Essence of Navrathri

The festive season has begun today :)

This year Navaratri is celebrated from 28 September 2011 till 05 October 2011.

The word Navaratri literally means nine nights in Sanskrit ; "Nava" means nine and "Ratri" meaning nights. Navrathri is also known as "Dusserah". Dusserah as the word suggests, indicates liquidation of 10 sins which means 10 sense organs through which the mind communicates and gains knowledge from the world.

All the nine days are spent praying and doing poojas to the deities Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswathi. The first three days, prayers are dedicated to Goddess Durga. The next three days, prayers are dedicated to Goddess Lakshmi. The last three days, prayers are dedicated to Goddess Saraswathi.

By praying to Goddess Durga, negative forces like greed and jealousy are destroyed. By praying to Goddess Lakshmi, one can attain material wealth of love, kindness, devotion, patience, endurance, charity and ahimsa (non-violence). By praying to Goddess Saraswathi, one can achieve mastery over art, education, harmony, meditation, music and melody.

The 10th day is called Vijaya Dashami or Vidhyarambam. Vijaya Dashami is the auspicious day for starting formal education. On the Vijaya Dashami day, devilish feelings of human nature, also known as ego, is destroyed and any person who worships during these ten days shall attain victory against all sins.

It is expected to offer prasadam to the deities during these ten days and also offer prasadam to visitors along with tamboolam to ladies which should contain kumkum, chandan, bangles, turmeric, flower, mirror etc.

During this Navrathri festival, it is customary in the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, as well as in some Tamil communities within Sri Lanka, to display a "Golu" (Kolu, or Bombe Habba or Bommai Kolu or Bommala Koluvu). This is an exhibition of various dolls and figurines in odd (usually 5,7, 9, or 11) numbered tiers ("padis").

Personally I feel Navrathri represents colors, dolls, celebration, excitement and togetherness. It has always been fun keeping dolls and I have being doing it from my childhood. I always find it nice when we get visitors to have the prasadam and enjoy the Golu.

Golu is generally hosted by the lady of the house. Last year was my first Golu after marriage, with dolls from India and Little India (Singapore). It was the first time I had my own "kutty" Golu and it was fun doing things all alone.

Here are some pictures of our 2010 Golu : http://www.flickr.com/photos/photospree_ramya/sets/72157625062334603/

Hope you all can make it this time for our "Golu" and enjoy the decorations, dolls and sumptuous sundals.

E.U.R.O.P.E.. Part 1

E.U.R.O.P.E.. It was always a dream and a history book chapter for me. But now, I just cant believe I had a 18 day tour to almost 5 countries in this beautiful continent. It was a "dream come true" vacation for my case, I would say.

My Euro-trip started this way....

The visa process for Schengen visa through Netherlands was a mess. I was under the impression the vacation will be cancelled. So many documents and procedures that was really maddening. We submitted the visa application and waited and waited and waited.. After a week, a message from Hari, pops up on my phone. It said "Lets pack our bags". YAAAAAY. And yes our visa was approved. We had 2 weeks and 2 weekends to go. Exciting, Thrilling, I dont have words to describe the feeling. You might be thinking I am over exaggerating here. But.. It was really a dream, wish, that really was going to come true. I sub-consciously got the Tower of Pisa, Colosseum, The Eiffel in my dreams. It meant so much to me to go there and feel it.

Two weeks ran like whirlwind with all the shopping, packing, arranging... Atlast the day arrived. It was going to be a 13 hour long haul with no stop-over. That was freaking me out from the time we booked the tickets. Frankly speaking, I have'nt been on a long-haul flight for more than 8 hours. Oh.. I dont think you can call a 8 hour flight a long haul one.. Anyways... I was scared.. I dont know why but I was scared. We boarded the flight. I had all sorts of books to read, music to hear, movies loaded to my netbook, what not.. just to deviate myself. But actually it was not that bad :) I managed.. As if I had an option. ;)

We landed.. Amsterdam Schipol Airport was buzzing. The most busiest airport in the world. Super busy I will call it. Huge trolleys, people rushing for flights, children crying, information counters queuing, announcements, shops, everything written in dutch that I had no clue of. Yet, it was amazing to be in the Euro-land. I simply loved the feel of it. Not to forget the weather, it was cold, cold and cold. But I dont know how Hari could jus use one word chilly to describe it. Damn, I needed my winter jacket.

