Marriage Memorabilia

The heading sounds more like memories down the marriage album. But it is much beyond that. This comes straight fom the marriage ceremonial gallore in the Indian society. "Marriages are made in heaven and celebrated on earth". It's quite true to it's meaning. Celebration is an understatement for all that goes into the pre & post marital ceremonies in India. The exhibition of the riches and the innumerous days spent in arraning the ostentation comes out as the most important thing in one's life. The more one spends on embellishments, food, jewellery, attire, the more worthy he proves to be.

With the status quo raising it's bar from year to year, the celebrity marriages are looked upto as the quintessentials. Ironically not because of the celebrities and the glamour but the gallore of lip-smacking cuisine, lighting, embellishment, celebrity performers, the bejewelled attires etc. This pandemonium could cost anything between 10 Lakhs - 10 Crores. And it doesn't end here...

The wedding day attire could range anywhere from 25 thousand-25 lakh depending on which celebrity wore it in which movie and what is the latest craze, a fish cut top or a halter neck. From the backless blouse of Madhuri to the fish cut kurti of Kareena, from Bipasha's gown to Aishwarya's jewellery, the bridal attire has seen it all and transition is inevitable.

To add to this this the gourmet gallery also ranges from Chinese, Continental, Italian, Indian, Thai, Lebanese etc. All sorts of cuisine cooked by the likes of Sanjeev Kapoor, Tarla Dalal or even super-chefs flown from US/UK to grace the kitchen.

The over-booked parlours smelling of perfumes, shampoos, hair-sprays, facials & other beauty treatments, even promise the bride looks of Kareena, Karisma, Bipasha, Priyanka on a high-budget beauty packages.

The rituals and mantras left to us by our mantras by our ancestors and which were followed by people diligently have evaporated leaving behind a mockery in place. The high budget packages of the priests include visiting charges and darning the occasion with their presence, thats it. Sadly enough the focus now lies not on the happy and prosperous married life, the divine bond has no meaning. What has taken it's place is the ceremony and the efforts put behind it to make the D-Day successful.

Mistakes...

Just finished reading Chetan Bhagat's "The 3 mistakes of my life". I guess its quiet evident from the heading. Though this might be influenced bythe same, but I don't intend to write another one. Don't carry the audacity to do so. Since I have read all three books writen by him I think I can comment that this one is easily the best of his works. In the backdrop of Gujarat & it's episodes of earthquake and Godhara riots the brewing business of three friends intertwined with their personal lives is very stricking. Anyways coming back to the main topic, looking back at life, I sometimes feel, we spend half our lives recollecting our mistakes and grow up reading in books and listening from people that one should learn from them. But do we actually do that??? Who cares... We tend to dismiss all of them as either inexperience or mere experiments. But truely some of them cost a lot in our lives and remain unanswered as to why such a thing happened or was it really a mistake? Is it a mistake when you seem to have found friends for life & suddenly when you need them, they back-stab you? You get married to someone you have known for years and made promises for a lifetime but you don't get the love and warmth in return that you are seeking in the relation? You work hard and slog yourself for hours together to get a promotion and your unworthy team partner gets through because of his quality of buttering his seniors, so then to work hard was a mistake.

I guess theres nothing much to learn from these so called "Mistakes". These will always remain unanswered and no one would try deciphering the problem.

Hope Around Us...

I got up one morning amidst blasts and unrest in the country. Dark clouds of fear and scepticism had filled the air. It seemed blood would trickle out of these thick clouds in the sky. Fear to step out of the houses; Fear to live blissfully; Fear to breathe; Fear of surviving. But cutting through all this was a fresh breeze of hope. Hope to live; Hope for a better tomorrow; Hope to find a better road ahead.

You , me and everybody around us take the same roads everyday. The road that takes us into our homes and out of it. When the other day I walked out of my house, towards the market for some shopping, a patch of road was being rebuild. While the fresh taurpaulin was being laid over it, what lay underneath were the cracks and the pot holes of the remains of a dead road. Further down, where the road still remained untouched revealed the imprints of the millions of footsteps and the remains of the road trampled n number of times beneath heavy vehicles. But the magical effect lies within. The road in whatever condition maybe, pushes us further and gives us a hope of moving ahead and reaching our destination someday.

Right in front of the shopping mall, the road was smooth with cars zipping on it. Though it is quite ironical but true, these roads are similar to our lives. While new opportunities and hope dawns our life what lies beneath is nothing but the past, the rough patches, the ups and downs. But we move on with a promise to surely reach our destination. What lies ahead of us is an exciting journey, ready to unveil the best. Sometimes our hopes and wishes have been marred and tramples by the selfish wants of some, but each time we strike back and move on...

India: It's Democratic, Social & Republic ways.

With the recent episodes of bomb blasts and other terrorist group activities taking a toll on the country, I simply thought to myself, isn't it time that we get together, stand united and fight terrorism. It should not be let loose today. It may harm us tomorrow. But all that has gone down the drain. What the country is now indulging in are various internal issues like why did Jaya Bachchan say she will not speak in Marathi and why Aamir supported the Narmada project and there should be a ban against Singh is King and so on... For days together there was a huge hue and cry on the Amarnath land issue, and then there is more to it like Singur. What’s wrong with the people of India? Hah! Democracy at it's best. Do whatever you feel like and say whatever you want. Communal issues are so prevalent in various states that we often forget or discard them as being petty issues like terrorism, unemployment, disaster relief and so on.

