Ahmadabad Trip: Mahudi

As Ahmedabad does not host lot of historical, religious, and scenic monuments, so my friend planned to visit nearby religious monuments. We started with Ghandhinagar, the capital city of Gujarat. The city hosts the oldest Akshardham temple in India. So we planned to visit this temple first, but after turning up at it's empty gate, we realized a loophole in our plan. We visited the temple on Monday, which is the only resting day for the temple staff in a week.

Though we were disappointed, still we had planned to visit other temples. Hence rather than considering it as a set back, I welcomed it as a well timed relief. Mini Amarnath temple was next in line. This temple is a replica of the Amarnath temple. Amarnath temple, situated in the Himalayas, is the most popular and dangerous Hindu shrine. You need to walk, and trek a little to reach to the mini Amarnath temple's. This hall imitates a natural cave and it has a Shiv-ling. The Shiv-ling is created artificially using snow and maintained at -5 Deg C to save it from melting. If you have any temptation to touch the deity, you must be prepared to donate 1000 Rs. Apart from the main hall, this temple hosts 10-12 other Shiv-lings which are replicas of the most popular Shiv temples across India.

Next temple was a Jain temple. This temple, widely known as Ghantaghar Mahaveer Ji jain temple, is situated in Mahudi. Maudi is 35 Km away from Ghandhinagar. The temple is quite beautiful, but it is associated with plenty of rumours.

Second hall which host Idol of Ghantaghar wale Shri Mahavir Ji

Temple is spread across a huge area. Along with three prayer halls, it has a museum, library, inn, parking lot and mess. Out of 3 halls, biggest hall hosts idols of 24 Jain Tirthankars. The oldest and prodigious idol, which belongs to Padam Prabhu, has been placed in this hall. The architecture of the hall is quite impressive and elaborate. Second hall is dedicated to Ghantaghar wale mahavir ji, he is known as the guardian of the temple. Third hall has idol of Yognistha Acharya Bhagwant Shrimad BuddhiSagarSuriSwarji Maharaj Sahebji, who put the foundation stone of the temple. Main attraction of the temple is 2 bells i.e Ghanta(in Hindi). One of these bell weights couple of tons. This bell is used only once in a year on Diwali and it's sound can be heard at few miles away from the temple. Second bell weights 40-50 kg and it has been places at the top of marble ladders.

Sukhadi, as a Prasad, is offered to the deity. Sukhadi is prepared with Pure Desi Ghee, wheat flour and Jaggery, and it is quite delicious. Rumours say that if you taje the Prasad out of the Mahudi village intentionally or unintentionally, then you will face fierce consequences. As per local people, whoever tried to take Sukhadi home, didn't even reach home. They were met with an accident before reaching home. It must be eaten or distributed in the temple premise only. So keeping all these rumours in mind, the devotees are prohibited from taking this outside the temple premises.

However list of prohibitions does not end here. You are prohibited to take photographs in the premise. As per the rumours, deity is still active in the temple, and if he is captured in the photographs, then he can create problems in your life.

After visiting the premise, we went to the exhibition hall and found a narrator who narrated the complete story of the temple. He told us all the mysterious phenomenon associated with the temple and he supported most of these events with unconvincing stories and reasons. This session lasted for 90 minutes, and we collected some history, and unconvincing theories about the temple.

Mahudi temple was our last frontier for the day, still the day was not yet over as our nights were already booked for another Garba session.

Who are you?

If someone asks you to introduce yourself in the group of 10 people, your introduction differs based on the purpose, and the members of the group. But how would you answer, "Who are you?".

You are sitting in the office with 50 colleagues in a presentation. Presenter stops all of a sudden, and asks you, "Who are you?".

You will merely have time to think and respond to such a simple, but weird question. My crude answer will be, "I am Vishal Jain.". Oh wow! that's all. Will my name define me completely? I do not think so. I am much more than merely the name. But then why I didn't consider anything worthy enough to associate with myself at that moment. So in my opinion, this question needs a delicate and much refined answer.

This question was asked to different people. Presenter asked this question to the first person; he answered, "I am a human being". Presenter asked the question repeatedly, and this guy told few of his behavioral characteristics, before running out of them.

