Sweet Berry Farm Pumpkin Patch

We made the drive to Marble Falls to spend the day at Sweet Berry Farm this weekend.

This farm is amazing with the amount of activities it has for families and young children; if Penelope was a little bit older we would have spent the entire day there, I'm sure.

We spent over an hour inside the Texas corn maze alone! Not to mention the huge varieties of pumpkins, stuff-your-own scarecrow, painting pumpkins, face painters, petting zoo, hay rides, flower picking, and more.

We had an awesome time.

Diwali- My First!

Diwali! Festival of Lights! Biggest Festival of the Year! Yeah! Last year I came so close to being in India for Diwali...Diwali was on Nov. 3rd and I left India Nov.1st. So this was my first official Diwali celebration, and it sure was a lot of fun. It kind of reminded me of a blend of Christmas (all the lights and decorations outside) and the 4th of July (tons of fireworks).

As for the meaning behind Diwali, I'm not 100% sure. I do know that the goddess of money, Lakshmi, is worshiped. Many people will clean their homes top-to-bottom (this includes repainting the house)and light diyas (small candles that burn oil) outside, believing that on the night of Diwali Lakshmi will feel more welcomed to enter their homes and bless them. {I guess instead of our version of "Spring Cleaning," Indians have "Diwali Cleaning." Yes, I thought of that myself...}

Before I show you some of our pictures from Diwali, I was reminded of an old The Office episode. :D

If, for some reason, you can't see this video (sometimes videos aren't enabled between different countries), just do a YouTube search for The Office Diwali Song.

Now, onto our pictures :)

This is called a Rangoli and I have no idea of its purpose, other than it looks pretty.

This was painted on our floor with natural colors (made of red rock for red and rice for white) and represents the goddess Lakshmi's foot print.

Me and my boi.

All the diyas lit up, lookin' pretty.

Family photo.

Some fun with sparklers.

Karva Chauth

October really is the month of festivals. Well, the Hindu festivals are according to the lunar calendar, and it just so happens that they all fall into October this year.

On October 15th we celebrated Karva Chauth, a festival for husbands and wives. On Karva Chauth wives fast for the entire day, not eating any food or drinking any water, until the moon comes out at night. They do this fasting and praying for the long life and good health and fortune of their husbands. When the moon comes out, the wives do a special type of worship to the moon, and after this, they can finally eat.

During the day, women come together and read the story of  Karva Chauth from a book and recite other relevant stories to each other. Our neighbors came over to our home during the day while my mother-in-law read the story of Karva Chauth;and even though i couldn't fully understand what was going on(language barrier and all), it was kinda nice having a time like that with all the ladies.

On Karva Chauth it is also customary for in-laws to give gifts to each other. Abhi and I bought surprise gifts for both of his parents, and they also for me.

Me, mother-in-law, neighbors. 

Me with some neighbors, posing for the newspaper cameraman, lol. 

These are our Karvas (clay pots) used to pour water to the moon. 

Me giving mother-in-law her gifts (some bangles and clothes). 

Me giving father-in-law his gift (dress shirt) ((I think he was really surprised because he almost never gets gifts! He wore it two days in a row this week...that means he likes it!)). 

Seeing the moon. 

Abhi giving me food after seeing the moon.

Dushera

About a week ago I witnessed a seemingly very dangerous event. Thousands of people jammed into a small fairground with very small exit doors, with very large bombs and fireworks exploding in front of us. And by very large, I mean 100ft tall statues of fire and explosion.

But no need to be alarmed, this happens every year. And, as real as you are sitting and reading, I am also here sitting and writing, very much alive and safe.

The significance of Dushera is that of good defeating evil. In Hindu tradition there is a great battle in which a god, Rama, defeats an evil demon, Ravanna. Therefore, these flaming statues are statues of Ravanna and his cohorts going down in flames, a reinactment or symbol of good's power over evil.

The following video is a little long, but you can see all three statues explode and just how large and loud the crowd is here in our little city.

Vegetarianism Was Forced Upon Me, I Say!

Its festival season in India. That means one festival after another, after another. Which is fun an all, but unfortunately, during any festival or special occasion in the Hindu religion (and many times daily life), there is a strict policy of no meat-eating, whatsoever. Not even eggs. "**shock, gasp, the horror!!**"


You see, it was difficult for me already with my in-laws being vegetarians for religious reasons; Abhi and I respected that by eating outside whenever the carnivorous craving kicked in (which happens all the time for me!). Though, we would regularly eat eggs and such at home.

Now, I never want to disrespect my in-laws in any way, hence my temporary change in diet. BUT, I think this vegetarian deal is starting to get to my head and it might just be making me a little loopy. Its been almost a month now without any meat or eggs!! Aaahhh!! And before this festival season started my meat intake was very, very slim. Seriously, I would like to see any Puerto Rican/American (I added the Puerto Rican part because yes, we like our pork) try to reduce meat from their diet for 8 months and then walk through life with a big, happy smile =D. I know I may be obsessing a little bit, but I would like to see you (yes, you) try to get through an episode of MasterChef without your stomach growling at every sight of chicken, beef, pork, shrimp, fish, goat, whathaveyou.

