A Song, A Swede, And An Indian Festival

The music of Sweden shares the tradition of Nordic folk dance music with its neighboring countries in northern Europe, including polka, waltz, and mazurka. Some of my most popular music bands are from Sweden or have some connection with Sweden: ABBA, Roxette, Ace of Base, and The Cardigans. The list goes on.

And now you must be thinking what it is to do with an Indian festival. For long, Indians get frustrated and annoyed with the frequent stereotyped portrayal of India by the West, such as slums and poverty, snakes and elephants on the road, half-naked men, sadhus and many such things.

Therefore, it was quite refreshing when Swedish singer Noonie Bao recently shot her latest music single, “Do You Really Care” during the Holi Festival in India, last year around the same time. Holi – the festival of colors – is undoubtedly the most fun-filled and boisterous of Hindu festival. As Shelley rightly said, “If Winter comes, Can Spring Be Far Behind.” With winter neatly tucked up in the attic, it’s time to come out of our cocoons and enjoy this spring festival.

And I must say it is a wonderful portrayal of the only existing civilization in this world.

The Cup of Poison

Let me narrate yet another funny incident from my adventure diary about my old roommate, Agastya Basu.  Circa 2005, we both were working on the same project and had to go to the US for a project. By that time we had already traveled to the US couple of times, so in a way we use to feel like professional travelers, who knew it all about USA and journey to the US.

Usually when a bachelor goes to the US, and if you have married couples in your project team, then they would ask you to carry so many miscellaneous items for them, which we need to collect from them near and dear one in the city. So before we embarked, Agastya had to make these few trips that to their families in the city of our work and collected their stuff…Aaarrrgh! Thankfully, given the good nature, ready to help, and pleasing mannered buy, Agastya was always the one to whom they would be making these demands knowing that he would had put up any resistance, unlike me.

So, Agastya had this giant suitcase, which I think could even fit a human corpse to use when travelling to the US. Just to make everything fit in one he stuffed everything inside the bag, and did not bother to weigh before he left for the airport. I on my part had a standard size VIP suitcase, just good enough to fit my belongings.

As luck would have it, the reputed European airline (name disclosed for good reasons) counter guy told that the luggage was far too heavy and that Agastya need to split it into two bags. He tried reasoning and pleaded to waive as a one off case, but they insisted that everyone needs to abide by rules …so he had no other way than to buy a cabin bag from the airport store. Waste of money. This was just the beginning and he was already cursing those guys for whom he had to go through this ordeal.

At the security check in we had to put the wallet for the X-Ray screening, after which we both were relaxing at the lounge. Then the announcement came and Agastya and I both had this common habit of saying a little prayer before the start of the journey. As Agastya put his hand in his pocket to take out his wallet (which had a picture of God) that he realized that in the hurry he has totally forgot to collect his wallet at the security check-in counter. Now I could sense that his nerves were giving away, and being the good friend; both of us rushed to the security counter. Luckily, they said that the found a wallet, but since no one came to collect and the boarding announcement was made, they had passed it to the Lost and Found counter guys. Arrrgghh!!! Poor Agastya! Cause all his money was in his wallet. Thankfully after a few calls, Agastya got back his wallet. By this time, he was fuming at the airlines guys, although I could not understand why because I thought they were good, but I think the extra luggage thing rubbed on him and having to face with failure since his charm did not work with the counter agent.

Finally, we got into the airplane and as luck would have it, we good the last seats in the airplane. It was OK with me, but Agastya was cribbing again. It was only after he noticed this beautiful flight attendant who was serving our row that I saw a sudden transformation. He was in his old self, Mr. Iceman, who always thought that he has a way with words that pierces the strongest defenses.

After some time, the flight attendant came and asked me what I would love to have and I said that I wanted orange juice. She was indeed pretty, in fact pretty would be an understatement. She had this Latin-American looks like Salma Hayek. Now before this flight to the US, both of us had gone to watch this movie called ‘Hum Tum’, and we liked it although we found so much similarity with the English movie ‘When Harry Met Sally’. Before, she came to us; Agastya told me that he planned to have some fun with words with that FA. I, on my part, said go-ahead as long as it is harmless and in good humor.

So when she came to Agastya, and asked, “What would you like to have, Sir?” Imagine what he said, because even today I laugh when I think about it. Agastya said, “After all the harassment and ill-mannered behavior by your ground staff, I think I can have a glass of poison.”

