Buddhists celebrate many festivals like Ashadhi Punima, Ashwin Purnima, Vasant Panchami, etc.  The following are the important festivals celebrated by them.

Baisakhi Purnima: The full moon day of Baisakh is the day Gautam Buddha was born.  He also attained enlightenment on this day. This day is, therefore, celebrated by the Buddhists with great fervor.  Photographs of Lord Buddha are taken out in procession.  The Buddhists observe fast and say prayers on this day.

Ambedkar Jayanti: This is celebrated on 14^th April as Dr.Ambedkar’s Birthday.  Prayers are offered in honor of Dr.Ambedkar and Lord Buddha.  Neo Buddhists eat sweets on this day.

Vijaya Dashmi: This festival coincides with the Hindu festival of the same name.  It is important because on this day Emperior Asoka announced that he would never use force to win or conquer people.  On this day, in 1956, Dr.Ambedkar with many followers embraced Buddhism.  Processions are taken out with garlanded photographs of Lord Buddha and Dr.Ambedkar.  Prayers are also said in prayer meeting in the public participation.

Deepavali: This festival coincides with the Hindu festival of the same name.  It ends the period of 3 months during which Buddhist Monks are required to stay at one place.  In the evening lamps are lit and prayers offered to Lord Buddha.

Mumbadevi Temple: The original temple of Mumbadevi was in existence during the reign of Bhimdev (AD 1303).   It was most probably built by the Koli fishermen.  It was situated near a spot now included within Victoria Terminus.  During the reign of Mubarak Shah of Gujarat, this temple was destroyed.

Mumbadevi was without doubt an aboriginal personification of the earth-Mother.  About 1737, the British Government while enlarging the fortifications acquired the land on which the temple stood and demolished it.  The present site was allocated in lieu there of and the temple built by the Hindus.  Pandu Seth, a Merchant of Mumbai, owned the temple.  On 9^th October, 1898, the temple was taken away from the heirs due to litigation and Trustees appointed.  The Image of the Goddess is without  a mouth and is dressed in a robe and bodice and wears a sliver crown.  Twice a year, big annual festivals are held.

Shri Lakshmi Narayan Temple: Gowalia Tank: This temple is very near to Grant Road Railway Station.  The temple was built about 18;85.  It is a spacious cement concrete building.  There are images of Lakshmi and Narayan made of black marble.  A very well attended Annual Fair is held at Gowatra Tank Maidan. The fair lasts for ten days.

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In this post I will give you some tips and some special treatment for Hands.

Cracked Hands: Use skin-food cream of a good make, and wear gloves over night.  Use hand lotion liberally.

Tanned Hands: Use bleaching cream and wear cotton gloves overnight.

Wrinkled Hands: Use rich cream after streaming the hands.  Every time you soak your hands in water, use hand lotion.

Heavy Veins: Put your hand above the level of the head, and gently massage with hand lotion from the tips towards the arms, so as not to stretch the skin. Shaking your hands and doing clenching exercises is also very beneficial.

Dry Hands: Use rose-water, glycerin and greasy cream at night.  While doing house work you should wear rubber gloves.  Never expose your hands to extremely cold or hot water.

Cracked Nails: Soak your ails every day in hot olive oil.  Take gelatin by mouth.  Use a nail hardened for hardening the nails.  Take Vitamin A to improve your nails.

Freckles on Hands: As one matures, one tends to get freckles on the hands. Use a good bleaching cream for this.  The results are temporary, but effective.

Allergies: Sometimes, soap detergents and nail varnish can cause allergy.  So you have to check o what does not agree with the temperament of your skin.

Most Indian women have, for centuries, not had economic independence and are wholly dependent upon a man for their sustenance, status and protection.  No wonder then, despite modernization and education, Indian women observe fasts and special prayers for husbands, sons, fathers and brothers.  They fast o special days like Savitri, Teej, Haritalika, Nombu and Karwa Chauth, all festivals dedicated to the benign goddess Parvathi, the wife of Shiva, who bestows good luck and fortune upon  women.  On such days women wear henna, new clothes, green or red glass bangles for luck and exchange gifts.  They fast, praying for the long life and good health of their men folk, and eat tender coconuts, fruits nuts, milk products and certain permissible food, depending upon the customs of each community.

Haritalika: A day before the great Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Maharashtra, women celebrate a special occasion.  They welcome Harita Gowri or Suvarna Gowri, the green and gold goddess of food harvests, a beautiful form of the goddess Parvathi, the mother of the learned Ganesha.

They wear new green glass bangles, green saris and flowers in their hair.  Gold ornaments, decorative bindis and every kind of ornamentation is used by women to dress up and pray for the welfre of their families.  The flowers fruits and fresh vegetables of the season – such as green coconuts, sugarcane, ladyfingers, ridge gourd, bitter gourd, the golden ears of rice, marigolds and mango leaves are offered to the goddess at the special celebration.  Most women fast till the worship is over.  And they have special food after pooja

Though today, a large number of Indian women are highly educated and often eminently successful at their careers, these cultural roots are so deep that they consider marriage and filial ties to be sacred and often hold their families together by their devotion and patience.

