Jatra- the unforgotten pride of Bengal

               Jatra- the unforgotten pride of Bengal       

The tall fair man stepping down the stairs from his studio is Dilip Babu, the doyen of Jatra industry of Bengal. Through a mutual friend, he agreed to meet me at his residence.

The housekeeper ushered me to a sofa set at the corner and looked at the big grandfather clock, said, “He would come down in another few minutes for having tea with you.”  

I could hear clearly even from this sitting hall, his baritone voice reciting from famous scene of Jatra “Karna-Kunti sambad.”

 Age failed to erode   the resonating bass of the voice that still could mesmerize thousands of audience surrounding the podium open on all four sides.

Jatra   is the popular folk theater form of Bengali theater spread throughout the Bengali speaking areas of India and similar to Tamasha of Maharashtra.

These drama groups travel from one performing place to another.   

The musicians, playing the background music to heighten the overall dramatic effect of the performances, sit on two sides of the stage and perform jointly playing Dholok, pakhwaj, harmonium, tabla, flute, Violin etc.

In most of the Jatras there is a common character Vivek (conscience), who in between the play, comments on the action of actors and their consequences.

We became friends before the tea arrived and who said Dilip babu was full of ego? 

Dilip babu said, “I understand, you have some queries on Jatra for your upcoming novel. But let me tell you, my answers shall be on the basis of whatever I overheard and learned through my thirty years involvement in Jatra”

“That shall be great for me. Bookish knowledge is always less than practical knowledge. I want to know what made the Jatra so different from the popular form of Theater.”

“You see, Jatra has its roots in the deep core of rural Bengal. The villagers while ploughing, fishing, boat rowing etc. keep on singing in individual typical tune. It could be to inspire and or entertain the teammates.

These popular lyrical performances formed the very basis of Jatra. Unlike the Theater, although this is not dance-drama but dance and songs appear frequently and relevantly but never as a filler in between the play. In fact, most of the important parts of the drama the dialogues are lyrical and go up and down as per the required scale of the tune.  Good Jatra artists are   mostly born mediocre singers but still take lessons in classical singings besides learning basics of Jatra acting.”

I said “Dilip da, Jatra is now on the wane of popularity. Why So?”

I knew by asking this daring question, I might be thrown out. His eyes glared for a moment but instead of saying "OUT" asked me

“How do you say so?”

“The crowds of Nayeks on   Rathjatra day are gradually reducing. In rural areas, the Jatra arrangers even by push selling, expect to get at the best only two thirds responses that too for   the most hit Palas (dramas) of the year”

There was a Phone call. He looked at the call number and said, “Excuse me for few minutes. Have one more cup of tea.”

I avoided saying another rather rude point. That time was almost the peak of Jatra season. Even five years back, it would have been difficult for the top Jatra artist like him to chat with me even at the onsite green room of Jatra.

In 2001, there were more than 200 companies (now reduced to 58 only) in Chitpore of Kolkata employing about 20,000 people. The “Adhikaries (owner/director) in their “Gaddis” (office) were always busy talking with Nayeks (booking agents) and sorting out an optimized   date suitable for both. The opening day of bookings was Rathjatra (Chariot festival of Lord Jagannath in June) and by evening of that day, almost cent percent of the best time slots were booked by the Nayeks arriving from all corners of Bengali speaking areas of India.

This year although the active Jatra companies are only fifty-eight, even on the Rathjatra day the booking response was nowhere near the figure of even five years back.

Dilip babu returned with a tall glass of brown color liquid. The smell of the liquid was sufficient to guess that he was neither drinking black tea nor cold drink but Rum.

As he offered me one and as soon as I shook my head, he immediately poured from that glass to refill his glass.

He apparently looked disturbed. I overheard just then he was angry with someone on the last phone call for cancellation of a show.

“Yes, what the Nayeks told you for the present status of Jatra?”

I said, “I hear not only from them but also from the villages where I moved for the subsurface ground water exploration. People in general are saying that Jatra is limping before TV serials and just released pirated movies from the internet available at the comfort of home.”

His baritone voice barked, “That is half the truth. Few years back, in the name of modernization most of the new owners of Jatra brought the TV and/or Film actors with Xerox copies of the scripts of serials and films along with light and sound effects. There were few initial successes, but ultimately audience rejected them.

These people neglected the basic format of Jatra. The audience surrounds all four sides open podium at the centre. Acting requires voice throwing synchronized with the   body movement such that audience facing the actors from front, sideways and back gets equal opportunity to be connected with the actors. The scripts copied from cinema or TV serial based on another format of acting could not match. The actors from these industries failed to act in the style of Jatra.”

