My thumb rule for tamil and hindi film songs is first impression rule. If the music or lyrics captivates me at the first instance, then I am hooked to that particular song to the extent that it becomes the suprabhaatam. Lately, mundhinam paarthen of vaaranam aayiram has joined this list.
However, the above rule certainly cannot be applied to carnatic music. There were certain raagas rather chauka kala krithis in particular raagam for which I never had the taste. However, I have realized that my taste has rather become inclusive and expanded owing to endless hours devoted to listening to great voices of the past. Listening naturally presents an easier and attractive option compared to practicing the fiddle for a lethargic person like me. Krithis in raagams like kanadaa, arabhi, sahaana, sri, naatai, ravichandrika, bahudari, natakurunji, madhyamavati, kadanakudukalam, reethigowla were instant hit with me. As I have grown up, I have come to appreciate and love raagams like devakanthari, begada, thodi, varaali, bhairavi, mukhaari to name a few.
I heard Tyagaraja’s krithi – vidajaaladuraa in janaranjani ragam rendered by T.M. Krishna (CD) around 28th January, 2010 and since then, this krithi has become the suprabhaatam. It proceeds at a softy level (owing krishna’s voice) but at the same time is lively, just like a flying butterfly or gliding butter. The accompanying violinist and mirdangist have added the right tadka given the correct mic setting.
Of the trinity, krithis composed by tyagaraja are akin to draksha fruit, gives instant taste and this particular krithi – vidajaaladuraa transports me to world of sheer bliss. I found tyagaraja’s krithis smarane sukha in the same raagam very much slow and dull; perhaps the saint was in too much contemplative mood.
In vidajaaladura, the saint conveys:
“Listen, Oh Raama! It is not possible for my mind to let go its hold on your holy feet, though it may be tossed about in a state of distress caused by entertaining unrealizable desires. Whatever tasks I might undertake, whatever unseeable sights I might see, I have regarded them all as yourself and felt delighted that I did so.”
Meaning courtesy - Spiritual Heritage of Tyagaraja – C. Ramanujachari
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Death, relief and fight
What seemed to be a normal delivery, wasn’t and Aravind’s struggle with life started soon. Aravind, my cousin (chitti/mausi’s first son), as an infant seemed all normal for the whole family, but my maternal grandma (as well as Aravind’s) was quick to note the problems and forewarned. Lack of oxygen for certain seconds during the delivery was identified as the culprit. It started with delayed milestones but the seizure attack complicated the things. Seeing the CT scan report, an expert doctor gave only 12 years. With seizure attacks getting longer, his walk dwindled to limping and then to dragging on the floor. He would still rush in joy dragging his things and legs on the floor. Speech never developed but he had deep liking for music and he used to hum and sing the opening phrases of songs such as, “urvasi..urvasi”. He keenly followed cricket too; it was “balla takka” for him. If delhi was bad for him, bangalore’s climate did him. But he had the chance of attending spastic school upto certain age in bangalore, which proved better for him and his mother. The climate of madras and trichy suited him best from cold and cough point of view. The walk was totally gone and it was purely buggy ride for him.
While his maternal grandma doted on him, his paternal grandparents only displayed formal affection so much so that his paternal grandma mocked at his style of walking at one stage. She now, is at the same stage of limping with knees gone.
Soon the buggy ride too stopped and he was confined to bed only after thigh fracture. He was successful in defeating the ventilator too but succumbed to pneumonia; he had some difficulty in breathing and his mother assumed that it was due to cold which was a normal feature with him. She stepped out to buy some ayurvedic medicine and he faded away forever with mouth opened and eyes half-open. She was inconsolable that she was not besides him till the time it was told to her that the boy had seen vishwa rupam of the lord going by the status of eyes and mouth and further that it was raatha saptami day, the day for which bhisma (of mahabharata fame) waited to give his life. The boy’s younger brother, aged 7, observed – anna would be born in a much better family and shall be better than him.
The immediate reaction of near and dear ones was that it was an escape from suffering, endured for nineteen years, both for the kid and parents. I am sure that this birth was necessitated to off-set some karma of previous births. Very often my maternal grandpa, a tax-practitioner by profession, wished that he be born in a para-bhramam state, owing to accounts and figures.
Soon, the focus shifted to rites and rituals. The paternal side was keen on doing-away with formalities owing to non-belief and cost factor. Indeed, the boy’s paternal grandma sobbed on 14th day that Rs. 65,000/- had been wasted on silly procedures. The vaadhiyaar, who gave a moral lecture on the first day, skipped the 9th day rites and clubbed the same with 10th day. The boy’s father and paternal grandma even refused to keep the stone at the house and entrusted the same to the vaadhiyaar. Meanwhile, maternal grandma and my mom were very much upset with vaadhiyaar’s tactics; for them pithru saabam should not be earned.
