Mana Mandira - Katyar Kaaljat Ghusli

Note - My latest recording of this song, 6 years after this post. Do listen, like and subscribe:)

KaTyaar KaLjaat Ghusali is a landmark movie in the history of modern Marathi Cinema. Based on a Sangeet Natak by the same name, it is an attempt at portraying the story in a cinematic format, with aesthetics which cannot be possible done in a live musical play. 

It has most of the original songs composed by Pt. Jitendra Abhisheki, one among the very few who helped preserve and popularise Naatya Sangeeta in modern times. The soundtrack contains some new tracks too. It is a beautiful work of art by the composers Shankar-Ehsan-Loy and the singers Shankar Mahadevan, Rahul Deshpande and Mahesh Kale.

Shankar Mahadevan as Panditji

One of the new songs from the sound track is Mana Mandira, beautifully sung by Shankar Mahadevan. There is also a version by his younger son Shivam which is wonderfully done, considering his young age. Shankar ji's improvisations towards the end of the song are very impressive.

In the movie, the picturisation of this song is a highlight. Panditji (Shankar Mahadevan) is leading his young disciple Sadashiva to the forest, with a promise of manifesting fireflies with the help of music. To do that, he sings this divine song and in the process, not only teaches music to his protege but also imparts knowledge about the values of a good Saadhaka. 

The Divine vibrations and ideas expressed in the song inspired me to attempt a translation of its straightforward but philosophically rich lyrics, written by Mandar Cholkar.

मन मंदिरा… 

Based on Raaga Des

Lyrics - Mandar Cholkar

Music - Shankar-Ehsan-Loy

Sung by - Shankar Mahadevan
Translation by - Shrinath Shenoy

मन मंदिरा… तेजाने उजळून घेई साधका

संवेदना… संवादे सहवेदना… जपताना

With Divine Radiance,

A  Saadhaka illuminates the Shrine of his Mind

Cultivating a sensitive and an empathetic demeanour.

तळहाताच्या रेषांनी सहज सुखा का भोगी कुणी

Does one enjoy a life dictated by Destiny alone?

स्वयंप्रकाशी तू तारा...

चैतन्याचा गाभारा

भर पंखातून स्वप्न उद्याचे

झेप घे रे पाखरा

A self-luminous star,

You are the sanctuary of Divine Consciousness.

Full with the dreams of tomorrow,

Take a leap and fly to great heights.

Some thoughts on the term Saadhaka

When i started translating from Marathi to English, i realised that our Indian words capture a lot of information and meaning compared to their so called English counterparts. There cannot be a perfect translation for words like Aatmaa, Dharma and hence, the translations of many ancient Indian scriptures fail to capture the intent and essence of the sacred texts.

At most, i could have used the term Seeker in place of Saadhaka. Now, the imagery created by Seeker is of a person trying to find something. Saadhaka illustrates a person carrying out Saadhanaa - continuous, dedicated practice in order to attain his objective. The term Saadhaka intrigues me, as it brings out the essence of Panditji's character, who, like the singer saints of ancient India, practiced Sangeet Saadhanaa in the pursuit of the Divine. The path to God followed by every artiste in ancient India was about achieving transformation. The song thus speaks about the path of a Saadhaka, which requires cultivating sensitivity, empathy as well as courage, an action-oriented attitude and hope.

The lines that got edited

I had attended Mahesh Kale's concert - 'Sur Niragas Ho', held in Shanmukhananda Saraswati Auditorium in Mumbai, on 15th May 2016. Before performing this song, he sang a few lines which according to his commentary, were written by Subodh Bhave and were originally part of the song, but later got edited out.

Presenting the clip for anyone interested.

My performance of the song

I had performed this song on 18th December 2016 at Nagayakshe Dharmartha Sabhabhavan, Bhatkal, on the occasion of my engagement ceremony. One of the few performances which gladdened my heart like no other. Totally impromptu, no rehearsal, hence kindly pardon my mistakes.

Would not have been possible without support of my co-musicians - Sanjith (Harmonium), Sanketh(Manjira) and Sudarshan on tabla.

Update - 11th November 2018

This post is the most accessed one in my blog. One of my readers, Shri. Sajith Pallippuram, had appreciated this post as it helped him gain and understanding of the meaning of the song, as he was preparing to perform it in an event. He has also been kind to share a video of his performance of this song. I happily share it for all of you to check out.

Shri Pallippuram is a Malayalee. I am a GSB Konkani. And look at the power of this composition, it makes everyone attempt it because it truly is a beautiful one. Music truly transcends barriers of all kinds...:)

This rendition is very unique and I recommend it highly.

Notes - 

a. Marathi lyrics taken from http://cinelookout.com/2015/11/katyar-kaljat-ghusali-man-mandira-tejaane-lyrics.html

b. Updated the translation of "तळहाताच्या रेषांनी सहज सुखा का भोगी कुणी" based on the correction suggested by Shri. Sumeet Malshe.

c. Made additional changes in the first stanza, based on translation insights gained from watching the movie for a second time.

The Ghost in the Keyboard.

The problems started when one day my laptop met with a serious accident. The power LED was the lone casualty; at least it looked that way. Not a case to cry upon; accidents are a part of life.

Then while typing a note, I observed that all of a sudden a '/' came out of nowhere in the text. I dismissed it as a case of slip of my fingers when all of a sudden there was a train of '///'s. Now how could one explain this?

Probably some grit under the chicklet key of '/' must be doing that, hence I removed the key, brushed under and put it back. Problem solved for the moment, just to be back in the next 5 minutes. But it was a small problem which I was managing in a number of ways and so a few weeks passed by in which I had learned how to live with it.

I had tried Googling (Caps for my respect for Google) up to find possible causes, but to no avail. When it comes to Googling, I have had the most weird queries, and each time I do such a search I realise I am not alone - there are others who share my weirdness. But in this case, this was a problem only I had faced in all these years of human history. So now, as Googling was not an option anymore, I started using my imagination and the most obvious speculation was that of a Ghost in the Keyboard.

