The onset of the Diwali season ..

I love the festive season in Chennai and when it is Diwali the fun is a lot more .. You know Diwali is just around the corner when,

• People around you are talking about what they have shopped or where to shop for clothes ..


• When everyone at workplace are planning to go on extended leaves ..


• When the traffic in Chennai grows manifold just the day after Ayudha pooja..


• When super markets start stacking boxes of Haldiram sweets, dry fruits and chocloate boxes ..


• When you are easily able to book tickets for a weekend show in Satyam Cinemas just a day before, most of the janta is shopping anyway ..


• When the smell of sulphur start setting in the air ..


• When kids around the place run around with cape guns ..


• When they take no more orders for stictching in your tailor shop ..


• When all the ads in the newspaper are that of clothes stores and jewellery shop apart from the exclusive supplements we recieve along with the daily news papers ..

Thank god I am no more in school/ college where my diwali holidays were always followed by some exam :) :)

What are you doing this Diwali ??

Enthiran - Movie review

Enthiran - Robot, loved the movie. DOT.

I am not a super crazy fan of Rajini but I liked his acting in it and Ash as always in her true graceful self added charm to the movie in her own way.

My favourite bits from the movie:

• Love all the songs from the movie and have started liking it even more after seeing the videos of those.
• Machu pichu looks beautiful where the Kilimanjaro song was shot.
  
• I liked the first half of the movie than the later half, the later half contained mostly of animation.
  
• Most of the clothes which Ash wore were awesomely cool :)
  
• loved the dance - Ash with Chitti the robot on her birthday party ..
  
• The villanious laugh by Rajini in the last few scenes of the movie.
  
• It was great to hear the claps and whistles and the uproar in the crowd after this dialogue

(A scene happening when Chitti the robot is first taken to the conference, when it is for the first time being introduced to the people in the conference)

Question from the Audience: Is there God ?
Chitti (Robot): Who is God ?
Guy from the Audience: The one who created all of us
Chitti: Then in that case, it was Dr.Vaseegaran who created me and he is my god ..

Woha !! What an uproar from the audience .. :) :)

The only thing I missed in the movie, is the typical punch dialogue which is expected of a Rajni's movie and of course the title song .. never mind Enthiran was a true entertainer in all ways :)


Wishing you all a happy Ayudha Pooja in Enthiran style ;)

Vinayaka Chaturthi Wishes :)

I have always had fond memories of celebrating Vinayaka Chathurthi as a child and I am glad the practice still continues jus' the same way. The preperation for the festival starts a day in advance. On the eve of Vinayaka Chaturthi we make a visit to the nearby vinayaka temple where they sell all the decorative items and the various items required for the pooja.

Right from selecting the colorful umbrella for lord Ganesha , the thoranams to decorate the pooja shelf .. flowers.. garlands etc has always been a much sort after event.. Any festival that involves shopping even to the smallest scale is so much fun :) . The next day starts with preperation of kozhkattai/mothagams where everyone at home is involved in preparing the sweet dumplings.

After a special offering to lord Ganesh the day continues with sharing the sweet delicacies with friends and ofcourse with the Vinayaka chaturthi special programs on TV and later in the evening it is time to visit my most favourite pillayar koil in town, which is about ten mins drive from my home.

Vinayaka Chathurthi also instills in me a feeling that it is the beginning of a list of festivals to follow, though technically speaking we celebrated Krishna Jeyanthi a week before.

Wish you all a happy Vinayaka Chaturthi and loads of happinness and peace in life :) Lets get started for the festive season ahead ..

Holi Times !!

Wishing you all a very happy Holi and a colorful year ahead!! :)

Holi brings back fond memories of my childhood of how everyone at home used to be against me playing holi and how I used to sneak out jus' to enjoy the holi spirit and get into trouble at home .. It wasn't long ago since all these happened.

Now again I want to sink into the festive spirit of Holi but its been a couple of years since we full fledgedly played holi .. I wonder why thou ??

Missing all my school pals (Nishi, Gari, Mona, Raz, Shamita ...) with whom I share wonderful memories of Holi.

Let me know what you guys did this holi.

Getting Into the festive mood...

