Rituals

 Aai was from Pandharpur, while Papa was from Kolhapur. Like my brothers, I, too, am born in Pandharpur. I never ever forget the fact that as a baby, I must have been first put on the feet that were once touched by the great Shankaracharya, and my favourite most saint, Sant Dnyaneshwar. 

Hence watching the Vitthal Mahapuja in the morning wee hours of Ashadhi Ekadashi has been a ritual religiously followed since 2005 when I came to stay with Aai in our Mukund Nagar home. I used to wake exactly at 2.30, wake Aai up, and if she wanted, make a cup of tea for her before the transmission of the puja began. 

 She used to watch the warkari procession from day one onwards on the t.v. Hence watching this early morning maha pooja was a joy for her. I, too, love to watch it. That is what I did until just now.

Watching the poojari decorate the idols of Vithoba and Rukmini is a pleasure. In my opinion, it is a minor art. Look at the Rukmini idol. Making such a beautiful but small little idol wear a nauwari saree is indeed quite some skill. 

During the Navratra, Aai used to watch the entire evening aarti sequence of the Kolhapur Mahalaxmi. Indeed it is an art, this decking up the idol in a rich but holy way. Why, I like the way the priests apply the chandan/sandalwood paste to the idol's forehead, and stick the tulashi patra to the forehead of the idol. The idols literally come alive in a jiffy.

Sure it is anthropomorphism. It hardly matters to me though. I love the love of the devotees for the "sagun/murt" murti which takes them to the "nirgun, nirakar." Without such touches, may be, theology would be truly  cut-n-dry, and beyond the common man. 

This morning, the Lord in bluish-purple tunic really looked like the "Dark God" Krishna whose manifestation he is. More about him in the blog tomorrow for Ashadhi Ekadashi.

Pratima@i cannot help watching the Kedarnath valley/temple at least for a few minutes every day. Today, the entire valley was diffused in dark clouds, like the Shiva himself, while Mandakini was roaring past, like the Bhagirathi from Shiva's locks.

Luckily July 5, the much predicted doomsday, is past without any destructive tsunami. Let it be so. Let nature's rituals not be harsh this year, or ever. Let the divinity continue to tolerate human frolics, foolishnesses, frivolousness fondly! 

Memories

 Once you have been to the Himalayas, you just cannot let go the journey. The travel/travail continues to tug at your heart strings. Look at me. It is more than seven days that I am back from the Chardham Yatra. Yet every moment is still alive.

Why is it so? In my case, may be, it is due to illness. I am still not exactly okay. I was absolutely fine during those fourteen days. Now though, my body refuses to get back to normalcy. But it is not just the illness. 

Personally my opinion is that the journey continues to hold one in thrall because of the life threatening dangers one escaped due to sheer luck. I had decided that everyday I would spend a few minutes thinking of that travel. Well, I do not even have to look at any videos. The news every day is full of the Chardham Yatra.

Unfortunately, however, the news is always negative. The Yamunotri parents who lost their daughter in a split second to a landslide, the landslides at Janakichatti, at Gaurikund, at Sonprayag, the devotees complaining of the horse-wallahs, the terrible traffic jams sure to last hours on end, only wails and complaints one gets to hear whenever one tries to access the Chardham yatra news.

May be, hence, one cannot thank enough one's lucky stars that saved one from each one of these horrid terrifying horrors. At Yamunotri, there WAS a conscious attempt of the Indore variety. Even when I overcame it, there WERE conscious horse stampedes in the way of my pony. The incident at Kedarnath while waiting for  the special pooja, the Maan village incident, and many more, each time one felt as if people had accepted money for such unfair treatment, though it IS difficult, nay, almost impossible, to provide any proof for such bribing. Well, the company agent, who repeatedly said that 'everything is money game here' openly boasted that he "CAN reserve each and every palakhi in advance" if he so wished!

Just as I wonder at my own naivete in believing people, I cannot thank enough all that is Great, Good, Glorious in this infinite universe for making my journey so safe that storms, landslides, traffic jams, each and every thing that could go wrong, happened ONLY after I was happily and safely out of the venue.

