24th January 2008 - A YEAR

Its been a year we are engaged to each other. And almost a year of A lot about us.
So how do I feel now? Ummmmm...... happy for sure, complete of course and BROKE as usual :D.

What i did in the last one year is itself a very very tough question. This was probably the fastest running year of my life. I could not even blink properly and the year is gone.A lot of fast happening. And DEV, no idea. One thing for sure, he no more feels like doing his work at office... :D. And for no reason.I can surely be writing about that great saying of Dilli Ka Laddoo; but to all my friends who wants to know, you must try it. And I love this !!!!!
And I love this blog of mine. So for now I am involved in a lot of stuff and running a little short of time; will be back soon. Till than bye bye !!!

The Great Indian Maid !!!!!

I have recently shifted to Hyderabad after i got married. Before, i was always living with a room mate and for last year six months my sister was with me. So the topic of the day for me is the great maid without which I am not able to live my life very comfortably. I have made a few new friends out here who are also new wives! So the most interesting topic between all of us is the maid crisis, which we normally face almost every couple of month or so.

So what do we do?? Nothing as such. For me, I always saw my mother maintain a maid for ages. She would come, live with us and get married after couple of years when she grows up. And my mother would do whatever possible to support her wedding. Most of the time she would try to educate them. And in those five seven years they would be self sufficient enough to sew, cook, read - write etc. They were also trained in making Jam, Jelly, Pickle etc, as my mother herself is a good cook.

Eventually, I also grew up with such vision and dreams. Now when I try to get one for myself, I either landed up with some thing or the other problem. If with one maid, I had super high grocery expenses than the other will be raising my phone bills exponentially. I am really at loss with this unique problem of mine. While I was in Noida I used to call my maid hunting exercises "maid fishing". Why? Hummm.... I mostly got a house which is definitely not on the ground floor. Noida is full of Bengali Maids and Cooks. So, I could stand at my balcony during maid working hours and call any such maid looking woman and ask if she is interested to work. And if she is not interested, the news will spread like fire and maximum by next day morning I will have a maid. Since I speak Bengali, my scoring points as an employer was high amongst all other people. That's how I used to fish out a maid. But here, one I do not know the language neither I like the food they cook. So I am at this point facing the " great Indian maid crisis" !!!!!!!!

Maghor Bihu In Hyderabad

Hummmm..... this was one interesting and tiring weekend for me. Yah It was Maghor Bihu and a lot to eat and do as an assamese.
The Magh or the Bhogali Bihu, the harvesting festival is celebrated in January by community feast, buffalo fight and such other entertainment. Magh Bihu is celebrated during second week of January. The eating festival keeps on going all most for a month. How ever the main celebrations are observed in three days.

Day 1: It is the last day of Puh Maah or Poush mash of Hindu Calender. Onthis day, The house is cleaned, all the corp is put in to the Store ( called Bhoral Ghor in assamese) for the coming year.
In a common place of the community or village, a Haroli Ghor and a Meji is build with the help of hay, bamboo etc. The Haroli Ghor is also called Bhela Ghor at some parts of Assam. The symbolization of this is to Make a Common Kithchen and store for the festival. The Young and old togather starts the preperation almost a month prior to make this temporary hut.
Meji is the symbolization of Fire God. It is kept secred. This is made by stacking a lot of fire wood, hay, bamboo etc.
At night the whole community will cook a feast for every one and eat togather to celebrate. The women folks preperae traditional assamese dishes for the coming to days. They are mainly Pitha( Kind of Cake), Sira( Puffed Rice), Doi ( Curd) etc.

Day2: It Falls on MAKAR SANKRANTI. This day starts very early. Every one wakes up and goes for a holly bath and gathers at the Meji. The head of the village / community or some elderly people puts the Meji on fire and every one offers prayer and food to it. Women add the sweets made the previous night to offer to the God through fire. The Haroli Ghor is also burnt the same day. At some places they keep it for another week or so to have one more FEAST.
During the day, traditional food is served. People visit each other. NO Proper full meal is cooked. Woman Clean up their main cooking vassels at the out side cleaning area. This pot is normally not taken out of the main kitchen. At night they cook feast dinner for the family.

Day3: This day is usually for visiting and wishing people well being.

Well, being in hyderabad, what i did was attended a community gathering. Cleaned ( rather washed) my house and cooked whatever possible. It was a nice feeling to be able to do what I did. To keep close to my culture and my land !!! Thats the flip side of an MNC job and being Non Resident Assamese. 9 years really matthers. Hope I will remember what I was taught in my child hood days by my mother and my grannys. Also by BIHU Essays in school.

Relationship Confusion & Cyber Age...... from mofid

Debasish da and Labhita Baa …….the connection I have with them till now is very typical and modern…we three are in Hyderabad…..we three are from Assam….and we have not met yet…..Yet we three know of each other and I have only respect for them …for their Views, their Work….link :Orkut !! We are truly living in a cyber age !!

Debasish Da, I got to know of him through orkut……has some great concern for his homeland assam…….this may lead him to head back assam in his 40's or late 50's—that's what I have a gut feeling for Dev da…..His views and opinions have been very thoughtful …..very motivating personality indeed

Labhita Baa, I got to know of to know of her through orkut, She knocked my gmail and gave me the opportunity to help her in her pursuit of publishing the Looitporia Newsletter……while working with her , I got to know the same feelings as dev da generated as well as great passion for completing a task on time at any cost…..blessed with great editorial and leadership skills…….it was a pleasure working under her with my own R&D work….she directed and I worked…. very motivating personality indeed

Then one fine day , while working online, she told something which made me ponder whether Newton's Third Law always work or not. Debasish da and Labhita Baa ,who are very motivating personality themselves, are infact husband and wife !!!

So, baa or Nabou ?? I am getting confused what to address my editor Labhita baa with !!!!
Best wishes to you both and wishes are for some new winds in the coming days with some really fantastic and colorful NEWS towards your door.

Luv,
Mofid (Bhaity / Devarji??)

Happy New Year and Pocharam Dam

oh well.... I know we have behaved like manner less people, but sorry.
Here we wish you all who are reading it a Grand Year ahead. Wishes are never late right???

We went on an outing to a picnic place. Its a real nice place around hyderabad. About 120 minutes to reach. Am I sounding like an tour agent trying to sell that place? Hummm okay lemme try as hard to imitate a sales guy trying to sell is readily available plots around hyderabad. We started about 8 in the morning, and eat bread +jam+egg break fast on the way. I think it was one of the prime attraction of the picnic as we all wanted to recreate a little bit of school picnic feeling. Oh well, no idea if we all really eaten well. We reached ( all boys drank) we had lunch and photo session and we all came back. On way back we visited the 150 year old Medak Church. This is really a place to see. I have not had a very close encounter with Christianity But some how i do get fascinated with such beautiful structures, well maintained and super clean. While going one of our friends were not keeping too well, and while coming our organizer fell ill , along with my already unwell dev. And sources very close to him says it was a pasta effect. I will talk about what is a pasta effect later with his permission. It might take some time as it needs approval from a lot of people. But to sum it up, what I admired was their enthusiasm and effort. And for sure, they will say no girl can have so much fun when unwell !!!!!