipity

Wishing Everyone a splendid colorful Holi!

This was second holi at our current residence where we kick started the celebrations with the burning of Holika‘s pyre or Holi bonfire. It was nice to see lot of people turning up and performing “pooja” of the pyre. The participation in the event was more than our expectations as we were led to believe that no one was interested in performing Pooja. We had called few of our friends for dinner and it was very late when we were able to call it a day.

The next morning the first one to wake up was Neiv , all excited and ready to get drenched in the melange of colors. Even before we could go down and start playing holi, he was all soaked up in water!

The legend of Holi: In an attempt to kill his god loving son Pralhad, King Hiranyakashyap asked his sister Holika, who had a special gift that prevented her from being harmed by fire, to sit in fire with Pralhad in his lap. As Prahlad chanted God Vishnu’s name he was not hurt, but Holika was burnt to her death.

Holi celebrates the death of Holika and we see where Holi gets its name. The night before Holi pyres are burnt in keeping with this tradition. Holi is celebrated to mark victory of good over evil.

Find the photographs here

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Name: Neiv Malaviya
Date: September 23, 2006
Day: Saturday
Time: 08:19 Hours (AM)
Place: Gwalior

Special Notes:
About 23rd September
- On 2006 it was the 1st auspicious day of Maha-Navaratra (Holy Nine Days) of Goddess Durga
- It is the Autumnal Equinox
- Famous people born on 23rd September:
* Singer and Songwriter Bruce Springsteen
* Industrialist Robert Bosch
* Austrian psychiatrist Sigmund Freud

About Neiv’s Birth place – Gwalior:
- Named after Rishi Galav
- City of Legendary Indian Classical Musician Tansen and Baiju Bawra
- Queen of Jhansi (ki Rani) was martyred fighting British here
- Capital of Raja Mansingh kingdom
- The 6th Sikh Guru was imprisoned here
- Our Moms finished their graduation from the same college here.

The Story So Far…
The initial expected date that the docs gave was somewhere around 30th Sept and I had planned to fly directly to Gwalior (via Delhi) from Miami on around 26th. But as the Doc advanced the dates, I changed my plans and reached there on 23rd morning.

On arrival at 08:00 AM, I was informed by Rishi (my Bro-in-law) that Nandini was hospitalized early in the morning at 05:00 AM. I went home, took a shower and was ready to go as soon as possible but as I was about to leave for the hospital at 08:30 AM, we received a call from my mumi-ji (Mom-in-law) informing us about the arrival of our baby boy.

My Father-in-law immediately called my parents to inform about the good news, we (Rishi and I) immediately rushed to the hospital only to find my son Neiv waiting for me in his Granny’s arms. Time was about 08:47 AM when I first took Neiv into my arms. I inquired about Nandini’s health  and I was informed that she would be brought out from the OT in about 5 minutes. We used that time by getting acquainted with the new born and posing for some great pics for the family album.

Nandini came out after a while, I was so very pleased to see her well and smiling after a gap of around 4 months. And we all joined for a happy family reunion…

Click here to check the pics of Neiv – Week 1