celebration Archives - Page 6 of 14

28/08/201315/04/2017

Waiting for Krishna

A very very Happy Janamashtami everyone.

If you’ve been around here you’ll know that Naisha has a very soft spot for the blue God. If you haven’t, well you can read about it here and here. It was she who made sure we celebrate Janamashtami with great fervour. Not that there’s anything to not like in Krishna. Who wouldn’t love a God who’s as human as one can be?

This year we planned to make a jhanki – one of my favourite traditions from Lucknow where we’d go to see jhankis on Janamashtami night. Some of the professional ones would be gorgeous with real water flowing and idols moving around. It was one of the few nights we would stay up till late. This was also one of the first fasts I ever tried only because it was simple enough to keep – you could eat so many many goodies – yet had the thrill of being ‘really hard’ because you got to eat only after Krishna’s birth at midnight.

This year we’d planned on making a scene from Vrindavan since I wanted to keep it easy. It turned out great fun. The kids launched off with great enthu.. collecting twigs, painting them and sticking on the leaves. They made play dough gopis and enthusiastically offered up their all their toys.

And so here it is.
That’s the backdrop. It is inspired by Shruti’s craft you can check it out here. Thanks Shruti :-).

That’s the bottom half….

The the Yamuna flows bright blue while Krishna plays the flute.

And then we decided to do another one only because my SIL got me this ‘jhula’ and it was too cute to not use. I couldn’t resist putting it up.

A Krishna on the swing, a peacock feather tucked in, a Yashoda put in and we were done.

That’s what he looks like up close

and that’s my Yashoda.

Looking forward to fun times this evening when Naisha’s gang of girls comes in all dressed up. So how was your Janamashtami folks?

24/08/201301/06/2017

Food for thought

A few days back during an open house meet, N’s teacher suggested I get her to do one short composition everyday to rid her of her fear/laziness of writing. One of their recent write ups was on Rakshabandhan. What they wrote, proved to be quite an eye opener.N wrote two perfunctory lines on the rakhi tying and then went on to talk about a radio which she had got as a gift. H too got by with a few words on rakhi and then described in great detail how we went out to lunch with an account of all what we ate.

Knowing my children I hadn’t expected anything too sentimental but I certainly had expected them to talk about the spirit of the festival. I was sorely disappointed.

When we were kids rakhshabandhan meant posting the rakhis to our cousins a week in advance and that was that. Even on the rare occasions we were together with our cousins, getting something from them was a total no. In fact gifts were never related to occasions – not even birthdays. Rakshabandhan – definitely not. When the girls at school would discuss their rakhi ‘spoils’ laughingly asking each other, “Kitni kamayi hui?” I’d look on with wonder and, I have to admit, some envy too.

However over the years the message became only too firmly ingrained – rakshabandhan was about handmade rakhis, formal clothes, roli and tika maybe even laddoos and kaju katlis but that was it.

When H and N came along the festival finally found a home with us and became something we all looked forward to. So secure was I in my belief that the kids would imbibe its true spirit by default, that I made no effort to reinforce it for them. Worse, I saw no harm in small gifts because I thought that would make the day ‘perfect’. It is tough to resist those super happy smiles on their faces.

How wrong was I. Of course the gifts brought smiles, but that was a temporary, fleeting happiness at the cost of something far more precious. Instead of celebrating their very special bond, what remained of the festival in their minds, was the gift and the eating out.

I wonder how my mum got it so right. She was almost half my age when she had us, she had no Internet to guide her, no mommy support groups to help her along and years of conservatism to struggle against. She had much more on her mind than I do. Yet I never saw her obsess about ‘mothering’, never saw her struggle with decisions, specially those related to my sister and me. I don’t think she ever consciously thought “I need to explain to my children that rakshabandhan isn’t about gifts” and yet she managed to get the message across so clearly. How did she do that? I have no idea.

I will now borrow a page from her Great Book of Life principles and try to pass some of it on to H and N. If subtelties won’t do, I’ll simply have to blunder in and spell it out for them for this is a lesson too important to let go – for them and for me.

I like to think there’s time yet to put right what I messed. Next year on rakhi I hope I’ll get to see two very different compositions – compositions that’ll come a bit from the heart. I hope the day will bring to the children a renewed realisation of how truly miraculous it is to have someone by your side right from the moment of your birth – a brother, a sister, a friend for life.