Amidst all this, erupted fight too on the third day itself; my dad advised my chitti to go for some job and praised her before the maamiyaar (mother-in-law-boy’s paternal grandma). This was not taken in the right spirit by mil and hue and cry was raised over degrading her son, who has history of not sticking to even one job and remains a sales executive at the age of 45 years. My mom relayed this fight news over phone when I was watching vaaranam aayiram at my aunt’s place. Indeed, it was war-ranam-aayiram there (thousand words causing war and ranam). This closely resembled the fight over uruma in one of the raadhika’s serial, though not in scale.
Everybody is back at their place and I believe that the departed soul too is liberated from the cycle of punarapi jananam punarapi maranam.
While his maternal grandma doted on him, his paternal grandparents only displayed formal affection so much so that his paternal grandma mocked at his style of walking at one stage. She now, is at the same stage of limping with knees gone.
Soon the buggy ride too stopped and he was confined to bed only after thigh fracture. He was successful in defeating the ventilator too but succumbed to pneumonia; he had some difficulty in breathing and his mother assumed that it was due to cold which was a normal feature with him. She stepped out to buy some ayurvedic medicine and he faded away forever with mouth opened and eyes half-open. She was inconsolable that she was not besides him till the time it was told to her that the boy had seen vishwa rupam of the lord going by the status of eyes and mouth and further that it was raatha saptami day, the day for which bhisma (of mahabharata fame) waited to give his life. The boy’s younger brother, aged 7, observed – anna would be born in a much better family and shall be better than him.
The immediate reaction of near and dear ones was that it was an escape from suffering, endured for nineteen years, both for the kid and parents. I am sure that this birth was necessitated to off-set some karma of previous births. Very often my maternal grandpa, a tax-practitioner by profession, wished that he be born in a para-bhramam state, owing to accounts and figures.
Soon, the focus shifted to rites and rituals. The paternal side was keen on doing-away with formalities owing to non-belief and cost factor. Indeed, the boy’s paternal grandma sobbed on 14th day that Rs. 65,000/- had been wasted on silly procedures. The vaadhiyaar, who gave a moral lecture on the first day, skipped the 9th day rites and clubbed the same with 10th day. The boy’s father and paternal grandma even refused to keep the stone at the house and entrusted the same to the vaadhiyaar. Meanwhile, maternal grandma and my mom were very much upset with vaadhiyaar’s tactics; for them pithru saabam should not be earned.
Amidst all this, erupted fight too on the third day itself; my dad advised my chitti to go for some job and praised her before the maamiyaar (mother-in-law-boy’s paternal grandma). This was not taken in the right spirit by mil and hue and cry was raised over degrading her son, who has history of not sticking to even one job and remains a sales executive at the age of 45 years. My mom relayed this fight news over phone when I was watching vaaranam aayiram at my aunt’s place. Indeed, it was war-ranam-aayiram there (thousand words causing war and ranam). This closely resembled the fight over uruma in one of the raadhika’s serial, though not in scale.
Everybody is back at their place and I believe that the departed soul too is liberated from the cycle of punarapi jananam punarapi maranam.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
3 idiots
.jpg)
Times of India very rarely gives a movie a rating of more than four stars and 3 idiots was rated at four and a half and the review concluded saying, “rush for it”. Indeed, we three idiots (myself, soli and fali) had tickets for first day first show (25th December) at liberty. It was after a decade that I was entering into delhi cinema theatre; the last one was taal at chanakya. soli was even careful in reserving the seats; first row of the balcony - ample of leg space and easy exit in case of any accident resembling uphaar theatre.
The film showcases the thought process previously explored in taarien zameen par and munnabhai. No similarity in the plots but both deal with frailties and strength of human. Issue of competition among kids is taken one step forward to that of getting a respectable engineering degree and shifting base to usa, possessing a big house and lamborghini. Truly, in today’s context, engineering degree is the passport to good job, wife and successful life. Commerce and arts graduates are labeled as outcaste. Engineering colleges mushrooming all over the country is a testimony of this attitude. The education system at aal levels leans towards the science stream i.e. if unable to get good % in 12th - opt for a commerce course, if unable to get engineering seat – go for commerce course and then opt for professional courses like C.A. etc. whereas commerce and arts students have no such option of choosing any science subjects.
The underlying point does not fail to strike a powerful chord at personal level. I am grateful that I was not forced into the science stream. Mom always wanted me to join the rat race of engineering. Surely, I would have secured my engineering degree from any college, secured a job and secured a wife by this time. I happily ended in joining a bigger competition group, that of lawyers, worked for free, got exploited and learnt a lot from my court sittings. An adage in this field is that a lawyer prospers when a prostitute considers her retirement. I did not miss the scene where maddy talks of life only being competition to gain credit cards and wife. Poignant dialogue! Both these necessary evils elude lawyers – bankers do not extend credit card to lawyers being litigious and father do not give away their girls for young lawyers lack money. A lawyer’s market is ever in recession. B.E. that as it may be!
