Merry Christmas 2019

During the last month, the onion prices skyrocketed, there was the very

un fortunate  affair of rape and encounter killing at Hyderabad and

following that was the nationwide disturbance because of CAA, which

is still raging. 

All troubles and disturbances born out of human greed, ill will, wickedness

and in general, human nature.  

One has to think a hundred times before accepting any other human being

wholeheartedly, unquestioningly, completely. And we are still not sure !

I think that’s why we have our gods and our beliefs. To provide us with

an entity which we can wholeheartedly accept, without any hesitation and

a mental frame to  do so. 

And our festivals are there, to probably reaffirm and remind us about it. 

Also, to provide us with a time space during which we can put aside the

irritations created by us, temporarily. 

Christmas, is a festival with a very nice feeling. Rejoicing the arrival of a

divine power  amidst us. Believers revel in the festival spirit. Others may

enjoy the festive atmosphere ! Sri D V G, a philosopher/poet says,

“to be able to enjoy other’s happiness is the greatest of virtues”!

My neighbours have prepared for Christmas with lot of enthusiasm.

My daughter in law has added to the spirit with a  Christmas decoration

in our waiting room ! And the Christmas cake gifted by a kind patient is not

 a cake but the proverbial icing !!

Merry Christmas to everyone ! 

Serendipity Art Festival - Panaji - 2019

I first heard about the Serendipity art festival four years back. I remember

that there was a music programme and an exhibition of paintings in the Panaji

Municipal Garden. I remember having seen the exhibition. My knowledge of arts

(and everything else) is poor and I don’t remember much about it.

I have been hearing the name of the festival every year since then. Last year

there were some very large and artistic (ugly to my eyes) sculptures which were

displayed all over the city during the festival and one of them, a hen in a bag,

(I think it was a product of the festival and not ordered by PMC for ‘beautification’ of

the city - I may be wrong) was given a permanent space on the footpath next to

D B Road. It occupies a major part of the footpath and I hated it and people

responsible for it, for that. Very thoughtless, irrespective of the beauty of the

sculpture. (My opinion, obviously, not of PMC)

This year I got to know of the Serendipity Festival in little more detail and registered

for few performances. I attended the River Raaga and the Yakshagana on the 18th

and was stumped by the punctuality, performance, arrangements, facilities, attention

to detail and - the most important - toilets ! I was told the arrangements were equally

good in many of the programmes my family members attended.

The festival includes dozens of programs and workshops in various art forms and also

other activities like cooking, gardening, city walks etcetc.

I plan to utilise it fully next year, if it is held in Goa !

👍👍 to Serendipity arts festival.

Uttarakhand - Woodhouse farm - Ramgarh

I visited the sacred temple of Sri Badarinath some 10 years back. That was my

first experience with the hill roads of Uttarakhand and I had decided that it would

be the last. I loved the place. The steep cliff on one side, the deep gorge on the

other side with the rushing river at the bottom and the view of the snow capped

hills. But I hated the roads. Winding narrow roads battered by landslides and

feeling like they were made entirely of loose mud and gravel. You keep moving

with difficulty fearing a landslide or loose boulders falling from the top. You witness

vehicles ahead of you getting crushed/pushed into the gorge by falling boulders.

And there is no chance to turn back ! We managed to complete our trip without

disasters and I decided not to go there again. 

But my family zeroed upon Uttarakhand for a short holiday and my son assured

me that it involves just about two hours of road travel. And that this terrain was

not as threatening as the ‘Chardham’ roads.  We were to take a flight to Delhi

and then travel by train to a small city named Khatgodam. From there, the village

Satoli, where we were expected to stay, was about two hours by road - if you

knew the exact location of your hotel. Add half an hour if you were depending

entirely on Google. Because, google urges you to take some interior road which

is barely 5-6 feet wide and you have to (as I did) get down and walk ahead to

confirm that it leads somewhere and that there is a provision to turn back,

if required. 

Anyway, the flight to Delhi and the journey by Shatabdhi express to Khatgodam

were fine, if you overlooked our stupidity of getting into compartment C1 instead

of E1 and the struggle of getting out of C1 when others were trying to get in ! 

