Heavenly Deities

They may be merely statues for some, fine pieces of art for the others or gods for some others; But no one can deny the fact that during the time they hold our attention, we forget not only ourselves but also the whole world! Such is the influence of the deity on us.

One of the most mesmerizing moments in my life was the time when I got to see the goddess Kanyakumari. She is probably the only goddess who is still a maiden. According to the Hindu mythology, Kanyakumari is an incarnation of Goddess Parvathi. She is born on the earth to kill a demon. But she has to kill him only as a maiden. This goddess falls in love with Lord Shiva and then they decide to get married. An auspicious day is decided and wedding planned at midnight of that day. According to their horoscopes, it is found out that only on that particular day/time they both can get married. If the time is past then they can never ever get married.

But the whole purpose of her birth will be ruined if she gets married. She has to slay the demon as a virgin/maiden. So, Lord Narada, who is famous for poking his nose in other people’s affairs, transforms himself into a rooster and crows. Lord Shiva thinks that it is dawn and it is past the auspicious wedding time, returns back to his native place. All the presents and other necessary items for the wedding rituals are simply thrown on the sand at the seashore. They say this is the reason for having multi-colored sand in the beaches of Kanyakumari (Cape-comorin) and so the goddess Kanyakumari remained a maiden. Read more of the story at http://www.templenet.com/Tamilnadu/kumari.html

I had waited for a long time in the queue that led to the sacred room where the goddess Kanyakumari’s idol was placed. When my turn came I stood mesmerized by the sight that was before my eyes. The room was dark yet brightly lit with lamps. The goddess was in the standing posture, draped in a half-sari. I could see some lamp glittering just below her nose and also at one side of her nose. It took me some long moments to realize that the lamps at her nose were actually reflections of the lamps on her diamond nose ring. I can never forget the sight. Even now I just have to shut my eyes and in my mind’s eye, I can see the dazzling lamps shining on her diamond nose ring.

It is said that during the olden days, the diamond nose ring was used like the light on the light-house to aid the ships sailing towards the coast. I guess even a small piece of coal can do wonders!

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Have you ever seen a God with moustache?
Well, I have seen one at the Paarthasaarathi Temple in Chennai.

“Paarthan” is another name of “Arjun” of Mahabharatha and “Saarathi” means Charioteer. During the war of Mahabharatha, Krishna took the role of charioteer for Arjun. That’s how the name Parthasaarathi was bestowed on him. The idol of this God is made of a dark stone and it has surely a pointed moustache carved in the stone. It seems very strange to me how we generally always imagine the God as cleanly shaven with no beard or moustache.

That is not the only thing that was different from other idols. At the heart of Lord Paarthasaarathi, there was a carving of Goddess Lakshmi. This depicted that Goddess Lakshmi resides in the heart of the Lord. And the idol of the goddess was decorated with jasmine flowers.

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Generally when I read, I have the habit of lying down to one side and holding my book in one hand and supporting my head with the other hand. When my grandma sees me like that she asks: “Enna Ananthasayanamaa?”

It is said that Lord Vishnu lies in that posture on a bed of snake (Aadhisesham) that has severals heads. These heads raise their hoods to shade the Lord’s head. The Lord has goddess Lakshmi at his feet pressing his legs. He is said to float on the milk of ocean like this.

The Lord Vishnu is in this posture (Ananthasayanam posture) at the Padmanabhaswami temple in Chennai. From the naabhi (navel) of the Lord, there is a stem at the tip of which is a lotus. And inside the lotus is Lord Brahma.

I stood in awe for a long time gazing at the idol, until my cousin shook me up to get me back to reality. There is a kind of tranquility that spreads into our veins when one visits a temple.

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Sometimes... Even our two eyes are not to enough to take in the beauty and workmanship of an idol.

At the Ashtalakshmi Temple in Basant Nagar beach, the Yoga Narasimhar and Sudharshanar shrines are right behind each other. The reason for this is: Both of the deities have been sculpted on a single stone. On one side of it, we see the Sudharshan and the other side of it is Yoga Narasimhar. Along with good skills, one requires loads of patience to carve such a magnificent piece of art! Even if one side of it goes wrong then the whole rock has to be abandoned and then the work must start again on a new rock.

It is at the same temple, we have shrines of all eight Lakshmis (Dhana Lakshmi, Dhanya Lakshmi, Vijaya Lakshmi, Gaja Lakshmi, Adhi Lakshmi, Santaana Lakshmi, Dhairya Lakshmi, Vidhya Lakshmi) at a single place.

