Raksha Bandhan - Nothing Special For Me !!!

            280th BLOG -->>

Raksha Bandhan

        Today the month of श्रावण ends. On the full moon of the month of Shravana, the holy festival of Hindus - रक्षा बंधन is celebrated. Raksha Bandhan is the festival when the relationship of Brother and Sister is celebrated. One of the important festival of Hindu religion. Even Muslims and Christians celebrate it as this festival fosters the love and purity of a relationship. On the day of Raksha Bandhan, sisters tie a Holy thread known as Rakhi on the wrist of their brothers. In return, brothers offer a gift to the sister and promise to look after her and take a good care of her for the whole life. Then brother and sister feed each other with sweets and share the love with each other. Wow !!! It seems to be so beautiful. But for me this is just a festival which come and go. I have nothing to do with this. I don't have any sister and I am unfortunately proud of it. Hell !!! Many bad memories attached with this festival as I have a sour relationship with the girl whom I considered as my sister for whole life.

             The most significant and best illustration and evidence of Rakhi is the story of Queen Karnawati and Mughal Emperor Humayun. During the medieval era, somewhat in 15th century, there was a furious and violent battle between the Mughals , Rajputs and the Sultans. During that period, Rakhi was considered a spiritual bonding. When Queen Karnawati (A widowed Queen) of Chittor realized that there is no way to be rescued from the invasion of Sultan of Gujarat - Bahadur Shah, she sent a rakhi to Emperor Humayun. Humayun was so touched with the Rakhi that he abandoned an ongoing mitilary campaign for her rescue. There are many other stories too attached with the history of Rakhi. Some of them are - Vritra - Indra, Krishna - Draupadi, King Bali and Goddess Lakshmi, Alexander The Great and Puru etc. 

               Raksha Bandhan - This day is celebrated with different names and customs in different states of India. RAKHI POURNIMA in North and South India, GRAHMA POURNIMA in Orissa, NARIYAL POURNIMA in some parts of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa, Janyo Punyo in some parts of Uttarakhand, KAJARI POURNIMA in Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh and Bihar and Pavitropann in some parts of Gujarat.

               Many of you may be thinking that I know so much about the festival this means that I love a girl a lot who would be my sister in relation. My experience of a Sister has been very tough and rough. I considered a girl as my sister some 3 years ago. I loved her a lot and I used to fulfill all her demands and I thought to serve her always - all my life. But when 2 years passed, she started avoiding me and a day came when she stopped all the contacts with me. I was shocked. I broke. I started analyzing about what was my mistake and what went wrong and erratic in the relationship that I can no longer say her as my sister. Then I realized the best motto of the story - One girl can be true and loyal as a sister only to the brother who is real and born from the same womb from where she is born too. A girl can never give the same love to a cousin or a boy whom she considers as a brother. This is a sour truth but a veracious fact. Not today, but in future you will surely realize this. MY CHALLENGE !!!

               So, as the experience of sister has been terrible and horrible to me, I am not going to perform any formalities and fake algorithms tomorrow of the festival. I am not going to tie any Rakhi on my hand as no Rakhi is sent to me with love and affection, it is sent to me just as a formality or forcibly. So, I hate Raksha Bandhan because of the sour experience I have witnessed in my past otherwise this festival is very sweet and palpable. Still I would like to name a girl whom I consider as my sister even today as she is not my real sister, not my cousin and not even childhood friend but still she is so close and so caring - Nidhi didi.

             Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA - VEERU 

ONAM - Biggest Festival of Kerala !!!

            279th BLOG -->>

POOKALAM (I took the pic

)

         I would like to wish HAPPY ONAM to all my friends from Kerala. Onam is the biggest festival of Kerala and is celebrated for basically 10 days. Few days ago, I talked about Ramzaan on my blog, then it was Pateti - Parsi New Year and today its Onam and tomorrow its Raksha Bandhan. Our country is great and we are the best example in the world for Unity in Diversity (Unity is getting sabotaged day by day). We have 365 festivals in 365 days of a year. What more can we expect as enjoyment and celebration? I am so proud to be an Indian when I see people celebrating and performing their myths and customs for their festivals. Today, when I was passing the platforms of Panvel railway station, I saw a beautiful design (you can see it in the adjacent pic I have published )made by Keralites as a tradition of their festival. It is called Pookalam.

               Onam - many Indians don't know what this festival is all about. Let me tell you. Onam is the biggest festival celebrated in the state of Kerala. It falls during the first month of the Malayalam calendar which is CHINGAM (August - September) and marks the homecoming and revisiting of the King Mahabali. This festival lasts for 10 days and many Kerala's customs and traditions are performed in these 10 days. 

