'Radha' to 'Krishna'

Huh!!!!!! A big sigh of relief!! Finally, I drove away all his fears, lived up to his hopes and brought smiles of relief, happiness and satisfaction on his face!! Making this happen, tears of delight rolled down my cheeks!

Blame it on Prithvi’s hair which grew more than the size of normal one-year olds, as we have delayed the first hair-cut or the traditional tonsuring ceremony to his third year. I also shoulder a major portion of the blame, as I enjoyed this postponement, given my liking for girls and the fact that both my kids are boys. I made a single pony, two pony tails and used him as a muse to try out different hairstyles for the short, tender tresses. Then came the D-day, the day he dreaded the most and still has nightmares about, Janmashtami. I dressed Kaka, my elder one as Lord Krishna and the younger one as Radha. Being soft-spoken and tolerant by his nature, Prithvi never revolted or said ‘no’ to anything. Whenever he did not like something which he has to go through, Prithvi remained callous, shocked and stiff. One could not catch him crying over anything he did not want! He did the same thing as ‘Radha’ and followed my gestures mechanically and unwillingly, to pose for the photographs of Radha-Krishna, alongside his brother. 

We went to Tirupathi immediately after Prithvi turned 3 and offered his hair to the Lord. Gone are the days of curls and plaits and here are the days of hair-cuts and boyish hairstyles. Prithvi believed that he turned into a boy after getting his pony tails tonsured! I feel really guilty for having created such a perception in his mind! I was correct in my own way, but did not believe in toddlers being so much sensitive and emotional!

So, this year, as he turns 5 a week after Janmashtami, Prithvi started preparing me for the annual fancy dress affair, two months ahead of the time. He reminded me every day that he wanted to be Lord Krishna and having two Krishnas (both himself and his brother) is double the fun! He also suggested the choice of making ‘Balaram’ out of Kaka, as Balaram is the elder brother of ‘Krishna’(himself)! He questioned me over how to make butter. As I told that it is prepared from the cream that settles on the milk, which he loves the most (Prithvi literally asks me whether I have put the cream in his glass of milk every time he has it!). He offered to forego the cream until Krishnashtami, so that I can feed him the butter on the day as Yashoda does! Ten days before the festival, he wanted me to find where we can get peacock feathers and buy 2 eyes of them in advance just for him. He wanted to have them arranged in a forked manner on his crown, like real Krishna (who appears in ‘Mahabharat’ series on TV). I was totally mesmerized by his imagination, observation, planning and the groundwork he is doing to make me accept psychologically that he is ‘Krishna’ in a cool yet emphatic manner. I just kept evaluating his path of his thinking as a third person rather than his mother. I was also taken aback by the strong impression those young years with long hair made on his mind!!

Finally, the day has arrived. Though we never celebrate Krishnashtami as a huge festival with detailed festivities and preparations, it has gathered importance in our lives after I had my first son. He was just a month old baby when we made him Lord Krishna, which we enjoyed. From that time onwards, it has become a yearly ritual and the grandparents and the extended family would also be eagerly waiting to see the kids in the related attire. So, today I decided to add up few special dishes to offer as ‘Bhog’ to ‘Kanhaji’ and put up the idol of Lord Krishna swinging in the Brindavan. My cousin made 2 crowns for the boys, from chart paper, drew the peacock feathers in a ‘V’ for Prithvi and decorated them. Throughout the process, Prithvi has been pestering me to give bath. After I took him into the shower, he was totally excited. I draped him in a dhoti and secured it with an angavastram around his waist; drew the three-striped tilak on his forehead and chest; tied the colorful arm bands and wrist bands; adorned his neck with a long 3-step chain of pearls and garnets; and put the crown on his head. To add an element of surprise, I showed him the flute that I bought and asked him to hold. His face shimmered with joy and exhilaration. After I finished the puja, I fed him butter. There was no end to his happiness. He was not stiff!! He jumped with contentment and relief!! He stood with his legs crossed like Lord Krishna, held the flute with both the hands in a slanting way from his mouth, ordered me to take a photograph and share it with all the friends and family. Finally, he is ‘Krishna’ and not ‘Radha’!!  

'Radha' to 'Krishna'

Huh!!!!!! A big sigh of relief!! Finally, I drove away all his fears, lived up to his hopes and brought smiles of relief, happiness and satisfaction on his face!! Making this happen, tears of delight rolled down my cheeks!

Blame it on Prithvi’s hair which grew more than the size of normal boys, as we have delayed the first hair-cut or the traditional tonsuring ceremony to his third year. I also shoulder a major portion of the blame, as I enjoyed this postponement, given my liking for girls. I made a single pony, two pony tails and used him as a muse to try out different hairstyles for the short, tender tresses. Then came the D-day, the day that he dreaded and still has nightmares, Janmaashtami. I dressed Kaka as Lord Krishna and him as Radha. Being soft-natured, he never revolted or said ‘no’ to anything. Whenever he did not like something which he has to go through, Prithvi remained callous, shocked and stiff. He did the same thing as ‘Radha’ and followed my gestures mechanically and unwillingly to pose for the photographs, alongside his brother. 

We went to Tirupathi immediately after he turned 3 and offered his hair to the Lord. Gone are the days of curls and plaits and came the days of hair-cuts and boyish hairstyles. Prithvi believed that he turned into a boy after getting his pony tails tonsured!! I feel really guilty!! I was correct in my own way, but did not believe in toddlers being so much sensitive and emotional!!

So, this year, as he turns 5, he started preparing me for the annual fancy dress affair two months ahead of the D-day. He reminded me every day that he wanted to be Lord Krishna and having two Krishnas (both himself and his brother) is double the fun!! He also suggested the choice of making ‘Balaram’ out of Kaka, as Balaram is the elder brother of ‘Krishna’(himself)!! He drilled me over how to make butter. As I told that it is prepared from the cream that settles over milk, which he loves the most (Prithvi literally asks me whether I have put the cream in his glass every time he has milk!!). He offered to forego the cream until Krishnastami, so that I can feed him the butter on the day, like Yashoda. Ten days before the festival, he wanted me to buy 2 eyes of peacock feathers to have them in a forked manner on his crown, like real Krishna (who appears in ‘Mahabharat’ on Star Plus). I was totally mesmerized by his imagination, observation and strategic planning. I just observed his path of thinking as an audience. I was also taken aback by the impression those young years with long hair made on his mind!!

Finally, the day has arrived. Though we never celebrate Krishnastami as a huge festival with detailed festivities and preparations, it has gathered importance after I had my first son. He was just a month old when we made him Lord Krishna, which turned out well. Then, it became a yearly ritual. So, today I decided to add up few special dishes to offer as ‘Bhog’ to ‘Kanhaji’.  I put up the idol of Lord Krishna swinging in the Brindavan, made murkul, sweet with milk and paruppu vadai. My cousin made 2 crowns for the boys, from chart paper and decorated them. Through this time, Prithvi has been pestering me to give bath to him. After I yielded, he was totally excited. I draped him in a dhoti and secured it with an angavastram around his waist; drew the three-striped tilak on his forehead and chest; tied the colorful arm bands and wrist bands; adorned his neck with a long 3-step chain of pearls and garnets; and put the crown on his head. His face shimmered with joy and exhilaration. After I finished the puja, I fed him butter. There was no end to his happiness. He was not stiff!! He jumped with contentment and relief!! Finally, he is ‘Krishna’ and not ‘Radha’!!