But charity work for around 3 years and enjoying long court vacations did not went unnoticed. The family got into saamuhik mental balaatkaar. No occasion was lost in labeling me as non-enterprising and non-pushing. Thankfully, mom supported me through this bad patch. It was indeed a torturous quarter. Eventually I got through a consultant’s position in an american mnc with 25 K deal. Not a bad deal for me, from zilch to 25 K. The mental balatkaar was performed in order to attain some value in marriage market. How does a lawyer compete with computer software engineer who has done mba and is into investment banking and is earning hefty package? 25 K was raised to 40 K in next 10 months. Still no impact on my value in market. Girls were and are still after engineers, abroad or India. Again the family got ready to perform mental balaatkaar-“why don’t you ask for employee status?”. Down nine months, the approval came from usa and I am on rolls and I will be getting my credit card; so much fight. Some peace has dawned on family! What a rat-competition life! The song, “Give me another chance I wanna grow up once again, bachpan to gaya jawani bhi gaye, ek pal to hame jene do” captures the right emotion.
Back to the film! The jaddu ki jhappi is taken forward in the form of talismanic “aal izz well” to overcome human weakness and infuse optimism. 3 idiots, thus, is a nice blend of thoughts of two creative brains – aamir and hirani.
Excessive reliance on god and use of other charms as a solution provider has been denounced. The scene showing kids praying to god and bribing god on the result day like, “bus pass kara dey”, “bhagwan pass kara de, mein rani aur dmple ko apna behan manonga” and another promising to offer Rs. 100 daily was very enjoyable and forces one to go down the memory lane. I always looked to god for passing especially clearing my mathematics paper. Even first rankers like my cousins, who otherwise only paid lip service, used to visit temple and offer bribe. The song aal izz well captures this in lines, “agarbatti rakh ho gaye god to phir bhi dikha nahi”.
Though the spotlight is on aamir, the director has done full justice to the talents of maddy, sharman and the newcomer – omi vaidya. Right from style, xcuse me, rang de basanti, golmaal, life in a metro to 3 idiots, sharman has throughout put in credible performance. The pet of the director, boman, has put in fine performance as a crazy and genius professor-diction and einstein’s hairdo adding more to the performance. The newcomer, omi vaidya as the gas chamber was an instant hit with the audience. The deliberate south indian diction could not be missed and the speech with chamatkar replaced with balatkar and dhan with sthan was toooo good. It was good to see seasoned small screen artists like parikshit sahni and jayant kriplani chipping in. As usual, maddy has come up again with credible performance. The scene with javed jaffery involving his father’s urn was great.
And how can someone miss kareena; the audience went crazy on seeing her. The lip-lock scene of kareena and aamir elicited the biggest roar in the theatre. The lines, “jahanpana tussi great ho, tohfa to kabool karo” with pants down and a spank on ass was great. Cramming and book system has been ridiculed and the scene of farhanhite and prerajulative was thought provoking indeed. How many teachers dare to lean on creativity side in teaching the syllabus? My history teacher, praveen bhatnagar, belonged to this rare breed – came up with new methods to teach old history and presented us history in vivid colors. Amidst laugh riot scenes, came couple of melodramatic scenes – sharman crying in hospital and thanking aamir, sharman committing suicide, jayant kriplani hiring sharman and parikshit sahani giving go-ahead to maddy to pursue photography apprenticeship (this scene was very well appreciated by the audience).
The scene dealing with delivery of baby seemed to me too out of context. Also the electric current passing though chappal and shoe first appeared to me illogical, for rubber is an insulator. But obviously I missed the connecting point - salt water happens to be a conductor of electricity and in this case it was during the mutra visarjan process. And kareena marrying her fiancé after 10 years was too much. But no complaints, the story is dil-logical and seeks to send across couple of right social messages and above aal takes the audience into recap mode.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Udaipur - Day One
“Family Trip-once a year” could not take off in 2008 due to various factors, prime factor being repeated terror attacks. Mumbai was also on our list but the plan was abandoned and again Rajasthan, owing to its proximity, became our destination. We had missed udaipur in 2006 and so udaipur it was this time. Bala consulted the tourist bible “Lonely Planet” and framed a suitable and flexible itinerary from 19th to 22 february.
However, owing to folks getting sick, we were never sure as to whether tour would take off and no official word came from my doctor aunt approving the tour. Bala and I presumed that silence is acceptance. The official word came on the 17th, a day before we were to board the train, that we were indeed going. Grandma was entrusted to the care of my Uncles. The mewar express connected delhi and udaipur. I descended at the station from my office and others came in batches.
