When Happiness is in the air

Tags

culture, diverse india, diwali, festivals, india

That’s what this time of the year is. Time for festivals. It starts right with rakhi, janmasthmi and eid in August moves on to Ganesh Chathurthi to navratri , dashara, karwachauth and ofcourse the mother of all festivals for India – Diwali

I love this season, season in which there are celebrations all around, happiness all around and not to mention the yummy food.

What surprises me in India though is the diversity of these festivals, how the small things differ from region to region. So while during Ganesh Chaturthi a little gauri is worshipped in Karnataka its usually only the Ganesh is rest of the country. For navratri too its different beliefs., different celebrations. Up north people fast for 7 days because the little durga was hiding in a cave in Vaishno Devi during those days without food and on the 8th/9th day when she emerged out of the cave after killing Bhairo she went to a farmer house for food. So this is what is celebrated on, 7th days of fasting followed by feeding little girls who are treated as devis.. halwa, poori and chole before breaking the fast. While the same is celebrated in West with the lovely dandiya every night with all the fun, while in east its all about celebrating Durga with Pujo Pandals and sindoor khela with the final day marking the visargan of durga. Down south it takes a different avatar and people keep golu (lots of cute dolls lined up in stairs), people are invited home and little gifts are exchanged. One time so many celebrations, amusing isn’t it? Even the final 10th day i.e dushehra is celebrated so differently, while in North its celebration of Ram’s victory over Ravana by burning huge effigies of Ravana, Meghnath and Kumbhkaran which is preceded by 9 days of Ram Lila that is enacting Ramayana in form of drama, whereas in some parts of South of Ravana is actually worshipped.

And here I have just pointed out the differences in the navratri, the pattern just continues in all festivals. The diversity and the reason I love India some more

Leaving you with a picture of my thali for the kanjaks at home this year, halwa,poori,chole, mars in a kung fu panda plate…

Incredible India | Post 5

Tags

india, NaBloPoMo, states, tag, travel

No No don’t judge because I have taken up a tag on just the 5th day, I did it because part of my plan is to clear the many many drafts I have in dashboard and this was the one that was itching to get finished from a long time, so here is the Incredible India tag picked up from Bikram’s blog(I think swaram also did it once but I cant find the link to it) The rules are:

1. The list contains all the states of India and their capitals are in brackets. 2. Make bold the states you have visited, and mention your favourite memories of that state. 3. Include only states that you have really experienced, and have felt the culture of the place. The touch-and-go while travelling in a train does not count, because that way I believe I’d have seen a little more, but it does not give me a feel of the place and so they need to be actually visited.

1. Jammu & Kashmir (Jammu/Srinagar): 😦 is the only thing that can show my mood on the fact that I haven’t visited this one. I have gone to Jammu (actually thats also the capital no? the winter capital) many many times but still have to visit Srinagar… one day it will happen one day

2. Punjab (Chandigarh): aah many times and I have many many memories associated to this one, playing in my bua’s small house on the outskirts of Chandigarh with a well near by and getting totally excited on drawing the water out of the well. running out madly in the empty space behind. Going to the posh markets of chandigarh, seeing the lovely pinjore gardens and finally the boating in sukhna lake holding the BF’s hands 😉

3. Haryana (Chandigarh): well see above will work? 😛

 4.  Himachal Pradesh (Shimla) : 50% of my summer vacation holidays were spent in shimla 😛 because we would ask mom-dad to take us somewhere please and having people we know in chandigarh they would find it so much easier to take us to shimla. It used to be a nice quaint little hill station (unfortunately spoiled a lot by tourist now) and have many lovely memories in that place again but the one that stands out most are the lovely times we have had on the small toy train ride from Kalka to Shimla… it goes through many tunnels and drives so slowly that one can get down, walk and get in again enjoying every moment of the ride, every view that u see and ofcourse as kids screaming each time one enters the tunnel 😀

5. Uttaranchal (Dehradun): My maternal uncle my mamaji was posted in Dehradun for quite some time so we have spent some summer vacations packed up in their house, used to be lovely the weather much better than the scorching delhi heat and the plus point was yummy dehraduning litchis… god how many litchis we have had in that summer and there was a litchi tree in the house that mamu was staying and one day we all climbed the tree and plucked as many litchis as we could and eat all of those in the drive back to Delhi….

6. Rajasthan (Jaipur): I have visited Jaipur many a times, the same mamu who was posted in Dehradaun after some time was posted in Jaipur and Ajmer (bank job u see) but the time which I have the fondest memories of is of the time I went to Jaipur during my induction. Fresh out of college, some 30 of us (may be more) were packed off to Chowki Dhani (which 10 no wait 12years ago was a fairly new resort and concept and u dare not call me old ok :P) for a week and one can well imagine what would have come out, can’t u? Trainings in the day and fun in the night till very late night damn those were days….