In the same manner another person was interrogated. This guy told his professional achievements to answer it. Third person answered it with his personal information. Though neither question, nor participants, nor listener changed, but none of the answers were satisfactory, and complete.

So how would like to answer such a simple question? We do not ever think of answering this question in life time. So why don't you take some time and tell me that "Who are you?".

Happy Diwali 2012

So it is time to celebrate Diwali, the biggest north Indian Hindu festival. Except the mythological essence of the festival, it has significant importance in our life. Reunion of friends, families, shopping, decoration, cleaning, hopes, wishes, and love within families are few examples of such significant matters that are associated to the common man.

On this day, hundreds of small lamps will illuminate every street in every city. Hundreds of traditional oil lamps and hundreds of electric bulbs will enlighten every house in the street. No street, house, and place will remain dark today. Apart from decorating houses with lamps, every house will certainly have a Rangoli drawn with different colors and decorated with twinkling lamps.

This day, most of us, will visit the market from one end to another and wish Diwali’s best wishes to everyone either known or unknown. We will visit our friends who did not get time to meet us after last Diwali. It will be the perfect time to visit their houses and have some sweets (I love sweets) which are served as part of the traditions.

With our families, we will worship goddess Lakshmi, and god Ganesh. We will ask goddess to visit our house and shower money on us. Lakshmi visits every house this day, decides which house is decorated best, and stays in such a beautiful house for eternity. Chanting and praying will stop after an hour, after that we will be free to demonstrate the power of bombs we bought last night.

All the kids will first start with the loudest bomb, then as soon as louder bombs finish we move to bombs and crackers that last little longer. Ladies burst more trivial crackers. Though there is noise from different directions, but everyone seems to like the noise and pollution on Diwali.

I love everything about Diwali. Whether it is cleaning and dusting, or it is decoration, or it is meeting with friends, or it is worshipping, or it is cracking the crackers everything is charming, and cheerful. Though I have not brought any crackers yet, but I will get them soon. Hope you all will enjoy your Diwali as much.

Wish you, and your family a great, and prosperous Diwali!!!!!!!

Do we really own something?

Yesterday me and my friend had a brief discussion regarding possession. While describing our wealth, we proudly tell about our properties, cars, and ornaments, and we claim to own them. So our basic concern was to find out "Who possesses whom?".

Don’t worry, I haven't gone mad. I am yet quite sane.

Let's assume a person, who became a millionaire couple of years back, owns a BMW car. Along with the fundamental expenditures of the luxury class car, he has to maintain his status according to the car. He can not drive his car too often due to the fear associated with the car's status. He has to keep a tight vigilance to ensure it's safety. He cannot park it at random places to keep it away from streext vendors and kids. So to park it, everyday he strolls for an hour to find a better, and spacious parking place which might be 200 meters away from his house. He cannot park the car in the market where it is susceptible to scratches and thefts. So still do you think this millionaire owns a BMW?

Similarly, we all book a flat with the help of a bank, and keep depositing the bank's EMI for the entire life. We cut our expenditures, we reduce our desires, and we halt our life, but we live for our home. Do you see yourself as a king, after buying the home which already has owned you?

Further let me take the example of my own house. After moving to the house, my dad has stopped travelling. He says, it is unsafe to leave it unmanned even for 1 day, so at-least one person must stay at home. Hence they do not travel anywhere. He is always worried about the small cracks in the roof. So instead enjoying the house, he is more worried about it. So I do not think that my dad is owning it, rather the house has become the master of our lives.

If we sit down and look back our purchases, we feel the burden of these purchases first and later realize their importance, and advantages. So it is better to do something you like, instead of, owning those non-living things, which are possessing us.

Ahmedabad Trip: Garba Nights

I planned my trip to Ahmedabad at the time of the Navratri, so that I could enjoy world famous Gujarati dance, i.e. Garba and Dandiya. My friend's explanation was so elaborate, and enticing, that missing Garba, this year, was inevitable. So in the Navratri I was in Ahmadabad for three nights and each of the three nights was Garba night due to my friend's efforts.

