2. Kati Patang: Aaj na chhodenge

3. Silsila: Rang Barse

4. Baghbaan: Holi khele Raghuveera

5. Darr: Ang se ang lagana Sajan

6. Waqt: Do me a favour Lets play Holi

7. Mother India: Holi aaye re kanhayee

8. Kohinoor: Tan rang lo ji aaj mann rang lo

9. Nadiya Ke Paar: Jogi ji dheere dheere

10: Aap Beeti: Neela Peela Hara Gulabi

Listen all songs here

Happy Holi to Everyone!

After the Holi bash, you take a look at yourself in the mirror and shriek, ‘Is that me?’ Purple, green, red and pink… you look like, well, an alien. Don’t worry, we tell you how to beat the Holi hues at home

The Night Before

* Apply oil over your body the night before Holi. You can choose from mustard oiul, coconut oil, almond oil (badam rogan), malai or any cold cream. Also, don’t forget to oil your hair thoroughly to prevent damage caused by the harsh chemicals present in gulal.

* Mix together 1 tbsp butter, few drops of lemon juice, cucumber juice, radish juice, tomato juice (1tbsp each) and a pinch of turmeric. Apply this on your face. Rub gently with glycerin and rose water when the pack dries. It moisturizes your skin making it easy for the colours to be washed with cold water.

In The bath

These easy-to-make scrubs help you get rid of all the color smeared on your face…

* Take masoor dal, gram flour, rose water  (1 tbsp each), 2 tbsp curd, a pinch of haldi and a few drops of lemon juice. Apply it all over the body. Scrub and wash off.

* Mix besan, mustard oil and rose water (1tbsp each) with a pinch of turmeric powder and apply all over. Leave for some time and then wash.

* Mix a mashed banana in 2 tbsp milk cream and apply this paste all over.

* If you have normal skin, mix 2 tbsp fuller’s earth (multani mitti). 1 tbsp glycerin, raw milk and curd (2 tbsp each) and apply. Wash when dry.

* To prevent itchiness and irritation, mix cucumber juice, milk cream (1 tbsp each), freshly ground bottle gourd peels and apply it on your face. Wash it off with coconut water. This paste soothes the skin.

SAY CHEESE

Colour on the teeth can be quite a put-off. Rub some lemon rind on them for a shine. You can also make a paste of lemon juice, mustard oil and fine salt. Apply the mix and see your teeth glow.

Holi is scheduled at Monday, 1st of March 2010.

Festivals bring meaning to human life – breaking the monotony of everyday – working, sleeping and again rushing to work the next day. In the modern lifestyle of people going after the money – both husband and wife earning – festivals like Diwali are the oasis in a desert – to rest for a while and continue the journey.

Family members cherish Deepavali in their own way – children with new dress, sweets and fire works; newly weds celebrating the closeness with joy; cinema fans with the release of superhit movies; and elders getting pleasure in seeing their siblings rejoice.
The preparations for Diwali begin much earlier to go shopping for the new dresses to all; stitching them with the help of busy tailors; preparing sweet items and savories at home etc. All these preparations end happily on the Diwali day, when meeting friends and relatives and sharing the pleasure make them worth to undergo.

Indians in Singapore commence the festivity one month in advance. Possibly because they are away from the homeland they are keen in celebrating all the festivals coming from generations and satisfy themselves. A whole new Diwali market opens up with grand lighting for one kilometer and the rush increases everyday nearing Diwali to buy what not. Indian families make this opportunity of Diwali to mingle with each other, in an alien country where they have come to earn their living.

Diwali lights

Putting all of the above together, we can better understand the Muslim holiday festival of Eid ul-Fitr celebrates the end of a fasting period, or Ramadan.

The Eid is the first day of Shawwal and is an observance celebrated all day, unlike the Eid ul-Adha which lasts four days.  This is a joyous time with family reunions, a time to give thanks.  According to Muslim belief, this observance of the Eid was commanded by Allah to any and all believers  Believers of the equal society founded by the Prophet Muhammad enjoyed a freedom from exploitation, dishonesty, bribery, fraud and other forms of corruption.   Everyone was to live in peace and harmony and everyone was to be treated with equality.  Therefore, the month of fasting, or Ramadan, was created to force people to appreciate everything they have by making them give up enjoyable things during this period that they normally would be allowed to enjoy which helps teach one refrain or restraint (Quran 2:183).   Also, according to the Quran, Muslims must stop their fasting on the last day of Ramadan and must say the Takbir during this period of Eid.