The architecture of the temple is marvelous. The temple is a four storey structure and the shrines are built one top of the other. The stairs lead us from one shrine to another and from one level to another. Unfortunately the paintwork of the temple has deteriorated and it may gradually go into ruins if we do not take care of this heritage.

What makes this temple even more beautiful?
It’s its location! The temple stands right next to the Bay of Bengal and one can have a breath-taking view of the beach from the top of the temple. That is what the goddess Dhana Lakshmi does. Her shrine is in the top storey and she sits facing to the east, probably enjoying herself and bestowing her blessings to us!

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Very near to Ashtalakshmi temple, there is a Murugan temple called Arupadai Veedu (Six Abodes of Lord Muruga). Incidentally, Lord Murugan has six heads.

This temple has six different shrines of Lord Murugan similar to those in other parts of Tamil Nadu. It is said that if one has prayed for visiting any of the shrines down south of India and they do not have the capability to travel so much, they can visit Arupadai Veedu. It is equivalent to visiting the actual shrines. To know more please click on this link: http://www.ganesh.us/gods/lord_muruga.html

What caught my attention at this temple was the Elephant incarnation of Lord Ganesha. As we know Lord Ganesha has an elephant head. But I never know that he took the incarnation of an elephant. According to mythology, Lord Murugan, disguised as an old man, was asking Goddess Valli to marry him. When she did not agree, he pleaded his brother Lord Ganesha for help. He took the incarnation of a wild elephant and accosted Goddess Valli. Then the goddess begged the old man (Lord Murugan) to help her. He said, “I will agree to save you only if you will marry me.” In her helplessness, she agreed and when the Lord came in his true form, she was overjoyed. To read more on this story please open this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valli

I realize there are so many legends in our Hindu Mythology that I don’t know. Time to bury my head into our epics and feel the Godliness around me! :)

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There a little more to write, before I end this post…

This post will be incomplete without Rammappa Temple. The architecture of the temple is awesome. From the aerial view, it looks like a lotus flower. Each inch of the temple is full of intricately designed sculptures. The Shrine of Shiva inside the temple is pitch dark. Even though the shrine is in darkness, at any time of the day, the Shiva Linga will always be visible. This is due to the position of the pillars in front of the shrine. The angle and the direction of the pillars ensure that the light from outside gets reflected and falls onto the Shiva Linga.
I do not think I will be doing any justice to the Ramappa Temple, if I do not write a separate post for it. We will have the post shortly in our blog! :)

A Magnificent Spectacle

I was cursing myself for asking the Travel Desk to book the 6:30AM flight. I had to get up at 4AM and get ready and leave home by 5AM. What a torture!

The air was very chill and I was thankful that my dress had at least ¾ sleeves. The drive to the airport was very boring, except for the glimpse of the pale red sun trying its best to wake up and rise over the horizon.

All I wanted to do was to rush into the aircraft and catch up with some sleep. The flight was almost empty and I longed for a peaceful nap. However the guy next to me did not feel so! He turned the air conditioner vent to the maximum and made the air blow right onto my face making me shiver with cold. Looked like a khadoos; so I let him be!

Now I can say I am very much thankful to him; for without him, I surely would have missed the magnificent scene right out of my window. We were traveling from north to south and our window was facing east. I sat back and relaxed to watch the sun wake up and shine.

The sun turned from a pale red to bright orange and then to a fiery burnt orange and finally to the golden yellow color; all in a matter of minutes. I was all excited and longed to see more. But the sun rays were too bright and I sat there in my seat with droopy eyes and a contented smile on my face. Oh Sun! You made my day!

More was yet to happen! While I sat lazying in the sun, the plane shook me up a little for landing. I sat upright with a start and that was when another spectacle caught my eye. We were just about the level of clouds. A Milky-white ocean of clouds seemed to welcome me. What a feast to the eye! There was vast expanse of graying white clouds that spread till my eyes could see. The fluffy clouds looked more like snow to me… like water waves frozen in a split of a second forming those wavy forms… and while the plane turned a little the sun came around the corner to greet me! I was awestruck by the beauty and watched wide-mouthed trying to sink in as much as I could.