7. Uttar Pradesh (Lucknow): another city I am dying to see, for the nazakat, the kebabs, lucknowe chikan work and ofcourse our D 😛

8. Bihar (Patna)

9. Jharkhand (Ranchi)

10. West Bengal (Kolkata): can u beat that I haven’t been to Kolkata like ever….sigh comeon my dear bloggers in kolkata invite me for a dahi maach meal

11. Orissa  (Bhubaneswar) : I am starting to realise I have seen so little of India… and this is the hometown of my brother in law, must ask him to take me there soon

12. Sikkim (Gangtok) : yet again in my must to do list

13. Arunachal Pradesh (Itanagar)

14. Assam (Dispur)

15. Tripura (Agartala)

16. Nagaland (Kohima)

17. Mizoram (Aizawl)

18. Manipur (Imphal)

19. Meghalaya (Shillong)

the whole of north east is a untouched territory for me 😦

20. Madhya Pradesh (Bhopal) : going there during a transit and stopping for a fresh hot meal counts?

21. Chattisgarh (Raipur)

22. Gujarat (Gandhinagar) : Oops I always thought ahemdadbad is gujrat’s capital ok just did a little google and well they are almost the same 😉 so I will count this one as done and the memory very recently done full gujju meal… what food man and what service and what a way of making chappatis 

23. Maharashtra (Mumbai): A city I have done many times again my uncle stays there and I have enjoyed many a evenings on the beach there with the warmth and love of my uncle…. and there was a time we me and N used to visit the city every weekend for 2 months as N’s aunt was getting treated for cancer and have some dreadful memories of the city from that time 😦 and to the recent trip where I totally enjoyed the mumbai street food

24. Goa (Panjim):  AAah my most favorite vacation destination in the whole world… there is nothing that can beat Goa nothing. Me and N have drove to Goa once, I have had a week long vacation in Goa with friends during college and most recently I have done a girls only trip to Goa, enough shopping has been done in Goa, enough lazing at the beach with loads of beer and a book, roaming about the whole city on the rented bike, para sailing, speed boats and what not…… and yeah the first time I went to Goa was when I was 8 I think 😉 a place close to my heart a place where I can go any number of times… there is something about the very air of Goa that makes one happy

25. Andhra Pradesh (Hyderabad ): another place in my must visit I know I see someone frowning yet again ;(

26. Tamil Nadu (Chennai) : A strange city, I hate when I think of it, I love it when I am visiting and a city I know I can never settle in but a city I always have fond memories of from my visit… be it thulping idlies like nobody’s business or enjoying the beach but the fondest memory has to be the one when Ojas got over his fear of water in the beach this time. I felt so happy proud and relieved

27. Karnataka (Bengaluru): well well well what can I say, a City a girl came to about 9 years ago thinking she will go back her Delhi after 2 yrs… a city that I hate a lot about a city that I love a lot about, a city where I found many many lifelong friends, a city where I found the love of my life, a city where I married, a city where I became a mother a city which I have started to call home and which will be home forever I think. This is my city and a city I am proud of dispite everything

28. Kerala (Thiruvananthapuram) : Kerala is not called God’s Own Country for nothing it really is and my memory of kerala visit are so nice specially kochi as we had a lovely homecooked breakfast in kochi’s at a friends place

29. Delhi : another well well well, when u have spent almost 25 yrs of life in a city you need a novel to list down your best memories not a post 😉

And phew that brings us to the end of it… here all my fellow NaBloPoMo’s considered urself tagged… I am giving ur fodder for a post and me I am sending to N so that he can plan our next trip 😛

So did u jump, scream and dance?

Tags

cricket, emotions, india, world cup

The title of the post should have told you what this post is about isn’t it? Yes yes I know I am delayed but I am talking about the world cup… God WE WON… so now tell…

did u jump?

did u scream?

did u dance?

did u cry?

I did all of them and much more… Seriously what a moment. We were watching the match in a friends house about 15 of us jumping like mad people and the kids looking at us and wondering what exactly has come over their parents… we were screaming like never before… the day and the evening was full of emotions… excitement happiness when dhoni and gambhir very playing so well… despair and disappointment when sachin and sehwag were out.

I had just said that we just finish this match in style with a six when  dhoni hit that beautiful six to finish it off, give us a moment we will cherish all our lifes.. many hugs were exchanged, much clapping happened when we sat down rather stood and watched the presentation. I think most of us were chocked with emotions to do much talking and with one more round of hugs with a contentment in heart we departed for our houses not really aware of what is ahead us.