I said, “That’s what I heard. People told me that they came to see Jatra, not a TV serial or film. They can see that at the comfort of the home and why unnecessary pay money for ticket.”

He gulped his remaining rum and said, “Years before, there were sponsors like Tea garden owners, Miners, village chiefs for the Jatra shows and the entry was free. But now people have to pay a lot.  So surely they want to see Jatra but not a poor remake of Tv serial or cinema.” 

I bravely asked, “What do you think can make Jatra revive.”

He thought for a while and said, “Just get me one Script writer and lyricist like Brojen Dey or Vairav Gangly. This industry has still now veterans like us and young dedicated talents who can still make Jatra back to its Golden days.”

I said “Gate crash crowd of audience…”

Before I could complete he said, “ Not only that,  After our performance, the dialogues and the songs would move from lips to lips of common people. That is the success and our pleasure. A Jatra artist does not hanker for money like those migratory birds of TV and Cinema who ruined this industry.”

Leaving his house, at a crowded traffic junction, some one’s car radio was playing the Famous “Sonai Dighi” of Brojen Dey. Even if the signals, turned amber, like me, many of the people at the wheels listening to the Jatra forgot to switch on the engine. Brojen babu can still make the Jatra to come back to it’s golden days. Jatra is yet the unforgotten drama pride of Bengal   

NAMESAKE

                                             NAMESAKE

I used to think that we waste our time, energy  and debate so much to give a name to a newborn until I met a scholarly and philosopher person Sharma Ji, who compelled me to think otherwise.

He told me “Why we drop our letters only in the postbox? Does the addressee stay there? Because we believe that this is the beginning of the process of reaching the letter to the addressee. ”

I said “I do not get you. What that has got to do with the name of a person.”

With his usual calmness Sharma ji said, "The body is the casing of a soul. Every soul when born is assigned a trajectory path by the Almighty. The name is just like the convention one follows in naming a file; also it is the codified form of that assigned trajectory which the Almighty conveys deep in the subconscious minds of the persons who start thinking to assign a name. In a way, Naming is the beginning of the mission for which a soul assumes a physical shape.”

I still had doubts and asked him “I can show you here more than Five Yudhistirs who are known liars and if some day a light breeze may blow away my driver Hercules, I won’t be surprised.”

With smiles in his face he said “our bank is diametrically opposite to the main market.  Many times from our camp, instead of taking left turn towards market, we turn right towards bank. Because if we do not get money from the bank we cannot do our assigned task of Marketing. If you remember Ramayana, Ratanakar and Valmiki are the names of same person. So if the name appears to be a misnomer, wait and see.”

We had a day long discussion and debate and he told me that a name might be valid for the   literal meaning or it could be a combination of a (latent or active) supernatural vibration and the former. Also as the life advances, a person may get some other name or names. He said” If you do not get a direct bus to Raipur, You take some other means or bus to Jagdalpur and from there you board other bus to reach Raipur.”  

I was so much convinced that on return to my camp,  opened the brown pages of boyhood day’s diary about the names of our brothers and sisters.

My grandma gave the name to all of us along with a ceremony. All these names are in some way are also the names of things  for daily Puja of Devi Durga.

 Long before, we were known as a royal family. Devi Durga is our presiding deity at the ancestral Village home. My brothers and sisters are named by Grandma  as  Sonkho( Conch),  Alpana( Rongoli) and my name is Pradip; this is the main big Deepak consisting of many Deepaks attached to big brass stand. During Maha-arati when it is lighted all other lights except the Diyas near the goddess were put off.

I am quite baffled here. Although brought up in a very religious environment, I am never an orthodox Hindu. I believe very seriously that worshiping can be done by closing or opening your hands or by touching your heart or by any other way. I never think that my way of worshipping God is the best and others are to be put off.

In my profession,  to be a successful geologist you have to listen and give equal importance of other’s views besides your own view. 

I asked Sharmaji about my doubts and he smiled,"Just think of it for some more time, you will get the answer.” I could not get it from him, as one day he suddenly left us  forever.

 My team rediscovered some Iron ore deposits, and some small mine developed copper mineralization and finally a regional discovery of a big deposit of Nickel in Indonesia. I was awarded Ph.D for my research work for a method improvement and mathematical modeling of ore reserve estimation.

I do not know if all these could put some dim light like a small Diya. If so, then I am happy for my name and If Sharmaji was around, I could have told him so.

I was happy with my name till a  friend of my late father told me something, which I did not know before.

My father was a rational man and he disliked any religious bias. When I was born, he was in the Police training college as he got his long waited promotion. He knew that my naming would be made by his mother (Grandma) with a religious bias.