We searched and searched.. Atlast got tickets to Nijmegen. Got on the train and it was going to be atleast 2 hours to reach Anna's house. The train journey was nice but there were no English words found anywhere. Everything was in DUTCH. We reached Nijmegen and with all the force rushed to have thayir sadam and ooruga. Does it just take one night for a Brahmin to realise how much thayir sadaam means to them? ;)

We visited Madurodam the next day, it was fun with the miniatures around. We looked so big in front of them :) France.. was the next on our list. Anna drove us all night and we reached Paris at around 1am in the night still searching for the accommodation that we booked for. We found it and crashed that night. It was a long day, I say.

The next day was totally exciting. I was going to see my schoolmate who settled in France with her family. Me, him, anna and manni (with kutty) tried to explore the inter-city trains in Paris. But, in vain. No English and noone to help were the words we were using for 1 full hour in the station. We scrapped the plan and thought it was a better idea to drive rather than to waste time. We met my friend at Luxembourg gardens (the most most most hottest place) ;)


Everyone thinks Chennai is the most hottest place in the world.. No.. and not at all. It was Paris that day. But I have also have no words to describe how beautiful the garden was as well. I managed to get out of the garden as soon as possible.. and yeah the next thing was parking. It was a Saturday. It was free parking on Saturdays. And yes.. cars all over us :) We searched for Indian food as we were craving literally. Just some rice.. Oh yeah.. that would have been heavenly. But we caught a place that was run by Indians, Pizza, Pasta and cakes.. All Indianish :) I dont know if there is a word like that but thats what I mean :)

Looking forward to the Louvre.. We reached Musee de Orsay !! And then the Seine river. Very romantic and serene. I loved it. We reached Louvre.. Historic I will call it. I was amazed at the exterior itself.. The pyramid, the work on the buildings, the sculptures etc. And now.. I was excited.. The most important and romantic place in the world.. Yes the Eiffel.. I have a much better description of what I felt when I saw the Eiffel below.


Eiffel.....
Standing tall,
Hugging the clouds with the majestic height,
Eiffel, the most romantic wonder of the world,
Rusty in a beautiful way,
Tourists on and around,
Love the way it stands,
Remarkably significant,
One click is not enough to beautify this huge tower,
The varied symmetries,
The architecture,
Clearly a historic classic I would say !!!!!

I was perplexed by the tower and the view. Tourists were swarming around. But still everything was so tiny when compared to the Eiffel. This was one of my dreams come true. The moment, I thoroughly enjoyed and will cherish. I loved the night mode more I should say, with the lights that lighten the city and that gives a pure and a historic feel to the city. Here are a few clicks of the Eiffel :)




The next day we headed back to the Louvre to try to squeeze in. We clicked some pictures there and went to the Palace of Versailles. Beautiful it looked :)

We were to head back to Nijmegen, Holland the same day. By halting 2 hours once, we traveled for 6 hours to reach Nijmegen. Super tired and exhausted we were. I think it was the most quick trip anyone would have taken to visit Paris. But we had fun with cherishing memories :)

Then the big week came in. On the way to Dusseldrof airport, we stopped at Klon (Cologne) to have a look at the Cathedral which was the seat of the Catholic Archbishop of Cologne. It was a Gothic styled church which was one of the World Heritage sites in Germany. The cathedral was huge, tall, black, ancient.. I was amazed by the way it was built with sculptures sculpted on it. Some renovation work was in progress. I have a few clicks below which shows the intricate work. The interior of the church was calm and peaceful. Tourists were rushing here and there but there was absolute silence inside. For the first time I saw painted/stained glass inside. Very very beautiful.

Some clicks of the Cathedral




We rushed to Dusseldrof airport to catch our flight to Venice. It was just the two of us to explore Italy :) It was very exciting and we were totally charged up :)

Continued in E.U.R.O.P.E Part 2 ....

