Durga Prasad Dash's Blog, page 11

What about some thoughts for foods?

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Having chosen a deshi theme, I will be talking of Indian Foods. Nothing in particular. Some random observations foraged over the years. Disclaimer: I am neither a foodie nor some kind of a Chef- in- the-making taking advantage of the period of lock down.

A sweet battle with our neighbour

Unlike some Indian states which are locked in bitter battles with their neighbouring states, Odisha has a sweet dispute with its neighbour West Bengal.  I am talking of Rasgulla – the round, spongy and syrupy sweet that Bengalis call as Rosogolla and Odias as Rasagola. What is more, the battle had a sweet ending when the Registry of India awarded GI tags to both – naming the Bengali version as Banglar Rosogolla and the Odia version as Odisha Rasagola.  

Fellow blogger Dr. Anita Sabat was at the battle frontier to get GI tags for Rasagola. In case you want to know more about GI tags you can visit her blog. She has adopted GI tags as the theme for this year’s AtoZ challenge.

Flavours of Temple Foods

Rasagola is one of the many dishes whose origins are closely related to the rituals of Lord Jagannath Temple in Puri. I have already written a post about Odisha Temple Foods.  As children we used to eagerly wait for temple festivals of our village as well as those of our relatives.

In our village there used to be a month long festival connected with our village deity every  year in the month of Chaitra i.e about this time of the year. Though in a lesser scale it is similar to the Thakurani Jatra I have described in my post about Bellaguntha.  On the last day of the festival they conduct a grand community feast  in front of the temple which is inside a Mango Grove. Not only do the whole village contribute in their own way, some in cash and some in kind, everyone also help in the preparation under the direction of the chief cook. This is an occasion to bond over food irrespective of the caste and other divisions.

Search for local flavors in the age of standardization

The Puri Jagannath temple kitchen has never deviated from its recipe or ingredients in the last nine hundred years. The regular and festival foods prepared by temples are a great way to have a taste of the local flavor. But temple food has its limitations because all kinds of masalas or vegetables cannot be part of temple cuisine.

Marriages and other big family functions used to be great ways to experience a large spectrum of dishes with local flavor. But these days a buffet marriage dinner held in Bengaluru hardly tastes different from a Bhubaneswar or a Delhi marriage dinner that has been outsourced to a professional caterer. Even 90% of the dishes are the same.

Of course this is a natural consequence of the social changes we have gone through in the last two to three decades. In our village whenever any family had a function, in addition to their relatives, the whole village came forward to help. We used to stay awake the whole night before the D-day decorating the pandals, cutting vegetables, bringing drinking water  and doing other activities. Apart from the loud speakers and musicians and a cook or two nothing else used to be hired. The pandals and the coverings used to be prepared out of the branches and leaves collected from the surroundings. People had less money but it was more than made up by the cooperation of neighbours and relatives.

The feast consisted of locally available ingredients. Today we get cauliflower (and even mangoes) through out the year. But those days non-seasonal and non-local vegetables were almost non-existent in the local market. Use of chemicals, fertilizers and hybrid seeds were less widespread. So the vegetables were at their authentic best. The cook too did not know anything other than the local recipe.

Gradually the same trend is catching up with the hotel food. Barring a few hotels that exclusively specialize in local cuisines, hotels all over are moving towards dishes that would have a common appeal. A couple of years back when we visited Odisha we observed this trend.  We had difficulty in getting authentic Odia cuisine, especially in the popular tourist circuits. Sometimes I watch the vidoes of You tuber Harish Bali who makes travel and food videos of different places of India. He has made a series of videos on Garhwal region. Everywhere in the region he had to make special arrangements with the locals to get authentic Garhwali food.

Ultimately, will many of the local flavors die out, to be revived and showcased as million dollar dishes in five star hotels by celebrity chefs?

What is common between this Brahmapur hotel and a temple visit?

You have to leave your shoes outside before you enter this hotel in Brahmapur which is known as Pidha hotel. It is famous for its special mutton recipe that they have been preparing for the last fifty years or so. Like the recipe, the interior of the hotel and the way they serve has not undergone any change. There are no tables or chairs inside. You have to sit on the ground and you will be served food on a khali which is made by stitching saal leaves.

Brahmapur is another B-town I have been closely associated with. Apart from silk sarees and the nearby Gopalpur on sea, this largest city of South Odisha is famous for its street foods. Here is video to give a food tour of the city.

Then there are those who have nothing to eat

Annam Brahman iti vyajanat – Know that food is verily Brahman – said our ancient Rishis. Food is the first basic need of any living being. India used to be a land of plenty till it was colonised. Since then a segment of Indian population has been struggling to get this basic need fulfilled. They will be the ones hardest hit by the present lock down. Let us all spare some thoughts for them and do whatever we can in cash, kind or some volunteering activity.

PS : This is the sixth post of my April A to Z challenge 2020. My theme this year is ‘Mera Gaon Mera Desh’ where in I explore various facets of India and also some places and events of India I have been closely associated with.

