All the Devis have left...

All the Devis and kumarikaas have left and everything has been cleaned up and put away! Whew!
Time to put our feet up...

The Devis Arrive.

Twenty Four, a full two dozen women arrived on Sunday afternoon and the house was filled with chatter and laughter. Every one of the "Devis" wanted a note to take home to their husbands informing them that they were Devis and should be treated as such! :-)

The noise finally subsided when lunch was served; a fabulous assal marathi feast followed by puncha pakwanna.

Final prep for the lunch

Kunda Atya is putting the final touches on the lunch prep, and filling up the plates for the desserts.


The fabulous menu is listed below.

It still makes my mouth water just writing about it...

Yummmmmmm.



Appetizer:
Navratri che special doodh

Lunch:
Kakdichi Koshimbeer
BaTatya chi Bhaaji
Matki chi UsaL
ALoo (palak) chi Bhaaji
Masale Bhat (tondli ghaloon)
Varaan Bhat tup limbu ( most pospular! )
Chapati

Panchha Pakwanna:
Shrikhand
Kaanavley/Karanjee
Besanache Ladoo
Pedhe
Gajar Halwa

Bonus Pakwanna:
Gulaabjaam ( From Geeta Mavshi Nadkarni )
Badaam Barfee (Sheela Subbiah)

More Preparations...

Preparations for the food, the Devi puja and the Otee were in full swing on the morning.

The Second Helper...

Getting ready for the Ladies!

Getting ready for the Savashini Pooja.
. Since we don't get any coconuts with a "shendi" here, we had to give all the 30 coconuts shiny shendis .
And we had a helper or two, too...

Coming soon...

Photos and descriptions of the "Savashini Puja"...

One More Special Person...

Since day one I was feeling that something was missing, and last night it finally dawned on me.

One person I am missing everytime we do the evening arti is Sunanda Kaki. Somehow, I can't remember ever being at an evening arti during Navratri when she was not with us saying the arti.

Kaki, wish you were here with us...

~Sandeep

With us all the time.

Dearest Nana and Nani are with us in this family tradition that they both held so dear.
They are in our thoughts, our actions, and in the Puja room with the Bappas watching over all of us.

Close up Photo (1st day)

A close up of the deities on Day 1. More maLs will be on today.

Preparations...

Preparations were underway at 6:15am for the installation of the Bappas.
Decorations were done on Wednesday and Thursday.

Dev Basle!

October 12th 2007, 7:05am MST, Bountiful, UT.
Dev Basle!
Welcome to the Kharkar Family Navratri Puja 2007 Blog!

This is the photo after the first puja.

Look out for updates thru the entire 9 days...

If you want to post to this blog send me email and I will add you as a collaborator.

~Sandeep