Friday, September 12, 2008

India trip and some pics

Its already a week since I came back to Shanghai..Feels good to be back home but miss my parents too.. The husband has quite hectic work at office that leaves me alone at home with lots of time to think about the time spent in Mangalore. The best part of being at your home town is being loved and pampered. Parents too stay close by so there is no chance of missing parents(read mom's cooking :P). Before starting from Shanghai I had loads of plans that I would eat this and eat that .. blah blah.. But believe me once I was there I did not have any interest in eating as I was busy meeting friends and cousins. Plus there were lot of functions My cousins wedding, my rakhi brother's wedding plus couple of other functions, Krishnaashtami, Gowri Pooja Ganesh Chathurthi. Glad that I could attend all the festivals which I would have missed if I was here. Here are few of the pics of the Pooja's at home
Gowri Pooja at home:
Gowri Pooja is observed by married ladies. A few coconuts are washed and cleaned well and again washed in turmeric water. Then it is decorated with kajal to represent eyes, kumkum on the forehead and sindhoor. It is considered as Gowri. We also bring a picture of Gowri stick it on a surface, place it in a mantap and Pooja is done by the head of the family. This year my father in law decorated the mantap and made the Pooja. After the Pooja the decorated coconuts called as "Vaayna" has to be given to all the married ladies in the family. The younger ladies visit the elder's house to exchange the vaayna and seek the blessings.Not every family has vaayna Pooja. It depends on certain families who observe Gowri Pooja. May be some time I will make a post about Vaayna Pooja and Choodi Pooja.We do not have Ganesh Chathurthi at home so this time I took an opportunity to go to Mumbai along with my parents. My dad's cousin's family celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi at home and I was lucky to be a part of it.




















Ganesh Chaturthi : At my uncle's place in Mumbai. Ganapti brings fond memories of the times that we have always spent in Mumbai. Back in school as kids, Dad would take us to Mumbai as our family ganapthi is celebrated at my uncles house in Mumbai. Around 25 items are made on this day as a part of nievedyam and the family members cook for all the guests too. The neivedyam inlcudes Modak,nevri or karanji,Til laddoo,Panchakajjaya, Pathrode, Pattholi(a sweet made with turmeric leaves) the list goes on and on. It is said that if you make a item for ganapathi as offering that day then you need to make it every year. The first day of Ganapthi we go to Siddhi Vinay mandir. We go very early in the morning and the huge lines seems to proceed very slowly. After that we attend ganapathi pooja at my uncle's house and then we go to other places such as Wadala matt, King's Circle, Kurla Balaji mandir,Vashi to see the ganapthi's. Its a sight to see in Mumbai people dancing on the streets singing ganapthi Bappa moriya and dancing with colours. So many Idols of Lord Ganesha in different poses. One can never get tired seeing those idols and the enthusiasm of people.  




















































Well, on the cooking front nothing much is happening. Very simple fare as I was busy unpacking and also we were busy finishing off the orde of goodies that we got from all my loved one's ;) Feels so lucky... From now on I hope to be regular :)


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