Deepavali: Festival of Lights

Fall has always been soul-filling yet overwhelming for me. First, the natural beauty around me just fills me up with joy. But then, the pressure starts building with a string of festivals and holidays both Indian and American that we try to celebrate as best as we can.

When I was young, it felt liberating during the festival season - no school thanks to national holidays; all friends and neighbors celebrate together so it is hard not to get into the spirit; it was one big long party interrupted by a few school days on and off... of course, we kids always hoped that monsoons will strike as well and give us more school closures...

However, over the last quarter century, it has been difficult to keep up that tradition of celebrating Indian festivals and holidays. I still celebrate as many as I can to connect my kids with my roots and pass down some traditions, which they may outgrow and reject as they get older.. and that's their choice.

Deepavali, the Festival of Lights, however, is not optional. Since we celebrate in a non-denominational way, with lighting of as many lamps and candles around the house as possible - inside and outside - while the kids sing "Down with Darkness, Up with Light" and some other Sanskrit slokas I have them repeat after me, it seems like a fantastic way to integrate their mixed cultural heritages in as harmonious a way as possible.

What's a festival without special foods, right? Each Indian festival comes with its own prescribed menu. Deepavali is filled with sweets and savories of all kinds.

Deepavali is also about giving - house help, vegetable vendor, rickshaw-man, random folks in need - small acts of kindness like offering new clothes, special sweets and gifts... it's what makes the holiday special.

Happy Pumpkin Day, my little Ostracoderm!

As much as the older child is into spooky stuff, the younger is averse to it. He prefers to celebrate the trusty old pumpkins on Halloween.


Papa, the official pumpkin carver, took requests from the 9 year old and the 6 year old: "Stack-o-Lantern" is the 6 year old's and "Melting Witch" is the older one's.

Both the kids drew a bunch of pumpkinhead robots, and pumpkinhead people, colored them in, and gave them as Happy Halloween cards to their friends.

The older child added an extract from a short poem (by Joan Horton from Halloween Hoots and Howls,) to her card. I might have not-so-subtly hinted that she add this poem. It is one of my favorites to read aloud around this time. Another seasonal/topical favorite is By the Light of the Halloween Moon.

I packed mummy-face pizza for lunch, by request, for the kids. We had Black-and-Orange Pasta for dinner: Black rice pasta and pan-seared carrots with a touch of balsamic vinegar and Bragg liquid aminos. Why Black-and-Orange? The answer of course is, Why Not?

The black rice pasta turned a dull purplish grey on cooking, so, I added a touch of black gel color I had leftover from the penguin cakepops project I made a couple of years ago.

Costumes: The six year old zoomed in on Ostracoderm. Since no one knows quite what it looked like, it was something I enjoyed making, based on fossil evidence and artists' impressions on the web.

The older child wanted to be a resourceful, rough-and-tumble, potions-expert witch, fashioned after Bridget Zinn's Kyra (unlike Hermione Jean Granger, who is a superb-intellectual-witch minus the potions).

[Aside: The older child was allowed to buy one book at the school book fair this year. She chose Poison by Zinn; am trying to stay several chapters ahead of her to screen; settling for paraphrasing and skipping parts that seem out of her range at this time and letting her read the rest herself. Zinn, a young and talented Portland resident, succumbed to cancer recently, Poison being her debut novel. I had to buy this book - her life's work.]

The 9 year old made her own little witch's broom from the fallen tree in the backyard. Yep, a huge limb of our tree fell in the recent storm. Luckily not on our roof, and not on the power lines and phone cables. Looks like that's enough firewood for the winter.

The kids' dentist's office has a Candy Buyback! Not that I expect the kids to haul pounds and pounds of candy from their trick-or-treating; they have a small-ish home-made fabric bag which when full is a bit much, and doubles as a clock: if it is about half-full, it's the perfect time for them to head back home.

I was standing at the store a few days ago, trying to read the labels and pick and choose the treats to give away, leaning towards raisin boxes and packaged fruit leathers, when the other half very kindly relieved me of my moral constipation.

"I know what you are thinking... but, let it go. It's OK," he said and took over the task.

So, this year, the neighborhood kids knocking at our door are not going back with organic apples or oranges, or finger puppets or glow sticks or play clay...

Another year just rolled by...

Nice and quiet, just the way I like it. It was a low-key birthday with Papa and daughter cooking up some treats-- mainly because the girl loves it more than her Mama.

