Pujo 2020. Shubho Bijoya

 #debsaristories #durgapuja2020 🌺🌺 

|| Shubho Bijoya! ||🌺🌺 

Hmm.. One more year, one more Dussehraand  Bijoya. This year indeed had many questions and what is. Many are unsolved. Many answers pending yet. But occasions like today reassure our faith that good will win over evil and shall prevail. It gives us hope. Thats what Vijaya dashami is about. To keep alive the hope, positivity and faith alive year after year. Wish you all Shubho Bijoya, Happy Dussehra and Vijaya Dashami || Ashche bochor abar hobe, till then Apna khayal khudh rakhna || I saved this gold organza saree with the hand embroidery blouse for today... ❣

Pujo 2020. Shubho Nabami

 #debsaristories #durgapuja2020 

🌺🌺💢💢 who can stop a child from seeing the mom 💢💢🥰🌺🌺 

. . . Where there is a will, there is a way. 

Yeah, I do get criticized often that I am more bangali than most bangalis. Some say it positively, some say it sarcastic, some say it with envy, but I hear it all the time. I don't have any opinion about it. Its just who I am, good, bad, ugly but me. So when there was announcement for only one pujo pandal in bayarea to have in person ceremony, of course I was an early bird to get tickets (yeah we had to purchase but its fine, this year is unlike any other and pujo unlike any other too). Opportunity is all that meant dear to me. Ma and I chose to do pushpanjali. Here we are. Double dose of shakti again. I painted the masks for pujo theme.. 

🌺🌺🌺 bhalo theko 🌺🌺🌺

Pujo 2020. SHUBHO ASHTAMI

 #debsaristories #durgapuja2020 🌺 Durga Mahastami r shubeccha o shubhashish 🌺 . . 

|| Ya devi sarvabhuteshu shaktirupena samsthitha Namastasyay namastasyay, namastasyay namo namaha || 

Once again I don't track or follow

color scheme, so chose multicolored printed silk. I am sucker of vintage, prints and colors and patterns. Especially 70s style sarees. 

 I am not ever'green'. In fact Facebook algorithms are such that if I don't post and make myself heard everyday, they make you forget me. No, seriously. 

I stop showing in your feed and posts, I sort of vanish from your social media life. Completely. Thats how extra-ordinary I am. Meaning Extra....ordinary. very very ordinary. End of day, those that you matter to always find a way to look for you, find you and tell you they missed you. Others... they have moved on to the next post already! If you don't get few hundreds of comments or likes to your posts, don't feel bad. 

 💢You are more powerful than social media algorithms💢 

 💢 True friends and well wishers don't need media reminders 💢 

💢 Your strength doesn't need validation from others💢 

💢believe in yourself and stay the shakti you are always 

💢 Just remember what's "ever"green are people that are core to you. Stay safe, stay shakti! 

Ma and Me in coordinated printed silk sarees. Double shakti dose today 🥰

Pujo 2020. Shubho Shashti

 #debsaristories #durgapuja2020 🌺 Shubho Shashti 🌺  

Its here. Pujo is here. Very different, yet here. Far yet near, its here. Itn our hearts, thoughts and moments. We virtually are recalling the faces we see, the smiles we exchange the catch up after a year meeting in pandal on Shashti. The new faces we see , the old faces we don't see anymore, the kids that grew up in a year, pujo is here. Its far yet near. The smell of incense and Kapoor, the chants and the sound of clinking bells and the drum beats that run goosebumps head to toe. Its here. 

Pujo is here, far yet near. . . As I sit at home missing all those moments, I pull myself up to drape this beautiful handpainted silk saree in a myriad of colors to cheer myself (and also to compensate for all the colors I missed draping per the daily color scheme). . . Pujo is here and shall always remain. Close your eyes, recall the moments, smile. 🌺Shubho Shashti🌺

Home is where the heart ,(oops fart) is

 #debsaristories 

Whoever said .. . . ❌ Home is where the heart is wrong ✅ HOME IS WHERE THE FART IS!! Truly! Heart jahan kahan bhi nikal sakte ho, but fart ko hum aise hi kaheen pe bhi nikalne nahi dete. In last six months one thing that I had completely enjoyed freedom is to fart, when I wanted, the way I wanted. I dint stop or put restrictions. My family dint care and in fact all of us are in the same boat about it. So think about it, your best friend may watch your back and get your heart, but do you fart? You would want to shut you a*# up right? I think the true test of relationship is when you fart and the other person gets it without saying. 🥰. Thats true soul mate. Why am I talking sh%$ literally? Because I went to a department store yesterday after six months and then the fart-maharaj wanted to give Darshan. I almost let him out phir suddenly yaad aaya, I am actually out and not home so I promptly shut my a$# out. Glad he obeyed. Phew. 

