Xpressions

My favorite season of the year ... Sitting in my balcony and having hot 'chai' has never felt so good .. :) Unfortunately been too busy at work hence haven't been able to make any outing in last few weeks. But looking forward for something interesting during Christmas and New year. Temperature in Pune is going around 10-12C now. The roads get deserted around 8:30-9:00pm. Less traffic woes for me as this is my usual time of travelling back from office .. :) Early mornings in gym are also blissfully less crowded. Carrots, apples, peas and pears all in abundance. Waiting for grapes and strawberries now .. :) May be I should head to Mahabaleshwar for the strawberries in the coming weeks now ... :)

Another year ... another wonderful Diwali ... :) t'was more about lights and tradition this year ....   Decorated my home with lights and diyas ... Even created a diya shape out of diyas .. :D    This is my favorite snap of this year ....  This lighted diya looked wonderful and serene.   Also tried some traditional Rangoli designs ... done with help of a pattern though. Not an original creation ...   There was a grand fire cracker show at Magarpatta. Was able to witness it for the second year in a row. They also decorate all the office buildings with thousands of lamps. Feels awesome to walk along the path. Celebrations @office were also more on traditional lines with these rangoli patterns and a decorated 'Killa' 

Been busy unleashing my creativity on the paper ... so don't feel like pouring anymore on the net ... :) But can't stop showing off my latest creations ... :D So here you go ... 

Painted Diyas make a very apt Diwali gift. Tried it myself this year and it has turned out really amazing. Here is the plan ... Requirements :  Diyas afcourse ... :) You get them in variety of shapes and sizes in the market. When bought in bulk they come really cheap.  Primer and thinner - this is for a white colored base coat. Colors - base colors would be the usual fabric colors. For detailing, you can select tube colors including sparklers for really good effects. Brushes - larger ones for the coat and base paint. Thinner ones for detailing. For the finishing touches - plastic sheet, different colored satin ribbons and stock paper to make tags Small decorative stick-ons, colored pens et al for decorating the tags. Preparations : Dip the earthen diyas in a bucket of water and keep them overnight. After removing them from water, keep them to dry in sun if possible for a couple of days. Start with the base coat. For this we use the primer directly on the ...

This year I wanted to  try out some new DIY ideas for the Diwali cards and came across some interesting options. Here's how I've tried to implement a few ... Requirements : Stock Paper set of colorful craft papers set of other stick-on craft items scissors and glue colored pens for borders/writings Preparations : Start with cutting your stock paper into cards of required size and shape. I've stuck to simple rectangular shaped cards.  Decide on a theme, so that you can shortlist few items which depict that theme - here I've opted for Diwali, so I went for 'Diyas' - simple and apt for the festive season. Other common option can be flowers - which can pretty much suit any occasion.  For other stick-on craft items I've used gold-red brocade laces to resemble the festive season. Alternate option would be to use colorful paper.This is for the borders.  For generic decorations, star shaped gold-red colored stick-on's and shiny flowers or a...

Added few new plants to my little terrace garden ... a Tulsi, a hibiscus and a money plant ...  was lucky to come by a hard drink (not mine ... ;)) bottle .... dark green in color and an interesting shape. So used it for the money plant. Money plant can survive in only water like in this case or you can plant it in a pot as well ... but its a home plant so you can not place it in direct sunlight. you need to keep it in a shady place. I've placed it in my front room. The Tulsi n hibiscus adorn my terrace. And the hibiscus is in its full glory. Simply love the color of its flowers ... not much of a fragrance though ...  so thinking of getting a rose or 'Mogra' for its fragrant flowers ... :)  

Yesterday was the last day of the 10-Day Ganesh Festival in Pune. On this day, the Ganesh idols are immersed in water - symbolic to Lord Ganesha travelling back to his abode. Pune being the cultural capital of Maharashtra, has certain mandals which are more than a 100 years old. These mandals carry out the festivities as well as the last day procession in the same traditional ways even today. I was lucky enough to be able to catch the first 5 "Pahilya Manache" Ganesh in procession this year. Below are some snaps of the interesting traditional festivities carried on in the procession.   The roads were adorned by beautiful colorful  rangolis. Some so huge, they covered the entire chowk...  Here comes the first Ganesh - Kasaba Ganapati - The Gram Daivat (City Deity) of Pune ... in full welcome sounds of the 'Tutari' This is the actual Deity, which is taken out for this procession in a Palkhi. There is a huge crowd gathered for darshan .. The...

Love this festive season in Pune. And the ongoing Ganesha festival is kind of an identity for the city. So many beautifully decorated idols are seen everywhere across the city. I love visiting the inner city areas of laxmi road and peths to catch a glimpse of the decorations.  We also celebrate it socially in our societies/colonies. We have several cultural programs and competitions. This has always been a time we kids looked forward to in our school days. In our teens this was a good bonding time which more than often saw a love story taking shape .. :). Personally, I've always looked  forward to this festival for the modaks .. :D. Our society had a wonderful program this year as well and a very peaceful Ganesha idol which you can't take your eyes off. We celebrate this festival at home as well. From childhood days, I remember working hard into the night the previous day to complete the decorations. On the Ganesha pooja day, we start the day early. Bath i...