All posts of the AtoZChallenge can be accessed here.

we can’t do away with English but …

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I had the opportunity of listening to William Dalrymple when he had come to the Times Literature Festival, Bengaluru this year to promote his latest book – The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company. From his account it appears that, unlike the Mughals, the British did not have to struggle either to expand their empire or manage their affairs in India. Many influential Indians, sometimes to settle scores with the local rivals or at other times for their own greed, were hand in glove with the East India Company giving them material support or providing them with crucial information.

Similar is the case with the English language. Even today, it does not have to struggle to solidify its foothold in India. It has practical reasons. Because of its English educated population, India was one of the first countries to take advantage of the BPO revolution. If you want in depth study or to know the latest development in any area of knowledge, knowing English has definite advantages. This blog itself is a case in pint. Because it is in English, my reader analysis shows that I am directly able to connect with unknown people form Japan to Scandinavia.

It is not only our grand mothers but also our politicians (thankfully) who know the importance of English language. Bowing to chauvinistic pressure, the stray politician occasionally makes feeble protests against English. However, his protest against English is not as vociferous as his protest against other Indian Languages like say, Hindi or Sanskrit. The language fanatic too does not mind the feeble protest of the politician. His own children may be studying in 100% English medium schools since they were toddlers.

My father in law, himself a Sanskrit scholar and a regular Odia columnist (in addition to being a post graduate in English Literature), recounts this personal anecdote. It was the 1940s and he was in High School. Whenever he was doing home work or practising lessons his grandmother would come frequently to his room to check what he was studying. If she saw that he was studying Sanskrit she would express her displeasure and go away. If she saw that he was studying English, she would give him a piece of sweet. Of course this did not discourage him from studying Sanskrit along with English.

In spite of all our lip services to protect and develop our respective mother tongues, we have a strange obsession with the English language. These days a student in a private or in a central government school studies upto class XII in the same school, or the same type of school. But in many state government schools this is not the case. For example in our school days when there were very few alternatives to sate government schools some of my classmates may have studied in four different types of school – First to third in a Lower Primary School, fourth to fifth in a Upper Primary School, sixth to seventh in a Middle English School, and eighth to eleventh in a High School.

I used to wonder why they were calling it the Middle English School because there was nothing English about the school. English was just one of the subjects among equally important five or six other subjects which were taught in Odia medium. And how can it be called the Middle English School without some sort of English School succeeding or preceding it?

There was another interesting thing. Schools that put up the name board in English used to write it as XYZ High School. But the schools that put up the board in Odia used to write it as ‘ XYZ Uchcha Ingrazi Vidyalaya’.

So there is no point in not accepting the fact that English is here to stay. For many in India it is a matter of earning daily bread. But the question is – along with mastering English, can we do something for the preservation and development of our native languages?

I am hopeful that we can. My father in law is a case in point. In many states it is mandatory to use the state language in connection with official work. At the same time, like the proverbial squirrel of Ramayana everyone can do his or her bit.

Both my children studied in Kendriya Vidyalaya. Odia was not a subject in any of the schools they studied. But, during summer vacations they were encouraged to learn reading and writing in Odia. We converse with one another in Odia. We don’t put any conscious effort to converse in Odia. We just find it natural to talk in our mother tongue and do it.

I find it odd when parents don’t talk to their children in their mother tongue. At the cost of inviting displeasure sometimes I tell them bluntly, “Look. Don’t worry about your children’s spoken English. After five or six years they will be the ones to correct your pronunciation. But if you don’t teach them your mother tongue, no one else will.”

By the way this lock down period is a good time to teach your children your native language, in case this is not a subject in their schools.

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PS : This is the fifth post of my April A to Z challenge 2020. My theme this year is ‘Mera Gaon Mera Desh’ where in I explore various facets of India and also some places and events of India I have been closely associated with.

All posts of the AtoZChallenge can be accessed here.

danda nacha- a religiocultural celebration since time immemorial

It is one of those few memories of my early childhood. Or it could be the first series of events of my life that I am still able to recall in bits and pieces.

I am attending the famous Danda Nacha closing ceremony at a village named Gallery with my mother and my grandmother. The wide street is full of people wearing yellow or orange clothes. The sounds of dhol, cymbals and shouts fill the air. We are standing with a dozen others on someone’s veranda. Someone from the centre of the festivities is throwing raw mangoes all around. People are clamoring to catch one. I learn that this is Devi’s prasada. Someone from our group catches one. After touching her forehead with the mango she breaks it to small pieces and distributes it.  I put one in my mouth and spit it out immediately. My mother is about to slap me when my grandma stops her.

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It is only logical that after a post on music, the subject of dance should come up. Had there been no lock down, the villages and towns of my native district Ganjam would be abuzz with the celebrations of Danda Nacha, or Danda Nata or Danda Jatra. Coinciding with my fourth article on this AtoZchallenge series, today would have been the fourth day of the celebrations that  would have ended coinciding with the last day of the lock down.

Danda Nacha literally means punishment dance. Those who think ‘my religions is like no other’ should remember well that as for as the religious rituals are concerned there are lots of similarities across different religions.

We should also remember that the concept of inflicting self punishment cannot predate religion because it is religion that gave us our concepts of sin. It is again the same religion that came up with the concept of repentance. For repentance various rituals were prescribed – self-inflicted punishment being one of them.

