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.

Ganesha Grove

Ganesh (sometimes spelled Ganesha, but usually pronounced "ga-nesh") is also known as Ganapati. He is the son of Parvati and Shiva. Lord Ganesha brings knowledge. But he is most often known as the "Breaker of Obstacles".

 

Ganesha is represented as a short, pot-bellied man with yellow skin, four arms and an elephant's head with only one tusk. In his four hands he customarily holds a shell, a chakra(discus), a mace and a water-lily. His unusual steed is a rat.
There are many versions of how he was conceived. The most popular version is that Shiva and Parvati were leading a quiet life on Mount Kailash, Shiva's abode. In fact, life was too quiet and sedate for Parvati, who had nothing much to do all day as her chosen lord was mostly either immersed in deep meditation or obfuscated by the fumes of ganja (marijuana). For company there was Nandi, Shiva's bull, and his host of ghosts, who are said to inhabit Kailash and give Shiva company, especially when he smokes ganja and wants some song and dance to liven things up a bit. Of course, Parvati was feeling bored and wanted someone she could be more involved with. So she began to call upon Vishnu in prayer to grant her a son. Vishnu soon granted her wish and Parvati gave birth to a beautiful boy child she named Ganesha. Read more here.

Wishing you all a very happy and prosperous Ganesh Chaturthi, hope the elephant-headed God brings to your home wisdom, knowledge and righteousness.

When I Am Not Stirring A Curry…

…I pick a paintbrush up! I made a copy of this Jamini Roy Durga-Ganesha yesterday. The original painting is here.

Nepal Handicrafts

Last weekend I went to one of my favorite places – the Kensington Market. There is one particular store I love going to. India, Nepal and Tibet just explode in Nepal Handicrafts.

I'm a huge fan of this shop!  Why? Because this place is the most remarkable boutique for imported Nepalese and Indian decorative accents. Behind this great collection of traditional style artifacts is Dipesh and Doma, who have been running this store for the last 10 years.

Wooden masks, Tibetan ritual objects, wall hangings, lamps, framed prints, incense and fine linens, all with a fairly traditional style are under one roof here. I have done some silver shopping in TO, and by far this place is a treasure trove for silver trinkets. If you like chunky silver jewelry, Doma will even help you out with her recommendations and wee little discounts!

What I most appreciate are the Ganesha and Buddha statues in metal, wood and stone. I will let the photographs from Nepal Handicrafts do the talking now… Dipesh posing with his collection of funky jewelry.
Traditional Tibetan pendants.
 Batik Ganesha on fabric.

A lot of things for your home (and trinket box) can come from this fantastic little gem of a store! I found these wooden birds which fit so well on my windows. And if you are fond of silver jewelry, you will be hooked on to this place.

I picked this hand-printed wall hanging from there some months ago, and mounted it on an Ikea (Ribba series) frame.
Visit this fun store @:

Nepal Handicrafts
44 Kensington Avenue, Toronto, ON,
M6B 4J3, Canada.

The Copycat Returns With Two Elephants

What do you get when you are at ease with copying masterpieces?

A homemade and affordable way of having two of Husain’s famous Ganesha paintings. After doing Saraswati a few days ago, I wanted to paint (okay, copy!) Ganeshas. These are my first set of Ganeshas, if I don’t account for the one done on handmade paper and charcoal when I was a teenager. And that was an original!

The two-headed Naad Swaram Ganeshayem.And this one is simply called Ganesha…

  I made these yesterday while I was daydreaming about India, and drinking my kewra lassi (with a dollop of vanilla ice cream) and doing the daily crossword. Just then a sudden flash of genius!
Waxing on about Husain twice in a week is just weird, right? Especially when there is so much controversy surrounding him…
But my thick head doesn’t get any of that! Never will.
My brain can be very lame sometimes, especially when it wins.

Apartment 408