Chinese new year @ Batam, Indonesia

The idea of a perfect weekend... Relaxing environment, friendly people, awesome food, beach view, soothing massages, entertaining crowd, colorful drinks...

A short vacation with no emails, meetings, phone calls, alarms etc.

Batam is small island city in Riau islands in the province of Indonesia. Not too far away from Singapore, this can be a relaxing spot for couples who undergo immense pressure at work :)
I wont say that the beaches are alluring and beautiful but it gives the "get-away from home" feeling which many of us want every now and then. We made a last-minute-perfect decision on this place even though we got negative feedback from many saying it was a small city with no fun. The Malaysian road trip cancellation was too disappointing and we badly needed a break out of monotonous life. We were lucky enough to find a room in this beautiful resort called "Batam View Beach resort".

4th of Febraury 2011 - The bright sunny day as it looked was indeed a fast one till afternoon. We were running late and hence we caught a quick bite for lunch and rushed to the ferry terminal. The ferry ride was very normal, not too posh though. It was very crowded and in an hour or so we reached Batam immigration. We got the visa-on arrival form and entered the city/island of Batam. Our travel agent was waiting for our arrival and once he found us we were off to the resort which was around half an hour from the immigration checkpoint. Batam was a normal city which reminded more of the outskirts of Chennai.

We reached the resort around 3pm and checked in. The resort was totally decorated in red as it was Chinese new year. :)


We had a quick lunch as we wanted to try the local food in the resort. The resort was very lively with friendly people. The next surprise that was waiting for us was the beach view suite. We were lucky enough to get this view on a peak day. The room was cozy and nice with beach view from the balcony. We took a quick walk around the resort and went to the beach later. I wont call it a beautiful beach but it was a different one. It was a silent wave-less beach as it was a low tide day. There were groups of people sitting and playing cards and mahjong. It was not a very touristy place nor a commercial one. It was relaxing and entertaining. And what more does anyone want other than this on a holiday. We thoroughly enjoyed the feeling.


There was a compulsory Chinese new year dinner arranged for everyone in the resort. We were really looking forward to this. At around six 'o clock, the resort was even more lively with Chinese music and people in red. We both were given a table with steamboat. Steamboat dinner is a very famous tradition in Chinese culture where the whole family sits around in a table and cook steamed vegetables and meat. There was a hot-pot in our table as well but with vegetable stock water. We were taught how to cook by the resort staff. While the hot-pot was simmering, we added in the ingredients such as vegetables (carrot, sprouts, lettuce, spinach) and noodles. The hot-pot was closed and after a few minutes we could eat the noodles with the vegetables and steamed rice.





Aerobics, Indonesian stilts, Chinese dancing etc. were all part of this dinner.




We enjoyed the food as well as the entertainment. Then came the dragon with the "Yu Sheng". Yu Sheng is one of the many traditional Chinese New Year foods that can be enjoyed throughout the celebrations. Yu Sheng is a salad of thin slices of raw fish, combined with sauces, spices, cracklings and vegetables. The ingredients are mixed together, and the guests combine the ingredients, then toss them in the air with expressions of good luck, such as "Lo Hei" (tossing luck - in Cantonese).

After this everyone was asked to eat the fish dish but we could'nt. :( The Lion dance came in and there was lots of fun around after this. Followed by fireworks, which was excellent with the beach background. The place was very happening even after the party with Chinese music, family gatherings, clubs, bars. Not to mention the awesome game of pool that we played where I kept loosing. But it happens as a part of the game as I am not a good pool player.

The next day dawned and the spread of breakfast in the resort was simply breathtaking. For the first time in life, I had kiwi juice. I love the kiwi fruit but I haven't seen a place that sells kiwi juice in Singapore. After this we went for some relaxing spa. With the beach view, the resort spa place was awesome. Felt very refreshed.

Though it was short, we learnt a lot about Chinese culture, met different people from different nations, had good Chinese food, played pool at midnight...

We checked out and hit back to the immigration checkpoint later that afternoon. Since we had a few hours before taking the ferry, we decided to explore the city. We took a local taxi and went to see the Maha Vihara Buddist Temple which was also called as Pura Agung Amertha Buana. It was a mixture of Hinduism and Buddhism.