The train was shunted in at platform no. 7 and I and my mom first boarded the compartment and pushed the luggage comfortably. The rest trudged in and my doctor aunt heaved a sign of relief and said, “finally we have made it”. Some chit-chat continued regarding my job offer at mumbai which certainly put my mind off. I postponed the issue and me and bala sat down, armed with lonely planet, to finalize the itinerary as mewar express rolled out 15 minutes late. My mom also a had a book which listed many other places near udaipur and emerged lord Srinath of nathdwara and suddenly the tour became a temple tour. Me and bala debated chittorgarh versus jaisamand and left the issue undecided. Meanwhile another issue cropped up; bala had arranged for car at Rs. 1100/- per day using some jugaad and my doctor aunt debated on the merits of availing the car on all the days. Rs. 1100/- was very cheap and it was decided to avail the car. Things finally settled and temples were earmarked for the day one. One obstacle remained to be met; the ticket checker. Not that we were ticket-less but bala, to get lower berth, had made up my dad’s age 60 instead of 58. And my dad was in full mood to blurt out the truth and pay the difference amount. One thing that worked to our advantage was that our seats were split, three at one end of the coach and three at the other end. However, the tt did not even went into the details and contended himself by checking the id of bala.
Folks went on tea-drinking spree and I learnt that dinner would be served. My mom had made pooris, chapattis and tomato chutney and my aunt had packed curd rice. And I received a dose from my mom for informing her earlier that there was no pantry car. Anyways, we gobbled down the food. Mathura peda was served for sweet and then the prasadam followed in the form of various medicines for cold and cough. Seat allotment followed; I am sure the political parties do it quicker.
Bala and me settled at his upper berth for some chit-chat. And it was a long chit-chat till 1 am. We went down our memory lane; 2008 trips, 2006 trip of rajasthan and 2007 trip of maharashtra. And then we touched upon the topic of marriage, arranged marriage vis-à-vis love, scarcity of iyengar girls, how and where to find them in delhi, how to decide whether she is the one, time frame required to find out. Apparently bala is at number three, listed behind aswin and myself. But given aswin’s struggle, bala is a confused lot. Both aswin and bala want to spend some time to assess as to whether the girl being selected is the right one which time is not given in typical iyengarish encounter; once you are comfortable with education, family background, horrors matching and of course the appearance (which comes first in the list), then follows brief chit-chat and then the doom’s day. We debated objective and subjective criteria. A lot more was discussed…about his dream girl qualities-elegant like ‘Rock On’ heroine prachi desai, yet simple again like prachi…and yet be a trophy wife and intelligent as well.
The train arrived at udaipur almost 1 hour late. We hopped down and gunned for the kapi (coffee). Folks caw cawing for coffee was going to be a highlight. The marshall jeep was waiting for us with its driver roshan. Cutting across small by-lanes, we arrived at our hotel dreams heaven (courtesy lonely planet). Narrow and maze of stairs and arrows greeted us and we slowly trekked up to the roof-top to have our breakfast and another round of coffee. The roof-top offered us a great view of the lake or rather the dirty water and row of buildings. We were the only Indian population at the roof-top as I gazed at cigarette smoking firangs. My mon soon found out that the kitchen was not total vegetarian and the elders had the paranthas with some reservation and decided not to have breakfast at the roof-top. The rooms were allotted and we had our bath and trudged out.
A quick photo session with the marshall and we were on our way to nathdwara which is around 50 kms from udaipur. The first stop was the jain temple of shantinath (adbhutji mandir). A few steps and we had a quick darshan of the deity and did a quick photo shoot. The next stop was the saas bahu mandir, a five minutes drive from jain temple. This was supposed to be a vishnu temple, however, there were no deities in the sanctum and all that remained was the beautiful structure. The next stop was ekling ji-shiva temple. We had a very good darshan and the temple complex also has more than 100 deties. The next stop was nathdwara. We reached there around 3 pm and decided to have our lunch first. We chose lakshmi vilas, a small hotel and gunned for idlis and dosas. Then followed a round of coffee, chai for bala and I gladly skipped this session. Around 3:45 we were left in through the main gate and soon we were approached by touts for special darshan. We had to stand amidst unorganized mob and as soon as the doors opened, the crowd went berserk and we were swept into the main room where we had darshan of lord srinath. It was more of pushing and jostling inside amidst chants of srinath. We were keen to get away from the maddening crowd and we succeeded in getting away only after we received more incoming pushes. At another section, the priest dressed in parsee fashion administered a towel beatings to the devotees; a practice alien to hindu sect. I was not impressed with the crowd management and at a different level, I was not satisfied with the visit when I compare the ambience of the temple with srirangam. The temple structure in no way resembled a typical hindu structure; the color scheme, paintings, drawings depicting English soldiers etc. only suggests parsee/Iranian influence. Story goes that lord srinath was brought over to this place from mathura fearing persecution at the hands of aurangzeb. It seems sanctuary to the lord was given by some parsee/iranian so as to not to attract the moguls attention and thus practices from different culture have merged in daily worship scheme. I see no harm in this but in the end the crowd management put me off. A google search shows that pushthimarga sampradaya established by jagatguru vallabhacharya is followed. Subsequently my mom informed me that deity being kutti krishnar (Krishna as a child), the gates opened and closed every 15 minutes.