And without a wink, she replied in the most polite way, ” Sir, the things that we ask our passengers not to carry on board the plane also applies to the crew of the plane, and although our airline prides in serving their passengers to all their needs, I apologize that I do not have a pint of poison, even in my personal attaché case. I am sorry. Can I serve you anything else, Sir?” Still smiling!!! And I was laughing under my teeth. I still remember the look on Agastya’s face. He was dumb-struck, actually thunder struck by the calmness and quick wit of the flight attendant. He knew he has been totally out-witted in his own game.

The rest of the journey we had a few more conversation until we reached Paris, where the staff changed. For my reader’s information and Agastya’s memory, the name of the flight attendant was Annette. The year was 2005. The destination was Mumbai to Newark via Paris.

Finding Your Best Route

As we approach our annual trip to India for this year, I was just doing some searches on Google trying to find out some optimized route for destinations we have planned to visit in our forthcoming trip to India. I came across few travel Websites in India, which had a trip planner tool. But, when I tried calculating the time, distance, and mode of transport, I was not quite happy with the result. For example, when I typed Kolkata to Gangtok; the result showed that the fastest way to reach the destination would take me approx. 15 hours (14 hrs. 50 mins). Since, I come from the Eastern part of India, I am little better in my direction sense between major towns in the East. I was surprised why the search did not show Bagdogra as the interim stopover before heading to Gangtok.

Hence, I went back to Google and was trying some more search combination, when I came across the quarterly result for Makemytrip. And there, I saw that the company has recently launched a new service for its customers; route planning tool/Website: RoutePlanner. Launched in Beta, the patent-pending product enables a user to trace the distance, time of travel and cost of moving between two destinations via various transportation modes including a mix of flights, trains, buses, as well as cabs/private cars. This tool is quite helpful especially when you have to chart out your trip and find the most optimal way both in terms of cost and time when travelling between tier II and tier III cities in India. And I tried doing the same search and this time, the results were satisfying and more accurate:

And the best part is that you can have the route e-mailed to you in portable document format (*.pdf) for your reference apart from the pricing details for flights and trains. Happy vacations!

Tiger Growls and The Sky Falls

Thought I pen down this incident that happened few moons back. I was a bachelor then, and lived and shared an apartment with four friends with the majority of them being Bengali. Durga Puja was fast approaching and I had booked my ticket for Kolkata from Mumbai. I was working in Pune at that time. A few days after I had booked my ticket, one of my roommates, Agastya Basu, also expressed his desire to tag along. Now Before I take this story forward, I need to introduce you to this dear friend, Agastya. He was the quintessential romantic guy who wore his heart on his sleeves. He was quite a popular character in his office and a wonderful company for all of us in our evenings and weekends. And till date, I am not sure about the authenticity of the numerous incidents he narrated to us—from hilarious ones to some weird ones and few being ridiculously insane as well. But nevertheless, we all enjoyed each of those stories in good humor.

I was feeling happy cause now I would have Agastya for company in my little more than two and a half hour journey from Mumbai to Kolkata. In addition, since Pune did not have a direct flight, I would have him along in our bus journey as well. Since our Indian Airlines flight was at 6.30 AM in the morning, we left Pune at around 10 in the night in one of the state-run deluxe AC bus that ply’s between Pune station and Dadar (in Mumbai) via the beautiful and dangerous curves…oops I mean Ghats of Lonavala and Kandala. We reached the domestic airport around 1 PM and directly walked in to the terminal. We were already starving by that time, so we headed to the airport restaurant and raided on whatever was available and did not look stale. After that we had these five hours to spend. After an hour long “Addaa” session between the two of us, we decided to take a nap in our chairs. And when we woke, it was already 5 AM. So we hurriedly rush to the Indian Airlines counter. As we were standing, the fact was your truly was standing in the queue, while our dear protagonist, Agastya, was doing a survey of all the passengers lined up in our counter and off course the beautiful ground staff whom he loved to trouble with his curious questions. I still wonder how he always had this bag of questions to ask and that too for a simple air-travel. Nevertheless, why bother. Then, suddenly Agastya came up to me and said, “Buddy, look at that passenger standing two arms ahead of us.” I looked and found that it was a known face, a girl who lived in the same society building with a group of other working girls. And although not sure where she worked, but definitely she use to take the same road where majority of the IT companies were housed. So, my assumption was that she must be a software professional just like us and visiting Kolkata, hence most likely a Bengali as well. Now, our smart friend, Agastya did not want to leave this chance of befriending a pretty girl and on top of it a Bengali and working in the same city and who lives in the same building. The next thing, I know is that he is talking to the counter staff, after the guy has giving the boarding pass to this girl and tells a story about how they are related and wanted two seats besides her. And he was surely lucky because the guy at the counter obliged.

