Monthly Archives: October 2012

Fulpati: Dashain

Posted on October 21, 2012 | Leave a comment

After Ghatasthapana, the next major excitement arrives with Fulpati, also known as Saptami, which is the seventh day of the festival. Today is Fulpati. Phool(Ful) means flower and pati means leaves and plants in Nepali. FulPati literally means flowers, leaves and plants.

On this day, in the past when the Nepal was ruled by a king, the jamara to be used by the royal family was brought from Gorkha Palace, their ancestral house. The Fulpati (jamara and the other items that are necessary for tika) is brought after a three day walk from Gorkha district which is about a hundred and sixty nine kilometres away from the valley of Kathmandu. A parade is held at Tundikhel ground in Kathmandu.

 

However, since 2008 when the monarchy was abolished, the two-century old tradition was changed so that the holy offering of Fulpati goes to the residence of the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister has taken over the king’s social and religious roles after the fall of the royal government. The Fulpati is brought from Gorkha to Dhading district from where six Brahmins carried it to Jamal. From Jamal, the Fulpati filled with holy water, banana stalks, jamara and sugarcane tied with red cloth to be offered to Goddess Durga, is carried by Bhramans on a decorated palanquin under a gold tipped and embroidered umbrella to the Dashain Ghar in Hanuman Dhoka. The Gurujyuko Platoon, the Nepal army, Nepal police, and high-ranking officials of Armed Police and civil service, band music, and panchebaja bands also join the Fulpati parade. While the sacred items are being placed in Hanuman Dhoka palace, there is a majestic display of the Nepalese Army along with a celebratory firing of weapons that continues for ten to fifteen minutes honouring Fulpati. Army parade in Tundikhel is watched by the President, Prime Minister and other high level dignitaries in conventional formal dress.

All government as well as private offices close down from today encouraging people to go back to their respective ancestral homes and receive blessings from Durga Bhawani as well as their elders.

According to historian Prakash Darnal, the Fulpati celebration was started during the rule of Late King Prithivi Narayan Shah, after he united the small kingdoms into one Nepal.

Though Dashain begins with Ghatasthapana, the festival gets special flavour from the day of Fulpati.

As there is not much happening in Sydney for Fulpathi, we just gather in my house and had Samay Baji. This is a newari style Bhoj that we have in Nepal during Dashain. I will write details about the Samay Baji in my next post. This it what it looks like.

The festival will continue with Maha Asthami on Monday, Nawami on Tuesday and Dashami on Wednesday.

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Posted in Nepal, Nepali Festivals, Newari Food

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What would you do if a STRANGER follows you trying to make conversation?

Posted on October 20, 2012 | 15 comments

Normally I go for 30 – 40 minutes’ walk during my lunch break. I think I have to stop that soon as it is getting very hot here but I really enjoy it as it gives me some fresh air. Otherwise I would be sitting on my desk all day long. Mostly I go to walk in the park near my office or sometimes I go to shopping center  I always take my phone with me and listen to music with my earphones plugged in.

Anyway on one of these walks last week, a car stopped near me on the road. I didn’t give it much attention and kept walking. But a middle aged guy some 40+ came out of the car and started talking to me. He first complimented me saying I look beautiful. I just ignored him and kept walking but he started walking next to me.

I became a bit weary of his persistence and kept walking. But then he started asking my name and where I work. He kept talking even as I walk on. He was making me uncomfortable and I didn’t want to start a conversation so I kept ignoring him but he kept walking beside me. I was close to my office but I didn’t want to go in as I didn’t want him to know where I worked so I decided to walk a block. But he still kept walking with me.

I was really scared at that point because I didn’t know what to do. Recently there has been lots of news about girls and women being assaulted and abducted so my mind was racing thinking what I should do next. Luckily after almost 10 minutes he understood that I was not going to talk to him and he left me alone. It was really creepy.

I do get occasional compliments in malls or even on the street from complete strangers , not only from men but also from women about my dress or shoe. I smile back at them and thank them and go my own way but this was my first experience where I was really scared.

I am just glad that it was over because I didn’t know what I would have done next if he had kept on following me.

Have you ever been standing in the line at the supermarket, riding the bus home or sitting at the doctor’s office when a stranger tries to strike up a conversation with you? How do you deal with it?

I really don’t want to be rude but sometimes it is really uncomfortable and in times like this, it is very scary to talk to complete strangers especially if they are men.

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Posted in Social Issue

Piazza di Trevi, Spanish Steps and Dinner: Rome, Italy

Posted on October 19, 2012 | 6 comments

On our first day in Rome, we went to the Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps and then ended in Italian restaurant.

The Trevi Fountain

The Trevi Fountain is a fountain in the Trevi district in Rome, Italy. Standing 26 metres (85.3 feet) high and 20 metres (65.6 feet) wide, it is the largest Baroque fountain in the city and one of the most famous fountains in the world.

The fountain gets its name from the fact that it sits at the junction of three roads or in Italian “tre vie”. Traditionally Romans built rather elaborate fountains at the terminal point of their aqueducts.

Supplied by water from the Acqua Vergine aqueduct and a triumph of the baroque style, it was based on the design of Nicolo Salvi and was completed in 1762. The design centres on the triumphant figure of Neptunus Rex, standing on a shell chariot drawn by winged steeds and led by a pair of tritons. Two allegorical figures in the side niches represent good health and fertility.

The legend has it that if you throw a coin into this fountain it guarantees your return to Rome. An estimated 3,000 euros are thrown into the fountain each day. The money has been used to subsidize a supermarket for Rome’s needy; however, there are regular attempts to steal coins from the fountain.

