Believe it or not , it is high summer and yet another wedding season.
The tradition of summer weddings lies in the fact that Akshay Tritiya, one of the three auspicious days in our Hindu calendar falls in summer.
On this day when the sun is closest to the earth or rather the earth is closest to the sun, is very popular amongst young couples seeking to get married.
This is because Akshay Tritiya is considered the day of eternal (unending) prosperity and happiness. It is the third day of the month of Vaishakh, ( hence tritiya), the second month of the Hindu lunar calendar. This year it happens to fall on 15th May.
Around thirty years ago I was attending the weddings of my friends and contemporaries. Nowadays, I am attending the weddings of their children. The torch has passed on to another generation of young people who will spend the next twenty years nurturing families of their own and thirty years on, will attend weddings of yet another generation.
That is if the tradition of getting married exists at all! Many people are doing away with traditional customs and actually living together without the formality and legality of a wedding.
The couples getting married are older and have more of a say in how they want their wedding rituals to be conducted.
Flowers have always played an important role in wedding decor but the traditional garlands of mogra and marigold have given way to orchids, lilies and sprays of flowers.
Gone too are the days of chaotic weddings organised by various members of the family. Instead now, we have choreographed rituals with the guests sitting patiently through the ceremonies.
Sequins, borders and panels with designer blouses and detailed accessorization have brought the ancient saree into the modern world , Thai curries and pastas have transformed the traditional wedding repasts into new age feasts where counters of multi cuisine have replaced the sit down meals and most grooms come to the venue in a cavalcade of cars rather than astride a horse escorted by dancing relatives.
But somethings remain unchanged : the actual rituals of marriage.
7 steps to love and fulfillment.
Not many people realise the significance of the sanctity and romance of the circumambulation of the holy fire or the seven steps . Do you know what they are?
The seven steps that are essential to a Hindu wedding are the cornerstone of the marriage. In this seemingly quaint and old fashioned ritual when the bride walks demurely behind her groom hand in hand with a shawl draped around their shoulders further binding their ties together, the couple promises each other:
Abundant food with the first step, Physical strength with the second step, Adequate material wealth with the third step, Mutual happiness with the fourth step, Commitment to raise ideal children with the fifth step, Appreciation to face and enjoy the blessings of each season with the sixth step, Inseparable friendship with the seventh step.
I am not a Social Media addict because I grew up in a world where communication was mainly face to face. At best we wrote letters and notes if we didn’t want to have any direct communication. And as for a telephone, we didn’t have one at home till I was 21!
Despite this, I knew exactly what I should know about was happening in my friends’ lives . I also knew the gory details of what was happening in the world through newspapers and radio broadcasts which I heard just once a day . Yes we didn’t have television either.
And perhaps because of this limited form of engagement with the outside world , we were less bombarded with Fake News. Of course there was fake news . But we called it gossip or rumour mongering .
Most of us however, have been dragged into this technological age, and many people my age have also embraced social media if for nothing else, to re-connect with school friends or old acquaintances and also children who otherwise refuse to communicate directly with you.
This morning I saw this message on my school WhatsApp group
I જેToday … On the border of the United States and Canada, two suns came out, one a real sun and the other a moon. This phenomenon is known as Moon Hunter and occurs when The earth axis changes. The moon and the sun are born at the same time and the moon reflects the brightness of the sun with such intensity that it looks like another sun. Share! So beautiful !!!
I immediately spotted it as a fake because this very same item was shared on this very same school group a few years ago . And even at that time, it was pointed out as being fake news .
But fake news doesn’t stop. In fact, it is even more rampant when times are bad .
Like last night I got a message that was an advisory
Advisory for Flats / Homes :
With the COVID spreading like wildfire all over, some of these multi story colonies found that people were getting infected in blocks one or two stories above or below while there had been no contact at all between these people….. including usage of lifts etc. Few doctors analysed this problem and identified the common sewage lines which run up and down in these complexes. As you are aware, the faeces ejection has a high viral load, however the problem can be mitigated to a large extent by keeping your WCs flaps closed throughout the day, and more importantly, when used, the flap MUST be closed before flushing WC.
You may consider sharing this with your Colony Secy/ Family / Friends for issuing advisories to all residents.
Understand from a UK friend this has been talked about in the West too. Better to follow this protocol.
Now all along we’ve been told that the virus was airborne so it would hardly seem likely to be transmitted through sewage pipes .
Besides, if viruses are transmitted through sewage pipes, then wouldn’t all viral infections be transmitted this way?
So , I asked my friend who sent me this message, how does one dispose of fecal matter individually?
Does it mean that our traditional method of going out into the fields is the best ?
Think about it .
Every day, we have to deal with items of ‘interest’ or ‘information’ sent by well intentioned people on Twitter, Facebook, Instgram, WhatsApp, email and of course the newspapers and the internet.
To keep one’s sanity, it is imperative we don’t fall prey to either reading/listening to or broadcasting fake news.
Oh where, tell me where ,have my bonnie bloggers gone?
It was too good to be true. The virus that we thought we had vanuished and with it the dreaded Lockdown is back.
This time it is worse because we now know what to expect. Hours stretching out into days and the possibility of even months. Where once we welcomed working from home, today it has become a drudgery.
