April 6, 2016 Events and Festivals, India, International

Tulip festivals around the world

Tulips are considered the harbinger of Spring. A tulip festival allows locals to see them as well as tourists enjoy the attraction. Following are some of the Tulip festivals from around the world. Which one is your favourite?

ASIA

Srinagar, India– Tulip festival in India is celebrated usually in the month of April at the Indira Gandhi Memorial Tulip Garden. {Refer my previous post…Beautiful landscape of Srinagar}

EUROPE

Tulip Festival – the Flower of Lake Geneva– 26 Mar- 8 May

The delightful flower of Lake Geneva is yours for the picking! Every year, Morges greets the return of spring with more than 120,000 tulips decorating the flower banks in Parc de l’Indépendance. In the subsequent months, the gardens of Château de Vullierens present a fabulous collection of irises and lilies. In addition, there is unique exhibition and sale of dahlias on the town’s lakeside streets. For more details, follow this link.

3. Keukenhof in Lisse, Netherlands March 20th – May 17th– -Keukenhof, the best day out among the flowers! Over 7 million bulbs in bloom with around 800 varieties of tulips. You can enjoy spectacular flower shows, surprising inspirational gardens, unique artwork and wonderful events. For more details, follow this link.

4. Spalding England Flower Festival May– Spalding is a warm Georgian town in Lincolnshire Fens. The town stands on the banks of the River Welland. During spring, hyacinths, daffodils and tulips carpet the area with a glorious blaze of color. For more details, please visit this link

USA & CANADA

Skagit Valley Tulip festival – April 1- 30 April – The Skagit Valley Tulip festival is designed as a driving tour. The fields are located in the valley between La Conner and Mount Vernon with events and activities all around Skagit Valley. For more details, follow this link

Canadian Tulip Festival – May 8th -May 18th – When you visit the Canadian Tulip Festival in Ottawa, remember this… All of those beautiful blooms belong to you. They are a gift to all Canadians from the Netherlands for Canada’s role in helping the Dutch during the second world war. Join us this May!

For more details, check out this link

AUSTRALIA

Tesselaar Tulip Festival Australia September 8th -October 4th – Tesselaar Tulip Festival held in Silvan, Victoria (near Melbourne, Victoria). For more details, please follow this link

There are many more tulip festivals around the world.

What is your favourite? Which one should I include on my next list?

March 23, 2016 Events and Festivals, Food

11 Delicious treats on this Holi

Continuing…… Holi

The Holi Festival is incomplete without delicious food.

The following are 11 best delicious treats on Holi.

Bhang Lassi

Bhang Lassi is usually prepared on some special occasions such as Holi, Mahashivaratri. For recipe, follow this link

Kachori

Kachori is a popular snack. Here is the recipe

Gujia

Gujia is a popular sweet dish of north India. Follow this link for recipe

Kalakand

Kalakand is a very popular Indian sweet. For recipe, follow this link

Bhatura

Bhatura is a puffed fried bread very popular in India. Follow this link for the recipe.

Malai Kofta

Malai Kofta is a very delicious and popular recipe. Here is the recipe.

Khoya Burfi

Khoya Burfi is a very popular Indian recipe. For this recipe, follow this link

Puran Poli

Puran Poli is known as Holige in Karnataka and Bobbatlu in Andhra Pradesh. Recipe

Cham-Cham

Cham-Cham is a very delicious sweet made of cheese.

Dahi Bada

Dahi Bada is a traditional deep-fried snack.

Thandai– It is sweet, creamy milk drink flavored with nuts and mixed with spices such as cardamom, fennel, rose petals, and poppy seeds.

Thandai Image source — Thandai
Image source

On Holi, the refreshment is traditionally served with the addition of bhaang (a derivative of marijuana).

Follow this link for the recipe.

So, try out these 11 delicious recipes at home and enjoy Holi.

