A Day In The Life Of A Blogger

Disclaimer:We bloggers are not ExtraTerrestrials;but we tend to live awesome lives.
So,a day in the life of a blogger isn't all that different from their fellow readers.Well,that is only till blogger meets don't come into the picture!
Blogger meet?Well yeah,layman terms might explain it as a gathering of us obsessive compulsive individuals talking bout blogs,blogs and well,blogs.Sounds drab,aye?Rethink.
Now imagine this: The venue is an uptown nightclub,(The BlueFrog,in Mumbai),the sponsors are a popular web hosting company,the giveaways are some of the latest gadgets,the food is to die for,and the opening act is an indie band one can headbang to!No sir...this is no description of a party gone crazy.

  This,is a brief glimpse of the happenings of IndiBlogger's last blogger meet!Oh,and did I mention,the speakers were so amazing, that people actually came down from pune to watch em give gyaan!
A solid line-up of speakers,among which Snigdha manchanda(Story ninja fame),lakshmi Rebecca(from Chai with Lakshmi),krishna chepuri (The UnReal Times) and Sherry Shroff(Our favorite fashion blogger) were my personal favorites,is what made the meet informative,educational,and extremely useful!It wasn't just the Rock Band or Stand-Up Comedy(Which btw was howlarious,thanks to bhavish ailani),which made the meet awesome,as the speakers elaborated on every aspect of blogging-legal,monetary,creative,and what-have-you!
The event,which kicked off to an awesome start with the opening gig by our very own "blogger-cum-rockers", ended in a win-it-all extravaganza where precious prizes like Moto G and Moto X handsets were given away.(Needless to say,my luck din't work,or I would have been jumping about it all over the place,and yodelling from rooftops!)

  But the best part,wasnt the great food,the amazing speakers,the mesmerizing ambience,or the awesome music.It was this:We,as bloggers,are a very diminutive community.IndiBlogger has done a great job of bringing this community together,and meeting up fellow members of this close-knit community was the best part!!!!..

  Its 2 in the morning now,and this is sort of an impulsive article,written under that shroud of sleep..so forgive me my faults..and if your interest is waning from the mundane awesomeness' of a bloggers life,let me tell you this:We win cash by merely saying a number..and we get to improve ourselves as well!

  Signing off now,half asleep already,and will have to recheck it all once I wake up!Till then,loads of love.Stay happy

Saga

Atharvacha Raja-Being "Marathi"!

Atharvacha Raja..two words..literally translated,they mean"The King Of Atharva!",but literal meanings do not hold much value in my emotion-obsessesed mind,and so I look at them with the sentimental approach we girls are normally associated with!These two words pack up the essence of something so spiritual,so..unique,that putting it in words might actually disturb the sanctity of it all:You have to be there,feel it,experience it,take it all in,to know the amazing extravaganza that is "Atharva Ganeshotsav"!
Okay,firstly,this is not publicity,nor the rantings of someone with nothing else to do;I really feel like sharing this with ya'll,and if you are thinking I am slowly losing it(and by it I mean my ability to write profound-looking voodoo in artful words),then just bear with me,the next one will take care of that.Now,moving on, before you just scroll through the pretty pictures here,marvel at them(for they really are beautiful<3),and forget all  about reading!
The Atharva group of Institutes celebrates the annual festival of Ganesh Chaturthi (I am tempted to add "with fervour" here,but yes,everyone celebrates festivals with fervour,and no:I am no celebrity magazine to use it to cover print-space!).By Atharva group,I mean all the institues:Hotel management,for Example,alongwith my Engineering College(Yes,I have a thing for random capitalization,because the reigning rules are unfair to the letters in the Middle!-read this somewhere,green,probably)Okay,mischief no more,sorry sorry.Getting back to the point:As you can very well see the beautiful stage set here,with Bappa in all its Glory,you can surely gauge the scale  at which the celebrations ring in!

Every day,months before the commencement of the festival,students toil hard to make it beautiful,to give Him the warm welcome he deserves!AND all Eco-friendy,at that!The Decor committee sure deserves a round of applause and some hat-tossing!College becomes home for many of my seniors,as Bappa finally arrives to the beat of music,I wasn't there this time,so I dont know what kind of music-but I know I am going to be there next year!(Again you might think stressing on the "kind" of music is stupid when its very obviously the festival music they play in every nukkad,but trust me on this,I am proud of Atharva's musical choices,which are precisely an expression of Being Marathi,but more about that later).

