Diwali Cards

Since 2008, I have been making Diwali Cards to send to friends and relatives. This year, it was first attempt to try water color. I could make 4 cards in 10 days

 I started with the simplest one. Ganeshji in form on AUM has been my all time favorite. I just used thick border of green and red. The colored circles did not come out as I had thought, because green background became too bright.




After I gained little confidence, I tried these flowers. Three different colored flowers:

1. The smallest one has shades of Red, Pink and White
2. Purple, Red and White
3. Yellow, Orange and White

Stems and leaves are done directly with brush in black color
It indeed looks good, but not well suited for Diwali wishes



I used Kandil colors from one design and Diya from another one. Diya and Kandil has been hit Diwali design :) I painted Lotus with shades of Pink, White and little Red as a base for Diya. I should have been more careful while choosing Green for Diya since now I believe there is something wrong with this color. After it dries out, it always leaves patches. I outlined whole Diya design with white color and then with black pen. This one has been our favorite in the bunch so will go to my parents.





Another form of Ganeshji. Putting Ganehsji on two angled square offers completely different look. I  also like the combination of Orange and (Brown + Orange). Simple, but elegant.

Leaving NJ III - Final Good Bye

Finally the day had arrived, Oct 2, 2010. I had thought, actually taking out all the stuff and loading it and then seeing empty home would be very difficult. But by that time, I was so tired and frustrated with amount of work that I was like; let me get out of here ASAP!!! Kunal had reached NJ previous night and he was feeling very low since then. He told me, he had felt like this just once in his life, when he stepped in home after I left for India. It was good that we were never alone since his friends were there to help us with moving.



I could not say proper good bye to our neighbor/super, Charlotte and her husband, Junior. They are the people whom I want to remember for the rest of my life. They were always there whenever we needed any kind of help. I have all my doubts, if they would be Indian, would they be this good to us?


It was difficult to say good bye to our FIRST HOME, since this was the place we had started building our dreams. We hugged each other and said final good bye!


P.S. – Just a small thought, I have been referring to these posts as LEAVING NJ. But I could have referred to it as MOVING TO MD as well. Why are we always stuck with the past?

Leaving NJ II - Final Decision

Before discussing with anyone or telling anyone, we had to prepare ourselves. This was really brainstorming job, since we had to inform landlord and also, make sure that we would be able to get a new place to stay within that timeline. So many if...else and financial calculations.

More important and troubling job was to inform my company, because after knowing them we were little concerned whether they would release my salary without causing any problem.We had to come up with a solid convincing story and the right time to tell them. Now today, when everything is over (Today is my last day at work) I just cannot believe, it could go such a smooth way! 

After making up our minds and thinking about these strategies, next on the page was to ask/inform parents and close friends. We also took advise from couple of them whether moving would be a right choice. Both families were happy as we would be able to stay together, you see ;)