Kasi Yatra

All of us have witnessed the Kasi yatra that was performed as a ritual during our marriages which was more of fun and enjoyment and we all went through it in a lighter vein in expectation of a bigger reward at the end of the show! As time passes by and years roll on, we are at cross roads many times, unable to take decisions and stand confused recounting all that we have done in the past? Did we do the right thing or not is a common question that challenges all individuals in its own way and its a related theory, always!

my good friend Varanasi Srinivasan who used to work for the American Embassy in New Delhi and presently in Washington D C is the son of(Late) Kasi Vishwanatha Sastrigal who is also known as Swamimalai Vishwanatha Sastrigal often used to highlight the living in Varanasi and advise me the importance of doing Pitru Karma in Varanasi and the adjoining holy centres in Allahabad and Gaya.
At the back of my mind, these words lay cemented and there was an urge within me to go to these places and do the karma rituals as prescribed in our shahstras. You may call it a blessing when my wife agreed to this idea and got enthused with this programme. I decided to take my mother who is 82 years old along with us and she readily agreed despite her age and limitations! The power of Kashi is so enormous that it infuses energy into any body willing to undertake the journey.

We decided to undertake this trip and chalked out our itenery. As per ritual rules, we went to Rameshwaram on the 29th october, 2009 by Rameshwaram Express and reached the destination on the 30th early morning. A very heavy downpour greeted us. We checked into Sringeri Sankara Mutt where the Manager one Mr Narayanan helped us do the sankalpam. After this we had the holy bath at the Sea and collected sand from the sea shore and came back to the temple to have Bath in all the 22 sacred wells situated right inside the premises of the temple. The amazing fact is that all these wells are natural springs. The tastes of the water drawn from these wells are totally different! Followed by this ritual of taking holy bath, we performed srardham involving 5 priests. At the end of the rituals, we are directed to make 3 Sand Lingams representing Sethu Madhavan, Bindu Madhavan and Veni Madhavan. After the Puja, we immerse the lingams of sethu and Bindu Madhavan and carefully store the sand representng Veni Madhavan in a plastic box for continuing the rituals. We had a nice Darshan of the Lord in his Lingam form which is one of the 12 Jyothirlingams and considered Swayambu ! We boarded the evening train from Rameshwaram and reached Chennai the next morning. Our flight tickets to Delhi and Varanasi were booked in advance for the 3rd November, 2009. The early morning flight from Chennai took us to our final destination @1.30pm. There was a person with a car to receive us at the airport and it was comfortable to reach the house of Varanasi Krishna murthy ganapadigal in the after noon. As the whole family was known to me since the past 45 years through my friend Srinivasan, we had the fortune of staying with the family!

Sri Ramana son of Sri Krishnamurthy ganapadigal took us on a boat ride on the ganges to see Ganga Aarthi which was performed with so much of devotion and religious fervour! The entire programme was for about an hour during which time, atleast 50 boats joined us with tourists and pilgrims from other ghats in the hly city of Varanasi. The joyous event of Ganga Aarthi left a deep impression in our hears and minds for ever! We also had the opportunity to visit Kashi Vishwanathar temple where we performed Ganga abhishekam to the Lingam with our own hands! We were in ecstasy to find ourselves blessed and closer to the Lord with this ritual. Incidentaly, this Lingam is one of the 12 jyothirlingams and considered very sacred. A visit to Anna poorni Matha temple increased our joy which knew no bounds.

Kachouri and paani poori of Benares is something that is not to be missed and so we decided to have a go at these in one of the reputed shops. The taste of Kachouri and Paani Poori was fantastic and more so as it was the water from the holy ganges!

4th november, 2009:we got ready to go to allahabad to take bath in the Triveni Sangam. We started at around 7 am from Varanasi and reached Allahabad at around 10am. There is a Sankara Mutt established by the Kanchi peetam to help pilgrims who arrive here to perform religious rituals. After the Sankalpam, we proceeded to Ganges from where a boat was hired and took us to the sangam whcih is considered to be very holy as there is a union of 3 rivers, the Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswathi. The color of the 2 rivers that of ganga and Yamuna are green and brown in color which merge and one can spot patches of green water and brown water in the river. the third river is Saraswathi which is invisible and is said to be flowing as under current along with Ganga and Yamuna. There are wooden platforms built and the pilgrims are helped to alight from the boat and get down from the platform to take the holy dip in the Sangam!We immersed the sand brought from Rameshwaram in the sangam and took a Holy dip. Hundreds of pilgrims take this holy dip and there is always crowd that can be compared to that of Dadar station in Mumbai.

