Tag Archives: Life

Dreams – A foretelling of Reality?

Posted on by
1

This post has been lying in my drafts for a while now. I actually had this dream a few weeks backs and it was so vivid that I actually woke up disoriented. I normally don’t have dreams – or I am one of those who don’t remember their dreams at all or if I remember, it will be extremely fuzzy!

I started using lavender aroma oil around a month back to see if it helps us sleep well – now I am not 100% sure if this dream was a result of the oil being diffused in the room or was it something deep from my subconscious or is it really a foretelling of the future! The dream was so compelling and vivid, that it made me pen it down as soon as I woke up. Below is exactly what I remembered around 5 am the morning after the dream.

In the first part, I dreamt that I was going to the mall to colour my hair around 11 pm. I remember calling my husband to check if he had come back home so he can open the door for me and I don’t have to disturb my helper.

The next thing I remember I am at a Feng Shui practitioner’s office. It’s funny that I even remember the people in the office – the head was a Caucasian with a red face and a white beard.

And then there was this pretty Chinese lady with heavy makeup, especially around the eyes who came to talk to me. I was with a bunch of people and we came to discuss some fengshui for a business of ours. But this lady started talking about me. The discussion was about how much potential I have to become very successful in life and then she asked me my age. When I told her, she said something I could not catch.

Something about the next few years being very good for my career and how I was going to be very successful. She then spoke of some package I should take to ensure this. And even in a dream, I am ever so practical…I said I need to consult my husband and that was the end of that discussion.

Next me plus that bunch of people are in a car somewhere in Sentosa (don’t ask how I know I was in Sentosa which is an island off the coast of Singapore and is used as a large theme park). We are driving to meet another Fengshui consultant – a person related to the one we just saw. Something to do about picking up something.

I still haven’t gone home and have this feeling I should call my husband. Then I see this really gorgeous sunrise – streaks of pinks, golds and lavenders with black birds against it in stark contrast.

I tell the others in the car to see it and start to take a picture saying “My crappy phone will never do justice to this sunrise”. The driver stops the car for a picture and at this point my alarm rang and I woke up. Actually I shut off the alarm to try and sleep more so I could end the dream, but could not do that.

Wonder what this dream meant? Indians believe that morning dreams are a forecast of what will happen and that they come true. I wonder what is my subconscious trying to tell me? I tried analysing this dream using the online dream interpretation sites, but nothing really tells me what the entire dream means. I could only find out what sunrise (new beginnings, fulfillment of goals, new adventure in personal life) and fengshui (search for spiritual balance, positivity) means, but together what do they mean? Any ideas?

My Home State: Maharashtra

Posted on by
1


Growing up, in Mumbai, May 1st was always celebrated as Maharashtra Day, the day my home state of Maharashtra, of which Mumbai is the capital came into existence. So I thought it is only appropriate that today’s post be all about Maharashtra.

Maharashtra, which means ‘Great State‘ lies in the western part of India with the states of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh to the north, Chattisgarh to the east, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Goa to the south and the Arabian Sea to the west. Mumbai, the capital city is the country’s financial capital, though some may debate this claim in recent years and the state is also home to Bollywood!

Maharashtra is one of the wealthiest and the most developed states in India, contributing around a quarter of the country’s industrial output and GDP. This is also the second most populous state in India with almost 10% of India’s population in the state. His probably does not take the migrant population into account, so the actual numbers may be a bit higher. This is also the state with the longest road network in the country and the first train service in India and in fact continental Asia ran between Mumbai and Thane (a Mumbai suburb of sorts) on 16 April 1853. The headquarters of Central Railways, Chatrapti Shivaji Terminus aka CST is the busiest railway station in India, serving as a terminal for both long-distance trains and commuter trains of the Mumbai Suburban Railway.

One of the greatest Maratha warriors is Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj who, along with his father Shahaji Bhosle is credited with the establishment of the independent Maratha Empire which defeated the Mughals conquered large territories in northern and central parts of the Indian subcontinent. The Third Anglo-Maratha war (1817–1818) led to the end of the Maratha Empire and East India Company ruled the country in 1819.

The British governed western Maharashtra as part of the Bombay Presidency, which spanned an area from Karachi in Pakistan to northern Deccan. A number of the Maratha states persisted as princely states, retaining autonomy in return for acknowledging British suzerainty. At the beginning of the 20th century, the struggle for independence took shape, led by nationalist extremists like Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and the moderates like Justice Mahadev Govind Ranade, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Pherozeshah Mehta and Dadabhai Naoroji who were all born in this region.

The ultimatum to the British during the Quit India Movement was given in Mumbai, and culminated in the transfer of power and independence in 1947. After India’s independence, the Deccan States, including Kolhapur were integrated into Bombay State, which was created from the former Bombay Presidency in 1950.