So after spending some time in the waiting area …waiting for the announcement and listening to Agastya various ideas about how we should break the ice in the flight, we are asked to board the flight. So, the seating arrangement that was worked out was the girl had the window seat, Agastya would be sitting in the middle, and yours truly would sit on the aisle seat. Fair enough. I was never the James Bond type. As the flight took off, Agastya takes out a Java book and starts talking to me about some Java technology and AJAX and how he is doing some cool security stuff in Java in his project. At this point, I think as a reflex action and if you are a software developer, who might turn for a second. The girl did just that, but just for a fraction, but it was enough for our Tiger to pounce on the open opportunity. And Agastya said, “Hi, are you also working on Java since you showed interest in our conversation?” Poor girl, she did not have any other choice than to reply, “And she said “Yes, I am working on a Java project as well”. Agastya had broken the ice and he was about to put his thought into second-gear when the most unexpected thing happened. It was a “sky fall” moment if I may say so. Funny and embarrassing, both! Suddenly, I could hear a noise, more like a growl. And am sure the girl heard it as well. It was quite audible. We both turned sideways. The only person who did hear those noises but assumed that it was not getting heard outside his body was Agastya. It was Agastya stomach making those growling noises. Remember when we are hungry, almost starving and our stomach is churning some peculiar noises and most of the time we think that it is only audible to us, but the fact is that those noises are quite loud and clear. I whispered to Agastya about his musical belly noise and he had his jaws opened. Embarrassed!!! The next thing , we both saw was that the girl was snipping, trying to put her hand over her nose and then took out a spray and perfumed around her neck. She must have assumed the noise to come from some other place, I am sure because it always sounds like someone has farted. The next thing I saw was poor Agastya hiding his face in a magazine for the remainder of the journey. He must be thinking how to tell that pretty lass that those noises came from his belly and not his bottom. Worst, he also refused to eat the food served on the plane adding fuel to the suspicion that something was not right with his stomach. To this date, I can understand the misery and how much embarrassment such bodily noises can cause especially when you least expect it to happen.

Book Review: The Aryavarta Chronicles, Book 1: Govinda

Just finished reading the last page of the book: The Aryavarta Chronicles: Govinda (Book 1) by Krishna Udayasankar. Coincidentally  she is from the garden city-state of Singapore where I live. Maybe, in the next Singapore Writer’s Meet, I might get to meet her if she comes to the function. And before I start reviewing the book, thanks to a very good friend of mine who got this book for me, in fact gifted it to me. Else I might have missed this wonderful mythological fiction, one of my favorite genres in reading.

Off late there has a been a flurry of book on our Hindu Gods—you have Shiva or Rudra depicted in the most human fashion by Amish (The Shiva trilogy), then a series of fictional books on Rama and Ayodhya and now Krishna Udayshankar’s Aryavarta Chronicles. All I can say that the Gods would definitely be pleased!

Coming back to the book—from the title you can make out that the central figure of this book is Krishna or Govinda Shauri, as referred in the book. So what is the most striking feature of this book; and I would say the premise. The book treats the main characters as mere humans and not some divine figures.  The author does a great justice by deglamorizing these eminent characters of Mahabharata, who are so far we have always revered and treated them as divine figures in human form. Another thing that highly pleased me was the treatment Krishna Udayasankar has given to characters like Shikandin, Panchali, and Duryodhana. I have read many version of the great epic called *The Mahabharata*, but never I have found so much importance given to Shikandin as the author has given in this book. In most places, Shikandin is treated as a trans-gender, but here the author treats him as a brave and fearless warrior on par with Govinda, who is misunderstood by many others, including his father. Similarly, Duryodhana is not projected as the quintessential bad guy, but rather a logical and rational person, who is torn by fate and duty. Panchali or Draupadi is an important character in this book. There are few women that compete with the beauty of Draupadi; all those that met her adored her. Her beauty was so great that she delighted all of the human senses. Alf Hiltbeitel states this of her beauty: “The very sight of her was magnetic due to her irresistible beauty and fragrance” (Hiltebeitel 267). Panchali’s beauty would gain her much attention, but it is her ability to balance her beauty with the desirable traits of a wife that gain her such devotion. Panchali possessed the desirable traits of many women, and was able to use these traits to influence and control. Panchali had a great understanding of the balance between being bold and forthright, and being submissive and dutiful. The author also beautifully narrates the mystical and lovely relationship that Panchali has with Govinda. There is devotion, there is love, there is pain, there is care, and there is suffering for their souls in that relationship between Sakha and Sakhi.

