Decorating the deity

 In Aai's memory, we have instituted a prize in her school in Pandharpur. The teacher in charge sends the Vithoba pics now and then. In the status mode, moreover, I daily get the pics of the Kolhapur Ambabai, and often of the Datta Palakhi as well as of the Omkareshwar temple, Ujjain. 

At the very first sight, what strikes me the most is the aesthetics. The daily 'deco' of the deity is an absolute "dekho". On special occasions, be it the festivals such as Dasara/Padwa or the national days such as August 15/January 26, the idol is so beautifully decorated that is indeed is a divine vision. 

I love the anthropomorphism involved in the process. Come Ashadhi Devshayani Ekadashi, and Vithoba gets a pillow! It is believed that the Lord takes rest during the Chaturmas. No, it is not superstition. It is a unique oneness with the deity which anyways has been part of the Marathi Bhakti tradition, beginning with Sant Dyandeva. 

When it comes to the drape of Rukmini, personally, I adore the way the Ambabai idol is decorated. It is simply a beauty. The unique sarees are so draped daily that it is a visual treat, an ocular feast. On special occasions, the adornment is literally beyond  belief. 

Throughout the Wari procession and from the Ghat Sthapna till Dasara, Aai used to watch on the television the entire process of the daily puja. I hence know the lovely process of decorating the deity in quite some detail. Incidentally, the original idol of Ambabai has very kind, gentle, soft eyes. That is the only bit of embellishment I am rather uncomfortable with. 

Though I do not know in detail the way the Mahankal or the Gangapur Dutta idols are embellished, I sure would like to assert that decorating the deity is an art form. I think it is learnt in a hereditary way. Or it could be on the job as one progresses from the junior to senior priesthood. I would not know. 

Sure, the notion of godhead is an abstract concept. Yet such rituals lead the devotee, who may not always be a philosopher, in a more focussed way towards the divine. Hence this appreciation of this unique art. 

Pratima@ I must, however, admit that I love the Vithoba idol the most when it adorns the simple "tulshi" garland. 

Quote of the day:                                                           "We lack a direct access to God. Hence we worship the idol." Anonymous. 

Word of the day: deity                                                 A deity is a supernatural being, such as a god or goddess, that is worshiped by people who believe it possesses divine powers. 

Some colourful context

 Gray is the colour of the day at present. With jet black clouds pouring down disasters here, there and everywhere, darker than night appears the daily destiny. No amount of chatter about 'chai n bhajji' cheers up, what with ugly deaths dime a dozen. 

In such a shady context, how colourful it is to know that July is the month world wide designated for celebrating water colour painting! Sure, brush pens and paint pens are less messy. Undoubtedly, acrylics dry faster. 

Yet nothing matches the lyricism of  water colours. The shades one can manage through water colours are unbelievable. Even the brush behaves better with water colours. Brush strokes are easier with water colours, though, sure, like everything else, practice, in painting, too, makes the artist perfect. 

Well, July is officially designated as the 'World Watercolor Month' by a global charitable celebration founded in 2016 by Charlie O'Shields of 'Doodlewash'. Whatever be your level of proficiency, why not develop it a notch higher by taking up the challenge of a painting per day; at least one per week? 

Simple patterns such as flowers or outlines of cityscapes would do, too, right? With all sorts of dark news making days dirtier, why not thus beautify the mindscape? 

Pratima@ If you cannot spare the time to paint a water colour, how about at least a dekko at a few? Online resources are aplenty. For all you know, some AI site might even be painting one for you! 

Quote of the day:                                                           "If you hear a voice within you say you cannot paint, then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced." That is some encouragement from Vincent van Gogh! 

Word of the day: palette                                             A palette is primarily a flat board used by artists to hold and mix paints. By extension, the term refers to the specific range of colors an artist may use in his/her oeuvre. 

Aamrikn English!

 As unique as the country is the language, the American English! A curious mix it is. In a way, it carries the remnants of the Restoration era old seventeenth century English of the Pilgrim Fathers. Seasoned it is with all the advances, material, technological, not to forget the mix-in of n by other European immigrants, and the Black and the Hispanic inputs. 

It has its own grammatical rules. It need not follow the prim n proper stuff, the stiff upper lip Brit English. An easy to understand n remember example could be the 'do support' for negation and/or question formation. Ask an American "Have a light?" He/she might  think that you are too formal. MUCH WORSE, you would  be corrected with the 'do support'. The American version of a question in case you want a lighter would be "Do you have a lighter?" 

A unique feature of American English is that simplifies spellings. "Metre" becomes "meter", for instance. "Colour" changes to "color". All  "-ise" endings convert in to the     "-ize", and thus become internet friendly. 

