Trick or treat??

I have no idea why Halloween is celebrated. I even tried to look up on the net where one usually gets all the answers, but I just couldn't understand. There are just too many versions, or I should say stories on the history of halloween, and its trick-treating ritual, none of which made any sense to me. I could just gather that it has something to do with warding off the evil spirits, and/or placating them (I would assume by treating them ).

 

Anyways, a brief idea of how Halloween is celebrated in North America, with no lessons in history for you. Houses are decorated with ghosts and pumpkins (again I have no idea of the pumpkin connection). On the last day of October, i.e. October 31st, children dress up in costumes that may range from witches and goblins to princess and fairies. They go around every house trick-treating. In short, they are offered candies and the kids literally get their school bags or sacks to fill them up with as many candies, possibly stocking up for their annual supply. (Oh, did I mention 'chocolates' are called 'candies' here).

 

Anushka was a sugar plum fairy this year. She was adorable. she had a shiny purple dress with wings, a matching cap-like headband and green booties. She enjoyed filling her bucket with candies. But she also was good at giving it away when the other kids showed up at our doorstep. Her friend, Arth was here too and they both had a super fun time winding up their day with a pizza party.

 

For what it means or is worth of, Happy Halloween to all of you!!!

Sway to the tunes

Can dance be euphoric? Can dance leave you in the so-called alcoholic hypnotic spell where your troubles seem far away and you seem to be just enjoying the moment? Can dance be trance? Well, I wish that was the case for me now, it probably was at some time.....long back. This time, dance was more like pushing anushka toward jignesh as she tugged on my legs, or to give up trying and just pick her up and sway (not to mention that it can be pretty heavy on your arms and back).

 

It was navratri. Well, this year, like most other years off late, navratri passed by without sleepless nights, midnite meals and sweat-soaked chaniyacholis. There was a time when all this wasn't such an elusive dream. The nine days of navratri, or I should say the nine nights were the fun time that we all looked forward to. Getting our hands on the Phalguni Pathak's season pass was the uppermost thing on our mind in the pre-Navratri days. The other thing would be, do I have enuff outfits? Well, each euphoria has its phase, afterwhich it passes by only to linger on our mind at the same time of the year, every year. I am not complaining now. Especially when I know that Mumbai has strict 10 o'clock deadlines which just seem absolutely ridiculous to me now. In a city of long commute and congested streets, how can one ever reach that early to enjoy atleast 2 hours of dancing, which are a must coz the tickets are quite pricey and you have to make it all worth it. Anyways, as i said, I am not complaining now coz I ain't there no more.

 

We tried to go to a local garba event coz I had to wear my outfit atleast once a year. It was quite good. Though the music was louder than the singing voice, well, can't be really picky about it. But I was able to dance only for a few cherished minutes while my girl cried her lungs out with Daddy holding her back. Well, I finally gave up and just took her and tried to atleast sway. The DJ music was awesome. My 'nonbaby' friends had a crazy time while Shikha and I were 'preoccupied.' We also had our customary midnite meal, I should rather say a not-so-midnite meal, coz we were home by midnite . Anyways, as long as we get some desi celebration in a foreign land, our hearts are pleased and we lay our heads on our pillow with a smile. 

Have you ever...?

1. Have you ever fainted in a rock concert?

    I have.

 2. Have you ever sat in a police car?

    I have.

 3. Have you ever had your face blackened, literally? (Kabhi muh kaala hua hai?)

    Yes.

 4. Have you ever bitched about a person, just to find him standing right besides you listening to every word?

    I have.

 5. Have you ever slapped anyone?

    I have.

 6. Have you ever scored a higher overall percentage in the 12th than in the 10th?

    I have.

 7. Have you got married with no shoes?

    I have.

 8. Have you read a book in one day?

    I have.

 9. Finally, have you ever written a blog that is hardly read?

    Hehehe, I have.

 

EXPLANATION TIME:

 

1. Thi was at a Bryan Adams show in Mumbai in 2001. Needless to say, the place was packed like sardines in a can, and I got out of breath, literally. And no, I didnt faint on seeing Bryan Adams, i fainted before he even got on the stage. And I was just tugged or shall i say, passed on above the crowd to the fenced camera crew area. And when I opened my eyes, I was being sprinkled with water. But then I got to enjoy the show from the most coveted seats.

2. Two times. Once, in a police van, in Mumbai. I was a NSS committee member and we always helped the police during Ganeshotsav. The van would transport us to our spots where we would help manage the crowd and the traffic. Next time, in Kansas, our car broke down. And this cop offered me a ride back home with little 2-month-old Anushka while Jignesh waited for the AAA.