Anyways, chalta rahega udti havaa ki baatein. Coming to the saree, This Dhaka jamdani is a class apart. The tiny buttis and the awesome pallu and of course the gorgeous yellow. We have always considered this taboo.. we broke many so here i am breaking it too... Everyone farts. the supermodels, the actors, actresses, sportsmen, presidents of all countries. Everyone does. 🥳🥳🥳 Vini Tandon Keni you should be proud of me. I drape sarees only to post on Sareespeak.. hows that? Kicking off my weekend with pizza and something to binge on Netflix I must say because I "feel at home" in this group I shared the story else I wouldn't have. 🥰 Oh btw, I loved the 1992 scam harshad Mehta web series. Well directed.

World Mental health day

 #debsaristories 💥Aqsar jo hota hai woh dikhta nahi hai,aur jo dikhta hai woh hota nahi hai.🌟 Situation song: "pagla hawar badol din e pagol amar mon jege uthe" Today was an intentional "get ready and go" day. Matlab its a tougher thing than selling something to a miser 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️ than convincing the familyfor this driveand shoot (photo). Finally succeeded and draped this brand new ikat silk, a prized possession- because this was a prize from a very reputable saree organization for my Varalakshmi Vratham story few months ago. After thirty years I got prize for ny story writing skills 😂😂. I wanted to drape it sooner as a way to thank them for considering mine worthy of this beauty. I was excited and imagined how I should complete the look etc. But as I said above, hota kuch aur hai. It was windy, saree abd I went opposite direction. Hair went tangent to my head. My sandal broke as I was crossing the road. And my photos did not turn out anywhere close to what I had imagined. Happens. But luckily I had taken landscape pics of the beautiful location too, so had put my only solo pic taken in a parking lot with the landscape. Both pics are mine, so shayad chalega. Coincidentally in green, mental health is often not talked about and isn't acknowledged. One thing i learned, practice and preaching from last couple of years is to give yourself a day or two to recharge and recover if your mind isn't in right place. Its totally ok to call it a sick day off. It is. And so is menstrual cramps btw. Apna khayal khudh rakhna ❣

Festive season and garba

#debsaristories #gratefulness 

 Dear bettu This month #sareespeak theme is about #gratefulness. grate·ful /ˈɡrātfəl/ adjective - feeling or showing an appreciation of kindness; thankful. 

 I know there are many things that life and destiny have been kind with me, but the one I am most grateful is you. No kidding this. You have been my teacher more than I am to you. You keep the child alive in me by showing with your actions how I can be a better me! Anytime you make a mistake, I had raised my voice in authority. For any mistake I make, you smile and say its ok ma, it happens. I am grateful for your understanding. You have been unconditionally forgiving me for my lose of temper and later when I would ask if that makes you hate me, your reply was always the same " you are my mom, I will always love you ". I am grateful for your tolerance When I struggle learning new things or stressed about work you gently pat me and tell me to stop panic and breathe, you want me to take a walk and start over. If it were me, I would have given you an earful on how you have been not focusing and pushing things till last minute . I am grateful for your empathy You don't compare me to others, you haven't complained how someone else's mom was more successful or smarter than me etc. I will try stop taking other kids names too and let you be yourself. I am grateful for your acceptance I am way far from exhibiting the tolerance you have for people and their actions patience dealing with them. But I am grateful to know and learn from you everyday They say mother's love is unconditional for her children. In my case the reciprocal is true (as of today). Things may change as you grew up but I would always hope that you stay who you are at core - a good human. I hope i continue to find reasons to be grateful to you. Today and forever ❤ Love you betz Ma

 --------------------------------- 

I had created an email account for bettu few years ago and no one including him knows about it yet. I send pics of precious moments as they happen, nothing planned all random moments. I sent this to him today. Back to the saree. Its the katori blouse that triggered my enthusiasm. I danced with bettu for garba. You can check #ayushmandebdanceatelier on YouTube. I then decided to redo the blouse with saree. Although apprehensive initially I liked it because of the perfect fit! And yes the kutch fabrics ❣