(At nathdwara)
(At saas bahu temple)
(At saas bahu temple)
(At jain temple)
With this, the temple section was over and we set out to haldighati where the battle between akbar’s force lead by man singh and rana pratap assisted by hakim khan took place. Chetak, the horse of maha rana emerged as the warrior since chetak, grievously injured, managed to save rana pratap by covering over 5 kms distance and jumping over a canal/river. Eventually the horse died and rana pratap moved by chetak’s courage resolved to lead simple life. The narrow road to haldighati is very picturesque, with ups and downs. Ours was the sole vehicle traveling on the road and even at the haldighati museum, there were few Indian tourists. Sound and light show and a small documentary on rana pratap was shown. Definitely a place to be. More about the war, click http://www.indhistory.com/haldighati.html
(At haldighati)
(At haldighati)
From haldighati, we dashed back to udaipur’s bagore ki haveli just in time for cultural dance named darohar (one hour program) showcasing different rajasthani dances like ghoomer etc. The best was the puppet show. The audience consisted of mainly foreigners. While showing the pics at home, my doctor aunt pulled our legs saying, “where are the dance pics? Both of you had gone to the front row to shoot the video. I know you had gone to sit besides the foreign female.” I answered back, “oh come on! She was an old lady. The best were on the opposite side.” Truly I saw some pretty faces in different attires. But the best was to come …
As far as dinner was concerned, combination of sickness, weariness, eating joints based at roof-tops catering non-veg too and use of mustard oil made us order rice and curd. Being a typical curd-rice case, I ought not to complain.
However, owing to folks getting sick, we were never sure as to whether tour would take off and no official word came from my doctor aunt approving the tour. Bala and I presumed that silence is acceptance. The official word came on the 17th, a day before we were to board the train, that we were indeed going. Grandma was entrusted to the care of my Uncles. The mewar express connected delhi and udaipur. I descended at the station from my office and others came in batches.
The train was shunted in at platform no. 7 and I and my mom first boarded the compartment and pushed the luggage comfortably. The rest trudged in and my doctor aunt heaved a sign of relief and said, “finally we have made it”. Some chit-chat continued regarding my job offer at mumbai which certainly put my mind off. I postponed the issue and me and bala sat down, armed with lonely planet, to finalize the itinerary as mewar express rolled out 15 minutes late. My mom also a had a book which listed many other places near udaipur and emerged lord Srinath of nathdwara and suddenly the tour became a temple tour. Me and bala debated chittorgarh versus jaisamand and left the issue undecided. Meanwhile another issue cropped up; bala had arranged for car at Rs. 1100/- per day using some jugaad and my doctor aunt debated on the merits of availing the car on all the days. Rs. 1100/- was very cheap and it was decided to avail the car. Things finally settled and temples were earmarked for the day one. One obstacle remained to be met; the ticket checker. Not that we were ticket-less but bala, to get lower berth, had made up my dad’s age 60 instead of 58. And my dad was in full mood to blurt out the truth and pay the difference amount. One thing that worked to our advantage was that our seats were split, three at one end of the coach and three at the other end. However, the tt did not even went into the details and contended himself by checking the id of bala.
Folks went on tea-drinking spree and I learnt that dinner would be served. My mom had made pooris, chapattis and tomato chutney and my aunt had packed curd rice. And I received a dose from my mom for informing her earlier that there was no pantry car. Anyways, we gobbled down the food. Mathura peda was served for sweet and then the prasadam followed in the form of various medicines for cold and cough. Seat allotment followed; I am sure the political parties do it quicker.
Bala and me settled at his upper berth for some chit-chat. And it was a long chit-chat till 1 am. We went down our memory lane; 2008 trips, 2006 trip of rajasthan and 2007 trip of maharashtra. And then we touched upon the topic of marriage, arranged marriage vis-à-vis love, scarcity of iyengar girls, how and where to find them in delhi, how to decide whether she is the one, time frame required to find out. Apparently bala is at number three, listed behind aswin and myself. But given aswin’s struggle, bala is a confused lot. Both aswin and bala want to spend some time to assess as to whether the girl being selected is the right one which time is not given in typical iyengarish encounter; once you are comfortable with education, family background, horrors matching and of course the appearance (which comes first in the list), then follows brief chit-chat and then the doom’s day. We debated objective and subjective criteria. A lot more was discussed…about his dream girl qualities-elegant like ‘Rock On’ heroine prachi desai, yet simple again like prachi…and yet be a trophy wife and intelligent as well.
