A day in NYC

Without a doubt in my mind, this post is dedicated to my cousin Anil bhaeya and Komal bhabhi, without whom this trip would might be possible but not as successful and enriching as it was. Here we are at with them and their son at the NJ Jenkinson beach's board walk.

I am a deep sleeper and rarely lose my night sleep for anything. Surprisingly, on the night before we were to go visit NYC, I couldn't sleep. It took me some time to fall asleep and I got up more than once to see what time it was. My husband who slept like a log, told me that the reason that I kept getting up was excitement. I told him that I actually felt fear. We stay in the lovely town in Willimantic which could actually be called a village. People are courteous and bus drivers are the friendliest that I have seen. So to go to NYC was a little unnerving as I have heard horrid stories of NYC from people who have visited it once.

As I sat in the bus and looked at trees pass me by, I wondered. I had not even heard about the Rockefeller museum or most of the attractions that I wanted to see. So, why did I want to go there and how would it change my life?

We clicked a pic in the bus as we sat. Just like a "Before" picture.

 

We reached NYC Port authority a little after noon and as we were deciding on which way to go and see the Times Square, A gentleman came near us and told us to go out from the stairs. We were so surprised and said thank you and left but we were definitely not done with the surprises for that moment. We went up and asked a person standing there to tell us where Time's square is. He told us that we were on Times Square. I was so surprised. I didn't realize that TS was so huge. It is actually a few streets and not just this place that is shown in the movies. :P

And, as we were discussing this, the gentleman, whom we had first met, came again and told us to continue walking on this road and we could enjoy the street. After this he left, and for some reason, we felt... I still don't know how I felt but it does feel good knowing that there are helpful people still around.

I have done many silly things in life but this is by far the most silliest thing I have ever done. - Stand in front of a giant screen and wait for the camera to capture us with a few other people and wave. Can you spot my husband and me? 

I love the fact that people in USA are patriotic and genuinely seem to respect the soldiers. We saw Military being loved at the Times Square.

We passed the Ripley's believe it or not museum. We were short on time and didn't want to spend our whole day doing just one thing. Hence, we decided to skip the Madame Tussauds for another time.

 

and this was our time spent on TS. We headed towards Rockefeller centre. On the way we came across the Marriot and... I have seen many big buildings in Mumbai but this building took my breath away for a sec and gave me a slight strain to click this pic.

The NYC taxi advertising is by far the best campaign I have seen. It is so perfect. It is at perfect human eye level and can't be missed.

On the way to Rockefeller, We took a lane which was not what we intended but did end up being on Broadway. :D Funny how Life works out.

We saw this pretty piano bar and I was pleased to see the decor from the out.

The Rockefeller center was ok. We saw many a big news buildings like FOX and NBC.

This was probably the best part of being at NYC.

After being done with all the streets, we headed towards Central Park, to visit and wait for my bhaeya to come pick us up.

 It is a lively, beautiful and fun place to be.

 I like the fact that this pretty and green park is situated right in the middle of this crazy city.

One thing I noticed about the birds, they were not scared of humans and seemed to enjoy being photographed.

 Some pics of my hubby with the beautiful skyline and a monument inside the park.

As we waited for my bhaeya, we sat on the bench of Love. Do zoom in to read what it says.

Bhaeya took us around to see the night lights at NYC. We were too tired to click much pics. And, though this is not a good pic, I still have it to keep it as memory of the night. By the way, the blue white red building that you see is the Empire State building.

This is how we spent our evening in NYC. It was not the most breath taking moment's in my life and... well... I am still grateful to have gone there. We did see the Yankee stadium from our bus.

One thing that I felt but is hard to explain in words is the feeling of seeing a fellow indian. There is something that transpires when you look in their eyes...it is a feeling of joy and acknowledgement and... Well it is hard to put it in words...have you felt this?

I hope to spend more time in NYC and visit the main attractions... Well, I am sure that day will come soon.. Till then, keep me in your prayers and do keep smiling. :D

 

Picnic at Alex Caisse Park

The mausam is awesome, We feel like we are staying on a hill station. The days are loooong and I really find it odd to see this dark blue colored sky when I go the bed.

My dear hubby and I decided to go on a picnic at the park right behind the house. I was googling to see the correct spelling of the park and found this nice aerial link which gives such a pretty view of the place where we stay and the park. Do you see the group of trees right behind the park? The building we stay in is under the mini forest - as I like to call it and simply love.

Though I wish I can spend some time in downtown Willimantic and click pics of some really pretty trees and amazing architecture, this post is about the park and the pretty stuff near us. Tulips are in bloom and I had never seen them until now.

Though I miss the calendar tree, (Pink beautiful flowers) Gulmohar and the yellow flowering trees of Mumbai, I got to see some beautiful white flowering tree in Willimantic.

 It is a beautiful scene from our window to see these flowering trees.

