SO MUCH COLOURFUL!

Namaste!

It's a universally accepted truth (finally) that India is not just a version of Slumdog Millionaire. Parts of India are slum-doggish...I cannot lie...but then there are these other ostentatious and opulent parts that make it a land of such diversity and magnificence that it sometimes leaves me speechless. Bereft of speech and words, I thought I'd show you my tiny passage through a tiny bit of India this past week. 

Honestly, would you complain if you were woken up by a pair (in this case it was a mmf threesome) of coo-hooing peacocks early in the morning?

Neither did I.

Didn't complain about the window-shopping either...

Or the wedding I attended that gave me swollen feet and skin streaked with zari-itch and mehendi. Ooh! I feel I must mention that modern India has a solution to the uncomfortable pleat problem in saris...

I present to you the Pleat-less Sari!

There can be no wedding without mehendi...or a groom's horse, can there?

Then there are the days and days and days of celebrations...

You can't blame me for having fun...

Did I mention the brand new airport in Mumbai which takes opulence to another level?

Tempted yet, to see the city of my birth?

DIVINE CHILD MYTHS

A vast majority of the world's myths and religions prescribe to the idea of a Divine Child who might be a god, demi-god, hero or savior come to change the world (the triumph of good versus evil). The Child is most often not conceived naturally. The Divine Mother has an encounter with a ruling deity or pure spirit and gives birth (again most often not naturally) to the god-like child, often of royal lineage. 

Fascinatingly, there are a horrendous amount of such births in the world's cultural collectives (a terrific number in Indian myths alone). I am going mention those I know, if you know more, then I'd love to hear about them.

1. Jesus Christ - Son of God, virgin birth to the Virgin Mary. (Christian)

2. Horus - son of the Sun God, divine child born to the virgin goddess Isis. (Ancient Egypt)

3. Krishna - Reincarnation of God Vishnu born to the royals Vasudeva and Devaki in prison. Secreted out of prison in the middle of the night and raised by cowherds Nanda and Yashoda. When he came of age, he went back to free his parents and assassinate his evil uncle, Kamsa, who had his parents imprisoned. (Hinduism)

4. Greek mythology is full of strange births from the Titan Cronus, to his son, Zeus, to Zeus' offspring Athena, Perseus, Dionysus, Heracles (Hercules), Helen of Troy etc.

5. Romulus and Remus - Vestal Virgin, Rhea Silvia gets impregnated either by the God Mars or Hercules and births the twins. Her evil brother, King Amulius, orders their drowning in the twins in the river Tiber. The twins survive somehow, and are found and adopted by a she-wolf. She nurses them as babes. A woodpecker feeds them as they grow older and they are finally adopted by a shepherd. They grow up, kill their uncle, restore Numitor, the rightful king-uncle to the throne, become heroes and found Rome.

6. The Indian Epic, the Mahabharata, has a countless number of such births. It is supposedly an accounting of the ancient kings of India. 

Kunti's offspring. Kunti is a key figure in the epic, the mother of the heroes. Mother too, of one tragic hero, her first-born, Karna. She was given a boon from the Sage Durvasa, a boon to be used after marriage as it summoned Gods from the Hindu pantheon to impregnate her. She foolishly chanted the mantra as a young girl and accidentally summons the Sun God, Surya. He impregnates her and she gives birth to Karna, through her ear, as she must remain a virgin to be wed honorably. She abandons the child in the river.

The second, their and fourth times she summons Gods, its within the sanctions of her marriage and on behest of her husband, the weak and impotent, King Pandu who has abdicated the throne.

She gives birth to Yudhishtira by Yama, the God of Death. Bhima by Vayu, the God of Wind and Arjuna by Indra, the God of War and Thunder. Her husband's second wife begs for children and using the mantra gives birth to Nakul and Sahadeva, twins by the twin gods, the Ashwins.

The rival Kuru family could not remain ordinary in such circumstances. Thus Queen Gandhari after a two-year pregnancy gives birth to a lump of clay, which is then on the advice of sages and gods, separated into 101 lumps of clay and left to gestate in bowls or vases. They grow into the 100 Kaurava brothers and their only sister.

The five demi-god Pandava brothers, all marry the princess of Panchal, Draupadi, who emerged fully formed from a fire with her twin brother, Dhrishtadyumna. 