But Danda Nacha is not about repentance. It is more about penance. We can say that Danda Nacha is a type of tapascharya. Here the volunteer participants are those whose wishes has been fulfilled due to the grace of Goddess Kali. It is a way of thanks giving for them. Some participate in the rituals with the hope of getting their wishes fulfilled. There are also many who participate year after year just for the sake of gaining or maintaining their physical and mental toughness.

Danda Nacha rituals are less physically severe compared to the types of self punishments practised in some religions and tribal groups where they mutilate their bodies or inflict wounds upon themselves. I used to think that those volunteer participants  must be coming from different planets till I did my military training.

The Jatra formats vary from region to region. But based on my first hand experience I will talk about how it is practised in Ganjam District of Odisha.

There are hundreds of Danda Nacha groups in Ganjam District. Each group has a particular village base. Volunteer performers called danduas are the backbone of Danda Nacha. To direct them there is a chief dandua. One of the most important persons is the one who carries the decorated portrait of Goddess Kali. Then there are singers, musicians, folk artists and actors that accompany the group.

The groups assemble on the first of April at their respective base villages. Elaborate puja rituals are held for Goddess Kali and also to Lord Shiva. In this Jatra Kali is the chief deity and Lord Shiva is happy to follow the Goddess and play a side role.

Then the danda groups travel from place to place to perform till the 13th of April. On Meru Sankranti, which usually falls on 14th of April, the closing ceremony takes place at the same place in the base village. There after the danda group is dismantled. All those associated with the Jatra come from different professions of the locality, most of them being farmers.

It is either a whole village / street or a household that plays host to the travelling danda group. The danduas follow a strict regimen of diet and other restrictions. However long the distance to the next village maybe, they have to travel on foot, that to on barefoot. They eat only once a day.

Usually before noon they enter the host village in a grand procession with their flags and banners and to the accompaniment of dhol, cymbals and other musical instruments. If it is a family that is hosting the Jatra, they go in front of the family house and perform purifying and other preliminary rituals. Subsequently, they are escorted to the place where they will spend the night.

They come back around noon or just after noon to perform what is called dhuli danda. Dhuli literally means dust. Remember, it is midway between the end of fall and the peak of summer. Their stage is the bare earth full of dust. Clad only in loin clothes, orchestrated by the chief dandua and with accompaniment to the music they roll on the bare earth, climb atop one another and perform different types of formations and gestures to portray the daily life of a farmer. There are lots of satirical elements even in this part of their performance to regale the audience.

After Dhuli danda the group heads towards the village pond to perform certain rituals in water. This is  known as Pani danda. Then they retire for the day.

Past midnight the host village wakes up to the tumultuous sounds of dhol, mahura and cymbals. It is time for the group’s night time performance. Even though the danduas accompany the night time procession, now they take a back seat. The performances are take over by persons who play with fire using traditional lakh powder, the singers, the folk artists and the actors. Almost all the groups have their respective traveling theater groups. Subsequently they take over and continue entertaining the audience for some time even after the core danda group has left for the next host village just before sunset.

The largest and the most revered among all groups is that of the village Gallery. Sometimes there may be a thousand danduas in this group. Even though the annual car festival of Lord Jagannath is held these days all over the world, the Rath Jatra of Puri has as special place. Same is the position of of Gallery in relation to Danda Nacha in our region.

Nobody is certain about the period of origin of the Jatra. I am happy to note that in spite of the advent of Cinema, Television, Internet and the IPL there is no decline in enthusiasm from any of the stake holders – the participants, the sponsors or the audience.

Well in case you would like to have some glimpses of the Jatra, here are some short videos. Even those who missed it due to this year’s restrictions (which must have happened for the first time since its inception) can refresh their memories with these videos and pray that the world comes out of its existential crisis as soon as possible.

My grandfather Ranganatha Dash was closely associated with the Danda Jatra of Gallery. As a teacher he was posted in Gallery. He was also an author and lived almost like an ascetic. He did not remarry even though his wife died when his children were young. (I am talking of the 1930s). I have not seen my grandfather. Father used to say that grandpa had composed many of the songs sung during the rituals of Danda Nacha. I have no way to confirm it. Of course I have some reason to believe. I remember a wooden trunk in our house containing many of his hand written manuscripts.

Maybe someone coming across this article will throw some light on this someday.

PS : This is the fourth post (D for danda nacha) of my April A to Z challenge 2020. My theme this year is ‘Mera Gaon Mera Desh’ where in I explore various facets of India and also some places and events of India I have been closely associated with.

All posts of the AtoZChallenge can be accessed here.

Can Indian Classical Music Kill Corona Virus?

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Myth: Playing of Indian Classic music kills Corona virus in the surroundings.

Truth : Forget about killing, there is no evidence to suggest that Indian classical music has remotely disturbed the cellular composition of the virus.

A time may come when WHO delivers the above message to our cell phones. I would agree with it, in spite of being a part time devotee of Indian classical music.

However, haven’t we heard time and again that music has healing powers. Here I don’t agree. Let me tell you why.

