Diwali Dry Run on Dhanteras

I am a Bengali who has lived all her life in North India. Which means I almost know the “five-day” fare that Diwali brings with it. Today is Dhanteras in India. Its customary to buy something new – especially a precious metal. Read an interesting story around Dhanteras here.

I bought metal too. Iron to be precise. Not sure how precious it’d finally turn out to be. Its a traditional Bangladeshi kitchen item used for making rice flour desserts. I have no clue how and what goes into the recipe. The way my family makes these desserts is different. They are like cream filled crêpes.

But I did what I do best, be playful and let my imagination run without a rein.

I think I will use this as a centerpiece for my Diwali party on Friday, with a plucked flower (my Frangipani fell on its own) and tea lights.

This is how it should look!

What do you think?

But if you have another idea (and hopefully better), then speak now. For Diwali is just two days away!

Which means I have to hurry up on my planning or press the panic buttons soon. So ciao and Happy Diwali. Be safe. Bhalo theko.

I am sending my dry run idea to The Key Bunch’s Diwali Dhamaka and It’z Festival Time @ Emreen’s Liven Things Up.

More Diwali-related photos from PreeOccupied are here.

The Banana Bride

This is a supermarket find again. IKEA to be precise. I went there to get candles for Diwali, and fell in love with this Musa Banana Plant.

Now we Bengalis hold a banana plant in high esteem, apart from its culinary and cultural sanctity, we also believe that the Banana Plant is Ganesha’s wife!

Legend has it that Ganesha was setting off to get married. The wedding party left, while Mother Durga waited at home. In case you did not know, Durga has 10 hands. Why? Because she is the super woman. Apparently, Ganesh had forgotten something at home, probably his BlackBerry.

As he returned home, he saw his Mommy with her hands stretched out, eating with all of them. Astonished the elephant-headed Sonny asked why was she doing this. To which Durga said, “Tor bou aashle judi khete na daye.” Meaning, your new bride may not give me food to eat.

Dejected and unhappy with himself, Ganesha quickly made a decision that he wouldn’t get home a bou, slashed a banana plant nearby and said to Mommy, “E nao tomaar bou”. Meaning, a mute banana plant wouldn’t dare to usurp your position at home.

Thus started strange obsessions of Bong Mothers with their sons. Ma Dugga left a very strong precedence and till date no Bengali Mother has let go off her adult, married son. Strange obsessions of the recent times. But let me warn you, not all Bengali brides are like the mute, obliging Banana Bride of our Gonesh. But let’s not go there. At least for now.

Okay, where was I? IKEA.

As I kept the Musa Banana on the window sill, which incidentally has a stone Ganesha (which has chipped and I am using it as a book end), I got reminded of this mythological story and thought I’d share with you.

 

If you haven’t noticed yet, next time you are celebrating Durga Puja, watch closely and you will see a coy-looking Banana Bride by Ganesha’s side.

Supermarket Find

I was pleasantly surprised and almost beaming from ear to ear when I found these in a leading Canadian supermarket here in TO.

I am talking about the clay diyas. The symbol of Diwali. The epitome of grace.

I brought back a couple of boxes of them CAD 2.99 each. We Bengalis light 14 clay lamps (chhoddo pradip) the evening before Diwali to offer our gratitude to our forefathers. Its a tradition my Mum has been following, and now I am starting to do so. Though its very difficult to remember or know the names of our ancestors.

On Diwali, we Indians go full throttle with all kinds of decorative candles and diya. Call it coincidence or planned connivance, but I even made a couple of hand pinched diyas last week in my Pottery Class!

Enjoy your Diwali shopping and buy lots of Diyas, they are forever to stay in your hearts and cameras.

The Making of Miss Champa

We got her home as a little branch for CAD 10 on March 20, 2010 from Canada Blooms. P had his doubts she’d survive the Canada cold. I was like an optimistic parent- nurturing and moving her 12 inch planter to where the sun shone the brightest. I even talked to her once in a while.

In the middle of the burgeoning summer (May 2010), Miss Champa sprouted a couple of leaves. Photographs were clicked and she made headlines on Facebook. By the end of June, she looked like she made it.

A month later, we noticed what were apparently a cluster of buds!


The record heat this year in TO meant Miss Champa got ample sunshine on our sunny balcony. And a free wash in the liquid precipitation.

Miss Champa also had to stay indoors when the big bad weather boy was wind blowing everything outside. But let out when it was all sun-drenched again.

On September 24, she teased us with this!
She blushed, she teased, she grew up too soon. She acted like a typical girl. Saving her best till we ran out of patience.

Ladies and gentlemen, please say hello to Miss Champa. My first Frangipani bloom.

If you like her, just stroke her gently, blow a kiss delicately but do not pluck her. She is my day-old daughter. And I call her Miss Champa.

Shades of Green

I may be a little premature in my observation, but do I see a fleeting glimpse of buds in my Frangipani?
Just to set records straight, I could be the only one in Toronto with a Frangipani plant in a 12 inch pot!

Well, humility was never my forte. And neither can I resist feeling all smug about the fact that my plants have never looked so good before. P and I keep staring at them in wonderment. Then jolting each other up about the fact that we will soon have a toddler out from my belly who would probably not be of refined taste like his/her Mommy (and Daddy) and would tear at the leaves and knead through the pots of our apartment garden.

I have been made to promise albeit rather forcefully that I will not add on to our balcony garden. So can someone please explain how this little red Geranium landed next to my paintings and unused brushes?

But I am hoping the promise of tomorrow will hold a good future, just like the happy shades of green my plants are exuding.

My favorite green is the color of sunlight on a new leaf.
What’s yours?

Don’t Let the Sun Go Down…

The sunny days and the warm weather is doing wonders to my plants here…Here are some before and after photos from my balcony garden.

Even my two little terracotta dolls are soaking up all the sun we are getting these days. Though they like to call it a “tan”.