 However, my favorite was the Lemon Poppy Seed cupcakes with Lemon Curd filling. It was perfectly moist and not too sweet. Of course, the little girl decided to add the "filling" by gouging out a top piece from the cupcake, but, it was still delicious.

The Vadaam Stand was a surprise present from my parents. It worked out well!

Halloween came and went with the usual fanfare-- pumpkin carving, roasting pumpkin seeds, and trick-or-treating.

Older child was an Elf Princess (more like Galadriel than Arwen in her mind, I think...) The elf ears were achieved with some scotch tape and foundation and a pioneer girl dress doubled as an elf princess outfit.

The younger child was set on being a Banana, but changed his mind.

 Deepavali, the festival of lights, had a special significance for me this year. Am glad it was special and hope many more are like this.

 All in all, an uneventful few weeks have rolled by this Fall where I cherished the everyday things. The yearning to sit back and do nothing is growing stronger by the day. Even just for a day, if I can linger in bed, read my favorite book, not worry about feeding the family or being productive... just shut down and recharge... sounds like a distant dream.

Join us for CROCUS 2013 - Starts Tomorrow!

Each year, we at  Saffron Tree (ST)  family throw a home-grown party online - a festival of books called CROCUS: Celebrate Reading Of Culturally Unique Stories.

And, each year, we try to zone in on a theme and highlight books via reviews, interviews, arts/crafts, games and such.

This year is no exception. CROCUS 2013 starts tomorrow for a week-long celebration of:

Migration!

Join us at www.saffrontree.org from Oct 23rd to 26th as we present children's book reviews, interviews, and puzzles related to migration and exploration.

As Sandhya shares in this in-depth post about our theme, migration has been a way of life possibly ever since life began... and a theory even suggests that life on earth was sparked by something migrating here at the right time from the cosmic soup.

ST's very own talented Lavanya created the flyer to represent the theme - a brilliant combination of elements that showcases migration and exploration.

Hope to see you all there!

CROCUS 2012 Starts Tomorrow!

Back in 2007, I joined a handful of like-minded parents - five, if I recall correctly - to share our favorite books that resonated with our kids, at the wonderful online repository called Saffron Tree.

Over the years, I've gained more from the association than the other way round I am sure. And, as Saffron Tree (ST)  family grew, it is exciting for me to benefit from the reading choices of the 'older kids' in the family, and quietly carry on some of the behind-the-scenes work for ST.

Each year, we throw a home-grown party online - a festival of books called CROCUS: Celebrating Reading Of Culturally Unique Stories.

And, each year, we try to zone in on a theme and highlight books via reviews, interviews, arts/crafts, games and such.

This year is no exception. CROCUS 2012 starts tomorrow for a week-long celebration of Mathematics and Eco-Science!

Join us at www.saffrontree.org from Oct 23rd to 27th as we present Math and Eco-Science related children's books, interviews and puzzles.

Diwrnod y Llyfr 2012! a Dydd Gwyl Dewi Hapus!

Happy World Book Day 2012!

Happy St. David's Day!

St. David, or Dewi Sant, the patron saint of Wales, was a 6th century Celtic monk, abbot and bishop.

A Plump and Perky Turkey

A Plump and Perky Turkey
by Teresa Bateman
illustrated by Jeff Shelly

Ages 4-8

Publisher: Marshall Cavendish Corporation

Stories told in rhyme have a charm and allure that is hard to miss. A Plump and Perky Turkey is one such which, despite its simple story line, managed to put us in a Read->Laugh-along->Repeat cycle.

The people in Squawk Valley
were downhearted and depressed.
Thanksgiving was approaching,
but without its special guest.

Special guest? Why, the turkey, of course!

Far and wide and long and hard they search but not one single turkey was to be found.

But then, Ebenezer Beezer has an idea: why not let the turkey find them instead? And that is what they set out to do. A Squawk Valley Art Show with a turkey theme.

An ad is circulated: Model Wanted for the Art Show.

Why, even turkeys understand
(as everybody knows)
you can't make turkey art
without a turkey there to pose.

None respond, except for silly old Pete, the Plump and Perky, Clever and Cocky.

With a proud and jaunty gobble,
he gave out a hearty cry—
"A plump and perky turkey?
Well, I'm sure I qualify."

He is hired without delay and put to work right away posing for the artsy-craftsy folk to make their turkey art.

They make turkeys out of spuds,
and out of clay and out of rope.
They made turkeys out of oatmeal,
and out of paper, out of soap.

