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Diwali in India
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Diwali 101 – Everything You Wanted to know about the Festival of Lights

The great Hindu epic of Ramayana tells the tale of Prince Rama (the 7th avatar of the God Vishnu)  of the kingdom of Ayodhya who was banished to the forests by his jealous stepmother Kaikeyi who wanted the throne  for her own son Bharat. Although Rama was the heir to the throne, he being the ideal son wanted to help keep a vow his father King Dusshratha had made to Queen Kaikeyi that any wish she made would be granted. Prince Rama went into the forests for 14 years, accompanied by his loving wife Sita (an avatar of the Goddess Lakshmi) and devoted brother Lakshmana who insisted on following him into exile.

 The Story of Ramayana

After many trials and tribulations, Rama manages to rescue Sita and vanquish Ravana, whose ten heads symbolize mankind’s ills such as anger, lust, avarice and greed. Diwali marks the triumphant return of Rama to the kingdom of Ayodhya where he ascended the throne and personified the Ideal Man and King.

Diwali celebrates this triumphant return and new beginnings, for we  all fight a battle against our lower nature, and aspire to live the ideal life of righteousness and harmony.

Diwali, also known as Deepawali (festival of lights)  is celebrated in so many ways – it’s the Hindu New Year marked by prayers and puja, both in the home and the office, as it also begins the new year for business, getting the books blessed in prayer. It is the most auspicious time of the year when  Lakshmi, the Goddess of Wealth and Prosperity,  is believed to visit all homes. Houses are cleaned and painted, new furnishings are installed and the homes are lit with earthen lamps to welcome the Goddess.

Children taking part in a Diwali celebration (photo-Baps)

Diwali –  A Time for Celebration

Diwali is a national holiday in India and almost all buildings are illuminated with electric lights or with the more ritualistic earthen lamps.  To drive by Indian villages on Diwali is to see entire landscapes of flickering lamps. The festivities begin almost ten days ahead with Dusshera  which is followed by Choti Diwali and Badi Diwali – Small and Big Diwali.

According to Pew research, 79.5 percent of the population of India is Hindu while about 51 percent of all Indian-Americans are Hindu, reflecting the migration patterns. Yet Diwali is now observed by many people as a cultural holiday in India and the Diaspora, irrespective of religion. Friends get together to burn fireworks and celebrate.

Diwali 101 –  A Great Watch for Families at Diwali

The holiday is the biggest commercial event for retailers as families buy Diwali gifts, clothing, electronics and jewelry. In fact a day before Diwali, on Dhanteras,  families buy gold jewelry and new utensils for the kitchen, as this is considered auspicious. Diwali gifts are  given to the young as well as packages of money, after the family Lakshmi Puja (ritual prayers).   Sweetmakers do a booming business and there can be no Diwali without sweets!

In fact, the sweets are first offered in temples as offerings to the Gods and the BAPS temples offer hundreds of different sweets to the Lord.

Diwali – offering prasadam before God (Photo – BAPS)

Diwali travels to America

At the same time, Indian immigrants have taken their faith all over the world so there are Hindu temples in all parts of the world, and Diwali is celebrated from Australia to Zaire.  Trinidad, where many people trace their lineage back to India,  has a large Hindu population, and during Diwali, an entire Diwali Nagar or Diwali City is set up.

Besides temple visits and family get-togethers, Diwali in the modern age also has social connotations with dinners and parties in restaurants and clubs, as well as gambling parties held by friends. Playing cards is a tradition at Diwali as are social parties to celebrate the holiday season.

As the Indian-American community expands, Diwali is finding its way into popular American culture, and ‘The Office’ starring Mindy Kaling became the first American comedy series to introduce this holiday to the mainstream.

During his tenure,  President Obama sent Diwali greetings to Indian-Americans on the big day.  Here is a previous year’s message from President Obama.

Diwalis Past – President Obama’s Diwali message

A file photo: President Barack Obama receives a shawl from the priest from Sri Siva Vishnu Temple, Lanham, MD, in the Blue Room of the White House (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Some years, American businesses have also got into the Diwali spirit, in 2015, Macy’s had Diwali decorations on the floor in its store in New Jersey – and that may be a taste of things to come. When Nidhi Katuria, a NJ based filmmaker walked in, she stopped, stunned. This all red and blue quintessential American department store was actually showcasing Diwali festive decor and a big poster ‘Happy Diwali’. “I felt an overwhelming feeling in my heart, like it smiled,” says Kathuria.

While children still don’t get a public school holiday in America as they do in India, small steps have been taken and some school districts in New Jersey have observed Diwali as a holiday.

Drivers do get some relief from parking rules in Manhattan, with the suspension of alternate side parking in honor of Diwali.

Diwali was acknowledged at Macy’s two years back. Will there be an encore this year?

One of the oldest and biggest is the Deepawali Mela in South Street Seaport in Manhattan, where over 40,000 people turn up to celebrate the festival with fireworks, food and festivities.  As more and more Americans learn about Diwali from their Indian friends, they realize they can share the joy  as well as the ideals behind Diwali – striving for a better life and vanquishing the forces of evil and darkness.

(C) Lavina Melwani

This article was first published in Beliefnet.com  (2015)

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The bounty of Thanksgiving -Photo Credit: Jitabebe Flickr via Compfight cc

Thanksgiving is a Time for Counting Blessings…

In India, take a walk down the Mumbai waterfront in the early morning mist, and you see ordinary citizens quietly feeding the fish and the birds.  Their daily day doesn’t really begin until the deities in their  home shrine have been venerated with fresh flowers and offered prasadam. It is only after eating a little of this blessed offering does the family sit down to their meals. Many remember to keep aside a portion of the food for a hungry person or the birds. It is all about sharing.

Every festival is about counting one’s blessings and thanking God for them.  Indeed, buying a new car or new home entails special puja or prayer ceremonies to bless the new item and to offer thanks.

“Gratitude is one of the most important virtues in many Hindu texts” – Dr. Vasudha Narayanan

Narayanan, who is also  Director, Center for the Study of Hindu Traditions (CHiTra) , has lived in Florida for many years and has seen how Indian Americans have interacted with the festival of Thanksgiving.  She says, “It is a ‘secular’ holiday and the sentiments are something we can all resonate with but obviously, there are no ‘family traditions’ for new immigrants.  We do go to friends’ homes; in the 1970s and even early 80s, we were frequently invited by local American friends who worked hard to find us vegetarian fare and make stuffing without stock.

Eventually, as the Indian population got larger, there were more events hosted by Indo-American families.  In Gainesville, a university town, we used to invite students for a home cooked Indian meal, just as our professors used to invite us when we were students.”

Gratitude at Thanksgiving -Photo Credit: Sunciti _ Sundaram’s Images + Messages Flickr via Compfight cc

New Traditions at Thanksgiving

Anju Bhargava, founder of Hindu American Seva Communities (HASC) finds her own way of offering thanks. She say, ” Our family tradition is to go around the table and share at least one thing that has happened to you that you are grateful for.  This sharing is the communal prayer creates a spirit of thankfulness.”

Having worked with many Hindus in creating community awareness of service or seva, she  says,  “The Thanksgiving observance fits in very well with the Hindu sensibility – festivities filled with food, company of friends and family and with a values- oriented focus; a time to appreciate all that you have in life and a time to share your merits with others, So it is only natural that Hindu Americans join in the spirit of the observance with a natural élan. Hindus do know how to party and celebrate. What we need to do more is to serve, to bring the UtsavSeva (service through festivals) component more to the forefront.”

She adds, ” Seva is an important aspect on this holiday. Many of us feed the homeless in some manner or form – either actually serve on that day, or before or after or even collect canned food and deliver.”

Sharing at Thanksgiving – Photo Credit: sarabeephoto Flickr via Compfight cc

A Vegetarian Thanksgiving

Indians who are vegetarian relish the many fixings on the Thanksgiving table and also turn to meatless alternatives like tofu or lasagna or celebrate with a full-fledged Indian vegetarian meal. Fortunately, vegan and vegetarian food is so popular in America now that Indians have a really easy time of it. Thanksgiving is all about sharing food so multicultural America has a lot to share. Says  Vasudha Narayanan, ” Most friends I know end up with international fare and create new traditions that way; so everything from hummus to seven-layered dip to eventually moving to good Andhra fare or avial and double-ka-meetha for sweets!”

Thanksgiving is a festival totally in sync with the Indian state of mind – it’s about remembering the Almighty and his many blessings, and in turn sharing with the less fortunate.

(C) Lavina Melwani

A version of this article first appeared in Beliefnet.com

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An Evergreen Christmas Tale….

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Christmas is an Indian Festival too!

Some stories are evergreen and resonate year after year. This was written back in 2007 and the children in these stories have grown up but the sentiments remain the same! I remember spending a lot of time researching these stories and talking to the families profiled here. For me, these stories are almost like Christmas ornaments that I take out every holiday season to share and add sparkle to the holiday!

Christmas is an Indian festival, as you will see from the stories here. Do share your own memories too in the comments!

Away from India, Beverly D’Souza & Luke experience Christmas in New York

Indian Christians Celebrate Christmas

While Christmas is important to Indian Christians as a celebration of faith, many non-Christians enjoy it as a secular holiday in ways small and big. Indeed, Christmas is such a huge, high voltage commercialized event in America that few can escape its allure, be they Christians or not.

If you’re an Indian Christian, your traditional Christmas cuisine travels with you – no matter where you go in the world. Christopher and Beverly D’Souza, who came to America just five years ago via Bombay and Abu Dhabi, serve this eclectic feast at their holiday table, a menu which crisscrosses various Christian communities in India.

Ever eaten this at Christmas?

Duck Moile, Chicken Shakuti, Pork Innad, Beef Stew and colorful Wedding Rice bedecked with caramelized onions, raisins, nuts and sliced boiled eggs. All this topped with an array of sweets including Kul-Kul, Thali Sweets, Milk Cream and Rose-de-Coque.

Beverly,  who is East Indian and was born and brought up in Abu Dhabi,  not only cooks the meals of her childhood but also those of Christopher’s, who is from Mangalore.  On their festive holiday table you’ll find Chicken Khudi and Duck Moile, which are East Indian specialties as well as Chicken Shakuti which is a Goan dish. There’s also Pork Innad, a Mangalorean dish and the Anglo Indian Beef Stew.

Christmas meals amongst the Indian Christians are elaborate, holiday worthy meals under the weight of which a table can literally groan. The meal starts with appetizers like Ground Meat and Potato Croquettes or Fried Potato Chops filled with meat – this tradition has changed to also include the more healthy ground chicken, turkey or vegetables.

There’s also the weird-sounding Salted Tongue of which Beverly says, “This may seem quite strange to a lot of people but is a delicacy for some – however this tradition is changing with modern families and is rarely eaten out of India. Also, since we did not celebrate Thanksgiving in India, many homes also had the Stuffed and Roasted Pig, Chicken, Turkey or Goose served on the table ready to be carved.  Some of these traditions continued when we migrated.”

