The Show Must Never End

That is the philosophy followed by the people of Ayodhya Research Institute (ARI), an autonomous arm of the Department of Culture of the Uttar Pradesh government who organize the longest running ‘Ramleela’ in the world known as ‘Anavarat Ramleela’ at Ayodhya. Ramleela, the story of the life and times of Lord Ram, is traditionally staged during the navratras culminating with the celebration of Dussehra. But Anavarat (meaning longest running or unimpeded) Ramleela is a continuous staging of the great epic.

Dear to the people of Ayodhaya since its inception in 2004 by ARI at the Tulsi Smarak Bhavan, where Tulsidas is alleged to have written the Ramcharitra Manas, the longest running ramleela caught the attention of UNESCO which gave it the status of a World’s Intangible Heritage. The idea was to have something similar to Lord Krishna’s rasleela which is played throughout the year in Vrindavan attracting many tourists. The Anavarat Ramleela has become a part of the identity of Ayodhaya. “It was something this city was missing. This is Lord Ram’s janmabhoomi and it is fitting that such an initiative was taken up here. People of Ayodhaya really connect with it which is evident from the attendance at the Bhavan” said Manoj Kamalkar, a regular visitor to the show.

One of the major attractions of the Anavarat Ramleela is the different styles in which the ramleela is presented here. There are troupes or performing artists who come here from the farthest corners of the country with varied styles of theatre. In the past ten years there have been more than sixty-five styles of performances at the anavarat ramleela including Bundeli style, Brij style, Bhojpuri style, Yaksh Gaan and Puppet Style. Each troupe performs for fifteen days which makes it about 24 troupes in a year. These troupes of artists come from places such as Allahabad, Ahmadabad, Bundelkhand, Jaipur, Orai, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka.

The show though had to be eventually halted after nine continuous years on April 1, 2013 due to severe financial crunch on the organizing committee for two days. This followed a huge outcry by the public of Ayodhaya forcing the state government to release funds immediately which saw the show resume on April 3, 2014. Since then the Anavarat Ramleela has been growing strong inviting performing troupes from remote corners of the country as well as abroad such as Nepal and Maldives. This year the show celebrates its tenth year on stage and the connection it has forged with the people of Ayodhaya is ever stronger. “The show has managed to bring Lord Ram close to our homes, our hearts. It is a great way to continue our traditions and heritage” says a devout visitor who comes often to the bhavan to watch the play after his evening prayers.

The Infinite Bond

                  A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you

                                                                                                               ~ Elbert Hubbard

Friends the infinite sunshine of our otherwise average lives, the cradle of the religion known as friendship around the world. Friends, we make throughout our lives some remain with us for life, some for some seasons and some just for a day yet all those friends add and subtract something from us. They change our perspectives, they guide us, they influence us and shoulder us while we to do the very same things for them. But among all those friends that we make there is this one person who stands out always this one person who is your true soulmate and I don't mean it in the romantic sense though if it were that way it is the best thing ever. This one person knows you, tolerates you, loads you with all his/her bullshit while you load them with yours yet through it all they are is some sort of magic glue that keeps you working together in harmony.

There are only few relations that come close to a friendship like that. Human beings are known for and by their relations and though we have many throughout our lives the one we share with this one person is the one we hold closest to our heart. So yeah, I do believe that sometime friendship is not about the groups of people you know across the city or a small bunch you have been with since college or high school but about that one person who was meant for you and you were meant for him/her. Love life has its own place and to be honest its expiry date but this bond has no expiration date people, its infinite.

We all have that Joey, that Chandler, that Marshall in our lives and if after reading this you are reminded of him/her no matter how many miles away they are from you, just pick up the phone and let them know what a jackass they are for making you feel this way about them! :) 

My Lending Experience with Milaap

My experience of lending for the first time with Milaap – a crowd funding microfinance institution – was simply fabulous. The ease of the process, the smoothness of the website, and the stories of the borrowers everything just works well to be of the utmost convenience to the lender. You start off with registering yourself with Milaap through your facebook, Google+ or email id and instantly start lending. Once logged in you can straight away start lending by going through thousands of borrower profiles in order to choose the most appropriate person you want to lend your money to. If you feel particularly passionate about one issue or gender than that is also taken care off as you can filter borrowers on the basis of causes, urgency of funds required, gender and state.

In order to make my first lending at Milaap I chose an old veteran of handicrafts-making industry named Tejiben Bhyandarbhai Parmar. A mother of three children she was separated from her husband early in her marriage and left to look after three children on her own. She decided to work and joined a government organization of the arts working for twenty years with them. Today she is with Gramshree, an amazing organization that works for woman empowerment allowing them to be economically empowered and a catalyst for social change. Thereby, positively impacting their families and the community they live in. 

Tejiben is in need of money to successfully produce dresses, sarees, quilts, pillow cases and dupattas for an exhibition. Reading about her struggles, moved by her passion to continue her art and because of having a soft corner for handicraft artisans I decided to lend to Tejiben. Honestly it felt wonderful to be able to do this, to know that a small act of yours will make a huge difference in the life of someone so far away is reason enough to feel good about yourself and the existence of such platforms. This is necessary and Milaap is proving itself to be a change-maker like none other. If you wish to make a lot of change with lending a little visit the following link: https://milaap.org/