During this festive time, Muslims gather to hear the imam offer a sermon, followed by prayer and afterward everyone wishes goodness and blessings to friends and family.

Giving to a needy charity or those less fortunate is not optional during this time of Eid.  These donations are usually in the form of rice, sugar, korma, so that everyone, including those less fortunate, can participate in this important festival.

Hopefully, this has given you some insight into joyous Islamic festival of Eid ul-Fitr.

According to Hindu religious belief, Lord Rama and Lord Krishna are the main deities worshipped by millions of people in India. The birthday celebrations of Lord Krishna is known as “Janmashtami” – although it has various other names such as Krishna Jayanthi; Sri Jayanthi; Gokulashtami; Ashtami Rohini; and Saatham Aatham.

Janmashtami falls during August or September, in accordance with the Hindu calendar (Panchanka). India is a vast country, basically divided into North India and South India by culture.  While the Hindu Religion unites them all, North Indians and South Indians slightly differ in celebrating all the festivals, owing to their traditions of centuries.

Lord Krishna is believed to have born on the 8th day (Ashtami Thithi) of the dark half of Krishna Paksha, during Bhadra month in North India. It is in the month of Avani, same Krishna Paksha, on the birth star of Rohini (not on the thithi account) Lord Krishna’s birthday is being celebrated in South India.

There is no denying by both sectors that Lord Krishna was born at midnight in a prison cell to his parents Vasudev and Devaki, and to save the child from the destructive plans of Kamsa, Devaki’s brother, it was taken to another place by Vasudev during the dead of night.

So Lord Krishna’s birthday is being celebrated in the night – or from the evening of the festive day. Houses are being decorated to receive Balakrishna (Child Krishna) and symbolically ladies draw child’s feet – from the entrance of the house to the Pooja room. It is deemed that Balakrishna with his little feet comes to accept their Pooja where food items – butter; snacks made of ghee; sweets etc. -are placed before the idol of Lord Krishna in the Pooja room.

People in groups take part in ceremonial activities at the temples and street corners to celebrate Janmashtami festival, which is uniting all the people of the locality to rejoice together.

Janmashtami in 2009 – 14th August

M – O – T – H – E – R

This is a wonderful word where each character means a lot about the woman, who gave birth to you in this world.

M – stands for “Memorable” you can forget anything or everything, but you can never forget who your mother is.

O – stands for “Only One” as you can have only one mother but can have any number of sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles and other relations.

T – stands for “Trust” as you can never place an unassailable trust with any one else in this world that compares with the trust you have in your mother. Even you identify who your father is by the trust you have in your mother’s words.

H – stands for “Heart to Heart” as your mother knows you in and out and she can feel your heart as inside of her palms. You can confide with her anything and everything heart to heart.

E – stands for “Eternal” as your link with your mother starts from the umbilical chord and as far as you live on this earth, this relationship can not sever even when your mother is no more.

R – stands for “Real” as everything concerning your mother is for real – the affection, the care, the love, the best wishes, the blessings, the guidance, the friendship, or anything and you know there is no falsehood in any of these values which made you up today.

So putting all these startling characters of these adjectives M – O – T – H – E – R will make the word “Mother” – the inseparable divine force propelling you forward.

I Love You Maa!

I Miss You!

My Mom is Great!

Motherhood Is A Great Art!

Festivals all over the world are means of expression of joy. But “Holi” the delightful festival of riotous colors is unique to India, especially North India.  India is a country of multi-cultures, languages, ethnic groups, innumerable segments and sub-sects of castes within the Hindu faith, food habits, life-styles, dresses and attires distinct to each State – but all of them are forgotten on occasions like “Holi”, proving to the world once again how people could live together in peace with unity in diversity.

Of all the reasons behind “Holi” the strikingly different one the forefathers of India thought fit to celebrate it is – this is a mass celebration of people in a village, in a locality or part of town to greet each other, chase each other funnily and apply riotous colors on everybody’s face and laugh away all the differences between them. There can be no other festival in comparison in any country, where such mass celebration outside individual houses takes place.