She adds that besides the curries, Pork Sorpotal and Vindaloo are other traditional dishes served at Christmas and each of the Christian communities has their own recipes for these dishes. Breads served by East Indians include Fugias while Mangaloreans and Goans serve Sannas, which is white, looks like an idli but tastes very different.

Chris and Beverly D’Souza, originally from India, celebrate Christmas in New York

Indian Christians, Diverse voices…

With the approach of Christmas, Indian Christians are celebrating the birth of Christ not only with their many different celebratory meals but also raising their voices in prayer in many tongues including Malayalam, Telegu, Tamil, Bengali, Marathi and Gujarati, besides English.

“The Indian Christian population in the US is quite diverse, both in its denominational and linguistic identification, with significant numbers of  Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestants, including Pentecostal,” says Raymond B. Williams, author of “Christian Pluralism in the United States: the Indian Immigrant Experience” (Cambridge University Press). He points out that there is a representative group of almost all the churches that are present in India, and these are sometimes organized in denominational groups and sometimes in linguistic groups.

According to Abraham Mammen, President of the Federation of Indian American Christians of North America (FIACONA), a US based umbrella organization, there are approximately 600,000 Indian Christians in the country, and about a third of these are in the Northeast.

“Each denomination celebrates Christmas differently,” says Mammen. “Some don’t even celebrate it in a ceremonial way because they feel that the birth of Christ is something to be remembered every day of their lives. It is a fact, though, that Christmas is the most important day of their lives, of God coming to earth as a man. For Indian Christians in America, I’ve seen that regardless of how long we’ve been here, our roots still go back to India.”

So Indian Christians can merge into the mainstream or worship at their own churches which are established across the US.  Visit the Long Island Mar Thoma Church in Merrick, Long Island and you hear the Christmas carols being sung in Malayalam, by the congregation, many of them bedecked in rich silk saris. A festive meal that this writer shared with Keralite Christians after the services at their church included many ethnic dishes including chicken curry, pullao, appam or pancakes, and payasam or rice pudding.

“We bring our own music, our own costumes and our own way of Caroling at Christmas,” says Rev Jos Kandathikudy of the Syro Malabar Catholic Church. “The carolers dress up in Indian garb as Jesus, Mother Mary and the Three Kings from the East, and our musicians use Indian drums for their blend of Malayalam and English carols.”

Waiting for Santa

Indians and a New York Christmas…

Celebrating Christmas in America can be quite a revelation for immigrants who have grown up in other countries. Beverly D’Souza, who grew up in the Middle East, had never seen snow and saw her first magical snowflakes in a White Christmas in New York. “It was the first time I encountered a winter wonderland Christmas. It was snowing all day and we went to see the tree at Rockefeller Plaza. I just love the streets and the lights and the shopping. In Abu Dhabi the streets were lit up for Ramadan but never for Christmas – that’s why this is so special for me.”

Christmas was, however, not a lonely time in Abu Dhabi because Christian families would get together, and have parties, Christmas bazaars and concerts in the schools and also organize dance parties at the five star hotels.

One custom that Indian Christian communities delight in is their holiday desserts, and although there are considerable Portuguese influences in the main dishes of several Christian communities, the Hindu influences prevail in the spicing and in the sweets. Although there are traditional sweets like Mixed Fruit Cake, Plum Cake and Date Cake, the Indian mithai influence is there in Marzipan, Milk Cream, Cordials which are all cashew nut or almond based. Do Dol is made of rice flour, jaggery, cashew nut and flour dough while Thalie Sweets are suji (cream of wheat) and egg based. Deep fried Kul-Kuls and Nankhatais or cookies are also a must in the spread of holiday sweets.

The D’Souzas make many of these sweets during the holiday season. She says, “Tradition has been carried across the oceans – even here friends from Connecticut and upstate New York came with their homemade sweets to visit each other. When my mother is in town, all the sweets are made at home.”

After midnight mass, the D’Souzas visit close friends for coffee and fruitcake, and on Christmas morning their three year old son Luke opens the presents that Santa has brought him. Indeed, the Santa Claus tradition is strong with Indian Christians, be they in India, the Middle East or in America. Over the years Beverly has seen Santa arrive in Goa, Mumbai and Abu Dhabi by boat, chariot and even a helicopter – and now her son sees him arrive in the neon-lit glitz of Macy’s, probably by subway or cab!

Christmas – an Indian Festival

Mohina and Ricky Tejpaul with Zarina and Sabina

While Christmas is important to Indian Christians as a celebration of faith, many non-Christians enjoy it as a secular holiday in ways small and big. Indeed, Christmas is such a huge, high voltage commercialized event in America that few can escape its allure, be they Christians or not. For most Indians it’s hard not to get sucked into the whole holiday ambiance what with the shopping madness, the carols in public places, and the barrage of Christmas shows and music even on TV.

Also for many non-Christians who grew up in India,  Christmas is very much a secular festivity since it is a national holiday throughout India, and very much a shared celebration, a time for family get-togethers in hotels and private homes.

One person who takes Christmas very seriously is Mohina Josen, a second generation Indian-American who grew up in New York.  She and her husband Ricky Tejpaul buy their most expensive, big ticket items at Christmas; the kids get elaborate gift wrapped packages. The family sets up not one but two elaborate trees and hosts a rocking holiday party with Santa Claus, elves and all the trimmings – and even a pre-Christmas party to start up the festivities!

The couple is open to every festival and besides celebrating their own Sikh and Hindu festivals, they also celebrate Christmas and American festivals like Thanksgiving, Halloween and Valentine’s Days. From a young age, she saw Christmas being celebrated by her friends. Mohina also remembers going to Christmas celebrations at the home of a Catholic friend of her mother’s and the tradition just carried on.  The family had many relatives in Europe and they would travel there during the Christmas holidays to celebrate together.

Christmas morning

Christmas – Old  Traditions & New…

“When you’re a child and you’re going to school the next day, you’d always hear from others ‘What did you get from Santa?’ It was a thrill opening the gifts,” she recalls. “We did it for the whole commercial aspect of it, for the children to have fun, for Santa Claus and for Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.” So while Thanksgiving is hosted by her mother, Diwali by her mother-in-law, Mohina, who now has two little daughters of her own, Zarina and Sabina, has appropriated Christmas. All the holidays are now taken care of!

Mohina goes all the way with Christmas: The Saturday before Christmas she decorates the house, putting up two live trees and smaller trees on another floor of the house. There’s a pre-holiday party where friends and family drop in to help with the decorations of the house, sip hot chocolate with marshmallows and sing carols. Having grown up here, she has friends from many races, and they have made a tradition of baking together for their children’s schools as well as for colleagues at work.

“The children have made out their lists for Santa, and I tell them that whatever Santa can bring, he will,” she says. “They’ve already written letters to him, telling him how wonderful they’ve been and on Christmas they keep out cookies and milk for Santa, and something for Rudolph and the other reindeers.”

The family also has a tradition of doing some Christmas activities in Manhattan such as going to the Radio City Music Hall or for a holiday show like How the Grinch Stole Christmas. At the Christmas party where she hosts 20 to 40 family members and friends, she serves a huge, traditional American feast, from leg of lamb to all the trimmings and desserts. One year, she recalls, she actually created home-made chocolates encased in chocolate sleds for all the guests as a take home as party favors.

Indeed, for the second generation Indian-Americans who have grown up surrounded by Christmas and Christian friends, it’s a part of their American experience and as new parents, they want to pass it on their children. “There’s a holiday spirit and the euphoria of the whole month and I think that’s what we are celebrating,” says Mohina. “We start with Diwali, Thanksgiving and Guru Nanakji’s birth, and so we just continue celebrating.”

Indian-Americans also celebrate with many social and work-related holiday parties – it seems the perfect time to throw a bash since the whole country is in celebration mode.  It’s a convenient time to get together with friends since on Christmas Eve there’s a light work schedule and a holiday the next day – a perfect opportunity to organize a get-together, which is not always possible on Diwali since that holiday often falls on a week day.

It’s all about traditions, about preserving old ones and creating new ones….

© Lavina Melwani   (This article was written in 2007.)

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At Christmas, three beautiful images from Roberto Custodio, & Peace to the World

 

Madonna and Child by Roberto Custodio

 “Roberto Custodio has a unique way with the art of the found image. Working with the smallest of images cut out from magazines he transports the viewer into a fantastical and magical world of his imagination, where, child-like, we are astonished by his mastery of the art of make believe.

In the present time with our avarice for sampling pieces of music, images, videos and then creating different works, our culture is continually referencing and commenting on the works of others, both past and present. Fully incorporating the art of the found or sampled image, we are constantly delighted by Roberto’s meticulous technique of cutting and re-positioning the tiniest image, forcing change between signifier and signified.

The artist has cleverly filtered and used the ephemeral nature of the magazine printed image, to create a bold, romantic vision that is respectful of the past and yet grounded in the present. Roberto Custodio is a self-taught artist, a native of Sao Paulo, Brazil, where he still resides.”

• (Peter Louis, R L Fine Arts which shows Custodio’s work in New York)

 

Roberto Custodio’s Infant Jesus – a celebration of Christmas

Infant Jesus of Prague

Infant Jesus of Prague is a famous statue located in the Church of Our Lady Victorious in Mal Strana, Prague. Thousands of pilgrims pay homage to the Infant of Prague each year. Claims of blessings, favors and miraculous healings have been made by many who petitioned before the Infant Jesus.

Statuettes of the Infant Jesus are placed inside many Catholics churches, sometimes with the quotation, The more you honor me, the more I will bless you. In Ireland some brides will place a Child of Prague statue outside their houses the night before their wedding. This is meant to ensure that there will be good weather for the wedding day.

 

Jesus of Nazareth by Roberto Custodio in ‘A Matter of Faith’

Jesus of Nazareth

Jesus of Nazareth ( 7-2 BC/BCE 26-36 AD/CE), is the central figure of Christianity and is revered by most Christian churches as the Son of God and incarnation of God. Islam considers Jesus a prophet, and he is an important figure in several other religions. Christians predominantly believe that Jesus came to provide salvation and reconciliation with God by his death for their sins. Other Christian beliefs include Jesus’s virgin birth, performance of miracles, ascension into Heaven, and a future Second Coming.

 

 

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Dada JP Vaswani with the Dalai Lama and Aamir Khan in an interactive session on his birthday

Remembering Dada Vaswani:

Gentle, Humorous with all the answers to life’s complexities

Indeed, if anyone had a failproof  blueprint for a better world, it was Dada J.P. Vaswani, the wise and unassuming spiritual head of the Pune-based Sadhu Vaswani Mission. His life was a synonym for peace, grace and compassion, and it is these qualities that he passed through word and action to thousands of people in countries as far apart as India, the U.S., England, Hong Kong and Australia.

Dada’s is the life well lived, proof that even one person can make a difference in changing mindsets and changing the world. Born in 1918 in Hyderabad, he was drawn to the teachings of his uncle and mentor, the great spiritual leader Sadhu Vaswani.