People say reading is good for mind. But we forget that out of the billions of books available today, both online and off line, 99% are either propoganda material or outright lies. Sometimes propaganda materiel may masquerade as a masterpiece. Mediocre works make it to the best seller lists. This happens because vested interests have been pumping billions of dollars in marketing and awarding those who write stuff the way they want. Moreover, due to the ease of self publishing, there has seen exponential growth in poorly written books. The percentage of books that would enrich you mind, soul and language skills is getting reduced day by day. Thus, reading from a random choice books may in fact harm your mind.

Same is the case with music. On 31.12.2019 in Goa, three prospective young revelers of the EDM (Electronic Dance Music) Festival died while waiting in the queue to get into the venue. Even though it is not the music that kills people directly by its sound vibrations, deaths related to the festival is not uncommon through out the world. Somewhere the sound effects must be aggravating the ill effects of the hallucinating drugs that the attendees usually take.

EDM is an extreme form of western music. Of course the west too has its form of classical music. I talk of western music in this post because it will give us a better perspective to understand Indian Music. I am also not trying to prove that any type of music is better or worse than the other.

You will be surprised to know the connection of music with our geography. The climate of the west is cooler and their classical music is more contemplating and stimulant. Our climate is hot and our classical music is more meditative and calming. This relationship of  music with geography was so well recognized by the exponents of Indian classical music that each raga of Indian classical music is closely associated with not only a particular season, but also a particular time of the day.

Basically music is a mood enhancer. The background music of even your cartoon serial is not just any kind of music. The makers hire expert musicians who understand the nuances of the musical notes to create the desired emotional effect. Watch a cartoon show or even a Charlie Chaplin movie alternately in sound and mute mode and note the difference.

Dusks are usually depressing times. You are tired. The sun light is fading away. You can even sense the lack of freshness in the air. To balance this you need music that is full of hope and cheerfulness.

Imagine this scene before the advent of electricity. The sun has set. Nocturnal insects have started making  sounds to make their elusive presence felt. People have lit lamps on their doorways. The  sounds of bells from a distant temple is wafting through the darkness. It is time to meditate. It is time to take care of one’s unknown fears. You need music that make you meditative. You need music  that stops the restlessness of your mind. If it is a summer evening the music needs to be more soothing.

After a good night’s sleep you wake up to a new day filed with new hopes. Now you don’t need any depressing music to contrast with your mood. You need music that complements your mood and at the same time curbs your over enthusiasm.

It war time. This is not the time to experiment with the nuances of the classical music. You just need sounds. Deafening sounds to drown  your fears and kill any worry about the future.

However, in such times too, after the warriors were done with the day’s battle,  the north Indian kings of those times must have ordered for Raag Bhagyashree (Neelambari in case of south Indian Kings) to calm their restlessness minds and have a good night’s sleep so as to face the next day with refreshed energy.

Even though I have described myself as a self-styled hardcore fanatic of Indian classical music, neither am I a connoisseur, nor any kind of an exponent. I am as ignorant about the technicality of music as any one who has not studied music. But somehow I have been able to connect better with Indian classical music and to some extent with Indian folk music than other kinds of music.  My practice of yoga and meditation may have something to do with this. But I am not sure.

Times are such that there is no escape from the C word. Take for example the YouTube. Even if you have been careful enough not to watch anything related to Corona for a couple of days, its algorithm assumes that you are a hard core fan of the virus by birth and it is hell bent on suggesting you the most gruesome C related video. In times like these, it was a pleasant surprise when YouTube, the other day, out of compassion suggested me the following video.

In case you want preliminary understanding of the technicalities of Indian classical music you can watch this series of videos. The presenter has an uncanny way of making laymen like me understand the nuances of music.

YouTube  is full of videos of classical music claiming to cure specific diseases. Of course I will accept such healing claims only after WHO approves these. But the positive effects of right kind of music on our physical well-being cannot be denied for the simple reason that music is a mood enhancer and positive mood has the power to boost our immune system.

In times like now I would recommend Indian classical music over any other type of music because of their meditative and calming effect. Most of you must be following some sort of preventive measures in terms of food and physical activity. Maybe, you could include a dose of Indian classical music to your daily routine, at least during this period of lock-down.

At any cost be careful of what you allow your ears to listen for a prolonged period of time. Remember, if reading provides food for our thoughts, music fuels the intensity of our emotions.

PS : This is the third post of my April A to Z challenge 2020. My theme this year is Mera Gaon Mera Desh where in I explore facets of India and some places in India I have been closely associated with. All posts of the AtoZChallenge can be accessed here.

my B-town connections

Because ‘Bombay’ starts with the alphabet B and most of the Hindi movies borrowed their style and substance from  Hollywood, I think the naming of Hindi Film Industry as Bollywood was perfectly logical.  The yellow journalists  used to call Bombay  the B-town, while using it with reference to the glitterati that inhabited the city. By the time Bombay became Mumbai, the Malayalis had already named their film industry as Mollywood, even though unlike Bombay,  Malayalam is the name of a language.  Following the logic of the Malayalis, Hollywood could have been renamed as  Eollywood  and Hindi film Industry as Hollywood, but …

Well, enough of the filmy logic. Coming to my  B-town connections, it is like this. After spending my early childhood in my native village (about this a special post is coming up in this series),  the places where I stayed for at least a couple of years are like this in chronological order:   Bellaguntha, Bhanjanagar, Berhampur, Belgaum, Bangalore. After shifting  through some  non-B towns and cities  I came back to Bangalore. Of course by that time it had become Bengaluru, thankfully not losing its B in the process.    