It's not long before soldiers had sacrificed their lives to protect us and our families from terrorists. But we are so selfish that we don't bother. It won't be long before we loose the peace of a blissful life and communal riots will burn the whole country. We need to be more aggressive not for selfish pleasures but for maintaining the overall peace and tranquility in the country.

108 Lotus Flowers

On the eighth day of the Durga Puja or "Durgashtami" an Ashtami Puja takes place where Goddess Durga is offered a garland of 108 Lotus Flowers. It is said that while Lord Rama was performing the rituals of "Akalbodhan", before going for the war, he wanted to offer 108 Lotus Flowers to the deity. While beginning the rituals he found that one of these beautiful flowers were missing. Since his own eyes were very beautiful and people addressed him as "komallochan" (eyes like that of lotus flower) he decided to offer one of his eyes. Seeing this devotion of his the lord himself magically got back the missing flower. Eversince then the garland is offered to Ma Durga.

Lotus Flowers have a strong symbolic tie to many Asian religions, especially throughout India. The Lotus flower starts at the bottom of the pond in the mud & muck and further on coming out of the pond blossoms into a beautiful flower. Within Hinduism & Buddhism, the lotus flower has become a symbol for awakening to the spiritual reality of life. People believe that the symbol of a lotus flower represents life in general. The struggle of life at its most basic form. As the Lotus Flower grows up from the mud into an object of beauty , people also grow & change into something more beautiful with time.

Golden Gun, Golden Bat & The Forgotten Wooden Stick

Ever since Abhinav Bindra won a gold medal at Beijing Olympics air rifle competition, the face of the Indian sports has changed completely with this first ever individual Olympic gold medal. The same feeling had deeply touched and moved the hearts of a million Indians when we had lifted the Cricket World Cup trophy for the first time led by the ever so dashing player, Kapil Dev. While Dhoni lifted the T-20 World Cup Trophy, the Indians had rejoiced once again. But there are still some unsung heroes. The Indians have long forgotten the forbidden game of Hockey.

It all started when India first participated in the first ever Olympics Hockey event in 1928. Amsterdam was the venue for the event. Under the able leadership of Jaipal Singh, Indian team bagged the Gold Medal. For the next six successive Olympics spanning twenty eight years (1928-1956) India won all the gold medals. Three out of which were contributed by none other than Dhyan Chand, the Hockey Wizard. It was definitely the golden era of Indian Hockey. India again won two more gold medals in Olympic hockey, 1964 Tokyo Olympics & 1980 Moscow Olympics. But now the game and the team have gone into oblivion. When India was on a winning spree, there was no media coverage, no promotion, no sponsorships, no funds, and no endorsements to fill the pockets of the players. And the victories were buried & the contributions of the yesteryear heroes were never remembered.

In 1975 India won the World Cup Hockey Tournament, but no one probably knows about it. On the other hand just a couple of days back we celebrated the silver jubilee of Indian World cup cricket victory of 1983. We sat for hours when Indian team reached the World Cup finals during Saurav Ganguly’s captaincy and also had the patience of enduring the lost match against Australia. But we are unconcerned about the fact that this time the Indian Hockey Team did not qualify for the Beijing Olympics. But each time they lost we have had the guts to point a finger at them and say that they are a bunch of losers; without even giving it a thought that the sort of encouragement, sponsorship and promotion, the game of the rich (cricket) gets; Hockey is nowhere near it.

If Sachin Tendulkar passes by he will be flocked by fans for an autograph but Dhanraj Pillai isn’t a household name. Sachin Tendulkar is a brand name in himself and Dhanraj Pillai has been long dismissed as the unsuccessful captained whose inability was that he couldn’t get back a Gold medal and Sachin is still forced by the BCCI to play in ODIs and Tests hoping that he will be back with a bang with the same old blazing gun shots. We can only shed tears while Chak De India Girls lift the World Cup Trophy but no one knows Mr. Negi the asli hero of Indian Hockey.

These unsung heroes will never be remembered and the National Sports Authority of India will never take a step to improve the prevailing situations. Politics & lack of basic amenities & low funds will never give the Indian Hockey players the deserved fame or attention. Now the responsibilities lie on the shoulders of the common man. We have to realize that this is the essence of the Indian sports & we need to support & fight on behalf of the Indian Hockey federation so that they can regain back their respect.

Concrete Forest

It's quiet nostalgic when I look behind in the past. My brisk childhood walks holding my parent's or grandparent's hands were always amidst lush green ambience. Dewy grass beneath, tall standing Gulmohar trees, beautiful flowers, cuckoos cooing, woodpeckers busy pecking on barks, parrots flying past hurriedly from one tree top to another and peacocks flaunting their wings awaiting the rains. Picking flowers, enjoying the various bird songs in the nature's lap. This was my childhood.

But as I see around now, the fading greenery is no more a concern for anybody. People enjoy movies in multiplexes, shopping in malls, indulge in indoor games but outings & picnics are long forgotten. Where have the picnic spots vanished? All one can see around is nothing but concrete forests. All builders are busy purchasing empty lots to be filled up with sky-scrapers later on. And these would then be sold at an exorbitant price; they are nothing but a heap of Cement & Bricks, comletely claustrophobic. Unlike the earlier homes which extended into a garden or a backyard which most of the houses would turn into a kitchen garden.

Only place you now seem to find plantations would be near a flyway or any over bridge where embellishment is required before the 2010 games. At the same time people who can afford a lavish farm house are pampering themselves to escape the busy week & the city life. Also some for the sake of interiors or beautiful exteriors or even Vaastu are planting trees. But this in't enough. We have a long way to go.