Skip to main content

Chariots and moon :)



I was wondering  if little children pull the rath still.... But I noticed my Facebook  timeline having quite a few pictures of smiling faces with their bedecked little chariots, much to my delight. In this digital chaos , somewhere these simple customs are lost , like a friend lamented this morning. Our parents bought us this crude do-tala rath and we decked it up with ghuri r kagoj and made The Trio sit in the prime position as we pulled the contraption from one room to the other offering the papad, math mishti and batasha......The contraption rested for a week when the ritual was repeated on the ulto-rath day. And then there was also the Rath-er Mela , with it's stalls full of trinkets and baubles and bhepu banshi.
Strangely, we also had a film magazine which was called "Ulto -Rath" and which was out of bounds for us as kids, thus building up on the curiosity quotient. The magazine honestly, wasn't much really, a few stories, gossips and black and white pictures , but generates a whole hoard of memories. 
This year Rath happened on the last day of Ramadan. I went all over the town, looking for the best haleem. On days like this, I feel like a child again, remembering what Baba used to say, "Rath o dekhlam , kolao bechlam!" 

Comments

  1. DrikAGS6 July 2016 at 11:58

    Sooo nostalgic... Katodin rath-tanao hoyni, dekhi o ni.. Wonder if our friends from school and college days are also including the rath special sugary-maths in their regular ramadan feasts..!! I remember 5 of us trooped to Razia's house for biriyani whicH tasted sooo special esp when combined with bunked classes.!! ����

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. amrita6 July 2016 at 22:22

      Razia lives in Udaipur now. And come during Rath ek baar , jabo rather mela te :)

      Delete
  2. deeps9 July 2016 at 00:07

    i guess Kolakatta has already embraced the festivel mood

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. amrita9 July 2016 at 01:51

      Kolkata is a forever festival city. We celebrate almost everything. And soon it will be time for the Durga Pooja :)

      Delete
    2. deeps9 July 2016 at 05:14

      you are tempting me all the more now :)

      Delete
  3. deeps23 July 2016 at 21:34

    what happened Mam? running short on inspirational fuel it seems...

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A holiday with self :)

A long overdue blog about the path that I was seeking , or did the path seek me out ? Over the years the sheen of belief was wearing off and I was beginning to question the master about the magic - about faith becoming commercial, about what Bhaskar stated, "This is all about money".  Packing my bags off and going solo isn't very uncommon in my life, but this time I was not on work per se. Checking-in into the Ashram, was on my bucket-list for ever-since, and it was an amazing experience. Despite the crowd, the ambiance just reverberated with a mix of reverence, energy , faith, hope, prayer - and questions too ! Like I mentioned before meditation was not about spiritual pyrotechnics, but a metaphor connected to life. Like the corner I chose had a vantage view of the stage and despite a stench that started emanating from the corner, I just could not leave that place, for the view that corner offered got me stuck there. Life is like that, we are often stuck in the rut , ...
14 comments
Read more

The 3 men in my life!

That's a strange caption I chose ! But for me,  am in a sentimental nostalgic mood - It's not easy for me to watch, as the first man around whom my world revolved stumble, totter and be spaced out ! Of course his spirit is still strong and I ensure that he is never left alone or lonely ,but I guess I can't...in the end he is alone with his thoughts! Of course I am talking of Baba ! He still is my priority at times over Bhaskar , who suffers silently . Baba and Bhaskar can still be jealous over each other when I buy something for one and leave the other out. So it has been a habit now to buy 2 identical things for the two, cos I know they will end up comparing ! The third one is going to be 21 in two days time ! And aren't I glad that he has grown up ! I was not really the best of smoochie-woochie -baby -talkie mothers ! I guess that's the reason why Chibu still feels embarrassed when hugged ! But at times I am amazed that 21 years flew by...I still can remember ...
10 comments
Read more

Morning bells are ringing ......

Heidi lived in Alps with her Alms uncle - I read this story in a book that was called The Big Big Story Book and it had a compilation of amazing stories that were my first foray into the world of English story books. Recently on a long flight I watched the movie much to delight of the young steward who was our attendant that night. My first glimpse of the Alps was from our flight ...the dawn breaking to spread the orange hues over the snowy terrain...looked mesmerizing even to someone who is not too fond of the mountains. Switzerland was beautiful, with its manicured terrain and flowers like pretty maids all in a row, picture perfect setting and breathtaking, like a touch me not porcelain beauty. Coming from my "elo melo" city I wondered how people managed to keep a country so organized , I have trouble keeping my room in ship shape...... No, I would not like to live there ......it's too distant and too cold ,but what I will carry in my heart is  the awesome time .......
10 comments
Read more