Otherwise there are other reasons for the “Holi” from Hindu mythology, of which different versions are there. Prahalada, a child devotee of Lord Vishnu, born to the father Hiranyakashib, who is disturbing the world with his arrogant actions, paves way for his destruction by none other than the Lord. Mahavishnu takes the avatar of Narasimha – a lion with human body and kills the brute. Prahalada is subjected to many tortures by his father, including throwing him in fire along with his sister demon Holika who is immune to fire. But ultimately by God’s grace, the evil burns into fire while Prahalada comes out unscathed. Some people say “Holi” is for rejoicing the destruction of evil Holika and so bone-fires are part of Holi.

Still some people relate Holi with the eternal love of Radha and Krishna, the mythological characters of the Lord Vishnu and is celebrated with much fan fare at Mathura, Vrindavan etc. What ever the reason behind Holi, it comes on the next of full moon in the month of March – the beginning of pleasant Summer after the grip of cold Winter in North India – the real reason for rejoicing by one and all. This month, Holi is scheduled at Wednesday, 11th of March 2009.

“God could not be everywhere,
and therefore he created mothers.”
Jewish Proverb

“I look back on my childhood and thank the stars above.
For everything you gave me, but mostly for your love.”
Wayne F. Winters, from Ode to Mom

“A mother’s love for her child is like nothing else in the world.
It knows no law, no pity,
it dares all things and crushes down remorselessly all that stands in its path.”
Agatha Christie

“I am not a perfect mother and I will never be.
You are not a perfect daughter and you will never be.
But put us together and we will be the best mother and daughter we would ever be. ”
Zoraida Pesante

“A mother is someone who dreams great dreams for you,
but then she lets you chase the
dreams you have for yourself and loves you just the same.”
Author Unknown

“A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie
for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie.”
Tenneva Jordan

“Mothers are fonder than fathers of their children because
they are more certain they are their own.”
Aristotle

“Never marry a man who hates his mother, because he’ll end up hating you.”
Jill Bennett

“As is the mother, so is her daughter.”
Ezekiel 16:4

“Men are what their mothers made them.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

“The mother’s heart is the child’s schoolroom.”
Henry Ward Beecher, US Congressional clergyman

“Woman in the home has not yet lost her dignity, in spite of Mother’s Day, with its offensive implication that our love needs an annual nudging, like our enthusiasm for the battle of Bunker Hill.”
John Erskine

“Motherhood is priced; Of God, at price no man may dare/To lessen or misunderstand.”
Helen Hunt Jackson

“I remember my mother’s prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life.”
Abraham Lincoln

“Being a full-time mother is one of the highest salaried jobs… since the payment is pure love.”
Mildred B. Vermont

“If the whole world were put into one scale, and my mother in the other, the whole world would kick the beam.”
Henry Bickersteth

“When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child.”
Sophia Loren, Women and Beauty

“The moment a child is born, the mother is also born.
She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new.”
Rajneesh

“Woman in the home has not yet lost her dignity, in spite of Mother’s Day, with its offensive implication that our love needs an annual nudging, like our enthusiasm for the battle of Bunker Hill.”
John Erskine

“Whatever else is unsure in this stinking dunghill of a world a mother’s love is not.”
James Joyce

“No matter how old a mother is, she watches her middle-aged children for signs of improvement.”
Florida Scott-Maxwell

“Of all the rights of women, the greatest is to be a mother.”
Lin Yutang, Chinese writer

All over the world, particularly in the European countries, February is regarded as the Love Month, because Valentine’s Day falls on 14^th February.  Legends and stories about the origin of this day being celebrated as Valentine’s Day differ according to various versions and countries.  But the modern world has uniformly accepted (more so the Internet world) that February 14 is a day of LOVE between a male and a female.  Age has no bar for love and affection. Love has no season or even reason.  It is a feeling flowing from the heart of every individual with no exception and there is no one in the world, who can hate Love and Lovers. However sparing an exclusive day for Love and marking it to be February 14 has been universally accepted.

So Valentine’s Day has come to stay for centuries and with commercialization of everything in the present days, Valentine’s Day is one when people express their love to each other by sending Greeting Cards (the Greeting Card Manufacturers Association of US estimates that millions of people use Greeting Cards for Valentine’s Day, next only to Christmas). Sending them in heart shaped designs and packed in a beautiful cover with Cupid and Arrow emblem has been found to be most popular. Meeting, dating, courting and dining outside has become the main affair for the day for youngsters.

