Dussehra 2017

Santosh Tyagi hosts Dussehra celebration today

The ten-day Dussehra festivities ended on an appetizing note with Santosh Tyagi treating us to ‘prasad’ from the puja she had organized at home. Boiled chana and suji halwa could not have tasted better. In addition, there was Banoo Apa’s magic potion – hot, hot tea to pep us up for the day.
Small wonder, we were a full house this morning. Many of those who had become scarce during the past few days (ref previous post) showed up miraculously just before the exercises were to end – but still in time not to miss the treat. More importantly, we had the rare opportunity of meeting Manoj and Anjali, Santosh’s son and daughter who accompanied her to celebrate Dussehra with us.
Earlier in the morning, Karuna Waghmare went around distributing sonpatta – literally, leaves from the ‘tree of gold’ (bauhinia racemosa). This ritual, with its roots in Hindu mythology, is a symbolic

Karuna (l) distributes 'gold leaf'

Getting the plates ready with Anjali (c)

gesture meant to convey wishes of good health and prosperity. Trust Karuna to have thought of this quaint and somewhat forgotten custom associated with Dussehra!
Otherwise, it was business as usual in the Garden. Anjali joined us midway into the exercises while her brother watched intently from a distance. Before long he left, leaving his mother and sister to take care of us.

DUSSEHRA GET-TOGETHER WITH SANTOSH TYAGI, MANOJ (IN BLACK SHIRT) AND ANJALI 

Lt Col Angad Singh (retd):
It is nice to celebrate the end of the Dussehra festivities. Congrats Santosh-ji and family.