 

And there are many pretty flowering shrubs in the area. This one with pink flowers is at the bend of the road and looks so pretty. Sadly, my camera (or my photography skills) don't do any justice to its beauty

 This is one more shrub/plant I saw on the short walk to our picnic and a delight to look at. It is barely 2 inches above ground level but does make you stop and pay some attention to it.

 

We intended to have the picnic on sunday but we had to go shopping for Indian groceries and decided to post pone it to a weekday and add some thrill to our week.

I made veg burgers and Green tea and took along some chips and hummus(incase the burgers don't fill our tummy) and we sat under this stunning tree.

 

and shared this pretty view.

It is so nice to see that there are picnic tables at the park.

 

and this is the other side of the park. There is a Gazebo (that u can see in the aerial view as well.) and such a nice feeling to see the clean and ready to use parks. Hope I can get more picnics here.

So, there I am, with everything ready to eat.

We wanted to invite our new friends but we are the only vegetarians we know and .. well..hope we can do it one day. Hence the selfies.

 On our way back, we clicked a pic of the way to our home. I love the green around and make it a point to be out there more often. :)

Winter in Connecticut

Here are the pictures that I have clicked in Connecticut. We are (hopefully) finishing our 5 months of winter here. I must tell you that I have not been very daring to venture in the snow or go play. I found it very cold. A part of me regrets it in some way but I am not sure if I would go out if I was given a second chance. It is cold.

This is the view from my window. Most of the pics that you will see are taken in the warmth of my house.
 

In the evening, the colour of the sky keeps me company till my husband comes home, It is always this blue and looks so pretty that I can't stop looking at it.

This is a video of the first snow fall we had. This is also the first time I experienced snow fall.

It doesn't stop falling once it starts :P This too is a clip from the initial days of snow.

 

This is what snow does to the plants...

and, thankfully, also this. Snow settles on the barren branches of the trees and creates this lovely and beautiful highlight which is a sight to cherish.

I will be missing this in the spring.

 

We really need protective layers when we go out and this is how packed I got.

It is predicted that we have had our last snow and now, spring is really coming. God knows that I am looking forward to it. My husband and I went out yesterday to enjoy the end of snow and.. couldn't help write things on freshly fallen snow. What is life without LOVE?

Honestly, the best moment has been where I was so absorbed in the picture that I forgot to take one one such moment is while we were travelling in bus through jungle. There was snow on the mountains and bare trees with open outstretched arms. The setting sun cast a lovely orange colour the the branches and for a moment, it felt that the trees were on fire.

I can't wait for Spring.

A Bengali wedding - 21st Jan 2014

Day 1 - 15th Jan, 2014 - Wednesday The worst start to the journey ever. Our maid didn't come and we miscalculated our time which made us jump from 427 CST slow train and trod towards platform 18 at 514 pm to make it in time for our 515 duranto to howrah only to be greeted by an individual whose seat we chose to rest to catch our breath "dekha bittu, is liye mein tumhe bolta hu ki aadha ghanta pehle niklo." (See these sad people who have had to run the platform, this is why I tell you to reach the platform 30 minutes early atleast)

We sat next to someone who has travelled  22 times in duranto. She told us about the differences in food. She also told us the logic behind duranto. Dur ant means it's only stop is at the end, hence duranto. When I asked my hubby to read this and check the facts for me, he told me that Duranto means hyper in bangla and maybe this too is a reason for duranto.

We reached to a freezing cold weather. Brrr. Literally with shaking bodies we wore around 3 sweaters.

In the evening of Friday (Day 3 - 17th Jan, 2014), we could hear and see so many beautiful birds. I saw kingfisher, bulbul, mynah, koyal and a kind of dove.

I have come to bengal for a wedding as is clear by title. The morning was fine but evening started with the festive flavor of a bengal wedding.

There were haluikar (cooks) who came to make rosogullas. My elders found it funny that I was clicking pics, I told them that in mumbai we only know how to eat rosogullas, not to make.

It is amazing to see the skill of these cooks who can roll 2 rosogullas at a time. Apparently they can roll 3 or 4 rosogullas too.

These pics do no justice to the experience I had of eating a warm rasgulla. If u have had a soft and warm gulab jamun or have had the divine experience of eating a warm rosogulla, then u really know what I mean.

I wish that I could bring you the aroma, flavor and experience of it all.

I might have mentioned Mori. She is the house cat. Her delicate body shivers in the cold. She folds it all in a way to gain maximum heat. So pretty.

Day 4 - 18th jan, 2014 - Saturday

We visited my new mom's village for a puja.

My 2 cute younger sister in laws stay there but the highlight of the day was meeting this childlike pandit. After the puja was done, I liked this pretty scenery and thought of capturing this clean green moment.

He saw it and asked me to click his photo. I turned around but he wanted to sit in this specific pose. My husband told me stories later of his childlike nature.

We clicked a group photo too.

On the way we also found gobi farming and muli. I didn't know muli had flowers too :)

 They had a jackfruit tree too which had this so cute tender jackfruit.

The girls knew I would like their farm, they took me there and plucked some meha, dhania and carrots.

They also have this chalta tree. Chalta is used to make a khatta meetha chatni.