We know about Ghost in the Shell, but Ghost in the Keyboard? There are trojan horse viruses which get installed in our machines maliciously and try to record keystrokes but in this case, this thing was hell bent on typing this single uninteresting character of '/'. What was the reason this ghost had chosen this key? In the times of new age theories and aliens trying to contact us from within a Black Hole (inspired from Interstellar), I found this theory both interesting and hard to shake off.

So what to do about the ghost? Maybe try a few mantras. I used to hit the key hard and mentally chant some mantras I know, and it seemed to work for a while till a day, the ghost went crazy and would not allow me to type anything meaningful. This meant that when I tried to force a restart to solve this problem (yes we Indians think a restart can solve all our problems), I was no longer able to type in my password. Holy Fish! A serious problem indeed!

Having had disassembled my laptop some months ago I thought of giving it a try to see if this could solve my problem. A huge task in itself, but was a quick thing to do this time. But once assembled, the problem came back.

Now all of a sudden, I realised what I had not realised in all these days of using my efforts and my imagination - there was another key with '/' on my keyboard!! I realised the issue, removed the key, cleaned underneath it and voila! all is well.

This experience made me realise that there are 2 basic principles in trying to solve any problem

1. Raising ones awareness to find all the possible causes of the problem.

2. Using minimum imagination as possible.

But yeah, imagination does help people like me put up blog posts like these to illustrate simple principles...;)

Software code review philosophy

Software code is a work of art. But it is not something which is seen, felt or eaten. It has to work, and work well, and be directed to a set of scenarios which probably will evolve with time and needs. Hence, writing bug free code is impossible.

But software development has reached a mature stage by now, and anyone who has worked well does know a few things about what qualifies as good code. It should be clean and easy to maintain, have minimum redundancy, should be high on performance and take care of security. Most importantly, it should take care of a few more scenarios than in the Business Requirements Document; something we call non-functional requirements.

With these in mind, a peer or a senior can review the code. A peer will be able to show basic mistakes which the developer has done in coding. Lets think of the peer as the developer's batch-mate - both were taught by the same teacher and taught very well. But due to pressures and oversight, which are natural for anyone, a few important points were missed. Here, the peer who is reviewing others work has the frame of mind to properly notice the mistakes. Lets accept the fact that it is hard to be effectively self critical. Here peer review comes handy, so that when the code goes to the senior, there are no reasons for the developer to be embarrassed about himself.

The reasons of code review, as enlisted before, are more effectively handled in the senior review. Assuming the senior to be worth his salt, a number of good review comments will come the developers way. When i had started off, i unfortunately never did a peer review. Instead, 2 of my seniors and the client himself would review my code and i had a lot of review comments to handle. I would be angry looking at the number of comments, but eventually i realised that a developers job is of continuous learning and this process not only ensures code is of the accepted standard, but also the developer gets some insights acquired by the seniors in their years of experience.

Re-iteration experience, does give one a few funny observations. In the recurring code reviews, some comments are given on code which has already been reviewed earlier, and the developer thinks that why were these not pointed out earlier. In this, the right way to think is to consider everyone human, and keep in mind that we all are part of a team and are working towards ensuring that the product delivered is of a very high quality. The idea of being part of one team needs to be nurtured constantly, and this only improves the pleasure the team gets on delivering a successful software release.

Shiva Tāndava Stotram

I have been an avid reader of Captain Ajit Vadakayil's blog. It is here, that i read about Shiva Tandava Stotram first, composed by the great Dashānana - King Rāvana of Lanka. The story of this stotram goes like this (copied from Captain's blog) -

Update 10/8/2019 - This attribution is wrong.

Ravana went to meet Shiva.  Nandi the vehicle of Shiva, refused to let Ravana in.  Ravan got upset and started teasing Nandi. Nandi got annoyed and cursed Ravana that Lanka would be destroyed by a monkey.  To demonstate to Nandi his great strength, Ravana attempted to shake to lift and  move Mount Kailash the mountain on a whim.  

Shiva, annoyed by Ravana's arrogance, pressed his little toe on Kailash, pinning him firmly and painfully under it.  Not to be outdone, Ravana plucked out the nerves from his hand used Kailash as a resonator and composed and sang stotras praising Lord Shiva.   Finally Shiva got pleased with his resilience and devotion , after hearing Shiva Tandav Stotram his technically superior musical performance spanning many raagas and  released Ravana from his bondage.

You will note i have used "great" to describe Rāvana, who is popularly considered as an extremely evil personality. I feel this is an exaggerated opinion of his. He was a great devotee of Lord Shiva, a renowned scholar and a benevolent king. But considering his arrogance he was punished as regards the principles of Dharma, as applicable to the times of Treta Yuga.

Update - 10/8/2019: The stotram is wrongly attributed to RaavaNa. Though the story mentioned earlier is part of Pauranic lore, attributing Shiva Tandava Stotram here is wrong. I have stricken off my lines as a reminder of how much we can be misled, without complete knowledge of language and its history.

Back to the stotram...:) It is a great example of the power and beauty of Sanskrit, a language i hope i will be able to master in this lifetime.  Most of us will identify it by its opening lines (from Wikipedia);

जटाटवीगलज्जलप्रवाहपावितस्थले

गलेऽवलम्ब्य लम्बितां भुजङ्गतुङ्गमालिकाम् |

डमड्डमड्डमड्डमन्निनादवड्डमर्वयं

चकार चण्डताण्डवं तनोतु नः शिवः शिवम् ||१||

Jata tavee gala jala pravaha pavithas thale

Galae..valambya lambitaam bhujanga tunga malikaam

Damad damad damad daman ninaa davad damar vayam

Chakara chanda tandavam tanotu naha shivaha shivam. 1

With his neck, consecrated by the flow of water flowing from the thick forest-like locks of hair, 

and on the neck, where the lofty snake is hanging like a garland, 

and the Damaru drum making the sound of Damat Damat Damat Damat, 

Lord Shiva did the auspicious dance of Tandava 

and may He shower prosperity on us all.