 

3. OH this was funny. My friends and I were conned by these two naughty boys from our travel and tourism class on our trip to Aurangabad. They practically fooled us into believing that they could hypnotise us and we would be able to see our spouse's face in the mirror (how absurd and silly this sounds to me now). I go into the room, he tells me to shut my eyes, and tells me he is going to massage my face and shoulders so that i could relax. What he really was doing was putting kajal on my face (thereby blackening it). And then he says, he's done, and i should slowly open my eyes and i'll see a flash of light after which I'll see the image. And when i open my eyes, I do see a flash of light, but it was the flash of the camera that he held behind me while taking a picture of my 'black' face staring at the mirror.

 

4. We had our accounts classes on a Sunday, and time was up, but this Sir would't let us go. Finally, after leaving the class, I walk up to this samosa store with my friend, and while i was waiting for my samosas, I kept complaining about this Sir and telling how stupid he was to take a class on Sunday and he had nothing better to do. He probably didn't have a wife or a girlfriend to hang around with and he probably was a big loser. When I turn around, he was right behind me, and fortunately, just laughing away.

 

5. The trip to South of India with my tourism class. We were at Vrindavan Gardens near Bangalore. After watching the light show, we girls were walking back to the gate together, while this guy tried to act smart and was passing comments from behind. I don't know wat happened to me, I just turned back, slapped him, then realized what i had done, ran as fast as i could to join my friends who had gone a bit ahead. He did come up with his friends with his hand still stuck on his cheek, but there wasn't anything that those three guys could do against we 7 girls and that too, in front of a crowd.

 

6. Yes, this was unbelievable coz thats normally not the trend. But I seem to have never followed a pattern, have I? I scored a 82% in 10th, while a 83.5% in 12th.

 

7. My family tradition goes as such: the bride's shoes are bought by the groom's side in the baraat, and then they give it to the bride so that she can wear it in the ceremony. Jignesh's family says: Shoes are unlucky. We won't carry it. And they say it after the baraat has reached and we ask for the shoes. So I have no shoes. I, size 5.5, have to wear a size, 8 (my friend's) shoes while I am getting married. And the result, my wedding saree getting constantly stuck in the oversized heels.

 

8. During long distance train journeys. I breath books.

 

9. How about this one!!! And if you are reading this, pls comment.

Sita-Ram

Did you know that Sita was the first single parent in history? Did you know that Sita gave birth to the twins in the forests and raised them all by herself? Did you know that though Sita was the ideal wife, Ram wasn't the ideal husband? Did you know that there can be a Sita without a Ram in a temple, but there can't be a Ram without a Sita? Did you know Ram, the perfect man, the perfect God, that we so worship, wasn't so perfect afterall?

 

My girl keeps watching the Ramayan cartoon DVD over and over in my car. That reminded Jignesh and me of the Doordarshan days, the days of Ramanand Sagar's Ramayan that kept people hooked to the television and off the streets. But as we reminisced, we kinda started arguing about some details on the legendary story leading to the birth of Lava and Kush. That made me don my googler gloves again and keying off to find the correct story that I seemed to have 'forgotten.' And I was just so shocked by my findings that I was compelled to write this blog. Maybe you all probably just are more enlightened than I am, or probably this will refresh your minds as it did mine.

 

After the victory at Lanka, Ram and Sita would have been thrilled to see each other after a long time of separation. Or we imagined so. But instead, Ram met Sita with a cold heart, eyeing her with suspicious looks since she was held captive by another man. Sita, heartbroken, summonded Lakshman to put forth a pyre and volunteered to give herself to Agni. Agni proved how pure her heart, body and soul were that Sita was untouched by the flames and emerged flawless. They went back to Ayodhya and Sita was soon expecting the heir to the kingdom. But Ram, though a great son, a great king he was, wasn't that trusting a husband. He was not able to escape the social slandering and took the allegations to his heart, and decided to banish, BANISH Sita from the palace. He told Lakshman to take Sita to the forest and ABANDON her. Sita gave birth to Lava and Kush in the forest, and raised her by herself. When the twins were in their teens, and the news of their valor reached Ayodhya, Ram summoned them and Sita back and asked Sita to give one final Agni pariksha. Insulted and embarrased, she said "If I have remained true to Ram in mind, speech and action, may the Mother Earth embrace me in her bosom." No sooner had she spoken than the ground beneath her feet split wide open, and before anybody had the time to react, she entered the depths. Thus ended the exemplary life of Sita with a bitter end.

 

Some say, inorder to defend Ram, that Ram gave up Sita for the kingdom's sake. It was his utmost personal sacrifice since he loved Sita more than anything in the world. He didn't abandon his wife, he abandoned the queen. He did not reject her as a wife, but Sita did reject him as a husband in a personal sense. This was evident from her act of denying to undergo a second agnipariksha and submitted herself to Mother Earth. Sita was clearly the winner.

In the words of Swami Vivekananda, " There may have been several Ramas, perhaps, but only one Sita."