He was an ardent fan of Film star Pradip Kumar   and became very happy when I was named as Pradip.(Kumar, as per our family system is common to all boys but not Kumari to girls.) However our parents   never told any of us about this angle of my name.  

strangely, I was very much active in debates, speech competition and drama from school to college life and some part of my service life in Baildilla(in Chhatisgarh, near Dantewada) and Mossabani. I was more inclined in writing script and to another hobby; writing lyrics of songs.

Except few directors, I do not see films at all and I never saw any film of Pradip Kumar although I heard he was a great actor. Sadly, in my family nobody neither   discouraged nor encouraged my stage performances. One of my bosom friend,  a very successful actress, Film director and editor of a Magazine, requested me to write scripts for her TV serials but I could not make it.

I remember only faintly, once my father told me if I ever wanted to translate my dream into reality he would stand by it. I could not follow that he wanted me to be a Film actor. However he believed in personal freedom and I did what I wanted to do.
 I only disliked this part of my name just for this sake. This part of Namesake shall ever remain with me as a sad shake.
(This is an entry to 7 th edition of Indispire of indiblogger.in)

Burpees, the great calorie Burner.

                      

 Burppe is a four-step high intensity full body exercise programme in which   almost all the muscles of the body work out at once by burning a lot of calorie in a very short time.

The four steps are a combination of a

·       SQUAT

·       PUSH-UP

·       A SECOND SQUAT

·       A LEAP IN THE AIR

These are repeated as per the requirement and physical limitation of the individual. Extreme athletes, elite Military forces, football, and ruby players regularly include them in their workout routines for the quick and effective benefits. All of them include it in their regular exercise for excellent physical fitness and reflex power of the muscles. 

Why Burpees?

1.   They burn mega calories

 Burpees burn up 50% more fat than moderate exercise because it is an intense full body exercise.

2.   They make the body stronger than other exercise

This is full body strength training and the ultimate example of functional fitness making you to work up your arms, chest, quads, and hamstrings.

3.   They’re great for conditioning and endurance

    4. Burpees can be added to almost any workout

    5. They’re portable and require no equipment

Basic Burpee:

To perform basic Burpees, the simple steps are:

Begin in a squat position, with hands on the floor in front of you.

Kick your feet back to a push-up position.

Immediately return your feet to the squat position.

Leap up as high as possible from the squat position.

( source: downloaded from internet)

These steps are repeated in quick succession to get the maximum benefits. When performing Burpees, the success key is to perform them in quick succession in order to get the conditioning benefits this exercise is famous for.

Besides the basic Burpees, there are few other tested variations for best results.

·       Burpee with push-up. This is normal  burpee , but after kicking  out the  feet to a push-up position,  a full push up. Is done rapidly.

·       Burpee with dive-bomber push-up. Instead of just doing a full push-up,  a dive bomber push-up is made.

·       Burpee with Pull-up. Stand underneath a pull-up bar or tree branch that is high enough so that one has to leap to reach it. Perform a Burpee normally, but at the time of leap up grab the bar and perform a pull-up.

 

Burpees are for everyone, because Burpees help every person to scorch fat, rev up metabolism and get the body conditioned which no other exercise can do. 

Burpees burn 563 calories to 745 calories per hour between the weight ranges of 155 to 205 ponds.

While Burpees burn up the excess fat, trim the body and give the desired fitness and endurance, one must consult a dietitian for a proper diet and follow it strictly for persistent trouble free long-term results.

In my profession of mineral exploration from junior to senior-most geologists require to move in the realms of tough terrains and a good amount of physical fitness. We found Burpee very much useful.

DUEL OF DUAL SOULS

                             Duel of dual souls

Last fortnight, an yet to be diagnosed, sudden attack breathlessness restricted me to keep away from the usual Friday evening  activities as prelude of the funs of the following two long rest days.

Friends call me  as captain cool and like many other bitter at the beginning incidents of life, I rather welcomed it.  I am seldom disheartened at anything  like even if I knew Rina is now gyrating with someone else  in the Disco of Friday club.
  Right then, I was busy testing my self-made latest Trans receiver set and enjoying the drizzle that made a concert on the corrugated transparent part of the rooftop of my apartment,

I earn my bread as design engineer in instrumentation but playing with radio transmission and receiving,   from self-made small but powerful trans-receivers, is my passion.

I hear funny sounds, which are possibly echoes of the simulated radio signals from my own transmitter, but sometimes I doubt. Do I possibly hear the radio signals from someone else also?

Just before my illness, I finished the design and construction of thyristor driven IC panel but could not test the synchronization of the panel with tuner amplifier.

The receiver was working smoothly. Keeping the radio on, I pressed the transmitter switch and started checking both transmission and receiving powers of the signals with the addition of the thyristor IC panel. The VHF was O.k. and I turned on the UVHF part and gradually increased the frequency.

