Karwa Chauth

Yes I know it was sometime back in Oct and I don't even remember the date! Does that make me a bad wife? There were many ladies (my neighbors) who were celebrating it with much fanfare and were all decked up and sending messages on WhatsApp.. asking if anyone had seen the moon yet!? Don't you find it contradictory (I actually found it funny) that women who are well-versed with the latest technologies, still believe in such age old custom?

Seeing all the hullabaloo surrounding it my husband told me with a smirk on his face "Look at all those women.. doing so much for their husband!?, Why did not you do it?". And that irritated me and prompted me to ask him " Did you ever keep a fast for me?". Am I treading on land mines here!?

Isn't cooking, cleaning, washing, working and I am sure there are loads more that I have missed here enough to prove your love? Now do I also have to fast on top of all this!?

I know I must have irked a lot of pati-vrata women out there by now. But I really do not believe in this bourgeois mentality of fasting for a husbands long life. Yes women used to fast in the old days and they had strong reasons to..men used to goto war.
Yes men goto war even today and spending a day at the office is more bloody too than the good old days.

I am religious to an extent but do not believe in all of the rituals.

Onam 2008

I still remember our first Onam as it was just two weeks after I landed here in the UK. We were in the starting stages of settling down in a new place, so knew no one, had no utensils, nothing at all to celebrate with the gusto that we do back in Kerala. I was also feeling a bit sad as it was our first Onam after marriage and here we two are, far away from our parents, friends, relatives in contrast to the event itself which involves family get-togethers, giving gifts mainly clothes called Onakkodi and lots of merrymaking.
After the fist disappointing Onam I decided to make this one a grand one! This year Thiruvonam fell on a Friday so we decided to have our sadya on Saturday as we both had to goto work on Friday. I started deciding on the items for Sadya a week before and finalised on...
Thoran
Pulisseri (prepared from buttermilk)
Sambar (extremely popular recipe from South India)
Chicken Curry (as we were celebrating on the third day we could eat non-veg too :) )
Pickles
Pappads
Upperi (prepared from various things like raw bananas (kaaya))
Payasam (extremely delicious dish and is a sort of pudding
and Fruits.

But Sadya was not over yet! We also attended a Sadya on Sunday organised by the KCWA (Kerala Cultural and Welfare Association) and could enjoy all the stuff that I could not accomodate due to my hectic schedule. :)
After the sadya there was classical and cinematic dance talent show followed by Biju Narayanan's mind blowing ganamela.

He sang the song Kalabham tharam beautifully...from the recently released Vadakkumnathan, the last movie for which Raveendran Master scored music.
Now I can proudly say 'Yeah, Onam 2008 was grand.' ;-)