Another amazing feature of these charged days is the Aartis.The Aartis here are a jubilant affair;hour long aartis,sometimes even lasting a couple of hours,are the perfect epitome of all that is Us:The enthusiasm,the unity as the chorus rises in one to praise the Lord,the electric atmosphere,the live-wires that are the young minds all joining in,becoming one in that consciousness,of belonging and being belonged to!The aura has "Assal Marathi" written all over,as the place is drowned in the sweet music of taals and bells,and the waving Atharva flags,swaying to the rhythm of the aarti,are a spectacle to behold!A spectacular valour possesses every soul when the conch is blown and cries of "Jay Shivaji.."resound in the hall!People flaunt there "chandrakor's",there "kurta-dhotars",there turbans,and yes,the sarees-the ultimate expression of Maharashtrian apparel:the elegant nauvaari sarees,with such dignity and grace,that you cannot help but drown in the sweet serenity of it all,and be proud to be one of them!

I got obsessed with this pretty chandrakor,as you very well know by now,if you know me on those corporal devices of time-wastage:Social Networking Sites.

God bless the person who came up with this innovative idea,and the guy who gave me one of those!(I'd made a point of asking his name,but I forgot it in all the ruckus).Everyday,there is the usual array of activities lined up,as people enjoy,pray,and click a lot of pictures.Fun fact:Almost all display pictures of Atharvaites are found to emanate from the reverred phase-3,where Bappa reigns,in this period!>_<.Ohhh and one more thing about the aartis:The singers,a very talented group,do it in a very sophisticated,"proper" ,(sagrasangeet is the marathi word for it,asked momma) manner that would shame the Pundits!Kudos,ya'll!

After seven days of fun and reverence,there comes the visarjan day.I skip right to visarjan,omitting the other mundane activities,like traditional day,and many other "days" which I thoroughly enjoyed by the way!Everyone is a little more enthusiastic,because it is the day we have to say goodbye to beloved Bappa!I wasn't waiting around for the visarjan,(which would have been a horrible mistake),as it is all too sad and (in my opinion,then)chaotic,like all visarjan rallies are bound to be!Thanks to this grouchy(I love you for that one though)friend of mine,I had-HAD to wait!
What happened later came as a pleasant surprise!After a bit of fooling around,singing songs and doing all the stuff that normal teenagers usually do to kill time in a public place,everyone gathered around for One Last Aarti-a sweet/sad affair!Then,surprise of all surprises:There appeared these beautifully dressed people with huge dhols and other instruments,a welcome apparition!And they dropped the beat.

Puneri dhol.One has to hear it to be mesmerized by it.After a moments surprised silence,wherein the department of senses was going all gaga in my brain,every nerve ending tingled to that beat,a trance,a rhythm unparalleled!Needless to say,everyone went crazy dancing,BUT,and I am very proud to say this,the council managed it beautifully,in a very systematic-dignified manner!Throngs of people in identical Atharva t-shirts rejoiced the arrival of the Rains-them adding to the awesomeness of it all!Bappa went home in a beautiful white horse-driven chariot,leaving many an unshed tear in all eyes!

This was the first time I FELT my heritage,my "marathipan";No amount of awareness campaigns,or elderly advice can make youth feel closer to their roots as this one extravaganza can!Nowadays,when everything is westernized,when we ourselves are guilty of being bashfully ignorant of our culture,and i might even go ahead and say that I dont particularly feel all of this all the time;it is a welcome change to be who we were born as,even for a while!As agony aunts and philosophers with nothing else to do lament over the loss of culture and values and sanskaaras and all things pious and good in "aajkal-chi pora",look what  we are busy accomplishing,look at the pride on our glowing faces as we flaunt the essence of our being,carrying forward the great legacy of ShivajiRaje,albeit in a small way!Does the "marathi mann" of our elders brim with joy,looking at our celebration of their ideals???
I sure hope it does!

THANKS for reading(A lot of people say that I say Thanks a lot,well I would love to tell you about Gratitude as A Life Philosophy for Yours Truly,but some other day).Criticisms and comments always welcome.
P.S:I have used a lot of marathi words here,maybe I got carried away,a little.Feel free to ask what some mean,because I do know what all of the words I have used actually mean,because I had a very enlightening brush-up of my mothertongue skills this festive season,which I guess is an added bonus!(Phew!Huge sentence!)
Stay blessed,Stay cheerful.

 Jay Bhavani 
         Jay Shivaji!!!!!