Just at the mid-value of the frequency range, excitements and surprises happened one after another.

Usually I hear only funny incoherent sounds but this time, a sweet melodious symphony of violin and Piano   filled up the room, followed by strange things one after another.

The curtains started vibrating, flowers in the vases started blossoming, an empty glass tumbler slowly moved from corner to center of the side table and then the light became dim yellow.

I heard a faint incoherent voice and increased the bass and tone for clear hearing.

 In the beginning, I was amused guessing it a work of some crack person to scare me. Within a spilt second, the sequel of happenings proved me wrong.

To detect the transmission source, I should have connected the set to the computer. However, by mistake, I actually connected it to the LED projector. However, It was a mistake worth making.

I saw faint elliptical cluster of shadows on the wall facing opposite to me. The shadows gradually formed three concentric circles with rectangular patches infilling the gaps between the circles. The sweet melodious voice resumed and kept me glued and attentive.

I heard clearly, “Spare a little time, it shall benefit you only.” A pause for few minutes followed this.

Oh! That’s it! A marketing campaign, possibly religious or real estate selling promotion was inside a cloak of stunt but possibly wastage of enviable talent for such purpose. However, the magnetic voice compelled me to hear further. However, I did few things to see and hear this campaign sort of thing repeatedly.

Keeping the projector undisturbed, I connected the transmission to computer and kept the Video recorder on for complete recording. The processor would take no time to detect the transmission source.

The feminine voice resumed, “You have a dual soul inside you. One is almost dying and another is waking up from dormant to active stage.”

I looked up at the computer screen; it was busy analyzing the source, which compelled me  to hear this “Mata ji” for some time more.

Controlling my laughter, I made my voice as serious as possible and said, “Why at all I had two souls, active and dormant?”

“The fetus in the mother’s womb starts vibrating with the rhythms of life when soul saturated with cosmic energy enters. In your case, instead of single, two souls of opposite sex battled with each other to occupy the fetus. The male soul kept the female dormant and developed organs and hormones for his pleasures from the body. Now the male soul in your body is dying. This is the reason of your recent Non-diagnosed illness. The female soul shall now take over and very rapidly develop organs and hormones for her requirement.”

I asked, “What shall happen to me?”

The voice said, “Your face shall change and overall you shall look like a female.”

I almost shouted, “Oh! No! Why shall I suffer for the duel of the souls?”  I did a mistake in crying like that.

 Either the wicked person is enjoying the fun or if she happens to be a cheater, this is the time to strike the nail, the time to speak for remedies and make money.

 However, surprising me, the transmission of the wicked terminated.

I did not notice, my computer defeated my main purpose of hearing all these non-sense. After several attempts, it finally failed to locate the source of transmission.

I tried vainly to distract my mind by listening music and watching TV.  I started my   computer to look into a recent  software for office work but after sometime, I started digging a graphics package, which can draw the various changes of the same face as you desire.

Rounding the sharp corners of my face, it appeared to have a feminine look and appeared quite a good-looking face.

As I got up in morning and went to the washroom for a shave and bath, I was about to shout but controlled myself. I might not need a shave anymore.

This morning, I was wondering where from so much hairs came to my bedroom.   As I undressed, I got the answer. Well! Even after nightlong work by my soul, it is still a work under construction.

Leaving my head portion, someone as if removed neatly all most all the hairs from my body and made my skin   soft and smooth. However, breasts need a little lift to be full and my genital is almost extinct.

      On Sunday, my doctor called me, they found out a secondary cause of my recent illness i.e.sudden   activation of Progesterone and Estrogen, two female hormones in my body and heavy damages of male hormone Testosterone. My male genitals might work partially but if I so wish a small incision could make an effective female genital. I solicited an appointment of pre-surgery.

     on  Monday morning, at the traffic island, a bike along with a female pillion rider stopped by my side. As the signal turned green, the biker sped through like an arrow from a bow. However, before crossing my car, he whistled at me approvingly and I liked it. The Pillion rider was unmistakably Rina, she looked back at me angrily. Men will be after all men only and Girls! I am beginning to know.

Hide and Seek

Rohan, a school going child has many non human friends and he can converse with them. One of such friend, the school-bus took him and all other school mates to a forest to enjoy the carnival and sports event of the inmates of the forest. However, the guardians and the teachers of the children trace them in the midst of the carnival and took them back.  The disappeared school bus was granted a shelter in the forest by the King of Forest Shri Modhusudan who is also a friend of Rohan- his Modhu dada.

Strange things would happen today and what a fool I am. I could not follow the advanced information of it as told by Modhu Dada or from the chirping of the Morning birds.

