Prajaktha flowers..

These flowers are called 'pavazha malli'. In Sanskrit 'Prajaktha' which means fragrant flower. Ever since I was a little girl I've had these trees in my garden. All you need is to get a grafted branch form someone who already has the tree and in 4 months - you have soooo many flowers! My aunt's tree is my tree's momma. These flowers have an orange stalk and 5 white petals and a beautiful fragrance. They are very very delicate. They bloom overnight and by morning they fall to the ground waiting to be picked up (very carefully). My mom somehow managed to make looooong garlands of these flowers to give to the Hanuman temple she used to go to.

Brother bear cuddles

Brother bear comes home for Pongal - and i bake him yummy chocolate chip cookies for a bear hug!

baby's benz!

A friend of ours gifted Eniya this stroller - we had already bought the 'child on board' clip-on for the car. We found it from our Singapore shopping bags and put it on her Benz (like my father in law calls it!)

Pongal is where I've been :)

All Padhu wanted to do during Pongal was make sure he was in front of the camera! 3/4ths a white tee and of course the pic explains it all...

Pongal 2011! - the first day is Pongal - The harvest festival.

The second day is Mattu Pongal - where we celebrate and pray for the welfare of our cows. The Ko-maatha logic!