This post is about Bellaguntha, the first and the smallest of the B-towns I have mentioned. I have already mentioned about Bellaguntha in my previous post. Brass Fish is not the only thing Bellaguntha is famous for.

When we first came to Bellaguntha we used to stay in a rented house in Koli Street. It is a street of traditional weaver community known as Kolis. I don’t know how many of them are carrying out their family traditions these days. Back in those days if you walked on this lengthiest street of the town during waking hours, the thak-thak rhythmic sound of handlooms would greet you everywhere. Both our neighbours had these machines. I had never seen such a machine earlier and I would go to one of those houses and sit there transfixed watching the mouse like shuttle kicked alternately from left and right through a maze of threads.

In many parts of Odisha Thakurani Jatra is conducted regularly during summer, somewhere annually, somewhere biannually and somewhere triennially. In Bellaguntha it is a biannual affair. Thakurani or Shakti, the female manifestation of divinity in her local avatar takes on a different name for each village or town. It is the protective divinity of the locality. The protective thakurani of Bellguntha  is known as Brahmani Devi. The temple of the deity is usually outside  the town. But during this summer festival, the deity is brought inside the town and kept in a temporary structure.

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 Our house in Koli Sahi was right in front of this temporary structure. So sitting at home we could be part of the entire duration of the Jatra. For the initial one or two weeks activities would  not be much. Of course there would be the daily puja rituals of the Devi and people would come for darshan and blessings.  Then the festivities would slowly pick up. Each street or group would come out with tableaus and processions on  spiritual or socially relevant issues. The last couple of the days would witness the whole town turning into an open theater for various forms of folk arts, drama and other forms of performing arts.  The festivities would culminate with a grand and emotional farewell to the deity.

It is worth noting that the priests of such presiding deities are not Brahmins. In Bellaguntha they come from the native Koli community. These priests command respect from people of all castes and social status.

Such religious occasions are never used to preach what to do and what not to do. These are occasions to celebrate life with an underlying emphasis on the sacredness of life. These are occasions for all types of local artists – dancers, singers, musicians, actors, painters, decorators etc. – to showcase and utilise their talents.

Akin to the Big Street (Bada Danda) of Puri, though in a smaller scale, Bellaguntha has its own version of Bada Danda, which is known as the Pentha Sahi. The Jagannath Temple, located at the western end of the Big Street, has the idol of only Lord Jagannath. Inside the Jagannath temple complex there is a temple for Sun God with his elaborate chariot. There is another temple dedicated to Lord Rama. Nearby this temple complex, there is huge temple dedicated to Lord Narasimha.

Towards the east end of the Pentha Sahi there is a Shiva Temple from where Baratis usually start their procession. Mine was no exception.

Bellaguntha is not a town that would make it to the level of even passing mention on a regular basis in the state print and electronic media. However, the following documentary by a TV channel would give you some basic idea about the town, even though you many not understand Odia.

My blog post can be taken as a template for many of the of Ganjam District small towns like Sheragada, Surada, Badagada, Kullada, Jagannatha prasada, Kabi Suryanagara, Hinjlicut, Digapahandi. If you have lived in any of such places you know what it is like to live in Bellaguntha.

Of course skills like making of flexible brass fish and the people with whom you have made connection will always remain the exceptions. Other specialties of Bellaguntha are its weekly vegetable and cattle market held every Monday, the sweet medabeda, and a set of ponds on the outskirts collectively known as Sagara.

PS : This is the second post of my April A to Z challenge 2020. My theme this year is Mera Gaon Mera Desh where in I will be exploring many aspects of my country and the places I have been closely associated with. All posts of the AtoZChallenge can be accessed here.

the land of exceptional arts

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In the month of October/ November the ancient city of Cuttack is witness to the largest open fair of Asia. Known as Bali Jatra, the festival starts on the full moon of Kartik and continues for a week or so. There is another event that happnes throughout Odisha on the full moon day of Kartik. Early in the morning people all over Odisha assemble at their respective nearby rivers or water bodies to commemorate Boita Bandana, or felicitation of the boat. They carry small boats made of barks of plantain tree, put lamps, incense sticks and flowers on it and push it to float away on water.

Both these celebrations are connected to a chapters in Odisha History that goes back to the time even prior to the Kalinga War of Ashoka. We all know that back then India was one of the few prosperous civilizations in the whole world. The maritime activities of Odisha played no small part in it. Merchants of Odisha used to go all the way to the island of Bali in Indonesia.

Before the countries of South East Asia became predominantly Buddhist, Islamic or Christian counties, it was Hindusim which was widely followed. In a way Hindus were the first colonisers of the world. Subsequently maybe due to its less aggressive nature, Hinduism gave way to other more aggressive evangelical religions. But you can still find the imprints of Hinduism everywhere throughout these countries. The merchants of Kalinga must have played a big role in the cultural and material exchange with these islands.

