29th September, Day 3
It was the last day of Navratri and I felt like attending the morning puja, which I had intended to attend atleast a couple of times in all of these 9 days. Despite various reasons, including the grand excuse of laziness, I could not carry through - guess my intention was not that strong. So I thought the last day is now or never and am so glad I made it -- to the next building! :P There were mostly elderly ladies present, but also a friend of mine with her daughter, who is also a friend of mine. It was nice and peaceful and the room was so very fragrant with flowers and incense. The ladies recited the entire Lalitha Stothram and I struggled to read the Sanskrit verses through the Hindi translation booklet my friend handed me. Am relieved I could read at least half of it pretty quickly. My mom was happy and so were some of the elderly ladies that I was present there. It felt like a good start to the day.
Got back home and once again I practiced the gift of time and love by spending a lot of time with my ailing father. We have not had a nice long chat in months although we live under the same roof. He is undergoing a lot of suffering due to ill health, and is not always in the best of moods although everyone tries to help him or spend time with him. It felt so good to hug each other for a long time, laugh and joke just like the good old days :-) A man with an amazing sense of humour now seldom displays his wit. So I love it when he giggles at my jokes and cracks some of his own sometimes. Now each of these moments is more precious than ever before!
Having enjoyed feasting and receiving gifts on all the days of Navratri celebrations with friends and neighbors, it was time to do some gifting of my own as well. With a lot of love and care and gratitude, I made gift bags filled with assorted goodies such as new sari blouse material, bangles, pendants, diyas/lamps, supari, combs, pocket mirrors and so on for the two nursing attendants who help my father, our cook, my grandfather's domestic help and his watchman's wife, the lady who collects the garbage from our house every morning and a couple of other ladies who work in the colony. I had been collecting things to put into each bag and it felt good to make these gift hampers. They were all very happy and touched and accepted it with big smiles on their faces :-)
It was the last day of Navratri and I felt like attending the morning puja, which I had intended to attend atleast a couple of times in all of these 9 days. Despite various reasons, including the grand excuse of laziness, I could not carry through - guess my intention was not that strong. So I thought the last day is now or never and am so glad I made it -- to the next building! :P There were mostly elderly ladies present, but also a friend of mine with her daughter, who is also a friend of mine. It was nice and peaceful and the room was so very fragrant with flowers and incense. The ladies recited the entire Lalitha Stothram and I struggled to read the Sanskrit verses through the Hindi translation booklet my friend handed me. Am relieved I could read at least half of it pretty quickly. My mom was happy and so were some of the elderly ladies that I was present there. It felt like a good start to the day.
Got back home and once again I practiced the gift of time and love by spending a lot of time with my ailing father. We have not had a nice long chat in months although we live under the same roof. He is undergoing a lot of suffering due to ill health, and is not always in the best of moods although everyone tries to help him or spend time with him. It felt so good to hug each other for a long time, laugh and joke just like the good old days :-) A man with an amazing sense of humour now seldom displays his wit. So I love it when he giggles at my jokes and cracks some of his own sometimes. Now each of these moments is more precious than ever before!
Having enjoyed feasting and receiving gifts on all the days of Navratri celebrations with friends and neighbors, it was time to do some gifting of my own as well. With a lot of love and care and gratitude, I made gift bags filled with assorted goodies such as new sari blouse material, bangles, pendants, diyas/lamps, supari, combs, pocket mirrors and so on for the two nursing attendants who help my father, our cook, my grandfather's domestic help and his watchman's wife, the lady who collects the garbage from our house every morning and a couple of other ladies who work in the colony. I had been collecting things to put into each bag and it felt good to make these gift hampers. They were all very happy and touched and accepted it with big smiles on their faces :-)
5 comments:
Jane !!!!!
Wow, this is unbelievable. Glad to see you back on the blogging world and you have been pretty regular.
Welcome back ! and we shall now have all the fun of reading blogs and commenting.
Belated Happy Dusshera and looks like you enjoyed the Navaratri festival :)
I read the JGW series thus far. I tip my hat to you for spreading so much joy.
Hope your father feels better soon.
Really sweet messages from you both, thanks guys! :-)
Yay! Jane is back in Blogistan! This is one more contribution of yours during the JGW. :P Jokes aside, I like that you're still mainting the upbeat mood. :-)
PS: Jogan Jane! Bwahahaha!
Hi Bheegi! :D Good to see you here, and thanks for the 'warm' welcome :P
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