Hari Sharnam, Shree Hari Sharnam

We celebrated a Marwari festival last week – it’s called Gan-Gaur, where all the females worship Shiva-Parvati.

The women have to fast that day, and the previous night is called the “Sinjara” where the menfolk need to treat their wives and daughters to sweets and make them happy. (Possibly to bribe them into doing a good pooja the next day so they live long, happy lives!)

It’s pretty cute actually, there all these drawings made on a board – the sun, moon, 3 people (representing gods) and the like. Plus there are two pots of grass that are christened Uma and Shankar. The ladies have to pray to these by making dots (8 for married women, 16 for spinsters) on them with haldi (=turmeric), kumkum, mehendi (henna), and kajal. Then comes an amusing but tiring ritual, where the ladies form pairs and hold one finger while moving their hands continually so that the gods are sprayed with water droplets. (I and my partner have bagged the most-water-sprayed-award for as long as I can recall!)

I actually wasn’t going to celebrate, just some reason, but the Lord’s wish cannot be restrained. So, I ended up drawing full-fledged mehendi on my hands and even wearing a saree! The pooja went extremely well, and I fasted the entire day without any hitches.

Today is Ram Navami - Lord Rama birthday. We have a big celebration at our residence courtesy Mum Rathi. Unfortunately, I'm going to spend the evening at the dentist's (to quote a friend's impeccable description) "as my dental health's in the gutter"... ROFL :-D

Well, I donno whether this is cool or what, but my wisdom teeth are erupting, too. Wohi sochu itni akal and acchai mere mein kahaan se jaag rahi hai... LOL ;-)

Learnt some new facts about Shri Rama (and obviously I'm gona share them with you). Ramji was cursed to experience "patni-viyog" (=staying away from the wife) by two individuals. One was a sadhu-mahatma whose wife Vishnu killed (Ram was an incarnation of Vishnu, hope you know that) in order to lay hands on and punish some goonda rakshasas. The other person was none other than Narada muni who God turned into a monkeyface to kill his ego. That's when enraged, Narada cursed Vishnu that he would have to stay away from his wife, and their union would be brought about by a monkey (Hanuman). Interesting, eh?!!

Hey, my office premises have changed. It’s close to the previous office, but it’s smaller and older. Have been busy packing, shifting, unpacking this entire week, and the place is almost set. However, I don’t like it as much as I did the earlier one... There are hardly any trees around, and the sun heats up my room like an oven. The loo isn’t decent either, and there’s no mirror! Can you beat that...

Well, maybe I’m acting too hasty. Things should probably seem better as time passes...

Will be busy with a Compulink assignment next fortnight, imparting HR domain knowledge to clients with the Whizible suite of products. I’m a little anxious coz it looks like tough work, but I’ll be learning and networking a lot. So, I’m game! Here I come, Opus!

Speaking about games... The crazy show called Roadies should change their name to “The Supreme Test of the Indian Digestive System”. (Of course, the solemnity of the title would drive away quite a few of the fun-loving and cheeky baccha-log, but it would undoubtedly be more apt.)

As I’ve already shared with you, in one of the previous episodes, the youngsters had to hold in their crap after a stomach-bursting meal topped with laxative and tumbler-fuls of water. The latest had them drinking a concoction of raw eggs, milk, chocolate and god-knows-what... Simply put, it was the horrible-most drink of the century. And if that wasn’t enough, they had to sit on a crazy amusement park ride after gulping it down, and NOT puke.

The crew has reached Australia and the show is living up to its Hell-Down-Under tagline. Crocodiles and rugby in the outback, and now the thrilling “The Claw” ride at Dreamworld. Natasha performed exceedingly well, and managed to create a wee bit of respect in me for her. However, Nauman stole the show, as he drank 4 glasses of the shitty mocktail and took the ride 4 times in a row... Hats off to you mite!!

I adore the 2 guys on the show – Naomi and Sufi. I’m hoping one of them wins, coz they’re honest and cute, and they have the Roadies spirit. However, my wish is 50% crashed coz Sufi got kicked outta the show. It was very unfair, and very annoying. Palak got voted-out unanimously, but by a wild turn of events, it was Sufi’s time to say goodbye. Poor Sufi... He was an amazing guy. And so deserving. I’m disappointed. My hopes are pinned on Naomi now. If the scheming women kick him out, Roadies 7.0 shall have one dedicated viewer less than before.

I hope you didn’t mess up on April Fool’s Day or get bamboozled. I’ve got a surprise for you wonderful readers... With all my love... Just press F13 and it’ll pop up.

Ahem... Didn’t get taken in, right? I knew you were smart ;-)
(And if you did, wish you a belated Happy Fool's Day!)

Hope you doing well!

Take Care
Princess