After this holy dip, you get back to the house of Sri.and perform Srardham for your fore-fathers and ancestors by invoking the blessings from agni, the god of fire. the rital goes on till about 3pm and you are ready to crash the moment you drive back to Kashi and reach home.

We were asked to be ready at 6.30 am the next day for doing sankalpam and rituals associated with our Pitru Karma. Pandit Krishnamurthy Ganapadigal had invited about 40 veda-purohitas from all over Benares to recite all the 4 vedas and the entire atmosphere was filled with Veda-goshams which lifted your soul to sublime levels of happiness! We have never heard or seen so many pundits reciting Vedas and offerring diving blessings to my family in our life time!

The Homam- Srardham followed this ritual and gave us immense happiness and pleasure. Ofcourse, I had breathing problems associated with the smoke that forms a part of this ritual but then, when you think about the noble deed that you are doing to our fore-fathers and ancestors, these problems appear trivial?

We had to travel to 5 ghats by boat and perform Srardham by offerring Rice balls also called Pindam Pradhanam. The interesting aspect is that as we travel, our ardhanginis are made to cook these Rice right on the boat and it wll be ready as soon as we reach the next ghat where we are supposed to take bath and offer it.
the rituals ended with a grand thanks giving to Goddess ganga and its called Ganga Pooja!
The mother river is worshipped and thanked for the existence of human race and their protection by her ever copious flow. I was gently reminded of the song "Ram teri ganga meyli ho gayi, paapiyon ke paap dhote dhote"! how true and what magnanimity the holy mother Ganga has?

On the 4th day, 6th November, 2009 you get ready to go to Gaya which is in the state of Bihar and is about 260kms from Varanasi by road. The highways are good and one can drive at a god speed. we reached Bodh Gaya which is about 15 kms from Gaya where we had booked a hotel to stay overnight. the next morning, we drove to Gaya where again a south Indian Brahmin Priest was present to guid us in our ritual performance. We went to the Phalguni river side and started our rituals of a Gaya Srardham. Gaya srardham assumes great importance in a man's life since this is the only place where you can offer food not only to your ancestors but also to any one and everyone who have left their foot-prints in making of your life! This is the most sacred place where even your pets are remembered with love and dedication and food offerred to them! it is said that the persons to whom you offer food from your heart with sincerity, descend themselves to take the offerrings with their own hand and leave their blessings for ever. When the priest explains the tatparya of this ritual while you are performing, there are great moments of tears jerking from the eyes and sometimes flows when you understand the importance of your deed that you are performing to help enable your ancestors achieve Moksha loka and invoke their blessings!
The offerrings of rice balls are placed at the feet of Lord Maha Vishnu in the temple premises which is popularly known as Vishnu Padam.


There is a place in Gaya called akshaya vatam meaning "Ever Green Tree" which is said to be exisitant from the Ramayana Yugam. Sita Devi is supposed to have blessed this tree as this pupil tree was the only one which stood as a witness to Sita devi when she narated as to how Dasaratha had come and eaten from her hand when Rama and Lakshman had gone to arrange for articles to perform Srardham for Dasaratha into the jungles! Mythology says that during those times, people used to descend in their original form to accept the offerrings made to them during Srardham! The journey back to Varanasi was little tiring and we reached around 8.30 pm.

The final day was the conclusion of this holy yatra. We had to perform a Dhampathi Puja to conclude our holy trip and followed by a grand Samaradhanai- a feast for as many as 25 people!
The trip to Kasi is considered complete only with the Darshan and visit to the temples of Kala Bhairav from where Kasi charadu is procured and tied in the wrist. Chozhi amman, Kasi Visalakshi, Sankata vimochana Hanuman, Bindu Madhavar are the temples of importance and a must.