Vocabulary wise, it chooses to be quirkily, uniquely American. An example or two can be lorry (not truck), gas ( for petrol), gas station (for petrol pump), elevator (for lift), and so on. 

Unusual is its pronunciation. "Awesome" becomes "aaasum", for instance. "Aaaful", right? Aamerikans drawl a lot, too. The "r" and the "d" that emerge as connectors are unique, too. 

In brief, be Aamerikan, speak Aamerikan! 

Pratima@ It could be argued that the vast difference between the spoken, the pop, the slangy and the literary/the high culture varieties of language as  varied usage is a typically American phenomenon, of course, very soon exported all over the rest of the world. 

Quote of the day:                                                       "England and America are two countries separated by the same language." So opined  George Bernard Shaw.

Word of the day: slang                                                The slang is the highly informal vocabulary used in casual conversation that falls outside standard, conventional language ambit. It is constantly evolving, often is specific to certain age groups, subcultures, or regions, and is primarily used to build group identity. It expresses emotions colorfully.                         

America turns 250!

 America and old?!? That, too, two hundred n fifty years old!?! Somehow it does not fit in with the world wide mental image of America, an ever bubbling fount of energy, vivacity, and drive, right? Yup, in the life of a continent, eh, country, two fifty years is absolutely pittance, anyways.

And, oh, yea, sure, under the 'Don' dynasty, the sesquicentennial, the inevitably aging, the kinda middle-aged tag may match somewhat. So feels the radical left. And, oh, yes, not to forget that this 'quarter millennial' et al America is the new, White, 'star- spangled' America! The Aboriginal America is ancient, though currently almost wiped out. 

America is this dream land, the land of the aspirational because it initiated itself precisely in that very mode. In Charles II's excessively permissive regime, the Puritans, harassed harshly for their religious rigour, aspired for a New Eden which they found across the Atlantic. 

With the ropes for a return, anyways never wished for, and now washed away across an ocean, the Protestant work ethic made the "New England" a "Temple on the Mount". Waves of emigrés followed, enriching the "log cabin to the White House" royal road to success, provided you had it in you, and were ready to work hard, some contemporary proof being the Silicon Valley. 

In other words, America is more an "i-dea." I should know. Why? Well, without ever stepping even a foot on that soil, I can explain why n how it has been "a giant stride for mankind." 

Well, I have met the American spirit in the writings of the Founding Fathers. I have found America in Lincoln's life. I have known the cruelties of the slave trade and the darknesses of the black lives from the most enriching texts by  Harriet Beecher Stowe to Ngozi Adiche, and very many others of her ilk. 

Just as I have rejoiced in Nature with an Emerson and a Thoreau, with a Whitman, I have known the loss of "Captain, Oh, my Captain." A Hawthorne, a Melville have guided me in to the hidden depths of the human spirit, while countless twentieth century authors have helped me understand the underbelly of the American dream. How many names to count/enlist!?! Instead, better to swear by their immense insights, right? 

Teaching "American Literature", "Immigrant Writings", "World Literature", it indeed is an enormously educative process with the safety net of the vicarious pleasure/presence, moreover. Be it American Hollywood movies or the music scenario, learning America, warts n all, is immersing oneself in a unique language of being and becoming. 

Sure, the coke n burger kind of TNC's price n prove the typical American capitalist, consumerist, expansionist tendencies, not to forget the 'deep state'. Yet there is no denying the fact that America is tolerant enough to graciously accept a Chomsky-ian critique of manufactured consent, and/or its versions.

It is this "I"-dentity that would forever make America an ever expanding land, nay, 'space', of exploration! Happy Birthday, America! With all your quirks, your oddities, your complexes n kinks, you tend to amuse n attract forever! May you live long, and without any further wrong(s) to the rest of the world! 

Pratima@ The American "Circus"  is  best portrayed by the Presidents. The list, of both the best and the worst ones, is so big that it can overflow a few blogs! Unforgettable, however, are their unique editions of the MAGA mantra, right? 

Quote of the day:                                                         "America. It is the only place," says Thomas Wolfe, "where miracles not only happen, but where they happen all the time." And of "ALL'' varieties, shapes, sizes n shades they are! 

Word of the day: super                                              "Super" is a versatile term meaning excellent, extreme, or superior. As a prefix, it means extreme, above, beyond.  Best describes a land obsessed with the superman, thinking itself to be the supercop with super-machines of all sorts, space crafts to guns that 'rock', both in Iran and in every school in each gulley. "AWESOME", in brief! 

A writer's block!?!

