Monthly Archives: September 2015

White skin and blonde hair

As I am 0n maternity leave these days, I try to fill my days visiting friends and family. Chhori loves it when we go out and meet people. It keeps her happy and makes my days pass quicker.

chhori (3)

On one of these visits, I decided to visit one of my friends as I hadn’t seen her for a while. She and her husband are both from Nepal and have two daughters, 4 years and 2 years so it was a perfect play time for Chhori. We planned to catch up at her place so I drove there with Chhori.

I was having a great day with the girls as they were excited to play with Chhori and they had a million questions about her, which was too cute. I was seeing Chhori’s future in them. Both the girls were happy to share their toys and food with Chhori.

Chhori (2)

As it was afternoon, the younger of the girls was sleepy so my friend took her inside for nap. I was left with her 4 years old and Chhori and we were playing and talking when the following conversation stopped my heart for a while. Let me call the 4 year old Maiya for this post.

Me: “I love your long hair, so pretty, who braided it?” (I was just trying to make small talk)

Maiya: “I don’t like my black hair and I don’t like my skin either. I love Rosie and she is my best friend because she has white skin and blonde hair.”

Thinking it was just a conversation, I continued,

Me: “I actually like your skin, so soft and nice and also like your hair too as it is black and long like mine, your mums and Chhori’s too. Look at us we all look so similar because of our black hair.”

Maiya: “No aunty, blonde hair and white skin are beautiful and I am going to have them too. I want to be a beautiful princess.

Me: “You are already beautiful my darling and you are a princess.

Maiya: “But all my favourite princesses have blonde hair and white skin. Also all my favourite people in the world have them too like Rosie, S aunty (her mum’s SIL who is Swedish).”

I really had no reply her comments because she seemed to have them deeply carved in her mind. We live in Sydney where there are lots of white folks with blonde hair, we give her toys with similar features and she also watches cartoons and reads book where most of the time beautiful princess are white with blonde hair.

Later I spoke to my friend and she said that is her normal conversation. Maiya loves white skin so much that she asks her mum every day when she will be white like Rosie. She is not even dark, she is fair with big beautiful eyes and long black hair. But for her, beauty is not in black hair or brown skin.

I am sure I will be facing similar situations once Chhori grows up and I don’t know how to deal with it. I am sure all of you out there have faced similar situations with your own kids, please share how you deal with it. At times I am scared of the future when we have to deal with so many questions from Chhori and we will be lost for answers.

Thanks everyone in advance and see you soon with another post.

Take care,
M from nepaliaustralian
XOXO

Nepaliaustralian turns 4!

On 13 September, 2015 nepaliaustralian turned 4. Being so busy with Father’s Day and Teej, I almost forgot to write the anniversary post.

Anyway better late than never. 🙂 🙂 🙂

When I first started writing, I never imagined than I would be writing a post to celebrate the 4th anniversary of my blog. So much has changed in my life since then and the biggest change is the birth of our daughter, Chhori.

Even though Chhori is taking up most of my time, I am glad to be able to write whenever I can and update everyone with what is happening in my life.

Today the blog has 824 posts, 74 pages, 8701 comments with 1,033,822 page views, 3455 followers and readers from 222 countries visiting my blog. J

So, Thank you!!! Thank you!!! Thank you!!!

Thank you everyone who reads and follows my blog. Thank you everyone for your comments on my posts. Thank you to those who email me with words of encouragement and making me realise that my blog has helped them in some way. I feel blessed to be in the company of all the wonderful human beings who have helped to make my blog what it is today.

nepaliaustralian

I have a virtual cake for all to hand around! Cheers!!!

P.S: To celebrate the occasion like every year, I will be opening the nominations for Nepaliaustralian’s Blog Award 2015 so watch out for my future post.

Take care everyone and Happy weekend!!!

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

 

Chhori’s first Nepali Father’s Day

Only last week, it was Australian Father’s Day and AS was over the moon to be able to celebrate it with Chhori. Today is Kushe Aushi (Nepali Father’s Day). I made plans to make it special for AS as it is his first and I wanted to celebrate it in traditional Nepali way.

Nepali father's Day (5)

I prepared puja, Sagun (traditionally a plate of boiled egg, smoked fish, a “bara”, fried chicken and yogurt). I also baked a cake with the wording “For the record, you are the world’s best dad; Happy Father’s Day AS” on it.

Nepali father's Day (2) Nepali father's Day (4)

I also baked some cupcakes. I made a special card with Chhori’s handprints and “Happy Father’s Day” written on it. I also got him some fruits, biscuits and t-shirt.

Nepali father's Day (1)

I was so happy to see everything come together and AS was really pleased with my efforts.

Nepali father's Day (3)

So Chhori observed her first Nepali Father’s Day with my help. First we put tika on AS forehead.

Nepali father's Day (7) Nepali father's Day (8)

Then we give him Sagun. After that Chhori and AS cut the cake together.

Nepali father's Day (9)

He was pleased with the card as well and Chhori had a great time too.