The rest of the translation can be seen here.

The stotram has been used in a couple of movies, notably Lingaa (2014), Attacks of 26/11(2013) and most recently, in Baahubali, in a song named Kaun hai woh. Composed by the great M.M. Keeravani and rendered by Kailash Kher, the spirit of the song is amazing.

The intent of this post, apart from introducing this amazing sacred chant is also to share some of its best versions available. Here are the top 4 in increasing order of merit.

Number 4  - THE EXTREME VERSION

Album - Majhi Gaani    
Artist - Ajay Atul

Ajay - Atul have not only given some amazing music in Marathi and Hindi cinema, but also created some memorable devotional numbers. We all know Shri Ganeshaaya Dheemahi, rendered by Shankar Mahadevan, and also the rendition of Hanuman Chalisa, which is used extensively in the latest Hanuman series Sankatmochan Mahabali Hanuman.

This rendition is full on energy and spirit of the stotram, but is not a complete rendition. At one point, you may see Rāvana himself, if you listen carefully:)

Number 3 - THE TECHNO VERSION

Album - Divine Chants of Shiva 

Artist - Uma Mohan 

    

The album is a very good musical work, and a great attempt at making sacred chants suitable to the new age listener. Uma's voice and pronunciations are good and so are the musical arrangements. This rendition is a very popular one these days, and very good for choreographing dances, The progression is catchy and the traditional elements have been beautifully synthesised.

  

Number 2 - THE EASY-LISTENING VERSION

Album - Shiva Stuthi
Artist - Unnikrishnan

Unnikrishnan is the voice behind Ennavale Ennavale from Kadhalan, which fetched him a National Award and made him a star. He is from Kerala and blessed with a melodious voice.

This composition is the slow paced, complete version and makes for a good morning listen. I used to listen to this track everyday while i was in Pune, for a period of 6 months, and it helped me learn this long stotram very well. I recommend you find and download the whole version, if you want to learn it. Here is a small snippet of the track - very good, easy to listen arrangement, and captures the spirit of the stotram very well.

Number 1 - THE BEST VERSION

Album - Vedic Chants - Mantras & Melodies
Singer - Krishnaraj Ji

I got inspired to write on this topic on the last Shrāvana Monday of this year. On 8th, i was trying to search for some another version of the stotram, and was very happy to find this one.

This version is very beautifully rendered; it has all the elements i like, the pronunciations are very good, and instrumentation is traditional. There are a lot of delicate embellishments which make this version a treat to hear. The following video is also brilliantly made.

Dashānana Rāvana continues to be revered and remembered as a great Shiva Bhakta by countless devotees who chant this stotram everyday.

Hey Bhagawati, please remove the veil of ignorance from the eyes of sincere seekers of Truth.

|| Sadāshivam Bhajāmyaham ||

Ya Jeevan Apule Saarth Kara Re - Lyrics and Translation

Lokmanya - Ek Yugpurush is a great movie i saw recently. Based on the life of Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak, it is a great attempt at reminding our generation about the true values of the Indian Freedom Struggle, and making us question how successful we have been in achieving them in all these years of Independence.

The first song of the movie "Ya Jeevan Apule Saarth Kara Re" is truly inspiring. Composed by Ajit-Sameer, and sung by Shankar Mahadevan, the arrangement and composition of this song is commendable. The lyrics for this song are splendid, but unfortunately, i am not able to find the name of the lyricist for this one.

This is my attempt at translating this amazing song, from Marathi. I don't see many songs being translated from Marathi to English. I hope this encourages others to carry this out on other songs, which they feel, folks across India and the World should listen to.

या जीवन आपले सार्थ करा रे 

राष्ट्रभक्ती निःस्वार्थ करा रे 

एकजुटीने कार्य करा या देशाचे 

Come, make this life of yours worthy

Love your Nation selflessly

And collectively carry out National service.

या साथी बना अन सार्थ करा रे, मातृभूमी ही आज पुकारे 

जागृत होऊन कंकण बांधू दिवसरात्र जगण्याचे

Come along and be of service, The Motherland is calling you, 

Awaken and pledge yourself to work ceaselessly, day or night.

मातेच्या पायाशी हे अर्पण प्राणांचे 

फेडूया ऋण आम्हा हा जन्म लाभला त्याचे 

घेऊ हे ब्रीद हाती आसेतुसिंधू नव हिंदुस्तानाचे 

Dedicating this life of ours at the Holy Feet of our Mother

Lets repay this debt of being fortunate enough to be born on this Great Land

By taking up the task of laying the foundation of a new Hindustaan...

भीती न आम्हा ह्या वज्र मुठींनी कातळ भेदू 

सीमा न कुठली हुंकार असा गगनाला छेदू 

ठाम निश्चय हा दुर्दम्य आमुची इच्छाशक्ती

हृदय पोलादी ना सोडी कधी राष्ट्रभक्ती

Fear we know not, we shall crush rocks with our iron fists

No boundaries can stop us, we roar thus and the sky reverberates

Firm is this decision, indomitable is our will power

With nerves of steel, never shall we forsake our patriotism

मातेच्या पायाशी हे अर्पण प्राणांचे 

फेडूया ऋण आम्हा हा जन्म लाभला त्याचे 

घेऊ हे ब्रीद हाती आसेतुसिंधू नव हिंदुस्तानाचे 

Dedicating this life of ours at the Holy Feet of our Mother

Lets repay this debt of being fortunate enough to be born on this Great Land

By taking up the task of laying the foundation of a new Hindustaan...

