Life Goes On

Let me ask you one thing about the below snap before I express my views...what is that comes to your mind immediately after seeing this picture....okay I heard it...may be a dead branch of a tree lying down on the ground and a vast blue sky....but doesn't it say the eternal truth of life???...let me clear myself a bit....we know human beings are mortal but life can be immortal....we take birth on this earth with empty hands...we live in this world...as we grow up we create our own surroundings...we make friends...we make relations....we make wealth to live a happy life...we always think of living in the best way that we can and to get everything that is required to live a healthy wealthy life.....but in all this, we forget one thing...life is not endless...human being is mortal...there is an end that is yet to come and which is not in our hands to decide....it will come eventually....and when it comes we will not be able to help but heading towards emptiness....we came empty handed and we will leave empty handed.....and we will be alive only by the moments that we create during our lifetime.....we will be alive by the relations that we create....so the moral of the story is dream as if you are going to live forever...but live life as if you will die today...live life to the fullest and create lots of memorable moments which will make your presence felt even in your absence....because that's the only way you can be alive in this world while heading towards emptiness....

The Greatest Bengali Festival - Durga Puja

Durga Puja is one of the largest celebrated festivals in the world. Let me begin with a brief description of the festival.

Durga Puja (‘Worship of Durga’), also referred to as Durgotsava(‘Festival of Durga’) or Sharadotsav is an annual Hindu festival in South Asia that celebrates worship of the Hindu goddess Durga. It refers to all the six days observed as Mahalaya, Shashthi, Maha Saptami, Maha Ashtami, Maha Navami and Vijayadashami. 
Durga Puja festival marks the victory of Goddess Durga over the evil buffalo demon Mahishasura. Thus, Durga Puja festival epitomises the victory of Good over Evil.
Durga Puja is widely celebrated in the Indian states of Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Tripura and West Bengal, where it is a five-day annual holiday. In West Bengal and Tripura, which has a majority of Bengali Hindus, it is the biggest festival of the year. Not only is it the biggest Hindu festival celebrated throughout the state, it is also the most significant socio-cultural event in Bengali Hindu society. Apart from eastern India, Durga Puja is also celebrated in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab, Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala. 
Durga Puja is also celebrated as a major festival in Nepal and in Bangladesh all over the places of Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna, Sylhet, Rajshahi, Rangpur, Bogra and other major places and all the villages of Bangladesh where the 20% population is Hindu.
Nowadays, many diaspora Bengali cultural organizations arrange for Durgotsab in countries such as the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, France, The Netherlands, Singapore and Kuwait, among others.
Durga Puja also includes the worship of Shiva, who is Durga's consort (Durga is an aspect of Goddess Parvati), in addition to Lakshmi, Saraswati with Ganesha and Kartikeya, who are considered to be Durga's children. Worship of mother nature is done, through nine types of plant (called "Kala Bou"), including a plantain (banana) tree, which represent nine divine forms of Goddess Durga. Modern traditions have come to include the display of decorated pandals and artistically depicted idols (murti) of Durga, exchange of Vijaya greetings and publication of Puja Annuals.

  
The entire process of creation of the idols (murti) from the collection of clay to the ornamentation is a holy process, supervised by rites and other rituals. On the Hindu date of Akshaya Tritiya when the Ratha Yatra is held, clay for the idols is collected from the banks of a river, preferably the Ganges. 
 There is age-old custom of collecting a handful of soil (punya mati) from the nishiddho pallis of Calcutta, literally 'forbidden territories', where sex workers live, and adding it to the clay mixture which goes into the making of the Durga idol. After the required rites, the clay is transported from which the idols are fashioned. 

  Many Pujas in and around Kolkata buy their idols from Kumartuli (also Kumortuli), an artisans' town in north Calcutta.
As usual, we, with our hungry camera  lenses, had reached to Kumartuli to catch some glimpses of the idol making in process. Here we present some of our captures, hope you like it.

Here we are seeing an artisan is busy in the process of cutting bamboos to make the structure of the idol

 Here we can see the idol structure prepared at a very initial stage

Chicken Sicilliene

 

Now this is what I call a cheese lover's paradise...breast of tender chicken sauteed with mushroom and asparagus in cream sauce and baked with mouth flatteringly delicious cheese....mmmmmm....just love the taste....

Just wanted to give you another view of the above dish...enjoy your food....:P