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2010, for us, as you very well know, has had its ups and downs, happy times and not-so-happy ones, but until we know what bitter is, how will we learn to appreciate the other "good" flavours of life, right?
Its 1/1/11!! Looking forward to what 2011 has hidden under its wings :).
Wish you all a very happy and a prosperous new year from all of us..
Yup, Deepawali time :).
Our Deepawali started off pretty great with the making of the khaara and sihi ereyappas. Once that was done and the hanathes + candles were ready to be lit up, we found out that none of Snugli's zari langas were fitting her anymore :(. Tried loosening some old ones, but nope, last year's dresses are done forever :(. Finally, took out her birthday one and had to loosen the blouse and lengthen the langa for it to fit properly. By that time my back was aching like crazy (my back is still aching as I type this :-p).
Anyways ultimately Snugli was able to wear the langa and pose in it :-D. Then we did pooje to our water heater (neeru tumbso hubba), kept the hanathes outside (sadly its pretty windy and drizzling today, so we had to struggle to keep them lit up, before giving up :-p) and (this is best part) guLumed the ereyappas :-D. 
Tomorrow morning is eNNe snaana. I am already tired thinking about oiling and bathing Snugli and putting up with Sri's tantrums before pestering and convincing him to take an oil bath too ;-). But how much ever I crib, I love Deepawali (I know I know I've said it many times already :-D).
I was talking to my parents this morning, when I heard the sound of crackers as background music. I miss the noise, I miss the smell, I miss celebrating with my parents :((. Some day...
BTW will most probably head to the Indian temple tomorrow since they have some cracker-bursting organized (but rains are predicted and the weather already is wintry, so have to see) and hopefully Snugli will get a taste of how it is in India :). Thats about it from me. Happy Deepawali :).
May the festival of lights light up your homes, your hearts and your lives.
Happy Deepawali from all of us :).
ದೀಪಾವಳಿ ಹಬ್ಬದ ಶುಭಾಶಯಗಳು
This time's special. Actually every time is, but this is Snugli's first Deepawali. As is the case these days, she enjoyed looking at all the deepa-s we lit and even tasted both the sweet and khara ereyappa. We already completed our enne-snaana. Only thing is that she'll not get to feel the actual spirit of Deepawali, the fireworks, but well..
So you can see that our Deepawali has already started (click to enlarge)..
Has yours? :)ದೀಪಾವಳಿ ಹಬ್ಬದ ಶುಭಾಶಯಗಳು
I'm an aunt to my cousins' kids and numerous friends' kids. But I'll become an actual aunt when Darsh has a kid or Sri's sis Lekha has one. But in that way, Darsh's ahead of me. He's already mama (or mava or uncle) to my Snuggles. Well mama has a birthday today and following the year's trend, here's the chronological pic chart :).
I wanted to title this post "Man to ape" or something similar, but I have already teased Darsh so many times about it that the joke is sorta becoming stale :-D. Sadly, he's all alone this time on his birthday what with mom and dad being here. But well, does a bachelor need a better opportunity than that?? Have fun ;-), Darsh!
Meanwhile, this time I couldn't put up a post on the christmas decorations. I have seen some wonderful decorations over my neighbourhood, but nobody will let a woman who has recently delivered a baby to wander around taking pictures, even if she herself is insane enough to want to :-D. Anyways, maybe next year end..
Wish you all a very happy 2008! May the new year bring tons of laughter and loads of joy your way :). It has already brought me some in advance ;-).
Deepawali, as I have mentioned several times (:-D) is my favourite festival of the lot. Its been 3 years since I last saw Deepawali at its original and its best. Its been 3 years and I still miss the festive atmosphere, the cracker sounds and smells. This time though I didn't miss mom's cooking ;-). I got to eat her hand-made ereyappas after 3 long years. But I still missed celebrating it in India. The feeling was multiplied by the fact that mom was also missing the Deepawali atmosphere of Bangalore. Last weekend, we did get to see some cracker-bursting what with us attending the get-together at the local temple. But well, nothing is enough for a Bangalore gal ;-).
Anyways, we did the usual neeru-tumbsodu and water heater pooje. On thursday i.e Naraka Chaturdashi, mom did the traditional enneshaastra to Sri and me, after which we did enne-snaana. Since it was a thursday, Sri had to go to office. Well, so we practically did nothing till the evening.
Evening, we dressed up, lit lamps, while mom made the sweet and khara ereyappas. They came out wayyyyyy better than mine (as you can expect :-D).
