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Let us understand our festivals! by Vardhan V Dharkar

Makar Sankranti मकर संक्रांती

Historical Significance

Sankranti means the movement of the सूर्य देवता, Sun God from one rashi (constellation of the zodiac) to the next. Hence, there are 12 Sankranti’s in a year. Out of these, the Makar Sankranti is considered the most auspicious. On this day, the Sun travels from zodiac of Sagittarius (धनू) to Capricorn (मकर). It is one of the few Hindu festivals that are aligned with the solar cycle, which means that every year it will come on the same date, fourteenth of January, excepting in leap year when it comes on fifteenth of January. It heralds a change in season, as from this day the Sun begins its movement from South hemisphere (दक्षिणायन) to north (उत्तरायण) hemisphere, signifying end of winter season.

The Vedic sage Vishvamitra is credited with initiating the celebration. It has been mentioned in the Mahabharat that the Pandavas celebrated Makar Sankranti while they were in exile. The festivities associated with Makar Sankranti are known by various names Magh Bihu in Assam, Maghi/ Lohri in Punjab, Maghi Saaji in Himachal Pradesh, Maghi Sangrand or Uttarain (उत्तरायण) in Jammu, Sakrat in Haryana, Sakraat in Rajasthan, Sukarat in central India, Pongal in Tamil Nadu, Uttarayana (उत्तरायण) in Gujarat, and Uttar Pradesh, Ghughuti in Uttarakhand, Dahi Chura in Bihar, Makar Sankranti in Odisha, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Goa, West Bengal (also called Poush Sankranti or Mokor Sonkranti), Uttar Pradesh (also called Khichidi Sankranti), Uttarakhand (also called Uttarayani) or as simply, Sankranti in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Maghe Sankranti (Nepal), Songkran (Thailand), Thingyan (Myanmar), Mohan Songkran (Cambodia), Til Sakraait in Mithila. Makar Sankranti importance isn’t just limited to its religious significance; it also has economic significance as the festival also marks the beginning of the harvest season when new crops are harvested bringing prosperity to farmers.

The deity Sankranti, after whom the festival is named, is worshipped as a God. According to Hindu legend, Sankranti killed a demon named Sankarasur. The day following Makar Sankranti is called Karidin, which is also known as Kinkrant. On this day, the Devi slayed the demon Kinkarasur, symbolizing the end of negativities whilst giving way to righteousness and good intentions to live well and prosper. While there are plenty of stories about Makar Sankranti and its religious roots, it is said that the Sun (सूर्य देवता) stands for “Pratyaksha-Braham” (प्रत्यक्ष ब्रम्ह), “a manifestation of the absolute”, bestowing knowledge, spiritual light, and wisdom, and hence Makar Sankranti is a festival where सूर्य, the Sun God is worshipped and offered gratitude and prayers. People take the holy dip in the river Ganga, Yamuna, Godavari, Krishna or Kaveri.

On this day freshly harvested food grains, are first offered to the Gods and then eaten. Ayurved suggests eating Khichdi since it is a light and easily digestible. The significance of eating Khichdi is that it prompts the body to prepare for the change in season, from the cold winter breeze to the forthcoming warmth of spring. As the temperature fluctuates from dry cool to warm, the body consequentially becomes susceptible to imbalances. Khichdi thus makes for the perfect dish to quench the appetite whilst providing the body with essential nutrition. It also symbolises unity as it is prepared in the pot by mixing freshly harvested rice, lentils, vegetables and various spices. Sweets made from sesame and jaggery such as laddoos is shared amongst people, symbolising a desire for unity, peace and harmony.

The festival is celebrated in different ways in different parts of the country, signifying Diversity in unity.

Gujarat

The festival is celebrated for two days, the first of which is dedicated to flying kites. Popular cries like “Kai Po Che” and “E Lapet” begin the occasion as the vast blue sky is filled with an array of kites. Kite-flying competitions are held across communities in the state, with each individual engaged in an intriguing kite fight against all others. Undhiyu and chikkis, a delicious combination of winter vegetables, sesame seeds, peanuts and jaggery, are cooked in Gujarati households to commemorate the occasion.

Punjab

Associated with the harvest of winter crops, Makar Sankranti, called Lohri in Punjab, is an iconic event among the farmers here. On the night of Lohri, bonfires are lit across the state to worship god and perform rituals. The locals also perform the bhangra while eating the mouth-watering traditional dish of kheer (rice cooked in milk).

