Karva Chauth

Have seen Karva Chauth being celeberated in many Hindi films usually followed by a Senti song.Today being the festival of Karva Chauth, I was kind of curious to see how the rituals are done in real life.So Just about 8:15 pm went to the terrace and started gazing around.On many of the nearby terraces,I could see women weilding the sieve,watching the moon and offering prayers for their spouse. After the prayer they see their husband through the sieve. Wielding the sieve,they also offer milk and rice to the moon. After offering the Arathi to both the moon and their husband, they get the husband's blessing by bowing to his feet.They then take off the sieve and break their day-long fast either with milk or some sweets.On some terraces, the husbands helped the women in breaking the fast by hand-feeding the sweet,milk or water, while many women helped on their own.Some husbands were even video reording the whole stuff.After breaking the fast, the holy glittering diyas facing the moon were placed on the terraces. I could also see few women offering prayers to the moon without their husband present next to them.May be he is away or out of station..not sure.

I was wondering, if I could see women celeberating in groups but didn't get a chance.Heard that they used to gather and pray in groups during the day. Unlike in films, there were no dances or songs.However it was a nice sight.

Even yesterday night, while strolling alongside the stalls, I could see many girls and women waiting in queues and getting the Henna(Mehendi) designs beautifully and patiently done on their palms and hands.The whole stretch was full of women folks.I was wondering if there is an equivalent festival in south India.Will definitely be there but am not sure as to what exactly it is.Btw...is there any festival wherein the husband prays for his wife...again not sure!