How do I love thee...

I love you when you punch me or your dad with your little fists when we try to dress Oju & he screams.
I love you when you laugh through your scowl when I make silly jokes.
I love you when you say you want to marry me.

and

I love you when you say you want to do everything we are 'not' doing at the moment.
I love you when you chew your sleeves or collar.
I love you when you mutter under your breath when you are angry with me.

Prabh Harmandir Saajya (God decorated the Harimandir)...

There is this incident that happened when I visited Harimandir Sahib in 2002 when I was carrying Juju. (The fact that I have visited Harimandir Sahib twice in the past 5-6 years and both times I was few weeks pregnant without knowing it, is nothing short of a miracle). I am mesmerized by that place - so much that I cant quite describe the feeling. You have to go there to know what I'm talking about.

Anyway, not even the Harimandir is untouched by human pettiness. The morning & evening services there are relayed live by one of the TV channels. Which results in hordes of poeple trying to fit into spaces where the camera coverage is max. We however managed to find space in the camera's blind spot. The kirtan there is something amazing, so I inched forward till I was sitting right next to the railings which separate the Granth Sahib from the sangat. I was actually told by the priests there to move back because the place could only be taken by Panj Piarey(In this context, this meant sikh men who are in the true sikh for i.e. hav not cut their hair & wear turban)! Naturally, I shifted back but I was apalled. When this holy place was established by Guru Ram Das in mid 1500's, there were no panj piarey at all. Would he not have allowed women to sit wherever they mighty well pleased & listen to the words of the Guru's who are as much mine as they are any men's.
I always thought that Sikhism being one of the few new religions, is very modern & relevant in today's world. It certainly has very progressive views on women.
So when, Bibi Jagir Kaur, whatever her personal faults may be, when she tried to introduce reforms in terms of introducing women priests, I for one supported wholeheartedly.

Explanation of absence...

Wondering where I've been - been around half the globe & back...
My last announcement was that we were leaving for Belfast because the amazing husband had landed a job there & my dream of extending my sabbatical till my Oju reached school age was finally becoming reality.
No such luck. We did go to Northern Ireland but the husband's job didn’t work out that well - luckily, it was almost time for me to join work again as my extended leave period was nearly over. I requested an assignment in the UK as we discovered that the weather & the clean air suited my kids better than the climate in India. Well, one of our biggest clients (hush hush - a BIG Scottish Bank - must say no more :D ) wanted some work done which yours truly is rather good at so there...
So, we chanced upon this Byuuuuuuuuuuuuuutiful city of Edinburgh.
Of course, we all had to travel back to India for a month & a half so that I could get my work permit & others could get their visas in order.
And Wonder of Wonders - our permanent residence visa for Australia got approved in the meantime & we have to move there before Jan mid next year. I want to move in November this year so as to de-risk the whole thing. Fits in nicely with my project too.
But we are so fascinated by this city that as my dear huzband says - We will go away but we will leave our hearts behind - I agree (I mean where else will you find a city whose streets resemble a fairy tale set & the lanes have names like 'Candlemaker's Row' & little sailboats sailing from the rivers out into the sea ... my rant about the beauty of this place will take up another post)

Why no pictures of Juju?
The kid has recently become camera shy. The moment he finds out you are trying to take a picture of him, he turns the other way or starts a wild monkey dance & runs away. I have lots of videos of him though.

Biji...

Biji is what we used to call our grandmother (my father's mum). She passed away this morning. Cant honestly say that I am sad. She'd been having a hard time lately. Hats off to my parents& my aunt for patiently taking care of her.

Hers had been a chequered life. She was born into a rich family of contractors from Mandi Ahmedgarh. Married to my grandfather at the age of 11. My gradfather's family were also contractors and land owners in the British cantonement of Ferozepur. Back in those days, people were married off in childhood and the girl went to her in-law's house after reaching puberty. When my great grandmother passed away, she was called to my grandfather's house. There she took care of her a household full of men (her grand father-in-law, father-in-law, husband, two brothers-in-law) and one rather shrewish woman - my grandfather's sister. She brought up & got her husband's siblings married.

In the meantime, she had my father, uncle & aunt. By some quirk of fate both my father & uncle joined the army & my aunt married an army officer.

All in all, what with differences in opinion & her giving mum a hard time, our relationship was neither here nor there, but I must admire her for her confidence, pride and her love for us grandkids.

That's her with the veil (I used to teaseher because she had to cover her face in the prescence of older men) at my parent's wedding. My dad is the one with the garlands and my grandfather is the only cleanshaven person here who is wearing a turban.

With biji's passing away, the last of my kids' great grand parents has gone.

Belfast...
Hodey Dokey - looks like we are moving to Northern Ireland after all. The first thing that the name "Belfast" brings to mind is the song by Boney M.
Well, I'm mostly excited to finally setup a home of my own. A little jittery because the kids have not been keeping well of late.
Then there's just 3 weeks left & loads of loose ends to tie up - finances/property/software backups (all my kids' memories are in digital pictures in my old computer!)/shopping - list is endless.

We went on a religious trip yesterday. Our main destination was Sri Naina Devi. The strange thing I have noticed about the worship of the Mother Goddess is that in all hilly areas throughout India, the Mother Goddess or her consort Shiva are worshipped. For instance all Devi shrines in Himachal, Chamundeshvari in Mysore, Kailash Mansarovar. What is it about heights that inspires the worship of the cosmic destroyer & his spouse?
The good news is that Juju has overcome his fear of airplanes and enjoyed the cable car ride to the top. Oju however did not like getting cloistered in the brass railings leading up to the shrine. It did not help that it was pretty crowded & it took about an hour for us to go from the eantrance to the shrine. Oju conveyed his displeasure by bawling for half an hour & banging his head against the railings & my head alternately.




The beauty of the place however was breathtaking. I managed to click this picture of this beautiful Himachali bride with the typical lovely huge nose ring.
Then we went on to Nangal famous for the Bhakra dam where my husband grew up. There were many sighings & oohings & aahings on his part when he saw his school and the house he had lived in & the grounds in which he had played cricket.












In Nangal, we visited the scenic Gurudwara Bibhor Sahib where the 10th Sikh Guru wrote an important part of the Sikh scriptures. The views of the Sutlej river from the gurudwara are lovely.















N.B. The blue here is water not the sky