12 medium potatoes peeled

½ cup coriander leaves, chopped

4 onions chopped, ground

1 tbsp. ginger-garlic paste

1 tbsp. chili powder

1 tsp turmeric powder

½ cup mixed almonds, pistachios, coarsely powdered

3 tomatoes, skinned, ground

1 tsp. cumin seeds

1 tsp. garam masala

4 tbsp. sugar

1 cup oil

salt to taste

Put a hole into each potato.  Stuff with nuts mixed with salt and a few coriander leaves.  Close with potato pieces.  Heat oil fry 2 or 3 potatoes at a time till browned.  Drain and reserve.

In the same oil, put in cumin seeds.  When they pop, add onion paste, Brown and then add tomato and ginger garlic paste. Fry them till brown.  Add all powdered spices.  Fry till oil separates from the paste.  Add potatoes and one and a half cups of hot water.  Simmer, adding cream, salt and sugar till potatoes are cooked and gravy is well blended.

Here I will give you few guidelines for a home facial, if you have no time for a professional one, or if the facilities for one do not exist.  A facial before an important engagement gives an exta freshness and glow to the face.  But a regular facial once a fortnight is a good habit which will ensure a youthful and fresh skin for a long time.

Directions for a facial

1. Wear a low necked garment.
2. Tie your hair away from the face and the neck
3. Start with cleaning your face and neck with cleansing milk and wipe off, first with a facial tissue and then with a wet towel.
4. Apply the massage cream in dots all over the face and blend it nicely.
5. Massage your face and neck.
6. Prepare a face pack of your choice (2 tablespoons of gram flour and 4 tablespoon of milk ) and apply all over the face leaving out the area around your eye and lips.  It is better to lie down and let it dry for five minutes.
7. Keep bits of cotton wool soaked in rose water over your eyes while the pack is drying.
8. Now wash your face with cold water.
9. Gently wash off the face pack from your face with water keeping your eyes closed.

10.  Dry your face and pat in a bit of skin tonic.  It is desirable that no make up or cream be applied on the face for

four hours after the facial.  This is to allow the skin to breathe freely.

2 cups green gram (Moong dal), without skins, soaked overnight in water

1 tsp. cardamom powder

2 cusps sugar

1 cup khoya or unsweetened condensed milk

1 cup ghee

½ cup mixed almond and pistachio slices

Drain dal and grind to a medium paste.  Heat ghee in a pan. Add dal paste and fry on a low flame till the mixture is pink and aromatic.  Stir to avoid sticking.  Add khoya or mulk and fry for a while.  Add sugar and stir till syrup is mostly but not fully absorbed by the dal mixture.  Add cardamom powder.  Mix Garnish with nuts.

Of all Indians, perhaps the most enthusiastic food lovers and innovative food creators are Gujaratis.  Mostly vegetarian they still have perhaps the most prolific cuisine of vegetarian delicacies.  Fried snacks called farsan, savories called nashto and hundreds of vegetable combination make their meals interesting.  Gujarati cuisine uses lentils, vegetables, tubers, leafy vegetables sun-dried spices and aromatic herbs in rare, mouth watering combination.

In a typical festive family meal, Gujaratis would eat salad tempered by lightly ground mustard, lentils cooked with herbs and made slightly sweet with jaggery, vegetables with coconut scrapings or coriander leaves, patrel made from rolling colocasia leaves, and fried crisp, samosas vadas; puris or rotis of wheat or bajra and rice served with a buttermilk curry.  A milk rich state, Gujarat has a variety of weets like doodhpak, basundi and barfi.  Gujaratis are artistic people and adopt Mexican, Chinese, Greek and several other international cuisines to create new dishes to add to their rich food culture.  They eat delicately from well-decorated pots and thalis and have exquisite table decor on festive days.

All over the South, weddings are celebrated in a grand style with minimum to days religious rites.  The function starts with the groom’s party arriving in a specially erected pandal where the welcome is extended to them by an aarti which is a traditional welcome by showering a haldi/chunna mixed water.

Soon after that they are treated to a traditional tiffin of halwas and bondas with coffee.  The ceremonies stat soon after that with the betrothal ceremony of fixing the actual mahurat the next day.  Exchange of garlands and new clothes are given to the bride and the groom by the respective parents.

The next day starts with a mangalsnan for both the bride and the groom in their respective houses.  Then the bridal couple are brought to the actual mandap by their uncles by exchanging garlands.  They are seated in the mandap and preparation for the actual wedding starts.  At the Mahurat time, a thali is tied around the neck of the bride by the groom by putting one knot, and the second and third knots are done by groom’s sister.  Then they have the saptapati – seven steps, and saatphera – seven rounds, around the fire.  This is followed by many more rituals thus knotting them to be the man and the woman.

Soon after that a sumptuous lunch is served for the guest and relations which covers from paruppu to payasam.  They also serve various sweets, savories and fruits.