Sri and I also hung up the decorative lights we had bought earlier outside and placed the lamps on the ground..
Just in case you are not able to make out, the small lights on the ground are the diyas :-p. Since we had dressed up, we obviously took photos (the "we" here refers to me and mom, Sri was in his regular clothes :-D).
Yesterday was Lakshmi pooja. Evening we lit lamps, sung Lakshmi shobhaane and did the pooja. Today evening we lit lamps again, sang some bhajans and conducted the Balindra pooja for Bali Padyami (mom made avalakki panchakajjaya for the occasion). And so our Deepawali is done for the year. Hope you had a wonderful Deepawali too :).
Its that time of the year again, when little ghosts come out to play :-D. Halloween means lots of decorations, costumes and chocolates. The best part was that I had been to my doctor today and the nurses there were having a costume contest and were all dressed up. I even got to vote for the best costume ;-).
The horrorful decorations in my residential locality were a treat to watch as always and so I clicked away like last time :). So lets start off with some pumpkins - hanging ones, swaying ones and staying-still-on-the-ground ones.
Next I present to you a witch, some pumpkins and a skeleton, all inflated. The wonderful thing about this is that the witch pops out every minutes and hides back into the couldron.
Tired already from the tour? Please have a seat with the scarecrow ;-) :).
All rested? Then you are ready to be scared by a group of ghosts hanging from trees! 
And if you were not scared, maybe a close-up will help? :).
Next is webs galore, and no its not the world wide web :-p.
In the next house, a smiling scarecrow welcomes you :).
I was really impressed with this next one - a huge spider weaving a big web around a prey :-O.
Looks like a troupe of spiders attacked this house!
And finally, let me join a ghost, a scarecrow, a devil and some other scary beings in thanking you for taking this tour with me and saying goodbye (look at my dialogue dramebaazi :-D). 
Happy Halloween to all :).
I know I'm late by a couple of days. But well, you know me :-p. Hope you all had a happy Dussehra. I did :). My celebration started with being invited to a Sarswathi pooja and Bombe habba Organized by an Indian lady here at her house last Friday. It was really fun to be dressing up for the occasion and later seeing the nicely arranged dolls at her house. What amused me even more was the fact that everyone arriving was in a saree and how it must have seemed to a passing American :-D. They must have thought its a speacial kind of Halloween party :-D, hehehee :)).
I drove myself and mom to the place (the invite was for ladies and children only, poor Sri ;-) :-D). We took some fruits and flowers (chrysanthemums grown at home). We recited everything from Lalitha sahasranama to Lakshmi astaka. It was one of those moments when a foreign country feels like home :). Later after aarthi, we were served a dinner of avalakki oggarane, mosaru vade, idli with different chutneys and badam milk :). After which we came back home.
Saturday was Ayudha pooja and mom made garlands from flowers picked fresh :).
This changed into the following very soon :-D.
Yeah, I am pleased by the way the flowers have been growing this year too. Will surely be putting up a post on it soon (before they all vanish :-p).
Meanwhile, Sri washed and cleaned the car, while I washed and cleaned my cycle (my achievement of the day ;-) :-D). After having bath, the first step was the devaru pooja and aarthi :).
After devaru, next were the ayudha - the cycle and the car.
The car is still enjoying the garland :).
Yesterday, on the occasion of Vijayadashami, mom made hayagriva (a sweet made from kadle bele) and so went the festival :).
I still have to post on the aarthi function that mom held for me last weekend and that will be coming up shortly (I hope :-D).
I have always been "lucky". Things have usually worked out my way. It probably started way ago in primary school. I was able to join the high school I wanted, later the P.U college I wanted and still later the engineering college I wanted. Though when it came to campus recruitment, I badly wanted to get into Infosys, but didn't and was a bit disappointed then. But again, I got into a pretty good company. Again when I joined, I was to be posted to another city. But it again worked out and I was able to continue to work in Bangalore.
When I got married and later Sri was put into a project here in US, I really thought I would have to resign, but again things worked out (as I wrote in my "Ok now the real deal :)" post) and I was given a transfer. I have been telecommuting here since 1.5 years without any problems. And I have been grateful for the way things were going.