When it is time for Pete to judge the Pete-inspired art, the salivating people exult at having trapped the hapless bird. He studies each work of art as the crowd close in and cheer; he stops for a closer look and then he... disappears!

How? you ask. Well, since I believe it is cruel to leave the reader hanging (esp., if they cannot get their hands on the book easily), here's what Pete did:
The room was full of turkeys,
in a wall-to-wall collage.
For a clever bird like Pete
it was a perfect camouflage.

And manages to escape.

Needless to say, the people of Squawk Valley are certainly disappointed. Crashed are their hopes to relish a roast turkey. But, being pragmatic folk, they agree when Beezer says breezily:
Right now, at least I'm thankful
that we still have shredded wheat."

Turkeys are notorious for lack of smartness, sometimes even to their own detriment. The story puts an interesting twist on this fact. And why cannot they be found around Thanksgiving in Squawk Valley? Well, being clever flightless birds, they gather in groups, hop on hot air balloons and head to warmer shores come autumn.

The illustrations by Jeff Shelly are silly, comical, expressive and busy. The beautiful oranges and browns capture the autumn in the air.

The catchy lilt and rhythm, the double-trickery, the illustrations, and the autumn cheeriness of the setting all have added up to a merry read-aloud favorite.

A Magic Rainbow and a Mummy

Come September. One of the coveted LPs from my dad's collection. (Which he just gave away to some stranger, along with the HMV turntable). To this day I cannot say these two ordinary words together without the tune ringing in my head...

Well, anyway, I was going say, Come October, the house buzzes with talks of pumpkin and harvest and Deepavali and Mama's birthday... and for the last few years also CROCUS at Saffron Tree.

Plus, of course, Costumes.

I've expounded enough about Halloween here before, so, will skip that thought except to record that I am not fond of spooky stuff. Just personally. It manages to disturb me enough with no ROI that it hasn't been worth it for me. I cannot watch horror movies for sure - just peeking between the cracks in the fingers over my eyes seems too much of an effort to sustain for an hour plus.

So, of course, I don't encourage spooky stuff for the kids.

However, I have no objections to people getting their thrills. D for one loves off-beat horror, cult classics, weird stuff. He is a well-adjusted human being. (As far as I know). So, no judgments is my motto on this. For adults.

However, growing up in a culture that celebrates a festival every other day, with actual customs and manner of celebration varying form region to region, family to family in India, I have come to look upon Halloween and Thanksgiving as reasons to set up a tradition that I am comfortable with and hopefully pass on to the kids.

Coming from a tradition where death anniversary of the family's forebears are observed in a solemn manner, it didn't seem odd for me to read a book about Dia de los Muertos to my kids. And it was quite fun for Ana to do a related craft with her friends.

I still remember the joy and wonder I felt when I watched D carve a huge pumpkin on my first birthday as a newlywed. He made it look so easy and effortless and I loved the way the candle shone through carved pumpkin Jack-o-lantern.

So, pumpkin carving has become a firm tradition for the last decade. Kids have gotten into it. Ana and Oggie scoop out the innards, separate the pulp and seeds so I can roast the seeds for the next week's snack.

Dress-up is always fun. Especially if it comes out of one's imagination. With that in mind, I've tried to encourage the kids to come up with costume ideas. I cannot forget Ana's first. How stubbornly sure she was about being a Peanut Butter Jelly Sandwich!

Now, it's not like Halloween sneaks up on us unawares on anything, but for some reason, Ana and Oggie don't settle on their costume until just a week or two before Oct 31st. Which leaves us scrambling to get it ready in time.

This year's costume discussion started with Oggie leaning strongly towards Watermelon, his favorite fruit.

I was pushing for squid in a not-so-subtle way - with ulterior motive, of course, and not because of some strange love for the sea creature. See, I was particularly thrilled about the Octopus costume I had made last year.

After a lot of back and forth, with me tossing out some of his cute ideas as I wasn't up to making the costume, we settled on Mummy.

Thanks to the Boston MFA trip and the Egyptian wing there, Oggie was fascinated with mummies. Now, he doesn't quite get that it is just dead people, preserved. he thinks they are a special species. Anyway, so, Mummy it was.

How to make a mummy costume? Well, I sort of made it up. And it worked out rather okay. Oggie has very specific dislikes so I couldn't just wrap him up more. He was willing to wear a hat but refused to be wrapped up anymore than that, so, his costume had to be simplified: A partially unwrapped Mummy.

