My Reminiscence

All festivals around the world seems to originate in memory of some historical events of importance. Narration of their origins by generations after generations, for centuries adding spice and imaginations, make those events of history evolve into epics or myths. Some of the festivals of India, Ramanavami and Gokulashtami are based on Ramayana and Bhagavatha, Navrathri and Deepavali are based on Devi mahathmya (stories of Parasakthi), Sivarathri and Thiruathira are based on Shivapurana while Onam is based on one of the stories of Mahavishnu's Dasavathara taken out of Bhagavatha. These books are considered to be epics although they are not as popular as the well-known  epics Ramayana or Mahabharatha. One can view these as evolved stories or myths from real events that happened in ancient India centuries ago. Although I do not have proof for my interpretations, I sincerely believe their origin from real events that occurred in ancient times. In my observation, Americans get...

Thanksgiving is very important in the United States of America and is widely celebrated. The origin of this great festival is based on the colonial pilgrims' harvest festival. Friendly native Americans taught the struggling colonists, how to survive in the new world. When this harvest festival started in 1621, the celebration was for three days in October. The pilgrims, travelling in the ship Mayflower, after coming to US celebrated the first Thanksgiving Day after their first harvest in the new world, together with the native Americans feast. It is read that 90 natives and 52 English people were present for the first celebration which was in Plymouth, Massachusetts, to mark a successful harvest. Presently Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November every year. For the native Americans, it is a day of quiet reflection and prayer. Now a days, this uniquely American day is being celebrated for one day only and by all denominations and viewers. This is not a traditio...

On 10th September, Friday I woke up early in the morning and after my daily routine and breakfast I got ready to go to the Newark airport in the afternoon. I was thrilled at the thought of going to meet my grandson Sarath and his wife Athira within a few hours. We had booked tickets to Oakland airport in California. The flight was scheduled to take off from Newark at 5.30 PM. We reached Newark at 3.40 PM and waited for the wheelchair to arrive which we had requested while booking the tickets. It can take time sometimes due to nonavailability of vacant wheelchairs or due to scarcity of navigators. I have seen a navigator controlling two chairs at a time so as to get the passengers in time to their gates. To save time and effort, to get the formalities done easily, some passengers book wheelchairs even though they may not need. Passengers in wheelchairs usually get prioritized over passengers waiting in queues to get their luggage checked in, or to get their boarding passes o...

In the United States of America, it is common to visit famous educational institutions. Such a visit is equally important and prestigious, to both, the visitor and this country. US parents generally take their high school going children on these visits carefully choosing universities depending on their child's talents and academic interests.  In the olden days, the Indians called educational institutions as "Saraswathi kshethra" which means the holy abode of Goddess Saraswathy, the deity who blesses and flourishes us with knowledge. I remember celebrating "Navarathri pooja" in school every year, where the students brought their school textbooks, notebooks, pens or pencils, instrument boxes etc.  and placed them in front of the deity and worshipped after lighting a holy lamp. This was not compulsory, but students were willingly doing this irrespective of their religious beliefs or thinking or social standing. People who are eager to earn more knowledge should hav...

It was the last Saturday of September and Dr. Suma, a busy practicing psychiatrist, whom I was meeting for the first time, gave us a visit at 10 AM. She hails from Karnataka, India. She was so friendly that within a short time, I felt like she was one amongst us. Her son and Ajay were baseball buddies. After chatting for a while and having lunch with us, she bid goodbye.  As the weather forecast warned for a cold evening, we were a bit hesitant to go out. Eventually, we decided to visit and worship in the BAPS Swamy Narayan temple, which has gained fame and name as "Akshardham" all around the world by now. It took more than an hour to reach the temple located in Robbinsville, New Jersey. When we were nearing the temple, we were astounded to see that all roads leading to the holy shrine were crowded with snail pacing different makes of cars. We finally managed to reach the vast, free, parking lot of the temple. Many a security staff were there directing...