But good times, they say, don't last. Though my L1 work permit/visa is valid till June 2008, each 6 months an extension of my international assignment happens internally in my company. This particular thing has to be approved by a series of managers from my manager to the vice-president of the company (don't ask me why, thats the policy). Till now I thought this would be a mere formality. Maybe I had gotten used to working from home. Maybe I had gotten totally lazy. Maybe I had become complacent. So much that I didn't even bother trying for a job outside though I am being paid in India and my salary is nothing compared to what people get here. I liked working from home at my pace. It was a freedom that I had gotten used to.
Sadly one of the higher managers refused to approve the extension this time. Well, what were my options? Go back to India and work. Since that was not very feasible, what with Sri working here, the only thing to do was to resign. Which I did a couple of days ago. My last day of work will be in the first week of January 2007. What a way for the new year to start eh!!
I admit I was very disappointed. There were times when I was even bitter. But there is nothing I can do about it. There's no way I'll be away from Sri. And its a miracle this whole thing worked out for the past 1.5 years. Atleast I have been working and it has obviously increased my "work experience" factor. So I am grateful for that. My only woe is that had I just been given a hint about this some time back, I would probably have tried for something. But, whats done is done..
Meanwhile, I'm actively looking for jobs. But to do a job in US means acquiring a H1 which is a whole new story altogether (I'll be writing on it some other time). Another plan is to study either MS or MBA. Both require TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) scores and while MS requires a GRE (Graduate Record Examination) score, MBA requires GMAT (Graduate Management Admission Test) score. And man, are these exams costly :-p. So I wouldn't like to attempt them before I'm well prepared. Which is why I have a plan in place. First want to finish TOEFL and then decide whether to do GRE or GMAT :-D.
I'm not giving up. My major worry is that I'll become redundant and that sitting idle at home will make me kind of useless (I know I can never be that, still I am afraid I will). I remember when I graduated, it was recession time and we were not sure whether the company that had selected us in Campus recruitment would even take us or not. Many companies had absolutely refused to do so. A single walk-in/test from a company meant 1000s of students gathering in the place to attend. My company had postponed the joining date. I remember being very depressed. Because there was literally no hope then. But I joined music classes, visited relatives I hadn't visited for years (due to my studies) and when my company actually made us join, I remember actually being glad for having the break :). Hopefully this will turn out to be the same way.
Somebody (I don't know who) said:
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!
There are many funny versions of this, the latest ones being:When life gives you lemons, find someone who has vodka and throw a party!When life gives you lemons, sell them on ebay!
Hehehehe :-D. Anyways I am digressing. My only resolution for the new year, is not to let myself get into negativity. Though I may feel down from time to time, I am going to make myself get back on track and work on achieving a few things I have always wanted to (I have always wanted to do my Masters). Maybe this is for the good. Maybe this is going to make me get up, look around and strive hard to get what I want. Maybe this is going to make things better than they already are. As my dad always says "This is not the end of the world" and it certainly is not :).
Quoting Lee Ann Womack's song "I hope you dance", which is my motto as of now ;-)...I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance
Never settle for the path of least resistance
Living might mean taking chances, But they're worth taking
Lovin' might be a mistake , But it's worth making
Don't let some hell bent heart leave you bitter
When you come close to selling out, reconsider
Give the heavens above more than just a passing glance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance..
Thats my advice to anybody who's reading this post. I hope you dance, people :). Meanwhile wish you a very happy and a prosperous new year :).
Just like halloween, I couldn't resist the Christmas decorations around my neighbourhood. Its almost like our Deepawali. Only no old-fashioned hanathes here :-D. There are lights put up in most houses with different colours, shapes and sizes and its all a delight for the sight :).
Since the decorations were all lights, the photos had to be taken at night and man! Was it freezing when I finally ventured out to do the same!! But anyways I couldn't let go of the wonderful opportunity and so with my freezing hands captured the wonderful decorations. The things I do in the name of blogging!! So what are we waiting for? Lets start off :).
The first one is from a neighbour who I always thought was Indian. We never had a chance to get to know each other (they live about 3 houses away), but they looked Indian somehow. Maybe they are Indian christians, who knows! Their decorations were really good. The best thing is that they had candy canes, Christmas tree, star, Santa Claus and a reindeer - all the main symbols of Christmas :).
The next one somehow impressed me just by the green lights on the tree. It looked really pretty, though it might not really seem so in the photo :).
As the last one did it with green, the next one used red lights to capture my heart. This one was very festive and when I took the photo I could hear the laughter of many people gathered inside the house. That made it all the more special :).
This next porch, you might recognize from my halloween photos. Looks like the people are really fond of decorations and aren't worried about the effort needed to do the same :).
