Day 2 of creating smiles.give something beyond expectation to the labour class!

Day 2 of creating smiles.give something beyond expectation to the labour class!

I woke up to a home still smelling like a temple...only it was time to uncreate all that was created with so much of love just the previous day...isn't this what life is all about?

Flowers to be taken down, Bedsheets to be removed and washed, carpets to be folded,huge vessels to be washed, rooms requiring and swabbing, it takes an extreme amount of behind the scenes labour to keep things just as they are. I am lucky to have a fantastic Man Friday to help me in keeping our home clean. And the best smile I got today was when I gave him a hefty tip for the extra work done...this may not have been a big amount for me but for him it was about 25% of his monthly salary!

Do we spare an extra thought for the amount of physical hard work that is done by people who work for us? I could happily sleep during the day to make up for the over exertion at the previous day's function...but a lot of labour class people in this world barely have time to recover from their physical exhaustion.

You must be know so many workers who toil for more than 12 hours a day...from washing cars, sweeping, swabbing, cleaning etc. When survival is at stake where is even the time to smile? The least we can do is to see them smile with unexpected useful gifts.

Dear reader, I ask you to spare a thought for the people who work for you...your maid servant, driver, car washer, etc. they may not be perfect but neither are you if I ask your boss! Yet how much would you smile if got 25% of your monthly salary as an unexpected gift?

See how easy it is to create smiles today. Do let me know what smiles you got from labour class by giving them unexpected useful gifts today.

Day 1 of Creating Smiles - Feed them well

Day 1 of Creating Smiles - Feed them well

'Joker creating smiles' - when and how how was this Joker born?

'Joker creating smiles' - when and how how was this Joker born?

27th July 2015 brings in the day when I completed 52 years of age...
I awaken with mixed feelings..I am at a stage of life where I feel that I have been there, done that, dealt with that...all my cards are out there on the table...sometimes I was a queen, sometimes a slave, sometimes an ace, sometimes I hit a sixer, and so on.

I have faced the umpteen changes of life in different ways...I hit across my challenges with my clubs, I protect myself with my spades, many times I happily follow my heart, sometimes I use the power of my favourite diamonds.

Now I am on the brink of another major change in my life. So I take out a new card, my 53rd card in my pack...on 27th July 2015 there is a new birth in my life...here comes the joker!

In Dubai, on my birthday I announced the birth of the Joker who creates smiles...Yes that is who I am going to be for this 53rd year of my existence on this planet. A joker..someone who makes others happy. Doesn't matter whether I am crying or laughing from within, my aim for this 53rd year of my life is just to make others smile in whatever small way I can..

My sunny inner child logo can also become a joker logo for this year. As I write about different ways to make people smile...you too can ask yourself...'What can I do to make someone smile? Who smiled at me today? This is the question that you are going to ask yourself before you go to bed every night.... And you will write back about it on this group.

The Inner Child at Champaranya in Chhattisgarh

*The Inner Child at Champaranya in Chhattisgarh -the birthplace of the Saint Mahaprabhu Vallabhacharya,

We landed at Raipur airport and had few hours to spare. Sleepy Shobha preferred a relaxed sight seeing trip within the city, yet Sunny Shobha wanted to see more places if possible. We were advised by the Chhattisgarh tourism official to visit a place that was considered very sacred by the Vallabh sect  of Gujrathi pilgrims…we decided to visit Champaranya -the birthplace of the Saint Mahaprabhu Vallabhacharya! He was a visionary, extremely learned in the Vedas and Upanishads who established and preached the Pushti way of life in an era of budding religious beliefs. We hired a taxi and Sleepy Shobha got a little wary as she realized that we were almost alone on the highway with miles and miles of bare dry land around us. Chattisgarh seemed very barren and flat as we had earlier noticed from the window seat of our plane as we flew over this newly formed sate.

