Happy Diwali

The king of festivals is here to rock again… Diwali…The festival to mark the home coming of Lord Ram after a 14 year ‘vanvas’ in the jungles..
But I still don’t know whether Ramayan is just a fiction written by Valmiki, like another fiction novel which we read these days or does it consists of actual incidents which took place.
What I believe is that they were characters born out of imagination. But doubts arise over these beliefs as there have been some reports of NASA finding the bridge built between India mainland and Sri Lanka. Also some landmarks like Sugreev’s caves are mentioned in Wikipedia.
So my point of view is still surrounded by confusion. The atheist in me still gives the benefit of doubt to the fictional view of the story.
Anyway, fictional or not, the 24000 verse epic is there for sure. And is a source of some great philosophies and teachings. It is in fact a holy book for the Hindus, which they regularly read to satisfy their religious needs.
But does everyone follow it??
I have not read ramayan… but came across a thought provoking excerpt. I wish all a very Happy Diwali and leave you with this excerpt to ponder over.

“The Injunctions of Worship of Gods, sacrifice, gift and penances have been laid down in sastras by clever people to rule over people”
source : The Argumentative Indian by Amartya Sen

Holi Day @ Mysore

Me painted in colors of the Festivities
Starting it All
After oiling our hair and applying protective creams on our faces, KT and I set off for Amit & Jeetu’s place at around 10.30. We met a group of unknowns (but definitely Infocians) on the way. Unknowns because of their multicolored, unrecognizable faces. A brief happy holi and the inaugural rubbing of gulal, we moved on. Amrut, Jalali, sangu were already there along with Amit and Jeetu. We decided to have breakfast before splashing off with colors. 7 people on 3 bikes set off for Surya mess. After some idlis and Puris there, it was time for some rang-a- rang programme. It started outside the mess itself with gulaal and gold sparkles being used to bright us up.


The Gang painted yellow, red and Greeen
Some Fun
We set off on bikes and roamed around looking for some fun and more celebrations around the city. There were none except for 1 -2 groups on KD Road.
We had unsuccessfully tried to contact Debu earlier. Now we got a tip about his whereabouts. The procession turned to Mayukh’s place and it was one hell of excited debu along with Mayukh and Santanu, whom we met there. Some water was thrown into the already vibrant scenery. And our faces got literally painted with the color which would be the last to go. There was a nursery below the house and we – all coloured yellow green and red, were a source of entertainment for the kids playing there. It was decided to go to Balmuri thereafter for the wash off.
But before moving on, there was a photo session at my place where I had left my Mobile. (can’t afford to carry the 18K mobile along on Holi !!!! )


Expressing The Spirit of Holi
Balmuri
10 guys moved on in a group of 5 bikes together to Balmuri - around 10 km away. After deciding on a spot, we washed off the colors under the falling waters and then moved on to the other side where there was a vast stretch of static water. The swimmers of the group moved on in slightly deeper waters. The water was not very deep and there were some stones on which one could easily stand. On being coerced, I made a trip to one such stone practically on backs of Mayukh and Jitesh. The feeling of being in water without anything under you to stand on can be really scary and I experienced some of it on the way. After returning, I made the trip on my own – I know some basic swimming but on reaching there I nearly drowned Amrut and KT along with me as I couldn’t find a spot to stand on. With confidence a bit on the higher side, a third trip was also made. Meanwhile Mayukh, Sangu, KT, Jitu had all ventured into more deeper waters farther away. After having lots of wet fun, it was time to head back.


Amrut and Part of jeetu with their clothes in tatters
“Main happy holi chilaunga - Kurta Faad Ke”
Just before leaving we followed the Holi custom of tearing off clothes. I had been the first victim earlier but now no one was spared, the worst hit being Amrut and Jitesh. I had my kurta torn from sides and front... jitu and amrut’s t shirts were in tatters… buttons of shirt on debu were butchered off… amit’s reebok t shirt wasn’t spared and KT’s IIT D T shirt was unceremoniously torn off while Sangu and jalali had their sides bared up…



Me on Raman Phaaji's Enfield
Bhaang Session
On return, we had another photo session with everyone posing on Raman Phaaji’s enormous Enfield. Then the ‘Kafila’ moved towards Amit and Jeetu’s place where the bhang packets were mixed with milk and ice and gulped down with rice and daal which had never before tasted so good. Everyone sat awaiting for the bhang to take over which didn’t happen. Briefly there were a few minutes where everyone kept laughing without saying anything but that was it.. I don’t know it was the tiredness or bhang which induced a sleeping effect. I really think it was tiredness. Almost everyone slept for good 1.5- 2 hours. The head was heavy after getting up and it is still a bit heavy. May be bhang getting to head after all. But it was not the experience what we had thought of and what we had heard of from people – specially Amit who had wound a bhang web around us scaring us with the strange after affects.
The enjoyable Holi Day and more importantly a holiday ended on a lazy note with the tired bodies moving to Top Stuff for a dinner and retreating to our abodes for the nyt.

Blogs by Amrut and KT on same Holi Day