The next one signifies the colour differences in the lights in houses next to each other..
Reindeers were rather a common factor in most lawns. These are mechanized ones which move their heads either up and down or side to side..
The winters are really cold here. And most of the days are dark and gloomy. But the lights somehow made all of it go away and brought a bit of cheer. I guess thats the point :).
Like halloween, the trees were not spared this time too. They took an active part in supporting the lights. Well, they might have actually enjoyed the finery, since they have lost all their leaves now :-p.
Thats it. Thats it? The thing is I took several more photos, but they didn't come out too well, mainly due to the darkness :). Anyways I am happy with the above ones and hopefully they'll bring a bit of cheer to the people who are reading this post :).
I'm not reviewing a horror film. Nor did I have any paranormal experiences to share in my blog. I just made the title a bit dramatic for the celebration of Halloween here in US. No no no, we don't celebrate it. But its kind of like any festival in India, what with stuff being advertized all over TV, stuff seen in all corridors of supermarts and the decorations in front of homes (thats the best part) :).
Halloween, Wikipedia tells me, is a tradition celebrated on the night of October 31 (looks like I am 1 day early :-D), most notably by children dressing in costumes and going door-to-door collecting sweets. It was originally known as "All Saints' day". Many European cultural traditions hold that Halloween is one of the liminal times of the year when the spiritual world can make contact with the physical world and when magic is most potent.
For halloween, people decorate their front porches with jack-o-lanterns, scarecrows, witches, ghosts etc. Usually kids dress up in costumes (everything ranging from Superman to Dracula :-D) and go door-to-door in their neighborhood, ringing each doorbell and yelling "trick or treat!". And they get some treats :). Nobody has come to my door till now. I hope nobody came on saturday and sunday as we had been out to Smoky mountains for our yearly autumn colours quota (thats the post coming up next :-D). But if some kids do come today/tomorrow, I have the chocolates ready :)).
Meanwhile, I saw many interesting decorations in my neighbourhood and was so impressed with the time and effort gone into some of those. The post is a result of that awe :).
Most of the house front porches are decorated with various things like artificial skulls, bones, pumpkins and scarecrows ofcourse :).
Even the trees are not spared (:-D):
The decorations are not really scary, but might be for little children ;-). The scarecrows and pumpkins are all smiling, but well maybe they are all smiling wickedly :-O.
But you can make out that some decorations have really taken some thought and lots of effort, like this one and this is my favourite of them all:
The cotton made to look like webs does look creepy ;-) :-D. Some porches had these paper ghosts that glow in the dark on the trees, big air balloons shaped like pumpkins (the balloons had all lost air, so couldn't get any pics of those :-p) and also various other creepy statues.
There was one house which had a Egypitian-mummy like corpse statue and a well. And this below one has a skeleton sitting in a chair :-D.
Its fun for everyone, for the people who put up the decorations and for the on-lookers as well. But there are some people who protest against halloween saying its a occult evil holiday and not a Christian religion celebration. It seems Halloween was not celebrated at all in the 1980's. In one apartment that we previously lived in last year, one of our neighbours had distributed these pamplets saying how Halloween is about cults who serve satan. We told them that we are not Christians and hence will not be celebrating Halloween anyways :-D. But most other people seem to think that Halloween is just a harmless holiday for the kids to dress up and enjoy candies :).
Anyways the celebration as such makes no difference to me, except for the fact that I enjoy the creativity of the decorations :). And taking photos :). And putting them up in my blog :-D.
Asatoma Sadgamaya
Tamasoma Jyothirgamaya
Mruthyorma Amruthangamaya
Om Shanthi Shanthi Shanthi hi
Translated, it simply means "Lead us from ignorance to truth; From darkness to light; From Death to Eternity; Let peace prevail;".
Why the chant suddenly? The second line "Tamasoma Jyothirgamaya" (From darkness to light), I believe, is the essence of Deepawali. Yes, the festival of lights is back, though may not be with a bang :-p. Atleast not in US :-p.
Before I start off with my rants, first - Wish you all a very happy and prosperous Deepawali :).
This year there's still a tinge of pain that I'm not with my parents during the festival, but its not as much as it was last year. Two days ago I thought I was ok. But yesterday morning as soon as I got up, the first thought was "today is Naraka Chaturdashi and there is no sound of crackers anywhere :(". Later we did the enne shaasthra and again I was reminded of mom doing the shaasthra. Since Darsh wouldn't wake up early, she would wake me up so that I could sit with dad for the shaasthra. I miss it all :(. Shubha has written a post which is as if its coming from my heart as I can relate to it so much and absolutely suits my feelings right now..