And like many businesses, it seems that the many blogs that I used to follow have also gone into lockdown mode.
All seemed well till the month of April when many bloggers were committed to participating in the Ato Z Blogging Challenge, brain child of Arlee Bird ( Tossing it Out) and hosted by #BlogchatterA2Z for bloggers to share their blog posts in an Indian Time Zone. I had a wonderful time opening up my newly acquired laptop,mobile phone app or even my trusty old Desk top ( which I sadly confess is the one I’m most comfortable with), and seeing who had visited my blog and what their reaction to my posts were.
Undeniably this was narcissitic of me, but after a long time getting over the shock of my old URL pointing to a Blue Site ( thanks Jacqui for introducing me to this new word) I was trying to get back into the blogging world and thought this was a good opportunity for me to get back. And it turned out to be a good decision because I once again connected with some of the bloggers I’d connected with during my previous participations in the Challenge and also re-visited some of the blogs I enjoy following.
Reflections of A to Z 2021
I never thought that I would join the challenge during the second year of the pandemic. That is largely because I never thought the pandemic would last that long. But it did. Even though I had my doubts I would last it out, I was happywhen I did manage it. Not only did I complete the challenge but I even managed to visit some blogs and post comments.
Thanks to Frederique of The Quilting Patch, I got my fix of doing insanely intricate and beautiful craft projects. Yes, at one time I loved chanelling my energies and creativity through handicrafts and needlework but sadly now I find crafting blogs easier to visit.
During last year’s challenge I came across delightful short stories by Keith of Keith’s Ramblings. This year he concentrated on unusual musical instruments and I was astounded to find that there really was an instrument called Zither. I always thought it was made up by Dr. Seuss.
Jacqui Murray was another blogger whose blog I like visiting and continued this year too.
This year I discovered a few new ones like Iain Kelly, who was introducing the characters of his Trilogy in the month of April.
I bumped into many interesting bloggers like Wordsmith Kaur, Meena Chatty, Mad’s Kitchen, Miss Andi,Vishakha Tiwari, Kim L Hine. Even though I have no weddings to arrange, I learnt a lot about wedding planning, the macabre toughts underlying classic fairy tales, life in the 80’s and many more.
I’m afraid I can’t list all the bloggers whose posts I enjoyed nor can I thank each one personally for making this interaction so meaningful but honestly, this challenge was one of the better parts of the lockdown.
The best part, however, is the challenge of using new apps, practicing my old skills and sharpening my computer skills.
But where have all the bloggers gone?
Understandably, there is bogging burnout especially for serious participants who visited several blogs on a daily basis and posted more meaningful comments other than WOW ! Awseome! or just pressed the LIKE button. Don’t get me wrong, I’m guilty of these misdemenours too. It is difficult finding time in these Covid days to not only visit other blogs but also sustain a meaningful engagement for ALL 30 days of the month.
After all, serious bloggers do have blogging schedules and have fixed days and times where they attend to their blogs. Even fulltime bloggers. Because life is not all about blogging. And there are times when I have to blog in secret, away from those prying eyes at home who hate my blog and the time I devote to it.
Quite recently, even Ms. Papaya has joined the brigade of ‘those who hate my blog and my blogging’.
I’m sure many of us bloggers have faced this resentment for time spent on blogging. After all, this is ( for the most of us) just an extension of a passion for writing. For some, it is a source of income and people find it hard to understand how one can make money by having fun !
There are many people who spend hours before a screen either carryong out video calls, designing or accounting or doing something related to work. While many are passionate about their work (read jobs that pay good money), there are many for whom their passions have also become just jobs aka A BORING ACTIVITY.
So naturally these people hate bloggers who seem to be having fun while typing away or drawing away or doing antyhing creative that gives them joy just for the sake of it.
Besides, with the VIRUS still on the rampage and news channels broadcasting 24/7 in every language how doomsday isn’t far away, one is hardly in the mood to go back to yet another screen just to blog.
Which is why, I feel that many bloggers have also gone into lockdown mode.
Many have migrated to shorter and more fun formats of sharing ideas such as Insta(gram). Many have gone to Facebook to share their stories. After all not every reader is a friend and if your blog is very personal you would naturally want your friends to know exactly what you are doing.
I’m a bit behind on Social media trends and the Little People are still too small to keep me up-to-date on such technological advances, but with Twitter permanently banning Kangana Ranaut and FB having access to all our information, many people have migrated to other platforms where only the select few have access to their innermost thoughts.
So, I’m asking all my blogger friends who I used to see so regularly in the blogosphere, where have you gone? I know Corinne has disbanded the Write Tribe on Facebook and I don’t want to download yet another social media group so I miss my friends from that group. I have followed them individually but many aren’t on WordPress so their blogs don’t show up on my Reader feed. Also, I think my devices are also quite temperamental so very often my follows just go off my radar.
But I miss you my old friends Shilpa, Shalini, Parul, Natasha, Esha Vinitha and hope you are all doing well.
Take care and ciao
p.s. Apologies to the Scottish balladeers who sang this song and which we had to learn in our English missionary schools without having the foggiest of England or Scotland or lads and lassies.
Twenty- five Seven 