August - Poojas, festivals and suttafying

I don't recall having a single weekend to laze. And since working days rule out lazing(officially at least ;)) , I have been doing things 19 to the dozen all of August. Every single day.
And so, I solemnly swear to kick off my shoes, sink into that couch and not do anything at all for ALL of September !
First weekend :
Skandagiri trek . For details of that place check this and this.
P.S. I love that Payaniga dude ! I so want to have my own travel blog after having read his (which would imply I need to travel a lot ! yipppppeeeeee )
P.S. to the PS : I don't have a write up on that, so borrowing from Payaniga.

That was a Saturday well spent, with office mates and their families. I collected at least 10 sets of curses and abuses for having chosen a trek for an outing instead of "Fun World". I am not going to be allowed to make any further decisions on "where to go's"
Sigh.

The Sunday, when everyone else had taken Crocin pain relief and didn't get out of bed, me and hubby dearest went out with my sibling gang to catch Christian Bale jump around in a Bat suit. LOVED Joker ! May his soul rest in peace.


Second weekend :
The newly weds had a homam to perform at the temple. Some sort of a shanthi pooja, I got to wear a new saree and all that, so ,that was a weekend well spent ! (that's my official line and I'm sticking to it!)

Third weekend :
Luckily this was a long weekend with Friday being Independence day. But I was barely aware of that. That's coz it was Varalakshmi Vratam also on that day. The pujari came home, lots of Poojas and praying to God for stuff :D Neighbour aunties all paying attendance and giving them some stuff each while they wished me marital bliss. All that was ok, but darn, all these pujas need for me to take Ashirvadam from Vc. Touching his feet and all hmph! and his holy majesty gives a broad smile , I give a "I'll kill you" look to the Poojari and he smiles back with a "I cant help it" expression. Indian rituals have it all wrong !! grrrr. Oh and I got a new saree again.
After the 'stress and strain' of all that , Sat-Sun should have been a vacation off, right ! and so it was. We were off to Sakleshpur. And here is Vc's description of it .
We loved it ! It is one amazing place. I mean we got to live in a coffee estate, wake up to the sounds of nature, red-oxide floor with kerosene lamps for light, constant drizzle! Haiiiiiiiiiiiii ... What more can one ask for !!


Fourth weekend :
This was the Krishna Janmashtmi weekend. Saturday midnight pooja at the same time as the one done in Udupi.I have never done this before but Vc does so year after year. And thus, new habits get added into one's life :)

Fifth weekend :
We had our first guests over officially on Sunday, so Saturday got spent in turning the pigsty into a home ! Most of the credit goes to Vc. Sunday morning was spent in cooking. All was spic and span and food ready, the hosts looking human again(as opposed to looking like escapees from an health instituition who toppled into soot and garbage and all else). We got a call from our guests that they would be late by 1.5 hours! I was never that glad in a long time !! Both of us took a moment to catch our breath. Sat down, looked around and felt so proud of what we had achieved, I think Vc turned all senti ;)
It was a evening well spent, catching up with friends always is isn't it?
And after that, we went out go-karting! Now that was FUN! You do end up with a head that has been shaken and stirred and beaten under the helmet. But it was worth it !

And right after that we had Ganesh Chathurthi. My favourite festival of the lot. Got up early (at least earlier that usual :-P) and went out with our shopping basket. The market was a riot of colors, flowers, banana-leaves, sugarcane, Ganesha idols, fruits ! I felt like a kid again, when I used to go out with my dad to get the prettiest Ganesha there was. Pick out the right flowers, pull grass from the neighbour's garden, mango leaves from the neighbouring farm, arrange the dahlias and set the fruits, get the text book of the toughest subject that year, pray to God wholeheartedly.
We never do grow old do we?
And just like that another month passed me by....