Seema Jain

Transcript

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I've been practicing my dancing and singing, so I didn't have a speech prepared. Bear with me; I don't want this to become a one-hour, boring uncle speech.

First, thanks to the Mukund family for hosting us. As some of you know, we've had a difficult time this year. We really appreciate you taking the lead to get this event set up and inviting us and our family members as very valued guests. Everything you've done is above anything we could expect. Thank you.

When I came to this country, I was very lonely. I thought, maybe to deal with my loneliness, I should have children. I always wanted four kids. My first child was a boy. I wanted a girl; the entire nursery was pink. After my son was born, everybody said, "If you dress the nursery in pink, you're going to have a boy."

The second time around, I thought I would definitely have a girl. I had another beautiful, handsome son. Karun said, "This is it, no more." So I went quiet for about nine years. But then I said, "I have to have a daughter." I literally prayed every night for nine months, sitting in one location. And I had my princess, Pari.

I wish I'd known that through Kanav I could gain a daughter. And I got one today. I always wanted four children. My fourth one, as the priest said, is Lakshmi. Mahalakshmi. And you know, we're Jains. Jains are Baniyas. We only gain, we don't lose. So we gained a daughter today: Lakshmi.

And what a wonderful family we got from the Mukund family. It is above and beyond; you have no idea how much detail has gone into every smallest thing. I have no idea how they managed it. Rupa and Mukund knew that I was just busy dealing with doctors for the last seven or eight months, and they were preparing for all of this.

Many times, Kanav came back to me and said, "Mom, maybe we need to postpone it to next year. We need you to get a little better, to be out of health issues and everything." And I said, "I'm getting older. I'm not getting any younger, so you better go for it now."