Ganapathi Bappa Moreya

This day used to be always a busy day at my house! Cleaning the house, making a place for ganesha, decorating and keeping everything set for the next day festival.

Not to forget all the fights I used to have with my dad and sister. It used to be fun filled.

End of the day mom used to get tired making us all calm.

We used to be awake till late night keeping everything ready for the wonderful welcome for Mr ganesha the next day.

We never celebrated Gowri as my mom said that families who celebrate Varamahalakshmi don't celebrate Gowri festival. So in our house we had the custom of celebrating Varamahalakshmi which is usually celebrated few weeks before Ganesha Chathurthi.

The next day always seemed to be very tiring. Dad used to wake us up very early. He wanted us to put Rangoli and get ready for the Pooja. But we, being the lazy sisters always used to ask him for extra 5 to 10 minutes to sleep and would doze of for a long time. Then my mom would come screaming and asking for us to get up and start the work.

Rangoli is a must for us. Though I can never do it like my mom, I used to do it somehow. My sister was always a helper here. By the time we finish the rangoli stuff, we would hear our dad calling for us. But unless we hear a praise of word from our dad & mom, we would never leave the place. That certainly means my mom would give us some nice words that would make us feel proud of our efforts.

By the time Pooja starts we would be so tired and hungry. Though we would be able to smell yummy food getting prepared in the kitchen we are not allowed to touch it unless it is served to god first. But here even God is made to wait. He has to wait until my dad keeps all things ready, reads some stories and sings some bhajans etc etc. Then my mom too does so many types of Poojas where we kids were only supposed to sit and watch them do things. Also, we had to help them wherever they need our help.

I being the eldest used to transfer all my work to my sister. :P It used to be fun to hear my sister screaming at me for everything. :)

Festival means late lunch at our house. At times, it could extend till 3 or 4 PM. My stomach would always be well prepared for the late lunch.

Mom would prepare yummy kadabu, kosambri and chitranna along with the regular meal.

We would have guests and neighbours coming to see Ganesha in the evening. I used to visit my neighbour houses where they keep Ganesha's. Mom would always stay at home and would never leave Ganesha alone :) She used to say that we should not leave him alone and lock the door.

By around 8 PM, we would set things ready to bid Bye to our Ganesha. Dad would do one last Pooja and Mom used to make us ask one last thing from Ganesha at that time i.e. to ask him to come to our house happily every year the same way. Then I and my dad would go to a lake that we had near our house. I still remember the scary lake that used to be almost full due to heavy rains. We would go to a safe place where we could finish all the remaining customs. I used to watch the big lake that stood silently in the night without making any noise. At last, my dad would dip Ganesha three times and finally drop him in the lake. After the visarjane, we would sit for sometime and then leave back to home.

Every year Ganesha comes to our house. Most of the times we would make him stay for a day due to our busy schedules. If possible, we would keep him for 3 days.

For the first time in 2010, I had to miss the festival because of working far from my home. I will never forget that sad feeling of missing home because of my work. I did pray to god to make it possible the next year.

Unfortunately, this year too the same continues. My parents are feeling really bad for my absence at home. We celebrate so many festivals, but Ganesha Chaturthi used to be something more exciting. I would not count Deepavali here, because thats full of enjoyment and missing deepavali means missing all the fun and happiness.

But still I know I will have good plans to celebrate Ganesha Chathurthi wherever I'm. So I'm all set to welcome Ganesha in Bengaluru this time. Wishing you too a very happy festival..

Ganapathi Bappa Moreya ! ! ! :)

the red roses

Some of the pictures that I happened to click on my friends anniversary. I always love flowers. Though roses are not in my highest liking list, I do like it at times. The photos are taken from my digital camera. I feel sorry for not having SLR camera. :) Anyways, liked these pics and thought of uploading it here.

Wrong turn

Life is indeed unpredictable. You never know when you will face life's blows. Sometimes this blow may hurt us so deep that it can remain for a long time.

We grow up with lots of hope and with interest to achieve our dreams. Every individual has his or her own dreams. Some people may actually reach their goals within little time or after a long time.

But what when you are actually going against your dreams? What when you are actually doing something which you never thought of and never wanted to?

Probably you may continue with this phase of life if everything is good and if it is not going good, then you may try to change the happenings as much as possible.
But there are times when you cannot change anything, when you plan to stay silent with this phase of life and wait for things to change by itself.

Going through difficulty needs to be experienced so as to understand the life's ups and downs. But when it is taking a wrong turn, we have to take a right step to win this game or ateast wait for the right step.

Today, life took me towards a wrong turn. I am quite upset with it but then I don't want to loose hopes. I am not in a position to take a right step but I will wait for it. If things were in my hand, I could have done as my heart says. But no, I am helpless. I may have to support the people who depend on me. So just ignoring the wrong turn and moving ahead to come across the right path.

I guess this is a hard time which is going through, But I'm trying to live my day to the fullest.
The tears that rolled from my eyes today dried up when a close friend of mine comforted me. I'm glad to have such friends in my life.
End of it all, I'm smiling now as I'm writing this.

Ignoring the so-called-worst-experience-of-today!

Signing off with a smile! :)

P.S: The photo above is taken by a good friend of mine. The photo itself can tell many stories.

Hard Fact

The worst thing that can happen is you reach office early in the morning and find out that you are at a wrong place.
Hmm.. well, that doesn't mean that you are physically present at a wrong place but it can mean that virtually you feel that you do not belong to this office or you should have not been here!

