Monthly Archives: January 2022

2022 Week 02 Update

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We’re finishing up the second week of the year and Omicron and COVID still have us firmly in their clutches. Cases are increasing all over the world, including Singapore, but now I am becoming slightly indifferent to the case numbers. Where I used to obsessively check the numbers daily, today I pretty much don’t care what the numbers are daily, though I do keep an eye on the numbers from time to time. I guess COVID fatigue has finally got to me. I also know that at some point, I will also be infected and so am just waiting for the inevitable.

In other news, GG & BB got their booster shot finally today. The vaccination centre closest to our home didn’t have slots for them earlier because they were focusing on vaccines for children between the ages of five and 12 and so today was the first day they could get a slot. Now, our entire household is triple vaccinated and there’s a sense of slightly more security.

Today’s quote is from Walt Disney, who does not need any introduction and is about chasing our dreams. What Disney says is that our dreams will come true, only if have the courage to pursue them. So when we actively pursue our dreams, there is a possibility that they will get fulfilled.

Take care everyone and please get fully vaccinated if you still aren’t. And if you are eligible for the booster shot, get it as soon as possible. Because it has been proven that if one is vaccinated, then even if one gets infected, the infection is mild and recovery is fast. So stay masked, stay safe and get vaccinated.

In My Hands Today…

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Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted – Suleika Jaouad

In the summer after graduating from college, Suleika Jaouad was preparing, as they say in commencement speeches, to enter “the real world.” She had fallen in love and moved to Paris to pursue her dream of becoming a war correspondent. The real world she found, however, would take her into a very different kind of conflict zone.

It started with an itch—first on her feet, then up her legs, like a thousand invisible mosquito bites. Next came the exhaustion, and the six-hour naps that only deepened her fatigue. Then a trip to the doctor and, a few weeks shy of her twenty-third birthday, a diagnosis: leukemia, with a 35 percent chance of survival. Just like that, the life she had imagined for herself had gone up in flames. By the time Jaouad flew home to New York, she had lost her job, her apartment, and her independence. She would spend much of the next four years in a hospital bed, fighting for her life and chronicling the saga in a column for The New York Times.

When Jaouad finally walked out of the cancer ward—after three and a half years of chemo, a clinical trial, and a bone marrow transplant—she was, according to the doctors, cured. But as she would soon learn, a cure is not where the work of healing ends; it’s where it begins. She had spent the past 1,500 days in desperate pursuit of one goal—to survive. And now that she’d done so, she realized that she had no idea how to live.

How would she reenter the world and live again? How could she reclaim what had been lost? Jaouad embarked—with her new best friend, Oscar, a scruffy terrier mutt—on a 100-day, 15,000-mile road trip across the country. She set out to meet some of the strangers who had written to her during her years in the hospital: a teenage girl in Florida also recovering from cancer; a teacher in California grieving the death of her son; a death-row inmate in Texas who’d spent his own years confined to a room. What she learned on this trip is that the divide between sick and well is porous, that the vast majority of us will travel back and forth between these realms throughout our lives.

Festivals of India: Makar Sankranti

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A harvest festival celebrated across India and the subcontinent, Makar Sankranti, Uttarayan, Maghi, or just Sankranti, which is celebrated today is also known as Poush Sankranti in Bangladesh or Tirmoori in Pakistan, is a harvest festival day, dedicated to the Sun God Lord Surya. It is observed each year the day the Sun enters the zodiac sign Capricorn, which corresponds to January as per the Gregorian calendar and marks the first day of the sun’s transit into the Makara Rashi or Capricorn.

It is celebrated on either 14 or 15 January due to the addition of the extra day in leap years. The festival, which is a harvest festival is celebrated with colourful decorations, children singing and asking for treats, fairs, dances, kite flying, bonfires and feasts. Some go to sacred rivers and lakes and bathe in a ceremony of thanks to the sun and every twelve years, the Kumbh Mela, the largest mass pilgrimage festivity is observed in conjunction with Makar Sankranti. Here, devotees pray to the Sun God and bathe at the confluence of the Rivers Ganga and Yamuna, known as the Triveni Sangam in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, a tradition attributed to Adi Shankaracharya.