Anyways, coming back to Deepawali (as if I was ever away :-p), it all started on Friday with the neerutumbso hubba :). One of the first things I did was to nenesu akki and uddinabele for the traditional Deepawali ereyappa sweet and khaara. Later I made both and they both came out very well (better than the last time and this time the mixer didn't break down ;-) :-D).
The dark brown ones are the sweet and the light ones are the khaara. Next I picked flowers (chrysanthemums of various colours) from our very own garden (a post on it is due next :-D) and made garlands :).
The flowers have been a delight as they have grown extensively and I have been able to use them for Vijayadashami, mainly for ayudha pooja. The car, cycle and even the lawnmower got decorated with flowers :-D. Anyways I'm digressing from the topic :-p.
Meanwhile Sri put oil into the hanathe (mud lamps) that we had got long time back, put baththis and lit them up. We lit lamps and performed pooja for the Gods in our devara mane first :).
The water heater was already full (neeru tumbso kelsa illa :-D), so I decorated it with arshina kumkuma (wanted to get chalks but I forgot :-p) and Sri did pooja to it.
We enjoyed the eateries and that was it for friday. Saturday morning, i.e yesterday, we got up, did enne shaasthra for both of us and had an enne snaana (oil bath) as per tradition. We did take some photos in the evening after the lamp and lights were lit.
If you squint, you'll be able to see the hanathe-s near my feet :-D. And the flowers you see in the garden is a preview of the post to come ;-) :-).
Atleast you can see the hanging lights in this snap :).
Later we went to Louisville temple and had a nice time there. There were hundreds of people there celebrating together and it was really nice :). There were some crackers being lit (both light and noisy ones), so it satisfied a bit of my craving for them, but not completely :(. I so so want to be in India during Deepawali time. Yeah there's lots and lots of noise as well as air pollution, and it might certainly be cruel of me to wish for things like that, but its the atmosphere I've grown up in. The festival air that lurks is so tangible there, the celebration so joyful. I can't help but miss it. Thats one of the reasons, we try to celebrate it as authentic as in India..
But Deepawali will be special to me no matter where I am, as it brought to me Sri. I met him on the third day of Deepawali (its tomorrow) and well, so its a festival close to my heart. So I better be cheerful atleast for that! Ok ok I'm ending my post now with a wish now in Kannada :).ದೀಪಾವಳಿ ಹಬ್ಬದ ಶುಭಾಶಯಗಳು
I know a place where the sun is like gold
and the cherries bloom forth in the snow;
And down underneath is the loveliest place,
Where the four-leaf clovers grow.
One leaf is for FAITH,
And one is for HOPE,
And one is for LOVE you know;
And GOD put another in for LUCK:
If you search you will find where they grow.
But you must have FAITH,
And you must have HOPE,
You must LOVE and be strong and so...
If you work and you wait,
You will find the place
Where the FOUR-LEAF CLOVERS grow!
- Four-leaf Clover Poem by Ella Higginson
The Four-leaf clover is considered a lucky charm everywhere. Which is precisely why I like Metallica's "No leaf clover" so much and have its chorus line as a quote at the footer of my blog. It is the height of pessimism. No leaf clover - no faith, no hope, no love and no luck. Not that I am a pessimist, but sometimes optimists need to be given reminders about pessimism ;-).
So why this poem suddenly? March 17th 2005 was St. Patrick's day. So, you ask, what does it gotta do with me? A colleague of Sriram, David had a party organized on St. Patrick's day. His wife Lisa is of Irish origin and they had invited us. We attended and it was a lot of fun.
Before I talk about the party, let me give an intro to St. Patrick's day (feels like I'm writing an essay :-p).
"What originally started as a day of mourning the death of the patron saint of Ireland on March 17 in 461 A.D. has long since turned into a celebration of everything Irish.
St. Patrick was born as Maewyn in Wales around 385 A.D. At the age of sixteen he was kidnapped by bandits and sold into slavery in Ireland, where he lived for six years, herding sheep and developing a strong faith in God. Upon his escape to Gaul he studied in a monastery for many years, entered the priesthood and later was appointed as second bishop to Ireland—his desire was to return to Ireland and to convert the people there to the Christian faith, a tumultuous mission that lasted 30 years.
