Diwali Special - Rajkot !!!

Diwali, the name of this festival is enough to bring a smile to any Indian.

Diwali falls in months of October / November, and according to Hindu calendar, it falls on kartak month and according to bikram samvat, it falls on 15^th day of the month. Diwali signifies victory of light over darkness, good over evil and hope over despair.

Every Indian celebrates Diwali. It is a five day festival observed over many countries and everyone is given an official holiday. Millions of people decorate their houses and prepare rangolis. The buildings and houses are covered with lights, lanterns, diyas, candles, and vivid colors. 

People buy gold, diamonds, clothes, and everything. It beginning of New Year for Hindus. People start fresh. Businesses end their accounts and start their new books. Children are given gifts. All the families have sweets, dry fruits, new clothes, fruits during Diwali. There is happiness in whole country. Gujaratis travel during Diwali breaks. Schools and colleges are shut down for almost 15-20 days marking the festival holidays.

Diwali is festival of peace, light, victory, happiness, and purity. The five days of Diwali begin with Dhanteras as day 1, where goddess Lakshmi  and gold ornaments is worshipped, all the people worship and pray for flourished business and better and good financial conditions for future. They pray for better living and ask goddess Lakshmi to show mercy on them.

Second day is marked as kali chaudasa, marking death of naraksura by Krishna and on this people decorate their homes and prepare different types of patterns namely rangoli. The third day signifies Diwali, the festival of lights and the next day is New Year, where all new accounting books are initiated, Businessmen start their new ventures. People go to their friends and relatives to wish them New Year wishes and mark better relations. The last day is Bhai dooj / Bhai bij. The celebration of sister – brother relationship. It is similar to raksha bandhan and it emphasizes on lifelong relation of siblings.

Fireworks are the major attraction during Diwali. Lakhs of rupees are invested in fireworks. The fireworks shows are organised in cities and there are many different varieties every year. Children are happy to light the rockets and see them burst. Diwali is one abnormal and favourite festival of Indians. Even police officers try to make public happy and they show mercy on roads.

Being born in Rajkot, I have travelled many places and after my experiences I can tell that Rajkot is one the of the best places to celebrate Diwali. Every Year Rajkot is decorated like a newlywed Bride and special events are organised. The roads are fixed, walls are painted, government offices are installed with decorative lights and lanterns, and every home is ready to roll. This is one of the best experiences during Diwali. One of the best things here celebrated is the Fireworks Show by Rajkot Municipal Corporation. There are thousands of fireworks and along with that Laser shows. Entire population can see that in sky, and at that time, the sky is lit along with earth. 

This Year Mystic Grooves ( Band ) too performed thier specials in the town. 

This year Diwali is too special as for writing this article, many friends have helped and without them, this would not be possible. As we say in Hindi –

“Yeh Diwali, Doston Ke Naam…..”

Thank you every one. Thank you Smit Mehta, Ghanshyam Zaveri and Samarth Mandavia for pictures.

ARTICLE IN TIMES OF INDIA.

- https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/rajkot/diwali-carnival-launched-with-fanfare/articleshow/61107457.cms

"Apart from the fireworks, the laser light show, serial lighting of different colours and designs and 'Rangoli' of various hues and shapes are part of the carnival. There will be 700 Rangolis drawn by 3,000 artists in the form of a necklace around the Race Course Ring Road, in which 4,000kg paint has been used. That aside, there have been 10 stages set up along the road on which 'Garba' and musical evening programmes will be organized. The citizens will be able to enjoy laser light show every night during the carnival," said an RMC official.

Here are some of the Pictures of the Celebration of Diwali.

Focus on - 

• MIG 29 at Kotecha Chowk
• Dhan Teras Fireworks Show
• Mystic Grooves 
• Decoration at Diwali Carnival - Race Course Ring Road

MIG-29 AT KOTECHA CHOWK

MYSTIC GROOVES

After Reading this, If you feel that you are missing it, then please do visit next year.... 

Rajkot !! - Better than the best....

Bonus : Rajkot Youth Song by RJ Aakash 

(2014) CHEF (2017)

               

Chef, the name of the movie suggests that the plot revolves around the life of chef, a famous chef who holds some worldly titles. Exactly. Chef is story of a Restaurant Chef who is renowned for his creativity and taste. The life is going good when a food critic’s bad review of his dish makes him ruin his entire image. In addition, along with being divorcee, the wife calls him for his son. That is where he is obsessed with his life and starts a new journey along with his son to make a living and better relations. In suggestion of his ex-wife, he renovates and restores an old and ruined food truck, which belongs to her ex-husband. He installs new equipment, along with his friend, who is also chef, and his son begins to food trip to home from Miami. Along the trip he finally bonds with his son and creates his image, all credited to his son’s technological skills. At the end family reunites, they all work along with the food critic who gave bad review.

The above movie plot refers to movie CHEF(2014), starring Jon Favreau as Chef Casper, Scarlett Johansson as Molly, Sofia Vergara as Inez(wife), Robert Downey Jr. as Marvin, John Leguizamo as Martin and Emjay Anthony as Percy(son). 

This Hollywood movie is very well represented and directed by Jon Favreau. The movie covers various locations like Miami, New Orleans, and Austin. Movie covers various tradition of America and some of exotic delicacies of various cities. It is a good movie to watch.

A complete entertainer, Family movie. The Movie gives a message to always be with the family and Do what you like to do.

Chef (2017), is Bollywood version of Chef (2014), starring, Saif Ali Khan as Chef Roshan Kalra,

Padmapriya as Radha, Chandan Roy Sanyal, Milind Soman.

The plot is same as Chef 2014, but with a little twist.

PLOT:

Roshan Kalra (Saif Ali Khan) is three star Michelin chef, who is fired from his job at New York Restaurant for punching a customer. He then flies to Kochi to spend some time with his son. He meets his Ex-wife Radha, and stays for more than decided period. When Radha knows that he is out of job, she suggests starting a food truck business and travelling to Delhi, where he started all the Chef business.

Radha’s Friend Biju ( Milind Soman) offers him with a wrecked a double Decker bus, which he transforms into a food Bus and starts his journey with an iconic Dish “Rotzza”, after that along with his son he travels, dances, plays footballs and reunites with him. He makes a good living and some great fans. Like the Hollywood, His Son Arman too helps him get famous by Tweets.

Finally, he confesses his love for his ex-wife and son, he reunites, and all together run a Food Bus namely RAASTA CAFÉ.

They all unite.

The film is remake of Hollywood Version but it is a great step towards making some classic and
inspiring movies in Bollywood. Chef directed by Raja Krishna Menon is great movie. Here he tries to conquer the concept of working and chasing dreams and family. Indians cannot chase the dreams and show their creativity due to parental pressures and Orthodox thinking. Movies like this inspire our youth to chase their dreams, do their best. Do what they like to do and have peaceful life. Often families pressure their kids to achieve something that may be impossible for them. Moreover, they end up being frustrated and of secluded nature. Chef is good movie and can be called a must watch as it counter attacks the real life problems of Indians.