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/

Woodsy

(This is my first attempt at writting a story, hope you all like it. Woodsy is inspired from the feeling that many feel of being worthless and useless all over the world but don't realise that somewhere, somehow one day they had been of the most brilliant worth to somebody.)

Once upon a time there was a wooden cart, let’s call him woodsy. Woodsy was abandoned by his owner because of his old age which rendered him quite useless in the business of transporting heavy materials. Woodsy heartbroken by now by the abandonment of his owner was left under a bridge to spend his remaining life there. Devoid of all hope he felt himself to be worthless, he could no longer claim the praise of his owner by logging tons of heavy materials from far far away. He could no longer flaunt his strength, his capacity, his longevity and the fact that he was the heartbeat of his owner’s farm.

He was once the pride of his owner but now he is just worthless, broken and battered. Depressed at his dismal condition, being under the bridge further added to his miseries soon people living and working nearby started taking away pieces of him to use as firewood. Seeing these frail people taking pleasure out of the fire that his body gave them, he began to realize that he was not worthless after all. Woodsy had finally found a reason to live again; he had found hope in helping those poor people provide fire in the deathly cold. As time passed the remaining pieces of his body were also taken away and Woodsy proud and smiling as death neared to take him away to another life realizes the true meaning of his life –happiness of others. 

Confessions of A Whimsical Mind - 2

Being a blogger it seems isn't as easy as you think it will be, I am mean when I started out blogging I thought that I will be full ideas and things to write about because there is so much shit that goes around my mind all the time. In retrospect it was to channelise those very thoughts that I started blogging in the first place but DUDE! is it hard I mean its so difficult to think about things to write about as if suddenly my mind's portion that used to spew shitty thoughts after thoughts just stopped working. Anyway, that isn't the reason I am writing to you today for I am writing to you all to inform you about a page, then about the Backfire Effect and then about how growing up suddenly seems such an anticlimax but we'll get to that later first let's talk about this fascinating page I recently bumped into on Facebook.

Its called Brain Pickings, its existence was relatively unknown to me till like three days ago but since the time I have liked this page my news feed is full of amazing theories, biographies and reviews of books not known to me before. The page is basically meant for book reviews and commentary and also urges its viewers to donate for the cause of spreading education. It was on this page that I came to know about the Backfire Effect, a psychological term which deals with the fact that our brain has the tendency to defend our self-righteousness, that is, if our current beliefs are threatened or confronted by arguments which go against it our brain subconsciously backfires and strengthen those very same believes even more. Fascinating, huh? This probably explains why in a heated discussion no side ever gives up as they are immersed in there naked self-righteousness all the time especially when the discussion involves deciding who is better Messi or Ronaldo (Ronaldo of course who are we kidding, right?). All these gyan can be found in the book "You are less dumb now" authored by David McRaney.

Another interesting thoughts that this books puts forward relates to the peculiar habit that we all have of letting compliments slip by whereas holding on to criticism as hard as possible. The thing is that our brain is built to become a slope for all the compliments we receive and a well-crow for all the criticism no wonder being called "names" bugs me so much! Fascinating psychology is wish I could dwell deeper into it but right now I should be dwelling deeper into development economics because I have a paper to write in four hours. Apologies won't be able to enlighten you on how growing up is an anticlimax, I will leave it for the next time. BTW Good days are coming to India (Modi becoming PM) it seems, cannot wait for my free WiFi!

Confession of a Whimsical Mind

I am a person of whims. Yes! that would be the best way to describe me, a person who is influenced by anything that gets his blood flowing. Recently, I have managed to get on at another whim and its writing. Yes, writing a very subtle, powerful, emotive and a beautiful art is what I wish to do currently. I started searching on the All Mighty "Google baba" for some tips on how to become a writer. What was said and written sounded not that difficult and perhaps if disciplined and motivated enough I could actually try them all and who knows in an year's time I might just be able to write something great. But as I mentioned earlier I am whimsical, I have a tendency to act according to my heart which might just lead me astray for this recent whim of writing I am on.

I have great respect for writers even if they are of the kind of Chetan Bhagat but still great respect for them. These guys have the ability to move people, fill them with emotions and inspire them with just their words. The old adage of "Pen over Swords" aptly describes their power. I mean look down the path of history and every major part or incident of it has involved someone's words. From the four Vedas that is the philosophical groundwork of one of the world's largest religions to thoughts of Confucius one of humanity's greatest thinkers. From Jean Jacques Rousseau's inspiring words that led to the French Revolution to the Philosophical quest of Sartre and co. all of them used their skill of writing to shape the thoughts and morals of humanity. They sought to make this earth a better a place through putting their thoughts to paper, so that our souls could be moved.