Though such sad memories linger, they immediately vanish the moment one remembers the gorgeous Himalayas. My Himalayan journey was indeed a great, grand and gratifying success so much so that the minute I close my eyes, the beautiful sights/sites I captured moment by moment in my short term and long term memory re-emerge!

Beyond such sheer luck, what must be done to make the yatra memorable for everybody? First and foremost, the obvious corruption must be controlled. Shame on those who can be corrupt in such a scenario! Yet platitudes cannot be a genuine help in the real time world, right? The government must wake up to its duties. There have to be systemic changes.

First and foremost, there MUST be a control on the number of devotees allowed up the dangerous treks whose railings on the ravine sides must be rebuilt any number of times they break due to landslides, given the fragile ecology/geography of the region.

At the foot of, at the entrée point of all these divinities, strict government control must be exercised. Every 'yatri' going up must be identified, whichever mode (s)he chooses. The ghode-wallahs, the palakhi-wallahs, the pittu/kandi-wallahs who take the devotees up must be counted. The Aadhar cards of everybody up there in the mountain ranges must be with the authorities at the time they begin the trek up, and must be returned only when they return to that entry point. I am sure, such strict measures are taken for all the hiking/trekking expeditions, right? Why not here, too?

Thus the revellers who trek up for making reels/videos will be controlled.  People would know that there IS some check on, some observation of their behaviour. The moment the number is thus controlled, the narrow paths would stop being so dangerous. Should there be a very heavy entry fee? May be, yes. Thus, may be, people would stop thinking of "doing Kedar" et al as sheer time-pass!

The Himalayas are very young but very wise. The Divinity must not be tarnished due to irresponsible human behaviour!

Pratima@Unless such strict measures are put in to place, I WILL NOT recommend the Chardham Yatra to anyone 

Why not to eat?

 Just two days away from the Devshayani Aashadh Ekadashi on Sunday, tomorrow happens to be "Kande Navami". Beyond tomorrow, for four months, till Dev Diwali, we would not use either onions, brinjals, or garlic.

Aai was from Pandharpur. She felt rather strongly that the Chaturmas should be followed, and I always respected each of her opinions, every one of her structures/strictures. The tradition continues even now.

Why not to eat these veggies? In my opinion, the religious restrictions often are a way to avoid health hazards, especially according to the Ayurveda. These are the "tamasic" food items that alleviate the passions, it seems. It is believed that the "chaturmas" is health wise so unique that even the Lord goes off to sleep. So the "Devshayani Ekadashi". Hereafter, there is always a pillow behind the idol's nape!

I do not know enough, but onion, brinjal, and garlic increase the "vat" and the "kapha" "tatva" in the body which would be bothersome in the monsoon which, despite the global climate change, still happens to be from June to October.

Personally, I do not need such justifications. If a minor restriction honours the memory of my parents and their simple wishes, I have absolutely no issues following a practice! In a way, it sure adds finer contours to one's character, right?

Pratima@Restrictions are not a handcuff. Wherever we are, in the corporate office or in an academic space, we have to follow certain rules and regulations about our dress code, food patterns, et al. Why not follow them at home to please our elders in a simple way? Why not  not eat onions/garlic/brinjals for just four months, right?

Media Trial!

 I do know that this blog, risque in all senses of the term, may not exactly make me popular. Well, something within me says though, that it MUST be attempted. Yes, I am referring to the Sonam saga!

While it was getting unravelled, I was in the Himalayas. Hence the intensity of the danger,  may be, I can understand absolutely intimately. The treks and trails are so tough-n-dangerous that neither a supari-killer nor a pistol nor a hatchet is required, believe me, if you are keen on finishing off someone!

 Sure, many of the horrendous details of the case I would not know then. One IS quite cut off from such uglinesses, and, yes, one enjoys that grand feel the Himalayas provide in abundance, despite the obvious dangers constantly lurking around you everywhere!

Now, happily and safely back in Pune, with that story constantly being thrown in to one's face ( I am sure the frequency must be much less now!), I have been thinking 'through', rather than 'about', it. Nothing seems to make sense to me. Many, much much too many, doubts cloud my mind.