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Makar Sankranti is known by various names across the country. It is known as Magh Bihu in Assam, Maghi, in Punjab, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh, Sukarat in central India, Pongal in Tamil Nadu, Uttarayan in Gujarat, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, Ghughuti in Uttarakhand, Makara Sankranti in Odisha, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Goa, West Bengal where it is also known as Poush Sankranti, and as Sankranthi in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Outside of India, it is known as Maghe Sankranti in Nepal and Tirmoori in Pakistan.

Makar Sankranti is set by the solar cycle and corresponds to the exact time when the sun enters the sign of Capricorn and usually falls on 14 January or 15 January during a leap year according to the Gregorian calendar.

Makar Sankranti is dedicated to the Sun God, Surya whose significance is traceable to the Vedic texts, particularly the Gayatri Mantra, a sacred hymn found in the Rigveda. It marks the termination of the winter season and the beginning of a new harvest season. From this day, the sun begins its northward journey or Uttarayan or the northern hemisphere and so the festival is also known as Uttarayan.

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As per legend, Sankranti killed a devil named Sankarasur and so the day after Makar Sankrant is called Karidin or Kinkrant. On this day, she slew the devil Kinkarasur. As per another legend, the Sun God, Lord Surya forgave his son Shani who visited him on Sankranti. And that’s why people distribute sweets and urge everyone to let go of any negative or angry feelings. On this day people take a holy dip in rivers, especially the Ganga, Yamuna, Godavari, Krishna, and Kaveri because bathing in the rivers on this day is believed to result in merit or absolution of past sins. The Sun God is also prayed to and thanked for successes and prosperity. For most parts of India, this period is a part of the early stages of the Rabi crop and agricultural cycle, where crops have been sown and the hard work in the fields is mostly over. The time thus signifies a period of socialising and families enjoying each other’s company, taking care of the cattle, and celebrating around bonfires. On Makar Sankranti, people wear black which is otherwise a huge no-no on other festival days. As Sakranti falls in the winter months, wearing black adds to body warmth which is the reason for the colour.

In Assam, Makar Sankranti is known as Magh Bihu and the festival is marked by feasts and bonfires. Young people erect makeshift huts, known as Meji and Bhelaghar, from bamboo, leaves, and thatch, and in Bhelaghar they eat the food prepared for the feast and then burn the huts the next morning. celebrations also feature traditional Assamese games such as tekeli bhonga or pot-breaking and buffalo fighting. In Goa, people distribute sweets in the form of granules of sugar-coated sesame seeds among family members and friends and newly married women offer five sunghat or small clay pots filled with newly harvested grains, betel leaves areca nuts and tied with black beaded threads tied around them, to the deity. Uttarayan, as Makar Sankranti is called in Gujarati, is a major festival that lasts for two days. Kites made of special light-weight paper are flown and the festival is eagerly awaited.

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In Haryana and Delhi, the festival is celebrated similarly to Western UP and the border areas of Rajasthan and Punjab. This includes ritual purification by taking a holy dip in rivers with sweets like kheer, churma, halwa and distributing a sesame and jaggery sweet called til-gud. Brothers of a married woman visit her home with a gift pack, called Sindhara or Sidha with gifts of clothing for her and her family. In Jammu, it is celebrated as Uttrain and is celebrated a day before Lohri by the Dogra community to commemorate the end of the Poh or Pausha month. Among the Dogras, there is a tradition of Mansana or charity of Khichdi of Maah Dal and that is why this day is also referred to as Khichdi wala Parva. There is also a tradition of sending Khichdi & other food items to house of married daughters and fairs are organised in holy places and pilgrimages are taken. In Karnataka, it is celebrated as Suggi and on this day, girls wear new clothes to visit near and dear ones with the Sankranti offering on a plate and exchange the same with other families in a ritual called Ellu Birodhu. The festival signifies the harvest of the season since sugarcane is predominant in these parts. Gifts are exchanged by women and newly married women give away bananas for five years to married women from the first year of their marriage. Kite flying, drawing rangolis, giving away red berries known as Yalchi kai are some of the intrinsic parts of the festival. In rural Karnataka, a display of decorated cows and bulls and their procession is done and they are also made to cross a flame and this custom is known as Kichchu Haayisuvudu. In Maharashtra, on Makar Sankranti day people exchange multicolored halwa and sweetmeats made from sesame seeds and jaggery known as til-gul laadoo. Married women invite friends and family and celebrate with guests given til-gul and some small gift, as a part of the ritual and women make it a point to wear black clothes on this day.