Then let's this piece be a tribute and a token of appreciation to all those people for whom writing was not just a whim but a passion, a life long love and a quest to help us see our world in a better way. These people who sat up all night gobbling cups after cups of coffee, who have inspired generation after generation of writers, who unlike me had the discipline and the courage to reach out to the world they are the real heroes of our world who through their imagination have helped us dream, think, celebrate and realise the meaning of life. Lets not forget here the contribution of the Gutenberg fellow I mean if he weren't there how on Earth could all these beautiful writers ever reach us?  

Why voting once in five years isn't enough?

As the sun will rise over the horizon of this country tomorrow morning electorates in some 91 constituencies will head out of their houses in order to cast the precious vote that was bestowed upon them by the forefathers of our ever so beautiful country. Many will vote with the hope that this time their vote will do what it really should, that is, better their lives while some will be confused till the very last seconds on who to vote if to vote at all yet more will be voting based on their identity first and issues later but they will all go out, in celebration of democracy. In the run up to these elections the country has bombarded with campaigns by diverse interest on how people should vote and do their first most duty as the citizen of India but I ask today does but voting tomorrow I would have fulfilled my responsibilities as a "citizen" of India? Will it ensure that the candidate that I have chosen will perform his duties with the good intentions and faith that I have bestowed unto him?

The candidates though morally obliged to fulfill their promises will seldom do so, instead as we have seen they use it as an opportunity to extract and exploit as much from the system as they can to further their vested business interests and those of their backers. In such a scenario the disincentive of being thrown out of office after five years just doesn't seem enough for them to make them work. As a citizen, in order to have a robust democracy it is necessary then that I have the power to recall or cancel the candidature of the candidate voted by me if he is found to be lacking in his duties after a stipulated time frame, the Right to Recall will help us in better exercising our true duties and responsibilities as a citizen. Such electoral reforms will alter the landscape of politics in India, finally giving the power to the citizens as well as making politicians much more accountable. 

What such a reform will also ensure is that local issues, local development and local needs be given greater importance and emphasis during election and after it. Realistically speaking I don't see such a reform taking place in Indian polity any time soon and till it occurs we have to depend the moral fiber of our candidates to fulfill their responsibilities. Tomorrow, make sure that you vote or not vote (NOTA) at least you give a clear message to your candidate that this country will not entertain short-sightedness in policies, in decision-making and in development no more and that caste, religion etc. have no place in the future or politics of the country. Hope you will vote sensibly and INDEPENDENTLY.

The Blue City of the Desert - Jodhpur

Jodhpur, the Blue City, is the crowning jewel of the Land of Rajas, Rajasthan. The erstwhile capital of the largest kingdom of Rajasthan, Marwar, Jodhpur is a city which is drenched in every nook and corner with history of its glorious past and its beautiful present. Situated 355 Km west of the state capital Jaipur, this desert town is the second largest city in Rajasthan and a major tourist attraction. Jodhpur was founded by Maharaja Rao Jodha, the Chief of the famous and dreaded Rathore Clan, in 1459 to serve as the capital of Marwar, the kingdom of the Rajputs. Since its establishment the city has grown to become one of the most important centers of trade on the caravan routes from Middle East.

Jodhpur is a desert city being located on the fringes of the Great Thar Desert and was a major trading center in the times of the Rajputs who ruled this land for centuries. The city is a testimony to the unique beauty of the desert life, the rustic charm of the desert is epitomized in the sights and scenes of this most wonderful of cities. Today, Jodhpur is a very famous tourist destination which attracts thousands to its doors every year who come to get a taste of the royalty and splendor of this princely town full of architectural marvels made of sandstones and the rural desert life near its periphery.

Jodhpur is full of palaces and heritage properties which have been passed down from generation to its current inheritors. There are so many sites for the tourist to behold here the places to visit here include the Meherangarh Fort – one of the largest forts in India atop a hill, Umaid Bhavan – a specimen of Rajputana brilliance, Jaswant Thada, Rai-Ka-Bagh Palace, and Umaid Gardens. Each of these places will enchant you and take you back to the glorious era when the Rajputs used to rule the land with all their might and magnificence. The desert just comes to life in the city of Jodhpur; the setting desert sun drenches the sandstone buildings in the tangerine hue which is a sight to behold for a lifetime.