How I came to love Indian classical music

When my brother-in-law and family visited the U.S. in 1995, he came back from California and brought back Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt's Saradamani CD from Waterlily Acoustics as a gift for me. Through that CD, I developed a fondness for Indian classical music, and have since seen many of the luminaries of Indian classical music perform in concert.


The Bahu of Bengal (R) with Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt

I was thrilled to tell Pt. Bhatt that I was introduced to Indian classical music through his CD and developed a real love for it.

Durga Temple hosts first ever Hinduism Meet in North America

Published at the request of Rajan Joshi of the Forum for Hindu Awakening:

Ashadh Krushna Ekadashi, 5011

July 18, 2009

The first ever Hinduism Meet in North America was held by the Forum for Hindu Awakening at the Durga Temple of Virginia, near Washington DC today. The aim of the Meet was to promote an understanding of the unique spiritual science and scienti­fic history underlying Hinduism, awaken to the misconceptions about Hinduism, demonstrate living simple practices and concepts of Hinduism in day-to-day life, preserve the sanctity of Hinduism from denigration and malpractices.

This historic event was inaugurated as per Hindu tradition by the blowing of the conch, recitation of auspicious verses, lighting of an oil lamp and recitation of Vedic mantras. The spiritual science behind all these actions was explained to the attendees.


Reston resident Bhavna Shinde observes the lighting of the wick lamp ... at the Forum for Hindu Awakening at the Durga Temple in Fairfax Station - Fairfax County Times

The unique feature of this Hinduism Meet was that it was broadcast live over the Internet. Hence, besides the 100 people who attended in person, over 250 people from around the world could attend it by watching the live broadcast.

The Hinduism Meet had the presence and blessings of many note-worthy people from various religious organisations. The media was also represented by the presence of members of Press from a local newspaper, an online radio station, an Indian newspaper and a TV station.

At the Meet, Dr. Siva Subramaniam, founding member of the Shiva-Vishnu temple, honored the speakers by presenting them Sanatan Sanstha’s Video CDs on the unique science behind Hinduism and spiritual practice, and the ‘Vishwa Hindu Ratna’ (Hindu Gem of the world) award. This award was presented to the speakers for their selfless and dedicated efforts for the cause of Hinduism.

There were thought provoking speeches, Powerpoint presentations and videos on maintaining a Hindu identity, Hindu practices like visiting a temple, the spiritual science underlying them, preserving various challenges faced by Hinduism today such as the threats to the existence of the ancient Rama Sethu bridge between India and Sri Lanka, denigration of Hindu Deities and Saints, and so on.

Rajan Zed, the acclaimed Hindu Statesman, spoke on how to be a good Hindu in the West and interfaith relations. Dr. M. G. Prasad, an active proponent of Hinduism spoke about the multi faceted Hinduism (Sanatan Dharma). Dr. Kusum Vyas, the founder and coordinator of the international Save Rama Sethu Campaign spoke on Ramsethu: the challenges and accomplishments. Maya Jairam of the Spiritual Science Research Foundation shared about the role of the spiritual dimension and Saints in all aspects of life. Dewang Gadoya of the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti spoke on knowing and peacefully protesting denigration of Hinduism concepts and symbols. Bhavna Shinde of the Forum for Hindu Awakening spoke on how to understand, live and preserve Hinduism in today’s busy times.

The Meet concluded with the singing of an aarati (Hindu devotional hymn) and note of thanks to everyone that helped in organising the Meet. During the aarati many attendees had the spiritual experience of spontaneous tears.

The Forum for Hindu Awakening is considering holding such Hinduism Meets in other parts of USA during the course of the year, to propagate the understanding, living and preserving of the spiritual science behind Hinduism concepts and practices. Visit www.forumforhinduawakening.org for more information.

Join my social networks

First there were web pages, but web pages, particularly those written in static HTML, became too time-intensive to update. That's why I quit updating the static HTML on my website.

Next came blogs. Blogs, such as Mera Bharat Mahan, were much easier to update than traditional web pages.

But what if one wants to post and share occasional items of interest that don't need a lot of explanatory text? That's where social software, such as Facebook and Twitter, comes in handy.

I'm proud that my friends on BlogCatalog come from various parts of India. This blog is intended to have a pan-India scope.

Join my social networks listed on the widget on the sidebar at right: scroll down if necessary. Female voices are especially welcome!

Bengali patas

Last Thursday, my husband and I went to an extraordinarily well-attended talk on and exhibit of Bengali patas at the Gandhi Memorial Center in Washington, DC. Patas, a Bengali folk art form, are hand-painted scrolls that illustrate stories.

Patuas roam from village to village to tell stories as they unroll the scrolls vertically (story panels go from top to bottom). Sadly, they are too often regarded as beggars (to understand, read this analogous story about kalamkari artists). The art of pata is local to the districts of Midnapore and Birbhum.

For us, no trip to India is complete without a visit to Birbhum, the home of Tagore's Shantinekitan, but this was our first exposure to pata. We are more accustomed to seeing batiks and terracotta objects in the stalls on the road between Shantiketan and Bolpur, the nearest train station.


Panel of a Bengali pat
Jetayu tells Ram about Sita's abduction

Many of the traditional Bengali patas cover episodes from the Ramayana. Natural disasters, such as floods, cyclones, and even the freak tornado are also covered. More recently, pats address social issues such as the status of women and AIDS: in fact, NGOs have commissioned patuas to create patas on social issues.

The pats that were exhibited at the Gandhi Memorial Center belong to Dr. Geraldine Forbes, a professor at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Oswego. Dr. Forbes has traveled through Bengali villages collecting patas for 30 years.

INDIA'S BISMARCK: Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel

Cover of INDIA'S BISMARCK: Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel

I received an email from Indus Source, a book publisher in Mumbai, alerting me to the publication of INDIA'S BISMARCK: Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, in response to my article The Assertive Indian.

INDIA'S BISMARCK covers Sardar Patel's career as a satyagrahi, creator of the Indian Administration Service (IAS), and Congress Party boss. Given their strong wills, it should not be surprising that Sardar Patel clashed with Netaji when Netaji presided over Congress, my article on The Assertive Indian notwithstanding.

The most important part of INDIA'S BISMARCK covers Sardar Patel's leadership as Unifier of India. He used Indian troops to compel accession of Junagadh (in Gujarat) and Hyderabad. His lasting achievement was the accession of 560 princely states to form the geographic whole that is India.

Westerners know about Gandhi and Nehru, but don't know about Sardar Patel. While the widely read Freedom at Midnight discusses Sardar Patel, his leadership as Unifier of India gets short shrift and ultimately, he is treated almost as an afterthought in the epilogue (Sardar Patel died in 1950, only three years after Independence). Even many Indians might not be familiar with Sardar Patel's accomplishments. I recommend INDIA'S BISMARCK to these reader audiences.

You may purchase INDIA'S BISMARCK on Amazon.com.