Shantiniketan kantha stitch saree

 #debsaristories #kanthastitch #shantiniketan #durgapuja2020 Sewing? Stitching? Tailoring? Or artists that get less credit? . . . I was fond of quick jugaad and stitching during childhood. Meaning cut sleeves short or attach long sleeves or tighten or loosen the fit . Etc. Normal jugaad stuff on my Amma's (gifted by her mom) foot pedal singer Sewing machine. Amma never used it much so I got to play with it. My younger sister wasn't into these funky things. In fact I once stitched a salwar kameez top for ma. And if you are novice like me, you know how hard it is to even hem or stitch a straight line sometimes. It hurts. It pricks. It can go messy. Right? And then forget about complex stuff that requires cutting and tailoring and the art of measuring well. And yet we complain. Often, we do. Fall pe stitches shows or hem isn't well done or the blouse cut isn't great etc. We forget they are artists too. They are creating something we flaunt. And then there is yet another level.... example this kantha stitch. What can you say possibly? Imagine the design process, the thinking of play with colors, the choice of art, the actual execution is such detail. Just thinking of it makes my eyes hurt! Imagine those hands and eyes working on a piece for weeks and months! I can only do shashtanga dhandavath pranaam. I mean it. . . This masterpiece kantha stitch saree was handpicked by Ma during her visit to Shantiniketan (one place in my bucket list). Again I sneaked into her closet today and draped it.. had been eyeing for a while. In my durga puja mood again, this is like hot flushes to me now. Every now and then there it comes! 😪🤦‍♀️ . . Teamed it with a begumpuri blouse from another bengal beauty weave. All eyes on the weave . I merely am a dummy mannequin. . . Aaj meine #Foodspeak join karne ki galti ki.🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️ hey bhagwan tum log wahan pe bhi expert ho. What amazing pics. I started feeling hungry and rampagedbmy kitchen although I had nothing that looked as good, I ate whateverI laid my eyes on (glad my familywasn'taround else yummy yummy they willbe in my tummy). I am in #Fitnessspeak too but there i am on the sour grapes side. (All I need is excuses to sleep extra). I won't join any more speaks... is level pe I need a BIG hugspeak and chillspeak from Vini! . . In the frame with me are also the tiny miniature sewing machine decor item I picked for keeps. And the sewing machine patideb gifted few birthdays ago hoping his once artistic wife creates fabric wonders (apparently this does some amazing embroidery).. but oh well the wifey hadn't done anything productive yet. Meh. Maybe I can tighten some of my blouses now that I got this down the attic! Will let you know how it goes.

Pujo bajaar memories and Ma

 #debsaristories #DurgaPujo2020 Ghar bhaite bhaite kya kar rahe ho Shalini? Durga pujo memories refresh kar rahi hoon, aur kya! Like the story behind this saree from over fifteen years ago. . . . This was the year before my marriage. A month before pujo, the pre-patideb asked me.. do you know good saree shops around? We were working on Gurgaon and ma baba had just migrated to Gurgaon to join their son and were completely new to the place (I was two years senior 😝 living there). He wanted to shop for Durga pujo and wanted to keep everything a surprise for ma baba (oh coming to sweet surprises nothing like this cancerian! Very thoughtful and selfless) So yeah, of course I have done my research already. It doesn't take a fish two years to find water! I immediately said yes of course. He said.. would you come with me? I jumped in joy because I love the smell of new sarees and enjoy being with them even if its not being bought for me. So off we went to South Ex market Delhi.. and no guesses which renowned shop it is.. given the Madrasi that I am. We from Madras feel good when we have two shops, this one for saree and the other one for idlis (will let you guys guess the names!) So we arrived. He explained that during pujo ma wears new sarees everyday (n my mind I was like pick me pick me to be your wife.. shhh besharam).. and he explained ashtami one must be the showstopper and then dashami a simple one because sindur may spill etc. And I have no idea of pujo whatsoever it is. I thought it was a very religious and very serious affair for five days of chanting etc. Anyways.. I wasn't acquainted with ma very well but the first time I met (with other colleagues she stunned me) so I knew she isn't the jhatak matak taste but very classy. My eyes laid on this saree. There was something unusual about it.. especially to me.. who was used to picking on zari sarees for puja occasions. I could only imagine ma (then.. aunty) and how gorgeous she would look. I asked the pre-patideb if he liked it and he agreed. There were three other sarees we picked (will share pics of them one by one). He took home these beauties and MA LOVED IT. He later mentioned that I chose them. She wore this on Ashtami for anjali. She looked stunning and that was my first pandal visit too. I was mesmerized at the energy, the happiness, the elaborate art, I can't tell, but I immediately felt I belonged. I felt this was so much me. And I am glad that Dugga ma made me part of her family. After my marriage saree shopping has always been me and ma's best stressbuster and best memories too. I had been always wanting to drape this saree and for some reason it never happened. After fifteen years I found the chnace today and honestly there is no occasion today except that I remembered this story and wanted to share. 