In the tenth century AD, the Vikings dominated the whole of Europe due to their innovations in boat making. The maritime adventures of the Odiyas happened more than a thousand years before that. Today we have only a few of the remnants of that glorious past in the form of events like Bali Jatra or Boita Bandana. There is a need of more research to find out the maritime history of not only Odisha, but also of India.

Apart from Kalinga, Odisha has been known in the past as Udra Desha from which it has taken its present name. It was also known as Utkal – which literally means excellence in arts. You may not need an elaboration of this aspect of Odisha if you have visited the golden triangle of tourist circuit comprising of Puri, Bhubaneswar and Konark. Apart from the huge temples like Sri Jagannath Temple of Puri, Sri Lingaraja Temple of Bhubaneswar and the Konark Sun Temple, there are thousands of temples of architectural grandeur and spiritual significance not only in this belt but also all over Odisha.

Rabindranath Tagore was so enamored with the artistic artifacts of Konark Sun temple that he named his house in Shantiniketan as Konark. He used to say, “Here the language of stone surpasses the language of man.” Of course when he visited Konark, it was already in a dilapidated state. Imagine what must have been its grandeur before it was damaged. Tagore felt that it would take years for a connoisseur to go through and appreciate fully the intricate designs of the temple.

Along with Natya Shastra, the postures of dancers engraved in stone in Konark temple along with the obscure temple dance forms like Gotipua and Maharis became the inspiration for the revival of the classical Odissi Dance post Indian independence. Today Odissi has crossed the borders and is gaining firm footing in faraway shores of the Americas and the Europe.

The village of Raghurajpur and the small town Pipli are part of the Golden triangle I have referred earlier. Raghurajpur is famous for its intricate palm-leaf paintings and Pipli is famous for applique work. Besides, there are thousands of other small villages and small towns specializing in various art forms following traditions that go back to thousands of years. A small town called Bellaguntha, which is near my village and where I spent considerable time during my childhood, is famous for bronze utensils and a unique type of flexible brass fish.

[image error]These two pieces of Bellaguntha brass fish have been part of our family heirloom for the last two decades

I will be exploring various artistic and other aspects of this land of exceptional arts and some of my other favourite places of India in my A to Z challenge series this month. Stay tuned.

By the way today, i.e the first of April, is Utkal Divas or Odisha Day. This day in 1936 Odisha became a separate state with the unification of the Odia speaking areas scattered in Calcutta, Madras and the Central Presidencies. It was a long struggle for the Odia front line leaders and the people of Odisha to convince the British empire to do so. Today is the day to remember and be grateful to them.

Bande Utkal Janani.

Jai Hind.

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PS : This is the first post of my April A to Z challenge 2020. A stands for Art. My theme this year is Mera Gaon Mera Desh where in I will be exploring many aspects of my country and places I have been closely associated with.

This post is also in response to Indispire #318

will vasudhaiva kutumbakam ever be a reality?

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Today when the whole of humanity is divided even in the face of a common enemy, what lofty ideals our ancient seers had. They conceived of a utopia where the whole humanity is bonded like a one family. This was long before a map of the whole world was available.

By virtue of my association with some wonderful organizations, I have got the opportunity to interact with a wide spectrum of people from the Indian and global diaspora. When you see a person as an individual without getting tainted by any preconceived notion based on the person’s background you can connect with anybody and the human values you share in common may be amazing.

Sometimes, persons in a particular group may show some similarities in some aspects like way of thinking, food habits, pronunciation, etc.  However, it does not mean that every one of that group would confirm to those characteristics. The reality is that, two persons speaking the same language and living under the same roof can be diametrically opposite in many aspects. Similarly, two persons living in two different parts of the globe may show similarities in many aspects of their character, attitude and life.

Hope you have seen the Hollywood movie Avatar. When the hero says to the heroine, “I see you”, the heroine replies,  “I see you too”.  Like the movie itself, the dialogues may contain many layers of meaning. When they say to each other “I see you” that may mean, “I see you as you are, stripped of the psychological conditioning brought out by the society. I see you as a unique individual not to be judged based on your family, social, national, or planetary background”. By the way the hero and heroine of the movie come from different planets.

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Stereotyping is very common in our society.  Usually we are judged prima facie based on some elementary information about us on many occasions. Even though the person himself may not be exhibiting all the group characteristics of the group he is part of, it comes as a surprise to him that you do not behave in line with the group image he has formed in his mind.

The height of such prima facie judgment happened when I took up a temporary job in a private company after my discharge from Indian Air Force. There was another ex-serviceman who had joined that office one year back. At the age of 47, he was still a bachelor. There was this colleague who asked me the moment I was introduced as an ex-serviceman, “When are you going to get married?”

I replied, “I will come back to you after consulting my wife.”

Apart from economic reasons, social and political unrests arise due to societies and groups developing bias against one another. In its extreme, this group bias may manifest as racial discrimination, communal violence, terrorism, genocide and ethnic cleansing.

All inter-group conflicts and fights originating from prejudice will end the day you learn to see  a person as he is or she is, without drawing premature conclusions based on his outward identities of family background, social status, religion, language or nationality.