Ganpati Bappa Morya

Ganpati bappa....Moryaaaa!
This seems to be the only cry in the atmosphere these days!India's most loved God is here to stay,and in Mumbai,this is the biggest festival of the year!Beautiful ganesh idols,amazing decorations,loads of fun,tonnes of sweets(don't watch the calories,atleast this festive season;)),and above all,a festive spirit of unity,of togetherness,of piety-this pretty much sums up the atmosphere which cant actually be expressed in words!
I for one,am having an amazing festive season,although its bitter sweet now,for as I write this,the bappas are riding home,in their majestic visarjan raths,leaving tears in many eyes!We all know about the festival,so I spare you the details,and also save this blogpost form becoming a monotonous narrative/infomercial about the festival;doing so will be sacrilegious!
Let me just share with you a few of the highs of my festive season:

.Bappa,in all his grace,in all his beautiful forms:

Before the Poojas..very first day.

Yes,to behold Him in my eyes,to be in His presence gives the kind of utter joy and peace of  mind,which is beyond words,beyond all things earthly and mundane!The aartis,with all the energy and electricity,are a different story altogether.The Grace and beauty that prevails is pure,glorious bhakti in its truest form,as all people,of all ages,and of all regions and religions,bask in the Glory of the Almighty...and let me tell you a secret:He answers all prayers!(Provided they are legit,ofcourse)

.Friends,getting together after ages:

crazy selfies-Must Have

Yes,we are "friends forever" and yes,we DONT meet up frequently!Ganpati Bappa gives us a brilliant excuse to do exactly that:As He graces many a household with his divine presence,there are get-togethers,where old memories are renewed,and new ones made,all joyful ones,at that!Plus,theres tonnes of photographs and selfies,so no teenager has to worry about the constant need,and shortage,of new display pictures!You need to be a master-planner to nail all invites this season,though;for,with invites galore,and the festivities limited to just 11(or lesser) days,you miss out on more than a handful of invites.A big sorry,and loads of love,to all the friends whom I couldnt visit.

.Akshar Ganesh:

   My housing complex celebrates the festival for 5 days-five of the most happening days in an otherwise dull month:with bappa and his aartis,and various fun activities.One of them was when renowned artist Raj Kandalgaonkar visited,and displayed his fantastic innovations.In every name,he sees a ganesha,and that is how he paints these beautiful akshar ganeshas!I got lucky,as he sketched this one for me!For more of these,just click on his name,which will redirect you to his website.Kudos,to his brilliant art ideas and innovations!

.Traditional clothes:
 Yes,I have actually mentioned this,and you are not hallucinating.This might sound very trivial,but for us,who never wear traditional indian attires,this is a big deal!These few days,I have been dressing uo all-Indian,and it actually came off pretty good!See for yourselves:

Not the only pic..KhiKhiKhi

Also,It makes me feel closer to,rather,a part of MY lost culture,which was never mine!It feels like home,it does!I feel all Marathi-and-proud right now.I know it sounds superficial,trying to trace one's roots,by merely changing attires,but trust me,it feels good!Plus,we get to look all pretty,and that's definitely a "yay!"

.Atharvacha Raja:

  He is the king,the Lord,of my college;But I wont say anything  about that right now:Its going to be a whole new blogpost!Wait-for-it.

Plus,there were mAny other things,like momma's special food,all the pictures we clicked,late nights and early mornings,all the travelling,the crazy visarjan dances and the ENERGY for it all:Ohh!The Energy!Even after an extraordinarily long day which began at six in the morning,I had the energy to stay up late,and thats the magic of the festivals!
This one's getting a bit longer than I expected,even though I have loads more to say,and very few words to describe all the feelings(well,that's a first)So I stop here,we all have aartis to attend,or selfies to click!Hope your festival was as blessed and beautiful as mine,or more!Atheists(Yes,they do exist,and I am no judge,so peace,all over),atleast enjoy the electric atmosphere around you,and I am sure,a teeny-tiny part of you would start believing in the existence of a higher power,in Him,such is the serenity,and power exuded by my beautiful Bappa!
Thanks for reading this,Its the seventh day of festivities today,and as I returned home from an amazing-yet-bittersweet-Day(more about it later,watch this space),the idols were going away,in the opposite direction,headed home.The innocent,beautiful bappa's left,leaving a lump in my throat,and tears in my eyes!Comment,Criticize.(appreciate;p)It might just lift my spirits again.(Kidding about the appreciation part;it will be appreciated,though>_<)
Ganpati Bappa Morya1Pudhchya Varshi Lavkar Yaa...May He Bless Us All