JP Vaswani with Sadhu T.L Vaswani

A brilliant student, Dada received three double promotions in school and matriculated at the age of 13. In college he excelled in English and Science and his family hoped he would sit for the ICS exam. In spite of having got his Bsc and Msc degrees and having passed the LLB examination, he decided instead to follow in the spiritual footsteps of Sadhu Vaswani.

As a child, he saw that Sadhu Vaswani not only gave his shirt to a beggar but even his cap when the man pointed to it. Says Dada, “His words are engraved on the tablet of my heart. He said ‘This cap and this shirt and everything that I have is a loan given to me to be passed on to those whose need is greater than mine.’

That was his teaching. Everything we have is a trust, a loan to be passed on to others: our time, our talent, our experience, our knowledge, our wisdom, our position and prestige in society, our bank accounts, our properties, our possessions, our life itself is a loan given to us to be passed on to those whose need is greater than ours. And that left such a stamp on me.”

Dada has entwined this philosophy of his guru into every hour and every activity of the day, with the result that thousands of people, by following the same creed, are not only enhancing their own spiritual growth but also helping the less fortunate in the countries where they live.

Dada JP Vaswani – Finding your soul

The many institutions of the Sadhu Vaswani Medical Complex include state of the art hospitals, dispensaries and clinics providing services to the needy as Dada believed that  ‘Service of the poor is the worship of God.’ The Mission is vital to the life of Pune, and its wonderful effects have spread into many cities and states in India, as well as into the wider world outside. Keeping alive the tenets of the spiritual guru, Sadhu Vaswani, the Mission teaches love and compassion to all, irrespective of caste or creed.

Dada’s 101 Birthday Celebrations

An internationally acclaimed thinker and philosopher, Dada spoke at major venues, including the House of Commons in London, the Global Form of Spiritual Leaders in Oxford, the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago, the Conference on World Religions, New York and the Millennium World Peace Summit in Bangkok.

Dada was the recipient of many awards, including the U Thant Peace Award and has written over 75 books that have been translated into several languages – for in any language, his is an exemplary life, a path that celebrates union with God. His many parables, his wisdom, his humor and his approachability made his talks accessible to both the scholar and the man on the street.

The publication Hinduism Today had selected him as Hindu of the Year and I was given the opportunity to interview Dada about many subjects at the home of one of his devotees in New Jersey. At  that time he was 86, but he maintained the optimism and joy of a child and took each day as a gift from God, which is not to be squandered but used for the welfare of all God’s children.

Dada JP Vaswani’s teachings

Face to Face with Dada Vaswani

An Interview with Dada when he was 86, in New Jersey

Q: Could you tell us about the origins of the Sadhu Vaswani Mission?

A: It came to be known by that name only after Sadhu Vaswani dropped his physical body – before that it was known as the Brotherhood Association and before that, while we were in Sind, it was known as the Sakhi Satsang Association. It started as a women’s organization. Sadhu Vaswani believed it was the woman’s soul that would lead us on. He used to say man has had his chance – man has bungled, man has blundered, man has built up a civilization of violence and war, of hatred and strife – the new civilization will be built by women. He told women, “The shaktis that are hidden within you – you must unfold them and spend them in the service of suffering humanity.”  He started women’s stores, a school and college but gradually the men folk joined in too.

Q: What are the activities of the Mission?

A: They are based on the teachings of Sadhu Vaswani – service of the poor is the richest service that you can offer to God so the aim of the many of the institutions we have in Pune is to serve the people.

We must take care of the children. The children of today are the builders of tomorrow. So we must give them the right training – we must have mothers of the true type and schools and colleges of the true type. So a humble attempt has been made in that direction. The emphasis continues to be on girls’ education.

Sadhu Vaswani also believed that the noblest work is to cultivate the soul. Therefore the basis of all our work is the satsang – three satsangs a day, including one in the evening where hundreds attend. The last half an hour is a meditation at the sacred samadhi.

Dada JP Vaswani with Baby Krishna

Q: What gives you the most satisfaction – and what do the hundreds of people who came to listen to you, want from you?

A: That I’m doing my little bit to spread the message of the Master. They want something from me because they think I am an agent of the master. I’m a servant, one of the many servants of the master.

Q: In today’s world there is so much stress, what is your advice to people to make the maximum use of their time on earth?

A: I think there would be no stress if we lived in harmony in accordance with the will of God. It is because we have forgotten that and are self willed that there is stress. If only we can merge our will with the will of God, if only we can understand that what God wills for us is better than what we will for ourselves, that in everything the Lord wills for us is the meaning of his mercy because God is all love, God is all wisdom. He is too loving to punish, he’s too wise to make a mistake. In our prayers we address Him as our parent but in our daily lives we do not bear witness to this great truth that we are the children of the Divine.

If only we behaved as children! A child has no fear, has no worry, no anxiety because he knows his mother is near to take care of him. If only we lived like children – there would be no stress, no tension, and no fear.

Q: Tell us about life in Sindh in the old days.

A: We were in Sind – Hindus and Muslims lived like brothers. So much so that if the father of a Hindu family had to travel, he would request his Muslim neighbors to take care of his family and they would take greater care of them than of their own family. There were Hindus, prominent Hindus, wealthy Hindus who were disciples of Muslim murshids – Sufi murshids who made no difference between Hindus and Muslims. To them both were the same.

 Q: In your own teachings you also have the Sufi touch?

 A: Yes, because we are from Sind and Sind was a place of Sufis. Mystics who believed that there is only one God. Yes, but that has been lost sight of, because of the impact of politics.

  The mosque is as much a place of worship as a temple. We should have reverence for both. Whenever I pass a mosque, I bow down to it, whenever I pass by a church, I bow down to it – because they are the places of worship of that one God whom I seek.

Q: What’s a typical day for you in Pune?

 A: My day begins with spending time in silence. That is the time I get to myself. Around half past nine I open my doors. I must have a walk everyday. My food is very simple, mostly fruit and biscuits and a cup of tea. I used to take raw salads at noon. Steamed vegetables, yogurt, one small chapatti. They give me two vegetables – but I’m happy with one. And a cup of daal.  I now take Soya instead of milk because the cows are very cruelly treated in factory farming. Ever since I learnt about it nine or ten years ago, I gave up milk – I believe it’s the food of violence. The cows are confined to a small area, they can’t move, and are just milk manufacturing machines.

Dada Vaswani at a peace rally promoting vegetarianism

Q: Why is vegetarianism so important to be a good human being?

A: No – you don’t need to be a vegetarian to be a good human being because I have seen many who are non-vegetarians and are very good people. But I regard the vegetarian diet as a Satvic diet and it’s always better to take Satvic rather than Tamsic or Rajsic. We observe November 25 as Meatless day because of the cruelty involved. Hundreds of thousands of animals are being slaughtered every day; but they love life as much as you and I do, as much as those people do who eat them up.

            I believe it is injustice because creation is one family. The breath that animals take is the same breath that we take. They are our kindred, our kin. It is the duty of man to protect his younger brothers and sisters in the one family of creation, from the cruel knife of the butcher. And I believe animals should be given their rights because today wherever I go they talk of animal welfare. Animal welfare is not the answer – animal rights are needed.

            Men have their rights – do animals have no rights? Men have their rights, do they not have duties toward animals who have befriended them since the dawn of  creation? The dog, the horse, and the cow – how much they have taken care of man, how much they have served man. Every animal has certain fundamental rights and the very first right of every animal is the right to live; for you cannot take that away what you cannot give. And since you cannot give life to a dead creature, you have no right to take away the life of a living one.

   The 18^th century gave rights to man, the 19^th century gave rights to slaves, and the 20^th century has given rights to women. The 21^st century, I verily believe, will give rights to animals and that will be a glorious day in the history of humanity. I believe there will be no peace on earth unless we stop all killing.

Q: Children who are educated here often are asked difficult questions about Hinduism by their peers. How should they deal with that?

A: I think it is the duty of parents to educate their children and tell them of the rich heritage that belongs to them as the children of India. Both parents are busy making money with the result children are neglected. There are thinkers and philosophers the world over who say our hope is in India, India’s culture, India’s message. It is a sinking civilization in which we live – the hope of this sinking civilization is India. If only our children were told of their rich heritage I don’t think they will succumb to peer pressure. Now they have no roots, no foundation to stand on – therefore they easily succumb to peer pressure.

Q: Do you think slapping or hitting children to discipline them is ever justified?

A: No – it’s a great crime. Never hit a child but you should love him so much that if he does something that he should not have done, you simply turn away from him and that is the punishment that will set him right. If we hit children, they become more obstinate and it creates a psychological complex within them.

Dada with the youngest on Hanuman Jayanti

Q: What can parents do to make their children proud of their Hindu faith?

A: Every Hindu parent should train their child to be a good ambassador of India’s culture. Every child is an ambassador in the making if only he will bear witness in deeds of daily living to the teaching of the Bhagwat Gita, the Upanishads and the Ramayan. He can be a model. We are a minority here in America, we are a very, very small minority – but that is our opportunity. We can be an example to the rest of the world.

Q: Sindhis have lost their homeland – there is no Sind to go back to. Do you feel Sindhis have maintained their culture?

A: I’m afraid during the years that have gone by since Partition, Sindhi culture is on the wane – but I can find, wherever I go, a new movement for the uplift of this culture. I believe Sindhi culture has so much to contribute to the life and thought of humanity and I have no doubt that it will come up again.

Q: You’ve always preached that Ram and Rahim, Christ and Krishna are one. Do you think there’s a place for this belief in Hinduism – other Hindu preachers don’t seem to emphasize this as much as you do.

A: Ram and Rahim are one but we have to be true to Rama because we have been born in a Hindu family. We have to be true to our dharma. Each one has his own dharma. I don’t believe in converting other people from other religions to Hinduism. You teach those Christians to be better Christians; you treat those Muslims to be better Muslims because they are born in that faith – God’s will has sent them into that particular faith. Their evolution will be worked out only when they are true to their own faith.

Likewise, we must see that we as Hindus become better Hindus. I should be a better Hindu today than I was yesterday. I should be a better Hindu tomorrow than I am today.

Q: All the religions have different explanations as to what happens to the soul after we die. What light can you throw on this?

A: For an Indian it’s in his blood to believe in reincarnation and in life after death. But you say what is the scientific proof? Each country has specialized in something or the other – India specialized in spirituality. It carried out experiments in atma vidya – the science of the spirit. Regular experiments were carried out –a group of 12 scientists went around the world looking at cases of reincarnation and they have given in detail their findings, and this points to reincarnation and to life after death.

Q: So life when it finishes here doesn’t end.

 A: It doesn’t end – this is only one chapter in a huge volume of life – only one small chapter. We learn many lessons – we come to this earth plane, we wear the human body to be tested whether we have actually learned those lessons or not. Because matter on this plane is gross, when we come into contact with physical matter that is when the test begins. In the astral world, the material is very plastic – it yields to thought – I think of something and it happens. Not so here.