I am one person who can never sacrifice a fun thing for anything more serious in life, but I was surprised when I held myself back to sit and prepare for my semester practical exam which was on the very next day when there was a Diwali Bash happening in the floor jus' below me .. all my neighbours getting together .. music.. dance .. cultural programs .. yummy food.. fireworks display .. and me studying *sigh*

Last Diwali Bash me along with family and a bunch of my college pals were having a gala time ,how much thigs change in such short span of time.

Neverthless, 3 days down to diwali i'm already in to teh festive mood keeping aside all college work. My high priority jobs for now is to get my diwal dress pressed and to distribute sweets to friends :)

I've not got much of major plans this Diwali but im not sure as to what is gonna pop out in the last minute.. So, what are you doing this Diwali ???

Eid Mubarak !

Eid wishes to all my muslim friends .. I hope you had a great time feasting after mor than a month long of fast.

I'm jus' looking to have my share of Biryani from a few of my juniors and yea few of them were so sweet willing to get some veg. biryani for me , me being a pure veggi :)

I would be glad to hear your Eid experiences and what eid means to you .

P.S. I guess this is the longest time I have stayed away from my blogspace (almost close to 2 weeks) .. not that I don' have anything to write but its more of me lacking the drive to log in to blogger and make a post ..

As I think it jus' gets me wondering that I hardly do anythin apart from college work these days .. This is really not a very good sign .. I guess it would be a lil hard for me to get into my regular day to day blogging .. but I still will make it a point to make a post a day whatever it may be .. I desperately wanna be here, since blogging has become a part of my life and so have all my blogger friends and also for the fact that I love to identify myself as a blogger :)

Happy Holi !

Holi , the festival of colors always reminds me of my holi days in school , my previous colony where I used to stay and the fun we had in college last year .. But, the best times were always in school .

Sneaking the packets of colors into my school bag , running around with colors and splashing them on your dearest pal, getting caught with teachers, visit friend's place, spoil the interiors of my car (Gosh! how much of scoldings) , trying to clean up as much before entering home, begging my mom to let me play holi with colony friends, cycling around with friends , dance, music ... This is one festival that I really cherish a lot , even thou' its not all that popular in this part of the country (Chennai, India) .

Wishing all my blog buddies a very colorful life :) and a happy holi too!

Many Happy returns..

May this season of harvest bring in a lot of prosperity and goodness into all our lives :)

Yen Inniya pongal Nalvazthukal and Happy Shankranthi :)

Merry Christmas !

My heartiest Diwali wishes :)

Wish you all a very happy and a prosperous Diwali.. My diwali day has been going on very fine. Having a gala time with my friends thou' my exams are couple of days away. I might be a lil irregular in posting and visiting your blogs for the next few days coz I have my exams coming up, will catch up soon with your blogs. See ya .. Have a great time :)

Saraswathi pooja celebrations

It's festival season across India , its the time of the year when you find it a nightmare to step into one of those popular shopping places , its time for sweets sweets and more sweets, its time to refurbish your wardrobe with party wears and ethnic wears to enjoy the festive season in style .. This is one season I love the most for it involves meeting a lot of friends and relatives and ofcourse retail therapy!!!

One of the main festivals celebrated down south in Tamil Nadu is Saraswathi Pooja/ Vijayadasmi , its the festival to thank goddess saraswathi for the knowledge and wealth you ve been blessed with . It's one day when parents ask their kids not to study as the books are kept for pooja , I loved this day as a kid ;)

All things used in day to day life are given a break from their regular routine , they are cleaned and decorated with flowers , sandal wood paste and kum kum (this is specially done for the vehicles)

Onam Asamsakal :)

My heartfelt onam wishes to all my Mallu friends world over :)Have a great time feasting :)

I don' celebrate Onam, but to me Onam was all about Pookolam (floral design), the traditional onam saree, Ona Sadya (with olan, kalan, aviyal and all those yummy traditional kerala dishes) .

If you're one of them (Omana kutti or kuttan) celebrating Onam, I would love to hear your experiences, you can also send me a link to your blog post if you've shared your experiences there.

Happy Vinayaka Chaturthi :)

Wish you all a Happy Vinayaka Chaturthi :)

This is one of my favourite festivals right from the time I was a kid. Since we used to go shopping to get few decoration items from colorful umbrella to garlands .. And of course making Kozhukatais at home with all the family members is fun !

