Dasara Bombe heluthaithe....

There are festivals and then there are festivals. The beauty of Dasara festival and it's celebrations are enhanced when you have dolls all decked up and decorated. I used to keep the dolls at home when children were young but the number of dolls has come down drastically to just two "pattada bombe" once the children grew up.
But I have friends and relatives whose dolls' collection and the way they arrange them and the celebrations and the festivities are exceptional. My friend Brinda along with her husband Anath excel in these doll arrangements and here is a video of the beautiful doll decorations at their place this year.
And the melodious singing is from my cousin Manjula.
Please watch the video and share it.

SERVICED APARTMENTS - MYSORE DUSSEHRA

Having lived in Bangalore for the past 25 years, I had missed Mysore Dussehra all these years. I always longed to visit, but somehow it never worked out. And at the back of my mind I was, may be worried about the crowd, rush and the heat. My husband would ask every year whether we can go and my reply would be always in the negative. Especially when the kids were young, I visited Mysore several times but never during Dussehra. I am sure they would have loved and enjoyed the festivities,but I would rather take them to palace and Zoo when the things were sober.

I had another issue. Because of our varying schedules and of both the children, we could not plan very well in advance and book the lodging. And once the planning was made, we could never get the accommodation. This happened for 3-4 years in succession.  Last year I had almost planned everything in advance but God up there disposed my plans and I had to spend the entire year running around the hospitals and finally going under the scissors myself.
Once I had made up my mind, but things were not turning out favourable,  it sort of became a challenge. I had to fight against all odds and make it this time. So I started very very well in advance and tried to book my office guest house in Feb itself but they were not yet ready and advised me to come back after 3 months. OK, on 1 St May I shot them another mail. No sir, that was also quite early and they asked me to get back after 2 months. When I tried to book in July and was advised to get back later, I saw red.

This has been the paradox. Either I would be too early or too late. But fortunately God had better plans for me this year. On the advice of my friend Sandhya and her son Samarth, I approached one service apartment just 10 days before Dussehra. You won't believe, I got a confirmation that 2 rooms were in fact available! This is called luck. Since last  2-3 years I have been  searching for home stay, service apartment and lodges during Dussehra but was never successful, and this year it was just a fortnight away from the festival and I was offered a best service on a platter!

Earlier I was always told that no such facilities are available in Mysore and you can find them only in Coorg district . So when I landed at Mysore with my family, I had a sense of apprehension whether my family would be happy with my choice. Believe you me, they were delighted.


The place we stayed was GOOD TOUCH serviced apartments, a building constructed just three months back and one can expect as much comfort here as at one's home. The building is ideally located at Gokulam third stage, a serene and peaceful locality, but not very far from the hub and happenings of the City. It is just 4 kilometres away from the Palace and 3 kilometres from the Railway station.

Being looked after by Mr. Ganapathy and his family, a courteous and friendly couple. the place can be a home away from home. They provide all the facilities like Wi-Fi, flat TVs, AC, car parking and a kitchen. The kitchen is worth mentioning because it is very well kept and is neat and tidy. They offer complimentary breakfast every morning, comprising regular South Indian delicacies with piping hot tea and coffee. And if you like to try your hand in cooking or would like to heat the food you have ordered, there is always oven and the gas stove.

The place is so calm and peaceful, you can spend hours sitting on the terrace. We had a splendid time going around the city, decorated like a bride, with colourful lights dazzling from each and every building. The palace with all lights was just heavenly. I am extremely happy that at last I could make my trip such a pleasant  and memorable one and wish to have another opportunity to visit this wonderful city soon!

Swarna Gowri Wrath

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This is one festival which is very close to my heart. Why? May be because I am from North Karnataka and back there we didn't have this Wrath. And then a quarter century back I got married into the APS family. A big joint family full of cultural events and festivities.

Although everybody lived separately, festivals used to be always joint and fun filled events. There used to be around 20-25 elders and a dozen youngsters. Everybody used to chip in their contributions in everything.

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Hindu Culture and Festivals -- Bheemana Amavasya

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Do you believe in customs and traditions? Are you spiritual or orthodox? What do the festivals mean to you? Are you indifferent to them, or follow them as just rituals or try to find out the reason, history behind these festivities. As for me I am spiritual but not orthodox, celebrate the festivals not as a custom but as a social celebration, cook delicacies meant for the festival day not as a binding compulsion, but because I want to enjoy and share the pleasure with my family and friends. What about you ???