Garba and Dandiya are Indian forms of dance these were originated in Gujarat, an Indian state. Many traditional Garbas were performed around a central lit lamp of different avatar of Shakti Maa, but now Garba has been changed drastically over the years. Now Garba has mixed with Dandiya and it has become more vibrant, and dynamic. Traditionally guys wear Kurta-Pajama and girls wear Chaniya-Choli-Dupatta. It is celebrated in the Navratri, 9 days celebration, just before Dussehra.

On day one (Seventh day of Garba), we reached to the party hall quite late, but the hall was lively, and completely packed. It was filled with vibrant colors, loud music, and enthusiastic Gujjus. Thousands of people, who were dressed in colorful and traditional Gujarati attires, were present in the hall and they were dancing with never lasting enthusiasm. Atmosphere at the hall was highly jubilant, and elated.

Though the hall was filled with few thousand people, but nobody, in the entire hall, was concerned about others. Everyone was enjoying so much that the existence of others was inconsequential.

After  Music was halted.

We started the Garba without losing any other moment. First I learned a few steps, and I joined the group. Though my confidence level was low and my feet were not dynamic, but still I tried my best to maintain the rhythm with others.

Due to the regulations in Ahmadabad, music stopped at 12AM, and all of us had to leave the party hall. As our night started couple of hours back, so after leaving the party hall, we went to the hotel for the dinner instead leaving to our homes. We had the special Gujarati dinner which was delicious, but it did not have any Gujarati dish. After having the delicious dinner, we all departed to our homes.

Next day we went to Chokhi Dhani. We were late again, and by the time we reached to the place, people had started leaving. Even after, so many people had already left, the hall was yet overpopulated, and the remaining bunch was not in any mood to stop. Music was loud and wild. Everyone was fully engrossed in the beats. Due to the yesterday's dancing experience, I was able to move my feet at the Garba beats. We formed a circle and danced around it. Lot of people joined our formation, and sometimes we joined other formations to keep the Garba alive.

Again, the Garba lasted for one hour only, but this hour was filled with fun and it was highly rejuvenating. People were gasping for more, but there was not any music for them.

Group at second day@Chokhi Dhani

Though the Garba was over, but the night was still young and refreshing. We had tea at a closed shop and later had the dinner on a road side restaurant. At the restaurant, we treated ourselves with the south Indian food which was cooked in the Gujarati style. Till now I was not able to find a decent Gujarati restaurant, so at-least one more day I had to wait for the Gujarati meal.

Earlier I had planned to leave the next day, but citing a holiday on Vijaydashami; I stayed there for one more day. As it was last, and the most important day of Navratra, so I planned to spend this auspicious day with my friends, instead spending this day in the train.

Third night was way too bigger than first two nights. We went to ONGC Ground, Ahmadabad. It was big stadium filled with thousands of people. This ground was divided in 2 different parts. One was a circle in the middle of ground where only girls were allowed whereas remaining people were allowed outside this circle. This time we reached to the ground around 11PM. Last night we all lacked a good group. People who accompanied us in last days were busy with some other friends. Due to this, we ended with the people who were more interested in sexy girls in the ground.

People performing garba@ONGC Ground

Time stops, but clock does not. After 2AM we all were forced to leave the ground. We returned to the society and it was still active, and alive. Most of the residents were out in the garden and they all were enjoying the Dandiya. So after playing it in a smaller group for some time, we joined all of them. After spending an hour in the Dandiya, we roamed in the streets which were still filled with people. Every street had one tent to play the Garba. Whether the street was a small, or a big street, or belonged to the paupers, or the riches, it had its own establishment of Maa Shakti.

Dandiya at the Society Garden.

I completely enjoyed the Navratra in Ahmadabad. It was not the dance, it was not the beats, it was not the time I spent but it was the energy of the people. In these days, you do not need friends, and you can mix with anyone and everyone. It is much more than Diwali in north India; it is much more than Teej in Rajasthan. It is as big as Chrismas, but it is more social than this. Every person irrespective of age, sex, and religion enjoys the festival of Navratri and beats of the Garba.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

I am not planning to review this book. I just want to shout that I am loving the book. Since the day I have taken the book in my hands, I have been dreaming to finish it. While sleeping I dream about next chapter. I dream about harry's possible actions to defend himself, so I just want to finish the book and watch the movie one more time to enjoy it more.