Since I had worn sari, we decided to make full utilization of it and visited all the relatives's in the evening.

Day 5 - 19th Jan, 2014 - Sunday

Sunday thankfully started as all sundays are supposed to start.
In the evening, one ritual before the wedding was conducted. The husk of the rice is removed like in the original days. It  is actually called dhan kota. Payasam is made out of this rice and all the ladies eat it,

The pic on right is of my mom removing the husk. 
All the ladies took turns including me in this ritual and then applied alta.

The bride applied mehendi and the glow on her face was just increasing with the minute.

Day 6 - 22 Jan 2014 - Monday
The work at the byah baadi was in full swing on a day prior to the wedding.

Also notice the lauv gaach (dudhi plant) on the kitchen roof.

Evening started with alpana. The 3 very talented cousins finished the work with some little help from the remaining of us.

In the end, the brother of the bride made a prajapati (butterfly) that symbolizes marriage in bangla customs.

This is how it looked when completed

Day 7 - 21th Jan, 2014 - Tuesday (The wedding day) Or still monday.
The day of the wedding started at 4 am with a ritual. I have never seen fog so dense and close by.

Village weddings have a ritual of serving breakfast lunch and dinner for 3 days to all the invitees.

Around 11 am, the haldi from the boys side came along with a lot of things. It is called gaaye halud.

The girl was smeared with haldi.

After lunch, there was a ritual of taking kulo to the river/pond. The eldest daughter in law should be doing it but since I have not done it before, everybody told me to do it. They also told me that I should tell them if hands pain in some time. They did after few minutes and I handed over the kulo to my boudi.

The scenery is breathtaking as always

This is the ritual taking place.

The work of the pandal was over by evening and it looked splendid. The pandal, the entrance, the place to dine, everything is decorated in style and with lots of love.

 A ritual I forgot to ask about. It is basically done for the bride's protection before the wedding if I am not wrong.

The bride looked just splendid before the wedding. She has never worn make up or the works ever in her life to my knowledge. So this was a major step for her and she looks so pretty after it all.

 I like her better when she smiles.

 These are the cousins who made the alpana. They too decked up for the wedding.

The groom is made to sit in a room "Varasana" He doesn't talk at all. Only smiles and looks handsome when he does.

 

With the pretty bride.

I couldn't help but click this pic. He looked so confused and cute.It reminded me of all the jokes on marriage and the bakra. :)

I missed most of the wedding as I had work outside. I hope to catch it on video. :( but from what I understand, Bengali weddings happen over three days. The main wedding happens in the night of first day in the bride's house depending upon the muhuratham. It can be at late night after 1pm too but fortunately for us it started at 8:45pm and finished within 10pm (very few Pics are above)

I forget the people I meet and hence am reintroduced to the same people again. My hubby has hence started this family tree on imlee. We were clicking pics of it in our free time. This is how my cousin posed, She looked sooo funny and cute that I had to post it here.

Day 8 - 22nd Jan, 2014 - Tuesday - The bahubhat

In the morning of the second day, There is a ritual of aashirvad.
The bride and groom sit in one place and everyone comes one by one to give aashirvaad, makes them eat something sweet and then a little water. It is a very heart touching moment. The bride leaves her home after this.

The bride is supposed to eat and serve food in grooms house to the relatives.
 
We, in the bride's house now - Most of us caught on sleep. It is not easy to get someone married. Though I can hardly claim that I did any work but whatever little bit I did, made me sleep this noon. We also utilized this time for shopping to take goodies back home.

Day 9 - 23rd Jan, 2014 - Wednesday - The Fulsaja (suhaag raat)

On this day kanyajaatris come to the grooms house with the gifts. We had to pack all the stuff that was to be sent to the boy's home. We spent the whole day doing so. Here is a pic of the bride's brother inspecting the gifts and the packing.

At the reception, The bride was decorated yet again and made to sit in this beautiful seat.

 Here is my hubby and me with the bride. She looked so pretty and happy that we really forgot to include the groom in this pic. I realized this only while uploading it on FB ;)

This is the room of the bride and the groom. It was filled with the gifts we had sent. It was such a happy feeling to see the splendor and the works. It reminded me of my wedding so much. The getting ready, the fun, the rosogullas, the decoration, the relatives, the games and the love.

We had a early morning train to catch. We clicked one last pic and called it a day.This was my last sari for the event.

Day 11 started at 4 am again. We ensured we reached on time for the duranto. The whole day was in the train , eating and catching up on sleep.

Day 12 - 25th Jan 2014 Saturday - On our way back in duranto again. The fascination for duranto is long gone but the sun made me click this beautiful pic after igatpuri. Also notice how one can see the other window too in the first pic.

Taahito remains to be my fav word. I don't know why though but I like the sound of it very much. My day ahead is filled with house work and cleaning and the stuff that goes along after coming from a vacation, thankfully my maid has cleaned it in our absence. Heres to Bijay and Mahua. Hope their lives are filled with love, happiness and prosperity.