Just like every year, this time too I went down to see the Gudhi Padwa parade. I was amazed to see so many young girls draped in navari sarees with chandrakor tiklis and the graceful naths. I never knew that people dress up so well for watching (and celebrating) this Gudhi Padwa parade too. Next time on, I'm sure to at least have a lipstick along!

This year it was just me and my Gudhi-Padwa-Parade-Partner Ranjana. She lives in the same building as I do and we've not missed a single year's parade. We both always have each other's company, even if our other friends don't show up. So well, here are the pictures from Gudhi Padwa 2017:


I thought of keeping my face natural. I applied a hard-to-see golden eyeshadow with a thick line of eyeliner on my eyes, light blush on my cheeks and lip balm covered with a slight dab of orange lipstick for this natural makeup look. I fixed upon this look because I didn't want to look overly dressed up. But since now I know how other girls dress up for this occasion, I might do a heavy makeup next time!
I put this chandrakor (moon-like) tikli, which the Maharashtrians put, by the way, along with a diamond shaped copper drop earrings.




My mom had got this dress material from Pune for herself, but as soon as my eyes fell on it, my face had a glow. My mom immediately made out that I was in love with this one. So she gave it to me!
I had this very style in my mind. A good fitting dress, short, with loose, voluminous patiala salwar. I wanted to make sure the tailor stitches it right so I had given my only perfectly fitting kurta I had for measurement. I asked the tailor to make this 2-inch looser than that kurta, though. I also wanted to attach a latkan on the back, but I hastily gave away the dress to get stitched, so gave up the idea of pretty latkans.
If you didn't know, I was never a girl who would have special attachments like laces and latkans on her dresses, but I thought I needed to get out of my boring stitches and take some extra effort. I asked the tailor to attach laces on the bottom-line of the kurta and the sleeves. I'm overwhelmed seeing how the dress has turned out to be--exactly the way I wanted it to be!




My cousin and I had decided to meet, but not the exact time and place. Luckily, from the batch of first youngsters we saw this morning, he was one of them. We exchanged wishes and clicked some selfies.


I love keeping outfits ready a night before, no matter what the function is. Last night, I placed my dress, bindis (tiklis), earrings, and bangles (which I forgot to wear) on a cool stool made of straws! I had also posted this picture on Instagram!


 I applied this scarlet red nail polish last night before sleeping. And again, I had posted my newly applied nails on Instagram.
In the picture above, I'm holding neem leaves. We consume it on empty stomach on the morning of Gudhi Padwa. Neem leaves have various health benefits, including hair and skin care. We also put leaves in a water of bucket while bathing.




We erect gudhis on this day. The gudhis have a silk cloth, a copper vessel, a garland of sweets made of sugar, and a garland of flowers and leaves. We erect it in the morning after bath and puja, and take it down before the sun sets.


We have special menu on this day, which usually includes shrikhand, puri, waran bhaat, and batatyachi bhaaji. This time, instead of the sweet dish shrikhand, my mom made puran polis. We eat puran polis along with liquid ghee and milk. It tastes heavenly and is clearly one of my favourite Indian sweet dishes!

Many of you asked me to share a tutorial for this makeup look. It was my first cousin's engagement and I thought of going pink, gold, and mint. The lehenga was semi-stitched and I had to go via a long route in order to get the exact style and fit I was looking for.

Let me know if you wish to see a video of this tutorial!


- I began the makeup with moisturizing face by using my favourite pista coloured Parachute Advansed Body Lotion. I took a pea amount of it on my palms and spread it on the areas like under the eyes, near the lips, and near the nose.
-  I covered 80% of face using my darling Max Factor Liquid Illusion Foundation in the shade Sand 60. I concentrated on under the eyes area, pimple marks, and eyelids. I took care of my eyes first as I was gonna start my eye makeup next.