May be, I am too avid a reader of Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot and Jane Marple and Vyomkesh Bakshi and Narayan Dharap, and types. Somehow though, it confuses me that the so-called double-dealer, the much vilified Sonam is not allowed a single word. It is all the police version, as reported by the media. Forget her legal denying it in the court.

Logically and/or psychologically, if she were indeed such a scheming vamp, would she commit such an obvious crime for which she clearly would be caught? Crime fiction tells us that she would be far more calculating, right? What possibly could be the motive which according to crime narratives drives the characters. NOTHING seems so very attractive about the so-called paramour, Raj, whose mother and sisters were crying their hearts out. They appeared very simple people, not possibly up to much artifice. Neither of the friends of either co-accused ever mentions any 'shadi'  and the 'second mangalsutra', et al 

Sure, I have not gotten in to all the finer details. The very contours of the roughly known narration appear very curious to me. Makes me wonder if "hawala" money or some business deals/interests etc is involved in the murder for which she is being scapegoated 

I find it equally curious that the dead husband is being projected as a saint, if not a god! His mother, unlike the so-called lover's poor mother, always appears on the screen with fancy danglers in her ears, and in good drapes! In the initial videos, she repeatedly says that punishment must be given to whosoever has done it! Indeed, is it business interests of either family that are the real culprits? Otherwise, the Oscar for excellent acting must go to Sonam this year.

Sure, it cannot be a love triangle. In many of the marriage videos, she appears very happy, participating actively in the rituals, too. That Raj fellow appears more an insignificant use-n-throw cog in the wheel, too. There IS something more to this mystery. Of course, I have not bothered to read the details, as I find the entire circus disgusting.

I think, the media are encroaching much too much in to private lives, and unthinkingly. With the tidbits thrown in by baseless gossip and the police, who, may be, want to keep their agenda under wraps, the media have already decided the plot, the culprits, the victim. Roles are too nicely-n-neatly distributed to appear authentic! 

Simple details like the dead body being carried away so far from the scene of crime, and that, too, in such a hilly terrain are difficult to unravel as the place has a proper secure bridge,too. Accountability and/or authenticity, in brief, does not seem to matter much to the media. Incidentally, the victim, too, was video-shot chatting with the perpetrators.

Without any fancy feminist positioning, one constantly gets the gnawing suspicion that there is something much more to this media trial. God alone knows what truths would tumble out during the actual court proceedings. Hope the media would report those aspects of their own current clumsy reporting of  scandal-mongering. They sure would, I suppose, but only if some other screaming headline were not to obsess them then.

Pratima@ Truth will be, and is, out, however much the powerful and the monied might try to push it under the carpet!

Doctors' Day

 July 1! A truly remarkable day indeed. Exactly half a year is already over. Time to hurry up, right? July 1 is important for yet another reason. It is the Doctors' Day. From the childhood period onwards, doctors are the 'bogeymen' of our lives. In every possible sense of the term. In most families, for instance, mothers quieten their unruly small ones with "keep quiet, eat this up, go off to sleep fast, etc, etc; otherwise, Doctor Uncle will give you a bitter medicine or a big injection or keep you in the hospital" etc etc. Despite this, they carry the weight of our health throughout our lives.

Being a doctor IS tough. Just look up the sheer size of 'Gray's Anatomy', and you would know what I mean. Want to do your B.A.M.S.? Get to know your Sanskrit real well in addition, okay? True, every academic discipline is tough. The NET JRF/SRF for English Literature, for example, had a success rate of exactly one per cent. Now, with the MCQ pattern, it is slightly better, that is, tops four per cent!

Yet, I would say that a doctor's life is far, far tougher. Unlike a C.A., who is 'playing' (in all senses of the term, and especially the negative ones) with numbers, a doctor is dealing with human lives. In a way, (s)he is learning and de-learning and re-learning every day, and on the job. Don't you believe me? Remember the COVID days? Much worse, try to forget the Mangeshkar Hospital frenzy circa March/April, 2025!

However much crazy jokes may laugh at doctors, they ARE indispensible in life/death situations. They alone can save us often. After parents, if there is any one who can give life, it is doctors. Sure, teachers/lecturers, too, do so at many, many stages of our lives. Even then, no comparison at all with doctors' absolute yeoman services.