This is how my day of Vinayaka Chaturthi is

Hope you all had a great time too :)

A Day of festivals

March 21 will be of great significance this year, with 5 festivals from different religions coinciding on the same day. What other reason would we need to have fun?? And above it all , this day is also called equinox as the sun is in line with the equator and all parts of the world will have equal amount of daylight and night time.

It is a day of Milad-un-nabhi for muslims, the birthday of prophet Muhammed. Christians mark the day as good friday with the crucification of Jesus Christ. Sikhs and Hindus come together to celebrate the fetsival of colors Holi , the zoroastrians and persian speakers celebrate their New year on this festive day as well. What a festive weekend it has all turned out to be :)

Wish you all a HAPPY holi, good friday, Milad-un-nabhi, New year. Enjoy your festival and let me know how you guys celebrated it..

Have a fun weekend!

Pongal - The harvest festival # 3

The third day of Pongal is dedicated to cattle and is called Mattu Pongal. People offer prayers to the bulls, cows and other farm animals. Cows and bulls have always held a special place in India and are considered sacred. Cows give nourishing milk while bulls and oxen help plough the fields playing a very important role in harvesting especially in olden days.

Thus, Maatu Pongal is a day when cattle are given a well deserved day of rest and are given pride of place. Therefore the farmers honor their cattle friends by celebrating it as a day of thanks-giving to them.

On this special day cows are decorated with flowers ,their horns are painted with various colors and covered with shining metal caps, color beads and tinkering bells . They are also offered special food especially cooked for them and are taken around the villages with the people sitting on the carriages behind and enjoying the day.



Jallikatu(Bull fight) is also a part of the paatu pongal celebrations in various parts of the state.


The fourth and the final day of the pongal celebrations is the Kaanum pongal , this day is again dedicated to the sun god which has played a major part in giving some wonderful harvest to the farmers .

In certain parts of the state this day is also celebrated similar to Rakhsa Bandhan and Bhai Dhuj where women offer prayers for the wellbeing of their brothers.

And the most important event here is visiting relatives , friends and outing with family. So, you can find most of the entertainment centres, beach, shopping malls overflowing with people today.

So, thats how the four day pongal celebrations proceed in South India. To read how the first two days of pongal are celebrated click here and here.

Pongal - The harvest festival # 2

The second day of Pongal is known as 'Surya Pongal' and is dedicated to the Sun God. It is the day on which the celebration actually begins and is also the first day of the Tamil month Thai.

Women wake early on this day to create elaborate kolam patterns on the ground in front of their doorway or home. Kolam is created with colored rice flour placed on the ground carefully by using one's hand.

On this day the new rice is collected and cooked in pots until they over flow. It is this overflowing which means Pongal. This overflowing of rice is a joyous occasion, and the children and adults as well will shout out 'Pongal-o-Pongal!'

Unlike what you see in the picture, most of the house hold these days use stainless steel pots instead of clay pots

After which the prepared pongal and other food items and sugarcane which plays an important part in this festival are offered to god before one can eat.

The rice is cooked and prepared as a dish called pongal, which is rice with dhal and sugar. This Pongal variety is called venpongal, ven meaning white is made using milk and rice. Another variety is also prepared with dhal and jaggery (sweet), called chakara pongal, chakrai meaning sweet. To accompany the venpongal, people eat brinjal (eggplant) sambar (stew), vadai and spicy accompaniments.

Wishing all those of you who celebrate pongal a very safe and happy pongal!

* pics source - Internet

Pongal - The harvest festival # 1

Pongal is normally considered to be a dish more than a festival . If you think so you are not mistaken, a dish called pongal does exist. But, the pongal festival is a day in which pongal is mainly cooked from the freshly harvested rice .So, I believe thats how the festival got its name :)
Pongal is the most popular harvest festival in South India, especially Tamil Nadu. Pongal falls in the mid-January every year and marks the auspicious beginning of the sun's journey north wards.

The celebrations include drawing kolam ( a design made out of powdered rice and some times also color powders) , cooking , visiting relatives et all..

The pongal festival is celebrated for four days

This first day of the festival is called Bogi or Bohgi (is celebrated today) in the honor of "the god of clouds and rains- Indra" for the abundance of harvest and the prosperity brought to the land.