Q: What gives the most meaning to your day? Is it the word of God?

A: The word of God and more than that, harmony with the will of God. Rejoicing in whatever happens. It comes as a prasadam out of the spotless hands of the Lord.

Q: If someone takes it that way, then there’s no conflict in life.

A: There’s no conflict – you’re always at peace. You are at peace with yourself and you’re at peace with those around you. And you’re at peace with God’s cosmic laws. And I believe there’s no treasure richer than peace of mind.

Q: Is there any magic word or magic pill that could help everybody? What would be that one magic word?

A: Acceptance. Accept everything that happens. Sadhu Vaswani said God is the Great Cosmic Spirit and humanity is His bride. He loves each one of us. Why can’t we trust him?

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Janamashtmi celebrates the birth of Krishna

Janmashtami Story – The Birth of Krishna

To know Sri Krishna is to adore him. He is the blue-skinned God, the eighth incarnation of Vishnu, Preserver of the World. He is the Cosmic Cowherd, the mischievous deity that Hindus love the most for his pranks, for his butter-thievery, for his melodious flute, for his romantic interludes with Gopis, the milkmaids. He fought demons, danced on the mighty serpent’s head and lifted Govardhana Hill with his little finger, using it as an umbrella to protect the people from torrential rains.

Yet one anecdote encompasses it all: as a naughty child hankering after butter, he would stand on the shoulders of other children to reach the pots of butter that hung from the ceiling. His mother, sure the incriminating proof was in his mouth, ordered him to open his mouth. She was mesmerized to see entire universes in the child’s mouth, and knew then that all the incidents were merely part of the Lord’s Leela or celestial play.

This year Janmashtami – the birth of Sri Krishna – falls on August 24th.  It is little surprise then that devotees gather in the hundreds, in the thousands in temples across India, and the world. It is a very special day and they wait in anticipation, surrounding the symbolic baby crib, singing devotional songs.

The story behind the birth of Krishna is intriguing: the wicked King Kansa had been told that he would meet his death at the hands of his yet unborn nephew. To thwart that, he had his only sister Devaki and her husband Vashdev imprisoned, and murdered each of their seven sons as they were born.

Bal Krishna enjoys butter thievery

Just as the eighth child – Sri Krishna – was born – the prison locks magically opened and Vashdev managed to escape with the baby Krishna in a wicker basket on his head. The river was raging but touching the divine baby’s feet, it receded. Krishna was brought up by a simple cowherd Nand and his wife Yashoda, and the evil Kansa did meet his death at his hands, as it was foretold.

Krishna and the Bhagavad Gita

Sri Krishna is the vanquisher of all evil and the guide for right living. In the mighty Mahabharata war in which the Pandavas battled their kinsmen, the Kauravas, he drove the Pandava warrior Arjuna’s chariot and instructed him to perform his duty, to be on the side of dharma or righteousness.

When Arjuna hesitated to fight against his own brethren, Krishna enlightened him with wisdom that encompasses all aspects of living. These words are immortalized in the 700 slokas of the Bhagavad Gita or the Song of the Lord, which has sustained people across the world.

The teachings of Bhagavad Gita are applicable to the entire human race irrespective of race or faith. It has been said that when you are faced with difficulties, open any page in the Gita, you will find the answer.

Janamashtami celebrates Krishna’s Leela or Celestial play

Krishna and Cosmic Love

Why do Hindus love Krishna so much? He is the all-pervading, omnipresent One without whom even a leaf cannot stir, but he assumes a very accessible human form, becoming babe, naughty child, son, friend and lover. There is an instant bonding and connection between this deity and his devotees because Krishna is all about love.

In fact, the Bhakti or devotional movement in many parts of India revolves around Krishna, for his love for his beloved Radha is about cosmic love, about the union of soul and the Supreme Being.

Krishna is very much a part of a Hindu’s life: Many children are named after him – the deity has hundreds of names so there’s plenty to choose from! Interestingly, Krishna is a name for both male and female children and the parents certainly hope they will take on his shining attributes. Other names include Gopala, Govinda and Sreenath. Everything associated with Krishna is auspicious – there’s even a Krishna Savings Bank in Delhi and a Lord Krishna Bank in Kerala!

His devotees are also found in the Krishna Consciousness Movement that was started in the U.S. by A.C. Bhaktivedanta in the 60’s and which now has centers all over the world. You may have seen the Hare Krishna devotees of ISKCON, the Society for Krishna Consciousness, dancing on the streets and at airports.

Walk into a Hare Krishna temple and you see the same blissful abandon before the images of Krishna, and vegetarian feasts are served, based on the many delicacies that Krishna loved – butter, ghee and milk.

Since the 60’s, many Indian immigrants have settled in America and there are now scores of temples across the nation where Krishna Janmashtami is celebrated with pomp and pageantry, with dance performances and plays of his life.

Many devotees also fast on this day, eating only after midnight, says Pundit Mahesh Shastri, a Hindu priest. He explains that the icon of  Sree Krishna is bathed in milk, yogurt, ghee, honey, sugar and water. A traditional prasad or benediction is given to all the devotees – the Panchajiri, made of five ingredients, in North Indian temples while South Indian temples favor puffed rice, a great favorite of Krishna.

Krishna, the celestial charioteer with Arjuna

Janmashtami Celebrations

In India, the day after Janmashtami is one of revelry, keeping with Krishna’s fun-loving spirit. Clay pots of curds and butter are suspended from poles in the streets in towns like Mathura and Vrindaban, where Krishna lived, and also in cosmopolitan cities like Mumbai.

Bands of boisterous youth form human towers to get to the pots, mimicking Krishna’s exploits. To shouts of ‘Govinda Ala Re!’ (Govinda is coming!) colored water is thrown on bystanders and participants – and yes, the pots contain money for those daring enough to reach them!

Indeed, what’s a birthday without fun and games? Yet Janmashtami has a much deeper meaning – it’s a reminder to do one’s duty in life, no matter how difficult, and to keep on the path of dharma, to surrender one’s life to Krishna because all else is maya or illusion.

As Sree Krishna explains in the Bhagavad Gita:  “Before creation I alone existed. There was nothing, neither existence nor non-existence. I am that which remains after dissolution.”

© Lavina Melwani

https://www.facebook.com/LassiwithLavina

(This article first appeared in Beliefnet.com)

(Photos courtesy: Iskcon Desire Tree)

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Garba, performed during Navratri, is being danced by students of India Performing Arts Center

At Navratri,  the Joy of Garba

Garba is a religious and social event and harks back to the village traditions. “All social events that happen in the rural areas always have a ritualistic or religious significance,” says Smita Miki Patel, who is an educator in the folk arts of Gujarat, and has founded the India Performing Arts Center, a dance school in New Jersey.  “Whether it’s the drawings on the walls of the huts, whether it’s the motifs you see on the women’s skirts – all of them have significance in their religious life and their vratas, the rituals they perform.”

Ask her why Garba is so important, and Patel, who came to the US from Bombay in 1981, says, “It’s very dear to all Gujaratis because it’s worship of the Goddess.”

Indeed, the word Garba is derived from the Sanskrit word Garbadeep, which means a light inside a pot and represents the Almighty shining through the perforations of the pot, which symbolizes the universe. The Garba tradition revolves around Shakti-Ma or Amba, the Mother Goddess in Hinduism,  and garba or the clay pot also represents the womb and fertility. It’s a very meaningful ritual for females because it honors the Goddess and also their own ability for creation.

Garba – Dancers from Nartan Rang Dance School of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan

Garba  & Dandiya Raas:  Rituals and Romance

Garba, the state dance of Gujarat, dates back to the Vedic Shastras and its essence is that it has to be in a circle and there must be claps and clicks. It is a very ancient dance form and it’s still performed in the villages, the towns and the cities of India.

While the Garba is performed by women in a circle, singing and clapping rhythmically as they worship the Goddess Amba, in Dandiya Raas, both men and women participate, moving in two circles in clockwise and anti-clockwise directions, clicking dandiya or wooden sticks with changing partners.

Asked about the possibility of romantic connections being formed, Patel said, “It is becoming so in the modern world – and it was so before. Obviously the social interaction is different – in a rural area it may be from a distance, here the connection is much closer, and more.” Indeed, these events have become social icebreakers wherever Gujaratis live, be it in India, Africa, the U.S. or England.

Smita Miki Patel, Artistic Director of India Performing Arts Center in Edison, NJ

Garba – Changes in a New Landscape

The Nartan Rang Dance School of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in New York has many students learning Raas Garba and their origins are from all parts of India. Swati Vaishnav, who is the Artistic Director, teaches folk dances, semi classical and movie dances at this school. She says, “It is very vigorous and kids enjoy the rhythm – Garba has varying rhythms – fast and slow – so it keeps the children very interested. It’s not only going in a circle all the time – they keep making different formations all the time. It makes it more creative.”

Swati Vaishnav with students from Nartan Rang Dance School, teaches them Garba

People are certainly getting involved because Vaishnav says the ages of her students go from four years of age to 45 years! She says, “They all started at young ages and have come back for repeat lessons because Fogana has a category for adults too, 30 and over.  That’s the greatest thing they’ve done because there are so many people who are interested and this gives them an opportunity to continue.”

“In Fogana, folk arts are a way for us to reach our youngsters and make them proud of their heritage,” says Patel. “Because it’s something participatory and not something people lecture you on, you can partake of it and be social with it, and it becomes a very wonderful vehicle for us to pass on our culture to the next generation.”

Having been reared with Raas-Garba,  most Gujarati children know it almost by osmosis. For them, it’s part of religious ritual and social interaction. This writer is constantly amazed at the grace and confidence with which even middle-aged and the elderly join in the ever-expanding circle at Gujarati weddings and other celebrations. They are performing for the Goddess, and there’s no self-consciousness or shyness.

Dancers from Nartan Rang Dance Academy performing Garba

While the children are performing Garba and Dandiya, they are bringing their own changes and variations into this age-old dance, influenced by Bollywood, Indi pop and western music.

Garba – Tradition and Transformation

Patel says the dances have got modified over the years but at Fogana due to its commitment to the past, there are detailed rules and regulations for ensuring authentic performances. In the folk category competition, for instance, there has to be a maximum of two props, such as hankies, pots, tambourines or the dhol, because the dances are about the joys of working on farms, fields and on the road. She says, “We are definitely trying to preserve the extreme ethnicity of the oldest garba. We are trying our level best with the styles, the lyrics, the costumes as well as the steps of the garba.”

Dancers from India Performing Arts Center perform Dandiya Raas

While bhangra and garba raas are all folk dances, the Gujarati folk dances don’t seem to have crossed over as much as Bhangra. According to Vaishnav,  Bhangra’s rhythm has become so powerful and prominent in this country because it combines east and west and young people enjoy that more. In Garba the western touch has not come in. Patel mentions Bhangra’s rise in London and the many remixes which have made it popular on the dance floor.

