Category Archives: Celebration

Commemoration of occasion, achievement

Celebration, Food, Friends

Happy birthday, Akhtar!

Leave a comment

Yesterday, Akhtar invited me for dinner at his house. He has come to Baghdad about a week ago. Thanks to Facebook calendar, I remembered that today is his birthday. Last year I was not here last year around. But last to last year, Prasad & I went to his house with a cake on his birthday.

In the evening at around 7.30pm I walked down to his house and wished him again. I had already wished him on his birthday. We started celebrating his birthday with single malt whiskey on the rocks, while watching a nice Bollywood comedy film – Bheja Fry 2 on B4U channel. I like Vinay Pathak for his comic timing.

022

Starting with drinks …

After our drinks, the dinner followed. There were paratha, rice, dal makhani, aloo subzi, chicken butter masala followed by a type of kheer – it was sweetened, condensed milk. It’s a nice, sumptuous dinner at his house on his 57th birthday.

023

… followed by heavy dinner

I walked back home at around 10.00pm. Thanks, Akhtar for the nice evening and dinner. I wish you again a very happy birthday, Akhtar.

Celebration, Family

Happy birthday, Jaya!

1 Comment

Today’s Jaya’s birthday. Her mother was quite upset that because of her hospitalization and disease, Jaya’s birthday could not be celebrated this year. I convinced her that we would celebrate her birthday and also the wedding anniversary of Jaya’s elder brother, which is tomorrow.

Jaya’s younger brother had also come for two days from Ferozepur (Punjab), where he is working currently. He’s leaving tomorrow morning and we are also leaving for Ranchi for couple of days as we have some urgent work there.

I arranged for two cakes one for Jaya’s birthday and another for her brother’s anniversary. Jaya’s mother was still not very happy and she wanted some nice dinner to follow. I arranged for take away foods for our dinner tonight and informed her menu. She was then quite satisfied. But the poor lady is on nasal feeding and is having only liquids like milk, juices, clear soups etc.

I went to the Kali temple in the afternoon to pray for Jaya and her mother. Babai brought the cakes in the evening. It’s nice that Jaya’s two cousins also turned up at the hospital in the evening to see her mother along with their wives. So the cakes were cut in presence of all local family members.

Jaya cutting her birthday cake

It was followed by Dada & Boudi cutting their anniversary cakes.

Dada & Boudi cutting their wedding anniversary cake

Dada & Boudi cutting their wedding anniversary cake

I am happy not because that Babai & I were with Jaya on her birthday today, but the evening arrangements made her mother happy. She’s now looking forward to celebrate her birthday next year and this is what I wanted. This was my mission.

Happy birthday, Jaya! I love you, dear!

Celebration, Friends, Workplace

Colleagues celebrate my birthday 2013

Leave a comment

Tomorrow, 21 March is my birthday.  21 March is a public holiday in Iraq every year for Nowruz. Nowruz, meaning ‘New day’, is being celebrated in several countries. This ancestral festival, which has been observed for more than 3,000 years marks the Iranian/Persian New Year and is primarily celebrated in Iran, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, India, Iraq, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Turkey and Uzbekistan. In February 2010 UNESCO recognised The International Day of Nowruz on their list of “Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity”.

Nowruz coincides with the start of spring and traditionally honours the rebirth of nature. The celebration begins precisely with the vernal equinox, the moment the sun crosses the equator and sunlight is evenly divided between the two hemispheres.

Isn’t it great to be born on such a day, when half the world is celebrating the rebirth of nature, onset of springs and it’s equinox! Well, I feel proud to have born on such a day and feel happy that people are rejoicing around on my birthday.

My office colleagues celebrated my birthday today. I was in a meeting of ALCO. On my return from the meeting, I found my colleagues brought a lovely, yummy cake for me. It’s so nice of them.

My birthday cake

We took a few photographs and then I cut the cake.

Happy birthday to me!

We all had slices of the cake. It’s very tasty also because it‘s mixed with their love and respect for me.

Me, my colleagues and my birthday cake

Thank you, my dear colleagues for your sweet gesture, love, respect and wishes.

Every year on 21 March UNESCO celebrates the World Poetry Day. A decision to proclaim 21 March as World Poetry Day was adopted during the UNESCO’s 30th session held in Paris in 1999. Happy World Poetry Day!