Now coming to the plot; it is about the rivalry and fighting between the Firstborns and the Firewrights. The Firstborns are the scholars and sages, who are descendants of Vasishta Varuni and so-called protectors of the Divine Order on Earth. The Angirasa families of Firewrights are an ancient order of scientists and inventors who wear mixed colors, descendants of the Bhargavas.  Set in ancient India, in lands lost in the mists of antiquity, religion and history; these books form a saga of Epic India -before time and language transformed tales of flesh and blood, into mythical, larger-than-life accounts. In Udayshankar’s Aryavarta, the most powerful state is Jarasandha’s Magadha. Hastinapur is shown as a vassal of Magadha. Govinda Shauri is a cowherd, who takes the remaining Yadus from Mathura and moves to a distant land and were he builds the glorious Dwaraka. The rivalry and fighting between the Firewrights and the Firstborn dynasty is a thread which runs through this book and as Book One comes to an end, stays alive to continue into Book Two. There are many examples in this book, where the author has taking a tangent from what is most read about these incidents. For example, when Yudhistira is coroneted the Empire of Aryavarta and the First Honor is giving to Govinda; at that time Shisupala raises his objection and throw expletives at Bhishma and Vyasa for their foolery. In most cases, it is shown that Krishna or Govinda brings out his *Sudarshana Chakra* and beheads Shisupala. But in this book, the author shows them as equals and there is a word fight and the best man wins. Off course it is Govinda who ultimately triumphs. In this way, Krishna Udayshankar paints all her characters in grey, which essential means that both the good and the bad resides within us rather than portraying extreme goodness or badness of a character.   This is an excellent book that combines fiction with mythology and adds the mystery element.

The Story of Matsyagandha and Rishi Parashar and the Birth of Krsna Dwaipayana

I love history and mythology and if not a software professional, I would have been a professor of Indian History and Mythology.

So, let me produce one piece of mythology about the birth of a firstborn: a person who was later to write one of the most read and respected epics of our times; actually eternal times.

The story goes back to the time when King Shantanu was the ruler of Hastinapur. Shantanu had married Ganga who later gave birth to a son. But she drowned the child. Shantanu could not ask her the reason, because of his promise, lest she would leave him. One by one, seven sons were born to them, and were drowned by Ganga. When Ganga was about to drown the eighth son, Shantanu, devastated, could not restrain himself and confronted her. Ganga was said that Shantanu had broker her promise and as a consequence she had no option but to leave him. But before leaving Shatanu, Ganga explained her actions— the child’s she had drowned were demi-gods who had been cursed to be born as humans. She had been freeing them from their curse. But now the eight one was to live the curse on Earth. She handed him to Shantanu and went back to the river. The baby boy was named Devavrata, and eventually came to be known as the mighty warrior Bhishma.

Time passed by, Devavrata was a now a handsome prince, but King Shatnau was all alone—a feeling of loneliness and sadness had crept in to him. At such times, Shantanu use to take long walks in the forest besides the Yamuna. In one such walk, a particular fragrance attracted him and he wanted to find the source of such a beautiful aroma. This led him to the riverbed, where he met Satyavati, the daughter of the head fisherman, and immediately was smitten by the love bug. Satyavati, was indeed a very charming and beautiful woman. Satyavati’s father agreed to the marriage on condition that, the son bore of her daughter would be heir to Shantanu’s throne.

King Shantanu was unable to give his word on accession as his eldest son Devavrata was the heir to the throne. However, when Devavrata came to know of this and for the sake of his father, gave his word to the head fisherman that he would renounce all his claims to the throne, in favour of Satyavati’s children. To reassure the skeptical ferryman, further Devavrata also vowed lifelong celibacy to ensure that future generations borne of Satyavati would also not be challenged by his offspring. Thus, that day, he got the name: Bhishma.