Ana has come up with interesting ones in the last few years and this year was no exception. She very firmly said she wanted to be The Magic Rainbow With A Pot O' Gold At The End!

How to make a magic rainbow costume? Well, I tossed around cardboard cut-outs, strips-of-color outfit and such. After googling around a bit, I loved the cutie here: Sunshine and Rainbow. And that's what I did, with a few edits.

Which parent willingly allows a steady candy diet? None that I know of... The kids' dentist says indulge them once a year, rather than small sugary treats on a regular basis. Enough said on that already... refrain from insufferable preachiness I remind myself.

Anyway, pencils, erasers, little activity books, apples, are all fun to hand over when the doorbell rings with the Trick-Or-Treaters waiting eagerly... However...

Happy Halloween!

CROCUS: Celebrate Reading Of Culturally Unique Stories

Since 2007, Saffron Tree (ST) has been a household name: not only do I contribute to this wonderful repository of children's book reviews, but also benefit from its expanding resource, thanks to fellow moms/dad, friends, who have become almost like family over these past few years.

For the third year in a row, we are celebrating ST's birthday with our homegrown festival CROCUS: Celebrate Reading Of Culturally Unique Stories. Each year we focus on a theme to keep things interesting and entertaining.

CROCUS 2009 had us going around the world to bring stories to our kids, tales we had not read before - folk tales, fairy tales, trickster tales - from each of the continents, all reinforcing the fact that it is One World, despite our geographical boundaries.

CROCUS 2010 had us exploring multiculturalism based on aspects that make up the crux or core of a culture - mythology, folklore, arts, crafts, dance, music, lifestyle, food, traditions, festivals, even games.

Now that it is time for CROCUS 2011, we've pulled up our socks and gotten around to yet another adventure in understanding our world and in turn ourselves: The Five Elements. Most ancient civilizations recognized common elements of nature that pervade the universe we inhabit, attributing all material (perhaps non-material) objects to be made up of five elements variously identified as Air, Water, Fire, Aether/Space, Earth. And that is what we are exploring and celebrating for CROCUS 2011.

Our very own CROCUSWord - a crossword game for kids and adults, interviews with wonderful folk who do what they do to preserve, protect and raise awareness about the elements, books of course, plus arts and crafts are all lined up to be shared with you over the next week.

Please Join us for CROCUS 2011 from Oct 23rd to Oct 30th at www.saffrontree.org. Readership and comments are a great way to connect with each other and support our efforts... and we hope to see you there cheering us on, not just at the festival but all through.

Happy Raksha Bandhan!

There's something beautiful about relationships. What is it that ties us together? Why do we feel emotionally close to some, more so than others? Does sharing the same parents automatically sustain the bonds of love we establish with our siblings? Can two total strangers establish this sort of a sibling relationship despite not having same parent(s)?

One of the charming sentiments of the festival of Raksha Bandhan is the celebration of a sister's love and prayers for her brother's well-being, and a brother's solemn promise to protect and care for her as best as he can.

As a symbol of this commitment to each other, the sister ties a Rakhi on her brother's wrist, which he wears proudly.

And, it transcends blood relationships. The tying of the Rakhi by the girl and the acceptance of it by the boy establishes this brother-sister relationships even among total strangers.

Of course, when I was growing up, my brother did not like sporting the Rakhi, so, I just gave him a present or a hand-made card on and off. It was not a big deal in our family as we had established other ways of affirming our love and respect for each other.

But, now that Ana and Og are old enough, we decided to celebrate the Indian festival of Raksha Bandhan as it happens to be today.

Ana made a friendship bracelet with 6-strand cotton embroidery floss: tied a knot on one end, attached it to a knob on the kitchen drawer and tried her best at braiding uniformly.

Then, we had a small ceremony for tying the Rakhi bracelet.

Of course, what with the nasty cold, the many scrapes and bruises he accumulated just in the last few days (he has been particularly accident-prone the last few days, not sure why), and the fever he woke up with early this morning, Og was not in a great mood. So, we kept the ceremony short.

And soon after, as his cranky mood kept escalating, he fixated on the new bracelet and declared, "I don't want to wear this friendship bracelet, Mama. Can I please take it off now?"

I had to respect that, so off it came. Which is fine. He might decide to wear it again. Or not.

Ana liked making it. Og let her tie it. Which is more than I expected to happen.

Speaking of friendship bracelets, it seems like Ana has got on the bandwagon just now as she hit the right age to be able to make it. She has been making quite a few. Even a friendship anklet which she made for herself and wears on her ankle.