It hit my mind as our school bus instead of crossing the bridge on the river took U turn and moved towards the bumpy meandering road of the reserve forest.

Except me, all other schoolmates in the bus panicked and screamed “Has the Driver become crazy?”

“The steering, brake nothing is working. The bus has become crazy.” The driver and cleaner ran out from the cabin and shouted at us to jump out from the slow moving bus. They did not wait for us and slid from the bus one by one.

Our school bus continued its slow but steady movement in the forest road. By then all my school mates stopped panicking and got the smell of funny things ahead.

 We saw the fat bus driver skidded and fell on the ground. His tummy appeared like a live hairy hillock heaving up and down.

The baboons from the trees on either side of the forest road giggled and roars of laughter from us encouraged them to continue further.

Our bus also joined us in the laughter and then broke the long silence to me.

Normally we greet each other everyday as I ride on the bus but today we both forgot. He frequently used to tell me that he got bored in plying from going and coming from the school daily and want to get rid of it. We also feel none the less but dared to do anything.

Believe me, all objects around us talk in their language and they understand and talk our language. With few days’ effort, all of you can understand their languages easily.

Our school bus said “Rohan, are you afraid or enjoying my actions”

“We all are enjoying buddy but what are your plans?

“Soon I am going to stop just near the bank of the river.  Your fun world is just there and waiting for you.”

The bus stopped on a flat ground just near the bank of the river. Some of my school mates were scared to spot few bears hiding in the bush.

We saw a big black bear came out from the bush with two leaf cones in his hand,

“Hey friends, Welcome to our forest. Come out! The bees sent these two leafy cones full with fresh honey to all of you.’

My friends saw me to embrace the senior bear and they all came out from the school bus and snatched the Leaf-cones from my hand.

I was surprised to hear the fluent but with a different accent Hindi that the entire Beer family can speak. However, we all could follow their Hindi nicely.

The family of bears ushered us to a big banyan tree and we all sat comfortably under the cool shed.

 The senior bear told “We are glad to have you on our festival day. Soon our king shall arrive to inaugurate the day long sports and carnival. Although he is visible to those who love and believe him but for today all can see him”

One of my friend said in a trembling voice “Shall all the animals of forest take part in the sports? Are there any ferocious and dangerous animal?”

The senior bear frowned and said “Not animal, better call friend instead. This is King Modhusudan’s area and nobody can be dangerous or ferocious. Due to his blessings, all our friends understand and speak each other’s language including yours also. For your kind information, our big cat friend’s family lives on milk donated by Bison friends.”

One of us said in a hushed voice,

“Big cat means Tiger.”

Everyone forbade “Shhhh! Shhhh!”

 My heart thumped and hair’s raised on hearing the name of King Modhusudan. My Modhu Dada is   also not visible to all.

Once I missed my way from the tutor’s residence to my house. It was getting dark and soon I started weeping. Someone, a little elder to me and with a flute in his hand wiped my tears and showed the path to house. He told me “I am your friend. Call me whenever you want me to help you.”

I looked at him, his honey colored complexion, a friendly ever smiling sweet face with thick jet black curly hairs on his head was very soothing to look at.

 I   said “Your voice is so sweet and may I call you Modhu Dada?”

“Yes please.”

Since then, he meets me whenever and wherever I call him or need his help and nobody can object to his presence because none can see him or hear our talks, not even the whispers between us.

 Our friends of the forest started arriving. The Members of Monkey and bear family were the volunteers of the carnival and they arranged everything for the guests as well as the participants of the sports.

 Various types of birds started landing from the sky followed by squirrels and monkeys through their tree route and the herds of Bison, impala and Jackal from various parts of the forest.

A snob Tiger family arrived with fresh creamy milk smeared on their face but it appeared that other friends of the forest might take more time to accept them.

The Elephants were the last to come and we heard from the whispers of our new friends of the forest that this time the Elephants got the chance to become the official carrier of King Modhusudan.

A family of Parrots opted to look for us and in fluent Hindi they were telling us the various events of sports.  The participants may take part in any game but it must be out of their comfort zone. Impalas can not take part in long jump or race, they and elephants may compete with each other in swimming.

Our class monitor laughed and pointing towards the chubbiest boy in our class said, “Include his name in the Swimming.”. There was a roar of laughter but the head parrot cautioned us.

“The yellow birds spotted the Tusker carrying Our King. Today the King is visible to all, he wishes so.”

Within minutes, Yellow colored birds came down at bush height and a sweet melody from flute filled the entire big field. All said in their hushed tone “He is coming, the King is coming”

A Tusker appeared at a long distance flanked by baby elephants on either side. The flute player was on the Tusker back.

