Happy Diwali

It is always difficult when Diwali comes in a weekday and you are in the USA. They should declare it a holiday at least in Cupertino!

Wishing you all a wonderful Diwali!

May this Deepavali bring you light and joy.

They made the Deepams (Dia's) as part of their art class. The little one is going through the "conscious phase of posing for photos" now that she is a "tween" aka "big girl"! 

As far as I am concerned, they will NEVER be big girls.

They are growing up though. Finally did a collage of them in a third nice dress this year..

Cannot believe this year is coming to an end in a few more weeks. Have to post a lot of thoughts and pictures. Will get to them before end of the year. 

For now, time to enjoy the sweets and savories made by MIL, and enjoy the smiling faces all around! 

Happy Deepavali! 

The girl with the golden sax

This year, Jr. decided to play the alto saxophone at Golus instead of singing songs. She practiced the weekend before and played three or four small pieces.

She looked majestic in her half sari and the saxophone matched her dress like another jewel!

Jr. has been teaching herself these pieces. Not that confident yet on her ability to play south Indian classical music. We are all encouraging her to practice more. This year her teacher has promised to help her with understanding the complex notation as well as making it easy to play these pieces. Next year, she might play the entire songs.. 

Here is a small clip from this years Golu at a friends place..

She made us proud just for trying!

Golu 2015

This year the entire Golu visits were done over one weekend. Here are some of the golus from this year.

As usual, they were all grand and nicely done, be it three, five , seven or nine steps!

Again the kids did great side displays to show their creativity!

Some of the dolls are so intricate that these photos do not do justice to the dolls.

Golus that are new to us this year..

The rest are in this slideshow.. enjoy!

This year Jr. played the saxophone at some houses while she had the energy. She had practiced a few south Indian classical pieces and was hesistant about trying them out. We told her it was in front of friends and she should go for it. It was the highlight of the weekend.

Golus and our friends make sure we don't miss India during Navarathri season!