This is my week in a word! Like I mentioned before, I don’t have any work to do, especially these weeks while I am working from home. So to keep myself busy, what I did the past two weeks (in between small bursts of work), was working on my blogs and planning for our trip during the PSLE marking week.
The haze was another topic this week, with the PSI (Pollution Standard Index) going beyond 300 which is in the hazardous range last week, especially during the Hari Raya Public Holiday which made the education ministry declare schools to be closed on Friday! After that day, the PSI index has been between 100 – 200 with some bursts of below 100…We all hope this sustains itself till the end of all exams!
The PSLE exams start this week. I’m torn – in a way I’m glad it’s finally going to get over, but on the other hand, wish we could have more time….
Please pray for us that we get through this first major exams well….
Lately in this micro blogging site I frequent, I’ve seen many people post their ghostly encounters – maybe it’s happened to them, or they’ve heard it from someone else.
I’ve noticed that in Southeast Asia, people tend to believe in the ‘otherwordly’ encounters more. Yes, India has a ‘glorious tradition’ of ghost stories, but somehow, most people I know usually brush them aside.
Another thing is that, even though I am highly spiritual and believe in a pure higher energy, somehow, I am not as much a believer of ghosts as I think I should be. When I read these stories, I am torn between believing them and being extremely skeptical!
I remember this time, when I was in college; a friend of mine introduced us to Planchet. For those who don’t know what it is, Planchet is a way you call spirits to answer your questions. You write all the letters of the alphabet plus numbers from one to 10 on a sheet of paper and then using a coin, call the spirit. This could be any wandering spirit or a specific one. Then one by one, everyone asks the spirit questions, who answer it by moving from one coin to another. Once you are finished, you thank the spirit and ask it to leave. The spirit leaves by moving the coin to the outside of the sheet.
We started doing this at my place a few times and then one of us (I forget who at this point) had the brainwave to call my late aunt. When she came, we asked questions and then when it was time to leave, she refused to go. We got real scared and then had to call my mum to ask her to get the spirit to leave. Till date, I am not sure if there really was the spirit of my late aunt or was it one of us who were manipulating the coin? After that day, I refused to do any more of Planchet.
In my part of the world aka Southeast Asia, lots of people believe in the existence of spirits, especially in public places like hotels. From what I’ve read, here is what you should do when you go to new places aka hotels:
Knock before you enter the room: This shows courtesy and manners to the ‘anyone in the room’. Apparently this is to let them know someone is coming in so that they leave the room.
Avoid corner rooms: Apparently ‘otherworldly people’ like to be in these empty rooms and so try to avoid staying in such rooms.
Let there be light: As soon as you enter the room, open the curtains and switch on all lights. This is to brighten the room and dispel darkness. If you come in after it’s dark, switching on the lights will do the trick.
Occupy all beds: If you are a single traveler, try to get a room with a single bed. If that’s not possible, then use the second bed to keep your things. An empty bed signals an invitation for ‘someone’ to use it while you are in the room.
Don’t touch any religious book if it’s open to a specific page: Apparently this indicates a presence in the room and the religious book open at a specific page indicates protection to the room.
Flush the toilet before you use it for the first time: The idea is to dispel any negative energy in the room that was there before you came in.
Don’t sleep facing mirrors: A bit difficult in hotels and especially if you move a lot at night. This belief is based on the fact that good luck will be reflected out when you sleep facing mirrors.
Place shoes facing opposite directions: This is to confuse any spirits in the room who can locate you based on the direction of your shoes.
Avoid the number 4: The Chinese believe that the number 4 sounds like death, so they avoid rooms and floors with this number. Some hotels in the region do not have the 4th floor or rooms ending in 4!
Leave a light on while sleeping: This is to keep spirits away as they are discouraged by lights. So leave a small light – maybe a toilet light or a night light when sleeping.
These are some of the common superstitions here in Southeast Asia, especially when it comes to hotels. I’d love to hear any others that you may have encountered! Do share….
I have been working half day from home so it hardly felt as if I was at work last week. This will continue this week too and then next week till the end of the exams I will be working from home.
Actually working from home is a misnomer as I don’t have any work to do! Just before I got permission from my boss to work from home, I did mention that I don’t have anything on my plate now. His response was “So what will do at home?” I stared at him for a moment and mentioned some things I had been doing since last week to keep myself busy, but that’s not really something great. Aah well, in a way this is good as I don’t have deadlines while at home, but it becomes difficult to pretend to be busy at work! 😦
I have decided to start looking for new opportunities, I am starting this process now, so by the time the exams are done, I should be able to do this in all seriousness…
I am looking forward to the end of the exams so that we can go shopping!! I’ve planned some stuff with BB & GG and this is something to look forward to….
With these words, hundreds of thousands of devotees across India would have welcomed the very loved elephant-head God, Lord Ganesh into their homes for his annual visit.
Lalbagcha Raja – 2014
The festival, also known as Vinayaka Chaturthi, is observed in the Hindu calendar month of Bhaadrapada, starting on the shukla chaturthi (fourth day of the waxing moon period). The date usually falls between August and September. The festival usually lasts for 10 days, ending on Anant Chaturdashi.
While the festival is celebrated all over the country and across the Indian diaspora, today’s post will mostly focus on the way it is celebrated in my home state of Maharashtra and is full of nostalgia….