St. Patrick did manage to convert thousands of Irish to Christianity; he founded hundreds of churches and, according to lore, "drove the snakes out of Ireland," an act symbolizing the victory of the Christian faith over pagan rituals. In order to explain the idea of the holy trinity to local tribesmen, he used the three-leaf shamrock, its green color signifying renewal and the coming of spring after a long period of winter and "pagan" darkness."
Ok as you can see, I blatantly stole the above history from some website. But what else is Google there for? :-D.
The party history goes like this. We were invited about a fortnight ago. I was pretty apprehensive about it. I mean, Sri doesn't have any Indian colleagues. None at all :-o. Sri thought it'd be a nice experience for me to meet his colleagues and their wives (yeah most of his colleagues are male :-D). I had met a couple of his colleagues previously in our white water rafting trip, but I had met only one woman then. And it was a rafting trip, I was in tops and half-pants, didn't have to worry about dress, make-up etc. But this would be different.
Moreover we were told to wear green. Wearing green, it seems (and lately eating and drinking green things...) commemorates St. Patrick's use of the shamrock to explain the Trinity. Since I didn't have a green top/shirt and I did have a simple green coloured chudidaar which was an Indian party wear, I didn't know how suitable it would be, but it just had to do.
On the party day, I didn't do much makeup, just applied a bit of eye-liner and a touch of lip stick. I did put a bindi on my forehead and was ready. Just as if I was going to an Indian party rather than one with no Indians in it :-D. I did feel self-conscious when I first entered their house, but later felt very comfortable. None of the ladies were dressed in gowns and stuff (thank god!! warna I'd have felt miserable throughout :-p). They were all in casual party tops and pants. Neither too dressy, nor too casual.
David and Lisa had decorated their house with green balloons and irish quotes/blessings stuck on the house walls. I met Jacob, his wife Janet, Joe and Joe's son Joel again (who I had met in the river rafting trip) and it was nice to see them in something other than sports wear :-D. I also met Joe's wife Patricia who hadn't come on the trip. The other people I met were Rob, Michael ( a chinese guy) and Michael's American wife Tracy. There were also David and Lisa's children Michael (too many Michaels :-D) and Zackary. There were some other neighbours of David's and their children that we didn't get introduced to.
As usual, people had lots of trouble pronouncing our names. Sri's colleagues atleast knew him, though they pronounce his name pretty badly. On man, how difficult is it to pronounce Deepthi - Dee as in Thee + p + thi as in thin? But somehow they just can't. Finally I had to resort to asking them to call me "Dip-Tea" or "Dee". After the introductions and some talking, dinner was served.
There was a salad with some Irish dressing, bread and some traditional potato soup. Surprisingly, everything was vegetarian (Sri had told David before that we are vegetarian, but I don't know whether they made the whole thing vegetarian just for our sake. Nope, don't think so :-p). We had dinner conversing with Joe and Patricia. The potato soup was very tasty and so was the salad. But it didn't fill my hungry stomach. But what to do? Sometimes, you have to adjust ;-). Later there was also chocolate cake with whipped cream and chocolate sauce for dessert which was yummy :-D. But again it was too small a piece :-D. After dessert, Irish coffee was served. Now Irish coffee is made of coffee, Irish whiskey, whipped cream and green irish mint (which also has alchohol). So I declined and had a normal coffee.
After dinner, we had nice conversations with Jacob and Janet and later David. Later I also left Sri's side and had a wonderful time talking with Tracy and Lisa, while Lisa showed us their beautiful house which they built themselves. These Americans have the habit of doing everything themselves, so usually they buy a plot and build everything from scratch themselves without any other manual labour whatsoever. They put floor boardings, paint etc themselves. There might be some kind of labour involoved only in kitchen and bathroom accessories. But usually they do those also themselves :). I really don't have an opinion on that, 'cause its kinda nice to do everything on your own, but I am sure it will be very very strenuous.
Anyways we talked a lot and they both liked my outfit very much. I tried telling them its called a "Chudidaar" or a "Salwar-kameez", but as usual they had a very difficult time pronouncing both the words :-D. Lisa is a wonderful painter and she had put up her paintings and sketches all over the house. They were really beautiful and I told her exactly that :). Also, it seems she has never been to Ireland as such, but her maternal grandmother is Irish.
After all the talk and realizing that it was 10:30 PM already, we decided to bid goodbye. Thats when Lisa asked us to read this Irish blessing on their front door:May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields
and, Until we meet again
May God hold you in the hollow of His hand
- An Irish Blessing
Can there be a lovelier way of saying goodbye? :).
