And there was darkness....

A few moments of absolute darkness..Waiting with hope that “ there will be light “ in a few minutes..Then groping for the candles and matchbox in various drawers,uncertain where they might be ..Nothing to do – minutes turn into hours..frantic calls to the power company – They say it’ll be a while before the power comes back on..I sit in the darkness of my living room,and stare at the flickering light of the candle-Something in that light conveys a soothing ,warm sensation through my eyes into my whole body..Yes,I feel relaxed…There’s nothing to do, and there is a sense of relaxation connected with that vacuum created by the sudden power failure.. It’s amazing how the slow,sensual dance of a flame transports you to a world of relaxation and new perspective , and eventually you fall in love with the darkness..

I look at the little knickknacks in my organized living room in a “ different light “ – Like so many great painters I have heard or read of, I analyzed those “ still “ objects in that faint illumination…..

I can actually listen to the clock ticking,and I love the tick-tock sound..Reminds me of the grandfather clock in my grandparent’s home ..The sound and that memory creates a gradual cooling sensation in my mind,like the menthol does to your throat…

Who would have thought that a power failure would be a blessing in disguise ? A welcome change, a spa hour for your brain,for your mind..Although I worried about the stuff in my refrigerator,that slender mass of wax did some magic..I even wanted to read a book in that candle light.. 

What did that flame teach me ? That you can be soft and still spread warmth,light and happiness, that in softness lies the power to make people around you feel at ease…that there will be some people who would appreciate the shadow you cast around you and the soft glow of your radiant aura ..

As I stared at the slow dancing  flame, I felt all this while I had been so distracted from my inner thoughts…I was thinking but not thinking at all.. there was so much going on around me..so many things exciting my different senses,so many tempest in my teapot…that I wasn’t concentrating really on anything.. Tonight, with this sudden darkness that has befallen me, I could rewind and refresh,even for a little while..I could listen to the raindrops outside..I could fall harder in love  with Rabindranath’s words in this subtle atmosphere…I needed this shadow,this silence and the music created by their union…I have always loved nighttime..I have always loved darkness…but not like this…not like tonight ~ ~

Esho BaagDevi ( Welcome Baag Devi / Ma Saraswati )

For those who haven't tasted this fruit,it's very difficult for me to explain what it tastes like and what other emotions are interconnected with one bite of this fruit..Bengalis call this " Kuul " and it is known as " Ber " in hindi...Fruit of a spiny,  medium sized plant..it comes in 2 varieties - Roundish and maroon red ones,known as " Topa kuul " in bengali and the greenish,oval ones ( pic above ) called " Narkuule kuul " ( or coconut-ish ),maybe because the taste resembles so much like that of raw coconut...

Significance- These fruits are one of the most crucial prasad of Saraswati Pujo..They start ripening around the time of Saraswati Pujo..mid-feb-march..And one of our favorite jobs as kids were to stand beneath the plants we had in our garden,spreading out a big sheet of cloth in our hands,while our " Maali " ( gardener ) used to shake the plant vigorously...Beautiful green or red berries used to fall ..and we collected them and reported the collection to the headquarters ( read Mom ) ...That is the only fun part...Rest is just an immense amount of  hope that the day of the pujo would draw near as soon as possible,because we were not allowed to taste even half of a berry-The myth was we would lose all our intelligence & knowledge..plus fail in our next exams,if we eat these berries before the day of saraswati Pujo..So,we waited and waited..and stared at these delectable delicacies until the D-day,and hogged on them till our stomaches ached after they had been offered to the goddess and she has accepted her offering....We never ever questioned why would eating a fruit cause someone to fail in any exams..And such is the importance of values instilled in us in our childhood,that even though after so many years, for the 1st time in US,I found these berries in a local indian grocery last week..I carefully stored them , to eat them only after I had offered them to the goddess...

Saraswati Pujo-A day like so many other days for which we waited all year round..A day which meant there won't be any studies...because we made sure to hoard all our books,copies,pen and stuff and deposit it around the protima the evening before..The evening before,Baba used to do Ganesh Puja..I waited for the prasad which consisted of motichur laddoo...Then Baba used to bring out the protima of Saraswati,clean out the area and ask us to bring our belonging and place it around the goddess..We brought all our school stuff,my music stuff..Mom's cookery books,Dad's books..and arrange it around the goddess..Then came the decorations,alpona...The morning of the pujo, we were forced out of bed by dad...was forced to bath in the chilly morning,wear fresh clothes and my job was to help dad with cutting the prasad,preparing the chandan and the flowers...Then,Baba used to do the pujo and we offered our puspanjali ...followed by prasad..Many a times,neighbourhood kids or dad's colleagues used to come and baba used to do the " haathe khori " ..We used to be so proud...

