It struck me like a passing shower. It was discussed,decided and executed so swiftly that I hardly got to contemplate on why,when and who .
I got married in August and here I am reflecting on life nearly three months into my marriage.
Only reason perhaps I am doing so is that somehow I feel like a bachelor again for a few days, now that my wife it at her parents for Divali. My clothes are strewn all over the living room like the goold old days, there is a layer or two of dust on top of everything which I choose not to dust off until Sunday (when Anubha returns) and dishes are piling on. I do water the plants everyday though.
Time has flown quickly since August and I have been immersed into living each day and understanding how things are different forever!. My daily routine is quite different than it used to be and my mom would definitely think for the better knowing my routine well before and after tying the nuptial.
Anyways marriage time was all hustle,bustle and all in all very gratifying a experience which I shall cherish. Most of my elderly relatives came and so did my Canadian sis who till last minute was keeping us in tentherhooks. Was lovely to see all these relatives together coming to bless me.
Hats off to my dad who cooked for everyone day in and out , who had food ready before even most of us got up and did all the dishes too !
The gifts pappa brought down for everyone were unique and tasteful. Kakima's artistic flair lent themselves very well into beautifully wrapped presents.
The ceremonies were very interesting and I felt good doing all of them earnestly and sincerely seeing most of them for the first time. Marriage itself came and went like a flash and lo and behold I was married !
Family and relatives left one by one and quickly as they had come until it was just us.
Ok, so now I get wonderful freshly cooked meals every morning,lunch and dinner. I also get my face washed, cleansed and massaged every night. My cupboard is meticulously arranged for me and I get a call asking me whether I have eaten or not and feedback on the food solicited just after my lunch. These are the salient bits that come to mind ,since they all suddenly have stopped.
In between we have had a few trips to Anubha's parents place where I have been treated royally. I have made Anubha taste dishes she has never seen or had before and made here go places she has never been to before, the most exciting being camping out in the open in an interior village on the Sayhadri hills under the stars with the wind blowing furiously and the only sound emanating from a distance being those of insects and animals alien to us.
Spending Diwali with Anubha and bursting crackers was fun and will be fond memories in retrospect I am sure.
In all this, I remember my mom and dad who got me to where I am today and got me married to the girl of their choice. Anubha loves my dad's humour which we could not eally identify and appreciate all these years :-) Thanks mamma for all the tireless shopping trips and arrangements you made leading up to the marriage. Thanks Tupi for coming ! Pls do answer your phone sometimes :-)
My parents did a lot of filtering,soul searching and dutiful diligence before zeroing down on the girl in just one week !Anubha's parents who diligently searched for a groom for their daughter for more than two years finally matched my horoscope with Anubha's using a incorrect birthday for me and it all matched and we got married ! An astrolger to Choki Dhani expressed astonishment looking at my hand because I was still in India and not abroad as my stars indicated I should be. His conclusion was that I had come back to India to just get married !
Are marriages made in heaven ?
I am not sure but I would surely like to thank my parents, Anubha's parents and last but not cretainly the least my stars for getting me into this situation !
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
God Incarnate
God acts through people and nature. This I say as an absolute. God has no other way as we know it. How many times have we in our lives been helped or saved in the nick of time from the most unlikely souls? Do you attribute this to sheer coincidence ? Then how come each of these six billion human souls in this world have all had such moments all through their lives ? How come good things that one truly,deeply desires for just happen in ways inconceivable when least expected when earlier nothing bears fruit even if you are ready to take on the world? How come pessimistic,perennially sulky folks never seem to have good things come upon them and vice versa? Coincidence does not have a mind of its own. Nature does.And its constantly working . Coyotes give birth to three or four pups at a time and only half or less survive. At the time when the coyote population was being wiped out in Canada and their population dwindling , all of a sudden all coyote pups around the world started surviving lo and behold ! As soon as the equilibrium was attained, back to normal as usual :-) People who think that we are destroying mother earth and will bring nature to its knees one day where upon life for humans will be a 'water world' could not be believing in any greater a fallacy. Nature has pre-existed us and shall live long after we are gone. Natural disasters are very much intentional.