Otherwise there are no authentic information of a Valentine’s Week, where several days are marked as important such as – Slap Day; Chocolate Day; Friendship Day; Rose Day; Kiss Day; I Value our friendship Day; Heart to Heart Day; Hug Day; Thanks for a Great Valentine’s Day; Internal Friendships Week etc. – and we can however relate them in our own way with Valentine’s Day.

Again for a specific question “What are the days and when are they celebrated in the week of Valentines?” – Yahoo search engine has floated the question on the net and got the following only answer (just answer and no source or authenticity):

7^th February                              – Rose Day

8^th February                              – Propose Day

9^th February                              – Chocolate Day

10^th February                             – Teddy Day

11^th February                             – Promise Day

12^th February                             – Kiss Day

13^th February                             – Hug Day

14^th February – Valentine’s Day

Now let us see reason behind the so called special days of a Valentine’s Week, just for fun:

Slap Day : This fails to fit anywhere in a week where only actions of love are expected and admissible. May be one of the pairs slapping fondly the other?

But still for a whole day? If done, the other will have puffy cheek unable to celebrate Valentine’s Day! lolz… hahahha…

Chocolate Day: Ha ..This is for real. Sweets and Chocolates are distributed freely between lovers as expression of their Sweet Love.

In fact the sales of confectioneries during the Valentine’s season in the European Countries cross millions of dollars.  So everybody is very happy – the sender, the receiver and to a great extent the manufacturers/sellers of sweet items.

Friendship Day : This also sounds reasonable.  After all love is born out of friendship and you won’t love your enemy. In Japan Valentine’s season is also celebrated by expressing love among friends – girls bringing sweets to all their co-workers and officemates.

But the real Friendship Day is something else – on the first Sunday of August, Friends Day is celebrated in large number of countries, started in US in the year 1935. Exchange of Friendship Day Cards, gifts, flowers and wrist bands is a popular tradition on this occasion.

Rose Day: You can’t separate Roses from Valentine’s Day.  For a lover to propose, Red Ross is the popularly recognized symbol.

Millions of Roses are exported from India to other countries, owing to the extraordinary and unique fragrance they emit (and thereby give employment opportunities to a whole Industry).  This is how the popular idiom “To say it with Roses…” is born perhaps.

Kiss Day : A very obvious and purposeful day to celebrate in the so called Valentine’s Week.  Without kisses, Love between two people loses its total charm.

From the days of Adam and Eve, this is the only old and never changed custom human race is following, to express love, irrespective of any worldly barriers of language, culture, country and seas in between.

I Value our Friendship Day: This goes exactly with Friendship Day and needs no explanation.

Heart to Heart Day: This is surely needed in love between two persons.  Without it Love has no value and gets a different name – “Lust”.

Hug Day: Goes with Love immensely.

By hugging, bodily transmission of love – not only between opposite sexes, but also with another human being is expressed as followed in many countries, particularly in Muslim countries.

Thanks for a Great Valentine’s Day: A civilized expression for all that received on the occasion of Valentine Season.

Temporary Insanity Day : It is not known how this fantastic day celebrations on February 19 originated.  But it is recognized as such and there are lots and lots of eCards for sending on that day.  Really this is related with humor among friends and family and friends. You can go crazy on that day to make others feel that you are temporarily insane – just ask the person you come across what gender they are – or you drive them nuts by forwarding every email in your inbox to all of them in your contact list…twice. They will never forget this Temporary Insanity Day in their life.

Banana Bread Day:  February 23 is officially recognized in the US States as National  Banana Bread Day – among the fun days.  Banana has many nutrients really and there are recipes in assorted varieties for making Banana Breads.

Maha Shivratri:  This is a popular Indian festival to worship and grace the Hindu God – Lord Shiva.  Though Shivaratris occur every month, Hindus observe the one that comes in the month of February (actually according to Indian calendar this comes on a date in February).

This year’s Maha Shivratri falls on 23^rd February 09.  For thousands of years, yogis observe this day of self-awakening and seeing the inner-self. Common people observe this with fasting the whole day and keeping vigil over night without sleep – praising and singing about Lord Shiva.

Mardi Grass : This is a festival of Carnival celebrated with much fan fare in Europe, especially Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, New Orleans, and Louisiana. This is also known as Fat Tuesday in France and Shrove Tuesday in the United Kingdom- before Ash Wednesday.

The celebrations take place for atleast three days with colorful Carnivals and rejoicing. This year Mardi Grass falls on February 24.

