Call it Pondicherry or Puducherry

Yeah right, I have been to Pondicherry, first destination I visited after marriage. It's name has been changed to Puducherry in 2006. It is a city of beautiful seashores. I stayed in Hotel Atithi, which is located very close to Puducherry market. This place is surrounded by residents & tourists. Puducherry is know as educational hub for Southern India, including many medical & engineering colleges. Puducherry is a former French colony, which has contributed a lot in architecture of various buildings and whole city layout. The official language in Puducherry is Tamil & French.

Following are the main tourist attractions in Puducherry:

Promenade Beach: This is closest beach from the City, surrounded with historical statues & monuments. You can reach there walking if your accommodation is close to the Puducherry market.

Serenity Beach: This beach is very much bordered with towns & suburbs close to Puducherry, but away from any impurity.

Paradise Beach: This beach is quite away from main city. It is such a quite & calm place, you can spend your whole day, watching blue sea and collecting amazing sea shells. It is really a paradise.

Auroville Beach: It is named according to its proximity to Auroville. Auroville is a town 12k.m away from Puducherry, known for it's spiritual environment.

Aurobindo Ashram: This ashram is one of wealthiest ashrams in India. It provides lots of charitable services to the surrounding areas in Puducherry, such as medical facilities, education etc.

There are many other places close to Promenade Beach such as, 18th & 19th century churches, 19th century light house, French war memorial, bharathi park, libraries & museums. It is a wonderful place to visit at least once in life.

Will share more of my memories in other places of India. Keep reading......

My Wedding in Bindukhatta - Nainital

Hi friends, I am back to tell you about the event of my Wedding. It was the most awaited day of my life, because I was getting married to a person whom I loved from the depth of my heart. It was a love marriage, vitnessing bonding of two states of India. My family hails from South India and my husband is from North India which made it a tough choice on where to keep the marriage functions. Finally we choose to do it in Bindukhatta-Nainital, my in-laws place.

The function started from 12th Dec 09, and the first function was Mehandi, a ceremony of decorating bride's palms with henna leaf paste. It took me 2 hours to get my hands fully tattoed with henna paste. It makes a bride look different & beautiful. After washing hands henna leaves a shiny maroon tattoe in hands that matches the bridal dress. It was winter season that time and my palms were shivering with cold, but it's a very small cost to get someone you definitely want in your life.

Next day the 13th Dec 09 was my wedding day. Morning 6 O'clock we reached the banquet hall where the wedding ceremony was planned. The first thing to be done was Ganesh Pujan. In hindu religion every good work starts with praying to lord Ganesha. Then the next thing was Haldi, in which bride's relatives and friends apply turmeric on her body and face. This makes bride look fairer and beautiful. After this ceremony I went for a bath and then came back to Mandapa, the stage where marriage ceremony takes place.

The next thing in plan of action was Sankalpa. Where bride's parents pledge that they will not step back from wedding procedures and will starve whole day for the sake of their daughter and son-in-law. During this ceremony priest ties a yellow ribbon in right hand of bride which signifies the pledge taken by her parents.

Now I was suppose to dress up as bride, because groom and his family were on the way from their home towards banquet hall. The travel from groom's place till wedding venue is called Baraat in which everybody associated with groom, perform dance and express their happiness for the occassion.

The dress I was wearing is called lehanga cholee a nicely decorated skirt, top with scarf. Apart from special dress bride is suppose to wear ornaments on neck, ear, head, hands, legs, belly and nose (the most required ornament in North Indian tradition). I have made myself a dress in maroon color with combination of green border, embroidered with sparkling beads and laces.

When groom's family arrived banquet hall all the girls (sisters & friends) associated with me welcomed him with aarthi and shower of flowers. Then according to the custom I was welcomed to exchange flower necklace with the groom. This custom is called jaimala in which girl & boy face each other for the first time, though nowadays girls & boys first meet and then decide to marry each other, but in ancient India jaimala occassion was specially for the first meeting of boy & girl. After jaimala me and my groom sat together and all my family members blessed us one after other.

