The Festival of Elephants and More…

The cultural capital of Kerala, God’s Own Country, Thrissur.

Today they have more to celebrate and cheer for: Thrissur Pooram.  

The Pooram is the most colourful temple festival of Kerala. Thrissur Pooram attracts  devotees and spectators from all parts of the State and even outside.

Celebrated in Medom (April-May) it elaborates with processions of richly caparisoned elephants from various neighbouring temples to the Vadakumnathan temple, Thrissur. The most impressive processions are those from the Krishna Temple at Thiruvambadi and the Devi Temple at Paramekkavu which is sight in itself for its devotees.

The festival was introduced by Sakthan Thampuran Maharaja of the erstwhile Cochin State in the late eighteenth century. Perhaps, there is no other festival in Kerala that draws such an unbelievable number of people.

The pooram festival is also well known for the magnificent display of fireworks. Fire works burst in the early hours and the dazzling display lasts for three to four hours!!!

The Pooram Festival is celebrated by two rival groups representing the two divisions of Thrissur: Paramekkavu and Thiruvambadi. Who does the best is what is tested…the display of fireworks to the grandeur in celebration!!!  Each group is allowed to display a maximum of fifteen elephants and all efforts are made by each party to secure the best elephants in South India and the most artistic parasols, several kinds of which are raised on the elephants during the display. Commencing in the early hours of the morning, the celebrations last till the break of dawn.

Now well, if you want to know how much the celebrations would cost, take wild guesses…alll I will tell you is that a single nettipattom (head ornament) for a single elephant costs Rs.25000!!!

Freeze It!

Freeze it?

Kachcha Kachcha Pakka Pakka?  

I had goosebumps when I saw him first on TV. The same feeling or more of that, when AB Senior hosted it sometime back.

The young generation may identify with SRK more than with AB because they have seen him grow from a TV serial actor to the most loved boolywood actors in the country.

With drama, smiles, flying kisses and a more unusual way of saying: “Boys and Girls” SRK sure left the Indian crowd in awe first. They got used to seeing him smiling at them, hugging people, giving away watches to people who play well…

Maybe as critics would call it ways of marketing the show, to support falling TRPs…But, trust me, even the critics would have loved at least a minute of it.

He might be naive, and even go to the extent of snapping back at you…he might make fun of non-hindi speaking people, but he did a show Amitabh Bachchan hosted!

Amitabh in his polished Hindi, “deviyon aur sajjano”, dominating presence gave a flavour to the show.

 Shahrukh took it to his style, smiled more, takled more, had fun…and giving a completely different flavour to something which already had an established one is no Joke!

Today is the last episode of the season…he is gonna dance, cry, fight…and all you critics, watch it, if you wanna know what fun is all about!!! 😉

Kiss The Miss???

I am the late comer in this story…I didn’t know it happened! With all the news about her hovering around in all possible channels, isn’t it only natural that yours truly miss a peice…

This time it was a kiss!

Oh…racism, Queen, Crown, Prime Minister, now a kiss, miss??

News:

1. The Pretty woman star, Richard Gere, kissed Shilpa on the cheek…
2. The Indian Media went gaga-goo with the reports of “chaste” “traditional” Indians who went mad at this sign of appreciation!

…like 5-yr old ThomasMon in a tiny toddy village asked his mother,”Was I born when Appa kissed you Amma?”, the Indian media was all over the place covering it left, right, center, down…ahem! (They leave no angle, no story, no stone, upturned, these days!)

We have always speculated why Karan Johar is not married, why did Ash chose Abhi…and a galore of another one million questions. But seriously, did we hope that they be publicised on national television? How does it matter to others if, I chose to speak on things which might have filled as gossippy chat on a post-lunch summer afternoon? But suddenly with so many channels (I didn’t bother to count them!!!), and not so much happening in India that can set TRP on fire, what else will poor media do other than to cover gossips that the neighborhood aunties ramble on!

Poor Shilpa and poor Gere, it looked like he was bowled over by her and just expressed it openly…did he know that Indians, beyond their literacy and modernisation still ponder around kisses…and the media, so dynamic when it comes to “news” is nothing short of being diabolical?

Feed Yourself with the stories and there is no more of tolerance left in you, be it religious, social, cultural views and reactions! We end up seeing everything with the sceptic eyes of the gossip-monger…!

Krishna, Guruvayoorappa!

 The Left government in Kerala seems to be sympathising a lot with Dr. K.J Yesudas, the gana gandharvan of India.

 

(News: Devaswom Minister G. Sudhakaran requested temple authorities to allow veteran singer – a practising Christian (!) to sing in the Guruvayoor Temple.)

Yours Truly, a devoted fan of both Guruvayoorappan and Dasettan was delighted!

I am a frequent visitor to the temple of Guruvayoor every time I am in Kerala. There was a time when my family used to go there every month.

The walk from the hotel to the temple premises is lined with an array of shops selling bangles to wooden elephants, from special Guruvayoor pappadams to different colour halwas. There are music shops, textile shops, shops that sell jasmine flowers…These shops are open all through till mid night, some of them till early morning. Around 3:00 a m when the usha pooja or the morning rituals begin, the shops start playing songs…and whose voice other than the gana gandharvan’s!

I have never heard the religion in his voice.

I have heard him sing, Krishna Nee Begane in a voice that even the Lord himself would step down and hug him. His Ayyappa devotionals, especially, Hari Harathmajam Vishwamohanam, takes you to the hills of Sabarimala wherever in the world you are! People call him an incarnation of the singers of heaven. Such is his voice, such is his passion for divinity. He has never thrashed Hindutva, Islam or Christianity, nor has he made any claims anywhere. He goes to Sabarimala and Mookambika every year, sings for the Gods there…why not Guruvayoor?

In a temple where the Lord himself is considered the little Krishna, there are strict rules for married couples and small kids. The rules faked in the pretext of traditional values and customs. How does a human entering the Srikovil destroy the sanctity of the God inside, when he himself is the creator and the preserver?

The Chembai Sangeetholsavam that happens in Guruvayoor every year is attended by millions of singers from all over the world, of course, Hindu singers. But the greatest contradiction of it all being, Yesudas himself was the greatest disciple of the great Chembai VaidhyaNatha Bhagavathar to whom this festival is dedicated!

While, Yesudas is mum about the whole issue and playing safe not to hurt sentiments and religion, he must be singing in his heart: Karuna cheyvaan enthoru thamasam Krishna….

Great Indian US Dream…Shattered!

As the entire nation asks BIG questions on the safety of campuses in the US of A…a small village in Tamil Nadu is drenched in the pool of shattered dreams. The Dreams of a Common Indian Man who wanted to Make it Big!

Prof. G V Loganathan:

(The professor was killed while taking a class in mechanics. This was the second classroom that the gunman entered. He taught in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Virginia campus. His programme area was environmental and water resources engineering, and he had received many awards for excellence in teaching.  An alumnus of IIT-Kanpur, he completed his doctorate at the Purdue University and joined the Virginia Tech University in 1982.)

Professor Loganathan was born in Tamil Nadu’s Erode district. Born into a lower middle class family, he is one of the few people who shared the great Indian Dream…! Daring to dream big and making it to where he thought he needs to belong. Now the family in mourning sees the shattered dream and for them there is no more of him to share the sorrow!

Here’s Prof. Loganathan’s Profile: http://www.vwrrc.vt.edu/sdwi/loganathan_profile.asp