Surprise

Two of my favorite sis

This post is a surprise for everyone. Its a human instinct to love surprises and so I thought to complete this task as a part of assignment.Here I’m presenting you with some of the best photographs that I took last year.

A marriage sieve or kula as it is called in bengali

This is a sieve it holds five earthen lamps which represents the five elements .It was taken last December.

A cleanliness programme

This picture was taken during a cleanliness programme in our college .Though my friends were not much cooperative while it was taken,still some pictures are worth clicking.

The first photograph was taken on the month of July during Guru Purnima.On this day the students pray for the welfare of their teachers.

In Victoria Memorial

This photograph was taken in the month of January last year,in Victoria Memorial, Kolkata.

Most of the photographs here have been taken using my smartphone. I hope you like and if you have any questions regarding this feel free to ask me.

Something different

This post is little different from the others that I’ve written. Here in this post I’ll mainly focus on a poem by one of India’s as well as Asia’s greatest poet Rabindranath Tagore.

” Where the mind is without fear
And the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;”

This poem was written in around 1900. The original poem was written in Bengali and the poem was named “Parthona”. Below I have mentioned few lines of the Bengali version.

  ” চিত্ত যেথা ভয়শূন্য, উচ্চ যেথা শির,
   জ্ঞান যেথা মুক্ত, যেথা গৃহের প্রাচীর
   আপন প্রাঙ্গণতলে দিবসশর্বরী”

The poem appeared first in the volume Naivedya and later translated to English in 1911 along with his other poems. It was also mentioned in Gitanjali, for which he received the Nobel and became the first Asian ever to receive it.
The poem has its own importance it had been written to encourage the freedom for their struggle against the British .Our country has developed a great fold from what we were those days, but this development has to led to some misunderstandings we seem to have forgotten our culture these days. Well I don’t say that western influence is bad, since world is global so we need to follow the trend but in the long run among its our own culture that’ll help us. Suppose we move to foreign country there if we face some problem we would instantly turn to a fellow Indian for our help instead of asking a foreigner, its a human instinct ; then why don’t we follow the same rule for our culture. Our own culture is our base where our body stands and losing it will be like losing our the ground beneath us, without a stable ground we cannot float for a long time. You call it gravitational theory in science , buy logical all of us need a solid ground based on which we can make our decisions.
If you follow the poem the first line “where the mind is without fear” says when our mind is fearless and when do you think will it be fearless ? The day we know ourselves, the day we understand ourselves and can make all the right decisions and that can happen only of we have an idea of where we come from and if our decisions are right our head will always be held high, in every problem we’ll be able to find out the solutions.
This is one of my favorite poems and I recited it for the first time when In was in grade 7, though I didn’t understand its meaning just recited it, now I really know what it means and how it was inspiration for the ones who fought for the sake of the country .
The poet told the patriots to never be afraid to speak out their voice , never to bow before enemies, he wanted a world where there would be no boundaries probably because our country was filled with superstitions which made it even more difficult for everyone to be united.He wanted a place where there would be no corruption but this problem has yet to be solved , our country still lingers on the grounds of corruption.
Perhaps we can never make a perfect country but we can at least try to make a difference, even a single individual’s action may to lead to a great change.A change for human welfare, for nation’s development.
With this I wish all my fellow Indians a HAPPY REPUBLIC DAY

Why do I need to do this?

To day I would like to publish a post based on my anti bucket list. The list is huge because I don’t like doing most of the things that my society would call girlish activities.

Let me start with socialization, I call myself social but if you ask my pals or relatives they would give you a totally different version. The first thing that is likely to be said is she likes to be isolated, well if for me I like talking to people who like talking to me or who are interested in any conversation with me. I like talking about current affairs or something which is informative, some which refreshes my mind, instead I get to hear conversation based who slapped whose husband , which mother-in-law kicked out her bride, which husband is having affairs with a mistress or if I’m lucky enough then I get to hear something based on current political scenario.