Her Aunt had given her a Friendship Bracelet Kit a few months back. It seemed a bit too complicated to use the loom in the kit. But now that she has been making a few simple twisted or braided thread ones, we might be ready for the loom.

Happy Raksha Bandhan Wishes to all the brothers (and sisters)!!

Oregon Brewer's Festival

That time of the year again: Brewfest! When I first came to Oregon many years ago, I was struck by the intensity and passion with which home-brewers churned out batches and batches of pretty decent beer.

D's mom being a fantastic brewer herself, I wasn't surprised when D started brewing for us. He has bottled a few batches so we could share with friends who couldn't come over for his specialty brews on tap.

Anyway, the summer Oregon Brewer's Festival is one of those that we've been going to pretty regularly. This year there were 85 handcrafted beers from all over the country.

Of course, I got to try only a handful of brews, being the designated driver and watching over the kids while D stood in line(!) to get the samplers in the special souvenir mug. Wish they'd make these souvenir mugs out of ceramic rather than plastic - but then it will cost way more than people might be willing to pay. It is a "free" fest - meaning no entrance fee/ticket price, just pay for the mug and the beer.

Well, as it is by the waterfront, I could take the kids along the Willamette River while D took his time getting to taste the ones he liked.

Then, when Og was tired enough, we sat in the Root Beer Garden with activities for kids - coloring, face-painting, soap bubbles, plus free root-beer for kids (and designated drivers)... I did get the 0b421 temporary tattoo on for Ana just to impress the point.

I want to make a special note of the artist who did the face painting - wish I had noted down her name. With just a few strokes and layered colors, she made incredible works of art on tiny little cheeks and arms, in such a short time! Let's face it, kids cannot sit still for more than 20 seconds, well some at least. Anyway, I was totally impressed with how she talked to the kids, got their ideas and painted what they wanted, leaving them thrilled with the results when they saw it in the little hand-held mirror.

The music was too loud for Ana and Og - they have always been sensitive to loud sounds/noises so the kids tent seemed like a nice haunt for us... it might seem a bit uncool, but, I did request D to bring back samples for me of the brews that I circled from the beer booklet - given a choice between waiting in line for getting samples and minding the kids in the Root Beer Garden, I think it was no-contest for D: he willingly obliged :)

Needless to say, D absorbed more than the atmosphere, but we managed to get home and recover.

I've always been a beer fan. Not any fizzy watery bitter tannish-brownish liquid, oh no. While not the beer snob (connoisseur), I do have a (self-proclaimed) richly cultivated and deeply developed taste for "good" beers. Having assisted D in home-brewing, I may not be able to rattle off the exact details about the recipes and temperatures and grain/malt/hops/yeast content, but I do have a general idea of brewing, at least home-brewing...

Well, after three years of missing the festival (since Oggie's arrival), letting D go by himself while I entertained the kids at home, I was happy to have had the chance to go this year. So, there it is, a little post about something that was fun for all four of us in some way...

Merry Christmas!

Much like the last couple of years, we baked fresh cookies on Christmas Eve and left them with a mug of milk and a note for Santa.

All Ana could think of asking was, Why do you come only on Christmas?

(We are still working on the spelling, learning the rules and exceptions to the rules of standard/accepted writing, which is probably not a quick-and-short drill ...)

After he talked to the kids via PNP "web-cam" a couple of days ago, reminding Ana to try harder at getting ready for bed when her parents ask her to, and asking Oggie to listen to his parents when they want him to do something, we were expecting Santa to stop by. And he did.

Looks like he had most of the cookies and milk, and possibly carrots too, or maybe the reindeer ate the carrots, we can't be sure, we were asleep...

Anyway, he did leave a note for Ana explaining why he comes only once a year: apparently, he has to be there every day of the year (except Christmas), else the elves would get very playful and forget to get their work done... and how else can he get some presents to all the children in the world if the elves don't help with the toy-making?!

Merry Christmas!

CROCUS 2010 starts today!

Saffron Tree is a growing repository of children's book reviews. For the last three plus years, I have shared wonderful children's books at Saffron Tree and come to learn about many more.

Please join us as we get ready to embark on a week-long virtual odyssey with our second annual festival, CROCUS: Celebrate Reading Of Culturally Unique Stories.

Pasg Hapus!

Since Ana arrived, Easter has come to mark a non-denominational spring celebration of sorts in our household. We color some eggs and have our own little version of egg hunt in the backyard.

