Bhajan Mandali

@Kirtan in Delhi

There are somethings which are very specific to a very typical Dilli (not Delhi) culture. One of them is having Kirtans before the wedding, either for the bride or the groom.

A bhajan madali is called. They sing songs for the God / Goddess. And before you know it, very active audiences start dancing to those 'bhajans'... Interesting..

At my brother in law's wedding, we too had a kirtan afternoon. This happened before the wedding celebrations begin. All of us dressed up to the hilt as if we were to go to a grand party. Elaborate food arrangements, decorations and of course the bhajan madali. It was a first for me and trust me, being the bhabhi of my devar, I found it very difficult to dance to these bhajans (I was expected to :-P).

Introspection

Introspection. For the year that went by. Have a mixed bag of feelings. Good and not so good. This year just....went by. And that is why I felt I need to sit down and introspect ...how did it just go... The thought coming to my head right now is that I just went with the flow. Absolutely had no plan. Or the plan in my head and the actions on the ground were totally different. Maybe that is why, I have mixed feelings.

I guess I know what went wrong...perhaps wrong is not the correct word. Amiss. What went amiss. I, as a person, am a control freak. I hate loosing control of myself, my thoughts, my actions and up-to a certain extent my surroundings or circumstances. 

I do not want to start a "cribbing session" out here but may be  I was not strong headed enough or assertive enough. I just went with the flow. I took the expectations from others from myself a bit too seriously perhaps. "Perhaps" I was bogged down trying to rise up to their expectations. Maybe. Maybe not. I became quite verbal at times. Did not think of the consequences. But then, I never have. That is not me. 

Yes - I am not happy with me myself. I am not content the way 2012 turned out for  me. I did not visit this space often which is an outlet of sorts for me. My silly, stupid ventures, my rumblings and grumblings are out here. But this time, I did not even do that. 

Reminds me of a few lines I had written here..my own words quite sometime back. I guess its time to revisit those words here.

2013 is important for me. I seriously believe women are a much more enhanced species then their counterparts and are a wonderful set of managers. I am sure, I hope, I will, manage 2013 much more effectively then the mess I created in 2012. 

P.S. I am not going to paste any picture which I normally do. But please go ahead and the poem when you click the link on "here".

Blue

Not a green in spring

Not a red 

turning yellow in autumn

Blue - yes - thats what I want to be...Blue!!!

Happy Feet

The weekend went by...in utter laziness... Hubby dearest wanted to go on a hike to Lonavla...then to Pune...and back to Mumbai after a day...but me - was in no mood to oblige :-P...perhaps the following weekend!!!

And the picture you see up above, yes - its weird, I have a thing for feet together :-P... like the way sometimes they hang out together... Well to begin with I thought I'd update you about the weekend I had... it was a mix of things...and then while writing I put up this photo and it reminded me of all the pictures I had taken of "feet" per se!!!!

The feet you see in this picture belong to my friend Ekta and me. It was while sitting on the rocks at Kashid Beach I had taken this picture. I remember her telling me, "Its weird"... but I took one nevertheless...advantages of a digicam I guess....We had gone there to celebrate the new years...the end of the year 2005.  The one below, the feet are mine. The footwear you see, used to be a favourite with the students at the point of time. Yes - Rs. 100 only...from Hongkong Lane at Fergussen College Road.

The feet you see above belong to 5 girls. Our girl gang that is. Taken at my birthday. Its a ritual to cut the cake, play Holi with whatever you get in the middle of the night. Well - these belong to Ekta, Shobha, Soumya, Megha and myself. Yes - we are that crazy...to even pose for it.

 This one is of Munish and me...at a small dam at Matheran. There are steps to it. Had gone there one of the weekends. Its my foot over his :-). I think its pretty cute.

These are mine. The chappals are from Goa. Goa has amazing chappals and even amazing shorts. For shorts - Goa is the place to buy it from. I know, of all the things in Goa, I recommend buying Shorts :-P. Oh  yes - the picture was clicked in Nagaon, Alibaug. 

This one was at Baga Beach, Goa. Had gone there with my friend Megha. Last day, lazing on the sunbed. Killing time until we had to leave Goa. Yes - I remember it was a Sunday. Sad and disheartened over going to work the next day.

Had set out to write something totally different. Please ignore this post and do NOT stop reading my blog since I am guessing it would not make sense looking at feet and their locations for some but I sure did enjoy writing about it. 

The moon

Clicked almost 2 years back in the shivering evening cold of the Ladakhi mountains. Its my agenda to go back there again. Once is simply not enough. Time and again, I keep going back there...in my mind. 

Well, we had this picture enlarged, printed and framed. But it was framed upside down and well - we realized it only 2 weeks later when a friend point it out :-). Well, it is difficult to make out - I think. Until, you look at it more closely and see the tall grass on the bottom left hand side. 

But yes, looking at the moon, in the shivering evening cold, was a very soothing effect. A paradox in itself. 

Through the glass pane

I miss the evenings. Largely to the kind of work I am occupied with. This view is from my office window, through a huge glass pane. You can see the reflection of the lights, some partial construction on the left, a lamp post raising its head and a road going amidst the construction and the trees. On looking closely, you may see orange in between the green. Those are the flowers on the tree. I think its a breed of the Gulmohar. Not sure. Need to find out.  It had been raining the day I took this picture. The picture is a bit hazy with the condensation on the glass. 

Yes - I miss the evenings but treasure the mornings I get in return. So the mornings are not rushed...well - relatively. 

Flower plant

I have been a very successful plant killer...:-)yes -I have managed to kill a lot many plants either by watering too much or a wrong positioning in the sun or simply by sheer negligence.

But this plant beats me hands down. It grows and it grows and it flowers a lot which gives me immense happiness. Unfortunately, I do not know the name of this plant. Do you?

P.S. an updated pic. Apparently the one put before was not clear enough.