Dayam

Priya and cousin Joe, in a police box.

Leela's grandaughters Sangeeta and Shalini, with

grandneices/nephew Priya, Ashwin and Helen.

The dayam board and shells, with Priya throwing the shells, below.

December celebrations also included my Periamma's (translates into 'big mother', ie. my father's elder brother's wife or very close relative as we would say) 80Th birthday celebration. So the weekend of December 7Th, we joined cousins, aunts and uncles to celebrate in Vellore, a city a bit north of us in Tamil Nadu. About 50 people showed up and there were tributes, songs, dance and plenty of food.

A high point of the weekend was Saturday evening's game of Dayam which is a complicated game somewhat similar to "Sorry". 21 players, including Priya and Ashwin, started playing at 9 PM and continued until the game was declared a draw after 5 and a half hours of non-stop playing -though there were plenty of red towels throw in for challenges. I guess one could call it a success since everyone was on speaking terms after the play!

Happy Birthday Periamma.