Twenty- five Seven

Lucky Thirteenth

September 7, 2012

The complete kit of 30+3 anarse neatly packed with a booklet and lamp to go

Every three years the Hindu calendar makes up the shortfall of days by adding an extra month to the calendar. This 13th month which is also called the Extra Month or the month of Purshottam . Some people believe that this month which was carved out by the other months giving up a third of their quota of days is an unlucky month and doesn’t bode too well so to ward off any evil they keep a fast – which means either giving up one meal in the day or eating specific foods that are considered as “non food” for the entire month.The end of the fast is marked by giving 30 + 3 anarse to 30+3 married women or to your new son-in-law. This custom is particularly followed by the orthodox members of my community and the first I heard of this custom was when Mrs. Phadke who at that time was selling Postal Insurance schemes, called to ask if I was home as she needed to give me 30+3 anarse. With our shrinking community moving out into the suburbs, it was getting increasingly hard for her to find someone whom she knew would fit in the profile so even though we were her clients, she wanted to gift me the sweets and the customary gifts given to a married woman so that she could continue to enjoy the bliss of being a married woman.

Like most customs, this too has fallen by the way side and it was only my interest in our dying traditions that got me thinking about things. (more…)
The skies this week

September 7, 2012

The week began all wet and gloomy . It seemed that the entire rain for the season was raining down in a day. Luckily there were some dry days when I captured some sunny skies and now with the sun out, the sea is turning blue again!

Here’s a view from my balcony when the sea was
making up its mind to turn blue or remain the murky
brown.

A Kala Ghoda Sky

My beautiful Mumbai skies this week. I loved the billowing clouds and the occasional clear blue sky.

Clouds rising

Clouds across the harbour

Taking advantage of the lull in the ferocious rains, we managed
to grab a quick walk down Marine Drive. It was wonderful walking through the misty rain drops that fell as our walk ended.

As usual this promenade was filled with people :

Children running
Monkeys performing
People walking
Vendors selling
Horse carts waiting
People posing
And photos clicking

Enjoy your weekend!

http://skyley.blogspot.in/
The Man who made the Elephant Dance

September 6, 2012

Audiobooks Rock (Photo credit: Lester Public Library)

“A civilisation must show gratitude to people when they can sense it “

I heard Mr. Narayana Moorthy say this at the Audio Book launch I attended at the BSE auditorium last evening. I do not know if it was his own saying or a quote, but it adequately summed up the sentiment we all felt. Too often we forget to honour our heroes or thank the people who got us to where we are. Mr. Moorthy was appealing to the Government of India to recognise the genius of Dr. Verghese Kurien with a Bharat Ratna – for he above all, truly deserved to be acknowledged for his unique contribution to post Independent India.

“The Man Who made the Elephant Dance” is the story of Dr. Verghese Kurien, the father of the White Revolution in India, beautifully narrated in the sonorous voice of Tom Alter. I was spell bound by the brief excerpts we were treated to and can’t wait to hear the whole book through.

This unique venture of producing an audio book – and that too for the normal public – was the brain child of Mr. Ajit Bhide who was so inspired by the AMUL story that he felt that every Indian must know it. And what better way than an audio book for this generation which has really no time to read? So in a short span of 11 months, with over 9 hours of recording, this audio book re- tells Dr. Kurien’s Amul tale “ I too had a dream” which was originally published by Roli Books and has been reproduced as an audio book by Om publications as “the Man who Made the Elephant Dance” For all of Rs.495 it is worth every rupee and should be made compulsory listening for every Indian.