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There are so many interesting days in August in India. There’s Rakshabandan, the brother-sister day where a sister ties a rakhi around her brother’s wrist and he in turn offers her his protection – sometimes they give the girl money too. There’s friendship day; friends tie friendship bracelets around each other’s wrist. There’s Independence day – next week! There’s the end of Ramadan, Eid, which is a big celebration in the Muslim community. I’m sure there are other smaller holidays that I don’t even know about; but that’s a lot for one month.
On Tuesday we went to the kids’ house to finally celebrate Prem’s name giving. Five of us went. We saw him dressed up with a matching cap and jumper set with black dots on his face to ward off the evil eye; his eyes were lined with kajal (a black eye liner). It was a fun celebration. Going into their community is nicer and nicer each time; the girls now talk to all of us more, the boys aren’t scared of us and remember our names and faces, the kids’ parents greet us with big smiles and namastes. Everyone gathered around the soon not to be Prem’s crib and watched him get passed over and under the crib several times. I’m not really sure why they do this and I didn’t get to ask. Then the mother’s brother goes to one side and all of the boys pat his back very, very hard. It’s all done in good fun though. Everyone was laughing throughout, even as Prem was crying through the whole ordeal, as babies usually do. After a while we sat down for dinner. We still get a little special treatment, but I think it’s less than before, which makes us all a little happy.