The first year, we just hid the eggs around the house as it was terribly cold to let Ana wander around in the yard early Sunday morning. Now that Oggie is catching on fast, we feel motivated to keep up the tradition.

Over the last week or so, we read some Easter and bunny themed books. Here Comes T.Rex Cottontail (by Lois G. Grambling, illustrated by Jack E. Davis) seems to have appealed equally to both Ana and Og, among the casual picks. I didn't like it much, but that doesn't matter :)

Ana seems smitten with Rechenka's Eggs (Patricia Polacco) and wanted to color some of her eggs à la Babushka.

Just like last year, we went with mostly hard-boiled eggs for coloring, and some blown eggs for making into ornaments to hang indoors... we just used markers and food coloring, not much painting despite being inspired by Rechenka's Eggs.

And, typically, since we end up coloring way too many boiled eggs, I use them to make either a simple egg curry which kids don't mind or a spicy Gulai Telur which is D's favorite.

Stockings Galore

When I brought out the Christmas Boxes mid-December, excited about the traditional heirloom hand-me-down ornaments and stockings, plus cards and books therein, little did I suspect that I'd be in for a few surprises least of which was a bunch of fat ants and a few empty candy cane wrappers - yeah, I had happily packed away sweet juicy candy cane I had used as ornaments on the tree last year.

And, no stockings! Not a single one of the four I have used for the past several years. I was particularly sad to not find the one D's mom had knitted for D when he was little and was his stocking all through his life so far.

When I put away the stuff after last Christmas, I had packed away the stockings not in the usual Xmas Box, but safely elsewhere. Only, I had turned the house upside down and still didn't find it. It couldn't have walked away. I know it is there somewhere, biding its time, hiding snugly under something, just out of sight.

Anyway, it was just a few days to Christmas and rather than getting upset about it, I took it as a sign that the Universe was trying to tell me to make my own.

That's how these customized stockings - for the kids, D and me, plus the two kitties and a surprise visitor - came into existence with the help of my sewing machine.

Oggie's has little cars and a bus which seem to be his favorite these days. I tried giving him Ana's hand-me-down June doll and Polly pappa, but, he naturally gravitated towards excavator and fire truck and of course, Bus! So I wanted to capture that memory in his stocking. Plus, Oggie has preferred the color blue so far, with no real push - explicit or subliminal - from me. So, I wanted to have blue print for his stocking as well.

Ana was helping me make the stockings. I had this pile of scrap fabric I was going to use. She saw the colorful fleece print that I had used for her jammy-pants and rice bags and she loves that print - so, at her request, I had to use that fabric for her stocking, along with Rudolph, Santa, and Snowman, of course.

D's is plain blue corduroy on the back, no frills. And mine has my favorite patchwork quilt style piecing in bright yellow scraps.

All four has red one one side and customized colors on the other side as above.

The kitties' are smaller with scrap red velvety fabric for the back.

I decided to make the foot portion rather large so Santa can stuff little things all the way from toe to heel and then some!

Anyway, nothing great about this project, except that it was done in record-time, with a lot of love and patience, full of hopes and prayers that these stockings that the Universe arranged the circumstances to allow me to create for my family will someday be hung up by Ana and Oggie in their homes along with my grandkids'...

And then again, I could be careful like last year and put it away safely in some place and not find it next year...



Looks like Santa thought it was fine too - he stuffed them as best as he could and made at least one little girl in our house incredibly happy :)

And, thanks to my cousin, I was smiling all day when I saw this Punjabi jingle they sent me!

Nadolig Llawen! Merry Christmas!

Jack of the Lantern

...You were once a yellow pumpkin, Growing on a sturdy vine;
Now you are my Jack O'Lantern, Let your candle light shine.

Ana's full-throated rendition of this cute little song has been echoing in her school and home for the past couple of weeks, signaling the joys of the harvest season.

I treasure the pumpkin seeds much like the Native Americans apparently did. And since all of us at home simply love eating them for a snack, I enjoy making a good-sized batch around this season.

Considering the several scoops of seeds tangled up with the innards of the pumpkins we were carving, it was just a matter of cleaning and extracting them, soaking in salted water and roasting in the oven, to enjoy the unique taste and texture of fresh roasted pumpkin seeds.

Pushing aside the grim Irish folklore surrounding Jack O'Lantern, blurring cultural delineations by drawing parallels between 'drishti bommai' of Tamil Nadu this year, we enthusiastically kept up our tradition of carving pumpkins, as we have done for the past several years, around the end of October.