Now the second task that irritates me is joining my elders (not my parents because I follow them most of the time) when they visit some sankirtan where the whole time, they would be busy shouting Hare Ram Hare Krishna. May be lord helps them without their their involvement in the task, but this is not the case for me. Every time I try concentrating on something they pull me out of it and I need to follow them. And now as if sankirtans were not good enough we’ve got fasts included in our religion, the basic way to impress some God. I personally believe in on God, but in my religion we’ve got many gods and goddesses, quite easy to confuse people with the variety of rituals. The only savior for me is mom, who is always ready to protest her in-laws for me.

Sometimes I feel myself to be one of the laziest fellows God ever created, even though I love cooking yet I don’t like peeling vegetables. Isn’t it funny , I mean if someone is ready to cook than he/she must be ready to perform all the task involved with it. Whenever I try peeling a potato it takes me more than 10 minutes and when the task is completed you can find half of the potato portion still lying with potato skin.

Everything confusion apart whenever there is any function in the family or somewhere in the neighborhood, I don’t hesitate for a second to do any of the tasks that I mentioned in my anti-bucket list , probably because I like socializing in my own way, I like enjoying in my own way. Now if I have exams knocking the door ,I cant close my ears and be the spotlight of a party I’ll have to exclude myself. But when I’m free none can stop me from what actually is life.

Taken during my sisters wedding

Along with friends in Umananda

Makar Sankranti-A harvesting festival

This is a puffed rice pithas its is placed in sugar syrup

Today it is the last day of the month posh as in the Hindu calender or you may say the calender started by Kanishka Maharaja.But some may consider that sankranti was on 14 January.This occurs particularly because of the tithis in panjika which are based on movement of sun and stars.On this day people take early morning bath in the rivers, thanking the Sun god.On this day according to Indic Solstice the sin enters the zodiac sign Makar or Capricorn.

Let me start with the state where I live its Assam and here people call it Bhogali Bihu.Since it is a harvesting festival ,so the food items are mostly prepared from the crop products, they are called pithas. Pit has are of different types there is Narikal pitha which is cylindrical shaped and laddoos are made from sesame. People sing and dance on bihu songs, they sit around bonfires particularly because it is winter out here.

Next I’ll talk about my native state West Bengal, even in this place various types of pithas are prepared.Traditionally there was a rule that the women of the house would bath at night and they would sit near the bonfire to prepare the pithas and their male counterparts would guard the house.On the night of sankranti thieves generally try stealing pithas and other households , so it was necessary to protect the house.

Here is a  story that I’m sharing.First hand you must know that in some parts of Assam the homes are made using and the walls are bamboo walls which can be removed when necessary.Last year after sankranti our maid servant didn’t come to work for almost a week. We were quite angry with her because we thought she had left without any premonitions.
After a few days when she visited us, she was completely devasted.When asked the reason , she said” Didi I had to construct a new house”, ” why, What happened to the old one?” I asked, she started crying and between sobs she replied “The theives they took everything with them including the walls,except the bed where I was sleeping.” This winter she had a brick walled house prepared.I guess there should be no more problem.

Coming back to food and pit has I must say a variety are prepared here .Some with rice powder,flour, milk, coconut etcetera.

Next comes the south Indian state Tamil Nadu here it is called Thai pongal.On this day people boil rice in large sauce pans in their porch under the sun and add milk , cardamom, green nuts in it.This is a sweet dish .They wear new clothes.But this traditional system is not followed nowadays.

Even if we consider the pithas of Assam and Bengal they are prepared almost two-three days prior to the main day. Its just because of the busy lives of people that we have to consider such shortcuts.

Now moving towards the state of Punjab .Here the festival is called Lohri, celebrated to mark the end of Winter.People dance bhangra and gidda around bonfire.Some people they move door to door singing songs.They are never returned empty handed. The punjabis prepare Sarso da saga,Makki Di roti, Gajak during Lohri.

Some sections of Sindhi call it as La Loi.

In andhra Pradesh the day preceding sankranti is called Bhogi on this day people forget about old things and discard them , then start on a new way.

In Gujarat Major Sankranti is celebrated by Kite flying and is called Uttarayan. Then kite or manjha is prepared in the homes of Gujarat a month prior to the festival.Iti marks the beginning of Summer.