I had finished Harry Potter's first three parts quite a long time back, since then I was planning to start rest other parts, but I did not get enough chances to start these books. But this Saturday I got the perfect time to start the book and now I hope to finish this book by Thursday, so that take I can start 5th book of the series.

You all must wish me best of luck. :-)

Why do we Love Mahabharata?

I was listening a podcast in which narrator is narrating the great Indian epic Mahabharata. I was listening to the episode where war has broken out between the two armies. The objectives of these two armies have a clear demarcation i.e. One army, i.e. Pandavas, is fighting for truth and righteousness whereas another army, i.e Kauravas, is covered under the cloud of lies and Adharma.

As per the narrator the reason to love this epic is knowing the results at the start only. He tells that the person on the side of Dharma is going to crush others with the help of god, and this reason is good enough to love the epic, which has such an elaborate description of the war between Satya and Asatya. If we  adhere to the reason of narrator, we all must love every Bollywood movie which starts with two guys who are on the different sides of Karma.

Though I love this podcast and love his way of delivering the artifacts about this enormous piece of scripture, yet I differ from his reason. I love this epic for various satisfactory reasons. Few such reasons are mentioned below.

1. This epic demonstrates the human life. A man fight for the Land, and the honour of ladies. Man has to retain the honour which is compromised by ladies during some worthless debates. As man's life revolves around a female protagonist, similarly Mahabharata has revolved around different ladies. All these ladies shared their part of glory in the epic.
Shantunu falling in love with a lady and leaving the complete nation in chaos to have her.
Bhism abducting princess for his impotent brothers.
Dropadi commenting on her brother in laws and giving them a reason to write such a history.

2. Even though this epic is similar to human life, but still it does not lose supernatural substance to maintain our interest in the story. These supernatural characters intervened at times to spice the story up. Few demonstrations of such super powers are as mentioned below.
Krishna killed all Ashuras in his childhood.
Krishna showed entire universe in his mouth.
Lot of Rishies and Munies chanted blessings and curses at the start to impact the final consequence of the story in the end.
Most funny yet the most interesting story is about the length of the Dropdi's sari.

3. This epic has elaborate description of the war. Writer has concentrated on each and every character of the story. Writer has made sure that anyone supporting Adharma does not go unpunished.

4. Bhagwat Geeta is also important part of the epic.

Though I can list more reasons to invalidate narrator's point. yet most profound and satisfying reason is the similarity between epic and human life. This reason provokes me to know and to read the epic with greater interests.

Ahmedabad Trip: Adalaj Stepwell

18 hours bus journey to Ahmedabad was an awful experience and a lesson to plan trips in advance. Due to my laziness, I was not able to book train tickets which cost me my comfort and sleep. Anyway, after reaching to Ahmedabad (21st Oct), my beautiful host showed me the hotel and left me there for uncertain number of hours. After spending 4 dreadful hours in hotel room, I was taken out for Ahmedabad tourism.

We went to Adalaj Stepwell, which was approximately 10Km far from my hotel. The Stepwell is a well surrounded by steps situated in Adalaj village. A larger section of the monument is inaccessible to people, so it is difficult to understand the place well. But still the location was worth spending the time.

Direct from Wikipedia

The stepwell was built in 1499 by Muslim king Mohammed Begda for Queen Rani Roopba, wife of Veer Singh, theVaghela chieftain. The step well or 'Vav', as it is called in Gujarati, is intricately carved and is five stories in depth. Such step wells were once integral to the semi arid regions of Gujarat as they provided basic water needs for drinking, washing and bathing. These wells were also venues for colorful festivals and sacred rituals.

Though the monument is small, yet this place is a wonderful and marvelous piece of Hindu architecture. Design engraved on stones and walls is prodigious. It is the five story monument where every story is supported by beautiful pillars erected in symmetry surrounding the well.

Apart from the well, this monument has a well maintained garden to rest; that's why this monument is used as a gutar gu place for lovers. This Stepwell is freely accessible to the public so sometimes you may catch some live action in the garden.

I feel everyone, visiting to Ahmedabad, must visit Stepwell once to know, and see the rich architecture, and the profound planning of ancient time.