Maha Kumbha Mela - The Cultural extravaganza of India

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The images of Indian cultural extravaganza, The Maha Kumbha Mela are flashing across the media - both print   and visual, all over the world. There are images of sadhus, tents, temples, lamps and of course foreign visitors. But I am afraid  instead of highlighting the essence and the cultural value of the mega event, the focus is more on getting the snaps of the nude sadhus or sadhus smearing ash on their bodies or wearing odd costumes, lengthy hairs or nails. Besides the  ash smeared ascetics, wide-eyed stars and tourists and millions of pilgrims thronging the Ganges for a holy dip, there are a lot more interesting facts and intricacies involved in this mystique event.

WHAT IS THE HISTORY OF KUMBH MELA?

Shri Ramanavami and My First School .....

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Shri Rama Navami.... The festival evokes so many fond memories of early childhood. The earliest memory of the festival was way back in the sixties when I must be barely five years old. How strange life is and how wonderful games our memory plays. We may not be able to recall what we did a 
month's, a week's or even a day's back. But certain events, incidents are so vivid in our memory that like a marquee they roll in front of our eyes as if they are happening today!

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On Ramanavami evening amma would dress us and we would run along with her to ShriRama temple on Gubbera Betta in Raichur. Come to think of it – why was it called Gubbera betta? What does it mean? Then we never bothered and now it doesn't matter! I was about four years old then and we left Raichur when I was maybe eight years old and subsequently have never visited that place. But I can recall the street, road, trees, flowers as if it happened yesterday. Childhood memories!
From our house through a narrow lane we would go via “Gowdara Kamanu"  an arch in front of a cluster of houses belonging obviously to some gowda. After passing Narasimha devara gudi we would go through a road leading to amma's tailoring class which had a big kenda sampige tree. The petals of the Kenda sampige would make a golden bed with strong vibrant scent everywhere.
Incidentally amma was learning tailoring and would buy meters of clothes and stitch dresses for we four sisters – exactly the same color, same design and none of us ever complained. In fact we used to be extremely thrilled to bother about such insignificant things like similarity of the dresses. Of course this situation lasted for maybe 5-6 years after which we would feel embarrassed to walk together in similar dresses once we grew up!

Maha Kumbh Mela - The cultural extravaganza of India

chitrannaa.blogspot.in

The images of Indian cultural extravaganza, The Maha Kumbh Mela are flashing across the media - both print   and visual, all over the world.  There are images of sadhus, tents, temples, lamps and of course foreign visitors. But I am afraid instead of highlighting the essence and the cultural value of the mega event, the focus is more on getting the snaps of the nude sadhus or sadhus smearing ash on their bodies or wearing odd costumes, lengthy hairs or nails. Besides the ash smeared ascetics, wide-eyed stars and

tourists and millions of pilgrims thronging the Ganges for a holy dip, there are a lot more interesting facts and intricacies involved in this mystique event.

WHAT IS THE HISTORY OF KUMBH MELA?

Sankramana - The Harvest Festival of India

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Sankranti, the festival of harvest is here. I can't help getting nostalgic about the festivities we enjoyed back then in North Karnataka where the celebrations meant devouring in the  rustic and ethnic flavors, eating loads of sweets, Sajje (bajra) roti, butter, ennegai palya and ellu holige and wearing new clothes. This is the festival of harvest, the til or sesame seed crops are brought home and it was a way of expressing gratitude to the elements of nature and mother earth.

Every Festival in India has a great significance, worshiping different Gods, savoring a particular dish during that festival. This cannot be termed as a mere custom or meaningless ritual. The great Indian sages had a specific purpose behind every ritual. A prayer is not to ask God to give us what we want but  to make us strong to learn to accept what we get. Sankranti, the festival of India, also popularly known as Pongal in south India signifies the transmigration of Sun from one rasi to another. Makar Sankranti refers to transition of Sun from Dhanu rashi to Makara rashi.

Deepavali.. With Besan Undi, Chakkli and chooda !!!

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The festival of lights and stars is here again. Lights, sweet and celebration! Lamps painted with colours and decorated with glasses!

But the name deepavali painting  brings back another memory. That of my Amma painting the bathroom before every deepavali with white and clay mud.Then filling the water in HANDE with fresh water and decorating with delicate rangolis and diyas. Not only the  bathroom but the entire house was filled with beautiful intricate rangoli designs and light from the earthen diyas throwing wonderful rhapsody of light on the dark nights. What a wonderful way of celebrating and worshiping the elements!