We were the only people there as it was closed during afternoons. But luckily we found a person to allow us to go inside to view the place. The temple was old and was ruined but it gave a very pure feeling. We took some pictures and hit back to the city centre. We reached the MegaMall of Batam where everything was supposed to be very cleap. Batam is a place for cheap shopping, though I dint find any girl stuff attractive. We had lunch at Pizza Hut which had a totally different menu and we loved the Indonesian touch on the pizza. We did some shopping before we went to the ferry terminal.

The ferry terminal was very crowded as everyone was going back after their Chinese new year holiday. We managed to cross immigration in two hours (thats a lot of time wasted ;) and took off on the ferry. We reached Singapore in an hours time.

I would call this a perfect short vacation :) Thinking twice, I am actually thanking the floods that dint allow us to go on our planned Malaysian holiday :)

Year of 2010 - Memories Replenished

2010 !! I would call it a big year for me..

My 2010 year started with people saying "Kalyana kalai vandhachu" and "soon to be bride". These words sent tickles in my stomach as it was a big and huge step for me. Single life was soon to get over and I had to start thinking of the big future ahead of me. !! And when I used to go into this mode, some thought would tap and wake me up and ask me to move towards reality. I was working towards making myself more responsible for the coming year where I have to not only take care of myself but another person who will be the most important in my life. January flew like a whirl wind and the calendar dates were rushing into February which was going to be a big month for me. I wanted to enjoy this feeling but I know I was too late to start enjoying it. My visit to India in Feb before the wedding.. would I call it mixed emotions.. Yes ! I was soon thinking of returning back and stepping into Singapore as a couple. I will not be on my own but with my best friend who was going to be my husband. Life was breezy then and when I think of the fact that I need to treat my best friend my husband, felt weird in a way but nice. And yes.. I was tapping myself up this time as my flight landed in India. First time did I feel the gush of excitement and tension rushing down each nerve in my body. Writing an exam or attending an interview was better I guess. I was given a princess welcome to India. I knew noone would bother if I landed or not if not for the wedding. :) Thats the fact. Pampering was not the word I could use. Everyone at home would feed me with fruits and juices just to make sure I look flashy with glowing skin during the wedding. Oh gosh !! I am what I am I would think. Slowly I used to get night mares of leaving my parents and sister to live at my husbands place. But my mom used to keep saying that I will be in good hands and that things have changed so much these days when compared to her times. My sister used to comment that she will be at peace after I get married. lol. :) True ;)

Soon days flew and even before I could enjoy this pre-wedding fever feeling, there I was with Mehendi all over my hands and legs. And luckily it was bright red this time. And I think the calendar skipped a day or two :) and there I was at the most important place where a big life decision was going to happen. And yes it was the wedding hall. I had my best friend around me which gave me some strength. Literally yes :) Colorful silk sarees, kilos of gold, traditional Indian food, wedding decorations, mehendi, hairstyles, wedding gifts, meeting old old friends, music, hugs, kisses, flowers, garlands, agni, mantras, wedding wishes, etc etc. Typical Indian Wedding it was. And the big big day arrived. I was decked up with all jewels and traditional wear and at the blink of the eye, the mangal sutra got on me and I was "someones" wife. Totally different feeling making my best friend my husband. Well !! We wanted it this way :) It was one great big wedding I would day. Thanks to my parents to have made it such a wonderful celebration. The rest of the month flew by visiting temples and relatives and having nice Indian food.

And then back to Singapore.. Same old Singapore but new life I would say ! It was still like a small dream land where I was responding to wishes and comments on Facebook. :) Back to work, emails, laptop, meetings etc. March rushed and we were all waiting for the planned holiday in April. Phuket it was.. and with 10 of us, I was sure we would have crazy fun. We were all totally looking forward to this trip. We had a gala time in Thailand and we dint wanna get back to reality and work !!!