After pre marriage customes we went to have food where all my family members were suppose to take care of my groom with utter attention. After having food we went to mandapa where priest was chanting mantras to make all gods bless us happiness and well being in future. Priest told my parents to present something to all hindu gods one by one (coins, grains, flowers, milk etc.). This ritual is to make sure that nothing should effect my married life adversely afterwards.

After all the preyers, my & groom's parents showed all the gifts and jeweleries they bought for me and my groom. After which I got to change my existing jewelery to the one's presented by my elders as a blessing.

After this my parents and brother has to give my hands to the groom's, as in, to let me go from their family and enter groom's family. Then groom fills sindoor in bride's forhead, red stuff that all Indian married women fill in their forhead everyday after their marriage. Then groom given me mangal sutra, a necklace embeded with gold & black beads. This is another sign of an Indian married women.

Then both of us taken 7 rounds in front of Agni the lord of fire. Every round means a unique promise made by groom to the bride for rest of the life. After 7 rounds marriage is considered as completed and now my groom was my husband. After marriage bride has to leave her maayka, the maternal place and go to her husband's house. This ceremony is called bidaai.

After bidaai I reached my husbands place and their my mother-in-law was waiting for me to welcome me in her family. This ceremony is called grahpravesh. All my in-laws taken me to the temple of their home. We did preyer and then there was my wedding reception organized by my in-laws. In this reception me and my husband has to sit together and this time the people from my husband's side blessed me with grains, flowers, money etc.

And this is how my wedding day ended. This is how India is. Here marriage is a great celebration and a big promise for whole life. After my wedding I went to so many places in South India with my husband, about which I will write in my upcoming posts.

Keep reading me !

Deepawali in India

Sorry friends, I was not able to update my travel blog because I have not been traveling these days. But I went to my fiance's home during this Diwali vacation. I will get married coming December 2009.

The occasion for which I have been there was Diwali or few people call it Deepawali. Diwali is an Indian festival which is celebrated with sweets and lights. It is mainly a festival of Hindu community but is celebrated by almost all the communities in India. During diwali people lit candles and play with crackers, exchange sweets and gifts with friends and neighbors.

There are different stories associated with Diwali. In North India people believe that at this day Lord Rama came back from forests to Ayodhya (Rama's ruling capital) after 14 year. He promised his step mother and father that he will stay away from home for 14 years. His wife Sita and brother Laxman went to forests along with him. During last year of their stay in forests evil Ravana kidnapped Sita from their hut. Rama & Laxman fought with huge army of Ravana situated in Shri Lanka. They had a huge support of vaanars (apes with human body). With help of these vaanars they built unbelievable bridge between India and Lanka to win Sita back from Ravana. It was a 10 days sever fight between Rama & Ravana along with theirs armies. The tenth day Rama killed Ravana and won his wife from him. This day is celebrated as Dussera in India. After 20 days of Dussera, Diwali is celebrated.

In South India people celebrate it as Naraka Chaturdashi. When Lord Shri Krishna killed evil Naraka who was harming people in this earth because he got a blessing from Lord Brahma that he can only be killed by his mother Bhudevi who was reincarnated as Satyabhama, Lord Krishna's second wife. It took a little efforts for Lord Krishna to make Satyabhama (Bhudevi) kill her son Naraka. South Indians celebrate this day by lighting sparklers and crackers earliest in the morning.

Despite of different reasons everybody takes part in celebrating Diwali. I have enjoyed it very well. After marriage I will have a family of 12 members in same house. Now counting days towards my marriage. Will definitely go to new places in India for my honeymoon. So my upcoming posts will tell you about a North Indian wedding procedures and few more places in India. Keep reading me.

Thanks

Gurgaon is a "Good-Gaon" of India Now

Gurgaon is a city in India which literally means "sweet village". I have started commuting to Gurgaon from last few days because I got a job here. But I stay in West Delhi and daily travel 2-3 hours from Delhi to Gurgaon and see every small detail while traveling. To see core India one has to travel from small streets of these kinds of cities in India.

I was saying that Gurgaon means sweet village but it’s no more a village after rapid industrialization. Gurgaon is a hub for major IT companies of India and various multinational companies. When people talk about Gurgaon of 5-6 years back they say it was a land full of greens and goats. At that time very few companies have made their offices in Gurgaon and development was very slow. After few more companies ventured in Gurgaon government of India started improving the public utilities in order to encourage people commute easily for their jobs.