Wish that Nowruz brings the blessings of happiness, prosperity and love. Happy Nowruz!

Celebration, Science

Today is Pi Day!

Leave a comment

Today is 25th Pi Day. March 14 (3.14) is Pi Day, a celebration of the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter — one of the most beautiful and confounding numbers in mathematics. It’s technically written as 3.14159, or 3.14 for short.

Of course this only works in the American date format, but let’s all look past that to celebrate this crazy mathematical constant together. Bonus: it’s also Einstein’s birthday!

Even if you hate math, you’ll love Pi Day. Why? Because there’s pie.

Why does “pi” deserve its own day?

It’s a special number. It shows up everywhere. In chemistry, physics, math, whether you’re talking circles or cycles or anything to do with a curve, you’re going to find pi in there somewhere. Pi is irrational, which means that you can’t calculate pi by dividing an integer by any other integer. Pi never ends and it never repeats. People have to wrap their brain around that. Twenty-two over seven gives you a pretty good approximation of pi, but it’s not pi.

How far have we calculated pi now?

The current record for this noble endeavor is 10,000,000,000,050 decimal places, held by Alexander Yee and Shigeru Kondo. It took them 371 days to make the calculation with a dual-core Xeon PC running 96GB of RAM and 58TB in total storage.

It’s hard to imagine Pi Day didn’t exist until 1988

The first party in honor of the amazing mathematical entity known as “pi” began in 1988 when Larry Shaw, a physicist at the Exploratorium, the San Francisco science museum, looked at the calendar and said, “March 14—it’s the number pi. It’s Pi Day. Let’s celebrate!” Now Pi Day is marking its 25th anniversary.

[Note: This story must be true as I read this in Nat Geo]

We also celebrated the 25th Pi Day in Baghdad with Pizza in our dinner. Happy Pi Day!

Celebration

Pink roses on Women’s Day

Image Leave a comment

Pink roses for Women’s Day

I was surprised in the morning when the delivery boy brought me a bunch of pink roses. I didn’t know anything about this. I asked him – “Who sent this?”  He replied that it’s mentioned on the card. Then I found that it was sent by my husband on Women’s Day! Thanks, Jeet.

Truly said by Gurudeb Rabindranath Tagore – “Love’s gift cannot be given, it waits to be accepted.”

Celebration, Food

Republic Day of India celebrated in Baghdad

Leave a comment

Today is the 64th Republic Day of India. It was today 63 years ago, the Constitution of India was adopted and India became a republic. 63 years on, the Constitution of India is a bright beacon that guides a massive, spirited and a passionate nation. This day is celebrated in India with much pomp and grandeur. Indian diaspora also celebrates this day all over the world.

Indian Tricolour hoisted on Republic Day at Indian Embassy in Baghdad

I went to the Indian Embassy in the morning at 9.00 am for flag hoisting ceremony. There were many other people also including the local Iraqi employees of Indian Embassy. Prashant Rao, Bureau Chief of AFP also was there. We only meet at the embassy functions and follow each other on Twitter. The Indian Ambassador SK Reddy hoisted the Indian tricolour amidst the national anthem of India. It was followed by the Ambassador reading the excerpts of the speech of the President of India to the nation last evening. The embassy also distributed the text of the speech of the President of India, Pranab Mukherji. The embassy arranged an Indian breakfast for everyone present there consisting of poori, aloo subzi, idli, sambhar, medhu vada, kaju barfi and chai.

The main function was scheduled at 3.00 pm when other ambassadors, ministers and other dignitaries were invited. So, we again went to the embassy at 3.00 pm. We had nice chats with ambassadors of various countries including Japan, Serbia, Poland, Ukraine, Sri Lanka and Charge d’ Affaires of Pakistan and Bangladesh. Then there were some formal speeches from the Indian Ambassador followed by Iraqi ministers and address by the Chief Guest Sheikh Dr. Humam Hamoudi, Chairman of the Iraqi Foreign Relations Parliamentary Commission, Head of the Constitution Drafting & Constitution Review Committees. The function ended with foods served by the embassy including salads, biryani, sheesh kebab, beans etc.

Mr. Wajihuddin of Bohra community also came with two other people. He is also regular attendee of functions of Indian embassy. We also see him at the embassy functions. He comes all the way from Najaf, He invites us to Najaf and Karbala every time we meet. He is a very nice man. He is also widely respected as an Islamic scholar.

