BreatheDreamGo » Ganesh

How to celebrate Diwali in India

Mariellen — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 04:25:46 +0000

Photo courtesy San Sharma

Happy Diwali!

How to enjoy the Festival of Lights

Diwali means “rows of lighted lamps” and it is also called the Festival of Light. It is the most enthusiastically celebrated festival in India — which is saying a lot! Diwali is the equivalent of Christmas — a big, festive celebration that brings families together and is the highlight of the holiday season. There are five days of festivities, each marked with different pujas (prayers) and rituals.

I love Diwali, and though I have only spent one Diwali in India, I remember it fondly. I went shopping with Ajay’s mother for gifts, decorations, flowers and sweets a few days before, and on the morning of Diwali she had me decorating the family mandir before my eyes were completely open. Later, I helped fill hundreds of small diyas with oil and wicks, and then place and light them around the terrace and down the stairs, etc. In the early evening we had a puja in the mandir, which was my favourite part of the entire day. And at night, we joined the millions of other Delhi-ites blasting fireworks and firecrackers into the night sky. It was deafening and created hazardous smog, but I appreciated the gusto with which people were celebrating.

There are lots of other places to celebrate Diwali in India; read on for some suggestions culled from Breathedreamgo Twitter and Facebook friends.

The meaning of Diwali

The festival celebrates the triumph of good over ill, and the ascendancy of light over dark. The diyas symbolize this, and also help light the way for Rama’s return from exile, after rescuing his wife Sita and vanquishing the demon Ravana, with the help of Hanuman. This is the drama played out in the Hindu epic, The Ramayana, which is one of the major texts underpinning Hinduism and Indian culture (along with the Vedas, the Upanishads and the Mahabharat).

Where to go to celebrate Diwali in India

I have only celebrated Diwali in Delhi, but I know festivities occur all over the country. I asked my Twitter followers and Facebook friends where to go to celebrate Diwali, and this is what they came back with.

Twitter 

protectwildlife Varanasi. All the ghats are decorated and lit up with oil lamps, its a spectacular sight. A night to remember in the ancient town.

YogeshMali: Home is where the heart is, and also the best place to celebrate Diwali.

 AboutIndia’s Sharell Cook: For Diwali, Jaipur has amazing lights and Goa has burning of demon effigies. (Here’s a link to About India’s Diwali in Goa post.)

Facebook

Roma: Jaipur is awesome during Diwali as the different markets and plaza compete for the “Best Decorated” award. I have also visited Golden Temple, Sri Harmandir Sahib, in Amritsar, which is again a treasure of a Diwali memory as they put out thousands of earthen pots.

Deepa Krishnan of Delhi Magic and Mumbai Magic: It’s not a ‘public’ festival. There are places where you can get glimpses if you are tourist; like for example in Mumbai if you go to Shivaji Park in the evening you will see people of the neighbourhood bursting crackers. But that’s about it. The celebration is mostly indoors. I put my guests in homestays, if they come for Diwali or Holi; that way they can experience the festival.

Photographer Sunil Vaidyanathan: In the potters village of Kumbhar Wada in Dharavi, Mumbai.

Ram Vakkalanka: Indian festivals have deep spiritual significance, apart from the celebratory/fun aspect. They almost always involve performing Puja to one of the Deities. Most of the time, they are celebrated at home with family and friends in a Satsang-type of celebration. Of course, India is also catching up with US, with retailers celebrating the festivals more vigorously than people themselves.

Lachman Balanai: After the puja (prayer) to Goddess Lakshmi (to bless your home with wealth and prosperity) or Ganesh, it is always good to get together with your extended family and have fun. Gifts are exchanged and love is shared. It’s all very cool. Everyone shares their interpretation of the Ramayana. Diwali is the festival that unites all of India, like New Year’s unites all of the world. It is in fact our New Year, where old account books are closed and new ones opened. Fireworks are lit. Warm feelings all around.

If you enjoyed this post, you can….

Get updates and read additional stories on the Breathedreamgo Facebook page.

Buy Song of India, a collection of 10 feature stories about my travels in India.

Subscribe to the free — and inspiring! — e-newsletter, Travel That Changes You.

Thank you for reading. Please visit BreatheDreamGo or stop by my Facebook page at Breathedreamgo.

Top 6 photographs of Ganesh festival

Mariellen — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 17:12:46 +0000

Ganesh Chaturthi in Mumbai, India from Goindia.About.com

Happy birthday Ganesh!

He’s one of the most beloved gods in India; rotund, elephant-headed and multi-armed; the son of Lord Shiva and his consort Parvati — Ganesh is the first god honoured during pujas, and he is the bestower of luck and remover of obstacles.