The train arrived at udaipur almost 1 hour late. We hopped down and gunned for the kapi (coffee). Folks caw cawing for coffee was going to be a highlight. The marshall jeep was waiting for us with its driver roshan. Cutting across small by-lanes, we arrived at our hotel dreams heaven (courtesy lonely planet). Narrow and maze of stairs and arrows greeted us and we slowly trekked up to the roof-top to have our breakfast and another round of coffee. The roof-top offered us a great view of the lake or rather the dirty water and row of buildings. We were the only Indian population at the roof-top as I gazed at cigarette smoking firangs. My mon soon found out that the kitchen was not total vegetarian and the elders had the paranthas with some reservation and decided not to have breakfast at the roof-top. The rooms were allotted and we had our bath and trudged out.
A quick photo session with the marshall and we were on our way to nathdwara which is around 50 kms from udaipur. The first stop was the jain temple of shantinath (adbhutji mandir). A few steps and we had a quick darshan of the deity and did a quick photo shoot. The next stop was the saas bahu mandir, a five minutes drive from jain temple. This was supposed to be a vishnu temple, however, there were no deities in the sanctum and all that remained was the beautiful structure. The next stop was ekling ji-shiva temple. We had a very good darshan and the temple complex also has more than 100 deties. The next stop was nathdwara. We reached there around 3 pm and decided to have our lunch first. We chose lakshmi vilas, a small hotel and gunned for idlis and dosas. Then followed a round of coffee, chai for bala and I gladly skipped this session. Around 3:45 we were left in through the main gate and soon we were approached by touts for special darshan. We had to stand amidst unorganized mob and as soon as the doors opened, the crowd went berserk and we were swept into the main room where we had darshan of lord srinath. It was more of pushing and jostling inside amidst chants of srinath. We were keen to get away from the maddening crowd and we succeeded in getting away only after we received more incoming pushes. At another section, the priest dressed in parsee fashion administered a towel beatings to the devotees; a practice alien to hindu sect. I was not impressed with the crowd management and at a different level, I was not satisfied with the visit when I compare the ambience of the temple with srirangam. The temple structure in no way resembled a typical hindu structure; the color scheme, paintings, drawings depicting English soldiers etc. only suggests parsee/Iranian influence. Story goes that lord srinath was brought over to this place from mathura fearing persecution at the hands of aurangzeb. It seems sanctuary to the lord was given by some parsee/iranian so as to not to attract the moguls attention and thus practices from different culture have merged in daily worship scheme. I see no harm in this but in the end the crowd management put me off. A google search shows that pushthimarga sampradaya established by jagatguru vallabhacharya is followed. Subsequently my mom informed me that deity being kutti krishnar (Krishna as a child), the gates opened and closed every 15 minutes.
(At nathdwara)
(At saas bahu temple)
(At saas bahu temple)
(At jain temple)
With this, the temple section was over and we set out to haldighati where the battle between akbar’s force lead by man singh and rana pratap assisted by hakim khan took place. Chetak, the horse of maha rana emerged as the warrior since chetak, grievously injured, managed to save rana pratap by covering over 5 kms distance and jumping over a canal/river. Eventually the horse died and rana pratap moved by chetak’s courage resolved to lead simple life. The narrow road to haldighati is very picturesque, with ups and downs. Ours was the sole vehicle traveling on the road and even at the haldighati museum, there were few Indian tourists. Sound and light show and a small documentary on rana pratap was shown. Definitely a place to be. More about the war, click http://www.indhistory.com/haldighati.html
(At haldighati)
(At haldighati)From haldighati, we dashed back to udaipur’s bagore ki haveli just in time for cultural dance named darohar (one hour program) showcasing different rajasthani dances like ghoomer etc. The best was the puppet show. The audience consisted of mainly foreigners. While showing the pics at home, my doctor aunt pulled our legs saying, “where are the dance pics? Both of you had gone to the front row to shoot the video. I know you had gone to sit besides the foreign female.” I answered back, “oh come on! She was an old lady. The best were on the opposite side.” Truly I saw some pretty faces in different attires. But the best was to come …
As far as dinner was concerned, combination of sickness, weariness, eating joints based at roof-tops catering non-veg too and use of mustard oil made us order rice and curd. Being a typical curd-rice case, I ought not to complain.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Patna – gandhi setu & dolphin
We wrapped up the arbitration proceeding within couple of hours and I was on my way to the gandhi setu linking patna and hajipur over river ganges. A shared auto dropped me at the site. The bridge, around 5.6 kms was considered as longest bridge in the world over a river. After ten minutes of gazing and clicking, I had the chance of spotting the fast disappearing gangetic dolphin (Platanista gangetica). Only last month the gangetic dolphin was declared as national aquatic animal in the first meeting of National Ganga River Basin Authority since a cleaner ganga will ensure return of the species. I had around seven to eight spotting of the dolphin, which I could not capture in my camera owing to battery failure. Folks in patna had told me that dolphins are myth and I was indeed lucky to spot them but luck deserted me when it came to capture them through the camera lens. Indeed we humans as a race are greedy, all the time seeking to capture but nature humbles us and I returned to my hotel with dolphins etched in my mind. 
