DIY Diwali Lantern

Achooo....Achoo.....Chooooooooo......

Oops Sorry for that.

Oh No, its not the runny nose bcoz of the current bangalore weather. It's just that I was dusting the long unused space here in my blog which gave me the sneeze :)Too many cobwebs here!

Home is where the Heart is! 

Whats more fun than celebrating Diwali at home. The lights, the food, the laughter, the decorations, the people around, the family..it's the spirit and love that's enchanting about this festival.

This diwali I tried making a lantern at home. I used things lying around at home. 

Thermocol, crepe sheets, fancy silver sheets, stationary such as glue, scissors etc.

How I Made them are explained in the pictures below.

I had saved the thermocols from a package earlier and I now used them 

as a top hanger.

I then made holes 4 sides and run a string through 

it to use it as a hanger . Also a big hole is made in the centre to suspend lights inside.

I then took thick sheets of paper or thin sheet of cardboard which can bend you could say. Made 8 1" strips and stuck 2 each side and then stapled it all in a form of square

After that I used crepe papers to cover the lantern.

Last step is to stick crepe ribbons to hang down from the lantern.

And then hanged it. Lights could be suspended inside.

Hope you had a fab Diwali! And make them next time.
Watch this space for more such DIY's.

Never Diminishing

All I am about to write is about Akshaya Tritiya. It means never diminishing. It is celebrated by both Hindus and Jains. But I kinda felt it is wrongly understood or celebrated. Or at least I felt most of us do not know the real meaning of this day other than buying gold on this day. Isn't it?

As per my search in google, I found that as per Hinduism ,this day is celebrated as the birthday of Sage Parashuram / sixth avatar of Vishnu. This is also the day River Ganga descended to earth from heaven as per the mythology. So it is believed that doing charity on this day is a blessing. So as in starting new ventures / deeds.

For Jains, it's a story about a king of Ayodhya who ended his year long fast today when he was offered sugarcane juice from his grandson. It took a year and his grandson to understand that all He wanted was food and not worldly materials which people kept offering him.

My Pessimism starts here.

Just  like Valentines day , friendships day, fathers day, mothers day and all other days being so over hyped just for marketing the retail products by business owners, I feel even Akshaya Tritiya is over hyped by jewellers/banks/finance companies in India in recent years. (No offense and not that I don't celebrate these special occasions, but I am just merely trying to understand the big picture). So people buy gold thinking that it multiplies if you buy on this day. Don't know what people will do with all the multiplied gold, if it ever multiplies and if it really makes sense.

People are actually supposed to do charity on this day. It is a blessing. On the contrary when our holy book Bhagavadhgeetha teaches us to forsake all worldly pleasures and desires , to give and not ask more, why do we some people do exactly the opposite. Why do we see buying gold on this day as auspicious? Why do we perform Lakshmi pooja for wealth and property? Does it make any sense? It doesn't , to me.

I know its practical in this age to have wealth enough to live comfortably. But isn't the real meaning of this day being masked by the gimmicks of business people. All we know is the picture projected by marketing companies than the religious side of it.

So I think all of us should understand the real meaning of this day and grab an opportunity to do some charity or good deeds on this day instead of dwelling on buying gold and it bringing wealth and getting multiplied and so on.

On the lighter side, here's what I baked for my friends on their anniversary.

Chocolate cupcakes which was more like chocolate brownies. Anyways it tasted chocolaty!!

Have a good day. If I buy a chocolate on this day. Will it multiply and will I keep getting more and more of it? All chocolate lovers, try it ;))

Disclaimer:

This thoughts in the article written above is mine and mine only and does not reflect any body elses's sentiments. Neither it refers to anyone in person.

Ugadi & Supermoon

Happy Ugadi to All.  Ugadi is the new year day for people in Karnataka and Andhra and many other regions as well but known with different name.

The most memorable thing of Ugadi for me from back home is eating of neem leaves along with jaggery. Day starts with a oil masaage with castor oil, then a nice head bath, followed by prayers. Mom used to then give me the mixture of neem leaves and jaggery before which we recite "Neem leaves are sweet, jaggery is bitter" (in kannada/telugu)  3 times.. It is to signify a year mixed  with happiness and sorrows and that both should be accepted and acknowledged equally. (Why tell it 3 times??  I Don't know! )

Traditionally, Obattu/Holige/puran poli , sweet dish is prepared on this day. A special Pachadi with neem leaves is prepared. Breaking the norm and to keep things easier I made Gulab Jamoon. Unfortunately we do not get either neem leaves or neem flowers in USA.

This is what we had today.
Carrot and corn kosumbri, carrot,beans and green moong palya, white rice, avarekalu chitranna, bele saaru, gulab jamoon, yogurt and mango slices.

What a way to start the new year with the big win we had. This win for Indians is such a good news to rejoice after all the negative that is been happening around with Egypt, Libya and Japan. All we can do is pray and hope the year following will be better for them.

These are the 2 views I got of the moon on Supermoon day. I used Nikon 250mm Lens.

 Thanks to the instructions written on taking a moon picture by my friend Harsha.  And you should check his Phootography in Flicker. They are Awesome.