The beautiful day of lights is here :).
Deepawali has always fascinated me. Its one of my favourite festivals, not only because of the fireworks, but because of the lights and the rituals as well. There is a cheerfulness in case of Deepawali more than any other festival or that is what I have noticed in my household. I even used to love taking walks around the colony in the day just to watch kids light up patakhas (or pataki in Kannada). There's a kind of vibrant energy all around. And I used to go upto terrace during the nights and enjoy the rockets lighting up the skies. I love it :).
This year's Deepawali is in a way, a mixture of happiness and sadness for me. Its the same old story. The happiness is obviously in the fact that I have Sri now and am getting to spend it with him. The sadness comes from the fact that had we been in India, this being our first Deepawali after marriage, we'd have spent it with my parents. Its supposed to be very special. Instead, we are spending it here in a country which doesn't even know what the festival is. No one to share the joys with and obviously no walk around the colony to see children playing. No sitting up on the terrace either, the houses don't even have the terrace concept here :-p.
Its been continuously gnashing at my heart. Sri consoles me saying any Deepawali we are in India, we'll celebrate in a big way. The mind understands the logic, we can't fly to India anytime we want and all that, but the heart doesn't. It wants to throw tantrums, make a fuss and somehow be in India. The story is never-ending...
But I haven't actually let my heart bog me down. Yet. Last week we went and bought candles, plain and scented ones. The diyas are available in Indian stores, but rates are atrocious + didn't want to risk diyas, what with wooden houses here. The candles atleast have a glass/metal cover. We obviously can't have fireworks (Neighbours are sure to call 911 immediately, if they hear weird noises :-p), but atleast we saw some in the recent Atlanta trip. I actually said to myself then, this is my Deepawali. Sounds pathetic, I know, but what else can I do?
So, we did do neeru tumbso hubba (water filling festival) yesterday. I drew some decorations in turmetic-kumkum on the water heater and performed the pooja. Later we lighted up all the candles and arranged them in front of the door :). I also had taken recipes from mom for a special Deepawali dish called Ereyappa. There is sweet ereyappa and khaara ereyappa. I made both and they came out pretty well for first attempt ;-). But, while making ereyappa, the poor American mixie couldn't handle my Indian jaggery and the blade's rubber got burnt. Sri's applaudable comment to that was "We did atleast burn something, even though there wasn't any noise" and my retort was "yeah, thank God the mixie didn't explode or something, then really there'd have been a huggggge noise" :-D. We also called up our homes and some of our relatives to wish them all a prosperous Deepawali :).
Today morning woke up early. Deepawali's Naraka Chaturdashi special is enne snaana i.e Oil bath. So did enne shaastra and later had a head bath. Did an aarthi and seeked blessings. That's it. Sri headed to his office and I started my work. Yup, we will be lighting candles for 3 days, but its somehow not the same without the constant noise in the background, without the hustle bustle and without the crackers.
But its still not that bad. Last year, on the third day of Deepawali i.e Bali Padyami, I met Sri. And this Deepawali, we are together. That day I didn't even know whether to say Yes or No. Today, I can't imagine not being with him. This chain of thoughts is enough to bring a smile on my face whenever I feel even a bit down :). So thats how the cheerfulness and the spirit of the festival are maintained.
Mom and Dad, the Deepawali from your side is still baaki to us. Lets carry it over to whichever year we are back in India and then we'll celebrate it really grand :). I know you miss us and I miss you all too, but we'll make it all up when we are together again :).
As for you other people, have a wonderful Deepawali and play safe with firecrackers :).
Simply put, I hate it! I hate it when somebody sends me mails saying "Happy Independence Day"! Does that make me unpatriotic? Am I being disloyal to my country if I say I hate being reminded that its one year more and we haven't done anything at all for the improvement of the country? I know I'm pointing one finger towards all of the other Indians and 4 of the other fingers are pointing towards me...
All of 363 days in a normal year, nobody thinks about it. Nobody even bothers standing up to the national anthem (yup, me too) or nobody salutes at the national flag. On 2 days, suddenly, our so-called patriotism emerges from deep within our hearts and you see the tri-colour flags fluttering everywhere from house tops to car antennas. If this is not a show-off, what is? Oh its republic day, oh its Independence day, we say. But do we ever think about what we have accomplished in more than 55 years of independence? I know many of us do think about it, I have seen some really good thoughts in some blogs.. Our greatest achievements to-date are a huge population explosion, all-round corruption and more quality-of-life degradation. Am I also responsible in some way for this? Yup, sure I am. But I am not sure how to rectify it. No Indian does and that is the problem.