On Bhogi, people clean their homes and collect all unwanted goods . Keeping the home clean is one of the essential parts of the Pongal festival , so in places like my home cleaning starts almost a month ahead - if you remember we jus' repainted our home last month so that we could get it done before this festival.

On the eve of Pongal homes are decorated with kolams (designs made out of rice powder or liquid rice paste). Fresh harvest of rice, turmeric and sugar cane are brought from the field as preparation for the following day (but these days its bought from shops).

Another ritual observed on this day is Bhogi Mantalu(bon fire), when useless household articles are thrown into a fire made of wood and cow-dung cakes. Girls dance around the bonfire, singing songs in praise of the gods, the spring and the harvest. The significance of the bonfire, in which is burnt the agricultural wastes and firewood is to keep warm during the last lap of winter.


(But, due to pollution issues many of them have stopped performing this ritual, but on the other hand you can still find the roads of Chennai filled with smoke when you get up the day after Bhogi)

Now, I got to have my dinner in sometime and start making kolam in front of my home :)

Wish you all a Happy Pongal! Yen Iniya Pongal vazthukal :)

* Pics source - Internet

I am back :)

Hey all I am back and very glad to be back home and to my blog space . Like you all wished, I had a wonderful trip. Apart from the stuffs I shopped for I carried back home lots of wonderful memories which I am to share with all of you in my coming posts.

The things I missed during my trip were my home,my boy friend and last but surely not the least Blogging :). It happens rite.. Anyways Im doing fine now except for one thing that I have to leave home soon to join hostel ( I feel really heavy in my heart when I think about this one thing). Anyways I will be coming back home for the weekends as my college is about couple of hours travel from home.

We also have a festival coming up in a couple of days, its a harvest festival called pongal about which I will be blogging soon too.

So, loads and loads of stuff to share with you all

About Singapore, moving to hostel, Pongal(the harvest festival) and a lot of memes and awards I reacieved from blogger friends as a token of love abd lastly my paid posts . I know im doing a handful of paid posts every now and then , I jus' hope you all done mind those in between my regular posts or(me making some extra money :p). I don know of those ads are useful to you but will try my best to post relevant ads in my blog space .

Now, that Im back to my regular day to day blogging check out this space for posts regularly and also my new blog space Shalini's travelogue.

Thank you for dropping by my blog even when I was away and rendering your continuous support. I truly appreciate it! Thank you! :)

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Chistmas Graphic Comments


Chistmas Graphic Comments

The season of good will , caring, sharing and celebrations is back here with jus' one day to go for Christmas then followed by New year. The holiday season has set it in with schools and colleges coming to a close, year end sale every where and a lot vacation trips being planned.

Wish you all a merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Saraswathi Pooja - Updated with pics

Saraswathi Pooja / Ayoudah pooja is a hindu festival celebrated in all parts of India. It is an auspicious day when students offer their books to goddess Saraswathi , who bestows them with knowledge and wisdom. She is known as the godess of learning. It is one happy day for children as they don' have to study at all :)

All the schools/Offices/Universities remain close on this day to celecrate this festival. In offices no machines or computers will be used normally (jus' like books in the cases of children) . All equipments are cleaned and will be kept neatley.

After the poojas are carried out the machines are left to rest for the day,following which the prasadams consisting of puffed rice, fruits , sweets made of jaggery and "sundal" (boiled lentils) are distributed among everyone.

The day following Saraswathi pooja is Vijayadasmi, is considered auspicious to start any new thing that day. So, certain school also enroll students in the primary classes on that day.

I usually went to my mom's office during Saraswathi pooja when I was a kid , as there was a lot of events happening. It is also a day to thank the people who have helped you on your studies/career . So, tomorrow morning I got to get up early to celebrate Saraswathi pooja .Will post the pics tomorrow :)

Here are a few pics of the celebrations at home..

At the flower bazaar, shopping for garlands...

Sweets to celebrate the occasion :) ..Yum!!

Entrance of my home decorated with garland




The Kolam I made at the entrance of our house..

During the pooja..

Books and fruits being offered..

Traditional South Indian meal




Have a great weekend everyone!