“Lately, these have become a meeting place for teenagers,” says Vaishnav of the Garba celebrations, bringing another aspect into the open. “Not everyone goes to the venue in nice ghaghra cholis and kurtas and just make it a meeting point to hang out instead.”

She feels some children have lost interest in the dance competitions due to school work and other extracurricular activities. She says, “ Fogana competitions require a lot of practice and perfection for teams to be able to make it to the top and over the years, it has even become quite expensive to travel to Fogana’s national competitions.”

Garba Finds New Fans in America

Patel also agrees that it’s all a matter of exposure: Young people often get their ideas from the movies, and want to incorporate what they see in their own events and weddings. She points out that Bhangra is seen a lot more in Bollywood films which are viewed by one and all. “If we were to have 101 garba raas movies – I think you might see it more.”

Indeed, Garba Raas has entered into the consciousness of pop culture, from Salman Khan and Aishwarya playing dandiya raas in ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’ to the romantic duo in ‘Bride and Prejudice’ playing Dandiya Raas. Now more Gujarati and Rajasthani folk dances are being introduced into movie dance sequences by choreographers. Patel says even the rural, husky voice which one rarely heard before, is becoming popular in Bollywood movies.

Because of Garba’s popularity and Navratri celebrations, a lot of high school and university kids drag their friends for Garba and Dandiyas for the competition as well as Navratri, she says. During weddings there are sangeet and Garba Nights where American friends of bride and groom learn to wield the dandiya sticks. She says, “I have judged many competitions for youngsters in school, colleges as well as in Fogana and have witnessed whites, blacks, Spanish, Italians besides Indians dancing to the rhythm of Garba-Raas on the stage.”

© Lavina Melwani

(This article was written in 2005 and was updated in 2010 with fresh conversations with Artistic Directors and Choreographers Swati Vaishnav and Smita Miki Patel.)

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Navratri – The Goddess Durga

 Navratri – Durga, Lakshmi, Saraswati

They spin round and round, going faster and faster, but never breaking the sacred circle, as they clap their hands rhythmically, dancing around the Garba or earthen pot. They smile as they twirl around for in these nine nights they are celebrating the Goddess that is enshrined in all of us.

This hugely empowering dance is called the Garba and it is the centerpiece of the celebration of the Hindu festival of Navratri or Nine Nights. Is the Almighty a He or a She? Well, we lesser mortals may never know for sure but Navratri is a celebration of the female cosmic energy that makes it possible for mankind to continue – Devi, the Mother Goddess. It marks the victory of the Warrior Goddess Durga over the Buffalo Demon Mahisa, whom she fought for nine days and vanquished on the tenth, and so is a celebration of women’s power.

Known in different regions also as Navratras or Durga Puja, this festival is one of the most important ones in the Hindu calendar and culminates in Dusshera, which leads on to Diwali, the Festival of Lights. It is a time of prayers, dance and music and is celebrated lavishly all over India and by the Hindus living abroad. The diya or light is lit for nine nights and it is a time of rituals.

The first three days are devoted to the worship of the Goddess Durga, also known as Amba, Bhavani, Jagdamba and Mahakali; the next three days are dedicated to Lakshmi, the Goddess of Wealth, and the final three days to Saraswati, the Goddess of knowledge, art and learning.

Photo Credit: Kash_if Flickr via Compfight cc

Navratri – Garba and Dandia Raas

In Gujarat, a western state in India, the festival is defined by the ancient village dances of Garba and Dandiya Raas, which are even mentioned in the Vedas.  In India there are big Garba and Dandiya Raas parties in towns and cities, often with major dandiya performers joining in. In the US, however, celebrations are reserved only for the weekends. Raas Garba performances and celebrations are held in many venues from school auditoriums to huge tented areas where thousands turn up on three weekends for dance, music and socializing.

The word Garba is derived from the Sanskrit word Garbadeep, which means a light inside a pot and represents the Almighty shining through the perforations of the pot, which symbolizes the universe. The garba tradition revolves around Shakti-Ma or Amba, the Mother Goddess, and garba or the clay pot also represents the womb and fertility.

The circle itself is also a very potent symbol – there’s not a beginning or an end and the end is contained in the beginning. It’s a very meaningful ritual for females because it honors the Goddess and also their own ability for creation. Garbagraha is the containment of all knowledge; it is the womb from which everything emanates.

Says Smita Amin Patel, an educator in folk arts, “It’s about parampara – the female lineage that goes back to eternity, before memory, and it’s been passed down to the females through generations.”

In the old days only male priests were allowed to conduct religious ceremonies so the women, for their part, conceived these vratas or rituals in order to partake of this time of religious activity. And what better way to do it than in a joyous manner, through dance?

Navratri in Immigrant Communities

Both Garba and Dandiya Raas have taken staunch hold in immigrant communities, handed over by grandparents and parents in a ritual that is part religious, part cultural. Garba is a religious and social event and harks back to the village traditions.

“All social events that happen in the rural areas always have a ritualistic or religious significance,” says Patel, “ Whether it’s the drawings on the walls of the huts, whether it’s the motifs you see on the women’s skirts – all of them have significance in their religious life and their vratas, the rituals they perform.”

The circle formation in garba has a great deal of symbolic and metaphorical importance because life itself is a circle, without beginning or end – an unending cycle. When you perform a garba, you do not break the circle – people go in and come out but the circle remains.

“Garba is definitely a village dance and it’s a participatory type of folk art rather than something that is learned and taught and has tenets,” explains Patel. “ It is something young women grow up with and infuse it into their being and every time there is a celebration, that is what they perform.”

Dandiya Raas was danced by Lord Krishna, the Celestial Cowherd, with the Gopis or milkmaids. “Each of the Gopis thought that Krishna was dancing with her alone because he seemed to be everywhere at the same time,” says Patel. “ But of course, he is a metaphor for the Almighty, because each one of us calls the Almighty by different names.”

While the Garba is performed by women in a circle, singing and clapping rhythmically as they worship the Goddess, in Dandiya Raas, both men and women participate, moving in two circles in clockwise and anti-clockwise directions, clicking dandiya or wooden sticks with changing partners.

FOGANA, the umbrella group for all Gujarati groups in the US organizes Garba and Raas contests to ensure that the authenticity is maintained. The children of immigrants still perform these ancient dances but also bring in variations, influenced by Bollywood, Indipop and western music. So now you also have Disco Dandiya and Disco Garba.

Indeed many colleges from Rutgers to New York University have Raas Clubs and have Garba contests. With its emphasis on female energy, the dance has a special allure even in these modern times and connects women to their strength and potency.

As the writer Chitra Divakaruni Banerjee wrote in her powerful poem, The Garba:

“We spin and spin
back to the villages of our mothers’ mothers.
We leave behind the men, a white blur
like moonlight on empty bajra fields
seen from a speeding train.”

Both Garba and Dandiya Raas have many variations, depending on regions and communities but the basics are always adhered to. The dance is at the heart of any celebration and no wedding or birth of a child in a Gujarati household would be complete without it. It is so much a part of religious ritual and social interaction, that you see women of all ages, even the elderly, performing with joy and abandon, for they are celebrating the Goddess within them.

© Lavina Melwani

This article which has been updated,  first appeared on Beliefnet.com

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Diwali  Firecracker Art

Of course, we are now in America, a country where it is illegal for individuals to burn any fireworks. It’s always an orchestrated, disciplined show put on the Fourth of July to be seen as awe-struck bystanders, as spectators.

In India,  every  street kid with even a few rupees to buy crackers and every family patriarch with tokras full of crackers is a showman,  creating magic.  Yes, fireworks are serious business at Diwali and occupy big people – and little people.

Yet firecrackers continued to be a big part of Diwali in India – until finally their continuing explosion caused havoc on the environment. This year there is a ban on fireworks. As NPR writes, ” Citing air quality and noise levels as their main concern, at least two courts have issued separate rulings seeking to curtail fireworks.” According to Hindustan Times, ” India’s Supreme Court banned firework sales in the national capital region of Delhi, and in a neighboring area, a high court “fixed the time slot of 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. for bursting crackers on Diwali in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh.”

Will people abide by the rules or will the pull of a childhood ritual be too strong? That remains to be but here we witness a fast disappearing art – the firework wrapper – going up literally in smoke.

Sivakasi – Fireworks Capital of India

Sivakasi is a town in Tamil Nadu famous for its fireworks and match factories, and produces  70 percent of  India’s fireworks – although it is now finding heavy competition from China.  Writes the Business Standard: “There’s a sense of the inevitable in Sivakasi town. There have been intense campaigns against firecrackers in cities and the people are buying less of the pyro products of the town. Besides, access to cheaper fireworks from China is cutting into the earnings of the industry. On top of that, the government has cracked down on unlicensed manufacturing units. The industry estimates that up to 80 units have shut shop in the past one year and around 20,000 people have lost their jobs.” You can read the article Sivakasi Cracker Industry Looks for a Sparkle

Shopping for Diwali firecrackers Photo Credit: igb via Compfight cc

Diwali Nostalgia – This too is Art!

Of course, this is art-for-a-moment which is ripped to pieces immediately to get to the all important fireworks. The next morning, after the smoke and burning smell has cleared, these images lie on the floor with the remnants of firecrackers, amidst the  ashes…

Diwali Firecracker Wrappers – A Lost Art

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One Indian-Jewish family’s story in America…

If there is one place in the world which has been a safe haven for Jews, it is India.

“India has been the only country in the world where Jews have never been oppressed or suppressed or discriminated against,” says Romiel Daniel, who is Jewish-Indian-American. Indeed, India has been nurturing home and haven for generations of Jews whose ancestors fled from persecution centuries ago. At its peak there were about 37,000 Jews living in India. “Discrimination is something that has never happened in India for 2000 years and that is something we are very proud of, and that is why we go back to India so often,” he says.

“We have never ever considered ourselves different from any Indian. We may be Jewish by religion but we are Indians by nationality.” Indeed, India gave these Jews who were fleeing persecution, citizenship, complete freedom to practice their faith, build many synagogues and celebrate their traditional festivals with an added Indian zest. Israel and the Western world may now light candles at Hanukkah but the Indian Hannukiya lamps are lit the old fashioned way, as they were in Biblical times – with oil.

The Map of India with Jewish communities

How Did the Jews Land Up So Far from Home?

Romiel Daniel, a director of global imports at an apparel company in New York, is the religious leader of the Indian Jewish community in New York. He talks to many audiences in America about the Jewish presence in India. Indeed, how did the Jews land up so far from home? He says that according to oral tradition, they fled from Palestine in 175 BC, and one of the safest refuges they could find was India, where they were already trading and they settled there because they were welcomed.

Daniel gives us a whirlwind history: the Jews of India consist of four groups: The Cochin Jews or Cochinis, the Baghdadis, the Bene Israel, and the B’nei Menashe. The Cochin Jews settled in Cranganore and around Malabar in the South and lived there for centuries. They never numbered more than 2500, and many have now left for Israel. In fact, today there are not more than 16 of them left in Cochin, mostly elderly men and women.