Assam

In Assam Makar Sankranti, called Magh Bihu, feasts last up to a week. The festival marks the end of the harvest season. Games like tekeli-bhonga (pot-breaking) and buffalo fighting take place on the actual day of the event. Rice cakes and laru, a sweet dish made from coconut, are popular delicacies. Meji, makeshift huts, are often erected from nothing by the young to host the feast after which they are burned the following day.

Tamil Nadu

In Tamil Nadu, Makar Sankranti known as Pongal is celebrated on four days: The day prior to Pongal is called Bhogi Pongal. The old items are disposed of this day.
The second day is Pongal, the main day of celebration, when prayers are offered to the Sun God for prosperity and wealth. In the early morning, milk is boiled in big mud pots kept over mud stoves. When the boiled milk spills over from the brim of the pot, people shout “Pongalo Pongal”, from which the festival got its common name of “Pongal”. Sweet Pongal, Salted Pongal, sambar, rasam, milk payasam (kheer), adhirasam, vadai, and curd pacchadi are prepared for lunch.

The third day after Pongal is celebrated as Mattu Pongal when obeisance is paid to the cattle – cow, buffalo, ox, goat, and the sheep – that help in agricultural or laborious harvest works. The cattle are decorated with sandal paste, vermillion, turmeric, flowers and bells made out of grasses, “netti” shoots and flowers. In villages of Madurai, Tirunelveli, and Ramanathapuram, Jellikattu is an important event, which is a contest for taming the wild bulls. The sweet rice Pongal and the salted Pongal are served to the cattle as a sign of gratefulness.

The last day of celebration is called “Kannum Pongal” or Karinaal, the day when the people in the village meet their relatives and friends to thank them for their support during the harvest time.

Maharashtra

In Maharashtra, the day begins with bathing in water filled with sesame seeds. Married women celebrate wedded life by anointing each other with scented waters, exchanging turmeric and vermillion and enjoying the haldi kunku. They also exchange Sugad which are earthen clay pots containing sugarcane, berries, carrot pieces, puffed rice, turmeric, cloth and cotton. Five married women distribute five Sugads to five other married women. This is one festival where the colour black is worn as it signifies the end of the black period and welcoming of a happy, new time. Maharashtrian women wear a special black saree called the Chandrakala which is embossed with starsand and small crescent moons. Another reason for wearing black is because Sankranti comes at the peak of the winter and wearing black helps to absorb heat and keep the body warm. Halwyache daagine or ornaments made out of halwa (a sweet pudding of sugar-coated sesame) are offered to the newly wed bride at the traditional Sunache Tilavan which is the first welcome to the daughter-in-law.

The best food items during the festival are til gul which consists of sesame and jaggery – both symbols of prosperity and gulaachi poli/bhakri (round thick rotis made of sesame and jaggery dusted with sesame and crowned with butter.

Nepal

Makar Sankranti in Nepal is celebrated as Maghe Sankranti and like most regions, they too celebrate the festival with sesame seeds. One of the legends has it that aeons ago, a businessman had a sack of sesame seeds which never seemed to end. On digging through the bag, he found an idol of Lord Vishnu in the bag and hence, sesame seeds became auspicious. After Makar Sankranti, the auspicious period commences and all ceremonies are done in Nepal.

My Interpretation

Makar Sankranti is about movement, movement from ignorance to knowledge, from night to day. It teaches us that in this universe nothing is constant, everything is changing and evolving. It teaches us also to change, evolve, improve, accept and adapt new concepts, move from without to within, discard old thoughts and imbibe new thoughts and knowledge, become a better individual. It reinforces the mantra “Nothing is constant in this world except Change”.

Wishing everyone a very Happy Makar Sankranti

वर्धन वसंत धारकर
१४/०१/२०२३

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Happy New Year! by Vardhan V Dharkar

Human beings since time immemorial are in search of happiness, eternal happiness. That quest for happiness continues even today. Although we have made immense progress in material science and our physical life has become much more comfortable, same cannot be said about happiness. Today also we are far away from eternal happiness. It continues to elude us.

Causes of Unhappiness

Almost all of us are unhappy, the reasons could be many. Some of the reasons could be, I don’t have enough wealth, my health is not good, or my job is not good, I have family problems, I want better job or a better boss, my neighbour has a bigger car; his flat is bigger than mine. The list is endless. We believe that happiness is to be found in external objects, be it material things or human relations. As a result we keep chasing objects of desire or keeping searching for perfect relationships.. When one desire is fulfilled, we feel happy; however, that happiness is temporary and mind moves on to next desire and our happiness is gone. I would like to share a small story with you.