Are not there mal-practices in the medical field? Of course, there are! 'Cuts' of all sizes, real to figurative, exist in this field, too. There are many reasons behind such ugly stories, and none of these is justifiable either. Yet, a sincere, a genuine doctor, like a committed teacher, can alone save you, and in the process, (s)he alone can heal both your mind and body.

May be, hence the regret for the sad decline of that wonderful institution called 'family doctor'. Often, patients literally considered them gods incarnate. Faith, anyways, is a great healer. In today's world of super-specialisations and corporate hospital culture, 'doctor uncle' is almost a fairy tale. Believe me, it existed!

Aai wanted me to be a doctor. Once, as a twelve year old, I had painlessly managed to get out a cockroach that had entered her ear canal, following the flower string she was wearing while asleep. She was confident I would make a very good doctor. Her local doctor, too, always said that I have all the makings of a good doctor. Well, during the last decade of her life, I was her caregiver, a close assistant of all her doctors, and now a full-fledged doctor for myself. She has thus saved me all those huge medical bills. Oh, yes, I WILL be a practising doctor, at least of alternative therapy. For sure. Here is wishing myself all the best!

Pratima@Since precision matters when it comes to being a doctor, please note that it is "Doctors' Day", a generic reference, and NOT "doctor's day", an individual indicator. Happy Doctors' Day yet again!

A sincere C.A., too, can be the doctor of the financial health of a family, whether individual or business. May their tribe grow, as Leigh Hunt said of Abou Ben Adham, a genuine, selfless philanthropist!

Multiple Intelligences

 When one treks a difficult route even in the outer Himalayas whose peaks seem to literally scratch the skies, one knows the importance of spatial intelligence. The unpaved road is very narrow, extremely slippery, what with the heavy rains the day before and the horse dung. One false step, and finding the dead body, too, would be impossible. The ravines are craggy, unbelievably deep, and there are wild animals. 

Forget the devotees who have to manage themselves. Look at the kandi-wallahs and/or pittu-wallahs. They carry heavy luggage,  human beings in a cane basket. It has a thick strap made of rayon and cloth. So they are managing their own, the kandi's and the sawari's weight on such a trek. These Nepali Gorakha guys are mostly uneducated. I met one in Mana village who was a B.Sc., had worked in Dubai, too. That is rare. Given the high rate of unemployment in Nepal, they take up this difficult job, unfortunately one of the best examples of spatial intelligence.

Here, safe in Pune, we might associate it with dance. Either way, spatial intelligence proves that there are very many types of intelligences.  Basically, 'intelligence' etymologically is made of the Greek roots  'inter' and 'legere', and the concept means 'to understand', 'to perceive.'

There are very many ways of this understanding, not merely rational, as is accepted these days. There can be emotional, visual, auditory, tactile intelligences, for example, and these can help in various professions.  Auditory intelligence may help a singer and an artist who plays a musical instrument, be it guitar or santoor. Visual intelligence may help a graphic designer, for instance.

Emotional intelligence, the ability to empathise with others, may help in every field, right? If you are a doctor, for example, your patients would love you as is the case of Dr.Imran Patel of Ahmedabad, a paediatrician, whose youtube videos prove amply and most amiably how to vaccinate babies without making them cry a single tear! Simple sweet and adorable are his videos of the cute vaccination. So would e.q. help a teacher.

May be, developing as many varied intelligences would be the best way to overcome the threat posed by the AI! What say?

Pratima@ The shrewd and the manipulative may use emotional sharpness, like they can the body language, too, to beguile others. One must hence learn all such techniques to guard oneself against subtle harassment, right? 

Reg the weird call

 I tried reporting the weird call by the so-called, obviously fake, TRAI to 1930 as it was clear it was a hoax call. 

The response was very patronising. So I have reported the matter to higher authorities, with a willingness to share the recording of the hoax call. 

I am trying to report it to the gov.in@ chakshu.

Better to take immediate action so that the mobile number 91-8292589607 does not bother others, right?