A Tale of Two Feathers!

Just after Christmas, the little cockatiels, Krishna and Pandu went home to their real parents!
How sad for all of us! Birds have instincts! Before going home in the evening, 27/12/08, one of the birdies dropped a feather for me for keeps-sake!

Their "Mum" mentioned that she would be seeing me at our "Bajan-session" the next evening!
However, I did not see any of Krishna and Pandu's parents nor their two "singing-sisters!" My excuse for them was that they just got back from Overseas holiday and must be pretty busy, you know what jetlag is like!

Two weeks later I met up with the "birdies' " parents and I was told that little Krishna was missing us very much and was "hyper-active" at home and always sticking out his neck, like looking out for me!!! Yeh! we bet he would, because he had grown so attached to us, living with us for for just over 7 weeks! All animals, have feelings, but most of the time, human beings tend to ignore them when we get too busy with our daily lives! Let's thank God and be happy, some of us have Real Pets that Adore and Love us very much! It is a precious gift, money cannot buy to get it!

That fine evening we had a few visiting singers that came to join us to sing their choice of devotional songs in Shirdi Baba's temple, and as usual I tried to sing as earnestly as possible although I do not know the Hindi Language, but I could understand the meaning easily! After the completion of Lord Shiva's song, a little 5 -year old girl came and sat beside me, and we knew each other pretty well, like "old buddies" in our past lives!

This cute and intelligent little girl, smiled at me and offered me a little "feather!' I leaned over to her and said,"Oh My God! Where did this come from ?" She replied that she found them just outside the temple grounds! The feather reminded me of the lovely birdies that were holidaying with us and just gone home the night before! I said that I will wash it first to keep it, and she said to give it to Baba, and wash it with soap! Her Mum looked and smiled at us, from where she was seated with the harmonium near to us! She was then offered the other feather from her loving little daughter! She accepted it and we resumed our non-stop singing! Later, when they have left, I found the other feather lying on the floor and took that home as well!

At home, I found the other feather dropped by one of the birds as a "gift" to me, in the morning before they went home that night! They all match! So I left the feather of one of the bird's and one of my pet Corella's feather in front of Shirdi Baba's picture frame on my computer desk, to remind me to write this little story!

I had been very busy to-day, afer all the rush and prayers on the eve of Chinese New Year!
Now it is time to go and get the dinner ready!

"Happy Chinese New Year" to all of you!
The story line of Deepavali and Chinese New Year is very similair! One happened in India, and the other happened in China! If you want to know about it, just let me know!

Best wishes and Blessings,
Nancy

A Simple wish came true on New Year's Day!

A New Year's Day simple wish came true!

Forget about writing on "Seluar Kamis," for the time being, as I promised before, as this to me is more exciting!

This New Year's day, 1st January, 2009 had dawned and just left, without even a wink of my eye, as I am still up and going to bed after writing this, and it is already the 2nd day of the new year!

Hurridly I created a dish of Steamed Glutinous(Sticky) Rice, some Black-eyed beans, Yellow-split mung beans and some grated thawed "fresh" coconut to take along to the temple, with some sweet-smelling agarbatties and my Dolak! I presoaked all the raw ingredients in the fridge before steaming them and compressed them in a cake pan to set on cooling and dashed off to Shirdi Sai Temple for the candle-light Aarti ( singing meditation in Merathi Language, a dilect which Shirdi Baba conversed in when he was alive in the 18th Century) Hindi, too was spoken alongside, as it is a popular language in India.

At this point, are you wondering how this dish will taste? I might recreate what God had taught me to cook in: http://youtube.com/cookingwithnancy My humble request is for you to visit me there, thank you very much. This dish will compliment any sort of curries, that is for sure.

After saying a quick prayer at home, I dashed off with my red Dolak to beg Baba-ji's help to give me some opportunity and inspiration to practice drumming on it!
When I arrived, I could not get into the gates to park at my usual spot as the crowd was exceptionally huge!

The kind Lord spared me an empty spot for me to park on the side street!
As I got out of the car, a few ladies were walking towards me and we greeted each other! One of the ladies asked where originallyI came from, and how did I first come to his temple??? Then she also asked if I had any experinces of any sort with Baba-ji, and I said so many! When my reply was that, the lady asked me to relate one of them immediately, so Baba-ji can bless them for their curiousity, but I said that she could read one of them on blogspot, but she did not know what that meant! I humbly apologised that I was running late and I had brought my Dolak, Indian drum to practise drumming for Baba-ji , and promised to tell them if I happen to see them again at the temple!

While I was hurrying myself to get out of home, I prayed to Baba-ji to wait for me and have something going on first at his temple, so I can be on time before his "singing meditation" as I was running 5 minutes late! Strictly speaking, the Evening Aarti (service) starts at 7.30p.m. sharp!

I apologised again to the ladies and said that I really had to run and left, entering the temple grounds via the back gate. As I was nearing the shirne, I heard Mr. Rao-ji's voice on the mike announcing something in Hindi! Wow! All Praises to Shirdi Baba-ji for granting my little simple wish! I thought to myself, if only those ladies that had left for home were beside me, they could clearly see how happy I had been! As I stood waiting in the front of the grounds, I was praising dear Baba-ji, and I was beaming from end to end! I thank Baba-ji too for me to be so fortunate to be invited to his event on such an auspicious day with such lovely weather!
Baba-ji had always arranged with such great weather, even when weather was supposed to be poor, in past events! This is all so amazing, and we all have experienced it all these years in Sydney!


Yesterday, being New Year's Day, the temple had been open for "darshan" for everyone from 9 a.m. till late into the night!
The crowd that had come through the gates was a few thousand people!

Thank you very much Baba-ji for such a beautiful and blessed day and evening!

Jai Sai Ram, Jai Sai Ram! Jai Sai Ram! Jai Sai Ram! Jai Sai Ram! Jai Sai Ram! Jai Sai Ram!
Peace and Contendment to All!
Nancy