Rakhee Ghelani

Tag: Festival

  • Discovering New Places To Visit in Bombay: Mazagaon and Khotachiwadi

    Discovering New Places To Visit in Bombay: Mazagaon and Khotachiwadi

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    I seem to spend so much of my time these days either at home working or going to the same places to meet friends, that I’d almost forgotten about the joy of discovering new places to visit in Mumbai. So one surprisingly sunny monsoon afternoon a friend and I decided to do just that. We…

  • Ganesh Chaturthi in Mumbai: The Lalbagh Walk

    Ganesh Chaturthi in Mumbai: The Lalbagh Walk

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    Ganpati or Ganesh Chaturthi would have to be one of the biggest festivals in Mumbai. The festival is in honour of Lord Ganesha, who is the remover of obstacles. A Ganesh statue is traditionally installed in the home, or in the neighbourhood in many cases, and people worship it for 10 days. The statue is…

  • The Big Fat Indian Wedding : The Engagement

    The Big Fat Indian Wedding : The Engagement

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    This is the third part of The Big Fat Wedding, you can find the rest here: Introduction Pre-Wedding Rituals Shaadi Time Bright and early on a Tuesday morning the Engagement ceremonies began. The timing of these are generally dictated by astrology, which explains the 7.30am start. The first ceremony is Vratham. This is where Carl…

  • Mumbai Film Festival

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    I love a good film festival.  In Melbourne I would always go to the International Film Festival that came to town each year. For someone who is not so creative, I seem to have a lot of friends who are in the arts, and a few of my close ones in Australia are film-makers.  It…

  • Navratri in Mumbai

    Navratri in Mumbai

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    Navratri is a festival that is celebrated around October every year (its actual dates are lunar).  In line with its meaning the festival goes for “nine nights”.  I must confess, I don’t know much about the technicalities of why Navratri is celebrated, but I believe it is related to invoking the energy of the Goddess…

  • Life in the Indian village

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    I was fortunate enough to spend my Christmas and New Year break with friends in a small village in the Punjab.  Getting to experience the true village life is not something an outsider gets to do usually. In some places I have traveled to village experiences have been offered, but I find these usually to…

  • Orchha: Celebrating Dussehra Madhya Praddesh Style

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    Navratri is a Hindu festival that means 9 nights and is a celebration of the Goddess Durga as Autumn begins (at least in very simplistic terms). For me growing up in Australia, Navratri was the time of year we gathered together in a school hall with other Gujarati families and did Dandiya Raas.  This is…

  • Raksha Bandhan… My Day

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    This weekend was Raksha Bandhan. It is a festival where a sister ties a Rakhi (which is like a wristband made from coloured thread and beads), around her brother’s wrist.  This is to wish him prosperity. In return, her brother gives her a gift. In Australia, I have always been aware of this festival, primarily…