This pilgrim place Champaranya at Chattisgarh is different from the Champaran in Bihar that we learnt about in our History textbooks. We entered a colourfully decorated place, mistaking it to be the temple when actually it was a dharamshala or a rest house for the pilgrims. Sunny Shobha decided to visit the tourist office for some more information about this small place and walked in the hot sun to reach the actual temple of Saint Vallabharcharya at Champaranya at Chattisgarh

The simple nature of the locals and the low cost of everything surprised us. When we pay Rs.30 for a coconut in Mumbai…we were surprised to get a coconut with other pooja items for only Rs. 10. 

A very colourful and artistically creative temple has been constructed in honour of this Saint. The walk through the long decorated entrance lobby made us present to the magic in the air and the positive energy of the place.

There are two temples dedicated to Shri Mahaprabhu Vallabhacharyaji in Champaran. The first one is known as Prakatya Baithakji Mandir, and the second is the Chhatti Baithak. One of them is located at his birth place under the tree and the other one is at the Ghati pujan place. Many pilgrims were patiently waiting for the doors to open and to witness the sevais performed by temple officials. Sleepy Shobha was irritated to wait from 10.30a.m. to almost 11.15a.m. and nobody seemed to know when exactly the doors would open. She just walked away from the uncertain temple officials and sat back in the car. Then Sunny Shobha realized that this was Gods way of asking us to slow down in life, to be calm and immerse ourselves in the simplicity of the place. Sunny Shobha asked the driver to make a u-turn, we came back to the temple and prayed fervently in front of the still closed doors. 

When we got a darshan of the baithak of the Saint Vallabhacharya- ( the holy place where he used to sit and meditate) we thought it was worth the wait.

Apart from this there was a museum with bright colourful images depicting the story of the great saint. A small stream of Mahanadi river flowed near the temple. 

And we also got to visit the temple of Champakeshwara Mahadeva. Legend has it that a particular cow called Radha was discovered pouring a continuous stream of milk on to a rock shaped like a unique Shivalinga that had Mahadev, Parvati and Ganesh on it.

Sunny Shobha was ready to submit to the simplicity, calmness and the holiness of this pilgrim place.We imagined the many miracles of the Saint Vallabhacharya and the huge devotion of the Gujarathis and we considered ourselves to be blessed to be able to visit this sacred site at Chattisgarh.

*(There is an inner child within all of us. One that we were born as - warm and happy, optimistic, capable of serving and loving others, believing in the possibility of extra-ordinary achievements, filled with a kind of inner light and positive energy, taking initiative and action...I will call that your Sunny inner child.

And then we are exposed to circumstances and experiences. Depending on the way we react to our situations, a new inner child emerges. One that we create -  cold and sad, pessimistic, capable of being indifferent or hating others,  believing oneself to be trapped within ordinary limits, filled with a kind of inner darkness and negative energy, lazily whining, not taking action, I will call that your Sleepy inner child.
You have a choice on which inner child you want to encourage in your life - your Sunny inner child or your Sleepy inner child

I will call my inner child as Sunny Shobha and Sleepy Shobha. Together we will travel around the world)

The Inner Child at Raipur- The Capital of Chattisgarh

*The Inner Child at Raipur- The Capital of Chattisgarh

Sunny Shobha was in a state of wonder. Her airplane was about to descend at the Swami Vivekananda airport in Raipur. Sleepy Shobha realized that this was a city that we had not heard much about until it became the capital of a newly formed state of Chattisgarh in India. The famous Indian Swami Vivekanada had spent some of his childhood days in Raipur and the house he lived in had now been converted to a primary school. There was also a huge statue of him with a musical fountain at the beautiful Vivekananda Sarovar lake. 

The airport was some distance away from the main city and Sunny Shobha was happy to see  the green coloured arch welcoming us to the state of possibilities -Chhattisgarh. 

We drove past places like the Nehru garden, the Chhattisgarh Club and the Chief Ministers Bungalow. The City Municipal office and the miniature aircraft model in its front lawns was a place of pride for the locals.

Our taxi driver spoke less about the local tourism, yet was very thrilled at the new malls that had opened up in Raipur! A skeptical Sleepy Shobha had to convince him that a tourist from Mumbai would not want to go to such a modern commercial place.Instead we asked him to drive us through an old section of the town, literally called the Purani basti. The simplicity on the faces of the locals was in stark contrast to the street smart faces of the people of a metropolitan city like Mumbai.

