My dad is lucky even a year after his passing - Ganga Dushera

The previous post in this series is here..

Day 3 started early as we got a helicopter to go to Gangothri from Yamunothri.

It was a short ride. Once we got there, there were separate cars for each family. The driver told us that we will go to the hotel and then go to Gangothri as there will be traffic and it was Ganga Dusshera, an auspicious festival. We told him that we would rather go straight to see Ganga Dusshera and finish, even at the risk of missing lunch. He was nice and agreed.

We went straight from the helipad to Gangothri temple. It was a long ride and we saw fantastic views, crossed Asia’s third highest bridge and eventually he went as far as he could before asking us to get down and walk. The guide met us at the entrance. He was also a kid. He took us straight to the river, got me a bucket, had me take a bath there (we bought a towel on the way!) and we got to participate in the Ganga aarathi. This day was considered river Ganga’s birthday and it is celebrated in select states where the Ganges flows. I was told that this tharpanam on Ganga Dusshera at the Bhageerathi river was something special!

The best part was the head priest suddenly calling Sangeetha and handing her the aarathi and asking her to do arrathi for Ganga! She was standing in the edge of the river and somehow the light made its way to her!

We did a tharpanam for my dad. My FIL also got to do a tharpanam for his dad. That was nice! Once we were done, we had to walk another mile back to the car. We stopped at one of the stalls and got some food as there was no guarantee of a lunch when we finally made it to the hotel (we didn’t know when).

We were happy that we finished what we came to do that day. We made it back to the hotel. Most of the lunch was done and we scraped what was in the bottom of the buffet bowls and ate something. We were happy with Chai! My MIL wanted to rest but we wanted to see the Harshil village, which also had a military outpost. FIL decided to join us and the three of us spent an hour going around the village. Right after we came into the hotel, it poured like no tomorrow for an hour straight. Good thing we were back in the hotel and not caught in traffic on the hillsides with this downpour!

Here are the photos from this leg..

My tummy is still big after eating those once a day meals during the Varushabdheegam ceremonies… it took another two weeks and back to hot yoga to reduce it .. “a bit” (added that in case Sangeetha contests the statement!)

and a longer video of the days events..

We did have a nice dinner at the hotel and got some much needed rest. We had to wait for when our pickup would be the following morning for our next stop..

Navarathri 2025

This year there was no celebration or festivities in our house for Navarathri as we don’t have any pooja in the house till my dads passing anniversary.

That does not stop us from attending other peoples Navarathri celebrations. We did get to go see a lot of Golus (Kolus), eat some good food (most of my friends had at least one non allergic item for me which was a big plus), sing songs (thanks to my guru who taught me a few songs just to sing for Navarathri in the last two months) and just see happy smiling faces all around.

The ladies were all beautiful as were the kids who dressed up. My friends definitely saw an improvement in my singing year over year. That is all thanks to my teacher. We did do a 15 minute class for Vijayadasami, with me singing in low volume from a hotel room right after I checked in. It was a long day but did not want to miss that class to get an auspicious start to this years learning.

Given the plans to blog a lot of trips, but being very busy at work, the blogs are getting condensed. So have added all the doll displays and unique dolls that caught my eye in just two galleries.. One in portrait format and one in landscape.

and one in landscape format..

As is now customary, did try to match San’s Sari’s with my shirts. She went out of her way to challenge me on some of the unique colors. My Ramarajan collection is diverse, but it has gaps. They will be addressed on the next India trip, whenever that may be!

Saraswati or sacchi paati, my grandmother who passed away two years ago has definitely blessed me this year with plenty of music. This year Jr. finally dusted off her alto saxophone and played a few songs at a friend’s place because he kept bugging her. That was heart warming to listen to.

There were not that many golus this year as a lot of my friends lost family and did not have a celebration to honor the departed. Still we all met each other in the same circles.

Next year hopefully brings us better circumstances and a celebration at home!

Navarathri 2024

Last year's Navarathri post is here..

We do not have the concept of Golu(Kolu) in our house. My blog readers and friends know that. However we do Saraswathi pooja and celebrate Vijayadasami. 

This year, we do not have any celebration as my oldest cousin (who is only 5 years younger than my dad and who is like a brother to my dad) passed away. To honor him there is no poojas this year.

We did go do the rounds to meet friends and participate in their golu's. Even got to sing in a few houses we visited. My guru had taught me enough small songs that I could sing without going into complicated territory. 

Here is a slide show of the Golus

and a slide show of the unique dolls.. 

the ayodhya temple replica that was built with a Ram Lalla inside probably will stay in our minds for a long time .. as was a creative mom who didn't know about Chitchen Itza but managed to realized that the Muruga doll perfectly fit on a souvenir as a base! there were many other new dolls that we saw that were not seen in past years golus. they are all in this slidshow.

As is now the new tradition, managed to match San's sarees to the best of my ability, given my diverse shirt collection.  

She definitely keeps going back to some of the sarees every year..and there were some very unique colors this year!

Here is to new beginnings!