In honour of Ganesh Chaturthi — the 10 days of birthday celebrations and worship — I am posting some of the best photos I have seen of the massive parade and the immersion of the clay Ganesh idols in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Mumbai.

The photo above is from the GoIndia.About.com site — which has a great guide to Ganesh Chaturthi — how the idols are made, where the best ones are located, etc. The editor, Sharell Cook, lives in Mumbai and stays on top of happenings there and in India in general. It’s a great resource for news, information and fascinating stories. Following are the other five top photos.

The photo below is by Sephi Bergerson, a travel and documentary photographer based in India. He is running a photo workshop in Mumbai for Ganesh Chaturthi (plus, he has other photo workshops on his site — such as Indian street food — that look equally interesting).
.

The photo below comes from The First Post’s Pic of the Day page. An edited version of this pic is my Photo of the Week.

Ganesh Chaturthi in Mumbai, India from TheFirstPost.co.uk

These two photos, below, come from Boston.com’s The Big Picture feature. There are 36 eye-catching photos in total in this feature, which covers several exuberant and colourful Hindu festivals.

Ganesh Chaturthi in Mumbai, India from Boston.com

This photo, below comes from Digg Mumbai -- a site all about Mumbai, for Mumbaikers.

Ganesh Chaturthi in Mumbai, India from DiggMumbai.com

If you enjoyed this post, you can….

Get updates and read additional stories on the Breathedreamgo Facebook page.

Buy Song of India, a collection of 10 feature stories about my travels in India.

Subscribe to the free — and inspiring! — e-newsletter, Travel That Changes You.

Thank you for reading. Please visit BreatheDreamGo or stop by my Facebook page at Breathedreamgo.

Photo of the Week: Ganesh Chaturthi

Mariellen — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 02:46:48 +0000

Ganesh Chaturthi in Mumbai, India

Ganesh Chaturthi takes place every year in late August or early September. It is the birthday of the popular Hindu elephant-headed god, son of Shiva and Parvati. This festival is celebrated all over India, but especially so in Mumbai where grand processions bear huge idols to the sea for immersion. Ganesh is the bestower of luck, the remover of obstacles and the god of safe travels. I always carry a small Ganesh charm with me while I travel in India.

Thank you for reading. Please visit BreatheDreamGo or stop by my Facebook page at Breathedreamgo.

Spirituality, yoga, religion and joy

Mariellen — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:08:22 +0000

Oh no, it’s the “s” word!

Hahaha, not the “s” word you thought! But another one that should be the source of just as much joy, if you ask me.

Can spirituality be fun? Does it have to be a serious subject? Read on for a tale of two religions and the joyful vs the sombre.

A tale of two religions

This is an absolutely true story, and I wish I had the pictures to prove it (but my DSLR camera is too big to carry around … which kinda defeats the purpose … but that’s a topic for another day).

I cycled to yoga class one Sunday this summer and came across a Hindu procession celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi (his birthday). A circle of women in saris were dancing lightly to music played by a band of men. Other women were handing out prasad, sweets, and a crowd followed, dancing, chanting, smiling, chatting and having fun. At the centre was a chariot, with a figure of elephant-headed Ganesh seated upon it, covered in garlands of flowers.

The effect was joyful chaos and I joined in. Several women smiled at me and one explained the mythology of Ganesh and the reason for the procession. I felt welcomed. When I had to leave a few minutes later to get to my class on time, the woman handing out the prasad was nowhere to be seen. Noticing that I was leaving without one of the large, sweet ladoos, an elderly women rushed forward in a gesture of complete and sincere generosity and insisted on giving me hers. I was moved by her open-hearted warmth. I cycled on feeling a rush of joy, recharged and in contact with the inspiring feeling I have when I’m in India.

Exactly one week later, I was cycling to yoga class again when I came across a Portuguese Christian procession. A long and sombre line of people were arrayed the length of a residential street, dressed in thick satin on a hot day to look like figures from the new testament. There were numerous angels, Jesus and Mary’s and other robed and serious characters,. No one was moving, no one was smiling, and no one wanted to let me through on my bike. I actually heard one man mutter as I went by, “they shouldn’t be riding,” in a hostile and unfriendly tone. I was really sweating as I tried to wend my way along the side of the parade.

Spontaneously, I remembered the feeling of being in church and going to confession when I was a child; how small and inconsequential I felt; how the sword of judgment hanging over me made me tighten and constrict. Not fun.

Yoga, my temple!

I couldn’t wait to get to my church, yoga class, where I would breathe deeply into my body, release the tension of trying to get past the sombre Christians on parade, celebrate the joyful feeling of being alive and commune with the divine within me. Amen.

It’s no wonder I love India. Yoga and Hinduism are like an antidote to my experience of growing up Catholic in the 60s. I don’t mean to offend anyone, but I prefer my spirituality with a healthy dose of joy — and without the feeling that I am somehow base or shameful because I have a body!