The streets were full of happy, joyous people. People dancing on the roads, every car, every bike having an Indian flag and a person screaming with joy. I don’t think I have ever before this seen India celebrate like this, I don’t think I have ever seen before this India united like this.

It was truly a day which will remain in my memory forever and just as dad tells me stories of the 83 win I will of the 2011 win

Well done men in blue… well done indeed

PS: I have been terribly terribly busy with CSA and hence not visiting any of u guys and also ignoring all my blogs, will be back with a bang in May and I am sure you will understand

Pinch Me

Tags

australia, cricket, fun, india, pakistan, twitter

Please someone pinch me, was it India that won against Australia yesterday,

somebody pinch me again was it me who was totally enjoying the match,

somebody pinch me again is it me who is doing a post remotely related to cricket

Man but what a match…it was 6 hours of total excitement and fun. Though the match itself was a lot of fun to watch but as I just mentioned I am a new convert to cricket and I really don’t understand the technical things too much, what made the match killer for me was TWITTER… One should have been there to understand the sheer enthusiasm of people. I was home alone yesterday but not for a single minute I felt that I was watching the match alone.  The joy on every wicket we took for aussies.The madness on every 4 we hit… There were times when my timeline was full of choicest of words and man it was so much fun 😉 Thank you so much to all my twitter match partners

and it was so fun that I was locked out of twitter not once but three times yesterday because I exceeded my hourly tweet limit 😛

Boys in Blue the drinks are on Chandu as she says and the brownie is on me… U did a great job yesterday and now please please please don’t fly in air and win the even more important match on 30th… the match of the World Cup… India-Pakistan….

Me I am making multiple twitter accounts ready so if i get locked out of one I have another 😉

 

Some days the only solution is a stiff drink

Tags

driving licence, govt office, india, licence, mobile phone, nokia, office

Yeah I am serious and I am sure you have all experienced such days when everything just seems to go wrong and nothing seems to work and by the end of the day all you need is a stiff drink or may be two. Yesterday was one such day.

Sometime back I lost my driving licence somewhere and the sad part is that I don’t even know where (I think I left it at airport check in counter while showing for age proof but not sure, but that is besides the point). It was made in Delhi and when I made inquiries I was told that it can’t be issued duplicate as I don’t stay in Delhi anymore and hence I had only one option left to apply for a new one and to go through the whole procedure of it…. yes yes first we go for learners… so yesterday morning at 9:30 am I promptly reached the RTO office to get my learners licence, I thought it would be easy to get a learners… I mean anyone can get a learners right as long as we have all documents in place whether to convert into a permanent licence may be a more difficult task but damn I was wrong.

I was at the f^&ing RTO office for the next 5 hours, standing and waiting for my work to be done which should have ideally taken 10 minutes. The whole process is so funny and ridiculous that I can’t even explain. Once you reach the office you have to submit a particular fee, fill up a form and stand in the queue for getting a token. I submitted the fee and thought So far so good… but than one look at the queue for token and my heart began to sink…. it was almost half a km long and no I am not kidding… Taking a deep breadth I went to the end of the queue and stood there waiting for my number to come, after some 30 minutes of wait and the queue moving a little came a person who told no no this is not the way to make a queue, all of you move that side and a minute the people in the end were running and became the starting of the queue at that side… and all my wait was washed away as once again I saw myself standing towards the end (and think of the people who were actually ahead of me, I pity them). Anyhow I figured there is no point cribbing now as there is hardly anything that can be done so I waited another 45 minutes before I reach the counter… and just when I reach there, a guy comes from the opposite direction, smiles at the counter guy, exchange some words in kannada and the counter person starts taking his form… WTF??? I tell him politely sir we have been waiting in the line for so long and can you please ask this gentleman to come in the queue and that man behind the counter… u know what he told me “Madam do u want the token or not?” Can u beat that and when I start saying something he replies in Kannada and when I tell him I dont know kannada well, he shouts at me saying that you have to learn kannada else don’t expect your work to get done here WTF????????????????? Anyways got my token no 58 after that guy got his I am wondering why does it take 1 hr and 15 mins to give token to 58 people????

The next step was to wait for my token number to be called and when I see the number on the display my heart sinks further… it was just 14 There was nothing else than waiting to be done and I started fiddling with my phone and went on twitter chatting with a few people and I see that the person who has to see our papers when the number arrives has been happily chatting on the phone for past 15 minutes and when he is working people without token who know him arrive at their own convenience, get their papers checked and go…. After a little more than 2 hours of wait finally my number is called…. yippe I almost shout and the minute I enter one person shouts to other “You can go back, todays time is over, come tmrw” Can u beat that? Those people who have been waiting for the past 3 hours since morning… why give them the token than?

