09 November 2007

aahai lachhami pooja, bhaili ram!

so tihar is upon us... the crows and the dogs and the cows have had their days.. the brothers still have to wait for bhai tika
imagine our very own bagh bazar is having a street festival with an entrance fee of rupees 300.. how will they man all the gullies leading to bagh bazar? anyway this is how it looked last night

and yesterday we had kukur puja. we lined up the dogs with the bait of an omlette each to sit through the puja

truly every kukur does have its day!









laxmi puja afternoon and muwa is preparing the puja sama for the evening's puja












while i am in the kitchen baking cake.. part of the bhai tika treat for dajis













meanwhile priya and aakash were making laxmi ko paila. pretty neat joint venture it was with him making the sole and she the toe prints!



























guiding laxmi the way home to the joshi coffers















time for aarati











even ghantaghar was dressed for the evening








after the puja











waiting for dinner











then the crackers begin.. priya makes a perfect O







and then does an approximation




amar and tulasa make jilebis



















bhunchampa and jhirjhirey















priya does a snake











and zooms to the window to show mami and muwa and baba who did not venture out into the cold (made chillier by the weird afternoon thunderstorm)

tulasa's turn











ganga with her jhirjhirey while the twirly wirly seems to be burning itself into a spider!













then it was time for asking for bhaili from the elders inside. we danced and we sang and sang and sang




finally muwa's khajanchi appeared at the window...












jyoti arrived right then with deepak babu















and even had some fun with jhirjhirey









inside the room we tried to extort some more money from the elders singing ourselves hoarse... baba offered us to take his kurta










finally we got a topping on the initial bhailo!








outside patakas were going on like crazy (shows we are out of the conflict now!) and kutu had his ears up and his tail tucked in

annochh didn't seem to mind.. probably didn't hear anything old dog that he is... munu was hiding under the bed













jyoti tries to fathom miss moti









mami was feeling fagged out










a little bit of tihar cheer!

11 September 2007

dada's belated junku

finally.. dada's long belated junku party! at his dada's 78th (turns out it should actually be 79th!) birthday!
dada's day started out on a quiet note, with fewer people turning up in the morning, as most were coming in the evening for the party











those who came blessed deviji too.. who was not feeling too good physically today.




ball bahadur presenting his offerings to dada







while deviji was being fed brunch...









others sat around the table to have their food








after endless days of scanning pictures for presentation.. miku finally relaxes with snacks

the team from rato bangala...















mami lit the panas....
















.. made very nice remarks about dada.. pulling his leg.. and also saying that there is a deep spiritual person behind all the nay-saying!!!














then there was soft music being played in the backdrop of the candlelight palas




then two strangers arrived.. an old man with a young bideshi wife





pretty big bummed old guy who claimed to be dada's great grandfather






the budho claimed he had found his budhi during a trip to yumrika






he advised his great grandson.. to take care of old brittle bones and not frolic about too much













.. and also warned him not to cast his eye on his wife whom dada claimed to be his sali...




it was later revealed that .. the bideshi wife was played by madhu nepal





and rupa joshi was the person behind the daari jungaa playing her father's baraju





then began a nearly 200 picture long presentation entitled "ka. di. ko naalibeli" the presentation had to be stopped midway as the laptop's RAM gave up and stopped displaying picture... that gave guests time to catch up with dinner...
the presentation was continued to a more intimate crowd after dinner...


some of the the guests....










the all fortified chef team at dhokaima who served the most gajjabko dinner




..oooops.. the children overcame their near oversight of their fathers' babu ko mookh herne with a hastily improvised present!

the nimta had said not to bring presents.. so many came with flowers (there were presents too!).. mr. kathmandu valley waves to the crowd after the ceremony was done...










as miss bagh bazar showers flying kisses too.. so that is how it went... dada's belated junko birthday...

guests, from all spectrum of dada's acquaintances, friends and relatives. really had a nice time.. a unique programme.. very informal fun, with good weather, food and entertainment...