As we neared closer to the earth, I spotted something bright below and I thought it must be street lights or head lights of a car or probably a train on its tracks. As I watched the round glow of light move under the clouds, I observed that the sun was also moving in rhythm with the glow of light on the earth. That was when realization dawned on me… the globe of light on the earth was nothing but the reflection of the sun on the sea… but the surface of the sea was several kilometers away. Hence, it had to be reflection of the sun on the clouds… I chuckled and thanked God for this visual delight.

An impression!

You don't seem to leave me, do you?

I am in the middle of a boring meeting when I see your hand-writing popup in front of my eyes. I see the way you write my name. It's an impression of your letter on the cover of my scribbling pad.. the letter to your didi, probably your first letter to her...

I hold the book at the angle to see more of your letter. I notice your signature at the bottom edge of the book cover and the last line of your letter holds my attention. It's the line where you have mentioned my name... "Arathi conveys her greetings!"

I run my fingers over the letters, over the words, over the curves of your writing... the loops and arcs and strikes and dots... It's no more than caressing the book. But for me it's much more than that! For me, it is like running my fingers over the palm of your right hand that formed the figures and markings onto the paper to take the form of a letter.

Wish I could hold that hand a little longer... for a little more while right now!

Secret of my willpower!

This post is dedicated to the person who has been the cheerleader to me... Thanks dear for sending me this.... It is the best motivation letter I have ever got... As soon as I read this, I was all pepped up. It was more like listening to "Hum Honge Kaamiyaab..."
Dear readers, here the motivational letter for you....

All the best to your efforts. Times come when good people are questioned and doubted of their abilities. What differentiates the best with the good is the grit. Reminds me of a song, 'Jeena kya jeevan se haar ke...jeena kya jeevan se haar ke'! Go baby, show the world! You have got your life at stake, show them your best! You have got nothing more to do in this life...this is your only aim now...this is why you will live for some time...you wont rest until you have proven yourself; and only to yourself. You wont find salvation in succumbing to the pressure. You will fight until there is any steam left in you. You will return home only after giving your best shot. You will sleep in the night guilt-free of having given your best shot. You will win yourself in winning the world. I know of only one Arathi in you and it is the one that will take you further up the road, to your destiny. You dont have to rule the world. The world will bow to you itself. Mark my words!

Whether the world will bow to me or not... I bow to you and thank you for sending me this.

Importance of Vacuum in Life

I am travelling by train back to Hyderabad. The ambience is very dull and boring. I am not talking about the vacuum of someone in life or not even about missing someone. Could you just wait for couple of moments (or rather sentences) before you come to any conclusions. I am not talking of missing someone in my life or about knowing the importance of a person in his/her absence.


After having so many chegodis and samosas and chips (all oily stuff), I feel so thirsty. Yet no amount of water seems to quench the parched throat. How about a glass of buttermilk! The very thought of it makes me feel wanting it all the more! Just in time a vendor passes by our compartment. But before I can call out for him, he goes away, out of ear-shot. And I am left wondering how to call him. How about "Hey Bhaiyya!"? But there are lot more Bhaiyyas around and it is not so specific to him. "Hey Buttermilk!" sounds so weird... It is not the buttermilk carrying the Bhaiyya; it is the other way round! Ha ha ha...


While I am contemplating on how to call him, he turns around, and heads back towards us. I am overjoyed and immediately catch his eye by waving my hand... And then I wish he would not assume I am saying "Bye!" or gesturing him to go away... Ha ha ha

Needless to say, I buy a packet of buttermilk and am given a free straw in return. I pul at the edge of the packet to tear a hole and put the straw into the hole. And start sucking at the straw. And all that goes into my mouth is air! Gusts of air but no buttermilk to quench my thirst! Just imagine my plight!

I dont have to rack my brains for long to find out why I cannot get any liquid through the straw. You see... my basic foundations of science are really good! It is vacuum that enables us to suck stuff against gravity. In our case, we suck and create vacuum in the straw and then the buttermilk gushes up to fill in that vacuum... Now what stops me from creating the vacuum in the straw?

A tiny hole somewhere in the straw is stopping the whole packet of buttermilk to get in from the bottom... How to stop it? Oh no! I dont need any cello-tape or glue to cover the tiny hole. Instead do you know what I do? I snap the straw into two pieces and use the bit of straw without the hole to drink the buttermilk... Nice na?