Our flight to Delhi was at 3.15pm and we had to take the connecting flight to chennai at 9.15 pm.

The Kasi yatra would stand complete with the Abhishekam of ganga water on Lord ramanatha swamy at Rameshwaram. We boarded the train to Rameshwaram on the 10th and reached on the 11th early morning. We stayed at hotel T T D C which was quite a comfortable room with basic facilities. As we queued up to have a darshan of the lord and perform abhishekam, a stranger who was right behind us and reciting rudra Prasna in sanskrit turned ut to be a scholar teaching in a sanskrit college in Varanasi! It appeared that Lord Kashi Vishwanath himself had sent a representative to Rameshwaram to be with us and guide us through the rituals. We were in ecstasy when the Abhishekam was performed with Sri Madan Mohan Mishra ji reciting Rudra Prasna right from behind and into our ears. the joy was heavenly and left our eyes moist with no words to express! After the Pooja, a lady with her children from Karnataka wanted to perform a Dhampati pooja and honoured us by elevating our status to that of Blessers! We were very happy and elated with this incident. We visited some important temples nearby and travelled upto Dhanushkoti which was totally submerged in the devastating cyclong that happened in 1964 and washed away the Pamban bridge too! The receded water and the remains of structures including that of the old Rameshwaram station which emerged after being submerged for several years gave a testimony to the devastating cyclone that brought fury and consumed scores of lives. we boarded a train back to chennai the same evening and returned on the 12th.

As per rituals, we had a grand samaradhanai on the 14th at home and did ganga Pooja followed by a regular "elai Potta saappadu"- feast which was well attended by about 20 people!

We announced our entry into the normal world of Loukikam-this material world!

Heart of hearts, there is an inner urge to be besides the Holy mother-ganges and are eagerly looking for an opportunity to visit Varanasi at the soonest!

Hara Hara Maha Dev!!
"Anna poorne sada Poorne sankara Prana Vallabhe
gyana varagya sidhyartham biksham dehita Parvati
mata cha parvati devi pita devo Maheshwarah
Bandhavam siva bhaktam cha swadesho bhuvanatrayam"

Cruelty to animals- bull fight in Udaipur, Rajastan

The morning news story about the bulls fight in Rajastan following a 300 year old tradition is absolutely shocking and saddening too. More so when the channel reports that the bulls were tied around their ankles and made to fight despite tiredness and fatigue, and watched by mute policemen on duty who stand there doing nothing!

The traditions that are followed in India are different in each state and so are the rituals and habits of the people. The police men who are recruited follow different cultures and beliefs and are totally unaware of customs and practices that are adopted in different regions and probably is the reason for their standing as dumb spectators to various rituals that are followed in every state even if it meant danger to precious lives of young and old alike.

As a Banker, I remember the first lesson that was taught to me as a 19 year old that Banking had two inseperable ways. one is the practice and the other is the Law of Banking! I was observing that one could not run a bank if he strictly adhered to the laws and vice-versa. Hence there was a need to balance both these acts to turn out a fine performance!

The Home Ministry in India could formulate common codes for practice by the entire police force in the country and educate them on what is the Law and differentiate the same with the practice.
Most of the policemen and the security are unaware of the Law and go by the traditions and practice adopted by different people of different culture and watch it silently and thinking good about it. It is time that there is a policy of uniformity and balance in thinking and the police force should be advised to adopt the policy of the law of the land and uphold them. This will ease most of the problems faced by the society. Each police or the security personnel would also elevate himself as a Judge in a given situation and act according to Law and contribute his best for the betterment of society at large?

The SPCA should take up this issue with the government in formulating uniform policy and to educate the men in Khaki to act according to Law and not go by their Hearts!!

