A month ago, on the 21st of October, friends and family found themselves gathering together for the much anticipated gender reveal of future parents-to-be, Heta and Prathan. At almost eight months, Heta is planned to give birth in late mid-to-late December, during the festive holiday season, and family and friends were all very excited at the prospect of a new baby being brought into their life.

Binal Patel, 16 year old cousin of Prathan Patel, said the following on the matter: “This is pretty exciting for all of us. Since Heta is staying with us [at Binal parents’ house], and we’re already taking care of Aarya [Binal’s two year old niece], the house is gonna be a bit messy for a while now.”

Having been organised at local Harold Road Centre near Green Street, from 10am to the mid afternoon, the gender reveal saw a lot of mingling and fun familial catching up. Throughout the entire event, a ceremony was taking place at the centre for all to watch in awe; the Simantonnyana - an important ritual meant to ensure the healthy mental health development for both mother and child - took place, and many prayers were offered to the couple.

Things quietened down during the hour reserved for eating lunch, with traditional foods served for all those in attendance as the ceremony slowly came to a close. There was quite a bit of excitement amongst the attendees, especially the teenage friends of Binal, who found themselves trying to guess what the gender of the baby would be.

Eventually, Binal herself - who helped organise a great part of the gender reveal party - along with parents-to-be Heta and Prathan stood in front at the stage, with huge confetti cannons ready to be pulled to allow a shower of coloured paper inform the crowd of the gender of the baby. The countdown from ten began, and everyone in unison was definitely overjoyed for the couple when the confetti canons revealed that their future child was to be a dashing baby boy!