Festival of Raksha Bandhan

Missing my Indian festivals a lot

August 29 is Raksha Bandhan an Indian festival that celebrates the bond between brothers and sisters.

On this day sisters tie a Rakhi (a sacred thread) on their brother's wrist. It symbolises a sister's love and prayers for the well-being off her brother and her brother's lifelong vow to protect her. Hence Raksha - to protect   Bandhan - to tie.

I haven't celebrated this festival for a long time as my brother and I live in different countries. But when we were together in India, I would tie a rakhi on his wrist and give him his favourite sweet (chocolate or cake) and he would give me a gift, usually money.

I think this is a beautiful tradition that brings brothers and sisters closer and reinforces the loving bond that siblings have.

I think the tradition originated sometime in the 1500s when soldiers went to war, their families tied a sacred thread to bless them for success and thereby protect the families and villages.

Raksha Bandhan is one of my favourite festivals and I miss it a lot.

a virtual rakhi for my brother which I will send to him next weekend

Some fragments for Friday though it is now Sunday :)

Updating my CV - less is more is my mantra for it and I've been culling a lot from it. It's looking pretty good now.

Each time my son's assignment hand in date nears, I wonder if it's my test or his.

Winter is nearly over and I am looking forward to some warmer days. It's been so cold lately.

Hope you all had a great week.


Linking to:
Letter F at ABC Wednesday
Six Word Saturday
Wordless Wednesday at Abracadabra
Friday Fragments
Snap Your Week
Friday Reflections - tell us about your brother or sister


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Peace is the way

Why is it we never learn?

April 25 is ANZAC Day in New Zealand and Australia. It marks the anniversary of the Gallipoli landings of 1915 where New Zealand, Australia, British, France, India, and Newfoundland troops battled the Ottoman empire. Approximately 8700 Australians and 2800 New Zealand soldiers died.

ANZAC (Australia and New Zealand Army Corps) is a day we honour those who died at Gallipoli and also in many subsequent wars. 

This year was the 100 anniversary of those landings.  100 years on it is sad that we haven't learned from the past. Wars don't bring peace only destruction.

Peace is the way to peace.

Each year there is a dawn ceremony in the capital Wellington. I didn't attend the dawn ceremony but watched it on TV.  As a picture speaks a thousand words, the 100th ANZAC day ceremony is best shown in pictures (taken by my trusty camera off the TV).

Dawn Ceremony in Wellington

New Zealand War Memorial

Australian Memorial gifted to New Zealand

Air Force Salute

Governor General of New Zealand

The Last Post

Tomb of the Unknown Warrior

Gallipoli, Turkey

R.I.P 

All who gave up their lives in wars. 

Linking to:
Letter P for ABC Wednesday
Six Word Saturday
Wordless Wednesday #82 at Abracadabra
Friday Fragments #351
Sundays in my city

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Enjoying Entertainment

Enjoying entertainment at the Cricket WorldCup

New Zealand and Australia are jointly hosting the 2015 Cricket World Cup.

The Official Opening Ceremony was held in Christchurch, New Zealand and the first match of the World Cup was also held at Christchurch between New Zealand and Sri Lanka.

Elated that New Zealand won that game.

The opening ceremony and the first game were the highlights of the week.

And as pictures speak a thousand words, here are some pics from the opening ceremony that I took from TV as I watched.

dances - Bollywood, Irish, Scottish, Sri Lankan

Stadium and Maori Waiata (singing) and welcome

Hayley Westenra and the Royal NZ Army band

Maori dance, fire dancer, NZ flag, NZ Army band

at celebrations in Melbourne, Australia

First game at the Christchurch stadium  Hagley Oval - NZ vs Sri Lanka.

Even Google joined in to celebrate the opening match.

Some Faces

Linking to:
The Letter E at ABC Wednesday
Friday Fragments #340
Photo Friday - Faces
Wordless Wednesday #71 at Abracadabra
Snap Your Week #7 at Eloquent Articulation
Six Word Saturday
Sundays in my city


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Deceptive weather

Deceptive weather today - sunny but cold

The weather is very deceptive today. The sun is shining, there's only a slight breeze,  it's Summer but it is cold.

Tidbits this week

Drove (or should I say, got driven) North to a town called Levin for work. Implementing some new hardware and software upgrades there.

And the diligence shown by my project team paid off as the implementation went well.

Delighted that New Zealand won the Wellington Rugby Sevens. Enjoyed watching the games and as always screamed my head off.

Don't know why but this week all I wanted to listen to was Hindi music. Perhaps my roots were calling?


Written for:
The Letter D at ABC Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday #70 at Abracadabra
Photo Friday prompt Weather
Friday Fragments #339
Snap Your Week #6 at Eloquent Articulation
Six Word Saturday
Sundays in my city




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