नवरात्रि...

                                                     
Navratri or Naurata is the first day for festivities after a fifteen days ritual for forefathers popularly known as pitra paksh or shraadh .Navratri is celebrated in a large number of Indian communities. The mother goddess is said to appear in 9 forms, and each one is worshipped for a day. Hindu's all over celebrate it with fasting dancing and other rituals.festival of Navratri begins on the first day of Ashwina of the bright fortnight.Navratri was linked with the fertility of Earth which fed us as her youngsters.


 Seeds are sown, sprouting is watched, the planets are consecrated.This period is a time for self-referral and getting back to the Source. During this time of transformation, nature sheds the old and gets rejuvenated; animals hibernate and life emerges back afresh in the spring.a pot is installed (ghatasthapana) at a sanctified place at home. A lamp is kept lit in the pot for nine days. The pot symbolizes the universe. The uninterrupted lit lamp is the medium through which we worship the effulgent Adishakti.

Kali is the most horrific manifestation of Nature. Nature symbolizes beauty, yet it has a horrific form. Acknowledging the duality brings a total acceptance in the mind and puts the mind at ease.

Though Navratri is celebrated as the victory of good over evil

Kids and older people gown up in new vivid-coloured attire for the evening performances. In some communities, men and women undergo rigorous fasts throughout this period that for the nine days of Navratri. The festival ends on Maha Navami. On this day the Kanya Puja is executed.



Garba,where all the families join to play dandiya and Garba Rass.  women adorn themselves with jhumkas, necklaces, bindi, bajubandh, chudas and kangans, kamarbandh, payal, and mojiris. Boys and men wear kafni pyjamas with a kediyu - a short round kurta - above the knees and pagadi on the head with bandhini dupatta, kada, and mojiris.The dance symbolizes that God, represented in feminine form in this case, is the only thing that remains unchanging in a constantly changing universe.


Navratri is all about celebrations and happiness for everyone .

In search of his roots

In my hospitality work I come to meet different type of people and today ,from nowhere I came to meet a tourist who was right from England with two of his female friends he came with my uncle who is by virtue of his laid down attitude,is a travel escort.

David ;the tourist hopped from Mumbai and was on his way to Jodhpur, was in search of his roots .According to our small conversation I came to know that his grandfather was an engineer and used to work for a company which laid down some bridges for the Indian railways way back in early 19th century this company is still based in India but had changed ownership twice.David's grandparents and his two aunts were last heard to be in India according to her mother .While David's father was also in India and from here he went and participated in the second world war and never came back.

David also had another lead for his aunt who was seen by her mother at an England hotel with an Indian royal prince who was said to be there to trade for some horses for Polo and his name was Hanuwant Singh who was associated with Jodhpur royal family.

Sipping his lemon tea David told about him that he was a tax lawyer back there in his country.He loved India and Indian people as they were very helpful and understanding .He was being told  about Hanuwant Singh Ji being a womanizer and a movie "Zubaida "made on them and other facts about him .And also assisted him to a person close to the royals of the Jodhpur .

David only want to get to know where his grandparents were buried and want to pay tribute to them for that he is ready to come again and again and he knows its a very tough job.Still the urge of finding one's root is too great .I hope he get success in knowing his family roots .

Giving a second chance

How many chances should we give to anyone !Forgiving once should be a habit but shall we

 give anyone a second chance in this world knowing their shabby desires to ruin ourselves.

Is life an adventure or a meaningless exercise shall we take responsibility or blame others ?

Shall we access or ignore inner healing potentials ?Shall we find ways to express our emotions 

or hold back and give up ? by answering these we either find hope or despair .

For a couple relations, If You’re married, I would always suggest trying to make it work no matter

 what, but if you are not married, especially with no children between the two of you, then it’s up 

to you whether or not YOU are willing to accept the situation and go forward with your ex in 

working through your differences from there.When we break up, we break up for a reason. 

Unless the reason no longer exists, you will find yourself revisiting the very issues that caused 

you to break up once the cosy, rosy glow has worn off.

Now whatever those reasons are, when you consider whether you should give them another 

chance, he needs to understand what the issues were and what caused the pain in your relationship.If someone doesn’t understand what they contributed to the pain, what is to stop them from repeating the same actions and putting you in the front line of pain again?Once you’ve already broken up, if you get back together for the wrong reasons, you can then end up being scared about questioning or discussing things, or creating ‘conflict’ for fear of breaking up again.

The Minority Files

I am neither a Muslim nor a Dalit.I am not a women . I dont even belong to the northeast of India . The closest I felt like a minority was when I used to work in a hotel at Hyderabad .Still that was minor the discrimination between north and south !

Any attempt to give any advice to minority is audacious thing to do, none of us majority members are fully qualified to comment on there status.However decades pass and the minority remains as oppressed as ever.Of all the minorities Muslim citizens are wooed the most.Also as a community they are face significant oppression.Appeal to an injustice and one can bring them together to get a nice block of vote.

Indian Muslims were traditionally Congress voters until the mid-1970s.However, they got a rude shock during the Emergency. In Delhi, near Turkman gate, bulldozers demolished Muslim houses under the direct supervision of Sanjay Gandhi, and people, including children, were crushed to death.

Muslims then shifted their loyalty to the Janata Party — which included the Jan Sangh — which took an oath of secularism and Gandhian socialism.But the Babri blow was huge .But since Muslim party heads had mishandled the Babri Masjid issue, Muslims lost faith in their leaders who,after the demolition, lost much of their influence. The Muslims saw in Lalu Prasad Yadav a new Messiah, as he prevented riots in Bihar for 15 years. In UP, they reposed faith in Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati.