Shantanu and Satyavati went on to have two sons, Chitrāngada and Vichitravirya.

But little known fact is that before Satyavati met Shantanu, she already had a son. As a young girl, Satyavati use to wander in the forest and in one such wandering, she came across the great sage Parashar. Parashar, was the grandson of the great hermit Vashista, a first-born. Since Satyavati was the daughter of fisherman, she used to smell of fish. Parashar was particularly disturbed by the foul stench that was emanating from her. Parashar asked Satyavati to ferry her across the Yamuna. As they were crossing the river in her boat, Parashara grew attached to Satyavati, and desired to perform coitus with her. Parashar said to Satya that the child born of them will not be any ordinary child but he will change the course of history, in fact write the sourse of history. But Satyavati was terrified of him and gave an excuse that there were many people present on either sides of the river. So Parasara, with his mystic power, created a dense sheet of mist around the boat. After that, Parashar gave Satyavati two boons: the first one was that Satyavati would henceforth be emanating the finest fragrance from her person.  From that day, Satyavati was also called as Matsyagandha. The second one was that she would get her virginity back and no one will ever doubt her integrityJ. The son born of them was called Krsna Dwaipayana. He was dark-complexioned and hence called by the name Krsna (dark), and also the name Dwaipayana, meaning ‘island-born’. Vyasa was, technically, grandfather to the Kauravas and Pandavas. Their fathers, Dhritarashtra and Pandu, adopted as the sons of Vichitravirya by the royal family, were fathered by him. He had a third son, Vidura, by a serving maid.

To All Those Who Have Touched My Life, ~Thank You~

“I am a part of all that I have touched and that has touched me.”

Today, as I was travelling in the MRT, in Singapore, my eye caught a bunch of school kids who were laughing and talking about something, which I assume must have been really funny. And then, like a flashback, I remembered my good old school days and my dear friends. Friends—they come into your life and enrich it by their sheer presence. There comes a time, when one realizes that one’s accomplishments and unique journey through life have been made richer by the presence of those who have touched not only one’s body, but also one’s mind and one’s spirit. This is my tribute to all of my great friends who have touched my life in my 35 years of existence on Mother Earth—gifted and gracious people who have left an incredible if not indelible impression upon me for which I shall be eternally grateful.

Today, we categorize people we know into many buckets. But for me, all my true friends have been explorers because they helped me discover a new world inside me, which was untouched and unborn before their arrival. When I was growing up, my sister gave me this wonderful book, “The Little Prince”. And I will be ever thankful to her because this book opened a world of imagination for me—beautiful and pure. And let me reproduce a small section from that book where there is this beautiful conversation between The Little Prince and The Fox, which highlights friendship and the value of true friends.

“I am looking for friends. What does that mean — tame?”

“It is an act too often neglected,” said the fox. “It means to establish ties.”

“To establish ties?”

“Just that,” said the fox. “To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world….”

Sometime back, I read this article and found it interesting, hence I felt like reproducing it in my blog post as well. It says, people come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. When you figure out which it is; you know exactly what to do.

When someone is in your life for a reason, it is usually to meet a need you have expressed outwardly or inwardly. They have come to assist you through a difficulty, to provide you with guidance and support, to aid you physically, emotionally, or spiritually. They may seem like a godsend, and they are. They are there for the reason you need them to be. Then, without any wrong doing on your part or at an inconvenient time, this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end. Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away. Sometimes they act up or out and force you to take a stand. What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled; their work is done. The prayer you sent up has been answered and it is now time to move on.

When people come into your life for a season, it is because your turn has come to share, grow, or learn. They may bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh. They may teach you something you have never done. They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy. Believe it! It is real! But, only for a season.

Lifetime relationships teach you lessons that lasts a lifetime; those things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation. Your job is to accept the lesson, love the person/people (anyway); and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas of your life. It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant.

And I am blessed to have lifetime friends—it all began from school (we were the three musketeers) and still going young. I say young, cause it is a great feeling to gain a friend; a true friend. Because it is never the length of the time spent with a person that determines if she or he is a true friend who knows you or understands you, it is something that is felt; you cannot describe it in words.  So to all my dearest friends, you are always there in my thoughts, we might not be talking on a daily basis but then friendship is not measured by the number of chats and phone calls only, it is felt from heart.

Will leave you with this thought, “Though miles may lie between us; we are never far apart, for friendship does not count miles; it is measured by the heart.”