April was a crazy month and it flew past and with May entering we decided we needed a break again :) Yaaay.. Honeymooning. We did a lot of research and booked a trip to Australia. We were totally looking forward to visiting Beautiful Australia during winter. Shopping for winter wear, new clothes, shoes etc etc. Shopping spree I would say. The day arrived.. and yes I panicked as it was my first long haul flight. I managed to get through it and we entered the winter wonderland. The trip was awesome. We learnt a lot of new things and saw different places. We explored trains, different cuisines, enjoyed the winter, shivered like crazy, awestruck looking at the gigantic oceans etc etc. We were totally rejuvenated when we came back. June flew with all Australian memories. And then my birthday month arrived. It was a simple and calm birthday with small gifts and presents.

August had nothing significant that happened as it was work work and only work !! September was flowery and happy as we had a family reunion at Singapore again :) Time went past very very fast and October was the month of travel. Double trip to India over the same week just for the fact that I did not have leave and my company refused to give me unpaid leave for management reasons. Oh yes !! if you ask me about it, am still furious. But at the end of the line, looking at it in the positive sense, I made it to both the functions. One was 70th Birthday of my father-in-law and the other was Diwali (Thalai Diwali). The birthday function went on very well and this was one of the first 70th birthday functions I've attended so far. Meeting relatives and having good Indian food is what every NRI would dream of during a holiday. Rite !!!? ? And it was fulfilling. Next in line was the Thalai Diwali celebrations for which my parents have been preparing for more than 6 months and it was a very nice close family function that they organized. New clothes and good food is what I can think of now :) And obviously crackers and fireworks after 3 full years of non-cracker fun. We enjoyed every moment with our parents :)

And then it was back to same old Singapore... I keep whining I say !!! ;) ;)

I had something to look forward to.. I had arranged a surprise for my husbands birthday and that was a trip to Bintan, Indonesia. We were just back from a break and we already needed one! Bintan was relaxing and calm. Nice people, good food, archery, beach, ATV etc etc. Fun-filled weekend. As we stepped into December, we were pushing and pulling days for the holiday season thinking there will not be much work ! But here I am, sitting in office on 31st of December 2010, hardly working (with loads of work piled up) and working hard on my blog. :) :)


Overall a calm , nice and festive year :) And that was 2010 for me.

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!! :)

Bintaning !!

Bintan is one of the Riau islands in Indonesia. Riau islands are an archipelago located in the east of Sumathra and south of Singapore. I think the archipelago has more than 3000 islands, of which Bintan is one of the most famous and beautiful tourist spots.

It was a very short trip to Bintan. We boarded the ferry (ARIA BUPALA) at around 12pm on a rainy afternoon. The ferry was huge with economy and emarald classes. The journey was for around an hour and we found people from different countries traveling with us.

After an hour, we reached the Indonesian immigration and got a visa on arrival. We boarded the bus that went to the resort we booked (Bintan Lagoon resort).



The garden facing room was very beautiful. We dropped our bags and ran towards the beach. It was an awesome view with white sand and light blue waters. It was a calm and relaxing beach with children making sand castles, boys playing throw ball, some of them playing in the beach, some clicking pictures and enjoying the water sport activities.The rocks had weird pencil like drawings on them. And when we clicked a picture zooming on to the small parts it looks like this



After relaxing for a while, we managed to catch a slot for the ATV (All terrain vehicle). We were supposed to follow the guide with the ATV. Surprisingly, this vehicle moves on any terrain, for example, beach sand, slush, hard roads, water, mud etc.
We went around the resort to have a look at what it had. It had many shops selling shirts, beach wear, fridge magnets, massage oil etc. We were tempted to buy a few souvenirs :) We also realized that if we pay them in Indonesian Rupaya they return the change back in Singapore dollars. :) The country's currency has no value I suppose. We were carrying millions of IDR as 1 SGD = 7000 IDR. I was shocked when I saw a million dollar Rupaya note :)

The next morning was very sunny and we managed to reach the free breakfast buffet on time. Usually when you go out for vacation, you tend to sleep a lot. The international breakfast was a big hit. We were totally impressed with the donuts they had. Oh yeah !! I think they knew what I liked :D

We got a foot massage done and it felt so good. Indonesian massages are equally relaxing as Thai massages. We managed to get some beach beds to relax on the sunny beach mid afternoon. It was very sunny and were totally tanned.. Again, we saw a lot of Caucasians relaxing and having fun with their family. This was totally a relaxing holiday spot.