- After making sure my eyes were perfectly primed with moisturizer+foundation, I first took the lightest shade in the Maybelline Diamond Glow 01 eyeshadow palette and applied it right below my eyebrows to highlight the area.
- Next, I took the darkest shade from the same palette and applied it on the crease of my eyelids.
- I took matte black from Lakme Absolute Illuminating Silver eyeshadow palette and applied it on the outer corners of my eyelids.
- Followed by that, I took the golden one from my Givenchy Prisme Quatuor 4 eyeshadow palette and applied it on the middle portion.
- In the inner corners, I applied the lightest shade from the above mentioned Maybelline palette.
- I blended all the shades by using the eyeshadow brush.


- I used the Streetwear eyeliner kajal in the shade black for my upper and lower waterlines. I drew a thicker line on the outer corners of my lower waterline to make my eyes look bigger.
- For the eyeliner, I chose Mac's Pure Show; it's a gold eyeliner. The tone was not matching the rest of my eye makeup and so I had to go with the Maybelline eyeshadow palette again. I used the third shade from left and drew a line over the Mac eyeliner.
- I blended the eyeshadow and eyeliner using my fingers.


- I used the Colorbar Zoom and Whoosh mascara's thinner wand for both upper and lower lashes.
- I immediately used an eyelash curler to further curl up my lashes.
- I then used the thicker wand to add volume.


- I had to conceal the area under my eyes because my regular foundation does not have full coverage. For that, I pumped Loreal Paris True Match Ivory foundation on a sponge and applied it under my eyes in a triangular format. I dabbed the sponge to even out the colour.
- I further applied Maybelline's White Superfresh compact to set the face.


- After the eye makeup, I moved on with highlighting my cheeks using The Body Shop Honey Bronze 01 highlighter. I applied it on my cheekbones and nose.
- Later, I applied Mac's Never Say Never blush on the apples of my cheeks.


- I made sure my lips were not flaky. I had applied a little ghee before the makeup when I'd put a pack on my face. I applied Miss Claire's lip cream in the shade 24 which was the last step of my makeup look.

Dragging the heavy luggage and water bottle, we reached the entrance of the beach where our car was parked. Anurag was gonna drive and since Amrita and Rutuja were in dry clothes, they sat in the car. I wasn't cleaned up, though I had worn dry clothes on top of my swimwear. Pratik, who was in dry set of clothes, walked with me for company. We were on our way to the cottage room, which was five minutes away from where our car was parked.

The night was dark, and there were dogs barking. I was a little tensed of the dogs because of what the policemen had told us about Kelwa's gang of deadly dogs. I was just hoping these were good dogs. Also, ever since I was bitten by a dog when I was on my degree college's Industrial Visit to Udaipur, I would say, I have a slight paranoia.
I was someone who would play with street dogs and not care about them being deadly or anything. But ever since this thin chap has bitten me, when I was absolutely ONLY standing, I would say, I have become someone who checks twice if a dog is following me.
Nevertheless, I was tensed while walking, though Pratik was next to me and there was a car with us. Pratik reassured me to not worry about the dogs. Pratik has been the best, most helpful, most caring brother, especially on trips.

Anurag was driving and suddenly they stopped, which indicated that they were confused about the route to the cottage. Pratik and I sat in the car too and then shortly, we saw cottage owner, in his shorts that touched his knee and a white cotton t-shirt, looking for us in distrust. His expressions depicted doubt towards us. But he was relieved after knowing that we did not fool him when we said we were gonna stay at his cottage.

He showed us the directions and we reached the empty space in front of it. Amrita muttered saying she hadn't imagined the rooms to be like this and Rutuja said it was a great house. Two dogs and a grown up puppy had followed our car and entered the empty space too. On that, the brown-furred pet dog came barking to shoo the strangers away. However, it turned out, they became friends.

I was psyched by this scene but later cooled down after the dogs started wagging tails and demanded some pampering from us. The owner opened the door of our room and directed us where what was. Anurag and Pratik set up both the tents again. We girls went in the room. I changed into dry clothes, Anurag showered, and Amrita and Rutuja started digging their bags. It was getting quite colder and I was regretting not packing a sweater (even though I had mentioned it in my To-Pack List). I borrowed a striped t-shirt from Anurag.