 July 2! I had decided to write about the overkill that is the sad saga of the notorious murder case. Very consciously I literally soaked myself in all the very many reportages, sound bytes, videos, analyses, actual takes/media fakes of that deadly trek.  

Like a sponge I absorbed all the viewpoints, and, yet, when I began to write, I could not bring myself to coldly analytically discuss the deadly dastardly details drummed up everywhere. 

The more I  got to know about the horror, the more I felt disturbed about the tragedy that for me lumbered larger than the lurid headlines. The tragedy of three (at least) families ruined forever. 

The pain of a mother who lost a gem of a son. For no rhyme, no reason. Yet she could at least cry. What about the other two mothers? And the fathers? Imagine having to go to a police chowki, being detained there for hours like a criminal. The disrepute that is to last a lifetime being splashed all over as if it is a spicy Chinese dish avidly devoured! 

That human tragedy so disturbed me that I just could not be a Chetan Bhagat or a Shobhaa De, being oh-so-fashionably feminist and ah-so-politically correct! Nor could I bring myself to be an influencer aplenty who could crack sick jokes about a young man who lost his life due to a hair patch. 

So this lag in the posting of the blogs. No, it was not exactly a writer's block. Rather it was a feel of tragic loss, given the needless senseless ruin of so many lives. Oh, yes, it was also a deep sense of disgust for sick creeps who feed on scandals, on others' pain! Hence finally the two blogs which to some extent capture my feel(ings)!

Pratima@ Did such horrors never ever happen earlier? Actually, such narratives are as old as his(-s)tory itself. Yet weird it feels to know that such terrors took root in a Market Yard just a stone's throw away! Difficult to describe that complex feel, which beyond all legalities and every ugly gossip, makes one empathise with the very many lives most meaninglessly ruined!

Quote of the day:                                                          "Fattened in vice, so callous and so gross, he sins and sees not, senseless of his loss.” John Dryden's quote so aptly describes each culprit and every gossip.

Word of the day: lurid gossip                                     Lurid gossip refers to scandalous, shocking, or sensational rumors, often involving explicit, immoral, or gruesome details.

Pater familias : Crestfallen!

When she was born, everyone told him she looked so like him. In business circles, they say that lucky indeed it is to have a daughter who looks like the father. Some proof, they say, that Goddess Laxmi would always him favour. A good omen!

 Lucky he felt to have a girl so beautiful. Like almond, her eyes. Like cashew, her pearl white complexion. Smart she grew up to be. Very lucky he felt to be the father of such a "papa ki pari." 

When n how did the tide of luck turn torrid? Does he at all know this stranger? Where has disappeared the sweet angel, his solace every evening after busy hectic days? Did not he indulge her every whim n each fancy?

How now to live forever this infamy? The father of a cheat, and he used to think she was just a chit of a girl! A cold blooded murder most meticulously planned n executed! Why n how did the business acumen in the very veins fail in the only worthy deal? 

Questions galore, answers nil. Life is now like a ledger book, debits writ large all over, and empty, like liabilities that sky high soar.

A family friend, now the bitterest foe. Luckier he is. At least, he can grieve his son, lost forever. Bereaved is the father of a dead-ly daughter whom he once thought he could shield from every danger. Now only horrid headlines every where hover.

Pratima@ His son! The 'other' man of a love triangle. Often advised not to get himself so tangled. Why dream fancies that make life a nightmare? Courts, lawyers, n gait tests. And in this jungle is lost a son, the family's best bet!

Quote of the day:                                                          "Grief is just love with no place to go. All that unspent love gathers up in the corners of your eyes, the lump in your throat, and in that hollow part of your chest," states Jamie Anderson. 

Word of the day: burn out                                         Burn out is the state of physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion caused by prolonged or excessive stress, that leaves you overwhelmed, emotionally drained, and is often known as parenthood! 

Murder most foul

 To be                                                                            honest straightforward decent                                   is a crime. 

 No section in any rule book                                     so enlists it.                                                                   Leads it yet for sure                                                   to a death sentence! 

The Forever Good Bye                                                Sudden                                                                   Never said! 

The aching soul of a mother                                     which potion can it heal?

The placenta of pain                                                   can never enliven                                                        a life lost! 

Pratima@ Sordid as the Sia saga is, difficult it is to gauge the mother's grief! She lost a son, nay, a lifetime!

Quote of the day:                                                          "The loneliest time after a tragedy is the week or month when everyone goes home, and your new normal begins. The silence feels deafening when the crowds disappear, and you are left with a gaping hole in your heart." Yes, agreed, Pam K. McCarty! 

Word of the day:                                                          A sob for her dead son