Here is a scene that never fails to tickle me. What you're see here is a temple, right next to the side gate of the school. Before children get in, they make it a point to stop at the entrance and pray. The temple is open, but the priest is busy decorating the deity inside, so the grilled door is closed. The small kids are most amusing. And I always wish I could read their minds.
And this dude - wonder what he's thinking, sitting comfortably behind his Mom on the scooter while they wait for the older sibling to come out of the gate? I was waiting right behind them on my own scooter, waiting for Vidur.
Remember my unexpected break on Friday? Here's a photo of the shop where I bought flowers. These are garlands of different flowers arranged in a basket. They measure them out in yards when we buy them. Jasmine, Genda flowers, dahlias, you name them...they have it. They also sell garlands of basil.
More flowers. Pretty colors aren't they? The flower vendors are very friendly and if we don't bargain, they'll automatically give you a few inches extra. :-)
The flowers I bought were for my prayer altar. I've garlanded some of the photos, as you can see. Those two little lamps are the lemon lamps. The large lamp you see in the right hand bottom corner is the one I light every morning.
What you see below is the special lamp I lit on Friday. In the bowl is a mix of rice flower, jaggery and ghee (melted butter). After I powder the rice and jaggery together I pat the mix down in the bowl with a little scooped out place in the middle for the lamp. I place a cotton wick in it and pour the ghee in it. And light it. This is special for Goddess Durga during this particular month. We light this and pray for the health of our family and friends. Yes, I prayed for you, too. When the lamp is about to burn out, we scoop out the burning wick and place it in another bowl. After prayers, the contents of the bowl are mixed and made into little balls. It tastes fantastic. I distribute this to the neighbors, who love it too. We call this "maavu vilakku" Maavu is flour and vilakku is lamp.
Here are some friends from our area. Casually strolling. I love the young ones. They're very cute. Some of them can barely stand straight and they follow their Mom around. They keep running around to catch up with them.
And here's my very own friend. Happily chilling on my verandah sill. Probably trying to look for the ideal spot to you-know-what.
A view of her from my window. I used to hate them. Now I don't mind them anymore. In fact, I find it soothing to watch the pigeons.
My evening sky. Lots of crows. Mesmerizing to watch. I got lots of pictures of them. And Vidur wanted to know why I click photos every single day, of the skies. I told him, because I can.
And now, let's head over to Unknown Mami's place from where we can travel the world. A great way to spend the day, is it not?