जन्म हा माझा 

होई सार्थ साचा, 

मुक्त माता होता 

This life of mine 

Will be truly worthy

The day my Mother shall become free...

हे एकची माझे ध्येय आता राष्ट्र असे घडवावे

हे भारतभू तुजसाठी आता जीवन अर्पावे

My objective now is to evolve a Great Nation and

O my dear Mother Land, to dedicate my life for you...

ज्योत ज्ञानाची स्फुल्लिंग मनाचे पेटून उठले 

स्वाभिमानाचे हे कुंड मनाचे मग धगधगले 

शृंखला तोडी हे दास्य आता ना साही कोणा

देश हा अमुचा स्वातंत्र्याचा अमुचा बाणा

Illuminated by knowledge, enlightened minds are emerging

Full of self respect, these sparks go forth

To break this chain of slavery once and for all

This is our Country, our goal is to make It free

मातेच्या पायाशी हे अर्पण प्राणांचे 

फेडूया ऋण आम्हा हा जन्म लाभला त्याचे 

घेऊ हे ब्रीद हाती आसेतुसिंधू नव हिंदुस्तानाचे

Dedicating this life of ours at the Holy Feet of our Mother

Lets repay this debt of being fortunate enough to be born on this Great Land

By taking up the task of laying the foundation of a new Hindustaan...

Note - Marathi lyrics from http://geetmanjusha.com/lyrics/12350-ya-jeevan-aaple-sarth-kara-re

The story of the Wari

I was raring to do something different in 2012. Life till now had been eventful, thanks to my involvement in couple of activities in Infosys. But there was a transformation waiting to happen - of becoming comfortable in my own skin. And for that, the fears that were deep rooted had to go.

While browsing the Infosys Bulletin Board (fondly called, The Infy BB), i read a post around an IT Dindee participating in the annual Wari happening in a few days and realised that this was my chance. I went ahead with registering and contacting the concerned people.

Wari - Background

Vitthala of Pandharpur

Wari is the annual pilgrimage to the temple of Vitthala/Vithoba in Pandharpur. It is a thousand year old tradition started and continued by the foresight, devotion and commitment of countless saints, Maharashtra has been blessed to have. People from various villages, whose devotional affiliation is to Vitthala Mauli (mother, that is how the devotees address the Lord), leave their homes in small groups called Dindees, and travel to the temple town of Pandharpur, with the calculation of being there for Aashaadhi Ekadashi (Aashaadh is a Hindu month - the beginning of the rainy season. Ekadashi is the eleventh day, considered sacred in these circles).

Sant Dnyaneshwar of Alandi and Sant Tukaram of Dehu

The paalkhis (carriages) of the paadukas (holy sandals) of Sant Dnyaneshwar of Alandi and Sant Tukaram of Dehu pass through the ancient city of Pune and many devotees who cannot undertake the journey, due to the modern way of life, crave to get a darshan (sacred and auspicious sight) of the paadukas.

IT Dindee - The idea

A few foresighted folks from the flourishing IT industry in Pune thought that this opportunity of the procession passing from Pune should be utilised to educate the new generation about these age old traditions and came up with the concept of IT Dindee - a walk with the Warkaris (the ones who undertake the Wari) for a day, covering 21 kms, engaging in their devotional exercises to understand this particular tradition.

IT Dindee 2012 - My story begins...

The day began quite early - I had to reach the pickup point in Pimple Saudagar at 4 am in the morning. We were being picked up from predetermined locations. I met a middle aged gentleman named Mr. Patil, and this meeting  happened to be the defining factor of this experience. He was at a senior position in TCS and a resident of Balewadi. We were soon picked by the minivan, and after others had been picked, our van went straight to Alandi.

All of us assembled at one location. Here we were briefed about the plan for the day, the basic discipline required - the dos and don'ts. As we would be walking in the crowd of the villagers, this opportunity could very well be used to educate them about the wrong practices that we attribute to their lack of education, and to achieve this, we were wearing Gandhi caps with a message to save the girl child.

IT Dindee - The assembly

However as the day passed and ended, it was the villagers, who without any effort, taught me a lot of things about life. Probably because i was receptive enough to learn.

We were to be guided by Palave Maharaj, a Warkari from one of the Wari Dindees. He was a young, handsome, amiable looking man, and he rubbed some nice attar on our wrists. From here, our journey began.

Firstly, we assembled at a place, where we were shown all the games that the Warkaris play, to fend off tiredness and boredom. Extremely childish and boring games - these were my first impressions. Only when we were called upon to play them, did i realise how amazing they were! E.g. we made a circle of people who had to enact various characters and move in the circle back and forth, as demonstrated by the leader who was Palave Maharaj. He was acting like a small boy, a newly married bride, an old woman, a fierce warrior and we had to follow his lead. There was no predicting what would the next character be, and we were on our toes observing and following, all to the the chants of Dnya..neshwar Ma..uli, Dnanoba Mauli Tukaram. It was seriously an exhilarating and entertaining exercise. Post this, we played fugadi briefly and settled for breakfast.

Fugadi.
(Source - bharatestates.com)

The trip started after half an hour, when we were just ahead the paalkhi of Sant Dnyaneshwar. The plan for the day was to walk till 1:00 pm, have lunch and rest, and then proceed to a point where both the processions would be crossing each other, so that we could have the darshan of both the carriages. As we started, we were chanting holy words and singing devotional songs. Personally, i was more interested in observing the people making the trip.

Mr. Patil (referred to as 'my friend', from now on), was guiding me about a lot of things, as he had already walked with the wari last year. He had prepared for the long walk physically, and asked me if I had too, and i hadn't as i was not worried about walking 21 kms in a day. We saw a lot of stalls distributing food to the pilgrims. My friend told me that the people who were lapping up all those food items were not the true pilgrims, but poor opportunistic people. He directed my attention towards a truck going along with the procession and added that the warkaris are self-sufficient in their ways. We could also see small mobile shrines, opened up to worship interesting phenomena like a cow with three hind legs etc. Innocent villagers were worshiping these, and this was an indicator of how much blind faith rules the minds of these people.