Tackling Maoists/Naxalites

Nepal was considered as one of the most peaceful countries in the world. The great Himalayan mountains attracted numerous tourists from all over the globe and the country thrived on mainly tourism. The famous Pashupathinath temple attracted several million Hindus from everywhere and the tiny Kingdom was, no doubt, a paradise on earth. The kingdom suddenly witnessed turmoil and the king was shown the doors of exit and the elected government overthrown by the Maoists who enjoyed support from our neighbour China who gave them enough arms and ammunitions to rebel and conquer the little kingdom. Our own CPI (M) gave enormous support to the Maoists and the leaders Yetchury and Karat were shuttling between Nepal and India to mediate which pin pointed their closeness with the rebel Maoists. There were media reports about Purulia arms dropping quite a few years back. The central government did very little to investigate the truth or probably preferred to keep silent as the focus of disturbance was outside our country? Now, the Maoists are here within our own state and targetting innocent policemen, journalists and the people by trigerring blasts, blowing railway tracks etc.. resulting in loss of precious inncoent lives. The Rajdhani Train accident that occurred a few years back claimed the life of my own brother-in-law who was just 37 years is also one of the crimes engineered by these rebels. The next potential place for these Maoists is kerala which is also dominated by the Marxists and the centre, beware!

The rebel leaders are openly challenging the home minister to reign them and the government is just helpless and is only appealing to them to come for negotiations. The PM is clever in handing over the dangerous Home portfoilo to PC who only knows ways to tax people and improve the cash flow to the exchequer! He is, for the first time, getting to know the behavioural pattern of fellow Indians outside his home state and is realising the heat that is turned on him. All these years the ministers from the South India were always given coveted ministries such as Tourism, finance,shipping,telecom etc which were smooth and money spinning in their own ways! The PM has done well in exposing these men from the south so that these Dravidian parties think twice before bargaining for ministerial posts!!

The only way to tackle these menace is to put West Bengal and the Kerala under President's rule and monitor movements of Maoists and naxalites alike. Put up large capital intensive industries in these places and generate employment so that the youth do not face unemployment or poverty and take up arms for their struggle? Build infra structure and connect them to the main stream.

Besides, the government should bring ina suitable consitutional amenndment that there shall not be any other flag fluttering in the country except the National flag be it on top of the building or in schools or colleges or on the roofs of cars and buses or for that matter everywhere! This will inculcate a sense of patriotism in the hearts and minds of the people across the country and bring in pride to call ourselves Indians first and last?

These suggestions may not fully solve the problems but could help the government in solving if incorporated or considered amongst various other solutions!

Jai Hind

Blue film or film Blue? Diwali then and now?

My mother used to wake me up in the shivering winter of Delhi during my school days @2.30 am early in the morning saying" ezhundiru, pakkathu veetula ellam pattasu vedikkaranga"! the translation is wake up my son all the neighbours have started bursting crackers!! The sounds of Red Fort laris and the smell of burnt phosporous was so intoxicating that we used to jump out of our beds even during those cold winters and get ourselves dressed up after a nice oil bath and go out in the street to burst those crackers! My Punjabi neighbours used to grumble and fume about having woken up early in the morning and they would never pardon me for spoiling their sleep at those wee hours. It was the case in all the localities and sreets and it was a known factor that the south Indians celebrate their Diwali early in the morning and the north Indians in the evening establishing a divide in belief even in those days!

These days the government has come down firmly and made it mandatory for people not to burst crackers before 6 am and not after 10 pm ! Added to this is the education in schools which motivates them not to buy and burst crackers since there is an involvement of child labour which is anti-law and secondly, all these contribute to the pollution, which is quite true! The enthusiasm amongst children to fire crackers has come down drastically and no one is interested to indulge in them! Further, the Television channels compete with each other to give their best capsuled programs involving films and other cultural aspects that the children are least interested to get out of their houses and fire crackers.

One of our family friends said that they are going to watch "Blue Film" with their children and I was wonder struck and dumb for a moment only to realise later that there is a Hindi movie titled "Blue" which was being released on Diwali Day!!

The colorful function of our days has changed colors and what we say as colorful does not necessarily mean colorful to our children and what they see as colorful and entertaining may not be to our taste and liking.

I remember my mother sending a plate full of home made south Indian sweets and other savouries to all our surrounding neigbours in Delhi which was reciprocated equally and with warmth with sweets made at their homes and this was a kind of pot-luck party with sweets and eatables of different kinds and tastes! The modern times see more of a blessed kitchen which is always neat and clean with no signs of any preparations as everything is available in shops! Even the exchange of sweets carry the same taste and is not different from what you have in the house.

