My phone rang and it was sis giving bad news of her not being able to come to Ranchi for Durga Puja..In low spirits I sat at my workplace thinking how to make the Pujas this year exciting for myself and I decided to check out flights to Patna......

Durga Puja time is always nostalgia time for me..brings with it strange feelings and remembrances of my child hood, the weather transition, the "smell of winter", not to mention the pundals and the cocktail of loud music alongwith the voice of an elated pundit chanting shlokas sitting in some pundal and getting to use the mike! Since the past 6 years I was missing out on the real fervour of the festivities as I used to experience it back home in Patna.

Now that my little one is a little grown up and ready to travel with me, I planned to go visiting my nani in Patna. The moment I was on the roads of Patna going towards nani's house my school days and times when we used to visit nani came back to me. My little one sitting in my lap was amazed at the "baaja batti" (lights and music) and "jai jai bum bum" (Durga ma). Nani was standing at her gate to welcome us ..while we settled in the house my little one went off to sleep. We chatted away and planned the next day which was a trip to "Patna market". For those who do not know about it, its the oldest "bazaar" in Patna and you get lots of interesting stuff there. The icecream and chaat was something that we never missed when we went there with our dadi :) However it was very hot and the shopping experience did not turn out to be very interesting. After that we kept indoors and ansh loved to walk in the nani's gardens. I slept away all the time and ate till I was stuffed with all my favourite "nani dishes" :)

Now I am back to work and back to business....but it was a relaxing experience and I had a lovely time....