We just had to spend some time looking into the waters of the lake here called Burha Talab. There seemed to be a Maratha influence in settlements like Tatyapura and Burhapura. 

Our driver took us to an old temple of Goddess Kali where we prayed for her protection and blessings. It is believed that the spiritual advisors of the royal family of Bastar had brought this 500 year old stone idol to its present location around 200 years ago.

We  had heard of the Bastar tribes and we knew that tribal tourism was an important aspect of this region. And the best place that reflected the art, music, dance and other culture of the tribals was at the Purkhauti Muktangan centre. We walked through this sprawling 200 acre place, which was a unique effort to bring alive the traditional art of Chattisgarh. There were numerous sculpted images depicting the tribal inhabitants with various musical instruments, dancing scenes and hunting scenes. This was a total new and interesting exposure to tribal culture for us city bred people.

We spent so much of time walking amidst and soaking in the tribal culture at Purkhauti Mukhtangan, that we did not have time to visit the other local temples of Raipur like Dudhadhari temple, Mahamaya temple, Jagannath temple, Jaitu Sau Math temple or the Hatkeshwar Mahadev temple. If we had more time we could have spent hours looking at the ancient artifacts, coins, weapons from all over Chhattisgarh at the five galleries of the Mahant Ghasidas MemorialMuseum.

At the junction of 4 roads, there was a small monument called the Jai Stamb, built to commemorate the martyrdom of Indian rebel Narayan Singh who was hanged publicly by the British on 10^th Nov.1857. Nearby was the Kaiser-e-Hind Darwaza an ornamental gateway meant to honour Queen Victoria, but now sadly pulled down and the façade incorporated into a commercial complex called Ravi Bhawan. A little distance away was the ornate Jawahar Gate which is the entrance to the Jawahar Bazar.

Raipur is usually visited as a temporary stopover on the way to see other natural beautiful tourist spots in Chattisgarh. As our taxi approached the Raipur railway station, we got present to the structured disorderliness in the traffic in the small lanes. 

Even around the station we saw a colourful temple, a Sikh Gurudwara and also a green, cream and pink marbled mosque all in close proximity to each other.

Each time we visit a new place in India, we are amazed at the absolutely new contrasting experience that was in store for us. We love our country and love the variety that it has to offer to one and all. Wow- India!

*(There is an inner child within all of us. One that we were born as - warm and happy, optimistic, capable of serving and loving others, believing in the possibility of extra-ordinary achievements, filled with a kind of inner light and positive energy, taking initiative and action...I will call that your Sunny inner child.

And then we are exposed to circumstances and experiences. Depending on the way we react to our situations, a new inner child emerges. One that we create -  cold and sad, pessimistic, capable of being indifferent or hating others,  believing oneself to be trapped within ordinary limits, filled with a kind of inner darkness and negative energy, lazily whining, not taking action, I will call that your Sleepy inner child.
You have a choice on which inner child you want to encourage in your life - your Sunny inner child or your Sleepy inner child

I will call my inner child as Sunny Shobha and Sleepy Shobha. Together we will travel around the world)

*The Inner Child in Assam

*The Inner Child in Assam

Guwahati

Her precious daughter had just left home to study abroad. Sleepy Shobha had been crying everyday non stop for the last two months, imagining and dreading the future loneliness in the empty nest. Sunny Shobha just prayed to the universe , looking forward to a life of traveling freely to new places. And almost at the last minute she was invited to join this group of seventeen people to a trip to North East India!

Sunny Shobha just about made it on time for the flight to Guwahati airport, flying past the majestic Himalayas and actually admiring the beauty of Mount Everest from the skies!

Everything about Guwahati airport fascinated her, including an unusual sign for the ladies rest room!

A late lunch for our VIP Mangalorean group was at a place called Mangalam on the VIP - Airport Road at Guwahati… a sign that very important things would soon happen in our otherwise routine lives.
White hairy tall plants caught the attention of Sunny Shobha, something she had not seen in the rest of  India. Later she was told that these were used to make brooms for cleaning! We drove past the sprawling campus of the University of Assam… and also the funny shaped Cricket stadium.