After that we were supposed to go to one more person who takes your test on road signs etc and that took another 1.5 hrs so and all this while standing… I was almost dead at the end of it, 5 hours in total and it made me think why can’t we work more efficiently???

I came back home tired and realised I am dizzy, checked my BP and it was predictably low…. drank a lemon juice and decided to rest for sometime when Ojas dropped my phone thak and the slider – the only way of unlocking my Nokia x6 broke and I couldn’t do anything with the phone.

I took the phone to the service station and another wait began. I waited at their centre for about 2 hours for it to be fixed and it costed me 1100 bucks??? Can u beat that? Sigh

So what does one do at the end of such a day… have a drink and order out what else

WW4

Tags

Delhi, india, janpath, picture

Earn them or Buy them

Tags

bangalore, india, politics, voting

Yesterday it was BBMP (municipal) election in Bangalore. While me and mil went and voted N couldn’t because he was traveling for some biking fun with the boys.

So yesterday when the maid came in late… I asked her

Vote de aaye?

And then she yes and said this

Haan madam de tou diya but kya fyaada… 20 din se sabko chicken biryani khila raha hai main nahin khaayi, kyonki mujhe usko vote nahin karna… acha nahin hai woh… and aaj subah subah aake blanket, saree and 500 rupiyah diya aur bola vote mujhko hi dena. chalo saath do deke aao… and uske bande sab saath gayee and ushi ko vote dena pada.. kya karoo madam aadmi bhi yahan nahin hai so jaisa bola waise kar diya

Translation : Ya I gave the vote but what good it is. One of the candidates was feeding the whole area chicken biryani in the night she claims she didnt even have one day as he is not a good candidate and she didnt want to vote for him. Then the morning of the voting that guy came and gave her blanket, saree and rs 500 in cash and asked her to vote for her… As her husband is not living (thats a story for another post) she did what she was asked to

I was stunned… I was angry… I mean I know buying votes etc is not a new practice but somehow I never thought it would be existent in a big city like Bangalore. The so called IT city of the country…

Is this voting even worth it? Then I was discussing this with thehrstore on twitter and he said this

@monikamanchanda – Damn! That’s bad. 😦 At least their vote counted. We’ve a number problem here. Glad u voted.

which made me think… true she has atleast voted this way and if she was smart enough she would have taken the money and voted for someone else 😉 but then how many people are so fearless and gutsy?

Does this vote really count? What do u think… is it better to not go and vote than to vote for people like this under such circumstances?

Let me take you to the ruins

Tags

Abc Wednesday, Abc Wednesday Round 6, colors, hampi, history, india, ruins, sunset

The ruins of Hampi….

where sunflowers grow in abundance

where balance between the brown and the green is amazing

where we have ganesha’s of all sizes… the mustard ganesha

and the peanut ganesha

where the rocks teach you the balancing act like no one else can

where there are gopurams tall…. virupakasha temple… its 9 floors and 52m in height only 2 m short of meenakshi temple

and there are some natural frames

even the sapera has a story to tell

and music is always in the air

precious stones and gold was sold in an open market

where the river tungbhadra completes the balance

and there are more colors than one can think

the craftmanship is to die for

and the queen’s chamber remains as cool as a AC room just by regulating ventilation

where even the animals were kept in places as majestic as these

where there is the famous stone chariot

and the master piece in itself the Vithala Temple where each pillar makes the sound of a different musical instrument….

and last but not the least where sunset brings with itself a medley of colors (unfortunately the day we went was cloudy so the colors were not as prominent as they usually are but they still left us speechless)

We did a hampi trip back in 2006 and u can read the trip account here.… and for more information on Hampi click here

And for more lovely H’s go to the ABC Wednesday page…

Happy Republic Day

Tags

india, patriotism, republic day

On this republic day lets pause and think what does patriotism mean to us? What does we mean when we say we are proud of our country? And what are we ready to do for it?

I am sure if each one of us asks this question to self and follows what the heart and mind tell us we will sure be a better country…

Happy Republic Day!!!

A is for Auli

Tags

Abc Wednesday, Abc Wednesday Round 6, auli, hills, india, meadow, mountains, NaBloPoMo, nanda devi, picture, snow

So another ABC begins and this time I will try and let the pictures do the talking…

A is for the lovely Auli that we visited in 2006 sometime and the snow clad mountains we can see from there

and thats the majestic Nanda Devi

and the lovely meadows which are covered by snow and form quite a popular ski slope in the winter

and the clouds that never fail to fascinate one

and the picture of Nar/Narayan peak taken in the same trip