Currently this festival is celebrated as an International festival in Gujarat.People from different countries participate here.People are served with Jalebis and Undhiyu.

So wishing everyone a Happy Makar sankranti I stop here.

A bengali marriage

To begin with I must say that I’m never in favor of marriages with lots of rites and rituals. Well its good to be an audience but performing it is quite difficult. The Bengali Hindu marriages are still performed in the traditional ways. Among the Hindus there is a religious book called Panjika , in which auspicious dates for special occasions are written.

After the Pundit finds out that the kundalis of both the bride and groom are matching or they are suitable for each other astrologically, then a special date is selected from the  Panjika to fix the date of the marriage. On the day in which the marriage date is fixed both the families exchange sweets. Then follows engagement which may be one year before the marriage or a fortnight before.

On the eve of the wedding day, women from bride’s family rally up to the nearest water body and bring water from there which used to bathe the bride the next day before her wedding. Before wedding is about to take place turmeric is put all over the bride’s body and then she bathes with water brought for her on the previous day.

The marriage process takes almost 3-4 hours to complete, the bride and groom have to move in circles around the holy fire 7 times, in some cases they hold each others hands or sometimes the ghungat of the bride is tied with the chadar of the groom. Then after a few more rituals the groom puts vermilion on the bride’s forehead. You must be thinking that they have been declared man and wife, but unfortunately it takes longer time.

The next day they are again wedded in the same process as the previous day it is called bashi biya in Bengali. In the evening the bride and groom finally go to the grooms house. Their the groom throws a party for his family members and for those who couldn’t attend the marriage, this is called Bou Bhat. After a few more days the bride visits her parents again and thereafter two or three days her husband takes her back to his home.

I might have missed here 2-3 occasions but the importance here is lavishness with which the marriage takes place. The ego problem or show off that Bengalis nowadays have, does no good to them. Even if they are poor they’ll never think about their economic problems before spending in their daughter’s marriage. This is because of our culture or pride. Dowry cases are least visible currently, but still the bride’s parents never act like miser in their daughter’s marriage.

Who I am and Why I am here

First of all I think any one can check my profile and know my. So here I wont be giving my bio- data, instead I would like you people to know what kind of person I’m.  I am a very simple living person, a little ambitious. but hey, doesn’t 80 people out of 100 here are ambitious.I  Like dancing  , singing to any tune sometimes when I forget the lyrics I make up my own words, making it a kind of parody. but that’s what makes me alive. Once while giving an introduction to my seniors in college they asked me to dance on a Bollywood item song, I said I need a partner, while we’re dancing he left the place.

  He said the girl is enthusiastic man, I cant perform with her, she wiggles too much.But isn’t that a necessity in an item dance.

Past things  apart, let me tell you why I’m here, it’s because I want share my views about the present situation of our country. Now-a-days, everything is so restricted that I cant just go stand somewhere and start speaking about it. To say the truth, my country is corrupted to some extent, but if I have to stay here I need to keep my mouth shut. You must think that if I need to shut my mouth than why I’m here, well since I cant shout it out anywhere , so this blog becomes my shout it out soap box. Here I can speak about anything , from politics to economics to religion, education, culture everything. This is what my blog will consist of. So I welcome you all. Welcome folks to present generation India, where you’ll find less snake charmers and more computer techs. My country has unity in diversity and that I’ll show you through my blogs.

Happy New Year

First of all happy new year to everyone. I hope this year should bring you prosperity, success and happiness. I mean more of everything.

Now the pressing topic here is the way we celebrate new year in various cities of India. Its true that we must enjoy our lives, but it should be done without harassing others . Over the decade we have seen how violent people can get while celebrating this special day.

There must be soberness in everything, no one stops you from drinking, but let someone else drive you home.

Why do the cities need to be in high alert on such days, Christmas the other one.I was reading this particular news where it said even Assam is on high alert today

.http://www.telegraphindia.com/1141231/jsp/northeast/story_6039.jsp#.VKUY8NKUfB0

It has become very difficult for common people to walk on the road freely, like we used to 10 years back. Those days may never return , but we can atleast try to develop what we have today.