Holi-2016-Wishes-Greeting-Cards-for-Whatsapp-FB

March 22, 2016 Events and Festivals, India

3 places to visit this Holi

Holi, or ‘Basanth Utsav’, a festival of colors in India, is celebrated every year at the end of winter on the full moon day (Poornima) of the lunar month (Phalguna). It usually appears in the months of February or March. Everyone comes together to drown all differences in the mist of colors. As per the legend, it celebrates the saving of Prahlad and burning of his wicked aunt Holika.

On this day, kids and adults splash coloured powder called ‘gulal’. They sing and dance fervently. Balloons filled with coloured water are thrown at each other and is considered part and parcel of festivity.

3 places to visit this Holi — Holi
Image courtesy

Across India, this festival is celebrated in different ways.

Punjab – The Holi Festival is celebrated as Hola Mohalla, on the day after Holi. Nihang Sikhs, a martial sect among Sikhs, display their martial arts’ skills in an exhibition of their prowess in various skills like horse riding, sword fighting, tent pegging, archery etc. Mock battles are held to display their fighting skills.

-The Holy Duels of Hola Mohalla

Madhya Pradesh– the Holi Festival coincides with the unique tradition, the only one to be held, in the districts of Nimar and Jhabua, in the country. This is the traditional Bhagoria Haat Festival. ‘Haat’ means market and Bhagoria means to run away. This is a traditional festival in the Bhil tribes of these districts.

It is basically a marriage market where young boys and girls flock, select their partners and run away together only to come home some days later. They are then proclaimed husband and wife by the community elders. It is a very lively and colourful festival and is worth a visit.

Bhagoria – Festival of love

Barsana, UP– If you are in UP, India, then participate in the traditional Indian festival of Holi and the unique way it is practiced at Barsana, the birthplace of Radha, Lord Krishna’s favourite gopi – Lathmar Holi. Women beat up men with sticks in Lathmar Holi in Barsana, India.

So, if you are in India do visit these 3 places during Holi.

You may like to read 11 Delicious treats on this Holi

March 7, 2016 Events and Festivals, International

International Women’s Day 2016

Wisdom shared by great women from around the world on the eve of International Women’s Day-

I am Woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, that’s me. ~ Maya Angelou

Extremists have shown what frightens them most: a girl with a book ~ Malala Yousafzai

Malala Yousafzai -International Women's Day — Malala Yousafzai at Girl Summit 2014

Women are the largest untapped reservoir of talent in the world ~ Hillary Clinton

Hillary Clinton-international Women's Day — Hillary Clinton official Secretary of State portrait

If you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman. ~ Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Thatcher-International Women's Day — Margaret Thatcher

One is not born a woman, one becomes one. ~ Simone de Beauvoir

Simone_De_Beuvoir International Women's Day — Simone De Beauvoir

Think like a queen. A queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is another stepping stone to greatness. ~ Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey -International Women's Day — Oprah Winfrey

International Women’s day celebrates the social, economic and political achievement of women.

Leaders across the world are pledging to take action as champions of gender parity. According to The World Economic Forum 2014 prediction, it would take until 2095 to achieve global gender parity. Then one year later in 2015, they estimated that a slowdown in the already glacial pace of progress meant the gender gap wouldn’t close entirely until 2133.

So all men and women can pledge to take a concrete step to help achieve gender parity more quickly – whether to help women and girls achieve their ambitions, call for gender-balanced leadership, respect and value difference, develop more inclusive and flexible cultures or root out workplace bias. Each of us can be a leader within our own spheres of influence and commit to taking pragmatic action to accelerate gender parity.

#PledgeForParity

International Women’s Day 2016 events are occurring across the world. Do follow this link to check out what is going on in your area.

Source: IWD 2016 campaign theme

Image Source: Wikipedia.org

I wanted to share this helpful guide I found about women in hi-tech industry.

It gave me a lot of insight into the state of the women who work in the hi-tech area. It helps to promote women in tech and I think it would be a great resource to share with you, especially the women.