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Domestic fights and mahabharata
Rajaji’s mahabharata happens to be mine favorite read. My first exposure to the mega story was through b.r. chopra’s efforts and the characters left an indelible impression upon me. Nitish bharadwaj as krishna and mukesh khanna as bhisma definitely stood out in terms of screen presence and acting.
Rajaji’s version was gifted to my mother by a friend of hers and since then I have devoured the book, wholly and selectively, many a times. In its 328 pages lies several unknown and untold stories overlapping the main story; all written in a neat and concise manner. The epic has everything to offer, from morality to lust and victory of good over bad, masala for successful cinema. I wonder if the film industry has adopted the story in parts. No wonder someone is thinking of taking the story to multiplexes – to be released in two parts. I can go endlessly…. about the characters, my favorites, the truelies, etc. But I refrain from doing so for I have a short tale to tell in which rajaji’s mahabharata plays a muted role.
Like every grandmother, my aunt was summoned for IAS duty by my cousin to amerigo. No prizes for guessing – I.A.S. stands for Indian Aaya Service. This was not her first stint. We camped at her house to help her pack things; my dad’s quite an expert in bundling things especially spices and other food items. Just before leaving she instructed me, “just send rajaji’s ramayana and mahabharata through another cousin. I would like to narrate the stories to the kids there” and I promised to do so and did so. The books also followed her and I assumed that the kids would be enjoying the story telling for my aunt is a great story teller, has a fertile brain to add mirch and masalas and expressions and gesticulations lend credibility to the story.
The six-month imprisonment ended and she flew back to India. In the monthly family head-rolling meeting, on enquiry, she revealed that the kids evinced no interest in mahabharta for they were only interested in trucks and other concrete things. “Oh!”, she lamented, “I have left the mahabharata there itself”. I asked, “so what? P may narrate the story”. She gave her infectious smiles and said, “I will tell you the main story now….”. A short and hilarious story followed.
Each family has its own idiosyncrasy, a kind of unwritten code; in mine, motor bikes are not allowed for my grandpa’s brother rebelled against him, bought a bike and sent him a picture posing next to the bike and he eventually perished while trying to jump over railway crossing rope. In D athimber’s family prevails a comic code; mere possession of rajaji’s mahabharata is seen as the reason for domestic quarrel between the spouses. Apparently they had one rajaji’s mahabharata earlier too at their home and like any couple, they fought hard. Then someone advised them to dispose off the book as it had the tendency to provoke fights between spouses. They tried hard, D athimber even tried to pass on the book to his elder brother, but he being aware of the ill-effect refused. And finally the book was handed over to his parents and it now lies amidst cobwebs and dust.
And some peace prevailed or perhaps a mirage until the books sent by me reached them. And my aunt bemoaned, “Oh! I have left the book there. I had promised them that I would bring the book with me…”. And I could sense guilt in her voice.
Rajaji’s version was gifted to my mother by a friend of hers and since then I have devoured the book, wholly and selectively, many a times. In its 328 pages lies several unknown and untold stories overlapping the main story; all written in a neat and concise manner. The epic has everything to offer, from morality to lust and victory of good over bad, masala for successful cinema. I wonder if the film industry has adopted the story in parts. No wonder someone is thinking of taking the story to multiplexes – to be released in two parts. I can go endlessly…. about the characters, my favorites, the truelies, etc. But I refrain from doing so for I have a short tale to tell in which rajaji’s mahabharata plays a muted role.
Like every grandmother, my aunt was summoned for IAS duty by my cousin to amerigo. No prizes for guessing – I.A.S. stands for Indian Aaya Service. This was not her first stint. We camped at her house to help her pack things; my dad’s quite an expert in bundling things especially spices and other food items. Just before leaving she instructed me, “just send rajaji’s ramayana and mahabharata through another cousin. I would like to narrate the stories to the kids there” and I promised to do so and did so. The books also followed her and I assumed that the kids would be enjoying the story telling for my aunt is a great story teller, has a fertile brain to add mirch and masalas and expressions and gesticulations lend credibility to the story.