I know all this may be a very stupid thing to write about. But I am just too excited to realize that I really put my theoritical science knowledge to use! :-)

Food

I never was interested in food. Eating has always been just another task for me. When someone asks me: “Which is your favorite dish?” I never ever really know what it can be. But there are times when I really feel like having samosa chat at the bandi opposite S10, pani-puri near the police officer’s mess in masab tank and the sweet chutney along with samosa in agra sweets, the Indian spice pizza at Universal Bakes…. Oh my! My mouth has already started to water. You may ask, do I miss all these dishes now that I am in the US. No way! I am not a food buff.

Yet there is something that has changed a little here. I have started testing with new varieties of food. I am amazed at the choice of vegetarian items that is available here. Ever since this travel plan was scheduled for the first time, I have been brain-washed, that there is hardly anything to eat for vegetarians and that, vegetarians will have a tough time here. It’s not true at all!

Thanks to Vikranth, I get to different restaurants and taste different kinds of food. The first new dish that I tasted here was a Mexican preparation called Tamale. Almost at once, I became a fan of the dish.

I was working in the Libertyville plant. Vikranth came into the CAVE, where we work. He placed something rolled in a yellowed corn husk on my desk. He gave me a fork and knife and also some pepper. “Try this! You will like it,” he said.

I eyed at it as though it were an object in the museum. I pulled behind the cornhusk and a delicious aroma spread around me. It looked like rava upma. When a cut a piece, I could see that it was stuffed with something that resembled paneer. I put a morsel of it in my mouth and it was too tasty. The plate was empty in no time.

“What is this called?” I asked Vikranth.
“It’s called Tamale, a Mexican preparation.”

Mexican is closest to Indian food. Many people may disagree with me and say that Thai food is closest. I am looking at it from the spices point of view. Mexican food uses turmeric and other spices that make the food spicier.

We went to a Mexican restaurant for lunch a couple of times. I can’t remember its name, though I can say that it looks like a shed from outside. But it is always crowded with people. The food is yummy and at the same time the price is very reasonable.

As soon as we are seated at the table, we are offered corn chips and tomato gravy. We can have how much ever we want. It’s all on the house.

I have observed that in most of the hotels, the water is always served with ice. And people drink even water using straws. In fact Vikranth had to literally push the straw towards me, when I lifted the glass to drink water without the straw. He saves my grace at such occasions, when I don’t know how to eat or drink. Everything is so different out here.

The staple food in a Mexican meal is Tortilla. In our Indian language, we can call them corn rotis. Every dish has these tortillas. Burritos are like paneer wraps that we get in Hyderabad. A bean burrito will have beans curry with cheese and sour cream and tomatoes wrapped up in a corn roti. A taco will have roti and other curries, cheese and sour cream on top of it. We need to roll it and eat!

And in vegetarian, we get beans only, and of course tomato. They probably use only these two vegetables.

A quesadilla looks like our dil-khush but it’s not sweet. I had a cheese quesadilla. It was very very delicious.

We even tried a cool drink there. It’s called Horshata. It is made of rice. It looks and tastes like Rooh-Afza.

Oh my! I have written so much about Mexican food, I should have named this post as Mexican food! I have lot more to write about food. Rest in next!

Flurries

Last Friday night was a special night for me. I had the first glimpse of light snow – what they call here as flurries. When we finished our shopping and came out of the mall, it was raining outside. Everyone rushed into the car. After I locked myself up under the seat belt, I looked outside. It was not that heavy a rain, yet there were lots of thumping onto the roof of the car. That was when Vikranth pointed out, “These are called flurries.”

I observed the windscreen. I could see rain falling onto the glass, yet the drops would not drip down. The wiper had to literally wipe it off the glass. I realized they were not drops of water. They were more like granules of ice. They looked more like a bird’s dropping on the windscreen and wiper having to clean it. Sorry for the pathetic comparison. But that was the first thing that came to my mind when I saw the first blob of flurry. I don’t know what they are called. As we say drops of rain, could we call them blobs of flurry? Or will flurries of snow be appropriate? I am not sure.

So finally I got to watch the snow! I am so happy.

Today, I was drawing back the curtains when I noticed some white feather like particles floating in the air. Oh my God! That was snow. I was so fascinated that I shut down all the lights in my room and pressed my nose against the windowpane to observe the white thermocol ball like things flying outside my window. I was disheartened for a minute, when I thought they might be some insects moving around. But no! It was snow. A very light one may be, because I could not see any white thing covering the lawn or the pathway outside.