The Baghdadis consists of Jews from West Asia, mainly from Iraq and Syria, who came in the 19^th century as traders and refugees. They settled in Bombay, Calcutta and Pune. They spoke Arabic or Persian and English. At one time, there were about 5000 of them, but today there are less than 200, most of them having emigrated to U.K., Australia and Canada. The B’nei Menashe – they were a new group which came into being in 1964 and today there are more than 5000 living in North East India. The other community is the Bene Israel which predominates the Jewish presence in India today.

The Bene Israel Jews celebrate Purim

Celebrating Purim with the Bene Israel Jews

It is believed that the Bene Israel community was descended from the Jews who fled in 175 B.C.E. from the Syrian-Greek ruler Antiochus Epiphanes. They were ship wrecked at Navgaon on the Konkan Coast, and the survivors started a new life there and over the years their families spread to the surrounding villages. David Rahabi, a Cochini Jew, is credited with the revival of Judaism amongst the Bene Israel, teaching them Hebrew and the rituals of Judaism. With Bombay (now known as Mumbai) an important port of British India, the Bene Israel moved there in search of opportunities. They set up their first synagogue in 1796, and expanded to 29 synagogues around Bombay and the neighboring villages. Their population grew to 30,000 around the time of independence

Magan Hassidim Synagogue in Bombay

A look at Magan Hassidam Synagogue in Bombay

This is one of the oldest synagogues in India, built around 1846 in Jacob’s Circle in Bombay. It was and is still the most active synagogue, and beautifully maintained. Asked how the other Indian communities have reacted to the synagogues, Daniel says, “We’ve never had a problem with any of the communities – our relationship is good with all of them. Many of the synagogues are right in the midst of the Muslim neighborhoods, right in the center of the city.”

When Israel became a state in 1948, many of the Bene Israel started leaving for Israel, because of religious Zionism. By 1964 more than half the population had left. By the early 70’s there were less than 10,000 and now there are less than 5000 Bene Israel Jews left in India, most in Bombay and Thane. Indian Jews, in spite of their small number, have played an important part in India: Families like the Sassoons and the Elias’, who were Baghdadi Jews, helped in the industrialization of the country. Noted Bene Israel Jews include Dr. E. Moses, the first mayor of Bombay in 1939, and Dr. Jerusha Jhirad, who started the Reform Jewish Movement in India.

Indian Jews march in the Israel Day Parade in New York

The Story of Indian American Jews

Many Indian Jews have migrated to North America for economic opportunities and today there are about 1500 in Canada and 350 in the US. It’s a small but vibrant community which observes all the high holidays and festivals. “We don’t want to lose our own traditions; we want to integrate but we don’t want to assimilate,” says Daniel who started organizing services for the community in 1995. The Indian Jews are scattered in all five boroughs of New York and in New Jersey, so they attend services at mainstream synagogues. Since they don’t have their own synagogue they rent the Bene Israel Congregation in the Village every year to hold their events. While the liturgy is the same, the trope or musical notations in Indian Jewish traditions are totally different.

Malida Ceremony, an ancient Bene Israel tradition

Malida Ceremony, unique to the Bene Israel

The Malida Ceremony offering parched grain is typical of the Bene Israel community and goes centuries back, a Jewish tradition in 1000 BC in the first and second temples of Solomon. Today only the Bene Israel and a few of the Middle Eastern Jewish communities still practice the nine sacrifices and offerings.

The  Bene Israel hold Elijah the Prophet in high regard so when they celebrate a marriage, buy a house or start any new venture, they invoke the protection of God through Elijah, and these prayers are said first before any other prayers. Malida is the Persian word for confection, and parched rice is mixed with sweetened coconut, dry fruit, like pistachios and almonds, and offered with five or seven fruits. (Five represent the books of Moses; seven represents completeness in the Jewish tradition.) This ancient tradition is continued by the Bene Israel Jews in New York. In fact, even when they go to Israel, they first visit Elijah’s Cave, which is in Mount Carmel in Haifa, and perform exactly the same ceremony and prayers

Kehilat – Indian Jewish Synagogue in Israel

Kehilat – Indian Jewish Synagogue in Israel

More than 70,000 Bene Israel Jews from India now live in Israel but maintain their links with India. Since 1992, trade between Israel and India had been good, and India is now Israel’s second largest trading partner, after Japan, in Asia. Full fledged consulates and embassies have been established between the two countries The Indian-Jewish community is prosperous in Israel and has built 55 orthodox synagogues there, in keeping with the Bene Israel tradition. Indian Jews are in many businesses, including Indian restaurants in Israel – so now you can always get kosher Indian treats there! In fact, Indian food has caught on so much in Israel that you have non-Jewish entrepreneurs – the Punjabis – who run successful Indian restaurants there.

An Indian-Jewish wedding ceremony

An Indian- Jewish Wedding 

Recently Romiel Daniel’s son Lael and his wife Regina reenacted their wedding ceremony for guests to catch a glimpse of the special Indian-Jewish traditions. The bride wears a white sari with intricate gold embroidery and she and the groom enter the synagogue in ways special to the Bene Israel community.

The wedding feast is replete with Indian spices and lots of coconut. Even during the festivals and celebrations, the basic traditional dishes are the same as in other Judaic communities but the methods of preparation vary. Puris or sweet puffs are an Indian delicacy which is made from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur, and at Rosh Hashanah, a special halva of wheat flour with a filling of sweet semolina, dry fruits and sugar is served.

Indian spice and sweets influence the cooking, and Indian curries are a regular at Indian-Jewish homes.  As Noreen Daniel explains, “Usually the fish for Rosh Hashanah is bland but we stuff it with spices – with green coriander, ginger, garlic chilies, coconut and lime – and bake it. We try to keep our traditions in the US as much as we can – this is to pay homage to our ancestors who were in India.”

Celebrating Simchat Tohra

Celebrating Simchat Torah

Ten days after Yom Kippur is the celebration of Simchat Torah where the congregation dances joyously, holding the Sifrei Torahs. The Sifrei Torahs contain the five books of Moses and these handwritten scrolls are very precious, with it taking over a year for one scroll to be completed.

Presenting a gift of Sefrei Torahs to the Beth El Synagogue in Panvel

Remembering the Past

The Indian Jews retain their ties with India. When the Beth El Synagogue in Panvel, which is 25 miles from Bombay, was deluged with heavy rains, all six Sifrei Torahs were destroyed. The Bene Israel Jews of New York came to the rescue and gifted two Sifrei Torahs for this synagogue. These were personally delivered to the Indian-Jewish congregation in Panvel, and installed with joy, pomp and a showering of rose petals.

Romiel and Noreen Daniel continue the traditions at Hanukkah

Traditions, Indian-Jewish Style.

Romiel Daniel, clad in a Nehru jacket, and his wife Noreen dressed in a sari light the candles for Hanukkah. The Star of David is made into a Hanukkiya (instrument to hold the oil lamps) a typical sign of the Indian celebration. For lighting the lamps, others may use candles but the Indian Jews still use oil. Says Daniel, “Although our religion is Judaism, we have adapted many cultural traditions of India and are proud of them.”

The Indian Jews in New York have fond memories of their growing up years in India, of close-knit communities and a full freedom to practice their faith and be full members of the Indian family. The lure of Israel as well as economic opportunities abroad have pushed many to leave the homeland where they were born but the connections remain deep. As the Jewish population in India dwindles, the beautiful old synagogues and Jewish schools in India stand as testament to the nurturing welcome the Indian Jews received there and are a nostalgic memory for those who have now left her shores.

(C) Lavina Melwani

(With inputs from the Indian-Jewish Congregation of USA in New York)

Photo credits: The Indian-Jewish Congregation of USA.
(This article first appeared on Beliefnet.com as a photo gallery)

Saraswati, Goddess of Learning Photo by CC

A Relationship with Books

All learning was sacred.

For Hindus, the devotion to knowledge – be it education, music or dance – is so great that a dancer, as she ascends the stage,  pays tribute to the Gods. She not only salutes the guru and the musicians, but also bows down to the musical instruments before each performance.

The guru or teacher is central to the learning process. In the ancient days students were sent to live and study with a guru and that relationship was one of total submission and respect for teachers.  Students lived in a gurukulam, dedicated to a life of discipline and rigorous learning.

Little wonder then that education is pivotal to the lives of  modern day Hindus, and even the poorest parent strives to get their children an education. Knowledge is seen as the passport to a better life and indeed, many Indians who migrated  abroad were able to do so because of their qualifications. Their children are also on that same educational path, and many of them are successful in everything from Spelling Bees to Math Olympics, going on to Ivy League universities and other places of higher learning.

Ganesha, the Remover of Obstacles

Ganesha of course has many names and in her book ‘Eternal Ganesha’, the writer Gita Mehta points out that Ganesha also means the Lord of Ganas or Categories. Language, numbers and thought all emanate from Ganesha who is consciousness. Writes Mehta, “Ganesha provides the tools of recognition without which there is no understanding of cause and of effect, there is no speech, there is no consciousness.”

Rows of Ganeshas (from the Eternal Ganesha)

Every Hindu home has a shrine where families daily say a quick prayer before heading out to work or to school.  Come exam-time, there are long lines near the Sree Siddhivinayak Ganesh Temple in Mumbai, for a visit to the Remover of Obstacles is a must to solicit divine blessings.

As Gita Mehta notes about Ganesha: “He is the Lord of learning, encompassing all knowledge. As such he is the special god of India’s vast student population.  Many students believe if they slice a closed text book with a Ganesha medallion the book will fall open at the very topic on which they will be examined, and before entering an examination hall cautious students might recite the Ganesha prayer:

‘You Who are Perfect Knowledge,

Who are Absolute awareness,

Who are supreme intelligence,

Guide me in my hour of need.’ ”

The feeling that the Divine can intervene and change the outcome is always there. Before undertaking any exams,  students also bow down  to Saraswati, the Goddess of  Knowledge, Arts  and Learning.  Indeed, Saraswati is one of the most loved goddesses and the legends behind her many. Dressed in white, symbolizing purity and knowledge, she holds a book , a rosary, a waterpot and a musical instrument – a lute or a veena – in her hands. All creativity springs from her.

Saraswati, Goddess of Knowledge

One of the most potent mantras that many Hindu families recite and  teach their children  is the Gayatri Mantra. As the Satya Sai International organization explains it, ” In the Gayatri Mantra, the unity of body, mind and soul is depicted in the first line, “Bhur-Bhuvah-Suvaha.” The next line, “Bhargo Dhevasya Dheemahi”, means “Throw away the darkness.” “Dheeyo yonah Pracho-dhayaath” means “Let the effulgence of the Divine dispel the darkness of ignorance.”

