The blue sky

The biggest democracy in the world, India is in a very high voltage state. Elections are happening in various states and at the end, it will decide if Mr. Modi, the current PM stays or has to step aside to give way to the other party which gets the highest majority. The elections in Mumbai were held yesterday and I checked with my parents and some of the friends if they had gone to vote. I could hear an enthusiastic yes from everyone. Sitting here in Germany, I could feel the excitement and tension in the air and I am really looking forward to the day when the votes will be counted and the results will be announced.

Netflix did it this time for me. Yes, it hooked me. It does not happen often, only sometimes and I am mostly happy with my Hindi and Marathi serials on YouTube. I watch two Marathi serials on Colors Marathi and Sony Marathi channels respectively and I watch one Hindi serial on Sony. I often watch them one day later when they are uploaded on YouTube. Last week, something called "The Kindness Diaries" caught my attention when T was watching Peppa Pig on Netflix and that serial really moved me. Being a true Libran, it brought back all the emotions and tears which I often experience when I am touched by love, kindness, and altruism.

T has two week holidays for Easter at school. And his grandmother is visiting us. So there's no question of going to the daycare during this time. So I thought, it was a good time to go somewhere out and hence I planned a family vacation, well in advance. This time, I planned to go to the Netherlands, which is the western neighbor of Germany. We have covered almost all the neighbors of Germany like Austria, Switzerland, France, Belgium, the Czech Republic, and Luxembourg. We are yet to go to Denmark which is to the north of Germany and to Poland, which is to the East of Germany. I had heard a lot about Amsterdam and the Tulip Gardens and whenever I saw or heard the song from the movie "Silsila", the desire to go there would surge very strongly. Every person who has grown listening to Bollywood songs of the '80s knows what I am talking about. Check out the song here. देखा एक ख्वाब तो ये सिलसिले हुए

After I came to Germany in November 2017, I missed my friends and especially the festivals back in India. For about 6 months, I had no social contacts and yearned to meet someone speaking my language. But finally, after a long wait, I realized that there are many like me, who speak my language and we formed a small group to celebrate festivals and events for the Marathi speaking community in Karlsruhe. Maharashtra Mandal Karlsruhe (MMK) was born. We celebrated the first event in November 2018 where we celebrated Diwali with about 70 people and then we did Haldi Kunku in January 2019 and the next target was the Gudi Padwa on 7th April 2019.  This year it was on 6th April. But due to the unavailability on 6th, we decided to do it on 7th April. Gudi Padwa is the Marathi new year and in Maharashtra, it is celebrated with pomp. People come on the roads with their respective groups, perform, play and go around the city, dressed in traditional attire. It's called Shobha Yatra. Read more ...

You meet people out of the blue, you develop a bond with them, you laugh with them, share your woes and happiness with them. It seems as if you always knew them for a long time. You spent some memorable time with each other and then that person moves on to the next station in his/her life and creates a void in your life for which there is no replacement for a long time to come.

2019 seems to fly. 3 months down, another 9 to go. My mother in law is visiting us this month and I am very happy to have a 4th person amongst us. We talk a lot about many things, about life, about our husbands. We always laugh and make merry. She participates in every single activity when she is here and makes tasty food for my tastebuds which have now gone bad eating the food cooked by me all these months. We often speak about the changes in lifestyle and behavior across the generations. I was speaking to a friend in Bangalore the other day when she exclaimed that even at the age of 40, she feels that she is unsettled. She sounded not very happy about it. And that set me thinking.