The Tusker stopped in front of us, the King of Forest got down and all my schoolmates saw him clearly.

In his royal dress; a light yellow royal gown with gold embossing and a gold headgear with Peacock feather on the top, he was looking little different but the smile on his honey colored  face with flute in his hand, he was none but the same Modhu dada.

The volunteers were about to usher him towards the small hillock type podium but looking at us he shook his head and said

“I shall better be with my new friends”. The monkeys immediately tied few cane sticks with the hanging roots of the banyan tree and made a cradle for him.

The bear and Monkey heads approached him to inaugurate the sports and Carnival. Modhu Dada said

“We shall begin with the dance item. Tell everybody to prepare for the community dance.”

Modhu Dada looked at us and said “I shall play few dance tunes but how many of you can accompany me with supporting music”

Nitish Said “We shall manage. but right here….”

Modhu Dada said “Tell me what you need”

“We need dholok, big drums, bongo, guitars and accordion”

“And here they are, just pick them up, possibly they are tuned also. Anyway have a look.”

He played a tune and we quickly tuned up our musical instruments. It was quite a team,

As soon as we started, the peacocks hopped in and started a Chhou with a loud applause from the entire audience.

The squirrels could not sit anymore on the tree tops but joined the peacocks with jumping up and down matching with the tune.

The chain reaction started first in the group of impalas followed by the bison and the tiger family leaving their respective places and joining the dance arena. Finally, the Herd of Elephants standing at the outermost of the ellipsoid gathering, joined and the tremors were none the less than earthquakes.

Now the entire community started dancing raising their limbs up and down and continuously chanting “Hey Modhusudan! Modhusudan!”

Modhu Dada from the beginning remained at the center playing his flute with tunes after tunes.

The pleasure we got erased our all nagging, boring and ruthless monotonous daily routines and the immense joy filled our mind and we did not know when we also like others started dancing and chanting raising our hands.

We heard heavy shouting from a crowd approaching us. We recognized these anxious voices calling us are from our Parents, Teachers and also our Principal madam.  So much of human voice scared our friends of forest. Modhu dada raised his hand and with a smile forbade them to worry.

Pointing to us he told them “Let these kids go back to their worried teachers and parents. We shall continue here but shall be invisible to all of them.”

Our school bus stared weeping and said” Hey Modhusudan! Save me from them. My owner shall tow me to garage and there the mechanics shall torture me for today’s behavior.”

Our parents and teachers located and hurriedly reached to us. Most of Our Guardians, our Principal Madam, some of our teachers along with the school bus staff came.

Seeing us unhurt, they were relieved. Our Principal Madam said “From a long distance, we were hearing the calls of many wild animals. Thank god all of you were safe.” Raising her voice she rebuked the Bus staff, 

“You people better replace that bus. I don’t want that bus again.”

“Yes Mam. But that bus disappeared, we are trying to locate it. Perhaps, it has gone down the gorge.”

“That’s your headache, we are leaving right now.’

We checked our smiles as we knew where the Bus is. Our guardians ushered us to a brand new bus. We were both sad and happy.

We were sad because we won’t be able to see our Bus friend and happy because Modhu Dada has allotted a new location for him. From now onward, down the gorge, our Monkey friends shall have a good place to play hide and seek game. This bus has many places to hide, no one else knows better than us. 

A Trek to Dev Bhoomi for the Devas –part-8

                      MIRACLE STILL HAPPEN

From the roof top of Devlok hotel we saw the snow capped mountains and the outside view of Badrinath ji temple. We stood in the Kilometer long queue for the Darshan. Meanwhile, we heard folktales from Prof Nanda and her students about Lord Badrinathji. It is believed that Badrinath ji fulfills the sincere prayers. I prayed to him only for a heartfelt Darshan as long as I want. However, the devotees were allowed for a spilt second Darshan. During the turn of our Darshan a  miracle happened.  

LINKS TO OTHER PARTS FROM 1 TO 8 ARE GIVEN AT THE END.

Hotels, Markets, shops and food shanties, grown more than mushrooms, obstructed the view on the opposite bank of the Alakananda and the temple. Previously from the Hotel of GMVN, one could view the golden yellow gate of Badrinath Temple.

At the GMVN reception, we were delighted to get a temple visit ticket at a scheduled time of 6.30 PM.   We were unaware that this is just a farce and meaningless thing and wasted few hours in the hotel for freshening up and looking around the whole place from the rooftop, instead of saving the time by standing in the queue.

From the roof top, viewing from our telescope with 100x zoom,  both of us saw snow capped  Nar and Narayan Parbat, Badrinath and Nilkantha peaks beside the exterior view of    bright yellow painted around 15 m tall Badrinath Temple with a small gold cupola on the top.

