Puja Party! and then some..

These few photos were taken with my (not so) handy Pentax by my dear friend Ruchir and myself at my Durga Puja party at my place. EXCITING! I do believe there are more to come...(I have added more photos from the party, but also photos of the wonderful people in my life right now. Most, if not all photos taken by the delightful, Claire De Sousa and her handy digicam.

Since the photos were taken slightly underexposed, we had to get the roll push-processed, a process that no one in the city of Calcutta will do. So here are the photos, push-processed by a wonderful lab in Madras.

Thanks to wonderful Ruchir for pulling through with these..

Claire! and Myself



Francesca!





Super Sweet Marco





Tanned Tummy



Ruchir and Francesca



Laura!



Maestro-Ruchir



Party Goes Digital. Photos by everyone.



Ruchir! Fra!



Ro & Ro(hit)!



Calcutta Kids!

Claire! KC!


Super Jupiter

Francesca!Neela!Marco!Christian (Canadian)!







Ive added the rest of the photos, from several nights of partying in this City of Joy (you kinda have to keep yourself busy to keep Calcutta from doing your head in). Maybe I can add more film photos later..

I miss blogging. I'm going to get a new camera for my birthday so I'll be extra diligent then.

And I'm missing all the friends that have moved on in my life for the last 4 months..so this post is for all of you..

Love,
Ro

Diwali! Festival of Lights

Diwali, the festival of lights is one of the only celebrations my family makes every year, even when we were in Canada. This year, it was extra special because I was able to celebrate it with my extended family, IN India..something that I havent ever been able to do.

Diwali is always celebrated on the darkest night of the month, a new moon night, and also the stillest night of the year. So that any of the dias(candles) that are lit, are not burnt out.

It is the celebration of the Goddess of Lakshmi (the Goddess of wealth) and Ganesh (the God of good fortune) so you are supposed to be with family to welcome them both into your homes, for wealth and good fortune.

In Bengali celebrations, it is also Kali Puja, Kali being the destroyer of all darkness. This year they both happened to fall on the same night. So I think the intensity in the air was that much more...

Me, being the accident prone, absent minded female that I am, burnt myself within the first 15 minutes of the fireworks and was subjected to holding ice to my thumb for the rest of the evening.

That aside, it was a wonderful night, one I enjoyed thoroughly and one I look forward to next year, hopefully minus any of the battle wounds.

The celebrations continued all night, at times sounding like there was a war going on outside.

The following photos are of this last night, full of colour, fire, loud noise and of course, drink..


















Happy Diwali to all!
Peace and Love,
Ro

Babu Ghat, Ma Kali Idols and Mendhi