Written by: Anushree Acharya - 28002, Grade VIII
Posted on: 27 November, 2023
I clearly remember that day. How can I forget it? It was the day of my school's opening and my little sister's rice-feeding ceremony and my new Gunio Cholo ceremony. It was supposed to be at Baisakh 17 but the government kept school opening from Baisakh 17 so we had to change the date to Baisakh 16. At first, it was about to be canceled but I was too excited for this and threw a huge tantrum so we could do it. I kind of now regret it. Because of my stubbornness, my parents decided to do the ceremonies on Baisakh 16. It was the same day my online classes were happening so I was not able to attend the first class. All the guests and all the relatives came on the evening of Baisakh 15 my cousins, and best friends, were also there I was very happy and excited I was screaming around and jumping around and having a lot of fun but who knew that it was just a few hours days of happiness because soon it was about to end.
It was the time for the ceremonies. I woke up at 6 o'clock and I was very surprised and shocked to see so many people in front of my eyes when I woke up because I was not adapted to that situation that so many people were in front of my eyes when I just woke up. My mum, my sister my fupu(father's sister), and many other many of women were in the kitchen cooking food. The palatable aroma was roaming all around the corners of the house. I was very excited. To be honest I kind of felt it was too heavy and my little sister was just 6 months old. But her dress was so heavy that I could not even wear it. My little sister was just continuously crying. I was so sad to see her like that but I had my problems. I wore my dress which was a lot of trouble and I sat in the chair and all types of makeup was going on my face. There was a lot of experimentation going on my face but I loved the last result. My hair was tied in a bun and two little strands of hair were in the front of my face and it was very beautiful. I was very happy. I was excited I had a lot of mixed feelings. I wore my shoes. It was very beautiful. In the beginning, my little sister's ceremony was going on. It started exactly at 8 a.m. It took around one hour or half an hour to finish. Next was mine. As excited as I was, I was also nervous. There were all kinds of mixed feelings. I was enthralled. At that moment it was the first time my great-grandmother was also there. She was around 93 years old. She was so happy. Next was my turn. For the good I was kept on a chair and there was a type of vessel I don't know what to call it. It was under my feet and everyone came and splashed water and washed my feet. Some of them even drank it and they touched my feet. It was so fun I was laughing inside. My cousin came there and teased me. Then she gave me 100 rupees in my hand and went back to the room. I was waiting for it to finish and I wanted to go to her and hug her and tell her how much fun it was.
The ceremonies ended in the evening. Everyone ate dinner and went back to their homes. I asked some of them to stay back but none of them were willing to stay because they had a lot of work to do at their home. After everyone went home I was so so so tired. I changed my dress and went to my mum's and dad's room. There were a lot of envelopes. Everyone brought an envelope with money in it. Everyone gave my little sister and me envelopes with money. There was a lot of money in it. I was so excited to spend it. My mom and dad kept it in the safe saying it would be better to keep it. I was sad but it was ok because they were older and they knew everything better. I went to my room and slept later on. My big sister also came and slept next to me. I don't even know when I fell asleep. I was so tired at that moment. The next day when I woke up my dad had already left for work and my mom was also getting ready to leave. I asked her the time. My mom said at 8:30 I was so shocked. I overslept because I was so tired. My mom said it was okay, then I went to the restroom and freshened up. But in the morning I got a headache. I thought it was just because I was tired yesterday and in the evening my dad came home. The next day was Saturday. I woke up and I found out that we had guests there. we all talked and after they left, my dad got body aches and high fever. We kept him in a room because Covid was spreading at the highest rate possible. Then my mum, my little sister, my big sister, and I slept in a room. When I woke up I found out that in the middle of the night, my mum and my little sister also got a fever and they went back to another room. I had joined my online classes. I also got headaches and fevers and got coughs and tonsils and a lot of things. The body aches were the worst of all. My mum and dad went and did the PCR test and it came back positive. They stayed in a separate room. I wished to see my little sister's beautiful smiling face and hear her small cute little voice. I was so stressed and because of that moment, I could not get enough rest. At that time I was very sad and after ten days we started to go inside Mom and Dad's room and after a total of eighteen days, the report came back negative. My mum had already lost her sense of smell and taste. It was a moment I will never be able to forget.