In 1956, the States Reorganisation Act reorganised the Indian states along linguistic lines, and Bombay Presidency State was enlarged by the addition of the predominantly Marathi-speaking regions of Marathwada (Aurangabad Division) from erstwhile Hyderabad state and Vidarbha region from the Central Provinces and Berar. The southernmost part of Bombay State was ceded to Mysore. From 1954–1955 the people of Maharashtra strongly protested against bilingual Bombay state and the Mahagujarat Movement was started, seeking a separate Gujarat state.

Due to the mass protests and 105 deaths, by both linguistic groups, the Union government enacted the Bombay Reorganisation Act on 25 April 1960 which came into effect on 01 May 1960 leading to the formation of the states of Maharashtra and Gujrat by dividing the erstwhile Bombay state.

I can go on and on I guess, but this should be a good starting point for someone who is interested in the state of Maharashtra. One of these days, I’ll do a similar post on Mumbai…

Festivals of India: Akshaya Trithiya

Posted on by
Reply

A holy day for Hindus and Jains, Akshaya Tritiya or Akha Teej falls on the third lunar day of the Bright Half (Shukla Paksha) of the pan-Indian month of Vaishakha.

In Jain and Hindu calendars, some days of the month are absent in counting and some days (tithi in lunar calendars) come extra, but Akshay tritiya is one day which is never “absent” from the lunar calendar.

The word “Akshaya” means the never diminishing in Sanskrit and the day is believed to bring good luck and success. It is believed that if you do charity on this day you will be blessed. On Akshay Tritiya, Mrutika worshiped.

 

The day is considered auspicious for starting new ventures. The legend is that any venture initiated on the auspicious day of Akshaya Tritiya continues to grow and bring prosperity. Hence, new ventures, like starting a business, construction, etc. is performed on Akshaya Tritiya. Akshaya Tritiya is also called Navanna Parvam. Akshaya Tritiya falling on a Rohini star Monday is considered more auspicious.

In Hinduism, Akshay Tritiya is a day rife with symbolisms. This was the day when the great sage Vyasa started writing the history of the great Bharat war in the form of an epic Mahabharata. According to Hindu mythology, on this day the Treta Yuga began and the river Ganges, the most sacred river of India, descended to the earth from the heaven. This day is also said to be the birthdays of Goddess Annapoorna (the giver of food and nourishment, an avatar of Goddess Parvati) and Lord Parsuram, the sixth incarnation of Lord Vishnu, of whom the Puranic scriptures say reclaimed the land which is now known as the state of Kerala from the sea. This day is symbolized by god Vishnu, the preserver-god in the Hindu Trinity. It is said Lord Kubera received his wealth and position as custodian of wealth and property with Goddess Lakshmi on this day, by praying to Lord Shiva at Shivapuram. In Mahabharata, Yudhishtira receives the Akshaya patra, which he uses to serve food for all the needy in his kingdom on this day. It is on this day that poor Sudama, the best friend of Krishna visits Him (Lord Krishna) to greet Him after He became the King. With nothing to offer, Sudama takes with him Poha (puffed rice) and offers it to his friend and never discusses his poverty though he intends to. On his return he finds his hut changed to a palace. It is on this day that Dushasana, Duryodhana’s brother, unveils Draupadi at the royal court where Krishna protects her providing the ‘unending’ veil…

In more recent history, Adi Shankara recited the Kanaka Dhara Stotra on this day for the sake of the poor couple at whose house he stopped for Bhiksha and was offered their only available gooseberry.

This day is generally observed by fasting and worship of Lord Vasudeva with rice grains. A dip in the river Ganges on this day is considered to be very auspicious.

Even though Akshaya Trithiya has been around for centuries, it is only in recent years (maybe the last decade or so) that it has suddenly gained prominence. Much like the Valentine’s Day, this is a festival which has been driven purely by marketing efforts. Jewellers advertise the festival and since it’s auspicious to buy gold on that day, you can guess where the prices of gold would have been yesterday

Festivals of India: Tamil New Year

Posted on by
1

Happy New Year! Surprised to see this greeting more than four months after Jan 1? Well yesterday was the Tamil New Year or Puthandu/ Varusha Pirrapu as it’s called in Tamil, which is the first day of the Tamil New Year as celebrated by the Tamil diaspora across India, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia etc. This is one of the very few festivals which is celebrated keeping the solar calendar instead of the lunar calendar (which is mostly the norm for Hindu festivals) in mind.

The Tamil New Year follows the Nirayanam vernal equinox and generally falls on 14 April of the Gregorian year. 14 April marks the first day of the traditional Tamil calendar and is a public holiday in both Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka. The Tropical vernal equinox falls around 22 March, and adding 23 degrees of trepidation or oscillation to it, we get the Hindu sidereal transition or Nirayana Mesha Sankranti (the Sun’s transition into Nirayana Aries).