Paalkhi and Wari
(Source - indiatoday.intoday,in)

We walked for a few hours and after some time boredom started to set in. I tried to strike a conversation with some fellows, but could not get a spark and so eventually just gave up. Our party made a temporary halt at one place, where we created a circle and did some garba like dance, chanting and playing the cymbals, and it was a good diversion.

The walk till lunchtime was uneventful. I already had misgivings about coming for this, as I felt there was really nothing stimulating to be taken away from here and i felt bad about spoiling one weekday on this experiment. But then, as a devotee, i believe everything happens for a reason and just left it to Him to reveal why He had made me do this.

(Source - zilliondesigns.com)

We settled down at a society and had our lunch. I rested for a while below a tree, and was really not in the mood to go and mix up with the folks who were there. After a while my friend came up to me, and asked me if i would like to go with him. He was not content with simply having a look at the carriages, and wanted to have the actual darshan of the paadukas. Having no plan, i simply accepted his offer and we started walking away from the party. And it is from here that the adventure started...

We walked to the spot where the paalkhi of Sant Dnyaneshwar was stationed in a temporary shrine. Our intent was to have a close darshan of the paaduka and then proceed along with the paalkhi. My friend took my bag, and asked me to go and have darshan and once i had it, he would proceed. 

Sacred Paaduka
(Source - indiatoday.intoday.in)

The crowd was mind boggling and i was getting real angry looking at how badly disciplined the village folk were. I was standing in this queue, and all of a sudden a batch of people joined it in the wrong manner. There was an uproar from the folks who were in the line, but all of a sudden, the folks simply forgot about it and started talking amiably with these defaulters. This was a rude shock for the "civilized" man from the city, but what i realised is how cool these people are. And more importantly, i also understood that with my version of discipline, i was far from making any progress into the shrine, so i simply followed what others were doing -  broke the line, sneaked in and had the darshan. It felt nice - i did something i had not planned on doing and would not have normally done, and considering the reverence i have for Sant Dnyaneshwar, the opportunity i seized made me feel very good. I rushed back, let my friend have his darshan, and as he completed and came back, the bugles for the paalkhi's departure sounded. Our small adventure was properly timed by the Grace of God. From there on, we started following the procession.

As we moved, there were so many things to observe. The kind of devotion folks from villages have is impressive. I have grown up in a temple compound and belong to a devout community, but i hadn't seen this depth of devotion in the city folks. Probably, our devotion has become very superficial, like the lives that we lead. The devotees were chanting "mauli mauli" every now and then, with so much feeling, and i felt how could anyone feel so much devotion inside. My friend too was displaying those tendencies, and i honestly felt weird, as it was all new to me. But as time passed, i could only admire the strength we were getting from this devotion which was part of the whole moving crowd.

(Source - betterphotography.in)

Men and women were bumping into each other, not intentionally, but as it could not be avoided. And it was a no issue! I felt as if there was a kind of an ego loss happening, as people were forgetting about how men and women are supposed to be segregated (which is a huge thing in orthodox circles) and were walking on for the common cause. This was by far, the most splendid realisation i had in the day.

Once the procession halted for the evening break, we two kept walking, after having a sip of water and eventually came across few of the members of the IT Dindee. They were separated too, since by then they had realised that due to some timing issues, they would not be getting to have a darshan of both the paalkhis at the predefined point. Some folks had called it a day and went home. In my mind, i felt blessed to have chosen to go away from the party(something i generally would not do) and get a better experience than most of them. And my friend was responsible for it in a big way.

We waited at this spot for a while. From here, we could see the different dindees. There were women carrying Tulasi (holy basil) plants on their head, a lot of people with mrudungs, taals and tamburis chanting abhangs (devotional songs). It was an energetic and devotional atmosphere, and a lot of city residents had gathered on the walkways to look at them. I loved the sound of the mrudung, specially certain percussion patterns, and they kept playing in my ears for days after this experience.

Tulasi and Tamburi
(Source - lifeforcemagazine.com)

Warkaris singing devotional songs
(Source - bharatestates.com)

Taala and Mrudung
(Source - indiatoday.intoday.in)

After some time of observing, the paalkhi of Dnyaneshwar Mauli was coming closer and we started going along with it. My friend said - lets walk till Deccan Gymkhana and then call it a day. The day was ending and I was surprised that i had really walked the whole 21 km stretch! I was really feeling very happy at his point and to add to the pleasure, it rained lightly which refreshed all of us. Now a lot of city folks waiting for darshan were crowding the streets and showering petals. For me it was a great end to an unexpectedly fulfilling day.

But the surprise was not yet over...:)

After completing the stretch, we were heading for the bus stop when my friend asked me - shall we go and take darshan of the other paalkhi? It was pretty late, but we went ahead. As per his calculations, the paalkhi of Sant Tukaram had reached the main road in Shanivar peth, and we rushed there. On reaching, we realised that the crowd was too much and only one among us could possibly be able to get the darshan. So he took my bag and asked me to go. From here, i did something i could never imagine - running behing the bullock driven paalkhi, struggling among the crowd, to touch the paadukas. The struggle could have been fatal, but i was feeling a surge of happiness and faith in my heart, that i kept on trying and probably after 300 metres, i got my chance, and what a feeling it was! The day had already proved amazing, and this was another blessing...:)

The moment i touched the paadukas was the most fulfilling:)
(Representational image)

I came back to where i thought i had left my friend, but could not trace him. This was a small test i had to go through. After a while of futile search, i contacted the co-ordinator of the IT dindee and managed to get my friend's number from him (i forgot to save it before, and even after this, i don't have the contact details of that gentleman), and finally was able to reach him. We reached the bus stop, where we had a cup of chai together and then boarded our respective buses to reach home.

