Let the Blessings Of Goddess Sri Varalakshmi Flow Abundantly To Everyone!!

(I had bought this beautiful mask  of Sri Varalakshmi from Malleswarm (Bangalore) where one can get beautiful varieties  of this Goddess decorated in the most beautiful way one can imagine.)

Today all over South India, many Hindus would be praying to the Goddess Sri Varamahalakshmi, for good health, prosperity and happiness in the family.

(Before we didn't have this mask so  Mary was using the same Goddess made in dark wood, which has been with us for many years. I had bought it in Thirupati. So this year, she decorated both the goddesses and did the puja.)

We are not religious and we don't celebrate any of the festivals. However, for the last 14 years or so we have a maid who likes to celebrate both Hindu and Christian festivals.
Her name is Mary, and she is very sincere and devoted  and loves to pray to both Hindu and Christian Gods. She is married to a Hindu, and her husband never objects to her visiting Churches. She seems to know all the rituals associated with the Hindu pujas.
She would  herself bring flowers etc. during any festival season, light the lamps, draw beautiful Rangolis all over our house. We never objected to any of this as we felt she was happy. So from Diwali,  Navaratri, pongal and so on she would celebrate each and every festival in her own simple and quiet  way. She somehow  likes us and our house so much, that she almost thinks of us as her extended family and the house as her "Big House ".
  We are really lucky to have her working for us, and we too treat her as one among us.
Mary would get so excited when some festival comes, like Ganesh Chaturthi and Diwali.
She also knows, that although we don't really believe in doing all these things, yet she also knows that we will not object to her doing it in our house. 

I am sure whatever, she is always blessed by all the various Gods of both Hindu and Christian faith.
Come Christmas, she would buy Christmas cake and some Kala kal and bring it for us. She has to  go to church every friday after her work here. She would also wear the orange saree and go for the Novino near her house.
She doesn't live with us and has her own home and family.
Mary  is very efficient in all the work she does, and the beauty is she does it with love and commitment, wthout anything being said by us.
So today I show you her handiwork in our house:

 (Can you see two dolls dressed as as a newly wedded couple? 

I also bought this pair of newly wedded wooden dolls, in Malleswaram ( these dolls ar made in dark wood, and they are very special, they are called Marai Patcthi  Bomais. I also kept them here for they signify happy married life, and basicallly women pray for that during this Varalakshmi Puja.)

Our two doggies were also very excited  and they were supervising everything done by Mary, wagging their tails, and very sweetly got their bindis put on their foreheadand happily ate one small Banana each as Prasad..

                                                                Bumbilli 

Loki

Let The Blessings of Varalakshmi Flow Abundantly To All!!!                     

The world would be a nicer place if everyone had the ability to love as unconditionally as a dog.

As I switched on the TV to a movie channel, I saw the movie Marley and Me being shown there. I have seen this movie many times and never get tired of watching again again. it is the same with another beautiful dog movie called Hatchiko.
Both these movies start with usual antics of a puppy, and then goes on to document each and every stage of their growing up, their naughty behaviour, there unconditional love for the owners, who sometimes get totally frustrated with their respective dog. In both the movies it is the women who get very irritated with the  unmanageable traits of curious, and destructive traits of the dog
As I watched these movies again and again, I relived my days with our two dogs that came into our lives and did all the things that drove me to the brink of despair.
I would often yell at the, dog/ puppy and then within seconds, would find my heart melting when she looked at me innocently with her lovely eyes, saying,"mommy what did I do wrong", jumping as soon a she saw me melting, lickng my face happpily, and pissing on my lap with excitement.
I would feel so bad, I would hug her cuddle her and, everything would be fine till something terrible happens again.
At some point we realise that bringing up a pup is not so easy, it is just like bringing up a baby. For it will act like a baby, and for the puppy you are everything rolled into into one: a mother she/ or he can trust, a friend with whom she/ he  can roll and play, and a person who can be quite strict sometimes, but who will also forgive and love him/her all over again.
Like with kids, mommy is the strict one and Papa is the one who is more lenient.
Do they love one more than the  other, the answer  is definitely no, for a puppy/dog, love flows unconditionally to both the care givers. 
When any of them fall sick both mom and dad are worried, more the moms than the dads. All the pampering would be done by the moms.
As they grow older, we come to realise they have  become very matured and well behaved. It is always a pleasure to have dogs at home. You can pour out all sorrows to them, and they would listen to you patiently, licking you, comforting you, without understanding a word. When you are happy and share some good news with them also they are very excited and happy for you, wagging their tales endlessly to show how happy they are for you.
Such is the love of a dog for their care giver. They trust you with all their heart, they live with you without any fear, they know that you are there for them when they need you.That is why when they sleep they  sleep happily with no worry in this world.
Even with street dogs, they don't have any expectation from you, they are happy to have anything you give them to eat, and would be sitting outside your gate gaurding your house. Such is the loyalty of dogs.
How I wish we could be like them.
I clearly remember how each of our previous dogs died, how they struggled silently without a moan. How they patiently visited the doctor's clinic in almost a dazed state, till they were hospitalised and were released dead. Somehow as soon as they are admitted to the hospital, they give up and they rarely come back home alive.
Mostly hospitals means bad omen for them, for they are not meant for the hospitals, they are meant to stay home with the people whom they love the most.
 Everytime a dog dies a hefty part of our heart dies with them, and can never be forgotten. We may foget our near and dear ones after they leave this world , but never our dogs, for they are always with us forever.
When we see Hatchiko and Marley die, they don't look like some dogs acting their part, they touch us in some very deep way.
Have you ever wondered how each dog at that particular stage acts its part so brilliantly, when actually they are different dogs of the same breed?
The first three pictures are of our first labrador : Cookie.
Unfortunately we don't have many pictures of her. She only lived for about 3 and half years.

 

These are pictures of the other dog: Toffee. Toffee lived with us for about 7 years, before she died of cancer.

 Toffee when she was a cute pup

Now we have two Labs. and they are Bumbilli and Loki:

Bumbilli is the fair and lovely one, and Loki is dark and handsome one.