08 February 2009

digitainment picnic at kot

it wasn't that great a day for "viewing" from kot.. very hazy and misty.. the mountains barely visible.. the valley floor also shrouded up. but the digitainment folks enjoyed it nevertheless in a pot luck 'picnic' that started off late to begin with!

the himals were hidden... langtang barely visible..

little "suri" (suman + rina putri)begins to warm up to her first outing

riya enjoyed her "first picnic" outing too... whether the armchair or the doorbin

bauchhori...

the girls get started on making sandwiches...

.. while the parents experiment with suri's tastebuds with grapes...

.. gyanendra in his throne!




















.. meanwhile the sandwiches are nearly done...

.. and then of course a game of uno was is in the cards..

... suman ends up with a fistfull of cards.. and thus ending up doing a feeble "huiya"

.. lunch time for the little one...




















... post lunch baba manages to coax the team for a hike up the hill.. after a lot of griping from the kali brigade that preferred to play shoot and die on the carpet!!




















suman walking past the baansghari and enjoying the sight of the bistachhaap valley below




















walking towards mahankal

... then up the little mound where the temple is. .the highest point in kot danda...

ama chhori... chhori wants her scarf back!




















the slightly exhausted but elated group

feeling a kindred spirit with prithibi narayan!

riya does a ganesh impersonation




















... and then a krishna..




















getting down from mahankal is even tougher than climbing up!!!

gyandendra realises that even more so than the others!




















while resting for tea at madan's pasal




















.. chiya time ..

suman with the view..





















... shoot and collapse phase two...















... mili's solo in the sunset




















... a group shot before the light dimmed

gyandendra's sunsety mood

.. and the other set of ama chhori's sunsety faces




















gearing up for departure

riya plays hide and seek with suri




















bau chhori through the glass




















shade and shadow at sunset




















happy suri!

... as the sun gets more orange...

.. and cameras capture the glowing moments...

.. getting ready to move...

bau chhori one more time...

the sun dips behind the clouds..

and on the other side the moon begins to play hide and seek with the bamboo...






30 December 2008

baba's 59th tithi budday

december 30th was baba's 59th birthday according to the lunar (tithi) calendar, more than a fortnight away from his real birthdate. baba's first greetings at 12:45 am was from mami.. right after the operation. then when we arrived home ujwal was on the phone.. and managed to sing baba happi budday to roo.

actually we'd nearly celebrated this birthday a fortnight ago, when rajan bajey got the tithis confused.. the krishna and shukla pakchhyas.. so most of the preparations for the puja had already been done.

i myself had been picking up bits and pieces of stuff for baba for about a fortnight... odds and ends... and hiding them here and there.... the last stuff brought by vehicle from muncha was delivered when we were in the hospital for mami's operation.. so that was also good!

no time for niceties and wrapping things up.. so all the presents, except those from muwa's generations were all lumped together and covered with a bedspread!!!


baba of course taken aback with the sight... "as mountain of gifts" as he termed it!!!





















receiving blessings from muwa...

.. including some lalupatey...

... some presents from muwa...

.. some dhogaan in return...

.. and a hug for renudijju...















then on to the mound of present under the bedspread...





















some feigned surprise!!!





















bhadgaunley topis galore

.. and of course some cds of popular sufi songs that kripa palkaaoed us with..






















mami's presents that she had already prepared ahead... some bara, siruanla, and something in wraps...





















Then there was a surprise item that made baba first giggle his "phaymouse" giggle...





















... two dozen teepees! which he claimed to be the bestest ever present!!





















.. next was an instant gas geyser.. something we (read I) desperately need for kot!!

... meanwhile 'tulke' annochh shivered in the sidelines...





















... there was a 5 kilogram 'ramdev ispeshul ata' from mami...





















baba looks down at the carton containing the bulkiest present.. a gas room heater...





















... muwa's presents included a nice towel and fleece blanket..

...and biscuits.. and cashew nuts...

there was a special flannel shirt from bindadi...

... and a special ganesh from renu dijju...

...mami's present in wraps was actually a sweater...

the boys cut the huge banana ghaari from the baari and joked that it was their present for baba!!!


then it was time for puja...





















... trying to figure out the gas heater after the puja...

... quarter to one.. and baba gets hesitatingly into his maroon pullover (does it suit me??) on his way to the hospital to get mami's blessings...























... so that was baba's 59th janmotsav!!!