The six-month imprisonment ended and she flew back to India. In the monthly family head-rolling meeting, on enquiry, she revealed that the kids evinced no interest in mahabharta for they were only interested in trucks and other concrete things. “Oh!”, she lamented, “I have left the mahabharata there itself”. I asked, “so what? P may narrate the story”. She gave her infectious smiles and said, “I will tell you the main story now….”. A short and hilarious story followed.
Each family has its own idiosyncrasy, a kind of unwritten code; in mine, motor bikes are not allowed for my grandpa’s brother rebelled against him, bought a bike and sent him a picture posing next to the bike and he eventually perished while trying to jump over railway crossing rope. In D athimber’s family prevails a comic code; mere possession of rajaji’s mahabharata is seen as the reason for domestic quarrel between the spouses. Apparently they had one rajaji’s mahabharata earlier too at their home and like any couple, they fought hard. Then someone advised them to dispose off the book as it had the tendency to provoke fights between spouses. They tried hard, D athimber even tried to pass on the book to his elder brother, but he being aware of the ill-effect refused. And finally the book was handed over to his parents and it now lies amidst cobwebs and dust.
And some peace prevailed or perhaps a mirage until the books sent by me reached them. And my aunt bemoaned, “Oh! I have left the book there. I had promised them that I would bring the book with me…”. And I could sense guilt in her voice.
Friday, October 2, 2009
lal bahadur shastri
As I flipped the pages of times of india, tribute to gandhi repeatedly greeted me everywhere and in one corner of the page I saw tribute to lal bahadur shahtri and I came to know that 2nd october also happens to be the birthday of shastri. Even the politicians were shown visiting raj ghat and not vijay ghat; gandhi literally eclipsed shashtri. But I was glad to watch a documentray on shahstri in dd national.
Why shastri’s tenure as prime minister for about 20 months stands out? Shastri was able to bring about a sense of unity amongst the country men, face and lead successfully through the pakistan war and pave way for green and white revolution.
The syndicate led by kamaraj chose shastri over moraji sensing shastri to be rather timid and pliant; puppet government was the idea. However, the new incumbent amongst other initiatives dropped moraji form the cabinet and gave indira the useless information & broadcasting portfolio and the latter avenged by barring shastri entry into teen murti by having it declared as memorial to nehru. Indeed, delhi houses many such memorials!
The kutch conflict with pakistan served as an eye-opener to the shastri government and operation gibraltar and grand slam by pakistan to capture j&k and akhnur bridge were successfully thwarted. Here, shastri scored over nehru for sharsti was decisive and took full measures to see India emerge as victorious. Shashtri came out with the famous slogan, “jai jawan, jai kisan”, recognising the contributions of soldier and farmers.
Concerned about the food and drought situation, shastri appointed an able administrator, c.subramanium as minister for food and agriculture and thus came along high yielding varieties of seeds, application of fertilizers and attainment of self-sufficiency in food grains.
Many would have doubted shastri’s ability to run the country and the nehru’s long rule brought in the comparison factor. I am sure if shastri had continued for another term, india would have progressed leaps and bounds in each field for he was a statesman and not a run on the mill politician who is ever hungry for kursee. The resignation over the ariyalur rail accident by shastri speaks about the morality of the man and indeed, “only morality in our actions can give beauty and dignity to life” – Einstein.
Why shastri’s tenure as prime minister for about 20 months stands out? Shastri was able to bring about a sense of unity amongst the country men, face and lead successfully through the pakistan war and pave way for green and white revolution.
The syndicate led by kamaraj chose shastri over moraji sensing shastri to be rather timid and pliant; puppet government was the idea. However, the new incumbent amongst other initiatives dropped moraji form the cabinet and gave indira the useless information & broadcasting portfolio and the latter avenged by barring shastri entry into teen murti by having it declared as memorial to nehru. Indeed, delhi houses many such memorials!
The kutch conflict with pakistan served as an eye-opener to the shastri government and operation gibraltar and grand slam by pakistan to capture j&k and akhnur bridge were successfully thwarted. Here, shastri scored over nehru for sharsti was decisive and took full measures to see India emerge as victorious. Shashtri came out with the famous slogan, “jai jawan, jai kisan”, recognising the contributions of soldier and farmers.
Concerned about the food and drought situation, shastri appointed an able administrator, c.subramanium as minister for food and agriculture and thus came along high yielding varieties of seeds, application of fertilizers and attainment of self-sufficiency in food grains.
Many would have doubted shastri’s ability to run the country and the nehru’s long rule brought in the comparison factor. I am sure if shastri had continued for another term, india would have progressed leaps and bounds in each field for he was a statesman and not a run on the mill politician who is ever hungry for kursee. The resignation over the ariyalur rail accident by shastri speaks about the morality of the man and indeed, “only morality in our actions can give beauty and dignity to life” – Einstein.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)