In Odisha, on the day of the festival, people prepare makara chaula and along with uncooked newly harvested rice, banana, coconut, jaggery, sesame, rasagola, Khai/Liaa and chhena puddings offer It to the Gods and Godesses. The Sun God at the Konark Sun Temple is worshipped with many starting the day with a ritual bath while fasting. In Puri special rituals are carried out at the temple of Lord Jagannath. In Punjab, Makar Sankranti is celebrated as Maghi which is a religious and cultural festival. Bathing in a river in the early hours on Maghi is important with Hindus light lamps with sesame oil as this is supposed to give prosperity and drive away all sins. A major fair is held at the Sri Muktsar Sahib on Maghi which commemorates a historical event in Sikh history. In Rajasthan and Western Madhya Pradesh, the day is celebrated with special Rajasthani delicacies and sweets. Women in this region observe a ritual in which they give a gift to 13 married women. The first Sankranti experienced by a married woman is of significance as she is invited by her parents and brothers to their houses with her husband for a big feast. Kite flying is traditionally observed as a part of this festival.

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In Tamil Nadu, Makar Sankranti is celebrated as the four-day festival of Pongal with day one celebrated as Bhogi Pongal, day two as Thai Pongal, day three as Maattu Pongal and day four as Kaanum Pongal. On Maattu Pongal, many villages in the state will have a Jallikattu, or taming the bull, contest, which is an ancient Pongal tradition. In Uttar Pradesh, the festival is known as Kicheri and involves ritual bathing. Over two million people gather at their respective sacred places for this holy bathing such as Allahabad and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. In Uttarakhand, Makar Sankranti is known by various names in the different parts of the state. In the Kumaon region the festival is known as Ghughuti, Ghughuti Tyar, Ghughutia, Kale Kauva or Uttarayani with the famous Uttarayani fair held in Bageshwar town. During the fair, people bathe before daybreak at the confluence of the Saryu and Gomati rivers, followed by an offering of water to Lord Shiva inside the Bagnath Temple. Those who are more religiously disposed of, continue this practice for three days in succession, which is known as Trimaghi. On this day, people also give khichdi, a dish made by mixing pulses and rice in charity, take ceremonial dips in holy rivers, participate in Uttarayani fairs and offer deep-fried sweetmeats consisting of flour and jaggery to crows and other birds as a way to pay homage to the departed souls of their ancestors. In West Bengal, Sankranti is also known as Poush Sankranti. The freshly harvested paddy and the date palm syrup in the form of Khejurer Gur is used in the preparation of a variety of traditional Bengali sweets made with rice flour, coconut, milk and khejurer gur or date palm jaggery and known as Pitha. Goddess Lakshmi is usually worshipped on the day of Sankranti. In Darjeeling, the festival is as known as Magey Sakrati and is associated with the worship of Lord Shiva.

The Hindu Sindhi community in western regions of India and southeastern parts of Pakistan, celebrate Makar Sankranti as Tirmoori. On this day, parents send sweet dishes and ladoos and chiki or Laaee made of sesame seeds to their married daughters. In Bangladesh, Makar Sankranti is known as Shakrain and is observed with the flying of kites. In Nepal, Maghe Sankranti as it is known in the country, is celebrated as the new year and is a major festival of the Magar community. Observant Hindus take ritual baths during this festival and the oldest female in each household wishes good health to all family members.

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So here’s wishing you a very Happy Makar Sankranti with a greeting from my home state of Maharastra which goes like this: “Til gud ghya, god god bola” which means eat the sweet made from sesame and jaggery, say good and positive thoughts and words and leave all the bitterness and negativity of the past behind.

In My Hands Today…

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The Same River Twice: A Memoir of Dirtbag Backpackers, Bomb Shelters, and Bad Travel – Pam Mandel

Given the choice, Pam Mandel would say no and stay home. It was getting her nowhere, so she decided to say yes. Yes to hard work and hitch-hiking, to mean boyfriends and dirty travel, to unfolding the map and walking to its edges. Yes to unknown countries, night shifts, language lessons, bad decisions, to anything to make her feel real, visible, alive.