Our destination ‘Wood house farm’  in satoli village was a cosy cottage of four

rooms, out of which we occupied three and one remained empty. We spent two

days there and shifted to the Neemrana Hotel at Ramgarh for the next two days.

An old British bungalow having four rooms, located on top of a hillock. No sight

seeing trips, no shopping and no other activity. Weather was splendid, surroundings

beautiful and service good. Best suited for lazing and reading and that is what we

did. As is my practice, I am maintaining an account of our trip on my blog through

pictures and captions. www.dentaldiaries.blogspot.com if you have patience for more. 

It is a pain to arrange pictures in order while posting on the blog and hence I have

left them in the random order that they appeared. I liked the shape of pine trees

and their effect on the landscape and hence there are a lot of pictures. Kindly bear.

Difficult to find level land in the hilly terrain. One such place, a clearing, next to my walking path at Satoli.  

The cottage at Satoli had a wonderful selection of books. Many, to my liking. Found, started and finished a book by one of my favourite authors Ruskin Bond. 

 Our group at Khatgodam station. 

Sitting and breakfast area - front of cottage at Ramgarh

Example of the Interior roads

Entrance to the cottage at Ramgarh

The looping road, photographed from a higher

point during my walk.

The common space at Wood house cottage 

My favourite corner for reading. One of my best reading experiences. 

The Cottage at Satoli 

One of the many 'hill view' pictures 

Took pictures of anything that looked good to me. Pine trees on a slope.

One of the many more !

Caption not required 

Ramgarh. The building with green roof was the place where we stayed. 

Warm morning sun and my chair, facing the Himalayas at a distance. 

The Himalayan Range, as seen from the cottage at Satoli

Picture taken from a height. Gives an idea of the terrain in general, at Ramgarh 

Gayatri mantra - My explanation about its greatness !

The Gayatri mantra is a prayer to the supreme lord to enhance
one’s intellect  or increase one’s knowledge or bring about
enlightenment. The sanskrit language is such that, a person who
has a deeper understanding of the language can provide different
meanings for every letter or half letter.
So, the Gayatri mantra has been open to interpretation by those
who have the understanding of the language and subject. 
And it has also been misused by many. Now, anybody and everybody
interprets it the way they want (Including yours truly !) and claims that it
provides various benefits. That is a matter of conjecture or belief. Since
it is a matter of ‘belief’,  no one can ask for justification or proof.
The following are a few such “benefits”. You may add your own to the list. 
It increases learning power. 

It increases concentration.

It brings prosperity.

It gives people eternal power.

It is very useful for peace.

It is the first step to go to the way of the spiritual road.

It is correlated with God.

It strengthens the mind and improves the health condition.

It improves the rhythmic pattern of breathing.

It keeps our hearts healthy.

It protects the devotee from all the dangers and guides towards
the Divine by intuition.

It improves our family life.

It makes students score better in exams   etc etc etc etc 

I don’t subscribe to any of those benefits or effects of gayatri mantra.
As far as I am concerned,The words “om bhur bhuva, suvah,
tat savitur varenyam, bhargo devasya dheemahi” is the way of
addrerssing the god by extolling his virtues. 

And “Dhiyo, yonah, prachodayat” Is our prayer to him to enhance
our wisdom or provide knowledge or enlighten. Thats it.  

Sri Bannanje Govindacharya explains how the words “Bhur ...to …
dheemahi” also indicate the ten avataras of lord Vishnu. There are
many such explanations.

I feel that the Gayatri is one of the great Mantras because it doesn’t
request god for money, luxuries and material benefits or extended life
and it only asks for more and more knowledge. ( of course, he may grant
it  but one has to work for it!) And in this present world and present age,
Knowledge is everything !! 

That may explain why it was considered important to perform
upanayanam to a boy and preach him “gayatri”,  just before he left for
Gurukula in search of knowledge.

The father performs upanayana (munji) and advises the boy, who is ready
to travel to gurukula seeking wisdom, to concentrate on and accumulate
more and more knowledge.
In other words “Study well”.   Hence Gayatri is a great mantra.