Hindus believe that mantras are potent and even in modern days many teach their children to chant these prayers.  As Hari Ravikumar notes in DailyO, “So the Gayatri mantra is a prayer to the Supreme, in the form of the sun which stimulates our mind and empowers us. Just like the sun wakes us up every morning, we pray that the Supreme light wakes up our intellect. It is indeed a prayer for internal strength.”

So in their quest for knowledge, many young Hindus use all the cool technological tools of the modern age – but also seek the blessings of Saraswati and Ganesha and powerful chants to remove all obstructions to learning.

(This article first appeared in Beliefnet)

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The bounty of Thanksgiving -Photo Credit: Jitabebe Flickr via Compfight cc

Thanksgiving is a Time for Counting Blessings…

In India, take a walk down the Mumbai waterfront in the early morning mist, and you see ordinary citizens quietly feeding the fish and the birds.  Their daily day doesn’t really begin until the deities in their  home shrine have been venerated with fresh flowers and offered prasadam. It is only after eating a little of this blessed offering does the family sit down to their meals. Many remember to keep aside a portion of the food for a hungry person or the birds. It is all about sharing.

Every festival is about counting one’s blessings and thanking God for them.  Indeed, buying a new car or new home entails special puja or prayer ceremonies to bless the new item and to offer thanks.

“Gratitude is one of the most important virtues in many Hindu texts” – Dr. Vasudha Narayanan

Narayanan, who is also  Director, Center for the Study of Hindu Traditions (CHiTra) , has lived in Florida for many years and has seen how Indian Americans have interacted with the festival of Thanksgiving.  She says, “It is a ‘secular’ holiday and the sentiments are something we can all resonate with but obviously, there are no ‘family traditions’ for new immigrants.  We do go to friends’ homes; in the 1970s and even early 80s, we were frequently invited by local American friends who worked hard to find us vegetarian fare and make stuffing without stock.

Eventually, as the Indian population got larger, there were more events hosted by Indo-American families.  In Gainesville, a university town, we used to invite students for a home cooked Indian meal, just as our professors used to invite us when we were students.”

Gratitude at Thanksgiving -Photo Credit: Sunciti _ Sundaram’s Images + Messages Flickr via Compfight cc

New Traditions at Thanksgiving

Anju Bhargava, founder of Hindu American Seva Communities (HASC) finds her own way of offering thanks. She say, ” Our family tradition is to go around the table and share at least one thing that has happened to you that you are grateful for.  This sharing is the communal prayer creates a spirit of thankfulness.”

Having worked with many Hindus in creating community awareness of service or seva, she  says,  “The Thanksgiving observance fits in very well with the Hindu sensibility – festivities filled with food, company of friends and family and with a values- oriented focus; a time to appreciate all that you have in life and a time to share your merits with others, So it is only natural that Hindu Americans join in the spirit of the observance with a natural élan. Hindus do know how to party and celebrate. What we need to do more is to serve, to bring the UtsavSeva (service through festivals) component more to the forefront.”

She adds, ” Seva is an important aspect on this holiday. Many of us feed the homeless in some manner or form – either actually serve on that day, or before or after or even collect canned food and deliver.”

Sharing at Thanksgiving – Photo Credit: sarabeephoto Flickr via Compfight cc

A Vegetarian Thanksgiving

Indians who are vegetarian relish the many fixings on the Thanksgiving table and also turn to meatless alternatives like tofu or lasagna or celebrate with a full-fledged Indian vegetarian meal. Fortunately, vegan and vegetarian food is so popular in America now that Indians have a really easy time of it. Thanksgiving is all about sharing food so multicultural America has a lot to share. Says  Vasudha Narayanan, ” Most friends I know end up with international fare and create new traditions that way; so everything from hummus to seven-layered dip to eventually moving to good Andhra fare or avial and double-ka-meetha for sweets!”

Thanksgiving is a festival totally in sync with the Indian state of mind – it’s about remembering the Almighty and his many blessings, and in turn sharing with the less fortunate.

(C) Lavina Melwani

A version of this article first appeared in Beliefnet.com

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At Christmas, three beautiful images from Roberto Custodio, & Peace to the World

 

Madonna and Child by Roberto Custodio

 “Roberto Custodio has a unique way with the art of the found image. Working with the smallest of images cut out from magazines he transports the viewer into a fantastical and magical world of his imagination, where, child-like, we are astonished by his mastery of the art of make believe.

In the present time with our avarice for sampling pieces of music, images, videos and then creating different works, our culture is continually referencing and commenting on the works of others, both past and present. Fully incorporating the art of the found or sampled image, we are constantly delighted by Roberto’s meticulous technique of cutting and re-positioning the tiniest image, forcing change between signifier and signified.

The artist has cleverly filtered and used the ephemeral nature of the magazine printed image, to create a bold, romantic vision that is respectful of the past and yet grounded in the present. Roberto Custodio is a self-taught artist, a native of Sao Paulo, Brazil, where he still resides.”

• (Peter Louis, R L Fine Arts which shows Custodio’s work in New York)

 

Roberto Custodio’s Infant Jesus – a celebration of Christmas

Infant Jesus of Prague

Infant Jesus of Prague is a famous statue located in the Church of Our Lady Victorious in Mal Strana, Prague. Thousands of pilgrims pay homage to the Infant of Prague each year. Claims of blessings, favors and miraculous healings have been made by many who petitioned before the Infant Jesus.

Statuettes of the Infant Jesus are placed inside many Catholics churches, sometimes with the quotation, The more you honor me, the more I will bless you. In Ireland some brides will place a Child of Prague statue outside their houses the night before their wedding. This is meant to ensure that there will be good weather for the wedding day.

 

Jesus of Nazareth by Roberto Custodio in ‘A Matter of Faith’

Jesus of Nazareth

Jesus of Nazareth ( 7-2 BC/BCE 26-36 AD/CE), is the central figure of Christianity and is revered by most Christian churches as the Son of God and incarnation of God. Islam considers Jesus a prophet, and he is an important figure in several other religions. Christians predominantly believe that Jesus came to provide salvation and reconciliation with God by his death for their sins. Other Christian beliefs include Jesus’s virgin birth, performance of miracles, ascension into Heaven, and a future Second Coming.

 

 

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Raksha bandhan

Raksha Bandhan – The Bond of Protection

Indeed, if you are Hindu and have a brother, no matter where you are, you will try to meet up with him on Raksha Bandhan which falls this year on August 26.  This is an ancient Hindu festival which occurs in the month of shravan on the full moon. Sisters pray for their brothers health and well-being, tying the sacred Rakhi thread on their wrists,  and brothers pledge to protect their sisters.

Raksha Bandhan.

Rakhi: A Lifelong Bond

On Rakhi, sisters prepare a tray with  ceremonial items and sweets and pray for the welfare of the brother, placing a tikka on his forehead and tying a bracelet of silken threads on his wrist.  The sister feeds him sweets and the brother gives her a gift of money, clothes or jewelry, pledging to be there for her always. Families continue the tradition through the years and often you see brothers and sisters, in their 70’s, observing this ritual and renewing the lifelong bonds.

Rakhi, the Shining Talismans

In today’s day and age, online stores have sprouted up and rakhis can be ordered online too and yes, there are electronic rakhis or e-rakhis sent by thousands of sisters to brothers across the world.  Many years ago, brothers and sisters parted by many miles would use the postal system, pushing the rakhis into an envelope and sending it half way across the world to a loved one. Now it’s been replaced by all these different versions – but the sentiment remains the same.

Celebrating the festival of Rakhi

A Pledge of Caring

The sentiment of Rakhi – that of caring, great love and a pledge of protection –  remains unchanged and even strengthens over the years. Bollywood songs often refer to this pledge between brothers and sisters with many tear-jerking songs and there’s even an entire film devoted to these sentiments titled ‘Rakhi’.

Each year a fresh group of children get initiated into this brother-sister bond.  One wonders, will the sentiments change over the years? As gender roles change, will both sisters and brothers tie the rakhi on each other and give gifts to each other?  I recall one independent little girl saying she didn’t need protection or gifts. After all, in a perfect world,  both males and females have the power to love, protect and pray for each other!

(C) Lavina Melwani

Photos – credit Creative Commons

This article first appeared in Beliefnet.com

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An Evergreen Christmas Tale from  2007 – years pass, children grow up, life happens yet  the holiday sentiments remain the same.

Photo Credit: liewcf via Compfight cc

Christmas is an Indian Festival too!

Some stories are evergreen and resonate year after year. This was written back in 2007 and the children in these stories have grown up but the sentiments remain the same! I remember spending a lot of time researching these stories and talking to the families profiled here. For me, these stories are almost like Christmas ornaments that I take out every holiday season to share and add sparkle to the holiday!

Christmas is an Indian festival, as you will see from the stories here. Do share your own memories too in the comments!

Away from India, Beverly D’Souza & Luke experience Christmas in New York

Indian Christians Celebrate Christmas

While Christmas is important to Indian Christians as a celebration of faith, many non-Christians enjoy it as a secular holiday in ways small and big. Indeed, Christmas is such a huge, high voltage commercialized event in America that few can escape its allure, be they Christians or not.

If you’re an Indian Christian, your traditional Christmas cuisine travels with you – no matter where you go in the world. Christopher and Beverly D’Souza, who came to America just five years ago via Bombay and Abu Dhabi, serve this eclectic feast at their holiday table, a menu which crisscrosses various Christian communities in India.

Ever eaten this at Christmas?

Duck Moile, Chicken Shakuti, Pork Innad, Beef Stew and colorful Wedding Rice bedecked with caramelized onions, raisins, nuts and sliced boiled eggs. All this topped with an array of sweets including Kul-Kul, Thali Sweets, Milk Cream and Rose-de-Coque.

Beverly,  who is East Indian and was born and brought up in Abu Dhabi,  not only cooks the meals of her childhood but also those of Christopher’s, who is from Mangalore.  On their festive holiday table you’ll find Chicken Khudi and Duck Moile, which are East Indian specialties as well as Chicken Shakuti which is a Goan dish. There’s also Pork Innad, a Mangalorean dish and the Anglo Indian Beef Stew.

Christmas meals amongst the Indian Christians are elaborate, holiday worthy meals under the weight of which a table can literally groan. The meal starts with appetizers like Ground Meat and Potato Croquettes or Fried Potato Chops filled with meat – this tradition has changed to also include the more healthy ground chicken, turkey or vegetables.

There’s also the weird-sounding Salted Tongue of which Beverly says, “This may seem quite strange to a lot of people but is a delicacy for some – however this tradition is changing with modern families and is rarely eaten out of India. Also, since we did not celebrate Thanksgiving in India, many homes also had the Stuffed and Roasted Pig, Chicken, Turkey or Goose served on the table ready to be carved.  Some of these traditions continued when we migrated.”

She adds that besides the curries, Pork Sorpotal and Vindaloo are other traditional dishes served at Christmas and each of the Christian communities has their own recipes for these dishes. Breads served by East Indians include Fugias while Mangaloreans and Goans serve Sannas, which is white, looks like an idli but tastes very different.

