Onaashamsakal!!

Happy Onam to all my fellow mallus! Above is the pookalam that we made at home today. Do pardon the stark simplicity - attributed to lack of more types of flowers, and well, creativity! My neighbours, Abhishek and Abhilasha, however, brought about a gem : absolutely fantastic.


A friend recently asked me the story behind Onam, and I gave a really vague story, much to his disappointment and confusion, I think. :) Which is why I have now researched the details, and will present the details for his benefit..and others. Here goes.

The story goes that Kerala was ruled by an Asura (demon) king, Mahabali. The King was greatly respected in his kingdom and was considered to be wise, judicious and extremely generous. It is said that Kerala witnessed its golden era in the reign of King Mahabali. It was the peak of its prosperity - everybody was happy and content.

Now seeing his fame as such a great king and leader, the gods upstairs started feeling a tinge of insecurity, so to speak. They felt challenged by his growing powers and felt the need to curb it. So Aditi, the mother of the Devas, pleaded with Lord Vishnu to do something about it. Persuaded, Lord Vishnu took the diminutive form of Vamana, a brahmin kid.

Thus disguised, Vishnu went to the king and said he was a poor Brahmin and asked for a piece of land. The King, generous as he was, told him he could have as much land as he wanted. The Brahmin said that he just wanted as much land as could be covered by three steps of his. The King was surprised to hear this but agreed.

A learned adviser of the King, Shukracharya sensed that Vamana was not an ordinary person and warned the King against making the promise. The King replied that it would be a sin for a King to back on his words and asked the Brahmin to take the land. The King could not imagine that the dwarf Brahmin was Lord Vishnu himself.

Just as King Mahabali agreed to grant the land, Vamana began to expand and eventually increased himself to the size of cosmic proportions. With his first step the Brahmin boy covered the whole of earth and with the other step he covered the whole of the skies. He then asked King Mahabali where is the space for him to keep his third foot.

The King realised that he was no ordinary Brahmin and his third step will destroy the earth. Mahabali with folded hands bowed before Vamana and asked him to place his last step on his head so that he could keep the promise. The Brahmin placed his foot on the head of the King, which pushed him to patala, the nether world. There the King requested the Brahmin to reveal his true identity. Lord Vishnu then appeared before the King in his person. Lord Vishnu also granted a boon to the King.

The King was so much attached with his Kingdom and people that he requested that he be allowed to visit Kerala once in a year. Lord Vishnu was moved by the Kings nobility and was pleased to grant the wish. He also blessed the King and said even after losing all his worldly possessions, the King would always be loved by Lord Vishnu and his people.

It is the day of the visit of King Mahabali to Kerala that is celebrated as Onam every year. The festival is celebrated as a tribute to the sacrifice of King Mahabali. Every year people make elaborate preparations to welcome their King whom they affectionately call Onathappan. They wish to please the spirit of their King by depicting that his people are happy and wish him well. The second day, Thiruvonam is the biggest and the most important day of this festival. It is believed that King Mahabali visits his people on the second day.

And there we have the story of Onam. It feels strange to depart from the seeming theme of atheism, if for a while atleast.. :) and then give you a story of the gods!

Are you absolutely certain?

Scott Adams presents some really delightful writing as he reasons why an atheist must, ironically, think himself God!

And a reader responds back with proof.

:)

Choices

I apologise for the stark vagueness of this post. I hope that the generalisation, however, makes it easy for the reader to relate to.

I have the choice today. Its entirely in my hands. Yet I am unsure what course to take. In the interest of, well, myself, I attempt to explain without going into the details. I step up the abstraction just a notch.

Choice 1 : Unwanted at the moment. Atleast this is not how I imagined myself years ago, not how I hoped things to be. Yet I cannot evade the possibility that this might someday be my only choice left. And it might not be a bad choice.

Choice 2: There is the familiar, there is the thing I've wanted all along. I have it today, only I'm not sure I want it anymore. I think I have outgrown the long-coveted.

Choice 3: The attraction of the unfamiliar, the novelty of the unexplored. Could it be my best choice? I will not know till I go there.

One of these three? Or find a fourth?

Random Thought 3

The worst part of trying to mentally condition yourself with the atheist view is that when you want something to happen, something that is out of your control, you can't pray to someone and hope it'll happen. I catch myself very often these days midway in a God please....and then I have to remind myself. But then again, you can console yourself that no one's out to get you. ;)

To do or not to do

What do you do when a beggar begs you for money at a traffic signal? I know a lot of people who have a strict anti-begging stance and will not give money ever. There are other people who always give. Me, it depends on my mood. When I feel s/he seems sincerely unable to make a living otherwise, I give. Else, I don't. Of course, I don't always analyze like that. Many a times it also depends on how much accessible change i have.

So one day, at a traffic signal, there was this man selling boxes of facial tissues. The easy-pull boxes that people generally keep in the car. I don't recall whether we had some in the car already or not, but not buying atleast a box from the man, made me feel terribly guilty that day. Here was a man, who was actually working for his living. I could easily afford that one box which would have probably made his day, may not have, but it would have contributed to hard earned money. And I had a use for the product. But I didn't buy them. And I drove on ahead. And felt guilty. And then in due course of time forgot about it.

A few days back at the same signal I saw a man selling the same thing again. I did not know whether it was the same person, but here was my chance to work off the guilt of that earlier day. Then I saw that there were two of them. So I asked the guy standing at my car for the price. Three for a hundred, he said. That was a tad too much. I asked for just one. He gave me the emotional rigmarole, as a result of which I ended up buying two boxes for 60 rupees. All this while, the time spent in bargaining, haggling, fishing out for money, fishing out for the change, was enough for the signal to change colour to green. The man behind me started honking incessantly (see this for more on that) but I was helpless till I received my change. This was when the second guy realised he had a chance. I drove on (while the signal was still green) with him following me by the window, till the signal turned red. Meanwhile, honker behind me gets stuck in the second round of the signal, and is presumably (and understandably) heaping curses on me. Seller 2 wished to sell me more boxes. I told him I couldn't buy any more. Emotional rigmarole again then. He told me how seller 1 had now got his boni (first income of the day) and that he would also get his if I bought some. I fell for the tale within a few seconds (we're talking traffic signal cycles here.) Bought one more box from him for a 30. He asked me to buy another and this time I gave him my piece. I told him that even I worked for my money. It doesn't come easy. He didn't want to hear more. This time when the signal turned green I was ready to move. I gave way to the guy behind me, who in turn gave me the dirtiest glare he could.

At the end of it, I had mixed feelings about having helped someone (in a good way) and having been vulnerable enough to fall for all that they said. I could have done my bit with buying just one. I wished to give them the benefit of doubt. But I couldn't say. They'd probably had their boni and much more by that time of the day. But I couldn't say. I now have 3 boxes in the car. I will eventually use all of them so it's not a waste. I looked at the price on the box (late, I confess). Rs. 50. I wonder what I'll do the next time around. What would you do? Continue buying? Buy more? Buy less? Never buy again?