26/07/201307/06/2017

Chocolate spoons, cup cakes and a party

The drafts have been piling up, my comeback drafts, but I’ve been weirdly reluctant to press the “publish’ key. This post, however, just might get done. It’s a party post and I love party posts. Besides, a party is a good way to get back, right?The kids this time had their birthday in my hometown so missed out celebrating with their friends. The Husband told them to decide between one big gift each or another party with their friends – not a birthday party, mind you, just a party.

You should have seen them think and debate and argue back and forth. N wanted the party, H wanted the gift, we just wanted a consensus. Finally after much thought a party it was to be.

For long I’d wanted to separate the concepts of ‘party’ and ‘presents’. This party was to have no gifts and no return gifts either. For the record, I have a long lasting vendetta against return gifts and the mega avatar they’ve taken.

That decision being made the next thing was to convey it to the mums that this wasn’t a birthday party. It took a bit of convincing but they came around and did a pretty good job and the kids were primmed well. I just had a few queries of “Aunty where’s my return gift?”… far fewer than I expected.

I chose an invite off the Net and fiddled with it so it looked like this.. to make sure everyone got our message.

I did away with the cake and instead got cup cakes for everyone. We put on name flags to avoid fights over colour! Yeah we think of everything.

Another fun thing I’d been longing to try out were these chocolate spoons. The recipe I worked with was from here http://www.oneperfectdayblog.net/2012/09/12/how-to-make-chocolate-spoons/.
Since my spoons were plain white I dressed them up a bit with stripey glitter designs with 3-D paint. I loved the result.

All I had to do after that was melt some regular Dairy Milk chocolate on a double burner, pour it out on the spoons and decorate them with sprinkles (which I had ordered from gourmetco.in). Here’s what they finally turned out. Not as good as the ones in the original recipe but then I’m no cook. I do hope to do a neater job next time round.

The menu was simple, the music good and H set the mood with that notice!

The kids had a blast.

With twenty of them in our tiny living room, decibel levels climbed beyond decency. Even as I fretted over what the neighbours would have to say, The Husband slept.. yes slept through it all.

We really should have more of these!

04/06/201315/04/2017

Only U…

… think my cooking is out of the world never noticing the slightly crooked rotis or the overdone daal.
… happily christen my hardened cakes ‘biscuit cakes’ and crunch them up with relish.
.. think I sing like a nightingale and fall asleep with a smile to my off tone, off key renditions.
… think I’m fashionista number one fascinated at my barely there ‘makeup’ kit.
… think I’m pretty never noticing the flab only enjoying the warmth as you cuddle up.
… think I’ve got the grooviest moves as you dance with me to.

Seven years ….

Sure got lucky with you too.

08/03/201315/04/2017

To celebrate or not

It’s Women’s Day today and it would have gone by without a post had the Husband not entered at 10 in the night bearing a cake. No I wasn’t surprised.. that’s too mild a reaction.

The kids were thrilled.. Naisha moreso because as the youngest lady in the house she had the privelege of cutting the cake.

Naisha stuffed the last bit of her food into her mouth and got ready to cut the cake.
That’s Hrit’s hand sneaking in for a lick!

Through the day I’ve been receiving messages from many of my ebullient friends wishing me for Women’s Day. Then there is the other bunch who said ‘What’s special about today??’ Every day is Women’s Day or ‘What’s the point in celebrating Women’s day when so many women across the country are not safe/are suffering?’

Well both have a point. However I’d rather go with the enthusiastic lot rather than the Scrooges. Yes March 8 will not change the state of Women across the country. However, instead of debating whether to celebrate, why not take the opportunity to be grateful for being one of the priveledged minority while pledging to do something for those others who are not? Of course you could have already done that yesterday or the day before that, or last week.. well then consider March 8 a reminder.

The same goes for other days.. Valentine’s day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day. However, I do draw the line at Hug Day, Teddy Day, Kiss Day, Slap Day, Kick Day… hey I’m not making them up.. those really are ‘days’. But then that’s just me. If you feel like it.. go for it.. celebrate them all. Life’s a celebration after all.

MEanwhile here’s some cake for all my women friends with the hope that the coming years will get only better and have great things in store for all of us across the world. A very very happy and empowering Women’s Day to all of you.