We used to have a picnic lunch of khichuri,bhaja,chutney,labra etc..in our garden...It was just heavenly..Going to the pandal,dressed up in Mom's saree and jewellery....participating in local cultural programs or just a small get together with baba-ma's friends at someone's house..sumptuous dinner,songs and merry-making..Baba used to do the " sondhya aroti " at home..Those were the days...Oh , I forgot-We had to go to our school every year where we had a huge pujo celebration,with rangoli competition,science exhibition,lunch,cultural program and prize distribution for class toppers..Then,after coming back..Maa had these immense store of energy to start with her " sheetol shoshti " preparation- Till late at night..Ma used to cut all the vegetables and prepare 4-5 course meals consisting of different curries,fried vegetables, chutney made of " kuul " , basmati rice etc...These were offered to the goddess and eaten cold ( " sheetol ) the next day..This was done for the well-being of the children ( that's why the name " shosthi " ) ...And it tasted heavenly..My Mom still prepares the whole fare and I miss it every year..

Gone are those days..as I sit here in front of my laptop reminiscing and typing away,a strange pain shoots away in my heart,an agony,a pining..A pain which will never go away and only get bigger with each passing years..as those days moves even farther and farther away...

Happy Saraswati Pujo & Vasant Panchami !!

Sankranti...

 

                                                                                                                                                       

 It's funny when you think how much this day of a wintry month can mean so much to us Indians..Makar Sankranti for some, Poush Sankranti for us Bengalis,Bihu,Maghi,Uttarayan,Pongal....so many festivities come together on this day all throughout India...The end of winter and the onset of the Harvest Season ...and the beginning of an auspicious phase marked by zealous fanfare and granduer celebrations...With the names being different,the food and the festivities are bound to be different..but each follow the same central theme-The beginning of harvest..and this theme is reflected in the food ..On Lohri,peanuts & til are thrown into the fire...Eating ghazzak made of til and gur or of peanuts and gur is a very traditional way to celebrate Sankranti . Oh, what I wouldn't do to get a bite of that ghazzak or rewaris right now ?? 

At home,we celebrate this day with loads of Pithe-Puli - the sweet delicacies, in different shapes and forms....with rice flour,Khejur guur ( date palm syrup ) or jaggery,grated coconut and milk playing the central characters in the making of these delicacies.Some are fried,some are steamed,some are rolled in the form of pancakes...But the sounds that emanate from the creatures deriving pleasure from a bite of these delicacies are all the same..Lots of ooohhs and aahhhhs and ah haas..and oh hooos....

I didn't care much for this day,when I was a kid or was at home...All the pithe-puli surrounding me didn't wow me that much..I even remember people, Ma being one of those people,trying to force feed me those yummy delicacies , followed by a bout of screaming,shouting and shedding of tears...

But something happened when I went to unversity..Staying away from home,meeting all these new people and learning their culture from a closer distance,enjoying the same festivities in a different scenario..made me realise what I've been missing for so long..what I have missed out...They made me embrace this festival with a new  ardor..

Varanasi,holiest place in the world according to Hindus...and if luck throws you and Makar Sankranti together in this holy city for 5 years..what is created is sheer magic...Fun times with friends on the ghats of Ganges, those boat rides on the chilly,foggy morning on the Ganges,floating diya in the waters after the grand Aarti in the evening on the Ghats,eating loads of  good food , watching the sky getting enshrouded with thousands of colorful kites..and the moody sun showing his face when he wishes to or not....And the smell of the people,food,bovine,incense,frankincense and fog-all mixed together..Yes,if you had been there,you would remember that smell throughout your life.

Those and much more had been Makar Sankranti to me, and will always be,for days to come...Happy Sankranti everyone !!  

                                   

 

Melange of emotions !!

Sunshine at Niagara Falls ( 2010 )

 Does any relationship have an expiration date ? Like it happens with so many other perishable things,if one stores love with care to save it for a later time,does it perish or expire,specially if forgetten ? Perhaps,relationships do expire when left unattended.With time,they become enshrouded with mold and start to decay without your knowledge..and suddenly they disappear,leaving us thinking of so many things that could have happened or could have been done with little more attention to details,perhaps !! The expiration of a connection is like the end of an era..although they leave us with a melange of emotions-memories and flashbacks,and lots of dejection....And we always muse if it's truly justified to mourn such an expiration- for such a relationship  perhaps was merely the fruits of one's dream or desire..Things we wanted and how we wanted them to happen..Or maybe there was some history to it but that was all there was to it,and such history had no recent past,present or future-But you held on to them as your own anyways... and mourned them when they eventually happened to vanish...Does just holding on to such history,just by force even if there was not even a silk thread stringing them to the present..and not letting them go,make them rightfully ours ? Loss of something which we had lost a long time ago and whatever has been left of it- having been losing the rest of it  in small doses everyday..doesn't really qualify as a sudden loss or expiration....But still,why do we,humans-crave for something which many a times is not befitting or doesn't rightfully  belong to us ? Why don't we allow the spilled liquid to dry and just accept the stain ??!

