Moment:
Saturday, November 30th at 2:51 PM IST
Tanush: fhekdgslejfnekabwkfbrh
Tony: Oh really, and then what happened?
My dad is the youngest of four siblings, and his older sisters and brother all live in India, so we don’t really get to see them that often. But this weekend, they came from their homes in Ongole and Raichur and came to Hyderabad on Saturday morning with their families to have a little family reunion before I head back to America in less than a week (ahhhh!).
It’s been about five years since the last time we were all together, and a lot has changed since then. My cousin Tony moved to Australia, and my cousin Blessy lives in Vizag for medical school. my oldest cousin, Sunny, and his wife, Shweta, have a 10-month-old son who is the life of the party. You may remember him from the iconic picture of him in a doctor onesie, but his name is Tanush, and he and my grandfather (who is now a great-grandfather of two!) have the cutest relationship. They had a drum-off with various kitchen items, and if my grandpa says “dhee” (bump into) repeatedly, Tanush will come and touch foreheads with him.
We have some more additions to the family, because my second-oldest cousin, Goldy, got married, and she and her husband, Kiran, have a baby girl...who is a week old! Their daughter was born a little early, so I thought I wouldn’t be able to meet her, but she wound up arriving just in time for Thanksgiving and our family reunion. Talk about something to be thankful for! They were discharged from the hospital on Saturday evening, so we were able to give them a proper Indian welcome home, complete with the classic song “Congratulations” playing in the background (by Cliff Richards, not Post Malone, just to clarify).
We all sat down for a time of family prayer before eating the delicious meal my aunts made, and it was such a sweet time because it was just like when we were kids. Our grandma passed away about 11 years ago when my brother and I were still pretty young, so we have limited memories of her. When it came time to pick songs to sing, we decided on two songs that she had taught every single one of us at one point: “Yehova Naa Balama” and “Yehovaa Nee Namamu”.
We all (including my dad who FaceTimed in) sang together and it was a wonderful thing to know that even though we come from different religious backgrounds and walks of life, God was able to work through my grandma in all of our lives. Our uncles and aunts were raised singing these songs, as were we, and I really hope that my niece and nephew get to share that experience with us one day as well.
The next day, we all got up for church, then the “kids” who range from 0-32 years old now went out to explore Hyderabad. Sunny, Shweta, and Tanush are from Karnataka, and Tony is from Andhra Pradesh, so I guess I was the local in the scenario. We started out by going to the most touristy place in all of Hyderabad: the I Love Hyderabad sign. We explored the graffiti at the plaza, shopped for pearls, went to a tailor shop, walked by the Hussain Sagar lake, then headed to KFC for lunch, because my cousins don’t have it in their towns. It was quite a memorable day, because Tanush had his first piece of chicken EVER and we spent the ride back having a Michael Jackson carpool karaoke session.
We reconvened at the house, and in true family reunion fashion, the photoshoot commenced. I had found some old photos of us in my grandparents’ albums, so we recreated them with a few substitutes and modifications here and there (i.e. Goldy Akka, on the far right, refused to make that face again). It took some serious detective work to figure out whose arms were in the photo, but eventually we figured it out and it made for some fantastic pictures.
The next morning, Sunny Anna and his family drove me back to campus on their way home, and they stayed to have breakfast with me at my hostel. My grandpa was excited because he never had the opportunity to visit my dad when he attended the University of Hyderabad, so he at least got to see the campus when visiting me, and I’m going to go ahead and take credit for Tanush’s first college visit. UofHyd Class of 2038 (that doesn’t even sound like a real year)!
This family reunion was an awesome way to spend my last weekend in india, and even though we had a few people who couldn’t make it (missed you Divya, Blessy, Dad, Mom, and Danny!) I treasured every moment. Next time I come to India, Tanush is probably going to be a drumming prodigy, and my niece will be walking, and I can’t wait to be back again soon :)
