Jai Bheem

-
Tomorrow 6th December is Dr Bheemrao Ambedkar's death anniversary. He wrote the Constitution of India. He abolished caste system in India.There was a Hindi film made based on his life. This is about all I know and I have seen the film. To know his real fame or impact, we need to be at Shivaji Park, Mumbai from 2-7dec. People from all over India come to pay respect to him. The Government of India gives them free travel by road and railways. They get to stay in Shivaji park under the smog filled Mumbai skies. They have water connections there put up by the municipality.The people who come in late sleep on the by lanes around Shivaji Park. There is some Bhajan kirtan shlokas going on in the park. We see lot of Buddhist monks in this crowd. People come and stay for three four days. Pray to the idol of Dr. Ambedkar and go back to their home towns. This is like an annual pilgrimage for them. In Mumbai, they can travel free by the bus or the local trains. They visit the Mahalaxmi temple or Siddhivinayak. Since all their ablutions are on the park or roads, Shivaji park gets a bit dirty.
I saw them closely when I went for my walk on saturday 3rd dec. They travel in groups of eight ten or more. They were taking the pavements around the park as their abode for the next few days. They have their primus, vessels, clothes, blankets. The more industrious ones also carry food to sell like chiwda and biscuits. Some are already making Labels or tags with Dr Ambedkar's pictures. After they have captured one part of the pavement, they put their luggage in a straight line and cover it with bright tarpaulin sheets. The footwear is hidden under it. There are barely five ladies and five gents common toilets in Shivaji park, I don't know if mobile toilets are put up. They were not there today and the even is tomorrow. Lakhs of people have come in the city. Illegal hoardings by various political parties all around the parks. Cops on duty have to be around the lanes leading to the park. The line to pay homage to the Idol is a big one. There is drinking water being served to all the followers in the queues. These people cook all their meals here. I always thought who wouldn't want a free holiday and they aso get to see Mumbai. But that is not true. I am being so cynical being in the city. They have gone thru difficulties to reach here and pay homage to their leader. The belief or shraddha on their faces in the queue, made me realize this is about much more than a free trip to Mumbai.
Strange most Mumbaites are unaware of what happens. For them it is about the traffic or congestion. For me,it is about the good that still lives amongst each one of us. There are some good politicians amongst us. For me, it is about the hope, people live in. It is also about how I don't have to go camping and trekking in Himachal to sleep under the stars. Its is also about how we human beings can live in peace even without the basic toilet facilities. It is about a belief in your leader who exists no more. He did not create a political party which wins elections. He just did what he thought was for the good of the people. And people are surely benefiting with his work. The people who have come are from different states, speak different languages and eat different foods. But the mornings it is poha and chai for all of them. The children do not get lost in this melee. The Municipal corporation, the Police do a very good and peaceful job. It is just prayers and peace in the vicinity.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nange Paon in Navratri

-
When I was working and staying in the hostel, I kind of stopped believing in most festivals and rituals. I thought all this was some weird things which people did, it had no scientific base and why should I follow anyone. In the college hostel, vacations were time to go home and not connected with any festival except Diwali. Sophia College hostel was a cocoon in the heart of South Mumbai. The campus with an old palace building was a quiet oasis with trees and birds, in the mayhem of Mumbai. No festival touched it unless the college celebrated it. The Polytechnic had rock shows and one Dandiya night every year, which it soon stopped having by 1988. Only celebration was the Vegetable Biryani in lunch on Sundays. The Polytechnic hostel did not even believe in pampering the children with food. Memories of bread being there round the clock for breakfast, lunch, tea and dinner. For them, while the non vegetarians ate eggs for breakfast, the vegetarian had bread. And then when non vegetaria
Read more

Antakshari

-
Today we were playing antakshari at the Holi get together. We did not know any new songs so naturally only the golden melodies were being sung. The whole generation playing antakshari was singing the similar era songs on the alphabets they got. I realised a couple of things. In English language there is no game like Antakshari. How many sentences end with I or The? How can you sing when most songs start with I, The, Once, When and How?I cannot resist explaining the game, we all grow up with, in India. Antakshari means Ant : end , Akshar: alphabet ie last letter of the word. Akshar also means God. It also means God has the last word. Its a game with two teams and we call the teams as  'party'.  We say "Baithey baithey kya karein, karna hai kuchh kaam, shuru karo antakshari , le ka Hari ka naam." Translated from Hindi, We are sitting idle, lets do some work, lets start antakshari, starting with God's name. In Indian games, there is a lot of religion or belief in Go
Read more

Shraddh period in Hinduism

-
According to the Hindu calendar, this is the shraddh period going on.  For fifteen days in a year, the ancestors are remembered and prayed to. No auspicious events / ceremonies take place in this time. People use the tithi/date of death to invite a Pandit and feed the departed soul. It means you remember the person passed away, give food to the Pandit and the crows. People keep a cooked meal on the terrace. They try to make the favourite food of the departed person. My memories are of my Grandma mixing and crushing all the savouries with her hands and when it was in form of  a paste, my Uncle would go to the terrace and throw the food for the crows. Crows in Hinduism are considered messengers of the departed souls. A lot of people feed Gathiyas to the crows for the full year. If your ancestors are happy, then your life goes well ,is the general belief amongst Hindus. The shraddh period falls exactly between Ganpati and Navratri. One does not buy a house or have a wedding in this time.
Read more