Shubho Mahalaya

 #debsaristories #DurgaPujo2020 #ShubhoMahalaya Mahalaya is here and no one can keep the bengali tigress under control. Not even the great Shiva could control the great Durga. She is happy, carefree and ready for a holiday on Earth with her kids. So aren't we the quintessential followers of Devi Ma? Here it comes. Pujo is here. I know the Ma knew it already. She took a month between Mahalaya and the Pujo so she can make sure her family goes through all the necessary precautions and tests before she could enter the fully pandemic hit planet Earth. If international trav

el requires two weeks quarantine, space travel requiring four week quarantine is understandable... hence the delay.. But mom is a mom, she WILL come and take care of her children. I know she will. And I know we can't wait to see her and break down and share all thats going on with(in) us. Hang in there, she isn't far. Momma gonna be here any minute baby. ❣ Ma and I did our own little Mahalaya dress up. We listened to the Birendra Krishna Bhadra Mahalaya on YouTube twice. Once 4:00 am 🇺🇸 time and again just now 04:00 am 🇮🇳 time. Every pujo I wonder how i am such a bengali. I love everything about pujo, my hubby wonders why and I wonder why not. The first sound of dhol as we enter the pujo pandal first for a season is best sound and memory. And then it starts, the familiar faces and automatic smiles at strangers, the flowers, the deity, the laughter and joy and the positivity. This year is so different. Most events have been canceled due to obvious reasons. Hoping to get a glimpse of Ma atleast for once, else would resort to the various virtual options. I have a feeling I may be able to view India pujos online too which I otherwise wouldn't get a chance. Ma is in her favorite light weight silk with bandhani print. I wore my sheuli linen saree to official kick off the season with my jasmine blouse. A favorite combo.

I scream ice-cream

 #debsaristories #sareelove #icecream #indianrailways Hai Garmi! It's over 115F, close to 44 Celsius! I sat in the backyard assuming the heat will "burn" calories and "melt" my tummy fat. Nope aisa kuch nahi hua, phir what's the point. 🙄🙄 I simply came indoors disappointed. But but I dont give up easily right? Tadaa! As it cooled down, I draped my beautiful pink saree, and went ice cream shopping (Luckily bayarea has so much to offer to keep close home).

 

Yes I dressed up, to go buy my favorite sitaphal ice cream and paan ice cream for ma, pista kesar for patideb and mint for bettu. (Baba likes chocobar). Imagine the scene! Most women in shorts and spaghetti tops, whereas my summer comfort dressing for evening always has been a comfy saree! This particular ice cream parlor is popular amongst desis. So I got quite a few curious stares (who cares)! ❣

I was telling Patideb, when bettu chooses a beti for us, she would freak out. 

 1) I dressed up like for a dinner event, I was simply buying ice-cream. 

2) We bought fourteen dabbas of ice-cream. People would have thought we are having a party at home, but no.. hum khudh hi party se kam nahi, aur aise hi khatey hain 🤗🤗🤗. But yeah whoever my future beti is, she should know she will be the apple of our eyes too, just like bettu. Pyar ki kami kabhi nahi hogi, that much we can guarantee! Oh well, long time! Till then I will continue to save my sarees for her! Whenever people ask me why I don't have a second child my answer has been consistently simple. You planned for kids with age gap of 2-5 yrs. My second child will be entering our lives in 25-30 years after ourfirstchild, that's all ❣ Yesterday we went on a steam train. The choo choo sound takes you back to India 🇮🇳. Patideb and I were reminiscent of how there are few "special characters" . 

We actually enacted those characters throughout the ride! 

🌻Me: idli, vada, sambar! The hawker who is better equipped and knowledgeable about train timing and platform info than the announcers 

🌻 He: The typical "train kabhi time se aata hi nahi, ab to doosre platform oe aayega!" 

🌻 Me: The "Indian Railways bekaar hai, bathroom dekho! Foreign men bathroom bhi mast hote hain..". He: "Modi ji kuch nahi kar rahe" 

🌻 Once train starts Me: "Train is late now", He: "Raat ko speed pakad lega, Rajdhani hai na" (raat ko train udta hai kya🤔🤔) 

🌻 The aunty that "interviews" your khandaan and almost fixes your marriage before you reach destination (my aunt us one!) 

🌻 The other aunty that has food to feed the compartment 

 🌻 The uncle that wants to exchange lower berth and upper berth! 

🌻 The gang of Friends that play cards and catch up 

🌻 Some lone traveling girl's women who worry leaving their luggage, purse or even themselves alone in the train and worry even using the restroom (this is the one and only thing I wish had changed, because having done many solo train journeys between Delhi and Madras before marriage, I do have few unpleasant memories) 

🌻 The chai, chai, the train, the excitement of destination, the fun of watching grazing cows, early morning sunrise, the beauty of India. Nothing comes close to the experience The world's biggest railway network had certainly been part of our lives as many as millions others, poor or rich... hope it continues to deliver high quality service and be part of our lives. Honestly if the restroom can improve i will be the first one to hop into a train with bettu! When was the last time you did a train journey and what was your experience? Is it worth a family trip when we can? Chalo my sitaphal ice-cream has melted and became milkshake! Will enjoy it before it becomes chai❣