Having said that, I have to mention about Vada-Malai for the Hindu god Anjaneyar at Hanuman temple on Irwin road, Connaught Place. The parents specially the mother, take a vow of making 108 Vadai and offer it to the god in the form of a garland for some reason or the other for which I have seen my mother toiling the whole day and sweating it out in the kitchen, take bath and get ready for the temple visit with the offerring! We used to take a bus ride from Karol bagh and reach the temple and once the hands of the priests feel the freshness of the Vada-malai or the offerring that is brought, they are full of smiles and apply a big tilak on your fore-head and recite some mantras. you feel very happy, contended and satisfied but unhappy when you see the priest emptying atleast half the vada-malai into their kitty leaving only half the quantity of the offerring for your consumption! I could not miss the priest giving away our offerring as Prasad to many others who offerred some cash to the priests and walked away satisfied to taste the Vadai that they got without any effort! I used to advice my friends to follow this practice of tipping the priests and walk away with the precious Vadai from the malai which someone else would have offerred thus saving them of precious energy and time! The modern days are witnessing a sea of change in the entire system be it religious, cultural or social. I am still longing for the good old days and will we ever see a Deepavali of the 1960s in our life time again?

Koi Lauta de mere Beete huye din... beete huye din woh haye pyare pal chin!!!

Deepavali- celebrations then and now!

This particular festival is undoubtedly the best of all festivals not only because of the new clothings that we used to get from our parents but also due to the fact that we used to enjoy school holidays

very close but far off !

The stand off between the pilots and the crew recently appearing in the media is nothing new! Travelling in the enclosed space for hours together brings certain degree of cordiality amongst the crew and the pilots. At the disembarking stations,both are put in the same hotel with facilities alike which allows the crew either to have a sumptuous lunch or dinner within the allowances. The modern times lure the humans alike who venture out to have fun and in this process, mutual invites are offered and accepted for spending joyous time together. I remember the days early in 70s when there used to be only Indian airlines and the Air India. I happened to know at least half a dozen Indian Airlines Pilots who used to fly the Air Bus from Chennai to Delhi and stay at the Lodhi Hotels. I could never see them in the midst of Air Hostesses or the crew as the divide between the jobs that they held persisted during those times. There used to be mutual respect for each other and the pilots had their place of importance! These days, pilots who are very young join this lucrative job and want to enjoy everything that is normally done by the modern youth which includes going out with the crew to Pubs and other joints to relieve their stress. This leads to familiarity and naturally breeds contempt! In what is said to be the aftermath of such relationships, liberty is taken and the extent is not known either to the young plots or the air Hostesses resulting in such situations where the management is compelled to suspend the pilots and the crew and order enquiry etc.. which suggests an ugly situation not only for the company but even for the families of those involved in such incidents. It will be better if both the parties understand their limits and draw out a Lakshman Rekha for a Happy Co-existence !!

We are also doing such similar mistakes while bringing up our children. Remembering our past and the distance that we had with our parents, we try to be friends with our children and allow them to sit with us and share our company which sometimes include a drinking session as well. This sometimes leads to dangerous situations specially with the boys when such generosities are misused without understanding the limits and becomes a challenge to yourself in many ways. Sometimes, I really ponder as to who is right? our parents- who always had a space in terms of our bringing up or us-in bringing up our children like friends and forced to face grim situation which is an embarrassment sometimes? We are left to ponder over this situation and are at Cross-roads X !!