Our first crossing of the Brahmaputra river with the beautiful sight of the setting sun was just around 5.15 p.m. Sunny Shobha realized that we were in the eastern most side of India where the sun sets early and also rises early! The local driver told us that that the specialty of the area was its meat products. Sleepy Shobha wondered at what kind of vegetarian food we could get here.












On the return to Guwahati after a week in the wild jungles, Sunny Shobha was happy to enjoy the comforts of a modern hotel in Guwahati!

We got up as usual at 4.30 a.m. to get ready to see its main attraction – the famed Khamakhaya Devi temple. Sleepy Shobha went around the temple complex and felt sad for the innumerable goats roaming around. They would be surely offered as sacrifice, every single day.

The local belief is that the Kamakhya Temple denotes the spot where Sati used to retire in secret to satisfy her amour with Shiva, and it was also one of the fifty one holy places where the body parts of her corpse fell on the earth. It is said that her yoni fell here after Shiva danced with the corpse of Sati. We walked down the narrow steps to reach the dark  inner chambers called garbhagriha. Inside the cave like place, there was a downward sloping depression that was constantly filled with water from an underground perennial spring. It is this hollow place that is worshiped as the goddess Kamakhya herself and considered as most important abode of the Devi. The immense energy of the place can only be experienced but cannot be explained in words.

Many years ago my spouse had visited this place, a book about this temple was lying in the Gods room for years and Sunny Shobha was grateful to be actually called to this temple. The Kamakhya temple was situated on top of the Nilachal hill and on our way back, we stopped at a vantage point to get a panoramic view of the Guwahati city. The feeling of being on top of the world with the Brahmaputra river in the distance was another memory that was etched in the mind of Sunny Shobha.

Sleepy Shobha resented that there wasn't much time to do some local shopping, we had to go to the airport to catch our flight out of Guwahati. We left with the feeling that we had to come back again to see more of this wonderful city of Guwahati.


Tezpur- Sonitpur Elephant Reserve.

Sunny Shobha loves to sing whether it is picnic songs or even holy songs. To pass time in the darkness during the long drive from Guwahati, we sang bhajans in our Tata Sumo till we finally reached Tezpur for an overnight halt at the very basic looking Annirudh Hotel. Sleepy Shobha was told to ignore the obvious faults in the hotel room. Sunny Shobha preferred to remember the glow on the face of the room boy when he got an obviously higher tip than expected.

Later we were told that Tezpur was the place of a raging fight between the supporters of Krishna’s grandson Annirudh and his prospective father in law and hence the name Tezpur in memory of the immense bloodshed that had taken place here, hundreds of years ago.

 

We visited the Goudiya Mutt at the Tezpur chowk and saw colourful images depicting the story of Lord Krishna.

We interacted with a local woman in her two-piece typical Assamee Saree who still used firewood for most of her daily cooking.

We drove through the forests of the Sonitsar Elephant Reserve and even saw two elephants on the way. This was the so-called troubled Bodoland that we had only read about in the news and we were glad to do this drive in the day time!

*(There is an inner child within all of us. One that we were born as - warm and happy, optimistic, capable of serving and loving others, believing in the possibility of extra-ordinary achievements, filled with a kind of inner light and positive energy, taking initiative and action...I will call that your Sunny inner child.

And then we are exposed to circumstances and experiences. Depending on the way we react to our situations, a new inner child emerges. One that we create -  cold and sad, pessimistic, capable of being indifferent or hating others,  believing oneself to be trapped within ordinary limits, filled with a kind of inner darkness and negative energy, lazily whining, not taking action, I will call that your Sleepy inner child.
You have a choice on which inner child you want to encourage in your life - your Sunny inner child or your Sleepy inner child

I will call my inner child as Sunny Shobha and Sleepy Shobha. Together we will travel around the world).

*The Inner Child in Bihar

*The Inner Child in Bihar

Patna

1984. After a long and tiring train journey from Mumbai to Patna, Sunny Shobha was thrilled to be on the eastern side of India for the first time in her life. In those cost conscious times we had decided to spend one night in the railway retiring room. Our location was obviously in the heart of the city and our visit was during their main festival of Navrathri.

