A Delightful 60th Birthday Celebration

It would seem SFV is fast becoming a 24x7 entertainment, cultural and religious centre what with the recent Onam, Ganesh Puja, Rajyotsava celebrations interspersed with such semi-private and private celebrations as the Soundarya Lahari Saptaha chanting sessions  that will go on till Thursday organized by SFV Satsang, and the breathtaking Devi Puja celebration organized by Sudharshan Acharya, Panindra, Naveen Kashyap, et al. 

As though these are not enough, Abhishek and Aarthi, the son and daughter of Ravi and Mythili Ravichandran of Ebony 7242, wanted to watch a re-enactment of their parents’ marriage. And the best prescribed means in the Hindu rituals is to celebrate their parents 60th birthday and see, and let others also see, how their parents got married. 

Result? Abhishek flew from USA (alas, his wife Shruthi could not join because of visa constraints) and Aarthi from UK to conduct a wonderful ceremony full of mirth and enjoyment, and at the same time not missing out on religious aspects – a full-fledged Rudra Ekadasi with the mass chant in unison reverberating the Ebony tower and reaching out the adjoining towers, and an enchanting Carnatic musical extravaganza in the evening by none other than Ravi and Mythili’s daughter Aarthi, an undoubtedly accomplished singer who enthralled the audience for nearly two hours - all this yesterday evening in their home and in the Club House.

Today’s itinerary, the real Sashtiabhtapoorthi celebration, was organized in the Finer Side hall, a stone’s throw from SFV.  Among other families in SFV, Ravi had invited all members of the SFV Vedic Chant group. He has been a member ever since he moved to SFV.

We split our group into three or four teams so that we ply minimum number of cars to the venue. When we reached an hour before for the10.30 Muhurtam, we prided that our group would be among the firsts to reach there. But alas, cars were already lined up till the end of the main road, and my friend Kaleeswaran had to drop us at the gate and go on a hunt for a parking space.

No sooner had we entered the building than one of Ravi’s relatives, a la traffic policeman, with one hand stretched and another waving to the right, directed us to the breakfast hall. Since it was a 10.30 muhurtam we had our breakdfast at our respective homes and agreed we would just have a cup of coffee. But seeing the others at the table relishing the menu, we didn’t particulaly object to the caterer spreading the banana leaves for us. But we swore to ourselves, ‘not more than sample bits’. But when we headed to wash our hands, we felt, ‘yet another violation of our resolution’.

Ganesha Vadhyar & Co. – the priest for this function.  Yes, he made his debut in Sobha Forestview when our Vedic Group invited him years ago to perform Yajur Karma for SFV residents in the adjoining Madheswara temple foregoing his own established clientele in his home base Banasvadi. Since then, to the benefit of both SFV residents and himself, he is the de facto priest for many residents. Added to that, both his elder brothers operate separate catering services – one styled Gauri Shankar caterers, and the other Shabari Catering services. We had the experience of Gaur Shankar Caterers on an early occasion when he did a creditable job, and today we experiences the taste of Shabari catering services. The fare was sumptuous, done to perfection, and accompanied by generous services with no hurry to seat the next batch.

Photo session is inescapable on such occasions. A couple of snaps were taken with the Vedic group members lined up, which served two purposes: one, Ravi’s 60th birthday, and the second, Venkatachalam mama’s 50th marriage anniversary. Friends clamoured for separate celebration of 50th anniversary, and Venkatachalam mama turned to me to name the restaurant. ‘No more after such a heavy dose,” I said and brought a possible yet another celebration to a grinding halt, more so with Diwali celebrations on the card.