Cuddles Day : Every year Cuddles Day is celebrated on 25^th February. Cuddles are the sweetest way of telling your friends, family members and your acquaintances that you care. US celebrates National Cuddle day by sending eCards and greetings to all, as a way of expression of affection.

Polar Bear Day: Although the origin is not known, this is celebrated on 27^th of February every year, to commemorate Polar Bears, the world’s largest carnivore.

Polar Bears of Arctic Region are liked by kids everywhere and teachers take this opportunity to explain everything about Polar Bears. TV  Nature channels don’t forget to telecast many programs on these popular animals living on Mountains of ice.

Thinking of it Christmas is a universal festival of joy.  Irrespective of language barriers in the East and West, this is celebrated with the same enthusiasm, which no other festival can match. Japanese, Chinese, Indian, African or the Arabian countries do have their own festivities in innumerable numbers and varieties, but none of them have this much of world fame as Christmas has.  Though Christmas was started religiously to commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ, 25th of December has become known with latest traditions of Santa Clause, or “Santa” in short for the Americans, as a day of love, friendship, and affection to be showered among people and rejoicing together.

More precisely, every Christmas is remembered till the next year, by this smiling old man with a white beard, clad in red and white cloth, carrying a sack on his shoulders, full of gifts – Santa Clause.  Tracing the legend of Santa, you will come across a lot of stories, with no authentic proof, other than the common belief of people for generations, that the Lord give us presents on this happy occasion and we should be thankful to Him.

Most popular among them is – the Dutch tradition in New Amsterdam (New York) gave birth to the origin of Santa Clause, otherwise known as St. Nicholas – the Dutch version of the name being Sint Klass. The myths go to describe Santa elaborately – he is from a home located in North Pole; he uses a vehicle pulled by eight winged and flying reindeers including Rudolph, the reindeer, which has red-nose; he travels the world and enters every home through the chimney (one wonders what he will do in the latest model houses where there is no chimney!) and he has the habit to fill socks or stockings with lot of presents exactly on the night of 24th December.

Behind these descriptions, there is the picture of Santa Clause by the world-famous painter of Thomas Nast, who took the basics of the popular Christmas Poem by Clement C. Moore – “A visit from St. Nicholas” – written as a family poem for his kids in 1823. That is how the present world comes to know of this great old man Santa and recognized instantly by the kids the world over, the latest decorations in dress and designs notwithstanding.

Interestingly, all the different cults of St. Nicholas or Santa bringing gifts to kids on the night of 24th , centers around love and affection and expression of warmth in Old Catholics; Christian and Pagan; Dutch; Scandinavian; English and German, though with minor variations.  This mythical character is vividly remembered by one and all as a friend of the children to give away presents during the festive season.

In Greek Santa is known as Hagios Nikolos (Bishop of Myra); in China Santa is known as Shengdan Laoren; in England he is Father Christmas (of course with a longer coat and beard); in France popular as Pere Noel; in Germany he is Christindl, the Christmas Child; in Spanish countries, Costa Rica, Columbia and some parts of Mexico, kids recognize him as el Nino Jesus “the infant Jesus”, in Brazil and Peru the Christmas Santa is known as Papa Noel.

Father Christmas Santa is fondly called in Italy, Spain, Portugal and majority Latin American nations as – Babbo Natale; Morocco people call him Black Peter; for Japanese elders he is just Santa, but for the kids he is “Santa no Ojisan” meaning “Uncle Santa”. Sweden greets Santa on the evening before Christmas as “Jultomten” and the bag of gifts he carries is “julklappar”; Father Christmas namely “Pa Norsk” visits on the eve of Christmas in the name “Julenissen” in Norway; Netherland people call him Kerstman and in Finland he is “Joulupukki”.

Dutch people still call him with latest changes – Sinter Klass; for the Russians he is the Grandfather Frost known as “ded moroz” and he is also famous as “Kris Kringle”, originating from the German term Christ Kind or Christ Child.

The so popular Christmas Santa is taking innumerable “avatars” in the media for advertising their products, on the eve of Christmas, and in the Internet he is very useful for the creativity of artists and animations to show him just as the right symbol of Merry Christmas.  The message Santa propagates is very clear -“Love Thy Neighbor” and this is most ideal for netizens – the word population has been brought by the Internet as your next door neighbor.  So why not send a Christmas Gift to your “net neighbor” with a picture of Santa?