Hence, the Tamil calendar begins on the same date observed by most traditional calendars in India as in Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, Manipur, Mithila, Odisha, Punjab, Tripura etc. not to mention Nepal, Bangladesh, Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Sri Lanka and Thailand. The 60-year cycle is ancient and is observed by most traditional calendars of India and China, and is related to 5 revolutions of Jupiter, or to 60-year orbit of Nakshatras (stars) as described in the Surya Siddhanta.

Tamil people celebrate Tamil new year on 14 April. This is the month of Chittrai, the first month of the Tamil solar calendar.  In the temple city of Madurai, the Chittrai Thiruvizha is celebrated in the Meenakshi Temple. A huge exhibition is held, called Chittrai Porutkaatchi. The day is marked with a feast in Tamil homes and entrances to the houses are decorated elaborately with kolams. In most parts of India, one can see neem trees blooming with their flowers and the first batch of mangoes hanging prominently. This day is celebrated by some communities with neem flowers and raw mangoes to symbolize growth and prosperity.

On the day of Tamil New Year, a big Car Festival is at Tiruvidaimarudur near Kumbakonam. Festivals are also held at Tiruchirapalli, Kanchipuram and many other places.

Growing up, this festival used to be smack bang during our final exams and so it not really on our radar. Depending on the exam schedule, we would have exams going on, or it would be the last exam. I do remember my mother getting new clothes for us for that day.

Since it is a holiday in Tamil Nadu, food prepared used to be the festive one with all flavours in it – sweet, sour, salty, bitter and spicy. But since it was a normal working day for us in Mumbai, food used to be the usual day-to-day food. But one other thing I do remember my mother making is Mango Pachadi, which is made from raw mango, jiggery and neem flowers (Azadirachta indica) and is a medley of flavours – sweet, sour and bitter. This is to indicate that the coming year be full of different flavours for everyone in the house.

Personality Types Part 2

Posted on by
Reply

Continuing from Wednesday’s post, here are the rest of the Mayer Briggs types of personalities:

ISTP aka The Virtuoso: Tolerant and flexible, quiet observers until a problem appears, then act quickly to find workable solutions. Analyze what makes things work and readily get through large amounts of data to isolate the core of practical problems. Interested in cause and effect, organize facts using logical principles, value efficiency. The explorers, virtuosos love to examine the world around them with cool rationalism and spirited curiosity and they are fairly uncommon, making around five percent of the population, with women being especially rare. People who are Virtuosos have strengths like being optimistic, energetic, creative, practical, spontaneous, rational, ability to prioritise and are great people to be around in a crisis. But they are also stubborn, insensitive, private, reserved, easily bored and dislike commitment.

ISFP aka The Adventurer: Quiet, friendly, sensitive, and kind. Enjoy the present moment, what’s going on around them. Like to have their own space and to work within their own time frame. Loyal and committed to their values and to people who are important to them. Dislike disagreements and conflicts, do not force their opinions or values on others. Artists of the world, these people use aesthetics, design and their choices and actions to push the limits of social conventions living out of the box. People with this personality type are charming, sensitive to others, imaginative, passionate, curious and artistic. They suffer from a number of weaknesses, including being fiercely independent, unpredictable, become easily stressed, overly competitive and have fluctuating self esteem.

INFP aka The Mediator: Idealistic, loyal to their values and to people who are important to them. Want an external life that is congruent with their values. Curious, quick to see possibilities, can be catalysts for implementing ideas. Seek to understand people and to help them fulfill their potential. Adaptable, flexible, and accepting unless a value is threatened. True idealists, these people are always looking for that hint of good, even in the worst of people and situations. Comprising of four percent of the population, the mediator’s strength lies in being idealistic, open minded, flexible and very creative. They are also passionate and energetic people but tend to be too idealistic and altruistic and somewhat impractical.

INTP aka The Logician: Seek to develop logical explanations for everything that interests them. Theoretical and abstract, interested more in ideas than in social interaction. Quiet, contained, flexible, and adaptable. Have unusual ability to focus in depth to solve problems in their area of interest. Skeptical, sometimes critical, always analytical. A fairly rare type making up only three percent of the population. Strengths include great analysis skills as well as being abstract thinkers who can take seemingly unrelated factors and tie them in ways that make no sense to the other personality types. They are also very imaginative, original and have open minds. This type should be careful not to seem very private and withdrawn, insensitive and absent-minded.

ESTP aka The Entrepreneur: Flexible and tolerant, they take a pragmatic approach focused on immediate results. Theories and conceptual explanations bore them – they want to act energetically to solve the problem. Focus on the here-and-now, spontaneous, enjoy each moment that they can be active with others. Enjoy material comforts and style. Learn best through doing. Full of passion and energy, these people are inspiring, colourful and natural group leaders. Entrepreneurs are bold, rational, practical, original, perceptive and direct. Their weakness include being insensitive to others, being impatient, risk-prone and unstructured and defiant, they sometimes miss the bigger picture.

