The Famous Dussehra Festival of Cuttack

Mahishasura, the buffalo-hybrid demon, defeated the Devas (deities of the Hindu pantheon) after pleasing Lord Brahma by his austerity. To re-establish dharma (righteousness) Goddess Durga appeared and slayed that mighty asura (demon). To commemorate this divine victory the Hindu festival of Dussehra (also spelled Dashahara) is celebrated grandly in the Indian state of Odisha.

Durga Puja at Choudhury Bazar | Source: Wikimedia

Cuttack's Dashahara festival is the most famous one in Odisha. It's celebrated for ten days in the month of Ashvin (7th month of the Hindu lunisolar calendar).

Ghata Puja | Source: Pinterest

The current form of Dashahara has a Bengali influence though this Sharadiya Durga Puja was initiated by King Suratha of Chaitya dynasty in 300 BCE. A Banerjee family started this community festival in 1510 at Binod Bihari. The family came to Cuttack with Sri Chaitanya Dev. For four years it was observed in the form of Ghata Puja - the traditional Odia way of Sharadiya Durga Puja. In 1514 the family introduced the worship of the clay idol of Maa Durga to this 506-year-old festival.

Love: A Source of Weakness or Strength?

In an unwisely and non-philosophical manner if we try to say what is life, then it would be a plain unthoughtful one-line definition, i.e. -

Life is a list of events.

So from life or so to say from this list of events we derive experiences. Some experiences are pleasant, some are otherwise and few are even frustrating. As children we live everyday afresh. We don't carry the burden of our past judgments. But as we grow we tend to search for a pattern in apparently similar experiences. Eventually, in the lab, located between our ears, we manufacture a personal list of DOs and DON'Ts.

Carefully observe all the social interactions happening around you. You can notice that a lack of trust pervades our modern society. You would realize that a continuous psychological world war is being fought in every society. So to protect ourselves in this warfare we build walls furtively. Thus everyone mentally turns into an island - disconnected from each other - while living among hundreds of fellow beings. Though invisible we feel the strong presence of this wall in almost all social interactions. In due course this defense mechanism becomes strong and impenetrable. Because of this self-imposed loneliness we incline towards comfort rather than adventure.

Why not adventure?

Because it's full of uncertainties and uncertainties are nothing but the inconceivable dangers lurking at every corner of the unknown path. That's what the limited adult mind loves to believe in.

And what kind of comfort?

Well, this is the comfort of predictability which we discover in a mechanical life wherein a year in nothing but the same day repeated 365 times. Sadly, this gives us only a false sense of security. Hence it would not be incorrect if I say that almost all the people grow only biologically.

But when love happens...

You notice that a tiny yet prominent window has appeared in that formidable huge wall and you hear the enchanting call of the uncharted terrain. Some sort of other-worldly happiness replaces the feelings of fear and separation in your heart. Your lonely soul finds its long-lost soulmate and hence it no longer likes to be confined by the man-made walls. You want to grow as tall as the sky and as wide as the oceans; you want to embrace your beloved. You don't want to construct any wall, any barrier between you both.

This new sense of freedom - freedom from your DOs and DON'Ts - comes as a complete surprise and thus makes you feel vulnerable for the first time. So you mistakenly conclude that love gets you into such weak conditions.

If love were the source of weakness...

Source: Pinterest

Rose, who belonged to an affluent family, would have gone in the first lifeboat leaving Jack in the sinking Titanic. And Jack would have struggled for his own safety rather than caring for Rose.

Ranjha would not have the courage to follow the fakir's advice to find love and solace. And Heer would not have left that excruciating forced marriage to reunite with him.

Source: Pinterest

Mastani would never have travelled to Pune to meet her beloved, leaving her royal life in Bundelkhand. And Peshwa Bajirao would have hesitated to accept her publicly.

Instead they all found supreme strength in love; so does everyone.

Love is the ultimate strength, my friend!

Strange is the World of Facebook

A Friend Request on FB

As usual I chose Ola Share on that day to reach my office. It's cheaper and doesn't take much longer. Thankfully it arrived on time. One co-passenger was already in the cab. I said the OTP to the driver. Then it started following a winding route for the third pickup. After few minutes as I opened my Kindle Paperwhite I requested the driver to reduce the loud volume of the song he was playing. It was a peppy Tamil chartbuster, but I was more interested in reading 'Khullam Khulla' - the autobiography of Rishi Kapoor. My only co-passenger, who was sitting in the front seat, didn't object to the change.

When we arrived at his address this guy with the unruly hair and untidy attire entered the cab and sat next to me in the rear seat. Without wasting even a minute he got himself busy on his cell phone. I continued with the autobiography - In those good old days RK Studio was brimming and glittering with film stars and parties at Raj Kapoor's residence were the talk of the town.

During a brief pause a quick glance at my second co-passenger let me know that he was glued to WhatsApp. He talked in Hindi when his phone rang. After that short conversation on the phone he went back to the chatting screen. I resumed my reading. When the cab halted for some time I looked around and realized that it was stuck in the traffic on Taramani Road. I wondered why the driver didn't take the left turn to Thiruvalluvar Salai from New Colony Road as that route was shorter and expressed my concern to him. I didn't want to waste my time on the way; nobody wants to. But in an unhurried tone my second co-passenger said, "This route is also okay."

"Lekin Thiruvalluvar Salai se hum jaldi pahanch sakte the" (We could have reached earlier through Thiruvalluvar Salai), I responded to his peculiar comment in Hindi. Then silence and my frustration prevailed. His drop was scheduled earlier than mine. Just a little while before we reached Ascendas IT Park, his destination, he unexpectedly inquired, "Where are you going?"

I replied, "Ramanujan IT City." And turned my head again towards my Kindle.

His abrupt curiosity didn't abate. Further he asked, "Which company do you work for?"

"CTS, and you?"

"iNautix." And immediately he added, "To... phir de do apna phone number." (Then... tell me your phone number.)

My focus was primarily on the book during this sudden and uninteresting inquiry. So inadvertently I gave him my phone number and name! I just wanted to get rid of that unwelcome inquisitiveness. To my surprise I received a friend request on Facebook in less than five minutes. For sure that didn't feel like a friendly chat; it was more like an investigation. Though he had got ample of time during the ride he didn't care to strike a conversation. Then what made him want to be my friend? Why was he so desperate? Doesn't he have genuine friends? These spontaneous questions popped up in my mind.

I do agree that before the friendship every friend was a stranger in the beginning, but it's also true that this kind of inept approaches don't lead to friendship. Interestingly such people are not as rare as it seems. This weird chap reminds me of a co-worker I had come across in 2014. He joined the same client's office, but for a different project. In his first week in the office he came to my desk and introduced himself. He left after we exchanged pleasantries. And in the evening his friend request appeared on Facebook! I accepted it as we both were working for the same organization. But surprisingly he never talked to me after that day even though we worked in the same building for one year.

Here, in this blog post, I would like to emphasize on this growing but least-discussed socio-psychological phenomenon. Simply the total number of "friends" on Facebook gives them a high, I guess. Or maybe they consider themselves more influential, and hence more powerful, than those mere common people who have very less number of "friends" on FB. The actual social interactions don't intrigue them at all. Then in such conditions do they cope up with their trauma when someone unfriends them?! Does that virtual world successfully replace the social support system whenever they feel sad, depressed?!

I strongly feel that Social Networking Sites have a proper space in our lives, but definitely they can't be the substitutes for our real beautiful society.