Apna khayal rakhna

 #debsaristories No filters, No edits, No fake backdrops. It's pure me today! Tadaaa! Oh! How i missed the crisp fresh air! ❣❣Do what makes you happy! ❣❣ Its my "I am feeling low and I really need to cheer up" day today. Log gham bhoolne ke liye daru ka adda jaate and gulp a baatli, I go to my closet and pull a saree! I get the same effects, I am high, I forget my worries, I "feel on top of the world". Ok gals, shortcut banane se pehle, you should have taught me better! I saw theme as #AMUAN . Believe me, I thought that was the name of a hurricane or tornado, and Googled for the word. Found nothing. Checked trending news sites yet found nothing, I checked everywhere and was wondering what on earth is it and I decided I can't do the theme.🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️ Later I was humming the "aaj mein upar..." song. You know (well actually I don't know) how the brain somehow magically remembers something although you weren't even trying ? Yup that's what happened and lo eureka my bulb jala, that the full form of AMUAN is actually from the song! Oh. My introspection today was around validation! 

 🌞 "Free" or "Giveaway" always doesn't mean poor quality. 

🌞 Not being old enough doesn't mean you are not mature enough to do amazing work I am a witness of my bettu's dance class. Although he doesn't charge anything the effort and quality he brings to his workshops are truly professional level. But people write him off! "Bacha hi to hai" 

 🌞 Education and Forward Thinking aren't same . Not all educated people have broad minded thinking and vice versa. You simply can't assume! For all that matters the multiple Masters N PhD holder might have taboo of Black cat crossing, or eating leftovers or treating people as untouchable! You know what I mean?  

🌞 Professional experience and certification! OMG i can't even explain this. I can't speak for other industries but in IT many are savvy about certification. I love the intent of improving your knowledge and bring able to apply at work to improve productivity and enable better business. You will be amazed (shocked?) That its not the case. I have come across so many with a kite load of suffixes but struggle to solve simple problems, lack maturity of thought, can't keep cool, unable to show creativity and most importantly can't figure out the way to make things better. Ab bolo.. what's the use of "earning degrees " if you can't use them in need. This is like buying a set of blunt knives that can cut nothing! 

You can do best only when your body, mind and spirit are healthy not just one or the other! If you need time to rejuvenate and recover, you must. Dont ignore your minds voice and succumb to stress. Take time to step back, think through, do something different that diverts you from the problem, so you can think about it from outside perspective. Thats when you can make good judgments leading to sensible and thought through decision! There was a horse grazing in the meadow behind me. It kept staring at me. Perhaps it thought, grass was greener on the other side of the road (errr fence). Acha hua it dint jump on me! It would have been disappointed.. ghaas nahi, maas
nahi, sirf haddi hi haddi hai!

Kal Ho Na Ho! Life life today

 #debsaristories #kalhonaho #LiveLifeNOW I was lying all this while. To myself. To you. Sorry gals! I have always stated I Love sarees. There wasn't ever a doubt in my mind about it, but yesterday night when we started receiving warning messages to prepare for potential evacuation due to the ongoing fires around bayarea, I only packed two things. 

 1. A bag of documentation including passports, our certificates and basically things that we needed to start life to scratch should the uneventful situation occur. 

2. A bag of small valuables. Also including pair of clothes for each of us, medicines and those that are needed to keep our life on. 

 And for the first time saree did not make it to any of these kits. I felt cheated, I feel guilty at the same time. I was praying all night that hope the situation to evacuate doesn't occur and while I lay there awake I was wondering what if the worst had occurred? 

What would happen to the beautiful sarees I have been collecting and haven't draped yet because I am still waiting for that perfect occassion or the perfect moment. What if that never comes by? Some new sarees are more than three years sitting in closet! Was this fair? Wasn't I simply splurging without need and that too something I couldn't carry when I am in an emergency. I felt terrible. I felt I had waited too much for that perfect moment and have perhaps let many passed by unnoticed. 

 So today, while we are all still worried about the terrible smoky outdoor weather, the 300000 acres fire burning and yet to be contained, the repeated messages of what to be prepared for (let me tell you one can never be truly prepared for an emergency) i took a moment to acknowledge today as a special day because I still have a roof over my head and my family is in tact with me and we smiled and we are together. Tomorrow could be another day and yet to be seen. What it holds is not in my hand, so I grabbed today and did not let go of it. 

 This is a beautiful organza jamdani saree with a black benarasi blouse..purchased more than two years ago. I thought the blue is best to cheer me up along with my favorite chai earrings. 