Ana 'designed' the Jack O'Lanterns: she drew the eyes, nose and mouth on the pumpkin that Appa carved out in his inimitable effortless style. Oggie 'helped' by trying to put the top back on the pumpkin when we kept taking it off to scoop out the innards, while I acted busy cooking dinner and taking pictures :)

I do like to ramble at times, don't I? I was getting to it: The Costume!

After several attempts at swaying her young mind, I tucked my tail between me legs when a firm, "I already told you, Amma, I don't want to be anything else!" settled the issue, and let Ana wear the exactly what she wanted - viz., A Ghost Costume!

Boo!

I know, I know... quite a let down after PBJ last year. But, her mind was made-up and I respected her resolve, heaving a huge sigh of relief, thanking the stars for making it so darned easy this year :)

Of course, for another year or two, Oggie won't know the difference, so he gets Ana's hand-me-down costumes. Which is how he ended up in a 3-year-old well-maintained giraffe costume that Ana outgrew, to go trick or treating with his Appa and Ana...

... while I stayed home to greet the kids ringing our doorbell...

... and snatching the opportunity to write this update.

No HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup) in the candies handed out. Sugar? Yes, wouldn't be candies otherwise. But, certified organic and made with real fruit seemed to take the focus away from sugar.

Now, I know, I have to just let kids have their little ultra-sweet moments - gosh! haven't I gorged at every Deepavali, every Krishna Janmashtami, every Ganesha Chathurthy, every Pongal, every Vishu, every month on some pretext of festival?!

Considering we don't buy candy otherwise, it seems like a nice way to let Ana enjoy a few within reason... deprivation is not a great answer to developing healthy eating habits, but, that has to wait for another post...

Happy Deepavali!

"Wow, Amma! The lamps look gorgeous! Can I help light them, I'll be careful..." made me jump with joy this year...

When we were little, we had a zillion little terracotta lamps (ahal vilakku) and it was my special duty to prepare the lamps with wick and gingelly oil...

...then arrange them all around the parapet wall outside, as well as on the Kolam inside...

...then go about lighting them: first light one from an existing lighted lamp at the prayer stand and take this pilot lamp around and light the other ones, one by one, taking care not to spill the oil...

...and to not mutter and swear under the breath when they won't light at first touch, and when they go out from the gentle breeze outdoors...

...and do the rounds to make sure there is enough oil in the lamps to stay lit for the prescribed duration, else refill appropriately...

And while I was doing this, my brother got to burst fireworks and eat sweets and goof around... while my mom attended to guests, distributing sweets and such to celebrate the festival of lights....

And, then, when it was my turn, I simply loved the sparklers and flower pot and chakram and chaattai such simple fireworks which were bright but not noisy...

Gosh! Those were the days...

Simple Deepavali Eve meal followed by a simple Deepavali Day breakfast is all we planned to do this year with D being so busy...

We had the traditional oil bath early morning and the kids got to wear new clothes that Paattee and Thaathaa had got for them for just this occasion.

The Kerala lamps my mom gave me for the wedding are my favorites, followed by the Tamil Nadu style lamps with the peacock tip. I love the 'panchamukham' (five faces) style of lighting even the simple Kerala lamps with five evenly-spaced wicks to give it a special glow...

Oh dear! am I supposed get this excited about lamps?!

Happy Deepavali!!

Krishna Janmashtami thoughts...

Row after row of cotton towels dotted with little round dough balls spread on the floor; tubs, stainless steel pots and cauldrons holding sweets and snacks in various stages of completion; rowdy kids chasing each other about the house not very mindful of the elaborate preparations for the evening...

... the evening resounding with chants and songs about Krishna, the most adored and most resplendent of the avatars of Vishnu, according to mythology.

Those are some of my sweetest snapshots of Sri Krishna Janmashtami from my early childhood, say about Ana's age.

My dad has never been one for elaborate poojas and rituals, so much so that even going to temples is not a big deal to him. He believes in one-to-one (aathmartha) communications with the Divine. My mom on the other hand will not give up any traditional celebration/ritual handed down in her family, practicing it as a form of Bhakti Yoga, going all out, not holding back without proper justification.

I guess growing up with these two distinct approaches to festivals and rituals, I have managed to strike a balance where I don't feel guilty about not going all out, but, prefer not holding back if circumstances so arrange themselves and favor my efforts, and generally opt for a moderate celebration that satisfies the soul.