So what do you think – does spirituality have to be serious?

Thank you for reading. Please visit BreatheDreamGo or stop by my Facebook page at Breathedreamgo.

My India list

Mariellen — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 02:44:43 +0000

My India list: top places, events and festivals I want to see

I believe in magic. How else can you explain that the more I travel in India, the longer the list of places I want to go gets?! I was inspired to write this list by Mighty Girl’s Mighty Life List, so here goes. Here’s my list at the time of this writing (and I am sure I am missing several things …):

Top 10

see sunrise over the Himalayas from Tiger Hill, near Darjeeling
watch the start of the monsoon in Trivandrum
attend the Pushkar Camel Festival
climb Mount Arunachala
see a tiger! — perhaps in Kanha National Park, the place that inspired Kipling to write Jungle Book
watch Indian classical dance at sunset in front of the temples during the Khajuraho Dance Festival
stay in tea gardens in Darjeeling, Assam and the Nilgiri Hills
have tea at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai
stay at the Tollygunge Club in Kolkata and watch the Kali Puja
go on Char Dham pilgrimage to source of the Ganga (Ganges River)

And the list continues …

be in Jaisalmer for the Desert Festival
visit Gandh’s ashrams: Sabarmati and Sevagram
take part in Ganesh Chaturthi in Mumbai
see the Brahmaputra River in Assam
visit the Ellora and Ajanta Caves
hike in Ladakh
be in Mathura for Janmashtami
take a boat cruise through the Sunderbans
join the Chariot Festival in Puri
hike in Sikkim
stay at Lake Palace Hotel in Udaipur
see the Republic Day Parade in Delhi
~~spend some time writing in Bundi, where Kipling wrote~~
undertake 10-day Vipassana retreat near Jaipur
brief stop in the world’s wettest place, Cherapungi
see Dal Lake, Srinagar
stay at a spice garden in Kerala
visit the spice market in Old Delhi
finally go to Akshardham in Delhi
see the sun set and the moon rise at Kanyakumari (happens only two days per year)
attend Jaipur Literature Festival

Thank you for reading. Please visit BreatheDreamGo or stop by my Facebook page at Breathedreamgo.

Indian summer: 11 reasons to visit India in the summer

Mariellen — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 16:45:54 +0000

Published on The Matador Network, August 2009.

Photo courtesy of Jehangir Pocha

Indian summer

While the majority of foreign tourists travel to India in the winter, there are some who like it hot! India is a popular summer destination for European vacationers, monsoon lovers and travelers who like to swim against the stream. There are lots of good reasons for visiting India in the summer, including the profusion of summer festivals, breathtaking summer-only destinations in the Himalayas, un-crowded tourist attractions, cheaper airfares and slashed rates at many hotels and resorts.

Here are 11 things you can only do in the summer in India:

1. Eat mangoes. Early summer, before the monsoon arrives, is the hottest time of year in India. The only relief comes in the form of a sweet and succulent fruit, welcomed and revered from one end of the country to the other. In India, the mango is the “king of fruit.” Mangoes begin to trickle into markets and restaurants in April and by June the streets are full of people savouring their “utterly overpowering lusciousness,” as one mango lover said. While there are many varieties, the Alphonso is hailed as the “king of kings,” and its seasonal appearance makes the news.

2. Hike in Ladakh. In winter, the Ladakh region of India’s remote northern state is a cold, lonely and forbidding mountain kingdom. But come summer, flowers bloom and the tourists return to admire the barren, lunar-like landscapes and traditional Indian, Tibetan and Central Asian cultures. Hikers flock to Leh, the region’s capital, for some of the best treks in India. Even those with less physically ambitious goals will enjoy hiking up to the palace and royal monastery, Namgyal Tsemo Gompa, in the centre of Leh, to watch the sunrise over the Himalayas. The season’s short, though, and by mid-September it’s all over for another year.

3. Chill at a hill station. During the reign of the British Raj, the colonial rulers retreated to hill stations to escape the incendiary heat of the plains. Shimla, in the modern state of Himachal Pradesh, was the “Queen of Hill Stations.” It was from this small mountain-top town that the British ruled fully one-fifth of humanity. Today, visitors to Shimla enjoy the laid-back holiday vibe, Raj-era buildings – including the baronial Viceregal Lodge – and spectacular views of the Himalayas from the The Mall, a ridge-top pedestrian-only thoroughfare that was once off-limits to Indians. Don’t miss high tea at the elegant, century-old Oberoi Cecil Hotel. Shimla is a taste of “ye olde England” in the Himalayas.

