A unique naming ceremony in the time of lockdown

Family conducts function through videoconferencing

When Niya grows up, her parents will have a beautiful story to tell her.

Of how during a time of unprecedented pandemic, they bucked the challenge of lockdown to bring together their dear ones while complying with social distancing to name her in a unique function.

Last Thursday, Nidhin Lakshman and Shruthy, a couple working in Infopark and live at Kangarapady near here, chose to hold the naming ceremony of their child through videoconferencing rather than postpone it as countless functions have had since the lockdown was enforced.

“The lockdown put paid to our dream of holding a big function attended by all our dear ones to name our daughter. We chose to go ahead with the function over videoconferencing since it wasn’t possible to postpone the function as an auspicious time was fixed much earlier,” said Nidhin.

And it worked just fine with over 50 of their relatives, including Nidhin’s parents, joining from Thalasserry, and their cousins and relatives joining from as diverse places as Thrissur, Coimbatore, Bengaluru and even New Zealand.

Held on a videoconferencing app from Shruthy’s house at Chalakudy, the function lasted around 40 minutes with Niya’s parents and grandparents turning up in brand new dresses, which they had fortunately bought before the lockdown.

“The function was held in the Malabar tradition though with a small change as Nidhin’s parents were not with us. So, he gave our daughter milk before whispering her name in her ears and revealing to others who then called her that name,” said Shruthy.

Nidhin said that though their parents were from a different generation not used to digital communications, they were happy to be part of the function and see the relatives many of whom they hadn’t seen for a while.

What more, the function turned out to be a hit among the relatives with many of them posting its videos and pictures on social media.