Before leaving he asked - will you come to the next years wari, and I replied, "Yes, definitely". But in the last 3 years, i haven't been able to go. This year, i am very happy that my ex-room mate was able to go there, and his experience inspired me to pen down this account of that memorable day.

Dnyaneshwar Mauli, Dnyanoba Mauli Tukaram...
(Source - indrayanikathi.com)

Cumin and similar spices

Cumin or Jeera is a very important ingredient in Indian cooking. There are various other spices which are named as variants of jeera like shahi jeera, kala jeera etc, and i realised there is a lot of confusion around them. The objective of this post is to document the many similar spices, so that the confusions are cleared.

Cumin

Indian names - Jeera,  Safed Jeera, Zeera, Jeerakam, Jeerige

Botanical name - Cuminum cyminum

A very primary spice used in tempering Indian dishes. When soaked in water, makes a cooling drink. Combined with other spices to make "Jal Jeera".

Black Cumin/ Black Caraway

Indian names - Syah Jeera/Shahi Jeera/ Shaha Jeera, Kashmiri Jira, Vilayeti Jeera, Kala Jeera

Botanical name - Bunium Persicum

Though called Shahi Jeera today, it was known as Syah (Syahi is ink) Jeera in the older days. I had seen this reference in an old Hindi cookbook. How words get twisted with time, isn't it?

Has an anise note to it. Much costlier than jeera. Thinner and fragrant seeds. Used in aristocratic dishes. This is also called Kala Jeera.

Caraway

Indian names - Sajeera, Shima Jirakam, Sajirakam

Botanical name - Carum carvi

This gets mistaken for Shaha Jeera/Black Cumin very commonly by Indian chefs.

Nigella

Indian names- Kalonji, Mangralia, Mogrell, Kalo Jeera, Karun Jeerakam

Botanical name - Nigella sativa

Used commonly in Bengali cooking and called Kalo Jeera in those parts. This has confused a lot of people. There is another variant which is also called Kali Jeeri, which is too bitter to be used in cooking. 

Some people also confuse these with onion seeds. The rule is - onion seeds are round and flat, while nigella seeds are oval and pointed.

Iron-weed

Indian names - Kali Jeeri, Bakchi, Vakuchi, Katuchirakam, Katu Jiragay

Botanical name - Vernonia anthelmintica

There are many similar plants in the iron-weed family, with similar properties. It is a bitter medicine and a very potent antiseptic. I wonder how many people mistook this either for nigella or for caraway by the name, and ended up spoiling their food preparations.

Carom/Bishop's weed

Indian names - Yavani, Ajwain, Owa, Omam, Ayamodakam

Botanical name - Trachyspermum ammi

This has an oregano note to it. People generally mistake this for Cuban Oregano (Sambarpalli) in India.

Men should not consume this too much as it causes a drop in sperm count.


Ajamoda/Wild Celery

Indian names - Ajamoda, Ajmud, Radhuni, Omam

Botanical name - Trachyspermum roxburghianum

The name Ajamoda is composed of 'Aja' which is the Sanskrit word for goat, probably due to its pungent smell.

This spice has been a part of Indian cuisine from a long time, though these days not many communities make use of it in cooking. The name makes one think it is same as Ajwain, but that is not correct.

Interestingly, this has aphrodisiac properties, unlike Ajwain.

This forms part of the Panch Phoron, used in cuisines from eastern part of India like Bengal, Bihar, Assam etc.

Fennel

Indian names - Saunf, Variali, Perum Jeerakam

Botanical name - Foeniculum vulgare

This has a sweet note to it as it is from the carrot family. Used as a mouth freshener. The oil of this plant, along with dill oil, is a major component of "Gripe Water" given to babies.

Aniseed/Anise

Indian names - Patli Saunf, Vilayeti Saunf, Sop, Shombu

Botanical name - Pimpinella anisum

More expensive than fennel. Used as a spice, and rarely as a mouth freshener. The saunf served in restaurants as mouth fresheners is fennel, and generally not aniseed.


Dill

Indian names - Sowa, Sabasige, Sathakupi Sompa, Shepu

Botanical name - Anethum graveolens

The greens of this plant get mistaken for fennel, as the leaf structure is similar. It is used extensively in European cooking and goes well with fish. In India, a lot of people are not big fans of this vegetable. The seeds closely resemble split coriander seeds.

References -

https://en.wikipedia.org
http://nishamadhulika.com
http://www.indianspices.com/
http://www.ruchikrandhap.com

http://www.savoryspiceshop.com/
https://easyayurveda.com

Leaving IT - Digging EPF Info

I left Infosys last month. Having completed 5 years, the final settlement will be a good amount, and now with my foray into a field which will not give me income for some time in the future, every penny counts. More so as it is rightfully earned.

While leaving i had done my calculations - leave encashment, gratuity, PF etc, the sources of this corpus. Today i received a message from my bank about a deposit calling it the final settlement, which did not really add up to my expectation. So i started my late effort to view what all had gone in the PF account on its official portal (i already know the amount from my infy portal, but that is no longer accessible)

Thankfully, a mail came later, that the amount excludes PF and other items, and that was a breather. But i went ahead to complete this long overdue exercise. The actual reason why it wasnt done earlier is that a UAN had not been alloted to my PF account till last month. Now i had it and hence it was possible. ( I will assume you are aware of PF jargon.)

The salary slip mentions the PF account number and UAN number. I went on the EPF site with this information.

The first step is to activate the UAN

After entering the UAN and the mobile number, the real challenge started. The member ID/PF Account number has to be arrived at by giving a combination of state and office, and this is tricky.

