bhai-baini tika

some images from bhai-baini tika eve last evening and the rest from today... pictures of muwa's tika with her brothers, of baba' with his sisters, and mine, with daji and sandaji, and also srijana's tika with akash. ..yup, none of the kids this time.... and also mami had her tika at licchi mami's place this year...the photos were taken by me, baba as well as sandaji

first some preparation for the bhaag yesterday...this was my experimentation with 'goji' cake (with dried fruits and spices like one puts for goji with the sprinkling of diced apples too)

this time i made big sels...complete with a lot of kaanda, sing juro etc

yummies for daji and sandaji...

meanwhile muwa and tulasa were busy upstairs making malas and taking care of the puja preparation

in the evening a deusi team from malpi school (along with the principal) arrived.. all the teachers and staff.. dressed in traditional attire, some singing deusi song is a beautiful manner...

and dancing as well... the female teachers...

as well as synchronised men..

some sprightly moves from the young...

and the young at heart!!!

the deusi team winded up after about 20 mins of singing and dancing and aashiq bachan
meanwhile there was long distance deusi-ing over skype with cholu in bergen!

this morning, tika started with muwa's brothers and sisters

muwa applies tika on keshariraj buwa (this time maila raja, nayan raj pandey, could not make it for the tika due to poor health)

... and then on kanchha raja (janardan raj pandey)...

then it's turn for muwa to receive the tika..

the didi-daju-bahini-bhai team

then since jyoti (who came back from the u.s. just a day earlier)had not arrived, i started my rituals... first the oil and water seal to protect my brothers from any misfortune affecting their lives...

a little bit of the tel for the hair...

...with a quick maalis thrown in...

then the indreni tika time..

i read in the papers recently that the yellow tika provides protection against disease and illness, red for good fortune and valour, green to remove bigna badha, blue for spreading glory and white for purity of heart and deed. arey...

then malyarpan time. since there was abhaab of dubo this year.. i had to devise a special sripech type of mini mala for the topi.. using dubo, sayapatri and makhamali


daji and sandaji pose to show off the mala-pech

then it is bhaag offering time... daji displays some canine tendencies...


sandaji sizing up his share of ainthey very closely, and wondering what to taste...

next is 'bimiralo' time (bimiro, in its "goopy gyne bhaga byne" 'dineyraalo' avataar)

and no tihar of ours is complete these days without the droopy bimiralos being placed in various strategic "age-factored" locations...

my turn for receiving the tika next.. as usual daji being the artist and my forehead his canvas...

... and sandaji adding a couple of embellishments... anywhere above the neck is fair game...

the end result of the combined effort... even my glasses getting the tika..

then dhogaan time...


and of course hugs after getting my bhaag ; )

me with the gifts later on!

the bhrata dwaya with the bhagini

.. next it was baba's turn for the tika.. jyoti and prabha initiating the bhaitika with arati

then the oil and water chakkars

oil on baba's hair with a lot of ashish from jyoti.. including a prayer for more forestation!

prabha's turn

then tika time...

the siblings thrilled at getting the best mala set amongst all sibling sets that morning.. separate.. dubo and makhmali, godabari mala!!!

reverse tika time.. very meticulous baba was...

cleaning up any stray tika...

... and applying with an engineer's precision...

then gifts for the bahinis

and proper dhogs for jyoti...

... and prava

the happy siblings...

then it was time for fooooooood. from bottom in a clockwise manner...it's prawn and mushroom au gratin, keema biryani, bhogatey sandheko, achaar cluster (alu, agasti, lapsi and aanp), paneer palungo kofta, kauli alu, rayo and palungo saag, dal, bhaat, banarasi mithaai, goji cake, and finally shahi toast...

then while we start eating, little srijana puts tika on akash assisted by her 'mummy'

keshari raj buwa narrating a joke to sandaji before leaving

baba with his 'groom'-quality malas

and ahhh.. my baini-tika gifts

i loooove tihar!!