Two strangers were going from one town to another. The way to other town was going through dense forest. It took them a week to cross the forest. After crossing the forest they were to go separate ways. At the end of their journey, the first stranger told the other stranger that I am a small thief. While crossing through the forest I steal valuables from others and run away. I wanted to do the same thing with you. Every day when you used to be asleep or were away for some time, I used to search your belongings for valuables. However I could not find anything. I think you must be a bigger thief. The other stranger told him that he is not a thief but a big businessman and was carrying jewellery. He went on to say that the reason you could not find any valuables was because I used to keep it in your bag while sleeping or when I used to be away. If you would have searched your belongings of rather than mine, you would have found it. Saying so the businessman went his way.

The story ends here, but for us actually our story begins now.

We also keep searching for happiness without, while actually we have to search it within! We keep aspiring for material objects. I should have a bigger flat, a bigger car or a better job. We keep comparing with others. Why is he wealthier than me, why is he healthier than me, how come he has no troubles in his personal or professional life.

In short, all the time, we want to be in shoes of someone else. Unfortunately that “someone” else also keeps changing in our mind all the time! Sometimes we want to be the richest person on earth, at other times we want to be most popular person or the best sportsperson!

We keep ignoring that others also must be thinking and doing the same thing. I am very sure that if we are really offered that choice to swap places, we will refuse it once we come to know the problems the other person is having!! We also have to remember that to gain something we have to give up something. If we want to become richest person on earth, we may have to give up our social life or our good health or our hobbies. As human beings everyone will have his share of good things and bad. Everyone will go through that cycle of ups and downs. God has given all human beings their share of happiness and sorrow. Each one of us is unique and cannot be compared with anyone else.

In short we search for happiness in

  • वस्तू (Object)
  • व्यक्ती (Individual) or
  • परिस्थिती (Situation)

We are looking for happiness in getting things or receiving something from others. We feel happiness is in receiving and hoarding. However the happiness that we get from above is temporary and transient.

Mantra for Eternal Happiness

The key to living happy life is to decouple our happiness from above three aspects. We have to change our search for happiness from objects, individuals and situations. We have to stop looking for happiness in receiving and hoarding. There is much more happiness in giving. We have to stop benchmarking our happiness against someone else’s happiness. The key to our happiness should not be outside of us and certainly not with someone else, it should, at all times, be with us and us only. We also have to remember that each one of us will have good times and bad times. It is not possible that any human being will have only good times in his life or only bad times. Life is like a sine wave, it will go up and down; it is like stock market, which goes up at some point of time and goes down some other time. The key is to take both ups and downs in our stride. We have to remember that “This too shall pass”.

Once we start believing in, accepting and practising this philosophy, we are in Eternal happiness, Eternal bliss.

To summarise, for Eternal Happiness

  • Look within and Not Without
  • Give rather than take and
  • Practice Equanimity

If we follow these three principals in our life, I am sure our life will turn for better; we will be on a path to “Eternal Happiness”.

Wishing everyone a very happy 2023 and “Eternal Happiness”!

Sanjay Chandra in conversation with Sandhya Borkar

Sanjay Chandra is the author of The Gymnast and The Life and Times of a Common Man.

Sandhya Borkar is the author of Shree’s Varah.

Sandhya had a filmi love marriage, made a successful transition from a vegetarian home to a non vegetarian Konkani marital home, and loves reading romance, our mutual mentor, friend, philosopher and guide Lalitha Ravindran from First Forays Literary Agency… And many more snippets about her.

Contact sanjaychandra59@gmail.com for Author Show, Book Reviews, Creative Writing Workshop, and Guest Blog.

Book Reviews by a Pioneer: Saat by Abhimanyu Jamwal

This is a collection of seven short stories. As you read one story after another, you move in a fantasy land of myriad emotions – ambition, passion, jealousy, love, anger, and many others.
And then it hits you, it is not a land of fantasies, the author is writing about our society, our lives.

A pigeon woos a hen with a solution to the Kashmir problem, a jilted lover would go to any length for revenge, an orator instigates his followers through poems, a writer gets her opening inspiration through blood and gore, a woman becomes a killing machine in her hallucinations in a Delhi of future – instigated by a charismatic leader, sibling bonding and envy, time travel for two minutes to realise your dreams.