The Picnic

It was ironic how I went thru the entire summer without once thinking of going on a picnic. And just when winter was around the corner, out sprang the idea of having an outdoor day. And well, fortunate that I am to have equally enthusiastic friends, we did go out to embrace the sun for one full day, from dawn to dusk, I should say considering the late lateefs we have in the gang, from noon to dusk.

 

We went to Burke Lake, though I never really got to see the lake or the row boats for which it is generally known. But we had one huge chunk of well-mowed lawn all to ourselves, not to forget that the space was fully loaded with three picnic benches, which we never actually make use of. The true indians that we are, we prefered to shun the bench and cool our "butts" on the green luscious grass. Speaking of which, we also had a true indian traditional picnic lunch of puri, alu sabzi and shrikhand. It was delicious. You would think we perhaps all just dropped down on the verdant 'carpet' for a nappie, but we didn't. The guys went ahead to continue their game of cricket, while we girls took a joyride on the toy train. Its truly blissful to take pleasures in these small 'kiddish' things in life. Life seems simple in such times.

 

Sumit's mom enthralled us with some old forgotten shayaris while we tried to play the school-time favorite games of "the chain catcher." Rosy and I were so out of breath in just a few minutes that we just gave up and left poor Krishna all by himself to catch the others. We were just complete misfits I should say. And while the sun was setting, we thought of buttering up the bread, and sprucing it up with chutney, tomatoes and cucumbers to finish our day with our true desi sandwiches.

 

The fun day however did end with a few injured friends, some limping their way back home, while some ending up with ankle or wrist sprains. This just proves how they all just literally "ran and bowled" their way to having a wonderful day. Take it easy friends and do not forget to see Deya's album.

Hello??

I remember the time when the term "dialing" actually meant dialing the number on the big black fone and not just pushing digitalized numbers on a sleek handpiece. I remember the time when "hello" was more of a question, an inquisitive, interrogative term of expression coz those were the days when the caller ids didn't exist. Hello???? (which meant who is it, who cared to call me, where are you calling from). All those interrogative adverbs (the true grammatical phrase for questions) all conjured up in just one word, hello.

 

The word hello, is now appropriately used, as a true term of greeting. The fone rings, you see the name, the number, and you say "hello." No questions needed. You know who is calling you, and you even know from where. It also eases your misery of having to put up with those marketing calls that you so want to avoid or even some unwanted friends that you don't want to deal with. Caller ID is a true blessing in disguise. However, it is not so good too in case you want to lie about your whereabouts. For that you have your cellfone though. So life is better.

 

And one thing I had always marked was that there are different tones of hellos you get when you call. There is the sultry lazy hello that sounds like "haloooo" or extra curious "hello..a very curt question" or the twirling of the tongue "halloouuu." Its funny how each one has its own distinct way of saying just one word. And another amazing fact about hello is that inspite of really being an english word, it is universally accepted as a telephone greeting in all languages. You don't really say "namaste" or "Guten Tag" or "Bonjour" on the telefone, do you?

 

Lastly, I remember reading somwhere, that when you leave someone you love, don't ever say goodbye. Goodbyes mean you might not meet again. Instead, end with a hello coz hello gives you hope and optimism that you will meet again. So I too end this blog with a big HELLO. Its weird, isn't it?

Can you forgive and forget?

Paryushan, the single most important festival for the Jains just ended. The last day ends with "pratrikraman" - a ritual in which our holy hymns/sutras/shlokas are recited abundantly. It apparantly is a process of absolving our sins by self realization and honest remorse. With this, we ask our family, friends and all aquaintances for forgiveness. Michhami Dukkadam - which truly means "I ask for your forgiveness for any hurt that I caused you intentionally or unintentionally" - becomes a form of greeting for the next few days.

 

Now, the moot question that is hovering on my mind is "Can you hold a grudge against someone till the end of time?" or eventually, you do tend to "forget and forgive." Yes, forget and forgive is the godly way to live your life. But can you truly adhere to it? Especially, if the person against whom you hold your anger, commited the deed well-intended, perhaps fully aware that you will be hurt.

 

I suppose we mortals are capable of forgiving those whose acts were pure accidental, not intended to cause any harm. But what about the other "species" whose contriving minds had every purpose to hurt you. Can you forgive them? I believe that your resentment, your anger, your hostility does tend to wither with time. The intensity does tend to narrow with time. And as they say, time heals all wounds, I will say, time heals resentment too. I might be capable of forgiving someone in some time, but to forget is what makes me think. I suppose, forgiving is far easier than forgetting. Forgetting would compound to be an act of godliness which is very rarely found amongst us. And if it were, then we would all be saints.

 

With this, Michhami Dukkadam to my family, friends and acquaintances. If it lies in your heart to forgive me for my sins, I humbly bow down to you. If not, my sins won't go unpaid in this cosmic cycle of karma, so don't bother worrying about it too much. Afterall, stress is not good for health.