Usually, Sri Krishna Janmashtami is celebrated in the Tamil month "Aavani" (the fifth month in a year in a traditional Tamil calendar), where somehow Rohini nakshatram manages to fall on an Ashtami (8th day after full moon/new moon).

But, if that doesn't happen, the date is somehow arrived at and announced in the local calendars.

And, today happens to be Sri Krishna Janmashtami, or Krishna's Birthday, as Ana likes to call it.

It was a quiet celebration at home, quieter than last year. Some favorite bhajans/songs/stotrams and a simple set of items for prasadam marked this favorite festival.

As Sri Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita (chapter IX, 26), Patram(Leaf), Pushpam(Flower), Phalam (Fruit) or Thoyam (Water), any of these offered with devotion is accepted by me affectionately.

The best part for me was that my mom took care of everything, I just had to get the kids dressed and make sure D comes over to round out the evening.

Now, a while back D's mom and I were talking about previous births and memories from previous birth lingering and appearing in our dreams etc.

Extending that thought, I have always felt that D was from a Palghat Iyer family in his previous birth. It surely explains how comfortable he is with my family's ways and my own personality which has been shaped by my upbringing.

He looks a natural in veshti, even in soman in pancha kacham, which he knows how to wear on his own and does it happily for occasions at home. And he easily slips into a colorful lungi, folded up in the comfortable local style, to go for a late evening walk with my dad.

Anyway, as my visit is coming to a close, I feel I haven't done any of the things I really should have done. Instead, I guess I have been fairly selfish.

Yeah, you guessed right, Guilt keeps gnawing...

My mom convinces me that days like these won't come back for Ana - to be carefree, no pressures of performing and excelling, no really rigid schedules to stick to, it is basically a long veg-out vacation. And that is what summers should be, so my mom says. My summers were the same way - pretty much eventless, all through my school life.

However, in today's cutting-edge world, with Theater Camps and Dance Camps and Swim Sessions and whatever else one can pack into a tiny little girl's life, it seems like I am taking away the advantage of all these extra activities by letting her just hang out with family, albeit in a culturally different setting, with enough sensory experiences to keep her mind alert, but still, nothing terribly structured and planned to provide her an edge in this cut-throat world...

That makes me feel like I have failed my little doll. But, C'est la vie, I guess...

Rose Festival 2009 Junior Parade

It was quite a day for Ana. She got to walk in her first parade!

I was all set to let Ana parade in her school tee-shirt, but, one of the fellow-moms was thoughtful enough to bring extra fancy dress so Ana could slip into it and look grand.

Today was the junior parade for the Rose Festival 2009, an annual event that brings out the city's spirit in droves. Ana's teachers and friends were there.

She walked the whole distance, about 20 city blocks, in the nice warm sun. For the most part, I should say. Towards the last 2 blocks she wanted me to carry her, which I did. Some parents were considerate enough to bring wagons and strollers, but, not me :)

Oggie wasn't well, and I had a bit of a deadline at work, so, I wasn't sure we'd be able to make it to the parade... but, we did, and it was worth it to see Ana's wonder, despite bone-weary tiredness, at being part of the parade, in the parade, not watching the gala event from the sidelines.

She was cheerfully singing the only parade-related song that came to her mind from recent memory: Zuckerman's famous pig from Charlotte's Web (1973) movie DVD that she got for Christmas.

Oh wow look at him now, Zuckerman’s famous pig;
Sooey, what do you see, The greatest hog in history

My favorite in this soundtrack is Chin Up, the song that taught Ana to say "Salutations!" as a fancy way to say "Hello!", right around the time she got interested in Fancy Nancy. But Zuckerman's famous pig is a close second.

She is a bit of an introvert like me, very shy, just likes to hang back and observe and assess the situation before jumping into anything. It could be a good trait, I am not sure. She just hides behind my skirt and refuses to talk to anybody, even her friends' moms whom she sees every day at pick up and drop off... I am not too worried about it and I don't want to push her... but, I wonder if it could potentially be a hurdle in her way of seizing opportunities and making the most of it... Too soon to tell.

This is my first involvement with the junior parade and was quite happy to note that many had taken the time to stand by and cheer as the parade went by. The school marching bands were superb as usual, my favorite.

Ana was awfully pooped at the end, understandably. But, she did not throw a tantrum at the parade. She saved it for home.

Oggie being sick, and Ana being exhausted, I gave them an early dinner and bath, and put them in bed right away for a much-needed rest.