Focusing on the broad stairways leading to the tall arched gateway of the main entrance  and the bright yellow painted facade with arched windows she said “ The over all appearance and the bright painting of the exterior of the temple may have  influences from Buddhist vihara   architecture. 

But tell me one thing; are the cupola and the golden colored roof made of gold?”

I said, “I heard the cupola is made of gold but the roof is made of gold gilt.” 

We crossed the incoming bridge on the Alakananda and bought flower and the packet for the Puja from a shop. The shop owner pointed his finger to a long queue about a Kilometer long from the main entrance.

Mrs. Nanda called us. She along with her students was standing in the queue at a little distance away from the tail end and said in a hushed voice, “You may stand behind us. I already talked with others that we were all four. It is allowed here.”

Reluctantly, we agreed. The queue sometimes stand still and sometimes moving slower than  snail’s speed  might take at least two to three hours to reach near the stars of the main entrance. We need some known face for at least talking and spend the waiting time.

On the opposite side of the queue, there are benches and other sitting arrangements for giving some comfort to the pain of knees and ankles.

Moving Vendors selling from tea to Gems were making a brisk business among the waiting visitors.

 With people from all parts of India, speaking from Assamese to Tamil, it was a mini India. People were also  in a big to small groups.

Mother in laws of various states, sent to pilgrimage tour by sons and daughter-in-laws, were sharing the various tricks and rounds of power play overs. Invariably the husbands from both the sides were either poor umpires or spectators in the gallery and declared as cowards and useless. Husbands of them were either busy in paying up the moving vendors for endless articles purchased by their wives or discussing the unknown medicines or treatments for ailments like blood sugar or pressure.

  

Altogether, it was a solid entertainment.

Japanese Research students of Prof Nanda standing along with us were brilliant scholars. They are collecting the Folktales from various countries and trying to correlate them in the light of various respective socioeconomic conditions.

The youngest of them, dressed as a “Sanyasin” is a Krishna devote, active member of ISKON, has just completed an advanced course of Bhaktiyouga at the Mayapur ashram of ISKON.

They narrated few folk tales of Garhwal in Northern Himalayas and few from Sikkim in Eastern Himalayas and their correlations.

Legs started paining now, we requested mother-in –laws standing in the queue before, and after us to permit us for a tea break and they gladly agreed, as it would make bigger review group discussions on their family problems.

 We, all five of us, sat on a bench and got earthen cups of hot tea from a moving vendor. Hot Tea relieving the pains of muscles never tasted so good.

A big group with wet clothes crossed us to become the last persons in the Queue presently half a kilometer away from us.

All of them had a holy bath in the Hot Kund (spring) believing that it sanitized them from all the evils and sins made by them before coming here.

Looking at them, Prof Nanda said, “This Hot spring is very holy. The folk tale here is that Adi Sankaracharya found a “Saligrm Shila” in the riverbed of Alakananda. Later on as a reply to his prayer, he discovered this hot spring and a cave. He placed this holy Saligram Shila in this cave and only few persons knew this. In the Sixteenth century, King of Garhwal saw a dream and as per the wish of Vishnu thereby he built the present temple of Badrinath ji.”

The eldest of her Japanese student told, “This was built as per the prevailing temple architecture of South India. The temple consists of a “Gopuram” i.e. front tall gate followed by large pillared hall i.e. “Mandapam” which leads to “garbha griha” or the main shrine. There are intricate carvings of other gods on the Mandapam.”

Prof. Nanda added, “Here the one meter tall black idol of Vishnu is in meditative pose. On the right of him, there are idols of Nar and Narayana and on the left of him are the idols of Kubera and Narada. In the temple complex, you may also see the idols of Laxmi, and Ghantakaran, Hanuman, Ganesha, uddhava, and garuda

The younger Japanese student with a sweet and calm voice told us in fluent Hindi “There is another folk tale here.

Vishnu became very much anxious for the sins made by “Nar” i.e. human being. 

Vishnu arrived here from the heaven, was in the dual form of Nar and Narayana, and meditated hard in a Mountain, which is now known as Narayan Parvat.  The sins and evil powers were all terminated by his divine power. But Luxmi, wife of Vishnu, seeing the long absence found her Nath (husband) here and became a Badri (berry) tree to provide shed over Vishnu during meditation. So this place was named as Badrinath. Even after cleaning the Earth from the Sins (Kalusha), Badrinath ji was not satisfied. There were still trails of the Sin. So he requested Mahadeva to release “Kalusha-nashini” Ma Ganga to erase the trails of Sins. But the Earth was not capable to hold it. Lord Vishnu divided it into tributaries like Mandakini, Alakananda, Kandakini, Dhauli and Sarswati.”

