Friday, September 21, 2018

Maiden Navaratri Golu

Navaratri , The Nine Nights of Celebrating the Hindu Goddesses Durga,  Lakshmi and Saraswathi. Golu is the festive display of dolls, mostly comprising the dolls of Gods to bring in their divine presence to home. 

2 Days before Navaratri ,out of the blue the thought of having our first golu struck as the workload had eased out for the next 3 weeks! For once the husband and me knew our work schedule . The Husband got really excited that he picked up the bag and said "Let's go Bommai (doll) Shopping at MalleshwaramπŸ˜ƒ".The Parents and In-Laws were totally surprised and excited to know, that's because Mum and the Mum-in-law could not accommodate the golu in their hectic work schedule.

So hubby and I thought we would start small by having 3 steps, as golu ought to have odd numbered stair setup. 

Hubby and Me got the dolls for initial setup,Mum and Dad set of to Mylapore in chennai to get few more dolls before their travel to our home in Bangalore , FIL helped with some heavy lifting of the stand and its setup , MIL found out a super glittery Saree for the stair and The Grandma-In-Law(Granny K) & me had a detailed conversation about arranging dolls , prasadams , navaratri gifts and all the age old practices to be followed for the next Ten days !!

Tadaaaaaaa......!



So initially planned 3 steps turned out to be 5 row arrangement as Granny K and mom insisted on having the mahaans and common people along with our earlier planned all God show . 



 As per tradition Ganesha was made to sit first followed by the three Goddesses along with their vahaans and sevikaas . 



Madurai Meenakshi (Pachai Podava kari / Green Saree Goddess) with her parrot is my favorite of all clay dolls 


Dashavatar
 An entire row dedicated to Krishna , his ten avatars along with baby Krishna and Komatha
Meenakshi Kalyanam

 The third row is the grand Meenakshi Sundaresar Kalyanam with the gathering of important hindu Gods 
Mahaans collection

Common people and birds
The last row was personally very special as we had placed the Marapachi dolls - "Pair of wooden dolls" a hereditary gift from a mother to daughter on her wedding. I had kept it safe for half a decade to finally place them in Golu 



These Nine days were filled with family , friends and neighbors who came home for sundal/sweet , to comment on golu and not to forget the navaratri gift exchange !!

When my Mom arrived on the 7th day of Navaratri and having admired my Golu , she sat down and burst out laughing after noticing that I had put my Christmas tree light in the Golu πŸ˜†. This brought back memories of my childhood to her, having studied in a convent school and of all the slokhas my mum had taught me , I would recite the "Our father in heaven" prayer taught in school at any golu when a Maami(Auntie) asks me to recite a slokham πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚

And of course I did too in my own golu with a friend (Sandy is a teacher in a christian institute) who was scared that I might ask her to sing. I narrated my story and she said so what let's recite it together !! Imagine the fun my hubby had witnessing us do it πŸ˜† also he clicked us during our selfie moments 



A wonderful festival that helped me connect to my roots , make more friends and of course a lot of appreciation about my culinary skills from the neighborhood auntie squad & Granny K πŸ˜„





Sunday, June 25, 2017

Being a Beach Person ! @Murudeshwara

Hola !

A Chennaite being a beach person is no surprise :) You have lived in complete love with the Bay of Bengal all your life (okay 23 years) and suddenly when you start living in a city (Bengaluru) that is nowhere near the coast makes you crave for those beach vacations 

So here I was craving for a beach vacation and finally made it to Coast of the Arabian Sea.

Murdeshwara is the place where there is this majestic statue of "The Mahadev" ! He sits as the King of the Arabian sea . Said to be the 2nd largest statue of Shiva in the world, His temple tower is a beauty and the view from the temple tower is a feast for the eye. Take a look at it yourself 



I stood there embracing every second of this view .. letting it sink into me and stay with me for a very long time to come 😊
Isn't she majestic to watch ... true to the words "As endless as the ocean, as timeless as the tides" she gives you relaxation beyond infinity 


The Mahadev 

The Lord and his Temple Tower

Murudeshwara temple tower 

One can take the lift up this tower to get the view of the beach ..feel the wind in your hair before you dip your feet into the Arabian sea 😊



Friday, June 05, 2015

Breathtaking Kemmannagundi


Sharing my panoramic shot of Kemmannagundi a breathtaking place , with lush greenery, serene atmosphere and ever flowing springs. The pleasant whether and the scenic beauty can sweep you off your feet !

(click on this link to view original pic : Kemmannagundi panoramic shot)