A special trip to Haridwar...

I've been to Haridwar many a times but this one was very different. There was special purpose to it...we had gone for my Dadosa's Tarpan i.e; "Asthi visarjan". Normally Son or grandsons get this pleasure of taking the last physical remains of your loved ones to some holy place and say the final goodbye (as the Hindu tradition goes) but as i said, this was different coz 2 of his grand-daughters were a part of this and not grandsons!!!

Well my purpose of writing this is to share something i saw there for the first time which i guess very few people know. At "Hari ki pauri"(biggest ghat at Haridwar) there's a pandit assigned to every village, who takes care of all the rituals of that village families and that guy has the complete record of all the deaths in your family in bahi-khata of the last 100-200 years!!!!!!!

Just out of curiousity we went to that pandit's house to see our family history and it was amazing!!!! He opened this bahi....very old one....with that parchment paper and kalam which had to be dipped in syahi after every 3-4 words.....and started noting down the purpose of our visit. Apart from the date,time,place , he made a record of all the living members of my great-grandfather's family...and we were made to sign...it was as if we were writing history!!!!!!!!!!!

While seeing the old records we came across a 100 yr old from which we could track our ancestors. There was another record of my great-grandfather death, signed by my grandfather exactly 30 yrs back seeing that badepapa said "aaj hum inke tarpan ke liye aaye hain".

Another new thing which we got to know...when you are carrying the asthiyan,"Phool" as they are said, you are suppose to take it as a person i.e; u say to it...chalo sa, khana khao sa, utro sa...like that..

This was a  very different experience for us. Ek alag si feeling thi....something was very different in that air of haridwar.....

(to be continued...)

panditji with the bahi-khata

Ganga ke ghat pe

Record signed by us..

Happy Diwali!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Diwali Break".... the second most important marking on the school calenders (of course Summer Break was on the top!!!). Diwali meant a long break, bye bye school and friends for 15 days, shooing away the books, it only meant crackers, lights, diyas, mithai, chocolates, going for "rama-shyama" n collecting cash frm relatives....a total fun...no worries, no tension.

Today if i think of it, Diwali has a different meaning...first of all, NO CRACKERS, i dont see any fun in crackers in fact feel sad seeing polluted air all around these days plus u can actually smell the pollution (this comes from my school n reminds me of Sangeeta ma'am,donno why)!!!!

another thing which has changed is...now we (friends and cousins) are all at different corners of the earth and busy in our lives so ab this is the bahana to contact and update them , and if we are lucky enough we get to meet them also!!!!!

Diwali being a very important festival should actually be a "fest" for every person around u. this is the time i feel,that you should spread happiness all around be it in any form (n its d prime reason of my writinfg this blog)

You obviously start from your family....spend as much time as u can with your grandparents (if you lucky to have them with you), listen to their stories, their "hidayaten" (this will automatically make u the "aankhon ka tara" of ur parents)...contact all ur cousins and relatives near and far. Talk to ppl whom u fought sometime back n are not in talkin terms now....clear away all "jhagdas" " misunderstandings" "egos" ......Light up your house with diyas and candles and rangoli...and make it a treat for a photographer!!!!!

even better.... u can donate small share of your salary to some needy......if possible visit some old age home, orphanage,get in touch with some NGO in your place and see how you can help their........try buying small stuff (diyas n all) from poor children at traffic lights and roadsides and enjoy tat smile on their face!!!!  give away your old dress/footwear(new will be any day better) to your bai/gatekeeper/driver/chowkidar with some sweets and may be cash for the family......just wish ppl, other then your family and friends, like the shopkeeper on your roadside from whom u've been buying toffees since childhood or your office peon, bhaiyaji and baijis at your school/college/workplace.

Gift a large pack of chocolates to your fiancée/wife/best friend!!!!!! send postcards/greetings/letters (which u dont do nowadays) to your friends n make them feel loved and cared.....get in touch with your old friends, burn your phone bills on them, go to your olds meeting addas.......

u can also think of this "earth" and not go for crackers...promote "pollution free" diwali, plant a tree...grow flowers n flocks in your garden n pots (its d season of all beautiful flowers)......

if nothing, then just "SMILE" and pass it on to anybody and everybody who passes u....tat'll make a difference!!!!

so........is diwali aap kise khush kar rahe hain???