My office is near Khandsa village & close to Delhi-Jaipur highway. It is very difficult to reach to my office through public transports but government is working towards starting bus facilities through main bus stations in Gurgaon. I am using company’s cab to travel to my office right now and most of the companies in Gurgaon provide cab facility due to public transport problems.

When I was not been to Gurgaon, I use to think that it will be some Indian village with agriculture and cultivation as main business, but when I came here and spoke with the people here, I got to know the clear past of Gurgaon. Just because the term “gaon” is included in its name people think that it must be some village (“gaon” in Hindi means village), but it is a fully developed city. Metro line is also being constructed from Delhi to Gurgaon.

I would like to tell this to people staying in different parts of the India and world that if they are getting any opportunity to come to Gurgaon please do not reject that. You will definitely miss to see the decent and developed part of India.

"Jai Ho" Slumdog of India

Yesterday I saw the movie which has been in banners from so long because of its Oscar nomination and award winning for eight categories out of ten nominations in 81st annual Oscar academy awards. It was an awesome movie based on a persons life from childhood to youth (referred as slum dog of the movie).

"Slum Dog Millionaire" is the name of that movie in which a poor kid struggling with his slum life grows up without falling into wrong directions and finally makes it to win millions in a game show. But because he was from slums he was alleged to be a cheat. But then he proves himself clean by explaining that how the questions were associated with his past.

Every scene has been built & pictured so nicely that no one was getting up to take cold drinks and pop-corns. Though the film has expressed the extreme conditions of slum life in India, it has made a very good approach to Indian audiences. This movie may not entertain those who want to see love stories full of romantic songs and drama.


I give this movie 4 points out of 5 because it has been made me stick to my place in the cinema hall and I was there till last casting details were on the screen. I congratulate Mr. Danny Boyle for making such a good quality movie and hope to see few more feathers in his cap. The lead actor Dev Patel has done wonderful job and of course the Oscar winner music of the movie by A.R Rehman is a landmark Indian cinema.

Delhi Six or Bouncer

I have heard a lot about "Delhi 6" an Abhishek Bacchan, Sonam Kapoor & Monkey starer movie. It started with a good story line of Indian emotions of an Aunty(Waheeda Rehman ji) staying in abroad. She wanted to die in Indian land only. Then her grandson(Abhishek Bacchan) take the lead to take her to India. Then he lands in India and meets real India in a place called Delhi 6. Then story moves forward about how he accepted people of India and Indian people accepted him.

Though the story was good my expectation from Mr. Rakesh Mehra was much-much higher. After seeing his previous making this movie was just a subject of spending on movie tickets, popcorn and cold drinks.

The director has tried to stuff lots of Indian social backward mentality in the movie and at the end audiences were forced to be convinced that whatsoever our India is, people here are full of heart feelings, so we all should love it. I would call this movie an "overstuffed teddy".

Just because it had India as its main subject I will give it 2.5 points out of 5.

How Valentines Day is Celebrated in India

Valentine day in India has two mind sets to counter with: one side believes in love without any fear, it has place for everyone, let it be lovers, parents, relatives, friends or just acquaintances they don't give a damn to those who are on another side of the window. The people on the other side love to do only one thing: probe everywhere for boys and girls celebrating their love, and disturb them till the hell's end. Don't know where these guys go on other days when the things happen how it should never be.

Nowadays these so called revolutionaries are discovering new way to damage happiness of lovers on this day. The valentines day of 2009 in India was an example of their discovery. They decided that they will forcefully make the couples marry each other on the spot if they find anyone together on the public places. I really don't have any objection if it is for the well being of people & society. And if it was for the well being of people & society they should take the charge to do this exercise ever day of the year, not only for this one day to gain free publicity & appearance in the news channels.

India is a democratic country but people want to turn it to autocratic country. I have heard that to gain the best speed for moving forward one has to move a few steps back, might be these people have adapted that learning in their veins. I am waiting to see my country running with full speed towards full growth and development.