In my salary slip, the account number was like KN/XXXX/XXXX. Knowing that Infy HQ is in Bangalore, the usual guess was Karnataka (State) and Bangalore (Office). This gave BG and BNG. After adding the other digits from the PF Ac num, i was not really making any progress.

At this point, this site came to my help - the EPFO Search Directory

Click to Enlarge

So the combination was Karnataka (State) and Bommasandra (Office). 

Was able to complete the UAN registration with this data. Hope it helps.

One day visit to Maitri Farms

1. Its a 20 acre plot jointly owned by 3 friends from Pune. Out of them, Shreesh Ponkshe is very serious about farming and spends most of the time there.
2. The original idea was to create a fruit orchard on the plot, seemingly because not everyone was going to spend too much time in active farming there. However things are not as easy as it seems.
3. The soil in Konkan is deficient in organic matter and essential mineral nutrients. Folks have spent a good deal getting experts in assessing the soil quality to ascertain what all will be needed.
4. Shreesh is a well read guy, part of a lot of forums and an avid organic farming experimenter. To improve the quality of the soil, a lot of cow dung manure was used and the situation is better today compared to 2011, when the plot was taken.
5. The Konkan soil is not good for many crops, but he wants to grow items like bananas and that too, the organic way. Hence he is keeping his experiments up to date.
6. To understand the plot, it is composed of a small hill and quite a deal of plain plots around the hill.
7. The fruit plants are cultivated on the hill slopes, which have been dug out in a terraced format/bunds to reduce erosion and water flow, which can potentially destroy the crops in the plots in the plain area.
8. The mango trees are planted on the western slopes, into the bedrock soil - an ideal way of getting the best mangoes.
9. The farm houses Prakash and his family consiting of a wife and two kids. They are from Bijapur and help around with the farming and food. They stay on the farm.
10. There is one room where probably two people can stay. Generally there are no long term volunteers on the farm, folks come from around the world to stay for a week.
11. When i reached there was a french boy named Alex Clet on the farm, and he was in the last week of his visit to India. Like me, he quit his engineering based job 4 months ago, and now wanted to do farming on his granny's 3 acre plot back in north eastern France. A very good natured fellow.
12. The farm has a couple of cats and dogs, some poultry, a small rabbit. I am not sure if there are cows, could not visit all the places.
13. Active farming projects include banana plants on one side of the house, and a mixed cropping area cultivating okra and pulses on the other. The mixed cropping area is done on a raised bed basis to reduce leaching.

I intend on spending a good deal of time on this farm to learn the basics and help out.

http://maitrifarms.blogspot.in/

I Support Net Neutrality. But not this...

Note: Names changed to protect identities :P

The internet must be free to access, at high b/w speeds as it supports the freedom of information which has caused the recent enlightenment in humanity - where knowledge cannot be controlled by the elite and people can make a choice of their own. Hence the hue and cry over net neutrality in the recent times.

There is, however,  one online behaviour which many of us have recently acquired, which is not in congruence with some of the points which we are trying to support, while supporting net neutrality. I want to know whether you think this behaviour is good to go.

In my opinion it isn't. I will elaborate on why i feel so.

Take the example of Wassup. Started as a free service and is still free. Used a simple business strategy - Make people dependent on your services, and then you are the sole player in the market. Beyond this, provide customised services in the name of enhanced privacy and other things, to make money.

Today using the internet, someone is helping us order food and get discounts. Someone is selling vegetables, someone mobile phones, a many others are selling clothes. The internet has become a huge kirana bazaar and thanks to the huge volumes involved, people are being offered amazing discounts. Buying has become a daily habit.

We are also acquiring a habit of buying the the brand new way and shedding the old, inefficient ways of shopping. The side effect here is the players who are helping us do this are also controlling which provider of goods/services flourishes in this growing craze for faster delivery of goods/services to our homes.

Once we all start doing everything online, these portals will become the gatekeepers as to who can operate and who cannot. Give me a fee and go to work, this is the New Age Digital Dadagiri!

Evil Commerce? (source: http://www.kassenzone.de/)

Foozpanja, for example, charges commissions to hotels on successful transactions, for using it as a booking gateway. It offers discounts to consumers, to get them hooked to its services and become habituated to the brand new way of ordering food.

Now you may say that the market will have a number of players who will come an even out the competition, so Foozpanja will not have all the cake to itself. But think about the hotel vendors/service providers - they will have to eventually shell out money on each popular portal to survive, and this is not good. However miniscule it may be, it is as good as hafta vasooli done in Mumbai by the bhai ka chamcha, so that the roadside vendors can carry on with their business. Each online portal will become the bhai ka chamcha and the hotel folks/service providers will have to shell out their hafta.

Now couple this up with what our telecom companies (Telcos) are doing to quash net neutrality and you have this "absolutely mindblasting, economically profitable arrangement" -

1. Hotels pay Foozpanja to reach customers
2. Foozpanja pays Telcos to survive in a restricted internet scenario
3. We pay Telcos for the network service, and Telcos makes us feel we are using the internet for "free"

The actual producers and the actual consumers become slaves of the system - and the middle folks make money. Sounds familiar, doesn't it...;)

Psychedelics - A view

The west has experimented a lot with psychedelics. And given rise to non-confirmist individuals who have grown powerful. India always knew about psychedelics, but it was not necessary for all, as the education and way of life were different - thought processes and priorities were more natural.

Today psychedelics will be employed by escapists, and people who want to explore the inner world, however the number of the latter is always less. The utility as i see today for Indians to explore this stuff lies in the answer to this simple question.

Why do path breaking innovations never happen here in India? - Break this into another question

What is innovation? And what does it involve?

Innovation involves creation. Creation implies something new. Something new cannot be created from knowledge as knowledge is something which is known and hence old. Hence inspiration - the creative flash in the mind, is the progenitor. Things are first conceived in the mind then in the physical plane - we all know this.