There was excitement in the air. I saw a lot of makeshift enclosures with idols of the Goddess with blaring loud music from the speakers. But what angered Sleepy Shobha was the close proximity of the two Devi pandals as they were locally called, both having different songs being played in very loud decibels - at the very same time! Our poor ears complained at this confusing cacophony and noise pollution, yet there was nothing much Sleepy Shobha could do about it.

We decided to get out and do as much of sight seeing as possible. The first stop was at the Golghar, a huge Granary - the place where the government stores the grains that have been collected from the local farmers. The impressive almost bee hive shaped structure had steps from outside to climb to the top if needed.

In our history text books Sleepy Shobha had read  a lot about the ancient city of Pataliputra and was quite confused about its various Magadha, Mauryan, Nanda, and 'Mughal rulers.  Sunny Shobha was proud that many foreign travellers to India also came to Pataliputra as it was a center of learning. Sleepy Shobha grumbled that even though this was the same city that was the capital of so many ancient empires, it looked quite ordinary and dirty in the present day times.

Sunny Shobha preferred to use her imagination when we went to Kumhrar- the archeological site to see the ruins of the Mauryan empire and wondered how the eighty pillared hall must have been filled, with riches and wealth around the year 250 BC. India really has such a rich and ancient culture and heritage to learn about.

We then went to theTakht Sri Harmandir Saheb at Patna, which is considered a very sacred place of pilgrimage for the Sikhs as their tenth Guru Gobind Singh was born in this city. This was our first visit ever inside a Gurudwara and Sunny Shobha listened carefully to the soothing religious prayer that was going on.

We then went to the Patna museum and we remember writing in the visitors book that we were happy to see the collection dedicated to the first President of India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad. We also saw a fossil of a tree said to be more than 200 million years old!

We did see some temples and the banks of the river Ganga, but because of the festival season there were noisy crowds that was for Sleepy Shobha to bear.  Sadly this is the memory of Patna that stayed with us after our short visit to the capital of Bihar.

Quie

Raxaul

India in the nineteen seventies was considered a developing economy. Without Internet and cable television, we hardly had any exposure to the international world. Whatever photographs we saw from our foreign return relatives made us open our jaws in amazement. Foreign travel was considered to be prohibitively expensive. So you can imagine our excitement when our family decided to go to our first foreign trip abroad- to Nepal.

We found ourselves at a relatively unknown border town called Raxaul. My dad told me that we were in the East Champaran district where Gandhiji had started the indigo movement, which was one of the first steps towards India's struggle for freedom.

And sleepy Shobha realized that our first foreign trip in 1984 did not start from some big  plane in a big airport. Instead we went towards the border in a manually driven small cycle-rickshaw! We cycled past the customs building and went into the small room which was the Indian police check point. My father filled some forms there and then we were allowed to walk carrying our own luggage towards a gate on the other side of which was another country, Nepal.

This short dusty bumpy cycle rickshaw  ride was in complete contrast to the huge anticipation of our first foreign trip. Sunny Shobha thought that this cycle rickshaw ride towards a foreign country was one of the most amusing memory that got etched in our mind about this border town of Bihar called Raxaul!

*(There is an inner child within all of us. One that we were born as - warm and happy, optimistic, capable of serving and loving others, believing in the possibility of extra-ordinary achievements, filled with a kind of inner light and positive energy, taking initiative and action...I will call that your Sunny inner child.

And then we are exposed to circumstances and experiences. Depending on the way we react to our situations, a new inner child emerges. One that we create -  cold and sad, pessimistic, capable of being indifferent or hating others,  believing oneself to be trapped within ordinary limits, filled with a kind of inner darkness and negative energy, lazily whining, not taking action, I will call that your Sleepy inner child.

You have a choice on which inner child you want to encourage in your life - your Sunny inner child or your inner Sleepy child?)

I will call my inner child as Sunny Shobha and Sleepy Shobha. Together we will travel around the world. )