Gajanana Ganesha Chaturthi

 #debsaristories #ganesha #momsondance Shall I share a secret? I enjoy dancing with bettu (only him and no one else) and everytime he pushes me to do a partner workshop and I do nakhra that "no no I won't" and he tells me sweet things to motivate me - I enjoy it. For while it lasts, I enjoy every moment. 💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥 https://youtu.be/NXT7YjMcjsk 

💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥 

Honestly he wants to push my limits to make it but more challenging for me but honestly I struggle and try (not even my best). So when he said he wanted to choreo a routine for this particular song to teach his workshop participants ahead of Ganesha puja I definitely was excited. Few things kind of evolved. We wanted to do an "act" and not just "dance" so definitely we needed Ganesha as the center attraction. But I wasn't willing to keep an idol, and there you go! I took a silk saree blouse that I was going to get stitched when we visit India and painted Ganesha on the silk fabric. I bought the frame so the Ganesha can continue to bless us! And ye! The #madrasi in me is picky about the umbrella. See ... we always purchased simply clay idols for puja and the color lover I was, I would always be tempted to immediately go to the man on the bicycle that sells colored paper umbrellas for the lord. These umbrellas would spin in circles and somehow my favorite ones would either be on the topmost part of his pile or the expensive ones.. so after much thought and decision I would settle for something that fits the money and the mann. This was the next complex decision making after sarees. So ye coming back today, there is no way I could skip the umbrella and thars when the patio umbrella suddenly gets promoted to do the honors. Well I ended up decorating the area to bring the aura. Bettu initially suggested I do an arati and walk but weather unpermitting I switched to choosing greens (the lord had always been eating healthy) from our garden. We incorporated a small story in the act... the one where Ganesha and Kartik were asked to go around the world to see how is the fastest. while Kartik jetted off on his peacock, Ganesha simply did three pradakshana of his parents and said they are the world to him. Such is his buddhi. My intention of sharing these with bettu in an informal way is to convey that the essence of these stories are important that one can think and execute using wisdom despite being a kid.. and also that religious teachings need not be considered bitter allopathic pills hard to swallow. They are like ayurvedic solutions where the ingredients are part of our day to day life and we gain good health without explicit bitterness and its a part of life. Whether God existed or was created by us or whether they were highly scientific advanced supernatural beings from another galaxy, many of these lessons are helpful for our own development, and that's all matters. Ganapati bappa moraya!

H- "Hech "?, "Eych "? English is a phunny language

 #debsaristories #haigarmi #Englishisaphunnylanguage "H"= 'Ech'?, 'Hech'? It's burning hot outside and I sweating in the saree.. look at the Sunflower. Reminds me of the "Murjhaya phool" poem I read in childhood. Also it made me wonder Sunflower loves the Sun and always looks up to it for its life, but the same Sun when goes hard on it, it kills its own life. Such is the irony of Nature. Anyways! English Alphabets "H"= 'Ech'?, 'Hech'? Ok. I never grew up listening to Baby Einstein 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️ and all my childhood I used to pronounce H as "Hech". Remember the ABCD rhyme? I would sing "Hech Eye Jay Kay Ele-me-no-pi". Right? Ab mujhe kya pata Hech kab Ech ban gaya? Socho Hech mein "Hh" silent. Aisa kaun karta hai bhai ??? So how do you pronounce Happy bday.. "appy bday" and Halloween as "Allwyn". Anyways.

 In last two years this gave me more trouble and so much so that every time I used to say Hech my boss would sneeze.🤣 and say.. tumhare అండర్ কি chennai baahar aa rahi hai. In good spirit and intentions of course. My team is very caring and watches out for me. They would rather watch my back than being made fun by outsiders! So from then on my "Hech" training started... and then it became "Ech" and now I do the slang with "Eych" even if woken from sleep. It's really hard to adjust to a language and be able to speak as intended. This isn't because it English. In my syllabus all languages are equal and I am picky about pronunciation in whichever language I speak.. be it hindi bengali telugu tamizh or even English. That also goes to calling people names... no no not the bad way.. many people cut short their names to make it easy for others. Ashish becomes Ash, Pradeep is Mr. P (yeah Right ?) Kalpana became Kal (pronounced kayl and I would wonder why becomes Kalpana isn't tough to pronounce imho)... Saravanan became Sarav .. endless list. Huh. Oh by the way I am called Shaleeeni. I correct their typo and autocorrect every time just for fun.😝 I don't cut short my name. I don't want to be called Shalini, Shal, Shali or Saali nothing. It's Shalini... with an "Eych" in it😝🥰

Happy Independence day India

 #debsaristories #happyindependenceday 

Dear India, 

Happy birthday to you🌟💥. Wish you many more. 

Sorry this year I couldn't wish you in person like I have been doing past few years but that's ok. You should stay safe and so do I. But shouldn't stop your fun day! I know you are old and I wasn't around when you were born, but that doesn't stop me from being your good friend. Friendship doesn't care for age. I must agree you are growing old gracefully and over these years you have trued best to keep up with the changing times. Growing up has its own challenges and you had a lion's share of those too. From child marriage to Sati to Caste system and discrimination you dealt with a lot and still trying your best. I guess before you were born people just happened to exist together in one continent. They were devoted and patriotic to their own, but hadn't thought of you as one entity. It took and outsider to tell us the power of our onesness. And yeah the painful journey you had to go through to get this realization is incomparable, but chalo jo hotha hai ache ke liye hotha hai. 