Inspiration involves a part of the Whole, acted upon by a super computer which can never be created by human beings - the complete human brain. And let me tell you, there is only one Consciousness throughout Creation, and we are all connected there. Our brains are just caches.

Now how do you transform a population which has been enslaved by dogma and even by foreign powers for hundreds of years - and still enslaved by their definition of life and success, into an innovative one? By wiping off the conditioning, so that the slate of mind becomes as clean as that of a new born child.

The mind has to stop believing that the given way is the only way, so that other ways are thrown open. I do not mean the other ways come from nowhere; they are always there but our limited awareness always keeps them out of our grasp.

Remember the iceberg theory of human consciousness? The conscious mind is the one which deals with what is known, and hence it has can offer us a limited view. The unconscious part deals with reality, and with the dimension we call the "unknown". Now the phenomenon is called the "unknown" because it is unknown to the conscious mind and we always operate in that field.

With psychedelics, we can choose to channel the right chemicals through the brains to break the patterns acquired by conditioning of all sorts, so that we are able to think freely; bring the conscious more in connection with the unconscious.

However i believe that psychedelics should be instruments of change, and not things which should become a part of life. And only the natural ones. You need training wheels only for a limited time. All aspirants should have the urge to break free, and not get caught in the shackles.

The risk of imprisonment in the web of addiction exists, because we have always been imprisoned, and getting imprisoned is hence, natural to us. The current social framework will never let a man stand on his own two feet with his own mind and freedom. It offers a comfortable prison and most of us do not even bother to look up and see if there is anything beyond this. This will repeat in the arena of psychedelics and hence we need to be careful. There should be a preliminary preparation to make the mind healthy so that it doesn't make a habit out of this useful tool.

Why I support the movement againt the movie PK

We live in a democracy, where everyone is entitled to the freedom of expression. So am I. This is a post celebrating this freedom.

This post is also an attempt at expressing my opinions which, I am sure, would not be easy to digest. And that is why it is necessary.

There are many reasons for the recent conflict surrounding the movie. But one strong reason for majority of people on both sides of the argument is one - they are Hindu.

This religion teaches us tolerance. We are sporty enough to joke about our idiosyncracies, apparent ambiquities which exist in our practices.

And we have been doing this all the time. We are aware of the loot which goes on in the name of religion; the fake godmen that exist etc. But mark one thing - this is prevalent everywhere. Not that this justifies it, but it only means that these are the characteristics  of the times that we live in.

One thing however, remains forever true - the wrong doers should be brought to book, whoever they are - irrespective of whether they belong to a religion which has been accorded minority or majority status. But the popular approach to handling this problem is a bit partial in its nature.

Repeatedly, only the fallacies of the majority religion in India are highlighted in the daily media, even when we have reported cases of such issues going on in other religions as well. But the amplification is only reserved for the Hindu religion. And its adherents are either not concerned or have no power to defend their opinions on their issues in our secular Land.

An unequal manipulation power balance, based on religious division exists in this secular State. An imbalance of any kind of power is a dangerous thing, irrespective of whichever side it leans on. If the majority have it, we have a state like Pakistan where minorities are persecuted. If it is on the side of the minorty, we have India in its present state.

This is what the supporters of the boycott/ban think like. I hope you are able to understand their minds now. Now lets try to see why the other side exists among the Hindus.

We Hindus derive sadistic pleasure when someone tells us of the umpteen 'evil' things our religion has. This attitude is begotten from the years of slavery we were living in when we forsook the life of tapas/penance, and became servile to the hope of surviving by pleasing our "masters". Survival became the keyword, even if was at the cost of self respect. We gave up our way of living because our masters would not approve. We moulded ourselves based on the education our masters felt was suitable for us. We felt it would help us go about survival. What did we know that it would make us eternal slaves to their ways of thinking and perpetual enemies of our glorious ancient ways!

Now i am not saying our religion did not degrade. Time rusts out everything and what is needed is a revival. But alas! we are not doing anything in that direction, not even trying to stop the bashing which goes on. We either dont care or constantly quote the greatness of our religion and its in-destructability.

But our tolerance to this bashing damages our culture in ways which all of us are not aware yet. It does not probably affect the faith of the adherents who understand their religion and responsibilities. But it surely affects the outlook of the younger generations, and this aspect is concerning. Adherents of each religion have the personal right to defend their kids from going astray. These kids will consider that what media shows is the whole reality - they are the frogs of the well.

The broadminded adherents of Christianity, and Atheism want us to think like them and are very aggressive about their viewpoints - i do not blame them. But I blame us Hindus for being docile and giving an advantage to anyone who can present a "seemingly better" argument to us. We are not able to argue back, or even defend what we believe in. Why is this so?

This is because we have long given up the spirit of enquiry which our Sages had; the same spirit of enquiry which revealed to them the eternal, secular wisdom of the Vedas. Our scriptures are not the commandments given to some person by God, but contain eternal axioms which are imbibed in each later religion of the World. The Sun has always risen from one direction and that is how true ideas are - they never change and they cannot be contradicted. These ideas are the basis of Hinduism - there is no other reason why this religion and its associated civilization could have survived so long.

My opposition is for one thing - the widespread bashing of religion has to stop - not because we are hypocrites who cannot accept the dark realities of our religion but because

1. Every religion has its dark side, and it is the duty of the adherents alone to fight them.

2. No other religious adherent has the right to poke his/her nose in the matter of other faiths, let alone influence those people to his/her way of thinking.

3. India is a secular country, where religion is a personal concern and the conflicts should be solved by those affected by it; the media should not act as an interpretor.

People say PK is a movie with a message. My question is, is it some new message? We Indians are amused to see the same things from various angles, but will be the last to actionise. Do we not know of the evils of our religion, and do such movies even help actionise us? No they are basically to be seen, discussed, fought over and forgotten.