We returned home at around 6.00 pm. Happy Republic day to all. Jai Hind!

Celebration, Family

Wedding Anniversary 2012

1 Comment

Today is our wedding anniversary. It’s been 21 years that Jit walked into my life, daring round the clock curfew imposed then in Benares, one of the world’s oldest living city. The American writer Mark Twain described:

Benares is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together.

We were then staying in Benares [Varanasi] while Jit was posted in Aligarh. I feel deeply privileged that Jit came to my life and he changed it, made it a wonderful experience. With him beside me, the life is a pleasure, struggles are easier and days are enjoyable. Sometimes I wonder that we have walked along together for 21 years, while I have never felt the pain. I pray to the Almighty to let us walk side by side together through our entire life.

Roses, teddy and cake sent by Jit

Due to his professional engagements, he is today far away from me in Baghdad. I am alone at home, and my son, Babai, studying MBBS in Gangtok, Sikkim.

Jit made this day for me. He sent today a bouquet of red roses, a cute teddy bear and yummy cake for me through Ferns N Petals.

I was surprised and very happy to receive his gifts when the courier handed me his gifts along with a card with his message on it:

Thanks Jaya for walking into my life 21 years ago and making it wonderful. Happy Anniversary! XOXO ~ Jit

Jit also tweeted:

I was touched. I cut the cake, as he insisted. I did it for him, to make him happy. Jit also tweeted:

Happy Anniversary to us!

I am missing him very much. I love you, Jit. I love you very much.

Celebration, Culture, Disaster, Family, Festival, Friends, Religion

Diwali 2012 at Allahabad

1 Comment

Jit left for Baghdad to resume his duties. Babai left a week before Jit. Naturally, I would be feeling very sad, so Jit planned for my visit to Allahabad to my parent’s house for 10 days, so that I can attend Diwali, Kali Puja and Bhai phota there.

My college friend – Lakshmi

Boudi and I spent the Kali puja night at the Kalibari as this puja begins around midnight and it continues until it’s almost dawn. We also visited the house of my aunt – Kakima and cousin brother. We also went to see a horror movie in one of the nights – 1920 Evil Returns. I also met my college friend Lakshmi, who also stays in Allahabad. Boudi and I went to her house to meet her and then to the house of Babua, brother of Boudi.

Lost my Debit Card!

We went to Civil Lines area for some shopping and dining. As I was to pay at the shop, I found my HDFC Bank Debit card missing. OMG! I last used it at an ATM of HDFC Bank two days ago. May be I misplaced it there. I paid at the shop in cash. I felt damn disastrous.

We rushed to that ATM but the guard said that no card was found there. He also checked the register. Next day was Diwali and so it’s a bank holiday too. We went to the HDFC Bank. The officer was a nice gentleman. He advised that it was too late for him to do anything and advised us to call him on the next day after Diwali. We went to him in the morning. He checked his records and found that there was no such card reported lost so far. He then helped me to hotlist the debit card and immediately issued me a new Platinum debit card, which would be activated after 48 hours.

Bhai-phota

Diwali is a five-day festival starting with Dhanteras and ending with Bhai Dooj or Bhai phota. I could not realize how the days went by and the last day of Diwali came. The last of Diwali celebrations is the day dedicated to the bond between brothers and sisters. On this day known variously as bhai dooj, bhai phota, sisters pray for the long life of their brothers, by performing the ‘tika’ (red mark on the forehead) ceremony. In return brothers give gifts to them. It’s a day of bonding for brothers and sisters.

Maa & Baba

The origin of the festival is not too clear but popular legend says that after killing the demon, Narkasur, Lord Krishna visited his sister Subhadra, who welcomed him with sweets and flowers. She also applied ‘tika’ on his forehead. Another legend says that when Lord Yama (God of death) visited his sister Yamuna, she applied a ‘tika’ on his forehead and offered him sweets and special dishes. The day is also known as Yama Dwitiya.

I performed bhai phota for dada and my other two cousins. We had a party at our house yesterday on the occasion of Bhai phota. It’s a family affair. Also, Babua, brother of Boudi joined us with his family.

I am leaving for Ranchi today as I have to attend a wedding near Kolkata on Sunday. I am feeling sad to leave my parents. The elder daughter Monika of our “gurubon” Nupurdi is getting married on Sunday. Nurpurdi and we have common guru.