A product of beige California suburbs, Mandel was overlooked and unexceptional. When her father ships her off on a youth group tour of Israel, he inadvertently catapults his seventeen-year-old daughter into a world of angry European backpackers, seize-the-day Israelis, and the fall out of cold war-era politics. Border violence hadn’t been on the birthright tour agenda. But then neither had domestic violence, going broke, getting wasted, getting sick, or getting lost.

With no guidance and no particular plan, utterly unprepared for what lies ahead, Mandel says yes to everything and everyone, embarking on an adventure across three continents and thousands of miles, from a cold water London flat to rural Pakistan, from the Nile River Delta to the snowy peaks of Ladakh and finally, back home to California, determined to shape a life that is truly hers.

An extraordinary memoir of going away and growing up, The Same River Twice follows Mandel’s tangled journey and shows how travel teaches and changes us, even while it helps us become exactly who we have been all along.

Festivals of India: Vaikuntha Ekadashi

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One of those festivals which are rarely celebrated by many, Vaikuntha Ekadashi, which coincides with the Moksada or Putrada Ekadashi is a special Ekadashi that comes mostly once a year, but sometimes twice and is generally associated with Shukla Paksha or the 11th lunar day of the Margashirsha month in the Lunar calendar corresponding to the Dhanur month in the Solar calendar sometime between 16 December of the current year and ending on 13 January of the next year. Vaikuntha, which is paradise, is where there is no lack, or shortage; only abundance.

Ēkadashi which means the eleventh is the eleventh lunar day or tithi of each of the two lunar phases which occur in a Vedic calendar month, the Shukla Pakṣha or the period of the brightening moon also known as the waxing phase and the Kṛiṣhṇa Pakṣha or the period of the fading moon also known as the waning phase, according to the Vedic medical texts of Ayurveda and is mentioned in detail in many original treatises such as the Charaka Samhita and the Susruta Samhita.

In Hinduism or Sanatan Dharma, Ekadashi holds great importance. A favourite tithi of Lord Krishna, his devotees observe upavas or fasts to be closer to him. In Nepal and India, the day is considered a day to cleanse the body, aid repair and rejuvenation and is usually observed by a partial or complete fast. High protein and carbohydrate-containing foods such as beans and grains are not consumed during the fast as it is a day to cleanse the body, instead, only fruits, vegetables and milk products are eaten. This period of abstinence starts from sunrise on the day of the Ekadashi to sunrise of the following day with rice is not eaten at all during this 24-hour period.

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Followers of Lord Vishnu or the Vaishnava believe that the gates to the Lord’s inner sanctum or the Vaikunta Dwaram is opened on this day with the Margashirsha Shukla Paksha Ekadashi in the Lunar calendar known as a Mokshada Ekadashi. Vishnu temples all across the world offer special prayers, yagnas, discourses and speeches. Those who follow Lord Shiva or the Shaiva sect observe the day as Trikoti Ekadashi, a day where all the deities in the Hindu pantheon pay obeisance to Lord Shiva at the same time.

According to the Vishnu Purana, fasting on Vaikuntha Ekadashi is equivalent to fasting on the remaining 23 Ekadashis of the year. However, according to the Vaishnava tradition, fasting is mandatory on all Ekadashis of both the Shukla and Krishna pakshas with fasting on an Ekadashi holier than any other religious observation. Because complete fasting has to be observed on Ekadashi, the meal on the Dwadashi or the 12th day is designed to be wholesome, nutritious, and filling. When observed, it is said to bestow liberation from the cycle of birth and death. On this day, the Vaikuntha Dwaram or the Vaikuntha Vaasal, the Gates of Vaikunta are believed to be kept open. The area encircling the sanctum is referred to as the Vaikuntha Vaasal and devotees throng this doorway to gain entry into the temple, to seek Lord Vishnu.

Legend says that Lord Vishnu opened the gate of his home, Vaikuntham, for two asuras or demons in spite of them being against him. They also asked for the boon that whoever listens to their story and sees the image of Lord Vishnu coming out of the door called Vaikunth Dwar, will reach Vaikunth as well. This is why temples all over India make a door kind of structure on this day for devotees to walk through.