PS: I was not aware about the place, so I did not carry my camera; hence I could take any pics at my own. Pics used in the blog are taken from other sites.

Movie Review: Antardwand

Antardwand, 2010
Cast: Raj Singh Chaudhary as Raghuveer, Swati Sen as Janki, Vinay Pathak and Akhilendra Mishra
Director: Shushil Rajpal
Music by: Bapi Tutul, composer of Sarkar, Sarkar Raj, and Khosla Ka Ghosla
Genre: Drama, Social
Award: National Film Award for Best Film on Social Issues at the 2009 National Awards.

Antardwand, which literally means a fight within, is depicting a social issue (based on a true story of an IAS officer) in some Indian states. A father, thinking of his daughter's future, abducts an aspiring IAS candidate and force him to marry his daughter. Later this marriage becomes a nightmare, and story ends with the hunger for more.

Shushil Rajpal wanted to show a social problem on a big screen. So he searched a little and came up with such an uncomfortable, but an astounding revelation. Shushil opted actors who could not only act but also provide resemblance to the theme's background. His decision for not signing big actors has not given much market acknowledgement, but this movie has received huge appreciation by critique community. Movie's name attracted me quite a lot so I searched about it and found it the right candidate to watch.

Raghuveer, an IAS aspirant, has come to his village to meet his parents, and tell them about his girl friend. At the same time his father is dealing with Janki's father (Akhilendra Singh) who is willing to spend any amount of money in her daughter's marriage. But Raghuveer's father (Vinay Pathak) does not even consider the proposal. Next day Raghuveer has abducted and taken to a remote place. He is brutally beaten by abductors to convince him for marriage. Even after using force in inhumanly manner, Raghuveer does not give up. So to solve the riddle, Raghuveer is married to Janki in unconscious state. Such marriages are never accepted to anyone and time does not heal the wound. After spending one month in a single room problems still sustained between the couple. Raghuveer keeps searching for the ways to elope, but he does not find one whereas Janki keeps trying to persuade her husband, but she too is not successful yet. This movie revolves around the abduction, persuasion, and post marriage problems.

Lead protagonists have acted quite maturely. Irrespective of their smaller bollywood career, they have shown tremendous potential of the acting. Location depicted and language used is way too nearer to core areas. Story is narrated quite well in decent amount of time. Length of the sequences is checked by showing required shots without compromising with the essence of sequence.

Showcasing such social issue on a big screen poses lot of challenges to the team, but Shushil directed a master piece. Instead offending people, he received appreciation and accolades for his direction. I would recommend this movie to anyone and everyone who wants to watch something HAT KE.

Ghandhi's Ji about Beggers

Yesterday I was reading Gram Swaraj written by Bapu. In this book, Ghandhi has advocated about the self-independence of villages. He has stressed the idea of model villages, where each and every village is dependent on none other than itself. He has laid out some guidelines to make the village independent which are helpful in eradicating the existing problems in the society, and bring best character of the Indian villages.

Though he has dictated lot of problems and suggested solution to all such problems, but his stern stand against begging is quite surprising, but contradictory to my opinions.

Ghandhi has always stressed that everyone must be employed. In his opinion, a person must eat only after working for sufficient time and earning his food gracefully. Other means of getting food/eatables must not be accepted to society. As per Ghandhi begging is heinous crime, and the person who is supporting or assisting in begging is also partner in crime. As per him, any one should not give anything to a person who is healthy enough to earn his/her livelihood. Society leads itself to destruction by supporting or promoting such individuals.

According to him a society must not help physically handicaps. As per his views, it is government's responsibility to build houses/places to support such individuals. None, other than government, should take this task in their hands and interrupt someone else's work.

My Take/View
Ghandhi Ji was optimistic about Indian society, so he assumed that everyone would follow fundamentals of humanity, but even after 65 years of Indian independence people are still hungry and greedy. In current circumstances, it is really difficult to adapt these strict measures. When everyone wants to run from his task, then let society do something for humanity with the fear of God.

Anyway after reading Ghandiji's view, I will stop assisting any person who can work and earn, but I will not stop assisting other category of people.