Provided, the supreme leader of your cult allows it.

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that which we call progress

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What we call progress is nothing but our solutions of the puzzles thrown at us. Some of them are cosmic, some local, some biological, some social, some related with our survival and so on.

Every answer brings new questions. Matter is composed of molecules. What about the composition of molecules? What about the composition of atoms? What about the composition of neutrons, protons, electrons and other sub-atomic particles? It is a never ending alley. The journey is never going to be finite. As we find more and more answers, nature is ever ready to throw more and more questions. Every answer is a temporary relief till the next puzzle is thrown at us.

Every solution brings new problems. Our solutions to the problems of commuting has created problems for the environment. In fact most of the scientific inventions to solve our day to day problems have created problems for the environment.

Perhaps, Gods were invented to solve a host of problems. Most of the Gods of the ancient world were personifications of the forces of nature. Gods were created to instill a sense of fear and faith. Faith helped to get rid of the day to anxiety. Fear made men to conduct themselves as per set standards even when there was no external supervision. Religion, which was invented to solve a host of problems, became an obstacle to further inventions. We are familiar with the struggle of scientists like Galileo and other scientists of fifteenth and sixteenth century against the Church. Twenty first century is no better as we continue to fight against religious fanaticism of all kinds.

Communism was supposed to create a religion-less and class less society. Karl Marx created an ideology to get rid of the ill effects of religion to protect the common men against the oppression of the aristocrats and other influential people of the society. However, we have seen how the masses have suffered and continue to do so in communist regimes. The stature of Stalin, or Lenin was nothing less than that of Gods. Nothing to speak of the authoritarian and the strictly hierarchical regimes of China or North Korea.

Capitalism has done no better. In fact most of the problems of environment could be related to uncontrolled exploitation of resources fueled by competition, consumerism and capitalist greed. Today China is a communist country only in form. In the name of communism, China has only retained the authoritarian hierarchical structure. Otherwise it is as good a consumeristic and capitalistic culture as US.

The developments in Information Technology have provided solutions to a host of problems in almost all fields. But now human kind is looking at the bleak future which will be caused by developments in robotic technology, artificial intelligence and machine learning. Sociologists are predicting the future irrelevance of human race. All jobs requiring human effort or interference are going to be taken over by machines. So, to provide sustenance to the jobless majority through out the globe there are talks of Universal Basic Income (UBS), which in turn may bring in its own problems. Of course then again we should be able to engage ourselves in solving the puzzles. But UBS seems to be a plausible solution to the future irrelevance of human beings.

The examples of the problem-solution-problem cycle could be never ending. But nature is not content with engaging us in solving the problems created due to our efforts to solve earlier problems. So from time to time it throws in surprises. It catches us off guard. The new puzzle does not fit in to any of the old models of solutions human race has developed so far. Human race suddenly finds itself ill equipped to deal with the new puzzle.

Human race has been able to solve the puzzles so far, thus not only saving itself from extinction, but also taking a giant step in its evolution. In a cosmic time scale, how long will it have the privilege to do so?

Maybe, it is time to focus on here and now.

how far can one deviate in retelling our mythologies?

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In India along with books of chick-lit genre written by the ilks of Chetan Bhagat, the books of another genre that sell well are those based on the characters of our mythologies like Ramayana and Mahabharata. Some authors like Devdutt Patnaik call their books as re-tellings, which of course is nothing new. Retelling is perhaps as old as these epics. That is how we have so many versions of Ramayana in different languages written over different periods of time. Of course with each retelling, a little bit of deviation takes place from the earlier versions depending upon the inclination, the ignorance, and the wisdom of the author. But usually the basic plot line and the characteristics of various characters remain the same.

But then there are mythical character based on books which are akin to fan fictions popular in western countries. These type of books written on characters of Indian mythologies have become popular these days in India. Take for example the books of Amish. His books are not re-tellings like those of Devdutt Patnaik. He only uses the names of the characters from our epics and weaves fantasies in his own way. The plots and even the the historical time frame when these are set are far removed from the original plots and historical time.

In western countries, the character on whom the majority of fan fictions and screen adaptations has been done is Sherlock Holmes. (It could be so because they did not have the luxury of epics like Mahabharata and Ramayana) But, I have noticed a glaring difference between the fan fictions of Western authors and the fan fictions on epics written by Indian authors.

To make this clear let me give two examples. There are a large number of fan fictions on Sherlock Holmes. In some versions he is a twenty first century guy. However, throughout all such versions the basic characteristic of Sherlock Holmes does not change. He continues to be the eccentric logician with sharp observations and a scientific approach to crimes. However, in Shiva Trilogy I found that Amish has portrayed the character of Shiva as a weed smoking guy. In our epics there is no such reference of Lord Shiva smoking Ganja. Of course, some (not all) of his devotees do it. In popular culture Shiva devotees are portrayed as weed smoking sadhus. But in our epics he has never been portrayed as someone who is addicted to Ganja.

Similarly in many such fan fictions written by Indian authors (which are moslty based on characters from Hindu Epics), I find that the characters are far removed in their basic characteristics from their epic namesakes. In such a situation the question arises as to how far can you distort the epic characters in your fan fictions?