Waise what are your goals India? 

Whats your bucket list? 

Tum aur kya haazil karna chahoge? 

May i suggest few of you haven't thought about it yet! 

 🇮🇳 first of all think about breaking barriers between your own soul. The body can't function with a missing part, so can't you. 

🇮🇳 Be an inspiration to the future. Do something so kids want to love you more despite your old age. Make them love you. Pyar doge tabhi to pyar milega na? 

🇮🇳 Respect and treat all equally. Ye ye you have heard it million times, but I seriously mean it. Stop reservations of any and all kind. Trust every individual to work hard and make their mark. I agree not all are equally blessed with facilities so do help those irrespective of their caste creed sex or age. 

Pls don't mock me that I am far from you and giving you unsolicited suggestions. Just because she is married and moved to her inlaws place, a girl doesn't stop loving her parents, especially mother. That's how my relationship with you is too. I of course love my karm bhoomi for giving me what I have today I can never forget my janm bhoomi. So yeah. DIL MEIN HO... AND RAHOGE DESPITE YOUR OLDAGE. Enjoy your happy. There are millions that are wishing you as I write and I can hear the echos of "Indiaaaaa India.. ta ta ta. Indiaaaaa India..." 

I❤ 🇮🇳

Star Wars and Yoda!

 #debsaristories #memesofsareespeak #lockdownkesideeffects #laughteralert #rofl #crazyfamily 

We are big star wars fan family so today the meme is directly from Jedi Master Yoda! And I am desi version of Princess Leah in a gadwal saree in Independence day colors. 

What are side effects of lockdown and house arrest? 🙄🙄 All the below are true and my family hasn't handed me over to the asylum yet. Sweet of them!

1. I eat popcorn and drink soda while binge watching TV in the night and expect the movie theater guys to show up after "The End"🙆‍♀️🙆‍♀️ 

2. I lie down on the recliner couch with a blanket on, and ask my husband to hand over pretend seat belts so I can imagine I am on the flight. Oh! I actually put the "do not disturb " sticker behind my couch so the cabin crew doesn't wake me up for meals🤦‍♀️ 

3. I call my husband 'bhayya' and argue with him for auto charge and not providing good service and I tell him.. "meter ke upar ek paise bhi nahi doongi". The poor man knows I lost it completely so he simply nods and replies "aap to regular sawaari ho madam, aap to waise bhi tips nahi dete ho" 

4. I walk into my closet and window shop and buy my own clothes🙆‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️. I then rearrange them as if I just took them out from shopping bag💃 

5. I sit in the backyard pretending to be wherever in the world I want to be. Switching between Taj Mahal, Jaisalmer desert, Udaipur lake etc.🙅‍♀️🙅‍♀️ 6. To maintain sanity, I end up saree shopping (yup I broke my - "buy no sarees this year" rule. Only silver lining.. I ended up supporting weavers from pochampally, benarasi, kanchivaram and kolkata) 7. I take every opportunity to drape a saree and share with you all as hearing from you makes me feel good and stay connected with so many amazing women across the globe. Am I the only one or do any of you have these pseudo lockdown symptoms too?🤔🤔 Oh btw. I downloaded தமிழ், తెలుగు, हिन्दी keyboards on my phone but it won't allow me download anymore. I will exchange one of the above for bangla keyboard. Pro: even if I type a தமிழ் word in English spelling it neatly changes to the respective language Cons: read above line. It does that change even when I don't need it to🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

Thank you India, thank you weavers

 #debsaristories #nationalhandloomday #iwearhandloom #isupportweavers #ThankYouIndia ❤ After much contemplating I settled for this Shantiniketan kantha stitch saree today. Did you think i was done with handloom day post? Well,not quite! 

🙏 Not until I thank the hands that create magic for us! It shows the greatness of our people and their creativity resulting from their blood and sweat. 🙏 Thankfully, most of my sarees are handloom. I am glad I have been supporting the handloom movement knowingly or unknowingly 

 🙏 Thankfully, I found it hard to choose between the various weaves. It shows the wealth and richness of our land 

🙏 Thankfully, I am educating myself everyday to a new weave, a new technique which otherwise would have been dead by now. It shows I have miles to go. 