Mumbaicha Raja – 2014
Earlier, homes in Maharashtra used to celebrate Ganesh Chaturti like others in India, by worshipping him in their homes. But all this changed in a large scale when the legendary freedom fighter Lokmanya Tilak, who impressed by the first Sarvajanik (Public) Ganesh idols installed by Shrimant Bhausaheb Rangari Ganpati, Bhudwar Peth, in Pune, praised it in his revolutionary newspaper Kesari and started using the concept of Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav to disseminate the concept of freedom from the British to the people of Mumbai. The concept then took up and has not looked back since then. Till around 20 odd years, it was mainly restricted to Maharashtra, but these days, you can find Sarvajanik Ganesh Pandals all over the country.
GSB Seva Mandal – 2014
Weeks before the festival, Ganesh Mandals (groups) would have decided on the theme of their Mandal and would have ordered the idol based on the theme. Then they would collect donations from the neighbourhood and using this would buy the decorations for their mandal. The mandals also vie with each other to put up the biggest statue and the best pandal and the duration of the idol’s visit would have cultural activities like singing and theater performances, orchestra and community activities like free medical checkup, blood donation camps, and charity for the poor.
The idols, both communal and the ones at home are worshiped in every morning and evening until the departure. The worship involves various offerings to the idol including flowers and durva. Each durva bunch has 21 shoots and the shoots have either three or five strands. Other offerings like modak also have to number 21 in Ganesh worship. The daily worship ceremonies ends with the worshipers singing the Aarti in honor of Ganesh, other Gods and saints. The Ganesh aarti sung in Maharashtra was composed by the 17th century, saint Samarth Ramdas.As per the tradition of their respective families, the domestic celebrations come to an end after 1, 3, 5, 7 or 11 days when the statue is taken in a procession to a large body of water such a lake, river or the sea for immersion. Due to environmental concerns, a number of families now avoid the large water bodies and instead let the clay statue disintegrate in a bucket or tub of water at home. After a few days the clay is used in the home garden. In some cities, a public eco-friendly process is used for immersion.
Some of the Ganesh idols in Mumbai are iconic, among them being Lalbagcha Raja and Mumbaicha Raja, which are usually one of the biggest idols in the city and GSB Seva Mandal’s idol where the idol is said to be made of gold and some of the ornaments are said to be made of diamonds!
What’s a festival without sweets and the neividhyam (offering) for Ganesh Chaturti is Modak or Kozhakottai as its called in Tamil. This is Lord Ganesh’s favourite sweet and different families have their own recipe to make this delicious sweet!
Writing this post is making me very nostalgic to be in Mumbai. In all the years that I’ve been away, I’ve never been able to get back for this festival. This is my favourite festival as Lord Ganesh is my ishtadev (favourite God) and I can remember how we went to major roads to see the Ganpati idols making their way to the pandals or go pandal-hopping the day of the festival and across the 10 days to see the major Ganpati idols or even standing for hours on Anant Chaturdashi day to see the idols being taken for immersion…
I’m going to leave you with the Aarti I love for Ganpati which is sung by the nightingale of India, Lata Mangeshkar. This song never fails to soothe my soul….
GG & BB turn 12 today. Happy Birthday my darlings! May you be always happy….
This year’s birthday is a very low-key one, what with the PSLE looming over us. We’ll probably do a nice celebration after the exams.
I still remember the day they were born. They were born at 36 weeks and 3 days, which is considered full term for twins, but were still a month away from their Expected Due Date. I was very reluctant to have the c-section my gynae had recommended and wanted to wait till they were ready to be born. But, my gynae was a bit concerned for GG as he felt she was smaller and hence may not be able to survive the trauma of birth. When put this way, how could I refuse, right?
I was also told that babies who are below 2 kg will be kept in the NICU and there was a possibility that GG or even BB may not weigh as much as we thought, so the first thing I asked around when I opened my eyes after surgery was how much the babies weighed and I was so elated when I heard both were healthy and above the 2 kg NICU limit. Due to their early birth, both had to spend time under the photo lights for jaundice, GG more than BB and so they got discharged a day later than me. I was able to go home before them, but I refused saying I will go home with my babies.
They’ve both grown into amazing almost teens, articulate and determined. GG, who is older than BB by 2 minutes is a determined and gutsy girl who loves reading, music and drawing! I have a feeling she is developing into a fashionista, but we’re a way to go there. She has her faults, the major one being her temper and stubbonness, but she is also a very loving girl with a big heart and one who makes friends very easily. She is a very people person and can relate to most of them all the time. She doesn’t like Maths but loves languages and hasn’t yet decided what she wants to do in life. I’ve often told her she would make a good lawyer, but GG is still not convinced. She has a great, powerful voice, and is very good in singing, but likes to ruin her voice by shouting at her brother.
BB on the other hand, is more of an introvert, who is most content using his electronic toys (laptops, tablets etc) playing his games. He has steadily been in love with planes since he was 2 and shows no signs of abandoning this love. His major criteria for choosing a secondary school next year is if they offer the Singapore Flying Club as a CCA. He wants to become a pilot, but is also majorly interested in Science, especially Physics. If he can do both – become an engineer and a Pilot, he will do it, until then he will I guess decide on his future somewhere between these two. He also reads, but not much of fiction. His preferred reading is books on science, which are mostly non-fiction. He loves reading books on planes and playing flight simulation games on his laptop. He is the more easygoing twin compared to GG, but he also has his times of stubbornness. His most hated subject is Hindi and when it’s time to study the subject, he comes up with so many inventive excuses why he should not study it. Other than this, he is quite good in studies, and if he overcomes his latent laziness, he can really be top in his class.
So a very happy birthday to both of you as you come to the end of your childhood and enter a new phase in life, both in terms of age as well as school. Be happy and always strive to do your best. Make us all proud of you! God bless you always….
Memories and Such 