I am planning to visit Allahabad again in February 2013 to participate in the Maha Kumbh Mela with Jit and Babai. I hope that the God will make everything possible as we are planning.

Celebration, Family, Food, Friends

My birthday 2012

Leave a comment

This time I came home earlier than as planned before to celebrate my birthday with my family and old close friends. My dad has also come home from Baghdad. He is here on my birthday after 2 years. So. I wanted to be at home on my birthday.

I contacted my friend Karan & Mihir on reaching home. They are studying in Ranchi. We were together at Bishop Westcott Boys’ School, Namkom, Ranchi. Also, came to know that two of my other close friends from my old school, Nishant and Danish have also reached home recently. So, we planned a get together at my home to celebrate my birthday. Nishant is studying in Bhubaneshwar, while Danish is studying in Kolkata.

My BFFs – Gaurav, Karan, Mihir, Nishant & Danish

Danish, Karan & Nishant came to our home at around 11am. Mihir didn’t come. Unfortunately, he is running short on attendance. My another old close friend Gauav also joined us. Gaurav was our neighbor and also my schoolmate at St. Anthony’s. We have a family friendship with them. We were having nice time, gossiping and making fun. But, we were missing Mihir. We were calling him frequently to join us. At last, he agreed. Then, Nishant & Danish went to bring him home. And this completed my core group of friends.

Me and my best friends

My mother cooked and arranged lovely foods on my birthday including our traditional payesh. Payesh is a must in a Bengali home on birthdays as it is related to long life! It was followed by a heavy lunch consisting of pulao, lal saag, dal, aloo dum, chicken butter masala, mutton curry, chutney with sweets at the end.

Lunch is being cooked…smelling delicious! Can’t wait longer.

We six of us were talking and eating. We all ate too much and were talking more to accommodate more food and then we were literally unable to move. The food was so delicious and the companionship with old friends made us over-eat too much. It took us over an hour to leave the dining table!

Birthday lunch! Tasting more delicious because of the company at the dining table. We ate and ate and ate…

We then returned to my room and started again with our gossips and experiences at different places. Dad ordered for my birthday cake before. He brought the cake. I then cut the cake with my friends singing the regular birthday song.

Cutting the birthday cake

Then my friends started smearing the cake and cream on my face and head. We ate the cake pieces and also played with the cake.

Playing with the cake

It was getting evening, so my school friends left for their homes. I had a wonderful day with my friends. Their presence made it as one of my most memorable birthdays. Thank you, friends for coming over and celebrate my birthday.

In the evening, we had a special dinner program with some close family friends at Hotel Capitol Hill, Main Road, Ranchi. We normally arrange our parties there. The restaurant of that hotel is quite good and one of the best in Ranchi. The hotel also arranged a birthday cake for me. I cut the cake again.

Another birthday cake in the evening! This time with our family friends.

Then we had our dinner. Gaurav was also there. We started with soup and followed by north Indian dishes then Gulab jamun/ice creams at the end plus cake. It was a grand day with lots of food. Now, I don’t think that I need to eat for a couple of days!

Birthday dinner at Yellow Sapphire restaurant

Thanks to my mom and dad for arranging everything for me and of course, the nice watch that they gifted me on today.

Me and my mom…the new watch, my birthday gift from parents is on my wrist.

Celebration, Family

Happy birthday, Dadu!

Leave a comment

Today is the birthday of my grandfather (Dadu). We have arrived today at his house in Allahabad this morning from Ranchi by train. My dad’s arrival was not disclosed to them and so it was a surprise gift to him!

In the evening we went to Civil Lines, Allahabad. The shops in the market there were mainly closed for Eid-ul-Fitr. The Eid is being celebrated here today. We went to Kamdhenu Sweet shop, Palace Cinema Building for buying some sweets and an eggless cake for Dadu as he is completely vegetarian now.

We had some chaats at Civil Lines and returned home. We could not buy my medical books today as the book shops were also closed. We will try again tomorrow.

Didu, Mama & Mami cooked biryani today for Dadu’s birthday. Dadu cut the cake in the evening.

Then we had dinner together followed by watching a lovely Bangla movie – Bhooter Bhavishyat.

It was a nice day today. Happy birthday, Dadu!