Falls Tour of Tamil Nadu organised by TTDC

When I read the Advertisement given by the Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation about the 4 day tour of Water Falls in the state, my happiness crossed boundaries as I was just looking out for such a tour to be with nature and to be myself. I asked at least a few of my DTEA friends if they were interested to join me for this tour. My family members were just not interested to go on this tour in Non-A/c coaches! Though my friends evinced interest none could make it happen due to pre-occupation. I decided to go with the tour all by myself. This tour was by a 20 seat er non-air conditioned bus which set out on 1st October,2009 at 8.30 pm. The drivers of the Bus were expert drivers who knew the routes well. The Bus halted for relief at about 7am while proceeding towards Kumbakarai falls at the foothills of Kodaikanal. The halt was at the roadside and the facilities for toilets were far from satisfactory considering the number of buses and tourists present at the site! The guide was quite fair enough saying that better hotels having good toilet facilities did not allow TTDC to halt at their premises as the tourists would not spend for eating at their outlets! Anyways, the bus proceeded ahead and we reached Kumbakarai and were quite eager to see the falls! It was a bitter disappointment that there was hardly any Falls and all that we could see was small little ponds of water and small stream lets gathering strength to flow! The afternoon heat and the absence of Falls did dampen our spirits but we were hopeful of seeing some better view of water falling from a height at the next destination which was Suruli which was bordering Kerala. The moment we came near the spot, there was a noticeable decrease in temperature and the climate became cooler. Here, we were not disappointed as we could see a lovely water fall and all of decided to get into it and derive pleasure by standing underneath the falls and allow the water to massage your body. It was fun as you will get some ideas from the picture that is appended.
We had our night halt at Madurai at one of the T T D C's hotels. The single room that I had was nothing less than a 3 star hotel suite and it was neat and clean with fresh towels and soaps provided. The only draw back that these TTDC hotels have is that you never know if they would serve you the food that you ordered with the room service? This happened with me too as I fell on my bed like never before and never even woke up to realise that the food that I ordered never came to my room!!

The next morning We set out on our 4 hour trip to Courtallam. Your heart knew no bounds of Joy seeing the mighty Courtallam falls which was a wonderful sight to admire and relish. After a good oil massage of your body which costs Rs 200/-, all of us jumped into the huge crowd already assembled there to take bath at the falls. The water pounded each and every possible place in your body. within minutes, there was no trace of oil on your body and it was such a lovely feeling. We felt so hungry after this 1 hr of bath. Lunch awaited us at the Tamil nadu Hotel and we all ate as if we had just arrived from Ethiopia!!

We proceed to yet another falls near Courtallam popularly know as Papanasam where a holy bath is believed to relieve a person of all his sins and clear the way for his Mukthi or in other words, there will not be a re-birth for the person! The falls though weaker in strength gave us immense pleasure and joy and probably each of us thought that we have attained Moksha or the ultimate?

Next came Mani mutharu which was about 1 1/2 hrs of journey. This is also popular place as the government has built a huge dam to store water. There was security around the area and our group had to register themselves to go further to have a look at the falls. This place was as amazing as the courtallam falls and was surrounded by scenic beauty of nature!

We reached Kanya Kumari around 9pm to halt for the day and rest by night! The 5am darshan of Goddess Kanya Kumari was blissful. Mythology says that Goddess Durga vowed to kill Banasuran, the demon before marrying Lord Shiva who was known to the world as sundareswarar. The marriage could not happen since Goddess was focused on killing the evil-Banasuran and thus the marriage was called off! The food items which were prepared for the occasion was thrown on the sands of the beach and that's probably the reason that even today you find particles that resembles food grains on the beach! The place which is otherwise known for its Sun Rise and the Sun Set and the merging of the mighty Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal and the ultimate Indian Ocean was overcast with clouds and light drizzle leading to disappointment amongst the tourists who wanted to witness the sun-rise spectacle. On a clear day, one can see the Sun Rising from the East-Bay of Bengal side and setting on the west-the Arabian sea side and people throng to see this spectacle from all corners of the country and elsewhere.

We proceeded to Tiruparappu adjoining the borders with Kerala. After nearly 2 hrs of journey we were absolutely delighted to see a wonderful Falls. The falls had murky water and I was curious to know the reason as all other falls had clear water? After trekking a few hundred yards, I found a river on top of the falls and on either sides people were taking bath and washing their clothes!! no wonder, the water was pale and had been beaten by the in-humane approach! Its the sheer size of the population that is challenging the authority in every sphere which takes away the lustre and beauty of mother nature. Its time that our people are taught about conservation of rivers and its utilities for the future generation to exist. I tried to explain to a few as to why they should not use soaps and other detergents while taking bath specially in rivers and falls lest they should turn "False" in the years to come!

The 20 hour journey back to chennai helped our minds to determine the number of bones that our body comprises! Nevertheless, it was worth the visit and my thanks to the Tamilnadu tourism that they could take me so near to reality and nature.