Whats the point of all this esoteric dissertation ? This supreme being, cosmic energy or whatever name have you that we call God is all around us and in us. Prayer, positive thought, forgiveness and things albeit intangible do very much work and are the most powerful tools at our disposable. I am convinced that there are no miracles in this world. I go to the clinic of my teacher who is a accomplished pranic healer and I am seeing miracles with my own eyes ridding people of their pains and diseases using nothing but the energy field that we live in. Its incredible to realize that God is in us, all the time around us and when we sincerely ask for the right type of help, God is so very obliging.
Last night my eyes were moist. I had come to the realization that all my life the parents I had taken for granted were the closest I have come to feeling God's selfless love , kindness,forgiveness and guidance. Parents are mortals,have their limitations and they would be highly embarrassed to be hearing all this from me, but last night my life rode past me in a flashback, and all I could remember was their selfless ,untiring care and affection all through these years . How can mere mortals whose primary instinct is self survival pour all their grey matter into me and expect nothing in return ? When things don't go my way , I find it very convenient to cast blame on them and sulk knowing very well that it will be them who will take me back into their open arms always. Their one hug is the best feeling in the world.
Great ones have found God through nature ,meditation,prayer ,music and God's innumerable other facets. I , a ordinary mortal like any other, have experienced God in my parents. I pray to God for forgiveness for all my shortcomings. God please give me the power to do justice to my parents. God thank you for my parents.
Whats the point of all this esoteric dissertation ? This supreme being, cosmic energy or whatever name have you that we call God is all around us and in us. Prayer, positive thought, forgiveness and things albeit intangible do very much work and are the most powerful tools at our disposable. I am convinced that there are no miracles in this world. I go to the clinic of my teacher who is a accomplished pranic healer and I am seeing miracles with my own eyes ridding people of their pains and diseases using nothing but the energy field that we live in. Its incredible to realize that God is in us, all the time around us and when we sincerely ask for the right type of help, God is so very obliging.
Last night my eyes were moist. I had come to the realization that all my life the parents I had taken for granted were the closest I have come to feeling God's selfless love , kindness,forgiveness and guidance. Parents are mortals,have their limitations and they would be highly embarrassed to be hearing all this from me, but last night my life rode past me in a flashback, and all I could remember was their selfless ,untiring care and affection all through these years . How can mere mortals whose primary instinct is self survival pour all their grey matter into me and expect nothing in return ? When things don't go my way , I find it very convenient to cast blame on them and sulk knowing very well that it will be them who will take me back into their open arms always. Their one hug is the best feeling in the world.
Great ones have found God through nature ,meditation,prayer ,music and God's innumerable other facets. I , a ordinary mortal like any other, have experienced God in my parents. I pray to God for forgiveness for all my shortcomings. God please give me the power to do justice to my parents. God thank you for my parents.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Murud, Janjira and Kashid
Had a truly memorable Saturday.
India just simply never fails to turn out one surprise after another.
Sitting in Pune I simply could not fathom that just 150 kms away , sitting snug in the Arabian sea, overlooking idyllic villages and a pristine coastline, was a gargantuan fort built 1000 yrs back , spread over 22 acres, supporting more than 2500 people with its own mosques, temples, homes, bird shop, fresh water ponds and more, all sitting in the middle of the Arabian sea !
I am speaking of the Janjira fort built by the Siddhis a 1000 yrs back in the Konkan region of Maharashtra. Most of us hear of the famed Marathas but very few have even heard of the Siddhis. In short a Iranian king came from South Africa(where he was domiciled) to India, captured some territory in Konkan, subsequently bought salves from East Africa and built this massive fort in the sea known as Janjira over 22 yrs ! The Marathas tried to defeat the Siddhis in multiple occasions ,five hundred years into the fort's existence but failed , and to make the story even more interesting after that, Sambhaji (Shivaji's son) built another fort in the sea overlooking Janira, albeit smaller over another 16 years in readiness to face off again! People were living in Janjira all the way till 1972.