🙏 Thankfully, through technology and media I am able to collect some of the rare masterpieces which otherwise I would have been ignorant of 

🙏 Thankfully, through many patrons, passionists and true patriots, "we the people" are able to connect to "them the weavers". I would have terribly missed the opportunity otherwise 

 🙏 Thanks to our collective efforts, hopefully some hands somewhere haven't stopped weaving, haven't lost hope, haven't shut looms, haven't starved or extreme step like suicide, haven't given up on humans, haven't stopped making us believe in magic, haven't crushed our beliefs that magic lies in the hands of the creator 

 Is this enough? Absolutely not, but us a good start at the very least. Today, on the National handloom day I purchased handloom satees from weavers to say the Thank You that my lips couldn't bring courage to utter. Take a moment, pause. 

Support the weavers, it would be shameful if these amazing weaves become simply museum art for coming generations to see, it would be shameful if the future generations cannot touch, feel and drape the love and warmth as we do. 

I Support Handloom, I Support Weavers. Do you?

National handloom day, Nalli Silks wedding trousseau

#debsaristories #iwearhandloom #nallihandloom @nallisilksarees 

Its national handloom day and I am wearing a simple and most elegant kanjivaram silk with a threadwork border and pallu purchased from Nalli 15 years ago by motherinlaw (ma) 

By the way, don't assume that me and ma haven't had our share of sour moments. Of course we did (and we still do sometimes)! Why wouldn't we? Coming from different cultures and backgrounds it does take time to understand each other, but those are the minor details of life. The bigger picture is all about love, respect and trust! The key is not to give up. The key is to value the relationship, the key is all that matters is family. 

You know how exciting it is to shop for wedding trousseau right? My wedding was in Gurgaon while parents where in Chennai and would flew in for the wedding. I couldn't take timeoff to go saree shopping in chennai or rather Kanchipuram as is common tradition. However one thing was common those days. All my family weddings at least for three generations started with a saree from Madras Nalli Silks, including my moms, my aunts, everyone. So while I wasn't in chennai, I was happy Delhi had Nalli! Bengali culture calls for lots of gifts to the bride from.her inlaws (yippee!) Called "tatva". Ma wanted to shop for my tatva and took me along for saree shopping. There was no particular agenda or colors in mind. As soon as we entered the shop, ma spotted this saree amidst a pile of other sarees (you know how busy saree shops are in festive season!) She said this is for my sister. Its a pretty silk and very elegant. So that was the first item checked off. As she sifted through the pile, she quickly changed her mind and declared this saree is for me. She continued to hold this one tight to her chest, she made the shopkeeper undress the mannequin and asked to pack the "benarasi" for my bou bhath (oh yea! No way bengali wedding shopping is done without a benarashi).. and on she went. She said she imagined me in this yellow saree and wanted to keep for me, although my sister would have looked gorgeous in this too. Sweet mamma.. ❤

My Vratham Story, Varalakshmi Vratham

#debsaristories #varalakshmivratham
I dont know why I have this bad habit of needing to write the story behind an event.🤔🙄
Saree is a kanchipuram one in pastel shade with silver work. Inter cultural marriages give an abundant opportunity to learn and enrich oneself. As a Telugu Brahman girl growing up loving the Varalakshmi Vratham and the decor and the goddess and how I could dress her up and how I would dress up (yup that's important), its my Barbie playtime equivalent (I never possessed a Barbie doll till date). The goddess looked more gorgeous than anyone, the kili pachchai (parrot green) or manjal (turmeric yellow) or arakku (reddish maroon) sarees and temple jewelry take your breath away. The look stays in your mind forever, like its in mine

. .. so when I adapted to bengali culture through marriage, because that's all my sweetest mil (Ma) wished of me, the one thing I asked her in return is to join me and celebrate Varalakshmi Vratham (and Vinayaka Chavithi). Its basically a religious ceremony perfomed by married women for well being of husband and family. So theoretically its all good. Ma agreed and she dint have much clue of how this daughterinlaw will turn out but was fully optimistic about my good intent (we live together so we can't pretend to be nice to each other, we must truly be nice to each other). However just few days ahead of my first Varalakshmi Vratham after marriage, Ma's aunt visited us from Kolkata and when she heard I would do this puja she got all excited. She was a Sai devotee and apparently many in their group perform.this puja at a central location and she told Ma to definitely encourage me doing this at home and also join me in doing it. Ma is a sport and my biggest supporter, so of course she was game. But to make it relatable to both of us I would do the telugu mantras first and ma reads the lokki panchali (bengali version) thereafter. That became a routine..ok, then comes food. I love boorelu, garelu pulihora etc but never made or learnt it during school and college days (grades were more important 🤔). At the same time after marriage I learnt bhog r kichudi, labra, tomato chutney as prepared in puja pandal from Ma..since then the bengali pujo menu has become staple menu forbour Varalakshmi Vratham.

 Isnt it beautiful? How the hearts can come together and make something work wonders so long as you prioritize for it? End of day its about oneness. Language and Food and Culture are powerful tools to bring people and families together, one should never use them as weapons to create distances