I don’t think I would have given anything in the world in exchange for that moment. I was behaving like a child. I was so excited. I was on cloud nine. After all, it’s not that bad to be in Chicago in November!

Early Life in Chicago!

With all your best wishes with me, I reached Chicago safely. The flight started an hour late and so the connecting flight was also late.

All in all my first flight journey was a pleasant experience. I enjoyed watching the lights below during the night flight journey and then during the my second flight journey, I loved watching the fluffy clouds. It was so exciting to watch the rivers and terrain from above. What I enjoyed the most was the scene outside when the flight was landing. It was awesome! :)

I took a taxi and reached hotel room by 3:00PM. I observed that there were not many buildings on my way to the hotel from airport. As I was alone, I concentrated more on the signboards and the driver's conversation on his mobile, rather than on the scenery. When he dropped me at the hotel, I sighed in relief and gave him a huge tip! :)

Sreeram took me out on the very next day. We went to Lake Michegan and then to Downtown. I got on top of a 97 storey building and had a great view on Chicago. I even walked on the Millenium Avenue, where all the branded shops are present. May be we both were not feeling that comfortable in each other's presence. There were long silences in the conversations. Though we were trying to please each other and make the other feel at ease, there was still a kind of distance between us.

The whole I first week, I had my lunches and dinners with Sreeram, Vikranth and DK. I got to meet Vikranth's wife Sapna and her little daughter, Samika. They all take care of me like a family member. I feel so lucky and special!

It's all a new and strange kind of an experience here in Chicago.

First with the driving; the steering wheel is at the right... So many times, I have opened the driver's side of the door and then realized that I have to sit on the other side. I hope I am making sense. Anyway you got to read all my nonsense, because it's been ages since I have written to you.

My hotel room is very nice, with all the amenities. Imagine, I even have an iron box and hair dryer!

When the hotel management took so much care to provide all the necessities, they forgot on the basics. I have the entire kitchenware in the room, but there is no peeler. How am i supposed to cook and eat vegetables like beetroot? Strange... Last week, it took me almost an hour to peel the beetroot with knife and then cut it...

I was told that the weather is too cold in Chicago. The day I reached here, I was sweating from head to toe... Now that was not because I was nervous, it was because the weather was hot and sultry! It's becoming chiller day by day and I pray everyday that it should not rain. I forgot my umbrella in Hyd.

When I travelled, I paintstaking prepared the list of items to be carried. I managed to bring everything, except for a water bottle. So sad! You may ask: Why so sad? I will tell you. It's sad because the ppl here use a water fountain to drink water. And it took me almost 3 days to understand how it works. And during that time, I had to wait till I went back to my room, to drink a glass of water. I bought a bottle of coke for 1.75 dollars... that's close to Rs. 80, just to get it to office.

During the weekend when I had to wash my clothes, I realized one thing. How do I wash it with my hands? There's no bucket or anything. I went to the laundry and put most of my clothes in that vending washing machine. Still I had some more which I dint want to put in the machine. I dint want to give it to the hotel laundry either. So, how did I wash them? No, I dint fill the bath tub with water and wash... ha ha ha.... My wash basin in the bathroom has a stopper. I put the stopper and fill the basin with water (Mind you, the basin was really really clean.) Then, I put some washing powder into it and soak my clothes inside the wash basin. Funny no? Then somehow, I wash them and rinsed them inside the wash basin itself. And for drying them, I put them into the dryer downstairs. It charges me 1.5 dollars. The clothes that come out are wram and dry. But every positive point will be associated with side-effects. the side-effects here: wrinkles! every part of the garment had a wrinkle... Even the polyster and chiffon duppattas had wrinkles... Oh my God! My entire Sunday went away in ironing the clothes.

I went for a long walk in the afternoon last weekend. The place where I stay is called Buffalo Grove. It's in the suburbs of Chicago. The trees were in varieties of colours. They were shredding away their leaves. The sun and wind were playing with the trees. There was so much breeze. I felt very very happy. I observed the different kind of trees and flowers. I also noticed that there was nobody walking on the road. May be that's not the American way of enjoyment!
Thanks to Vikranth, I commute to office easily. He picks me and drops me up everyday. Must be a pain for him; yet he does it methodically with a cheerful face.

I am still getting used to the environment in office. There's not much work, except forwarding the mails from offshore to client and from client to offshore. I sometimes feel I am working in postal department. And sometimes I feel I am more like a telephone operator. ha ha ha. Let's see how things change in course of time.