Amrita and Rutuja opened hakka noodles packets and the chhole puri Anurag had carried. Pratik joined them too. Until we reached the food, chhole puri was over--thanks to the overly hungry Rutuja and an equally quick-eater Amrita. I only had last few bites of chhole puri and the amazingly delicious Benares pickle Anurag had carried along. I also had hakka noodles to fill up the tummy.

Sitting by the campfire

Rutuja was too tired and so she dozed off. Before that, she had ordered us to wake her up at midnight to celebrate my birthday. While she was sleeping, we started preparing for campfire. The dogs were still out, disturbing us and still demanding love. The fire was set, but wasn't as strong as it should have been. Since Rutuja was missing, I didn't enjoy the campfire.

Shortly, it was 11:45 pm and we decided to go to the beach to celebrate my birthday. We woke Rutuja up. I wore Anurag's yellow hoodie and asked Amrita to carry a bedsheet since even she hadn't carried any warm clothes. Rutuja was in a hoodie herself and Anurag and Pratik apparently weren't cold.

We reached the entrance of the beach, near the parking area, where we saw a group  of 10 men. We thought of retreating and going somewhere else. Anurag said we should go to empty roads which had empty field adjacent to them. So we went ahead and coincidentally, we halted in the same place where we had halted in the noon for toilet break.

We took the car to the empty field and played songs on high volume via our car's Bluetooth. We were dancing and it was midnight. Closed ones started calling me up, whereas, the four people who were with me were getting impatient to hug me and wish me. After everyone had called, they hugged and wished me too. I was happy; finally, I was celebrating the midnight of my birthday outdoors. I danced, and since it was dark and I was not in a body-tight party dress, I danced wildly. In a while, observing that the energy was lowering, I told them to head back to the beach. We went back to beach and the men were no longer there; even their cars were gone.

Chilling by the beach at night

    
We sat in a round structure on the beach and just talked about random things. Later, we played see-saw and it was so much fun! And then, we climbed up to the lifeguard's cabin and crumpled ourselves to fit on the short bench. We were discussing how the majestic waves were and how could the lifeguard save people from drowning, because the distance was so much in between the cabin and the deeper area of the sea. We were also counting the number of boats that were fishing.

Second meal inside the larger tent

We went back to our tents/room. We laid the extra mattresses inside the tents and were hoping the owner does not figure that out. We were hungry, so we thought of finishing the two packets of hakka noodles that were left from our dinner and the parathas Amrita had carried along with Anurag's pickle. After clearing out the empty boxes and plastic bags, we played Uno. Then when it was around 3:00 am, we dozed off. The guys slept in smaller tent and the girls in the larger one. We had set alarm of 6:00 am as we had to vacant the room and leave for Mumbai.

Next morning, we all struggled to wake up, but thanks to Anurag, he tried hard to make sure we all were really up. We woke up at 6:30 am and then started dismantling the tents, getting ready, cleaning out the mess, while also envying the four dogs that were sleeping peacefully.

We didn't shower because there was no hot water. The cottage was new and hardly few people had stayed there before. We packed our bags, bade a goodbye to the dogs, and left for Mumbai.
Previous night, from the empty fields to the beach, while we were looking for directions, we had come across a board with Bhavangarh Fort written on it. We'd kept it in mind and had thought of visiting it early morning before heading back to Mumbai.

Recreation of the Dil Chahta Hai fort scene

 
So we did go to this fort. There was more of mud and less of stones at this fort. We just went up, clicked few photographs, Amrita, Rutuja, and I celebrated our trio by recreating the Goa-fort-scene from Dil Chahta Hai movie. It was fun.

We rushed back to our car as Anurag had to go to his office at 1:00 pm. We drove really, really fast until he gave up reaching at 1:00 pm to his office. We breakfasted on wada pav and tea. Pratik had 4, Anurag, Amrita, and Rutuja had 3 each and I had 2 wada pavs.

We resumed our journey. Anurag dropped all of us home and then returned the car. It was a lovely experience...