Hope this new year brings good luck to all.

DIY Ganesha Idol and Vinayaka Chaturthi Celebrations

Yesterday was Vinayaka Chaturthi . Hope you all enjoyed the festival. Well I enjoyed mine. This is the first time we ever celebrated this festival in the USA. This being Ankushs first Ganesha Chaturthi , I made sure that we start to celebrate it in our own little way with how much ever possible. The first thing that comes to the mind when having to celebrate this festival is to get a Ganesha idol. Thanks for not finding one around where we live in US and thanks to me being a "Go Green" girl, I was all set to make my very own eco-friendly Ganesha Idol. Quickly searched to see if I could find some Idol making online and found this video. The material I used to make this is nothing but the coloured clay(for instance , Playdoh) available in the market. Im really not sure if its clay but it feels something like clay. But I didnt use playdoh, I used a different brand. But I recommend anyone attempting to do this to stick to playdoh if you are in US.

Here's the set I bought. I had a total of 6 colors.  Please cut your fingernails before attempting this, coz it leaves a lot of nail marks if you don't do so. You will also need ear buds , paper towel/soft cloth to wipe your hands in between switching colors and   markers/sketchpen.

Since I wanted to represented my Ganesha as an eco friendly one, I decided to use light green for the body. Make a large ball like this. This represents the body.

Next comes the legs. Take a choice of your colour and make 2 cylindrical, preferably narrower on one end and wider on the opposite.

Now place the broader ends on 2 opposite sides of the body and press lightly behind like your merging the green and the violet clay. see that it is fixed firmly. Next using your thumb and index finger lightly press on the narrower side of the violet piece to represent the feet of Ganesha.

Henceforth the pictures aren't in detail. This is coz I did this in the middle of the night and I started to loose my patience to take many pictures. But the video link I posted in the beginning says it all.  
Once the legs are placed, next go for the arms. Take 2 cylindrical pieces, much shorter than the ones we used for the legs. Just press on the top to the body and let the other end rest on the leg. Lightly press along the length of the arm to the body so that it attaches well. Next use different colors to make the neck chain and the orange part in this pic(This part of the idol represents the sacred thread worn by many hindus).

Next comes the very important part, The head. I would say that this is just a matter of patience and dedication to get this shape. An easier approach
to get this shape is to make a trapezoid first. Then work on the broader end by lightly pressing it to flatten it a bit. Then work on the narrower end to thin it down and shape it like a trunk. Work on the whole piece and finally you will get this shape.

Before attaching the head portion to the body , take a small piece of clay, about the size of your smallest toe:) Put it in the place where you would keep the head and press it lightly and now attach the head. The small piece of clay acts as a support to the head and it also gives the required height and the angle for the head. Gosh! Hope you've understood.    
In this pic, I have also done the palms. Take a pea sized piece of clay, make it into a nearly egg shape and just press it between your thumb and index finger to get the shape of a palm, place them as shown in this picture. One palm should look like it is blessing us and the other one to hold the modak.

Next comes the ears.Take a small amount of clay, work on it to get an egg shape, flatten it to look like an oval disc, then lightly try to curve on the lengthier side inwards to get the ear shape. I'm sure its really easy.Now attach it to both ends of the head by slightly overlapping the clay from the head and the ears from the back side.

Take a ear bud and lightly press on the head in the place where you intend to keep the tusks. This will create a small indent to hold the tusks. make 2 conical shaped tusks and just lightly press inside.

Next comes the crown. This design is left to an individual choice. I made a conical shape and with the help of the narrower end of spoon, I carved out a little to get this design.

To complete the Idol, use red clay to keep the Tilaka as shown. Again using ear bud I slightly pressed on the head in place of the eyes. Using a black marker/sketchpen, I drew the eyes. Please use a very thin tip marker. I used a broader tip marker and it started to spread out. I had to then fix it. Keep this in mind. You can use ear bud to smoothen the texture of the idol by simply lightly rubbing over it.You can make your own decorations now. You can use beads, zardosis etc to decorate it. I just wanted to keep it all plain clay.
This is how I made our Ganesha Idol!
Done!!

Now for the Gowri Idol. I did not find any tutorial for this. But I saw this picture in the net and used this as a reference to make the Gowri idol.

Just Look at my sweethearts in the background;)))) Ummmaaaaa..Love them:)

This is how we celebrated the festival. This is a pic taken after the pooja. OH! I had my mom recite the mantras and guide me through the pooja procedure online through skype:)

I made the flowers in this picture using the left over clay.

Oh and how can the food be missed:) The menu includes idli, coconut chutney, chickpea sundal, Lemon rice, rasam, vegetable kootu, pumpkin bajji, kadubu, carrot kosambri, white rice of course. We invited our friends over for the celebrations. Heres a very cute pic of my son Ankush playing with his cutest friend Oishi:)) Oishi is one and half yrs old and she keeps calling Ankush as "bhaiiiiii" in her own sweet way:) How cute is that!!!!

Wow, we had an awesome day yesterday:)) Hope you enjoyed yours. Oh ,yesterday was a special day coz it also happens to be Eid. How more special can a day be when all friends get together and celebrate!!!!