Rangoli, ringing out, ringing in.....

Hello hello hello....so how was everyone's New Years Eve to-do??? I hope you are all back from a wonderful evening, ready and fired up to take whatever 2011 has to offer!!!!

I spent a good part of the last day in 2010 running around looking for Rangoli powder and all the necessary accoutrements.....our watchman's daughter and my father-in-law's attendant, both young girls in the mid to late teens, felt it was sacrilegious to have a New Year without Rangoli! So we took them Rangoli powder shopping, and they came back super thrilled with 12 rainbow colors, a quarter kilo of each color!!!!! Then for a couple of hours after that there was much discussion, and hushed conversations and rough drafts and sketches, and a lot of giggling and finally at about 4pm they started on their masterpiece!!!

It always amazes me when I watch people do this....they take a pinch of the white powder, hold it deftly between their fingers and like magic the outline appears...when I try to do this it looks rotten! Then they mixed the colored powder with sand - something about it being easier to spread - and filled in all the outlines. Everyone joined in.....while I took pics! Our dogs sauntered across the pattern a few times - making the girls really mad - leaving deep pink and saffron yellow paw prints all over the place.

The outline

The powder all sorted out by colors

Mixing in the sand

Filling in the colors

Getting there slowly....

Almost done

This was followed by a lovely dinner on the rooftop......even though the music from the club down the street and the coffee shop behind the house was deafeningly loud! We had Pink Floyd, Eagles and Beatles hits being horribly sung from the coffee shop along with Bollywood hits being even more horribly sung from the club down the street! Kishore Kumar and Don Henley singing together is NOT a good combo, trust me!

Then we headed inside for a great "ushering in" of the year 2011!!! My son and son-in-law are here and thanks to them, my husband and I abandoned our usual "laying on the couch in a stupor watching the countdown on TV and sleepily toasting in the New Year" routine....for a really fun watching of The Great Race...one of our all time favorite movies. And we timed it perfectly, so just when a kooky Jack Lemmon, a suave Tony Curtis and a gorgeous Natalie Wood ended their silly capers, it turned midnight!!!!

I hope to be back to my regular blogging routine soon....! Have a wonderful 2011!

Happy New Year Giveaway!

First of all...HAPPY NEW YEAR to all you wonderful folks out there! People who take time out of their busy schedules to read what I write....however short and sweet or long and boring it is, AND take even more time and comment on it! THAT'S what keeps me motivated to keep doing what I do.

So its been 10 months since I started this blog, and this is my 201st post! What better way to herald in the 2011th year than with my 201st post (It's just a coincidence...the 201 and the 2011!!! Or is it???) and MY FIRST GIVEAWAY!

So up for grabs are these dry pastel drawings I did a couple of months ago. The giveaway is open to those living in India as well as the US! The drawings measure 24" x 16" and are done on watercolor paper. My son from DC is visiting me this Jan and heading back to DC by mid Jan, so I am sending this one back through him....so......

If the winner is from the US, he/she gets this one

 And if the winner is from India, he/she gets this one

Here are the deets......it may sound complicated, but really it's not. 

You can be living anywhere to enter, but the giveaway can only be mailed to the US or to India.....so even if you don't live in either of these 2 countries, you can happily enter for someone in the US or India!

You are each allowed a maximum of 3 entries - 

1. For the first entry, leave a comment below telling me what you like about my blog. 

2. For the second entry, follow Saffron and Silk by clicking on the "Follow" widget and leave a comment letting me know you have "followed". If you are already a follower, leave me a comment saying that. Either comment will be your second entry.

3. For the third entry, blog about the giveaway on your blog, or your Facebook page, leave a comment letting me know you have, AS WELL AS the link to your blog post or the FB page.

Easy peasy right?

The giveaway starts today and ends Saturday, January 15th  at midnight, Indian Standard Time (US equivalent is Saturday, January 15th- 10.30am Pacific Time, 11.30am Mountain Time, 12.30pm Central Time and 1.30pm Eastern time)

I will choose the winner using random.org and will announce the winner on January 16th! So be sure to check on the 16th to see if you have won, so you can send me your e mail/address info.

Good Luck to all of you! 

Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year!

This is it, my last post for the year and my 200th post since I began this blog which has taken over my life willingly......couldn't sign off without wishing all you great folks out there, who keep me motivated and energized!

Have a fabulous holiday with friends and family, eat, drink and be merry! But DO NOT FORGET to come back and visit on the 1st of January, 2011, for my very first giveaway!