The "Holy" Days...

Hmmm…. "Holy" Days...or "Holi" Days or simply Holidays... whatever...
But those two days of Holi were simply full of fun. Maybe I enjoyed it more because I missed it last time.

I always look at festivals as an opportunity to meet all or at least most of the relatives and friends at one go and these festivals like Holi or Ganpati where u need to work together are even more important for a person like me since it helps in filling up any gaps that may have been generated due to long absence and brings the relations to normal.

Above all this Holi was a bit special since we took over the decision making control of "Holi" activities from "old generation" and the very first decision was to switch the Holi tree from traditional "bhendi" tree to the "Supari" tree...

The decision was to be implemented immediately and in excitement we selected a bit big Supari tree for burning. We were totally wrong in estimating the weight of the tree trunk and number of people required to move it. (Some call it youth inexperience)

Even with help of all the 10-15 people it was too difficult to bring that tree to the
"Holy" site and after that making it stand there was altogether a different episode...

we had to make use a truck to make it stand at the holy place... this fact alone should make the difficulty clear... finally after some Shekhchilli episode where after making the tree stand we had to carry out another exercise just to remove the ropes tied at the top, everything was in order.

This Holi was significant for another reason also... we saw our elder generation sitting together and enjoying drinks after a long long gap... I had memories of elders doing this when we were 6-7 years old...after that may be all the family responsibilities and all must have put them under too much pressure to enjoy...

but now since our young generation took the mantle ahead...everyone has sons daughters who are well settled in career and all they were again relaxed... and we could see it on their face...major topics of discussion were of course about our marriages since we are all in the age group of 23 onwards...

We of course had our own drinks party late night...unlike earlier times...this time "seniors" were aware of it ;-)

The next day of "Rangapanchami" was also equally exciting.... the usual fun of colors was even more since we had banned all those oil paints and any other color that may not be removed easily. Incidentally it permitted us the use of mud too....we of course exploited this loophole too…

After the usual activities of going at every home and coloring were over... we were dancing for almost 2 hours... a day full of enjoyment was ended with a party at Arnala beach.(I missed that party ;-( since my sister had come to meet me...)

Overall the vacation was too good.... too exciting for all other reasons mentioned in earlier post too....

9 days at home....

After a long gap of two years finally i was able to make it home for Holi...
Last year because of my trip to the "Khajoor Country" I missed Holi.

The whole vacation of 9 days from 11th till 19th…was full of fun... or rather I would say full of events...
It began right from the moment I arrived on Mumbai airport. Shweta was leaving for London and I was supposed to be at international airport by midnight to wish her happy journey... Thanks to Air Deccan... 9 40 flights left Bangalore at 12 00... and put a question mark on whole plan. Although I was able to meet her but that was only after a lot of running around and waiting...
It was already 3 30 am by the time I left international airport. Last train had left... and after that I had to go to Hansini's home...The rest of Saturday was spent at home eating sleeping and reading books

Then there was the great fun for Holi... two days full of excitement. Mainly because I had missed holi last year... we had so much fun working for holi and plying colors and dancing next day that body pained for next two days... I think I shall write separately about holi.
We also had a small get together at home mainly to welcome new member into our family that is my cousin's fiancée... I got to meet many members of family after a really long time.

There were two more important incidents that I can not miss out...
On Sunday I met Deepa...We knew each other for months but never met face to face before. We spent entire Sunday evening roaming around Dadar and Churchgate. Although we were looking for hands free for my phone and some books... the real purpose was to know each other... We spent entire evening on the marine drive...

I also got to know what it is like "when one gets a marriage proposal" or in Marathi we call it "Mulgee sangun yene". Till now I used to get periodic news from my mother that such such persons were "enquiring"... but on the first day at home itself I came across it... in the afternoon some relatives came home with a proposal and I happened to be at home. of course I did not say anything and let my parents it, but still it tells me where I stand and how I m being looked upon by the society...bakraa is ready.... hahaha...

And I could feel the difference too... it was only a year and half ago that I could meet "female" friends... and there were no problems when Rupali was at home two days for my sister's wedding. And on Sunday when I told my mother about evening spent with Deepa.. She expressed her concerns about what will be impact for the girl if people who know us see us roaming around together.....

Surely the world is changing for me.....

The Bonaparte Influence...

Some days ago I finished reading the biography of The Napoleon Bonaparte.
Certainly it left a profound impact on my mind... a nice example of how a man can challenge his destiny... from a simple soldier to becoming an emperor...
It also highlighted how important it is to choose right people for right task...

When I combine this newly acquired knowledge of European history with the little knowledge of Indian history I already have, it puts up a nice overall picture of how the events in Indian subcontinent and in the Europe were interlinked...

At one end we see the looting of India by the British in beginning of the 19th century... the days when Maratha and mogul empires surrendered... and at the other end we see the British facing the economic as well as military blockade throughout the Europe by their sworn enemy.... Napoleon Bonaparte. We easily understand the desperation of the British Empire to consolidate its rule in India.

It was also interesting to know that when a soldier... Napoleon once wanted to join the army of the "Tipu Sahib" and fight against the British...

Some days ago I was reading "The Story of My Experiments with truth" I came across one remark by Gandhiji that French was Lingua Franca for Europe... and I could clearly see the reasons behind that.... certainly the French occupation of Europe had left it's footprints.

Another interesting thing was to observe that all these colonial powers... That is England.. France... Spain.. Portugal... Holland etc had strange relationships... that is while outside Europe they were fighting with each other for occupying colonies...in the Europe they had entirely different relationships... except England all other were under the French rule for some time... and England was actually fighting on their side against France...

Again the fall of napoleon… result of a disastrous Russian campaign where “General Winter” defeated him… they say that when people don’t learn from history…. History teaches them by repeating itself…. What a better example than Adolf Hitler who later met similar fate through a similar disaster campaign in Russia…

It really feels good when you realize the small meanings behind the incidents...