4. Sing in the rain. Monsoon is a very special time of year in India. The summer rains bring welcome relief from the scorching heat of early summer and they are a symbol of fertility, vigour and joyful abandon. Bollywood movie watchers know that when rain showers soak the hero and heroine, it’s shorthand for the lovemaking they can’t show on screen. The southwest monsoon is expected to arrive in the southern state of Kerala each year on June 1, and it spends the next few months sweeping north across the subcontinent, lightening the hearts of farmers, children, lovers and just about everyone else. Tourists, too, enjoy the lush freshness, cooling downpours and relaxation-inducing vibes the monsoon brings.

5. Experience bliss. Summer monsoon season is the best time for Ayurvedic treatment in India. Ayurveda, which means “science of life,” is the ancient system of traditional Indian health care that seeks to restore health through the use of diet, herbs, lifestyle advice, cleansing techniques and, primarily, bliss-inducing oil massages. The languid dampness opens the pores and makes the body more receptive to the medicated oils. Kerala, in southern India, is a tropical paradise on the Arabian Sea, and the best place for Ayurvedic treatment in India. Ayurvedic resorts, from the rustic to the luxurious, line the shores between white sand beaches and palm tree forests and offer a relaxing vacation as well as authentic treatments.

6. Find the source of the Ganges. The Ganges River – known in India as Ganga Mata – is the lifeline of the country and its most sacred river. One-in-ten people on earth depend on its bounty for their livelihood. It cascades out of the high Himalayas in northern India, and finding its source – or sources – is a major pilgrimage activity every summer after the snows melt and the roads and villages become accessible (April to November). The pilgrimage is called Char Dham, which means four sacred places, and bus tours from Rishikesh in Uttaranchal state can take you to all four: Badrinath, Kedarnath, Yamunotri and Gangotri.

7. Get soaked with Ganesh. One of the biggest festivals in Maharashtra state takes place at the end of summer. It’s called Ganesh Chaturthi, and while it’s celebrated throughout India, no one does it quite like Mumbai. For 10 days, Mumbaikers celebrate by holding cultural and social programs, eating sweets and worshipping the popular elephant-headed god. On the 11th day, his birthday, an enormous clay figure of Ganesh is paraded through the streets of Mumbai before being immersed in the Arabian Sea. The main parade, to Chowpatty Beach, is accompanied by thousands of celebrants dancing and singing in the streets. All are welcome to join the fun.

8. Sip tea in Darjeeling. A popular hill station perched high up in the Himalayas, on the northern edge of West Bengal, Darjeeling also gives its name to the world’s best tea. In the 19th century, Darjeeling was THE summer destination for the British in Calcutta (then the capital of colonial India). Though Darjeeling is lashed by the summer monsoon, it still offers an escape from the heat of lower-lying regions. Tourists enjoy the Victorian-era holiday atmosphere, spectacular views of some of the world’s highest mountains, tours to surrounding tea gardens and Tibetan culture. Take the poignantly slow Toy Train from Siliguri and you will find yourself in tune with Darjeeling’s timeless appeal.

9. Run with the chariots. The mid-summer Chariot Festival in Puri, Orissa, attracts millions of devotees and tourists each year, who take part in an enormous procession as three mammoth, dazzling wood chariots are pulled through the streets. It’s one of the biggest festivals in India – so big, it inspired a word that means “massive, inexorable force.” The word juggernaut was coined after 19th century British spectators saw people, mad with devotion, throw themselves under the giant wheels of the Lord Jagannath’s chariot. The splendour and grandeur of this spectacle is unforgettable.

10. Watch snake boats compete. The Onam Festival of late August celebrates the tropical southern state’s rich cultural heritage during a glorious time of year when everything seems fresh and radiant. During the 10-day festival, Kerala puts on a showy display of games and sports, traditional art forms, drama and classical music. There’s also shopping at the many festival bazaars that spring up and a Grand Feast. But the highlight is the Nehru Trophy Snake Boar Race, the biggest snake boat race in the world. This immensely popular festival, held to coincide with Kerala Tourist Week, attracts people from all over the globe.

Krishna

11. Celebrate Krishna’s birthday. Blue-skinned Krishna is one of Hinduism’s most important and beloved gods. He can be depicted as a cherubic baby, flute-playing lad, devoted lover – alongside his consort Radha – or as Arjun’s charioteer during the epic battle of the Mahabharata (the basis of the Hindu bible, the Bhagvad Gita). Inspiring fervent devotion among his followers, his mid-summer birthday (this year on August 14) is called Janmashtami. It is celebrated all across the country, but nowhere more so than in his birthplace, Mathura, Uttar Pradesh. The fun includes rituals, feasting, devotional singing, plays that depicts scenes from his action-packed life and human pyramids – formed to reach a high-hanging pot of butter, Krishna’s weakness.

Thank you for reading. Please visit BreatheDreamGo or stop by my Facebook page at Breathedreamgo.