Our journey from Pune begun at 4 am in the morning , yes you read right ! The sunrise and the drive through the Konkan region was spell binding. The roads were very good for the most part and the neat and clean villages with their distinct architecture and sprawling abodes and greenery all around must leave Pune city dwellers in today's day and age of 'luxirious living' green with envy. We stopped off in some very interesting points to take pics and go to the loo :-) I enjoyed walking right into a lady farmer's small plot while she was farming with her daughter and getting her to show us around her crops ! She was one of those typical vendors you see sitting on the city pavements. She grew everything under the sun and had the largest cauliflower plant I have ever seen. If she had a bumper crop she would sell in Alibaug market otherwise right there in her village. Right across the road from the farm we bought a packet full of 'kala jaam' and relished it thoroughly with a sprinkling of salt. Stopping along the way in the middle of remote villages to have chai and lapping up the village life was nice. In one village we saw a very peculiar species of a 'dog' which was not really like a dog. It was a mix of a pig and a dog and looked very funny. We saw several of these in that village, I think it was Nizampur.
Finally we got to Rajpuri which houses the tombs of the Siddhi nawabs. Architecture was imposing. You felt the Muslim presence in the area. We walked past schools and homes in the fishing village until we got to the shore from where lo and behold we could see Janjira out of nowhere really . We stood on the beach just to take in the incredible sight. Boats haul visitors of Rajpuri to the fort. These boats too seem to date from the Siddhis time architecturilly atleast with these white sails fluttering the air. Reminded me of the 'Pirates in the Caribbean'.
Once on the boat, we had this sweet bunch of muslim school children with their teachers who started singing some beautiful urdu songs. Still humming the tune at home today. The fort is so cleverly built that one cannot see any entrance from a distance unless they know where it is. The fort is truly imposing. We had a great guide who spoke in a very peculiar urdu accent which sounded very cool to me. The fort has India's third largest cannon and is built with a material in such a fashion that it never heats up. Our heads were hot from the searing heat but the cannon was as cool as a dog's nose. The exterior door's in the fort are designed such that they look like tiny windows from outside confusing the enemy. The main door still stands and cannot be burnt or made to rot ! There is a emblem in the fort which is either tatooed on each dweller's body or each person has a ring with the emblem. The emblem depicts a lion crushing seven elephants ! How crazy a emblem is that ! If someone comes knocking disguised as a friend and cannot provide this emblem on them, then they are finished off right away by pouring hot oil on them and body dumped in the sea ! Too many exclamatory points to write about in this visit ! What is also incredible is that in case enemy did surround the fort dwellers , then there was a secret passage way seven feet under the sea that lead to a palace on the village overlooking the fort. We even saw this palace from shore.
Had a superb fish thali in Murud a short distance away under a multi layered canapy of palm trees , with the the sound of breaking waves emanating from a distance. We then ran straight for the Muruf beach and had the typical beach fun and frolic which included a ride in a horse carriage. Proceeded from there towards Pune. Stopped off in Kashid beach on the way, where we had tea swinging on a hammock, while seeing the glowing sun slowly setting.
Murud Janjira and Kashid . They are worthy enough of being called jewels in the Increible India crown metaphorically speaking. However true to India's character, its a land so ancient and wise, that there I am sure there are countless Murud's and Janjira scattered across the length and breath of this great nation and perhaps its only fair that the curios,persevering traveller who dares to look beyond the beaten track is rewarded with such amazing slices of history and experiences the magnificence of mother nature in the least heard of places.I have been amazed at the hospitality, innocence and honesty of our people.
I shall surely return to Janjira one day. Pics to follow soon.
India just simply never fails to turn out one surprise after another.
Sitting in Pune I simply could not fathom that just 150 kms away , sitting snug in the Arabian sea, overlooking idyllic villages and a pristine coastline, was a gargantuan fort built 1000 yrs back , spread over 22 acres, supporting more than 2500 people with its own mosques, temples, homes, bird shop, fresh water ponds and more, all sitting in the middle of the Arabian sea !
