Shifu

Shifu is a cute little PUPPY
She came and stayed with us for a day,
She loved playing with varun and varsha,
But would bark when they fight with each other,
The children learnt it was not easy to take her out for a walk,
cos she would be running and they would be at the back of her,
When she went back we felt bad,
Cos' we really love her and it was very sad
We would love to have her once again,as she
loves us the way we are and does not want us to change.

Durga Puja in our Campus

Durga, in Sanskrit means "She who is incomprehensible or difficult to reach." Goddess Durga is a form of Sakti worshiped for her gracious as well as terrifying aspect. Mother of the Universe, she represents the infinite power of the universe and is a symbol of a female dynamism. The manifestation of Goddess Durga is said to emerge from Her formless essence and the two are inseparable.

She is also called by many other names, such as Parvati, Ambika, and Kali. In the form of Parvati, She is known as the divine spouse of Lord Shiva and is the mother of Her two sons, Ganesha and Karttikeya, and daughter Jyoti. Destroyer of demons, she is worshiped during an annual festival called Durga puja, especially popular among Bengalis.

Artisans from Calcutta come here to Bangalore and make the idol which is one piece of work and not different idols. We have Lord Ganesha on the left and Lord Karthikeyan on the right. We also have Lakshmi and Saraswati on both sides of Lord Durga.

Singing, dancing and distribution of sweets is a major part of the festival. All the Bengalis are dressed in their traditional dress (white and red sari for the ladies) for the puja. The khichidi they distribute is delicious.

Going into the pandal and looking at the Goddess gives one a sense of awe and wonderment. The whole atmosphere is charged.

The decoration on the Goddess and other Gods is the upper layer taken from sugarcane, it is eco-friendly and dissolves in the water.

The sad part of the festival comes when the time comes for Goddess Durga to be immersed. It is called 'bisorjon'. It is very interesting when the priest in a tray of water keeps a mirror and we can see the image of Goddess in it. It is basically that the immersion has happened and what is left is only the physical idol of the Goddess which is immersed in water later. I have seen the pain and tears in the eyes of the people who had got so much involved in the puja, they just could not watch the Goddess leaving though knowing well that she would return next year.

Navaratri in our campus

In Southern states of Tamil Nadu and to a lesser extent in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, the festival of Navrathri is called Kolu or Navratri Golu, where women set up decorated planks in a corner of the house and decorating it with dolls which are collected over the years.
These Navratri dolls are arranged in several tiers. Maximum no of tiers in which dolls are arranged are 9 depending on time and space constraints.




There are also different kind of rangoli made which attract people to come to see the display. The dolls are kept in such a way that it comes down from the top from immortals to mortals. Gods,saints and mortals.



The display is usually for ten days but due to constraints of time nowadays it is kept for any of the three days during the ten days. Saraswati puja is celebrated on the ninth day when children and adults keep their books and other important things at the feet of the Goddess Saraswati and chandan and kumkum is applied on all the things in the house including the vehicles. Children take charge of this activity and enjoy doing it. Then tenth day is Vijayadashami when new activities are taken up, children start school etc.On the 10th night after the ceremonial arti and prayers, the dolls are put to ‘sleep.’ And the next day, the exhibits are packed carefully in cloth or paper and preserved for use the next year.

Competition..

Varun came home leaping with joy a few weeks back as he had got his maths results and he told me that he had got more than what he had got in the first cluster. He felt he had improved on himself and he seemed really happy with his performance. I felt a little relieved when i saw him working on himself rather than comparing himself to others.

I have these self doubts at times whether i am on the right track when i tell my children to look at themselves see what they can do, learn from others but not in competition with others. People tell me that there is competition all around and you cannot deny it and we have to push our children to compete to give them exposure to the real world, I keep telling myself that it is not the case. So, when i see that varun is able to look at his own work it reinforces my belief (don't know whether right or wrong) that competition with others is not necessary for motivation of self. The joy of doing something is good enough motivation.