All this said in good fun, I'm patiently (not patiently enough, hence this blog post) awaiting my reunion with my beloved proteins (Friday!). That being said, don't call me on that day because I'm sure, I'll be busy eating. ;)

Raksha Bandhan; A Brother-Sister Affair

On Saturday, August 13th, we celebrated the annual bro-sis festival of Raksha Bandhan. With Raksha and Bandhan meaning protect and promise, the brother makes a promise of protection to his sister. The sister ties a band (rakhi) around the brother's wrist, reminding him of the promise he made to her.

I really enjoy the idea of a promise made between brother and sister like this, and it makes me wonder why, in the U.S., we don't celebrate that unique bond that a brother and sister hold. Even when family members live far apart, they make it a point to come together for this festival. Many times rakhi is also exchanged between close cousins, considering each other as brother and sister.

For Raksha Bandhan we had family come and stay with us, which is always nice. And of course, like any festival, excellent food was had. :)

 Abhi and Shivangi

Shivangi tying rakhi on Abhinav's wrist 

Shivangi tying rakhi on my wrist. Husband and wife are considered as one, so when a sister ties rakhi on her brother's wrist, she also ties it on her brother's wife.

My Mother-In-Law tying rakhi on her brother's wrist. 

Mother-In-Law tying rakhi on brother's wife's wrist.

Happy Raksha Bandhan.

Kavad Yatra

If you were in Northern India right now, you would see an unusual amount of orange color in the streets. Men (and some women and children) crowd roads and highways annually to fulfill a type of pilgrimage dedicated to the Hindu god, Shiva.

Not properly a pilgrimage but more of a journey (Kavad meaning the tent-like structure that is carried, Yatra meaning journey), hundreds of thousands of saffron-wearing devotees make the journey from their respective home cities to Northern India's holy cities of Rishikesh and Haridwar. The trek begins every year on the first day of sawan (monsoon) and lasts for about two weeks (this year's is July 16th-29th).

During the journey people carry kavads, elaborately decorated structures made of bamboo, many of which look like tents because they are so large in size. The kavad should not touch the ground at any point during the journey. Once the traveler has reached the Ganges river, he or she fills jugs with the river's water and places them at each end of the kavad, making it much heavier that it already was. Then the journey begins back to each person's respective home temple dedicated to Shiva. Some travel in groups, others alone.

Some devotees travel by train, bus, motorcycle, or bike, but most of them travel by foot, some also without shoes!

The most interesting part of this Yatra, for me, is that these travelers happen to be passing right through the city I live in! I don't know if its a good thing or a bad thing...maybe just more of an interesting thing. Along the journey there are many checkpoint areas where travelers can rest and find something to eat or drink provided by various temples. Many of these checkpoints are in our city. The not-so-awesome part about being a 'checkpoint' city is that many of our roads are blocked now so that the travelers can do their traveling in peace, making for very congested streets nowadays. Also, I constantly hear a voice on a loudspeaker directing traffic and travelers. Day and night, day and night.

Abhi and I went around the city trying to get some good footage of the orange-ness, here's what we got:

 butt shot!

a pretty big kavad 

This is a drive-by of one of the rest areas in our city.

Wat Amavasya

Yesterday we celebrated a small festival called Wat Amavasya, in which wives pray for the long lives of their husbands. Wat is the Hindi name for the Banyan tree and Amavasya is the name for a New Moon day. In this festival the Banyan tree is recognized for its size and age and represents the long life that women hope for their husbands. In Indian culture there are four festivals per year of this nature in which the wives pray/fast for their husbands. We finished everything by morning time since Abhinav had to go to work early.

For festivals many women apply henna the day before. This was done in the market by a professional.

Branch of a Banyan tree used during prayer. 

Me and my Mother-In-Law. This is the same saree I wore for our wedding. 

Giving a gift of different foods to my Father-In-Law.

Indian Easter

Yesterday was the first Easter I've spent away from home and the usual traditions of Easter. We didn't have a big Easter Egg dying event(though I did get an Easter Egg surprise), no Egg Hunts or Easter brunches with the family. Actually, it seemed like just another normal day going outside into the marketplace, with most people unaware of such a big holiday that I am used to back home. Abhinav and I went to Easter church service and had special "brunch" food outside. He even gave me one surprise that might not seem like much, but it actually meant a lot to me...

After hearing about our tradition of dying Easter Eggs, Abhinav set off to try it himself and surprise me. Since we don't have any Easter Egg dyes or other interesting things to make colors, he boiled this egg in black tea and dyed it brown...pretty creative, and I was happy to still have a little bit of home tradition here in India. :)


Happy Easter everyone.

Happy Holi!

Today is a special festival in India...Holi! During this festival people have fun putting powdered colors on each other, going around the neighborhood to get others, and even bring out water guns and spray colors on each other. It's a lot of fun and everyone, young to old, celebrates holi.

Abhinav, me, his sister and mother, all traveled to another city to visit Abhinav's grandmother and celebrate with family here. Its great for us all to get out and be with family members and friends to celebrate holi.

 Some neighborhood ladies

 With water! :)

Happy Holi to my family and friends. Love and miss you.