But they lost faith in Mayawati when she joined hands with the BJP. Lalu Prasad hardly delivered on the economic front and hence in the last assembly elections Muslims supported Nitish Kumar. They were equally disappointed with Mulayam Singh anddefeated him in the last 2007 elections.

Well however,my dear minority brothers and sisters ,you have been had enough time has shown they will only take you for granted .One should keep their vote floating and in the end vote for the better party.India will have to be open minded if they want to bring a change and make the nation great.

The conversion politics and Hindu

Indians were referred to as "Hindus" in ancient times and the two terms were fairly synonymous. However, large parts of the country passed under Islamic rule and under Portuguese, French, Dutch and British rule. Millions of Hindus were converted to Islam and Christianity, by 1947 approximately 25% and 1.5% of the population of the Indian Subcontinent had converted to Islam and Christianity respectively. While Hindus converted to other religions, they themselves refused to accept any converts. Thus, most indigenous Muslims and Christians are descended from Hindu and Buddhist Indian ancestors.


The social structure of the Hindu society put some communities/castes at a severe disadvantage in all matters. Islam and Christianity offered these communities social equality and so several Low Caste Hindus and tribals left their ancestral beliefs.The invading Muslims also offered a choice between Islam and death to the inhabitants of Hindu areas. The stories of cruelty and barbarianism of Islamic rulers are folklore among the Hindu masses of India. Similarly, in the Portuguese ruled part of Goa, Catholicism was often forced upon the Hindus and Muslims there. It is estimated that the 8 century long Islamic rule witnessed the massacre of 80 million Hindus. This is the root cause of the on-going Hindu-Muslim fued in South Asia.


 Hindus were not allowed to marry Muslim women unless they converted to Islam while Muslims could easily marry Hindu women. Emperor Jehangir(1605-1628 C.E.) ordered approx. 400 Hindu families of Northwest Punjab to convert to Islam since their men had married Muslim women.Those Hindus, who interacted with Muslims or Christians, were often excommunicated. For instance, the court musicians of Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah ‘Rangila’, who were Brahmins, faced great ostracism from Hindus and were forced to convert to Islam. Their descendants are the famous Dhrupad singers- Dagar brothers. Similary, an entire community of Hindus were declared outcastes by neighbouring Hindus in Vasai (Thane district of Maharasthra) after they accidently drank water from wells that had been polluted by pieces of bread that had been thrown into them intentionally by the Portuguese. Hindus also stopped admitting non-Hindus into Hinduism and even to this day many Hindus oppose the idea of converting non-Hindus to Hinduism. Thus, conversion was a one way traffic from Hinduism to other faiths.

Should we believe in this Belief ?

What do Hindus believe about the gods?

The earliest Hindu texts are the four Vedas,the Rig Veda being the oldest (1200BC),containing 1028 hymns with more about myths than full stories .By the time that the Mahabharata was written (300 BC - 300 AD), other gods who played only minor roles in the Vedas have become popular. Three gods in particular came to be known as the Trimurti: Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver, and Shiva the destroyer. Their fame grew during the Middle Ages when "stories of old" called the Puranas recorded their achievements and adventures.

Hindu religion is more philosophy than doctrine. There is no authoritative hierarchy of clergy; the religion is highly decentralized with multiple sects.So the practical defination of Hinduism can be performing the duty (Dharma) of one's stage in life and social status (caste).

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  The Hindu vision of reality lies in the tension between dharma (social duty or righteousness) and moksha (release from the material world and cycles of rebirth),depending upon Karma :the moral law of causes and effects (deeds of past ) and the rebirth according to karma.

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  Maybe for us in his last words to Yudhishthira, Bhishma said that in the kaliyuga (our present age), "dharma becomes adharma and adharma, dharma." Somewhat paradoxically, he continues, "If one fights against trickery, one should oppose him with trickery. But if one fights lawfully, one should check him with dharma ... One should conquer evil with good. Death by dharma is better than victory by evil deeds."

Are you lonely or alone ?

I would like to learn why is there such mortal fear of being alone?


Being lonely, abandoned, unloved and even rejected by the world at large it is not exactly pretty to explain that ‘alone is not lonely’ but a rather blessed state. Friends and relatives have asked us about our perception of  loneliness and, we would agree that even if we are alone and single, we can enjoy our solitary pursuits without feeling lonely and sad .


You need to get out of yourself and into others. The cure for loneliness is to stop focusing on us and our feelings. Stop feeling sorry for ourself and find a needy person or project and get out there and do something for someone. we will no longer feel lonely.Give our life to the Lord and follow his commands and we should be much happier.We were created to serve and worship God. When we stray from this, all type evils, move in on us and we suffer, needlessly. You have built a self made prison around yourself. Not easy to deal with alone.


 we are alone and we are able to regain our scattered energies, withdraw them from objects of anxieties and become centered enough to get in touch with our inner selves. The more we look at external supports to pull us out of the misery of loneliness, the deeper we get into it. When we are surrounded by solitude, all external support is abandoned, and we are alone and facing ourselves. We learn to trust our instincts, discover the profound silences of our heart and tune in to our deeper vibrations. Being alone does not necessarily mean that we are lonely and without a companion, in fact, it means we have the ability to do it on our own.


We all have our moments when loneliness find us defenseless and wanting. But when we learn to comprehend the triggers and root causes of loneliness, we ascertain how to handle it effectively. When we are alone and are enjoying it, we shun the wretchedness of feeling lonely and move from living on the surface of life to living a more elevating one.Even if the world deserts us, we are there for ourselves.