Award time..once again !!

I've been very lazy lately..lazy to write anything and busy with other things...My " blog shop " has been closed shut for the last month or so..But that hasn't stopped my lovely blogger friends from showering me with so many awards..They seem to keep coming,one after the other..Recently,I received another award ( my 4th  one precisely ) from Soumya and it was my birthday that day..Thanks a lot Soumya for making the day so special for me ...I would like to share this award with all my blogger friends once again...to make everyone feel special !!

Versatile Blogger Award

Thanks to Soumya ( check out her lovely blog here HERE ) for giving me the Versatile Blogger Award.I'm really honored...

I would like to share this award with all my fellow bloggers..They all do such great jobs in their blogs..Congratulations to all of you !!

Back from a journey and an award !!

Dear friends

These last 3 weeks had been a journey in the true sense of the word for me, and now I'm back..First,I would like to thank Amrita Kalyani ( see here  & here ) for giving me this lovely award..I'm extremely sorry for posting this so late..I was out on the roads for the last 21 days and got back last night only.I am so thankful to her for sharing this award with me.

Now there are some rules -

• After receiving this award, post it on your blog with the person's name and blog link who has shared this award with you.
• We have to share the award with 15 other fellow bloggers.
• Contact the fellow bloggers with whom you are sharing your award to let them know that they have been chosen.

I am sharing this award with the following 15 fellow bloggers,in no specific order :-
 
Umm Mymoonah - Taste of Pearl City

Sameena Prathap - My Culinary Creations

Kamalikas -Silence Sings

Satya - Super Yummy Recipes

Aipi - US Masala

Sayantani- A Homemaker's diary

Pree-Preeoccupied

Torview-Torviewtoronto

Jay-Tasty Appetite

Soumya-Soumya's Kitchen

Ruby Parmar-Punjabi Food Diary

Deepika-Deepika's Corner

Akila-Akila's Kitchen

Urmi-Kavitayen

Deepa- Hamaree Rasoi

Congratulations to all my fellow bloggers who put their heart,soul and minds in their beautiful blogs.This award goes to every one of you whom I couldn't mention in the above list...Keep on blogging !!

Vacation Time !!

For me,visiting new places and meeting new people is a journey of the senses-Apart from taking in the obvious sights,I make it a point not to miss out on the not-so-obvious things which different places has to offer..From the rural to the urban,wherever I go-I seek out the subtleties and thru' them,get a feel of where I am and differentiate it from other places I've been to or will be in the future..I feel an emptiness until I've the tasted the food which characterises a particular town or bought the amber honey from the local apiary if I'm in a rural setting..For,even if you don't get to know people personally,it is through these,you get a glimpse into their daily lives..And for me,no trip is complete,until you have smelled the musty trees,watched how the glinting sun changes the colors of the leaves,listened to the tune of the brook jumping it's way over the stones,identified some flowers,trees or birds,savoured the local-made cheese or farm-grown Shiitakes..And done all these things over and above taking the day tours on a hop-on,hop-off bus...

And I'm about to embark on one such journey of the senses-One of the longest I've taken in a while...
It's time for me to shut down my kitchen,pack some suitcases,jot down some plans ..'coz friends-I'm taking some time off  and going on a vacation..Have fun everyone..See you soon !!
'

SAY IT WITH FLOWERS

 Flowers....make me happy....I smile at them, and they seem to smile back at me :)

Growing in bushes and hedges..Lantana is always such a welcome sight...

Our own Hibiscus...from our balcony garden....

Yellow Poinciana is just as pretty as the red ones...

I love the yellow star among all the pink..This is from my Mom's garden.

I just love lilies..With Lilies around, the house always smell so nice  !!

What says " romance " better than Magnolia ?? 

Had to stop on our way to Grand Canyon to take this picture...Absolute burst of colors..

These remind me of my Ma's Cacti collection-She had more than 200 varieties of cactus, many of which bloomed in summer..

One of my favorite shots from Grand Canyon,West Rim

As you can see very well, I had a hard time in selecting only a few from all the shots of different flowers I had.....Hope you like them :)
This is off to SIMPLICITY  ..Thanks for hosting such a " Flower" - y challenge !! 

My First Award

This morning I opened my emails and found out that I've received an award-My 1st one..Oh my god !! I'm so excited- I got my first blog award :-) 
I want to thank Soumya  (Check out her beautiful blog )  for considering me worthy of an award and for sharing her award with me ..This means a lot to me !!

Thanks a lot to all my readers and followers ....Have a nice day and great weekend everyone !!