               Onam is the ancient and old festival which is still celebrated with the same zeal and enthusiasm in the modern days. According to the legend, Kerala witnessed its golden era during the reign of King Mahabali. Everybody in the state was happy and prosperous and the king was highly regarded by his subjects. He was that much highly regarded among the subjects that even the Gods under Indra became jealous of Mahabali, they approached Mahavishnu claiming that Mahabali is now equivalent to an Indra. Since a world with two Indras represents imbalance, Mahavishnu assumed the form of a dwarf: the Vamana avatara and tricked him to Pathalam, the Underworld. However, as Mahabali is equal to an Indra, he is to wait until the next Yuga where he would be the Indra. In the meantime, with the grace of Mahavishnu, Mahabali visits his people on an annual basis. Mahavishnu serves Mahabali as a gatekeeper in the world of Pathalam as the Lord himself serves his greatest devotees.

                Onasadya is the most exciting part of Onam. It is the day when a grand feast is held where atmost 11 to 13 different dishes are prepared. The food is served on banana leaves and people sit on the mats placed on the ground. 

                 Vallamkalli is the another enchanting feature of Onam where a Snake Boat Race is held in the river Pampa. It is a colourful sight to watch the decorated boat oared by hundreds of boatmen amidst chanting of songs and cheering by spectators.

                 There is also a tradition to play games, collectively called Onakalikal, on Onam. Men go in for rigorous sports like Talappanthukali (played with a ball), Ambeyyal (Archery), Kutukutu and combats called Kayyankali and Attakalam.

Pookalam - I took this pic on Panvel rlwy station

                Women indulge in cultural activities. They make intricately designed flower mats called, Pookalam(the pic I have posted) in the front courtyard of the house to welcome King Mahabali. Kaikotti kali and Thumbi Thullal are two graceful dances performed by women on Onam. Folk performances like Kummatti kali and Pulikali add to the zest of celebrations. 

                Mahabali's rule is considered the golden era of Kerala. The following song is often sung over Onam: (Translation)
 

“    When Maveli, our King, ruled the land,
All the people had equality.
And people were joyful and merry;
They were all free from harm.
There was neither anxiety nor sickness,
Death of the children was never even heard of,
There were no lies,
There was neither theft nor deceit,
And no one was false in speech either.
Measures and weights were right;
No one cheated or wronged his neighbor.
When Maveli, our King, ruled the land,
All the people formed one casteless race.
”

                I would like to apologize all my Keralites brothers and sisters if I have given some wrong information unintentionally. 

 

 Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA - VEERU

I am back to Blogging !!!

            278th BLOG -->>

        So I am back. I know you may be very angry that I left you without any intimation but I had no other option. I want to apologize to all my dear readers who waited a lot for my next post and I failed to provide it to you. I was sick. Damn. I don't know why am I always sick but I don't have any control over it. And the worst was that even my father was sick with me so he was on leave. This made blogging more impossible than before and thus I didn't gathered courage to ask him for a 1 hour grant so that I can write blogs. If I would have written blogs in front of him, he would have asked and compelled me to study and would have accused me of fooling him as I am sick to pass my time without studying. So, I kept quiet. 

             A tragedy too took place during these illness period as my blog page got corrupt. The whole page was disturbed because of the developer of the template. He removed all the pictures from the template which made it so confusing that I, the owner of the blog myself didn't understood about what the page consisted of. From last two days, I am managing my page and here it is, the new outlook of my blog page. Hope you liked it. Hope it is better than the one I had before this. You can tell me what do you feel by commenting on my post.

             From tomorrow my Unit Test is going to begin. I don't know what made my college keep such a test but I know one thing about my approach towards this test i.e. I don't know the name of the subject I have to give exam for tomorrow. I am hoping my neighbors in the exam hall to help me from start of the exam till its end. I remember the last time when we had unit test. I and Arya planned to leave all the paper blank and move out of the examination hall in 5 minutes. It was so fun to do this. I am hoping that something similar will happen tomorrow. But I am least confident as I know the classmates I have with me have no daring to pick up the sword and move ahead for a fight. Lets see what happens tomorrow.

            I am so pissed off as my Facebook is also working in lull state. The chat application of the site is not working because of which I am unable to chat with my friends. One girl I met through Orkut is troubling me day and night and calling me. I have no problem to talk with her but the problem is that she calls when my parents are near to me. I don't know why does she don't understand that I am unable to pick up her call. Damn !!! 

            The mosquitoes on the other hand is troubling badly here in Panvel where I live. Most of the areas in Panvel are under-construction which gives birth to the migration of mosquitoes from different areas to Panvel. This leads to the diseases like Malaria and Dengue. I have been infected of viral fever. It is caused by the virus which enters the body. So many useless creatures are living on the earth. I don't know why. Hell !!!

           Friends, I am apologizing you if you felt this blog as a stupid one. Actually being away from blogs has made me unaware of what to write. I am feeling as I have started blogging just from today. Hope I'll come in form till tomorrow. Hope !!!

Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA - VEERU