I do not think that as a fan fiction author you can get away if you do such kind of distortions to Sherlock Holmes (even though no temples are dedicated to him yet). The reason for this could be that most of of the western readers are acquainted with the basic characteristic of Sherlock Holmes created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. So, if someone tries show Sherlock Holmes as some kind of a James Bond, the backlash from fans would be huge. But in India that is not the case. Most of the millennials from Hindu families may be reading about Shiva for the first time from a book written by someone like Amish.

For me, for that for many of my generation, this was not the case. I grew up in a small village called Nua Mahulia in the Ganjam District of Odisha. Those days the only forms of entertainment were live performances by folk artists and the open air dramas staged by the local amateur artists. The themes of all such performances invariably revolved around characters from the Indian epics. So every village boy or girl, including those who who did not go to school or even did not know reading or writing, ended up knowing the stories of Ramayana, Mahabharata and other epics by the time he or she was in early teens.

In a way it is a good thing that many authors are taking up such re-tellings and in the process creating awareness about our epic characters among those who otherwise would never read about such characters even in their distorted versions. However, to do justice to the characters that inspired such retelling or fan fiction, the authors should themselves decide where to draw the Laksman Rekha of distorting the characteristics of epic characters.

At the same time I would urge the readers not to restrict their readings only to the fan fictions of epic characters. If possible they should read at least some retold version of the epics. Take again the case of Sherlock Holmes, the guy who rarely left a case unsolved. If you read the original Sherlock Holmes, your fun of enjoying the fan fictions based on his characters will increase manifold. Moreover, you will be able to appreciate Sherlock better.

And in case any one tries to portray him as a James Bond you will have equal fun in reminding the author, “It is elementary, dude. That is not the way Sherlock would behave in such a situation.”

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Why Bhagavad Gita is the ultimate self-help book

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You would not find the Bhagavad Gita in the self help section of a library or a book store. It is good that it is so. A book of the stature of Bhagavad Gita should not be reduced to the level of popular, (maybe even best seller) self help books which give a feel good message when you read and are shallow and misleading when you probe deeper. But if you ever get to understand the core message of Bhagavad Gita, you will find that this is the self help book you have been looking for all your life.

There are reasons why I say so. Self help books focus on one thing – how to get what you want. Self help authors and motivational gurus suggest various seemingly easy and short cut methods to achieve what you want. But they don’t tell you what you should want. Bhagavad Gita does so. It tells you what should be the highest goal of a human being.

It is important first of all to know what you want. Quite often people work hard for years for something, but after they get it they become more frustrated. They wish they should not have desired to achieve that.

Secondly, when you only prescribe ways for getting what you want, it can be utilised for good purpose as well as evil purpose. It can also be utilised for pure selfish purpose which would come at the general good of the society. In fact many self help books encourage you to be selfish and recommend unethical methods to achieve your goal.

These so called motivational authors call their books self help books. But tell me about any self help book where first of all some idea about ‘self’ is given. The fact is that they themselves may not be knowing what self is all about. Bhagavad Gita fulfills this shortcoming. It gives you some idea about your innermost core which is elusive to the conscious mind but can be experienced in deep meditation. Let me assure you, if you don’t have the proper perspective about the ‘self’, no amount of tips, tricks, and hacks will be of any long term use to you.

We are all interdependent, not only from human society point of view, but also from the point of view of our surroundings consisting of living and non-living elements. We cannot progress in isolation. Self help books rarely talk about your position in the cosmic order of things. These books never give you the big picture. Remember that if your actions are not aligned with the big picture of things, the selfish goals you achieve by using the unethical and near- unethical tips and tricks of self help books will frustrate you in the long run even after you get all your desires fulfilled.

In an earlier post also while explaining the fallacy of the self help books I had recommended Bhagavad Gita as one of the few books that I have come across to be of real help. But, to understand the core message of Gita there are practical difficulties. There are thousands of translated versions of Gita available in various languages. If you do not have expertise in Sanskrit, you will not know how wide off the mark many of such translations and their commentaries are. Even knowing Sanskrit is not enough. To understand Gita one should have basic knowledge of various systems of Indian philosophy known as Darshanas.

While going through various books on Bhagavad Gita in the three languages that I can read and write I found that many of the interpreters did not have any experience in yoga or meditation. Such people who set out to interpret Bhagavad Gita do great injustice to the book.

So, when some days back someone asked me to recommend a version of Bhagavad Gita for beginners I really found it difficult to find one. Then, I thought why not I write one. I have some knowledge of Indian Darshanas and also have reasonable understanding of Sanskrit. Moreover, I have been practising yoga and meditation for the last twenty years regularly. To top them all, since my high school days (which happened more than thirty years back), I have come back to Bhagavad Gita time and again not only during the times when I was going through a rough patch, but also during the times when I felt life was becoming smooth and shallow.

Thus, here is the first book of my Project Bhagavad Gita. It covers chapters 1 to 3. It is available on amazon at the lowest permissible price and also on Kindle Unlimited. Please go through the book and provide your feedback which I can incorporate while revising the book and bringing out other books in this series.