There have been other countries who have got their independence much later and are so much better compared to us. Take South Africa for example. The country has shown a lot of progress. Why? What's the difference? Sometimes I feel, we should have let the British rule us for about 50 more years. We should have waited until they introduced monorails, improved the roads and the communication channels. We should have schemed and taken our independence after achieving a really better India. Sure, we'd have been looted of probably each and every one of our natural resources, but we'd really have a very-clean looking country ;-) Other times I feel, I ought to take a gun and shoot each and every one of these politicians who only think of themselves and their profits than doing something for the country. I am sure many of us would have felt the same. But politics is a disease. You manage to kill one cell and there are two more generated with immediate effect.
So don't the other countries have any problems at all? Thats not true. Corruption is everywhere, politics is as nasty as it can get and India still isn't the highest population-wise (a measure we may correct very soon ;-) ). Then what the heck is my crib about? Just call it a post from a frustrated Indian who wants her country to be the best of all the countries in the world. But do I want my India to be an US? NO, thank you very much :) I am happy with my India as it is. Mass of contradictions, amn't I?
One of my fellow bloggers Gaya also has something to say about independence in her usual style here. As I commented for her post, about 10 points mentioned in her article apply to me. Does that make me a good Indian? Well I don't know. All I know is that I hate it when I get "Happy Independence Day" mails...
Weekend achcha tha :) Really dunno how time went ;-) Friday evening Susheela aunty came from KGF and I went to pick her up from Sri's cousin Vani's house. All 3 of us went shopping. Vani wanted to buy a kurtha for her hubby Bharath, but after attacking 3 kurtha shops, we didn't find anything she liked :( Later shopped for Mavina ele (mango leaves), Bevina hoovu (Neem flowers), green mangoes, mallige (jasmine) etc. Had dinner at Vani's place where Lekha joined us. By the time we reached home it was 10:30 PM!!! Friday gone :(
Saturday was Ugadi. Parthiva naama samvatsarada ugadiya hardhika shubashayagalu :) (though belated ;-) ). My inlaws celebrate Chandramaana Ugadi, whereas my parents celebrate Sauramaana Ugadi which is on Apr 14th :) So, I get to celebrate it twice :-D Hari uncle came along in the morning. Had to do vegetable shopping as there was almost nothing at home :-D Beligge beligge I went off and completed the mission very successfully ;-) Later head bath and new dress :) Lekha forgot to get her new dress, so went shopping with her and bought her a new one :) Susheela aunty had invited Mom, Dad and Darsh for lunch with us. God, lunch was great :) Had mavinkai chitranna, pachchadi, saaru, dry fruit roll sweet, shaavige paayasa, bevu bella mixture, chips and what not! Wished Sri was with us a 100 times :( Evening we went to Vani's house for her gruha pravesha. Everything seemed to be happening at once and time passed before I could think :-! We finished dinner at about 10:00 PM and still they wouldn't let us leave. They had Housie (Tambola) organized and Vani insisted we play a round and leave. So we stayed and played and I won the Full House :-D Got a five star for my efforts :-D But by the time we reached home, it was 11:30 PM and so went Saturday :(
Now moving on to Sunday. Lekha had given a pooja at the raayara mhata. So we both wore sarees and went to the mhata. Felt good there :) We had to buy a gift for Vani, so went to Angadi silks and bought a saree. Later went to Vani's house where the second part of the function was going on :) Didn't even have breakfast :( had lunch only at about 3:00 PM :( The best part was it started raining after all guests had had lunch and man, that too heavy rain. Dad dropped Hari uncle as he had to catch a train to Hyderabad. Then, Dad, Mom, Susheela aunty and me left for home. I packed up few of my stuff to take to my parents' place (!!!) and then we dropped Susheela aunty where she had to catch a bus to Bijapur in the pouring rain. Went home and literally crashed!! It was raining and there was no electricity, but was so tired, fell asleep almost immediately :) Sunday ended too :(
The only high point was that the weekend was so hectic, I had no/very less time to brood. Yup I missed Sri a lot whenever I was with his side of relatives, but I had lots of fun :) The problem is that the weekend's gone and I don't feel rested at all :( :-D Cribs, cribs and more cribs :-p.