After 3pm we decided to go for Archery to try it out. We were taken to the golf course and I think this was one of the greenest places I have ever seen. Sometimes I feel they've poured green paint all over. Lol. We had an awesome Archery session. And now I feel I wanna do more Archery :)

We still had 4 more hours for our ferry back to Singapore. We decided to rent a Buggy to get around the place and see the different kinds of Villas they had. It was awesome fun going around the 300 hectares of deluxe island resort.

We took the last ferry back to Singapore and it was a very memorable trip :)

Reduce, Reuse and Recycle : Go Green

I was browsing through the daily newspaper today and suddenly the words "GO GREEN" caught my eye.

Yes ! This blog is all about what I read in the article.

The three R's of waste management is Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.



As you can see in the picture, the three R's are denoted by three arrows chasing each other. Each one runs over the other to go green. By following the following steps and understanding the purpose we can make earth a better place to live in.

Reduce : Try to reduce your consumption on something that is unnecessary. For example, dont print unwanted emails or bills, or but extra products or goods that you wont be using in the near future. Try not to waste water or electricity.

Reuse : Try to reuse old clothes for cleaning purposes or pass them to needy people. Also, make sure you use old magazines and newspaper for useful purposes. If the product or thing is really unusable, please throw them in recycling bins for further processing.

Recycle : Old products can be recycled for future use. Old papers and plastic items can be recycled and reused.

Thalai Diwali

This was our first Diwali after the wedding and hence its named Thalai Diwali.

Let me first explain why Diwali is celebrated.

Diwali is one of the most important festivals in India and is considered to be the start of the New Year for many communities in India. It is celebrated on the darkest night of the year. Diwali is called the festival of lights. All over India, homes are decorated with lights and lamps filled with oil. The name "Diwali" is derived from the Sanskrit word "Deepavali" which means row of lights - avali - rows, deepa - lights. These lamps are lit to banish the dark and welcome good luck and fortune into the house. People wear new clothes, visit friends and relatives, burst fire crackers, eat good food and sweets and decorate their houses with flowers and lights. Prayers are held at home to honour Lord Ganesha and Goddess Lakshmi for wisdom, good luck, prosperity and good fortune.

Diwali is a festival of joy, prosperity and good luck, and a celebration of the victory of good over evil - which is expressed through different stories in different parts of India.

One of the most well known story behind Diwali is Ramayana, the great Hindu epic. According to Ramayana, Rama, the prince of Ayodhya was ordered by his father, King Dasharatha, to go away from his country and come back after living in the forest for fourteen years. So Rama went on exile with his devoted wife Sita and faithful brother, Lakshmana. When Ravana, the demon king of Lanka abducted Sita and took her away to his island kingdom of Lanka, Rama fought against and killed Ravana. He rescued Sita and returned to Ayodhya after fourteen years. The people of Ayodhya were very happy to hear of their beloved prince's homecoming. To celebrate Rama's return to Ayodhya, they lit up their houses with earthen lamps (diyas), burst crackers and decorated the entire city in the grandest manner. This is believed to have started the tradition of Diwali. Year after year this homecoming of Lord Rama is commemorated on Diwali with lights, fireworks, bursting of crackers and merriment.

Coming to my Thalai Diwali, we went to my mothers place on Thursday evening 4th November. We were welcomed by "Harathi" that my mom took. Harathi is made of kumkum and water. After this we were given sweets and savories to eat. All home made items were yummy and delicious. After this we all went to the terrace to start bursting crackers. It was fun to do this after three years. After this my husbands parents were invited and we all had sumptuous dinner prepared by my mom and grandmom. We got to eat payasam, vadai, onion sambar, tomato rasam, potato curry, mango pickle etc.

The next day we were woken up at 4am and we were supposed to take head bath after oil was rubbed on our heads by elderly people. After this we were given new clothes to wear and we ran to burst more crackers. It was a fun day with parents and again my in-laws were invited for luncha and food was more delicious than ever. This was how we spent our Thalai Diwali. One of the most important days in my life. :)

Here are some of the pictures of sweets and savories that my mom made.

Fireworks and crackers