It does feel so especially when you don't have the passion or interest to work at that office. Many may say that they feel this every single day. But I don't feel it often. I just look forward to work at my office and spend the entire day at office working or doing something which can be effective either to the company or me.
But past few days, there has been a cloud moving above me which keeps pouring in thoughts. It keeps asking me whether I'm happy over here or not? Whether I am enjoying my work, passionate about the tasks that I do or interested to even look for more possible actions during work.
Rather than answering these questions, I shutdown these thoughts and ask the cloud to stop following me.

What does a happy career mind ask for? A decent job with interesting assignments on the work desk, stable income with friendly colleagues to work on & challenging tasks. That's all I am looking for.

*Sigh. Just not happy with the happenings at my work place!

She and her world

Picture taken at Cubbon Park, Bangalore.

A cute child who was accompanied by her mother to the park was happily waiting to get into the toy train ride. She didn't even knew that it was only a toy train and not the real one. She was enjoying each and every moment. She was smiling at every person who was playing with her. She doesn't recognize any of those faces but she could realize that they too are moving ahead with her in the train. She loved the dress she wore, she loved the balloons which her brother was holding in his hand, she loved the people who were smiling at her. It was all like a different world. The world which looks very nice and beautiful. Colorful people, bright day, twinkling nights, happy children, struggling old grannies, wonderful flowers etc etc.,

She wants the world to remain as it is with all these lovely things always near to her.. She cannot express it as of now but she knows about it and enjoys every bit of it.

This is her world. Her beautiful world and she loves it!! :)

Times-up

Its been quite tough these days.. May be I have lost the patience to adjust for slightest things too. Not to reveal much but I am planning to shift my home from North to South of Bangalore. I know shifting involves hell lot of work and I'm feeling the pain in doing it.

Checking out so many places is a tiresome job too. I have been looking out for a comfy rented house but moving alone is not safe. Hence, I am checking for ladies hostels too.
But let me tell you one thing, Bangalore is loaded with lot many PG (Paying Guest) Accommodations. But I have not come across even one hostel until now. If you ask what is the difference, students who are studying in engineering or medical colleges can tell you. I always wanted to stay in one. *sigh*

Coming back to my search. Oh Gawwwdd! I have been staying in a 2 bhk house until now and I was so so happy staying there. I don't think I may get such a kind of house again.

A tip to share for the people who stay in rented house or flats: If you are all alone, you are blessed! If you are sharing your space with roomies, then you guyz gotta stay smart. Its always a fight at the end. Getting the advance money which was deposited first is like finishing a virgin trek! Trust me, I have experienced this "staying in a rented house with so called roomies" twice already.

I hope and pray that I get a good place to stay somewhere close to my office! *fingers crossed for all the future mishaps* hehehe

the attachment

She sat there at the reception desk working on her computer. She didn't have much work that day. She started watching the main door and the people who were walking elsewhere.

He stayed in a small rented penthouse which was located in the same building as hers. He used to often move up and down from the stair case but never noticed this lady sitting there. But that day he just caught her eyes looking at him. He could sense the electric beat which went through his nerves. She created an affection towards him and gazed at him. No smiles either side.

Its been a month now and they still look at each other whenever he passes through the staircase. No talks and no smiles. But things are happening in the air. Both of them feel a strange bond of looking at each other but never did they express it. They liked it, they loved that intense feeling of happiness, lust and the crave to see each other everyday.

The fond attachment still continues..

Lost heart

He stood there smiling at me,
I glared at him like a bee!

He was sweet, lovable and innocent,
I was sporty, talkative and exultant!

He loved me to the core,
Which I never got from anyone before!

But time tells a different story,
Where I was filled with gory!

We had to be keep ourselves apart,
and finally it broke, my heart!

Me and My love

Not all are blessed with luck. But when people are blessed with good luck, do they realize it?

I dont know about you, but I certainly keep realizing it often. Its sometimes crazy when I keep thinking and thinking endlessly. I feel happy for what I'm. I feel good to have made so many good friends. I feel great exploring new things. I feel nice when people praize me. I feel yipppee when I'm enjoying. I feel adventurous when I do something crazy.

Going back to those years, when I was a tiny little baby fond of my mother always crying and laughing, to those days when I used to fight with those friends of mine just for a chocalate, and when I used to jump and happily return home from school, when I used to get scoldings from my teacher for not completing my homework, to the days when I was afraid to step into college and ofcourse to the days when we used to bunk the classes just because it was boring, chit chat in canteens and those birthday treats and to all those interviews that took place and the trainings in new workplace... ahhh!!
Finally, working now! Its been a long journey from baby (to) school going kid (to) teenager (to) college girl and now a working professional.. (Feeling Nostalgic now.. :-))

Life has drastically changed or I should say I have drastically changed myself so much. Happy that I am standing on my legs now, i-n-d-e-p-e-n-d-e-n-t-l-y!

Thanks to my parents who made me stand up for what I'm today. Thanks to my little sister who was a great companion till now. Thanks to all those wonderful friends with whom life indeed became happier. I have to tell thanks to each and everybody that I know as they have played a role too in my life journey.

And today i'm expressing my love to myself. If I had not loved myself, I would have not reached till here. So so glad that I'm me, myself and Swetha! Frankly, I love my name, my every step, my every thinking, my smartness.. well everything about me!!
I'm sure each of you would have loved yourself. But we only to know to express love to other and may not have expressed it among ourselves.

Its nice to wear my own shoes rather anybody else's. I dont want to be Obama or Kajol or Shah rukh Khan. I want to be what I'm. And I proudly say that I love myself.. Hugggzzzz and kisses to me.. :) :P ;)

HaPpY VaLeNtInEs DaY!