Okay, I'm tired of writing as I'm sure you guys are fed up of reading what is essentially the same concept over and over. There's an interesting version of why such myths exist that has to do with our spiritual and psychological evolution or awakening or rebirth or recreation, our Kundalini energy. But I won't go into that just yet.

A HALLOWEEN DIWALI.

Say What?

Today is Diwali, the Indian Festival of Lights that brings in the Hindu New Year. 

For a few years now I've noticed that Diwali and All Hallow's Eve occur close together, sometimes on the same day. They weren't on the same day this year, but my daughter is having a Halloween party at home today. And it's Diwali!

So here we are, celebrating two festivals multiculturally. 

THE STATE and a DESI AESOP'S FABLE

An interesting take on the Ant and the Grasshopper story.

Original Story:

The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter. The Grasshopper thinks the Ant is a fool and laughs dances plays the summer away.

Come winter, the Ant is warm and well fed. The Grasshopper has no food or shelter so he dies out in the
cold.

Indian Version:

The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter. The Grasshopper thinks the Ant’s a fool and laughs dances plays the summer away.

Come winter, the shivering Grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why should the Ant be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.

NDTV, BBC, CNN show up to provide pictures of the shivering Grasshopper next to a video of the Ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.

The World is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be that this poor Grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Arundhati Roy stages a demonstration in front of the Ant’s house.

Medha Patkar goes on a fast along with other Grasshoppers demanding that Grasshoppers be relocated to warmer climates during winter.

Mayawati states this as ‘injustice’ done on Minorities.

Amnesty International and Koffi Annan criticize the Indian Government for not upholding the fundamental rights of the Grasshopper.

The Internet is flooded with online petitions seeking worldwide support for the Grasshopper (many promising Heaven & Everlasting Peace for prompt support as against the wrath of God for non-compliance).

Opposition MPs stage a walkout. Left parties call for ‘Bengal Bandh’ in West Bengal and Kerala demanding a Judicial Enquiry.

CPM in Kerala immediately passes a law preventing Ants from working hard in the heat so as to bring about equality of poverty among the Ants and the Grasshoppers.

Lalu Prasad allocates one free coach to Grasshoppers on all Indian Railway Trains, aptly named as the ‘Grasshopper Rath’.

Finally, the Judicial Committee drafts the ‘Prevention of Terrorism Against Grasshoppers Act’ [POTAGA], with retrospective effect from the beginning of the winter.

Arjun Singh makes ‘Special Reservation’ for Grasshoppers in Educational Institutions in Government Services.

The Ant is fined for failing to comply with POTAGA and having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, its home is confiscated by the Government and handed over to the Grasshopper in a ceremony covered by NDTV, BBC, CNN.

Arundhati Roy calls it ‘A Triumph of Justice’.

Lalu calls it ‘Socialistic Justice’.

CPM calls it the ‘Revolutionary Resurgence of the Downtrodden’.

Koffi Annan invites the Grasshopper to address the UN General Assembly.

Many years later…

The Ant has since migrated to the US and set up a multi-billion dollar company in Silicon Valley.

100s of Grasshoppers still die of starvation despite reservation somewhere in India.

AND…

As a result of losing lot of hard working Ants and feeding the Grasshoppers, India is still a developing country.

(Are you the ant or the grasshopper? What do you think about the Indian Governing System?)

THE DEATH OF A CITY.

Bengaluru: No more a city of a thousand lakes.

It seems that half of Bengaluru (Karnataka, India) will have to be evacuated by the year 2023 as the rapidly expanding city is facing a water-shortage crisis. More than half of its bore wells and tap water have been contaminated by E.coli bacteria and no plans are in place to reverse this outrage. How is it contaminated? By letting sewage run into groundwater rendering it un-potable. 

Once, many decades, maybe centuries ago, Bengaluru or Bangalore had been described as a land of a thousand lakes. But today only 200 of those lakes remain and are nothing better than sewage tanks. The rest of the 800 were sucked dry and built over to expand the city's acreage. No one thought to build around these lakes? Can no one enforce sanitation laws? It's not only unbelievable, it's shameful.

Out of the usable water that flows into the city a third is wasted due to leaks in transportation. The numbers are all out there for all to see. Why is no one seeing? How can we let this happen?

Seems a patently fake image.

That's more realistic.