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According to the Padma Purana, the Devas, unable to bear the tyranny of Muran, a demon, approached Lord Shiva, who directed them to Lord Vishnu. A battle took place between Lord Vishnu and the demon and Lord Vishnu realised that a new weapon was needed to slay Muran. In order to take a rest and create a new weapon, Lord Vishnu retired to a cave for the Goddess named Haimavati in Badarikashrama. When Muran tried to slay Lord Vishnu, who was sleeping, the female power that emerged from him burned Muran to ashes with her glance. Lord Vishnu, who was pleased, named the goddess Ekadashi and asked her to claim a boon. Ekadashi, instead, beseeched Vishnu that people who observed a fast on that day should be redeemed of their sins and Lord Vishnu thus declared that people who observed a fast on that day and worshipped Ekadashi, would attain Vaikuntha. Thus, came into being the first Ekadashi, which was a Dhanurmasa Shukla Paksha Ekadashi.

The demon Muran stands for the Rajasic and Tamasic qualities in people, attributed to lust, passion, inertia and arrogance. When one conquers these tendencies, one attains the purity of mind or Satva which is indispensable for the attaining of moksha, the liberation or the realisation of the self. For realizing the self as pure awareness, purity of mind is required and fasting helps to keep at bay the tendencies that could be triggered by intake of certain foods. Keeping vigil in the night is symbolic of awareness, or being watchful of the contents of the mind. When the mind is looked at, it becomes still. To abide in the stillness is to attain freedom or peace, acquired through the merging of the mind with the self. This is symbolic of the mind automatically being absorbed in the sight of Vishnu after the arduous fast and vigil. The belief that rice is prohibited, because Muran dwells in it, symbolically signifies that the eating of rice makes one feel heavy and hampers the vigil. This signifies that entertaining negative tendencies could hamper one’s progress towards awareness or consciousness. Observance of the rituals on this auspicious day even without understanding their importance is beneficial. Hence the merit accrued through observing them with piety is believed to be immeasurable. In the Mahabharata, the conversation between Krishna and Arjuna at the beginning of the Kurukshetra War about the Bhagavad Gita is said to have occurred on this day.

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At the Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple in Srirangam, the Srirangam Vaikuntha Ekadashi celebrations last 20 days, divided into two parts, the Pagal Pathu or the morning part lasting ten days and the Ira Pathu or the night part comprising the other ten days. Lord Vishnu as Lord Ranganatha Moolavar will bless devotees in Muthangi or armour of Pearls on all 20 days. On the 10th day of Pagal Pathu, which is the day before Vaikuntha Ekadashi, the Utsavar Namperumal will bless devotees in the Mohini Alankaram. Very early on Vaikuntha Ekadashi, the Utsavar Namperumal will bless devotees in the armour of diamonds and gems and is brought to the Thousand-Pillared Hall from the sanctum sanctorum through the northern gate known as the Paramapada Vasal, the gate to Vaikuntha. This gate is opened once a year, only on the Vaikuntha Ekadashi day. It is said that anyone who goes through the Paramapada Vasal will reach Vaikuntha. On the 8th day of Ira Pathu, the Namperumal will bless devotees in a Golden Horse Vahanam in the evening & the Thirumangai Mannan Vedupari Ritual will be held.

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At the seven hills of Tirupati, the Tirumala Venkateswara Temple also has a similar concept to celebrate Mukkoti Ekadashi, as it is known in the region. Tirumala has a special entrance called Vaikuntha Dwaram that encircles the sanctum sanctorum. The dwaram or passage is opened only on Vaikuntha Ekadashi and it is believed that any person who passes through this Vaikuntha Dwaram on this particular day attains salvation. The temple witnesses a heavy inflow of pilgrims and dignitaries for Vaikuntha Ekadashi and all Arjitha sevas are cancelled on this day and only the Sarva Darshanam is allowed on Vaikunta Ekadashi.

On the auspicious day of Vaikuntha Ekadashi, which falls tomorrow, chant the Lord’s name, visit the temple and try and enter the Vaikuntha Dwar at a temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu and keep a fast if that is possible.