I am speaking of the Janjira fort built by the Siddhis a 1000 yrs back in the Konkan region of Maharashtra. Most of us hear of the famed Marathas but very few have even heard of the Siddhis. In short a Iranian king came from South Africa(where he was domiciled) to India, captured some territory in Konkan, subsequently bought salves from East Africa and built this massive fort in the sea known as Janjira over 22 yrs ! The Marathas tried to defeat the Siddhis in multiple occasions ,five hundred years into the fort's existence but failed , and to make the story even more interesting after that, Sambhaji (Shivaji's son) built another fort in the sea overlooking Janira, albeit smaller over another 16 years in readiness to face off again! People were living in Janjira all the way till 1972.
Our journey from Pune begun at 4 am in the morning , yes you read right ! The sunrise and the drive through the Konkan region was spell binding. The roads were very good for the most part and the neat and clean villages with their distinct architecture and sprawling abodes and greenery all around must leave Pune city dwellers in today's day and age of 'luxirious living' green with envy. We stopped off in some very interesting points to take pics and go to the loo :-) I enjoyed walking right into a lady farmer's small plot while she was farming with her daughter and getting her to show us around her crops ! She was one of those typical vendors you see sitting on the city pavements. She grew everything under the sun and had the largest cauliflower plant I have ever seen. If she had a bumper crop she would sell in Alibaug market otherwise right there in her village. Right across the road from the farm we bought a packet full of 'kala jaam' and relished it thoroughly with a sprinkling of salt. Stopping along the way in the middle of remote villages to have chai and lapping up the village life was nice. In one village we saw a very peculiar species of a 'dog' which was not really like a dog. It was a mix of a pig and a dog and looked very funny. We saw several of these in that village, I think it was Nizampur.
Finally we got to Rajpuri which houses the tombs of the Siddhi nawabs. Architecture was imposing. You felt the Muslim presence in the area. We walked past schools and homes in the fishing village until we got to the shore from where lo and behold we could see Janjira out of nowhere really . We stood on the beach just to take in the incredible sight. Boats haul visitors of Rajpuri to the fort. These boats too seem to date from the Siddhis time architecturilly atleast with these white sails fluttering the air. Reminded me of the 'Pirates in the Caribbean'.
Once on the boat, we had this sweet bunch of muslim school children with their teachers who started singing some beautiful urdu songs. Still humming the tune at home today. The fort is so cleverly built that one cannot see any entrance from a distance unless they know where it is. The fort is truly imposing. We had a great guide who spoke in a very peculiar urdu accent which sounded very cool to me. The fort has India's third largest cannon and is built with a material in such a fashion that it never heats up. Our heads were hot from the searing heat but the cannon was as cool as a dog's nose. The exterior door's in the fort are designed such that they look like tiny windows from outside confusing the enemy. The main door still stands and cannot be burnt or made to rot ! There is a emblem in the fort which is either tatooed on each dweller's body or each person has a ring with the emblem. The emblem depicts a lion crushing seven elephants ! How crazy a emblem is that ! If someone comes knocking disguised as a friend and cannot provide this emblem on them, then they are finished off right away by pouring hot oil on them and body dumped in the sea ! Too many exclamatory points to write about in this visit ! What is also incredible is that in case enemy did surround the fort dwellers , then there was a secret passage way seven feet under the sea that lead to a palace on the village overlooking the fort. We even saw this palace from shore.
Had a superb fish thali in Murud a short distance away under a multi layered canapy of palm trees , with the the sound of breaking waves emanating from a distance. We then ran straight for the Muruf beach and had the typical beach fun and frolic which included a ride in a horse carriage. Proceeded from there towards Pune. Stopped off in Kashid beach on the way, where we had tea swinging on a hammock, while seeing the glowing sun slowly setting.
Murud Janjira and Kashid . They are worthy enough of being called jewels in the Increible India crown metaphorically speaking. However true to India's character, its a land so ancient and wise, that there I am sure there are countless Murud's and Janjira scattered across the length and breath of this great nation and perhaps its only fair that the curios,persevering traveller who dares to look beyond the beaten track is rewarded with such amazing slices of history and experiences the magnificence of mother nature in the least heard of places.I have been amazed at the hospitality, innocence and honesty of our people.
I shall surely return to Janjira one day. Pics to follow soon.
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