We were walking towards the police station. Only the moon lent its light to us, due to which we could see the path ahead. The darkness sent shivers down my spine. The smaller police station was closed by then so we had to walk even more for the larger one. The smaller just had one large room whereas the larger one was like a headquarter of that area.

We met several strangers on our way who looked at us as if something had happened and we were seeking police's help. Alas, we reached the police HQ. The size of it was that of a small bungalow or a cottage. There were around seven to eight policemen inside--few in formal clothes and few in the uniform. They were busy in their work when we stepped inside.

Both the parties exchanged bewildered look. Policemen asked us what our problem was, and I started speaking in my superhuman Marathi accent combined with my innocent sweet expressions. We asked them if camping by the shore was allowed, and they replied in an astonished voice saying it obviously wasn't. I told them how we had no clue about it and how one of the food-stall owners told us about it, and how helpless we were. On that they said that we had to leave the place because the locals are dangerous. They further added that even they wouldn't help if the locals harm us. They also told us how we should have asked the Gram Panchayat before even thinking to camp.

The innocently sweet expressions on my face were constant and they were struggling to make an impact. One of the junior policemen, who was young, in a well fitted uniform, was the one hardest to impress. We could have easily coaxed the remaining ones, but that chap there was a pain in the ass. Hadn't he been around that time, I was sure to persuade the other policemen in letting us camp there. But the junior man was not only stubborn with his views but was rude too.
When the policemen asked us to spend a night in one of the rooms, and when I'd told them how broke we were, the junior guy muttered saying why even we were there if we did not have any money. I was losing my cool, but had to remain calm.

They asked us how we had traveled to the beach from Mumbai and we answered, "By car". They immediately said that since we had a car, we could leave immediately. Anurag and I was just sitting on the bench, trying to create some magic from our pleading aura. It didn't work. We gave up; and the imagery I had of my superhuman Marathi accent along with my innocently sweet expressions proved to be something earthly after all.

We immediately called Pratik and others and asked them to start packing their bags and dismantle the tents. Anurag and I walked back, in the same moonlit path to the stall first, and then after collecting our four plates of hakka noodles, further to the beach. On our way, we met an elderly man and I asked him if there were hotel rooms around. He guided us and we went off seeking a cement shelter. When we were about to take a left instead of the right, the elderly man from the food stall, the one that was around 65 years old, called us. As it was dark and an unknown place, we ignored the calls. Later we found out that it was the same man from the food stall. He asked us where we heading to and we told him we were on our way to find hotel rooms. On that, again he repeated how stupid we were and how dangerous staying in the tents was.

Before we could even answer, he said that his friend had a place to stay and that we could stay there. He asked us to wait while he rushed back to the stall to get his bike. Anurag and I sensed something fishy and we knew how he would earn commission after we agree to stay at his friend's place. He came back with his bike and we went tripsy (it's an Indian short form for triple-seat) to his friend's room. The road was scarier than before. I was just hoping he takes us to a safe place. Finally, we reached the rooms.

It was a cottage with two rooms adjacent to each other. As soon as we reached, we saw an elderly man, in a pair of shorts touching his knees and a white cotton top. We got off the bike and we were greeted by a brown-furred pet dog. Such an immense amount of love shown to strangers!

After negotiating with the owner, we got two deals in one package. We agreed on paying 500 rupees and hired one room, and on the empty space, which was in front of the cottage, we sealed a deal to pitch our tents. The owner was happy about the tent idea and said, "Your ambition to live in a tent will be fulfilled too."

The elderly food-stall man dropped us back to the stall and we promised the cottage owner that we would return. We collected our parcel and started walking towards our tents.
When we reached, we saw that Pratik and others had dismantled the smaller tent and were there hustling in their dry set of clothes. We helped them pack remaining stuff and dissembled the larger tent too. We started walking back to the entrance of the beach...with the heavy bags, and the even heavier water bottle. We were finally about to have no more surprises for the night...

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Part 4 coming soon...

xoxo