I and AS also talked to our dads and send them gifts for Father’s Day. It is always so nice to see them happy. I really appreciate what they have done for us.

So if you are from Nepal and you haven’t called your dad to wish him, do give him a call and make him smile. And to all the proud dads out there, Happy Father’s Day.

Take care everyone.
M from nepaliaustralian
XOXO

Pasni party for Chhori

After the pasni puja was over, the next big day was the party day.

Chhori is so blessed to have so many loved one come to visit her after her birth. So I wanted to invite everyone for the celebration and to share the day with us.

As with other celebrations, I had many ideas that I wanted to execute for her special day.

So I started planning for the big day months in advance. I wanted a big enough venue that served good food and had great ambiance. After a very tiring search, we finally found it.

The next part was to find a good baker to bake a special cake for Chhori and a photographer who could capture the special moments. Once everyone was booked, I started on the entertainment. I wanted to put on a few performances so I asked few of my friends and they agreed to dance and sing on the day. Altogether, there were going to be 5 dances and a song and I was performing a dance with my sister in law as well.

I always liked dancing but I haven’t performed since high school so I was excited and scared at the same time. We practiced for almost a month every other day and though we were not very good in the beginning as the days passed and we practiced more, we got better and better. I was really happy with where we were headed.

In the meantime, we also designed place cards and arranged the table sitting. It took a while but when everything were done, I was super excited for the day.

On the day of party, I went to the beauty parlour to do my hair and makeup. It took almost 2 hours to get ready and I was happy with the result. I had ordered a special lehenga saree and that was what I was wearing. AS was also looking really handsome in his new suit and bow tie.

Chhori pasni (9)

Chhori also had a special dress made for her in a boutique in Nepal by her grand ma which I loved a lot. She looked absolutely gorgeous.

Chhori pasni (5)

Once we were all ready, we went to the venue. It was decorated, nicely.

Chhori pasni (6)

The cake was also already delivered. We placed all the place cards in the right places and were set for the evening.

Chhori pasni (4)

It was early and the photographer was there as well so we spent an hour taking photos before the guests arrived. He took great photos of us as well as with my parents and brother.

Chhori pasni (16) Chhori pasni (17)Chhori pasni (2)

As the guests arrived, the place stared to fill up and food and drinks were served.

Chhori pasni (1)

It was so much fun catching up with friends and family after a while. Chhori was an absolute angel and was behaved so well.

Chhori pasni (3) Chhori pasni (7)chhori pasni (4)chhori pasni (2)chhori pasni (3)

After a while Chhori was bit tired and I let her sleep for a while so she would be fresh and happy for the cake cutting.

As to our schedule, it was time for some entertainment and first up was me and my SIL. I felt nervous like as if it was my first time on the stage but once the music started the fun took over the fear. We both were more relaxed and started our performance.

Chhori pasni (11)

Before we knew it, the songs came to an end and I was glad that everyone enjoyed it too. We were showered with applause when we left the stage. I am so glad we captured the performance on video.

After our dance there were more performances that evening by my friends. I am so grateful that I have such a great family and friends who invested their time and energy to make Chhori’s pasni such a memorable evening.

Chhori pasni (14)Chhori pasni (12) Chhori pasni (15)

As I looked around, everyone was enjoying the evening and I could see that the guests were relaxed and mingling well.

While the performance was on, entree was served and after the performance, it was time to cut the cake. Chhori woke up just in time for that.

Chhori pasni (4)

The baker did a great job with the cake. It was what I had imagined and looked amazing. I, AS and Chhori cut the cake together. Amazingly, when we gave Chhori a piece of cake, she loved it so much that she started munching on it and we were pleasantly surprised. She loved the sweetness and she looked so cute with cake all over her face.

Chhori pasni (13)

After the cake, the dance floor was opened and every one joined us on the dance floor for hours to enjoy the evening. It was so much fun for all of us.

chhori pasni (1) chhori pasni (5)

In the meantime, dinner was served and everyone enjoyed the food and the dance and before I knew it, it was close to midnight and party was coming to an end.

Chhori pasni (10)

I am so happy the evening went as we planned and everyone enjoyed it. They told us that they had an amazing time and loved our organized celebration.

Chhori pasni (8)

We got some beautiful photos and videos from the day so when Chhori grows up, she too can enjoy watching her Pasni ceremony.

Hope you enjoyed the photos and the post as much as we did the occasion.

Take care everyone,
M from nepaliaustralian
XOXO

Happy Father’s Day AS

Today is Father’s day in Australia. It is AS first Father’s day and he is over the moon to have our little angle with us.

AS and Chhori

That is the photo I took when Chhori was small and here is the one from today.

AS and Chhori

Happy first Father’s Day daddy. I love you a lot. Lots of Love, Kisses & Hugs” : Chhori ❤ ❤ ❤

Thank you AS for being such a wonderful father and helping me raise our beautiful daughter.

Wishing all the fathers out there a wonderful Father’s Day. Hope you all are enjoying your time with your little bundle of joy.

Take care everyone.
M from nepaliaustralian
XOXO