The blurb of the book says it all – there is a thin line between reality and fantasy.

The review is by Sanjay Chandra, author of The Gymnast, and The Life and Times of a Common Man.

Contact sanjaychandra59@gmail.com for Book Reviews, Author Show, Guest Blogs, and Creative Writing Workshop.

Book Reviews by a Pioneer: Vadh by Satadal Lahiri and Sonam Malik

A distraught Arjun blames Lord Krishna for Abhimanyu’s death in the battle at Kurukshetra. The Lord tells him that the death was the result of Arjuna’s ambition for his son to be remembered as a great warrior when the youngster was not even fully trained, and had many attributes other than of a warrior, where he could have excelled… and lived. The God goes on to explain that such deaths would continue if parents insist on their ambitions to be projected on their wards.

This opening chapter is a prologue to the short stories that follow which are set in the current times. Death is only a metaphor – even the death of an ambition or a passion is an end. One can relate to each of the stories as the characters are either within us or around us. Except the last story, which was more of a psychological thriller, but interesting.

The book requires a bit of editorial inputs.

The review is by Sanjay Chandra, author of The Gymnast, and The Life and Times of a Common Man.

Contact sanjaychandra59@gmail.com for Book Reviews, Author Show, Guest Blog, and Creative Writing Workshop.

Book Reviews by a Pioneer: Deadlock by Sanjeev Shekhar

Women have been traditionally relegated to the background since eons, more in a supportive role to the family. The bias continues to this day, despite more of them now coming forward and successfully managing both professional and domestic roles.

This book is an attempt by the author to showcase the story of one such strong female. She has her own individuality and does not hesitate in expressing her feelings. This is the new woman. In fact, there are few other women in the story, who are equally strong; and pursue their desires.

The book deals with one aspect of the modern woman – her physical desires, and her pursuit of the same, even outside of conjugal bed. Her other pursuits – personal or professional are mentioned in passing.

The author has handled a bold subject with sensitivity so that it does not turn into erotica.

The review is by Sanjay Chandra, author of The Gymnast.

Contact sanjaychandra59@gmail.com for Book Reviews, Author Show, Guest Blog, and Creative Writing Workshop.

Sanjay Chandra in conversation with Sanjeevv Shekhar

Sanjay Chandra is the author of The Gymnast and The Life and Times of a Common Man.

Sanjeevv Shekhar is the author of Deadlock and Beyond News.

Sanjeevv talks about his writing journey, and what inspires him to fictionalise bold, yet relevant, subjects.

Contact sanjaychandra59@gmail.com for Author Show, Book Reviews, Creative Writing Workshop, and Guest Blog.

Sanjay Chandra in conversation with Shankar and Preeti Sahay

Sanjay Chandra is the author of The Gymnast and The Life and Times of a Common Man.

Shankar Sahay and Preeti Sahay are the co-authors of Chandausi Junction, a collection of heart-warming short stories

The trio come together for an episode of The Author Show for Pioneer Book Lovers Club on 30th October 2022

Contact sanjaychandra59@gmail.com for Author Show, Book Reviews, Creative Writing Workshop, and Guest Blog.

Book Reviews by a Pioneer: Hallowe’en Party by Agatha Christie

Halloween nights are not for the weak-hearted, what with all the scary masks. But the fun-filled laughter of the children and the young adolescents is enough to soon put one at ease and bring on a smile on the face of even the grumpiest. The death of a child during such a night is unthinkable.

But this is what happens in a village Halloween party in England. A young girl is found dead, her head forced down in a bucket full of apples bobbing in water, while the other children were shrieking with joy in the next room. The party is also attended by an author, who is a friend of Hercule Poirot.

This is the cue for the famous Belgian detective to make an entry. It is a small village where everyone knows everyone. Who could have murdered a young child, who was overheard boasting about witnessing a murder a few years back, only a few hours before her death? The girl was known to be a compulsive liar, whose tall claims could not be taken seriously.

Poirot goes around meeting people and sifting through evidence to eventually nail the killer before another murder could take place.

Anything more might spoil the chill of reading the book on a winter night. Let me just say… Another gripping case solved by the master detective.

The review is by Sanjay Chandra, author of The Gymnast.

Contact sanjaychandra59@gmail.com for Book Reviews, Author Show, Guest Blogs, and Creative Writing Workshop.