Meanwhile we rejoined our queue and continuing our discussions. People, standing in queue before and after us were listening to our discussions, stopped spitting on their own near, and dear ones.

Prof. Nanda said, “Some learned gentleman told me that if you submit to Lord Vishnu totally, he shall pardon all your sins and your heart shall be filled with eternal joy. There is another great thing about him. You ask anything from him with full faith in him; he will fulfill your sincere desire provided it is not meant to harm anyone.”

Our queue started moving and this time with a good pace. People now started concentrating on their prayers and many were reciting continuously “Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna”

Susmita saw my lips moving but in silence. She whispered “What are you going to ask from Prabhu Vishnu?”

I whispered back “I want a l heart filled darshan of him and nothing else.”

Susmita heaved a deep sigh “The queue is moving fast and the volunteers inside won’t let you more than a second’s glimpse of darshan.”

I said, “I am confident that he will definitely fulfill my prayer.”

We were about to enter into the steps to the main entrance but suddenly all people standing before us including Prof Nanda and her two students were allowed to enter. The rest of the queue might move as and when the clearing signal would come.

After almost quarter of an hour, the sentry at the gate allowed only five persons including two of us and told us to enter the main temple as fast as we can.

As we entered there, a volunteer told us in hushed voice “Maintain pin drop silence and remain here until I signal you to move.”

We both keeping our eye opened have a heartfelt darshan with our prayers possibly more than five minutes and left after being signaled to leave. But by that time we were unable to see and stand as eyes of both of us were filled with continual flow of tears and we were shivering.

We believed that he would grant our prayers and it happened so miraculously. The place was so much crowded only few minutes before and no one was allowed a “Darshan” for more than few seconds. But lord Vishnu allowed us to have a darshan as long as we could, as long it would take to fill our mind.

The pleasure of being near to him really washed out all our accumulated sins, sorrows, insults, neglects, and deprivations and this ecstatic joy shivered us even after leaving the temple complex.

Prof Nanda was waiting outside for us, ushered to a food stall, and ordered hot milk. We narrated the entire incident, they were silent for few minutes, and finally Prof Nanda spoke to us “Try to calm down. I still say miracles do happen but it could be coincidental with some regular events of the temple in which you were allowed.”

Her  Sanyasin Japanese said “Right now I remember one important event of Mahabharata. The inevitable war was about to start. Arjuna and Duryodhan both went to Sri Krishna to solicit his help. Left to choice, Duryodhan opted for the Narayani sena of Sri Krishna but Arjuna liked unarmed Sri Krishna to accompany him and move his chariot.”

I shook my head “are you trying to….”

“No I only wanted to say you wanted only him and he answered your prayer. Even now if you close your eyes, you will see him in front of you. That is enough for anyone to be inspired for any work to begin”

Next morning we departed from Prof Nanda and his team at Mana village. 

This is the last Indian village, nearest to Indo-china border. In one of the cave here, Baisdev wrote the great epic Mahabharata. Even now, lot of “Saadhus” live in the caves here.

Prof Nanda and her team would stay for few days in Mana village, interview the Saadhus of the caves and village folks, and look for few old manuscripts written on Palm leaves.  

This was our quest for “Him” but dormant inside us until this visit. In this trip to Dev Bhoomi we felt “ He “ is not enclosed only in Temples but spread in the nature all around us. Before starting the “Puja” we first clean the place but why not the Nature polluted by us?

  THE LINKS TO ALL THE PARTS FROM 1 TO 8

For Part 1

http://pradipwritenow.blogspot.in/2013/08/a-trek-to-dev-bhoomi-for-devas-part-1.html

For Part 2

http://pradipwritenow.blogspot.in/2013/08/a-trek-to-dev-bhoomi-for-devas-part-2.html

For Part 3

http://pradipwritenow.blogspot.in/2013/08/trek-to-devbhoomi-for-devas-part-3-we.html

For Part 4

http://pradipwritenow.blogspot.in/2013/08/a-trek-to-dev-bhoomi-for-devas-part-4.html

 For Part 5

http://pradipwritenow.blogspot.in/2013/09/a-trek-to-dev-bhoomi-for-devas-part-5.html

For Part 6

http://pradipwritenow.blogspot.in/2013/09/a-trek-to-dev-bhoomi-for-devas-part-6.html

For Part 7

http://pradipwritenow.blogspot.in/2013/09/a-trek-to-dev-bhoomi-for-devas-part-7.html

For Part 8

http://pradipwritenow.blogspot.in/2013/09/a-trek-to-dev-bhoomi-for-devas-part-8.html