The Trevi Fountain is beautiful, but it can also be overwhelmingly crowded, so keep an eye out while you take pictures and hold on tight to your bags. We were told by our guide again and again to beware of pickpocket so we were very careful when we were in the crowd.

Spanish Steps

The Spanish Steps are a set of steps in Rome, Italy, climbing a steep slope between the Piazza di Spagna at the base and Piazza Trinità dei Monti, dominated by the Trinità dei Monti church at the top. The monumental stairway of 138 steps was built with French diplomat Étienne Gueffier’s bequeathed funds of 20,000 scudi, in 1723–1725, linking the Bourbon Spanish Embassy, and the Trinità dei Monti church that was under the patronage of the Bourbon kings of France, both located above — to the Holy See in Palazzo Monaldeschi located below.

The Spanish Steps are the longest and widest staircase in Europe.

We stopped there on the way to the restaurant for our dinner. There were lots and lots of people everywhere; basically it is a set of steps with the church on the top and fountain at the bottom. But it had the vibe like the Times Square in New York with lots of people on the steps or around the fountains taking pictures, having their lunch or just reading a book.

We climbed the stairs and went to the top of the stair and it was amazing to see so many people from the top.

The streets nearby are full of up-market designer shops likes of Gucci, Max Mara, Salvatore Ferragamo, Giorgio Armani and Louis Vuitton as well as bars and restaurants and are enjoyable to stroll around in.

If you are tired and want to rest for a while it is a good place to stop while you are in Rome but for us we had around an hour there and it was time for us to meet our guide to go for our dinner.

Disappointing Italian dinner

After our mini tour of Rome, we went to an Italian restaurant for dinner. I have to say this was one of the places where I was disappointed with the food as well as the restaurant itself.

We went to this restaurant and they served us a four course meal.  They started with salad and Bruschetta, followed by Pasta. Then the main was Chicken or Beef and dessert was ice cream with fruits.  Even with so much food, it was just an average experience. There were two musicians playing music during the whole time and a waiter was giving red roses to all the ladies. I found the food bland and the place too crowded.

Inspite of the dinner, overall we had a great day.

Please click here for more photos.

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Posted in Italy, Travel

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The Man Who Sued God

Posted on October 18, 2012 | 15 comments

I was looking to watch a movie last night and I saw one of my friends Facebook’s status: “OMG (Oh My God) is a great movie.”

So I googled and found out that it is a Bollywood movie and it looked interesting so I convinced my husband to get this movie from our local Asian grocery shop and we watched it together.

It is a film about our relationship with God, how instead of being God-loving, we have become God-fearing. How religion has become a business run by god-men  ( referred to as ‘salesmen’) who aren’t in fact very spiritual at all. While I was watching this movie, it came to me that I have watched a very similar movie before and then I remembered that it was “The man who sued God.”

The Man who sued the god (2001) is an Australian movie that I watched a long time ago and I really liked it. But over time I had completely forgotten about it.

The story was very similar in both movies but one aimed at the Hindu religion and other at the Christian religion but both conveyed the same message. My husband loved OMG and I did as well expect a few instances where it was hard for me to understand Bollywood humour and the subtitle didn’t help at those times.

So if you are into Bollywood movies then do watch OMG (Oh My God) but I am sure you will also love The Man who sued the god.

The story in a nutshell is:

Billy Connolly plays Steve Myers, a lawyer who became a fisherman from frustration. When his one piece of property, his boat, is struck by lightning and destroyed he is denied insurance money because it was ‘an act of God’. He re-registers as a lawyer and sues the insurance company and the church under the guise of God, defending himself.

Billy Connolly is excellent, his wit and charm is on display throughout the film and it is very, very, funny, most of the time. The story itself is very intriguing; it successfully provokes your thoughts and captures your imagination with interesting questions.

I don’t want to spoil your fun so please watch either or even both of the movies and tell me what you think.

ou may also like:

*I’m Addicted to Game of Thrones *The Hunger game **Life in a day

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Posted in Australia, Movie Review

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Mismatched

Posted on October 17, 2012 | 6 comments

It was only yesterday that I was laughing my head off with a colleague of mine. I saw her in the kitchen in the morning and I saw something odd about her. After observing her for a while I realised that she was wearing her ballet flat shoe rather than her normal high heels. So I asked her if her leg was ok because I usually wear my flats only if my leg is aching or I have to walk a long distance.

She told me the reason and I couldn’t stop laughing.

Like me, she is crazy about her shoes. I am sure she owns more pairs of shoes than I do but we always argue about it. Anyway, back to the story. Every morning she leaves home wearing her flat shoe but carries her high heels in her bag. So as usual, today she did the same. Went to the cupboard, took a pair of black shoe, put them in her bag and left home.

When she reached office and she was exchanging her flat for high heels, she realised that she had brought mismatched black shoes. The worst thing was that they both looked completely different, one plain black and the other one with strips. And to top it off, they were both for the left feet. So the whole of yesterday, she was running around office in her flats.

She admitted that she made the mistake because she had too many pairs of shoes. But like me there is always something nice in the market and it is hard to pass a shoe shop without looking at them and buying a few pairs now and then.

When we were kids, our teachers told us not to laugh at someone else’s mistakes. I learnt my lesson this morning. I was running a bit late for work so after getting ready, I picked up my earrings and ran for the lift. I put on my earrings in the lift without even looking at it properly. But while driving, I saw myself in the rear-view mirror and guess what; I was wearing mismatched earrings. It was not so bad as both of them were pearl but one has diamonds around it and the other doesn’t.  Have a look.

Well I guess, I will say it is the latest fashion to wear mismatched earnings if someone asks me 🙂

Do share your crazy mismatch story.

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Posted in Fashion, Personal

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