ESFP aka The Entertainer: Outgoing, friendly, and accepting. Exuberant lovers of life, people, and material comforts. Enjoy working with others to make things happen. Bring common sense and a realistic approach to their work, and make work fun. Flexible and spontaneous, adapt readily to new people and environments. Learn best by trying a new skill with other people. People who are this personality are the born entertainers of our world, with the strongest aesthetic sense of any personality type with a very keen eye for fashion. The entertainers are bold, original, practical, observant and have a keen sense of aesthetics and showmanship. They need to work on being sensitive, conflict-averse, easily bored, unfocused and to become better long term planners.

ENFP aka The Campaigner: Warmly enthusiastic and imaginative. See life as full of possibilities. Make connections between events and information very quickly, and confidently proceed based on the patterns they see. Want a lot of affirmation from others, and readily give appreciation and support. Spontaneous and flexible, often rely on their ability to improvise and their verbal fluency. A true free spirit, these people are the life of a party making up around 7% of the population. Campaigners are curious, observant, energetic, enthusiastic, very popular and excellent communicators. However, they suffer from poor practical skills, have problems focusing, overthink things and get stressed easily.

ENTP aka The Debater: Quick, ingenious, stimulating, alert, and outspoken. Resourceful in solving new and challenging problems. Adept at generating conceptual possibilities and then analyzing them strategically. Good at reading other people. Bored by routine, will seldom do the same thing the same way, apt to turn to one new interest after another. The ultimate devil’s advocate, who thrive on the process of shedding arguments and beliefs and letting the ribbons drift in the wind for all to see. They are highly knowledgeable, original, quick thinkers and excellent brainstormers. But they are also very argumentative, insensitive and intolerant who dislike practical matters and find it difficult to focus.

ESTJ aka The Executive: Practical, realistic, matter-of-fact. Decisive, quickly move to implement decisions. Organize projects and people to get things done, focus on getting results in the most efficient way possible. Take care of routine details. Have a clear set of logical standards, systematically follow them and want others to also. Forceful in implementing their plans. Representatives of tradition and order, the executives utilise their understanding of right, wrong and socially acceptable to bring families and communities together and make up around 11% of the population. They are dedicated, strong-willed, direct, honest, loyal, patient, reliable, excellent organisers and enjoy creating order. However they suffer from being inflexible, stubborn, judgemental, focused on social status and being uncomfortable with unconventional situations.

ESFJ aka The Consul: Warmhearted, conscientious, and cooperative. Want harmony in their environment, work with determination to establish it. Like to work with others to complete tasks accurately and on time. Loyal, follow through even in small matters. Notice what others need in their day-by-day lives and try to provide it. Want to be appreciated for who they are and for what they contribute. Popular people, the consuls are one of the more common types making up 12% of the population. These people bring strong practical skills, strong sense of duty, loyalty, sensitivity and an ability to connect with others to the table.Their weaknesses include being worried about their social status, being inflexible, reluctant to innovate, being too selfless and being vulnerable to criticism.

ENFJ aka The Protagonist: Warm, empathetic, responsive, and responsible. Highly attuned to the emotions, needs, and motivations of others. Find potential in everyone, want to help others fulfill their potential. May act as catalysts for individual and group growth. Loyal, responsive to praise and criticism. Sociable, facilitate others in a group, and provide inspiring leadership. These are natural born leaders who are full of passion and charisma who form around two percent of the population and are usually our politicians, coaches and teachers who inspire others to do good in the world. People with this personality type are tolerant, reliable, charismatic and natural leaders. However, their weaknesses include being overly idealistic, selfless and sensitive. They also have fluctuating self-esteem and struggle to make tough decisions.

ENTJ aka The Commander: Frank, decisive, assume leadership readily. Quickly see illogical and inefficient procedures and policies, develop and implement comprehensive systems to solve organizational problems. Enjoy long-term planning and goal setting. Usually well informed, well read, enjoy expanding their knowledge and passing it on to others. Forceful in presenting their ideas. Making up around 3 percent of the population, these natural born leaders love a good challenge. Being efficient, energetic, strong-willed and self confident are their strengths, but they are also intolerant, stubborn, dominant, arrogant and impatient which are their biggest weaknesses.

Now that we have seen all 16 types, do click this link and take your own test to see which type you are?

I am an INTJ personality and when I read what the results said, I was really blown away! It was so close to what I am, as if they literally read me to write about this personality. The pages gave me good insight about myself, what are the strengths I have internally that I should play up and what are the things I should look out for as well as workplace habits!

I’d love to hear in the comments if anyone else did the test and whether it fit in with their own personality….