Chris and Beverly D’Souza, originally from India, celebrate Christmas in New York

Indian Christians, Diverse voices…

With the approach of Christmas, Indian Christians are celebrating the birth of Christ not only with their many different celebratory meals but also raising their voices in prayer in many tongues including Malayalam, Telegu, Tamil, Bengali, Marathi and Gujarati, besides English.

“The Indian Christian population in the US is quite diverse, both in its denominational and linguistic identification, with significant numbers of  Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestants, including Pentecostal,” says Raymond B. Williams, author of “Christian Pluralism in the United States: the Indian Immigrant Experience” (Cambridge University Press). He points out that there is a representative group of almost all the churches that are present in India, and these are sometimes organized in denominational groups and sometimes in linguistic groups.

According to Abraham Mammen, President of the Federation of Indian American Christians of North America (FIACONA), a US based umbrella organization, there are approximately 600,000 Indian Christians in the country, and about a third of these are in the Northeast.

“Each denomination celebrates Christmas differently,” says Mammen. “Some don’t even celebrate it in a ceremonial way because they feel that the birth of Christ is something to be remembered every day of their lives. It is a fact, though, that Christmas is the most important day of their lives, of God coming to earth as a man. For Indian Christians in America, I’ve seen that regardless of how long we’ve been here, our roots still go back to India.”

So Indian Christians can merge into the mainstream or worship at their own churches which are established across the US.  Visit the Long Island Mar Thoma Church in Merrick, Long Island and you hear the Christmas carols being sung in Malayalam, by the congregation, many of them bedecked in rich silk saris. A festive meal that this writer shared with Keralite Christians after the services at their church included many ethnic dishes including chicken curry, pullao, appam or pancakes, and payasam or rice pudding.

“We bring our own music, our own costumes and our own way of Caroling at Christmas,” says Rev Jos Kandathikudy of the Syro Malabar Catholic Church. “The carolers dress up in Indian garb as Jesus, Mother Mary and the Three Kings from the East, and our musicians use Indian drums for their blend of Malayalam and English carols.”

Waiting for Santa

Indians and a New York Christmas…

Celebrating Christmas in America can be quite a revelation for immigrants who have grown up in other countries. Beverly D’Souza, who grew up in the Middle East, had never seen snow and saw her first magical snowflakes in a White Christmas in New York. “It was the first time I encountered a winter wonderland Christmas. It was snowing all day and we went to see the tree at Rockefeller Plaza. I just love the streets and the lights and the shopping. In Abu Dhabi the streets were lit up for Ramadan but never for Christmas – that’s why this is so special for me.”

Christmas was, however, not a lonely time in Abu Dhabi because Christian families would get together, and have parties, Christmas bazaars and concerts in the schools and also organize dance parties at the five star hotels.

One custom that Indian Christian communities delight in is their holiday desserts, and although there are considerable Portuguese influences in the main dishes of several Christian communities, the Hindu influences prevail in the spicing and in the sweets. Although there are traditional sweets like Mixed Fruit Cake, Plum Cake and Date Cake, the Indian mithai influence is there in Marzipan, Milk Cream, Cordials which are all cashew nut or almond based. Do Dol is made of rice flour, jaggery, cashew nut and flour dough while Thalie Sweets are suji (cream of wheat) and egg based. Deep fried Kul-Kuls and Nankhatais or cookies are also a must in the spread of holiday sweets.

The D’Souzas make many of these sweets during the holiday season. She says, “Tradition has been carried across the oceans – even here friends from Connecticut and upstate New York came with their homemade sweets to visit each other. When my mother is in town, all the sweets are made at home.”

After midnight mass, the D’Souzas visit close friends for coffee and fruitcake, and on Christmas morning their three year old son Luke opens the presents that Santa has brought him. Indeed, the Santa Claus tradition is strong with Indian Christians, be they in India, the Middle East or in America. Over the years Beverly has seen Santa arrive in Goa, Mumbai and Abu Dhabi by boat, chariot and even a helicopter – and now her son sees him arrive in the neon-lit glitz of Macy’s, probably by subway or cab!

Christmas – an Indian Festival

Mohina and Ricky Tejpaul with Zarina and Sabina

While Christmas is important to Indian Christians as a celebration of faith, many non-Christians enjoy it as a secular holiday in ways small and big. Indeed, Christmas is such a huge, high voltage commercialized event in America that few can escape its allure, be they Christians or not. For most Indians it’s hard not to get sucked into the whole holiday ambiance what with the shopping madness, the carols in public places, and the barrage of Christmas shows and music even on TV.

Also for many non-Christians who grew up in India,  Christmas is very much a secular festivity since it is a national holiday throughout India, and very much a shared celebration, a time for family get-togethers in hotels and private homes.

One person who takes Christmas very seriously is Mohina Josen, a second generation Indian-American who grew up in New York.  She and her husband Ricky Tejpaul buy their most expensive, big ticket items at Christmas; the kids get elaborate gift wrapped packages. The family sets up not one but two elaborate trees and hosts a rocking holiday party with Santa Claus, elves and all the trimmings – and even a pre-Christmas party to start up the festivities!

The couple is open to every festival and besides celebrating their own Sikh and Hindu festivals, they also celebrate Christmas and American festivals like Thanksgiving, Halloween and Valentine’s Days. From a young age, she saw Christmas being celebrated by her friends. Mohina also remembers going to Christmas celebrations at the home of a Catholic friend of her mother’s and the tradition just carried on.  The family had many relatives in Europe and they would travel there during the Christmas holidays to celebrate together.

Christmas morning

Christmas – Old  Traditions & New…

“When you’re a child and you’re going to school the next day, you’d always hear from others ‘What did you get from Santa?’ It was a thrill opening the gifts,” she recalls. “We did it for the whole commercial aspect of it, for the children to have fun, for Santa Claus and for Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.” So while Thanksgiving is hosted by her mother, Diwali by her mother-in-law, Mohina, who now has two little daughters of her own, Zarina and Sabina, has appropriated Christmas. All the holidays are now taken care of!

Mohina goes all the way with Christmas: The Saturday before Christmas she decorates the house, putting up two live trees and smaller trees on another floor of the house. There’s a pre-holiday party where friends and family drop in to help with the decorations of the house, sip hot chocolate with marshmallows and sing carols. Having grown up here, she has friends from many races, and they have made a tradition of baking together for their children’s schools as well as for colleagues at work.

“The children have made out their lists for Santa, and I tell them that whatever Santa can bring, he will,” she says. “They’ve already written letters to him, telling him how wonderful they’ve been and on Christmas they keep out cookies and milk for Santa, and something for Rudolph and the other reindeers.”

The family also has a tradition of doing some Christmas activities in Manhattan such as going to the Radio City Music Hall or for a holiday show like How the Grinch Stole Christmas. At the Christmas party where she hosts 20 to 40 family members and friends, she serves a huge, traditional American feast, from leg of lamb to all the trimmings and desserts. One year, she recalls, she actually created home-made chocolates encased in chocolate sleds for all the guests as a take home as party favors.

Indeed, for the second generation Indian-Americans who have grown up surrounded by Christmas and Christian friends, it’s a part of their American experience and as new parents, they want to pass it on their children. “There’s a holiday spirit and the euphoria of the whole month and I think that’s what we are celebrating,” says Mohina. “We start with Diwali, Thanksgiving and Guru Nanakji’s birth, and so we just continue celebrating.”

Indian-Americans also celebrate with many social and work-related holiday parties – it seems the perfect time to throw a bash since the whole country is in celebration mode.  It’s a convenient time to get together with friends since on Christmas Eve there’s a light work schedule and a holiday the next day – a perfect opportunity to organize a get-together, which is not always possible on Diwali since that holiday often falls on a week day.

It’s all about traditions, about preserving old ones and creating new ones….

© Lavina Melwani   (This article was written in 2007.)

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Dressed to dance for Ganesha for Ganesh Chaturthi

Temple Fashions – Dressing for the Gods

Crowning Glory – Ganesh Chaturthi

The crowds are excited – it’s like one big giant block party at the Hindu Temple Society where the silver idol of the temple deity, Lord Ganesha, bathed and decorated with flowers, incense and jewels, is taken in the chariot for a festive procession around the streets of Flushing. Devotees pull the chariot with ropes and there’s joyous dancing, music and joy. It’s Ganesha’s birthday – and everyone is invited! There are thousands of packaged meals and rose milk for everyone – and the kids look forward to the laddoos, one of Ganesha’s favorites (along with modaks). On the streets thousands of packages of snacks and mango drinks are passed out to the huge crowds that gather to witness the Rath Yatra.

Friends at Ganesha’s festival: Sonia Lalvani, Renee Mehraa, Lavina Melwani and Aarti Sakhrani

Young students in Bharata Natyam costumes practiced on the streets and performed right on the road as Ganesha’s chariot approached. The drummers drummed, the dancers danced and the devotees crowded around for blessings.

Temple Fashions to Celebrate Ganesha on the Runway of Life

Three siblings at Ganesha’s Festival – Ganesh Chaturthi

Ganesha’s birthday treat for Ganesh Chathurti

Pinks and orange silks for the celebration of Ganesha- Ganesh Chathurti

Happiness is mom’s hand at the Ganesha Festival-
Ganesh Chaturthi

A couple from Sri Lanka celebrating baby’s first visit to the Ganesha Festival

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Can you garba? The story behind the upcoming popular festival of Navratri

Garba, performed during Navratri, is being danced by students of India Performing Arts Center

At Navratri,  the Joy of Garba

Garba is a religious and social event and harks back to the village traditions. “All social events that happen in the rural areas always have a ritualistic or religious significance,” says Smita Miki Patel, who is an educator in the folk arts of Gujarat, and has founded the India Performing Arts Center, a dance school in New Jersey.  “Whether it’s the drawings on the walls of the huts, whether it’s the motifs you see on the women’s skirts – all of them have significance in their religious life and their vratas, the rituals they perform.”

Ask her why Garba is so important, and Patel, who came to the US from Bombay in 1981, says, “It’s very dear to all Gujaratis because it’s worship of the Goddess.”

Indeed, the word Garba is derived from the Sanskrit word Garbadeep, which means a light inside a pot and represents the Almighty shining through the perforations of the pot, which symbolizes the universe. The Garba tradition revolves around Shakti-Ma or Amba, the Mother Goddess in Hinduism,  and garba or the clay pot also represents the womb and fertility. It’s a very meaningful ritual for females because it honors the Goddess and also their own ability for creation.

Garba – Dancers from Nartan Rang Dance School of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan

Garba  & Dandiya Raas:  Rituals and Romance

Garba, the state dance of Gujarat, dates back to the Vedic Shastras and its essence is that it has to be in a circle and there must be claps and clicks. It is a very ancient dance form and it’s still performed in the villages, the towns and the cities of India.

While the Garba is performed by women in a circle, singing and clapping rhythmically as they worship the Goddess Amba, in Dandiya Raas, both men and women participate, moving in two circles in clockwise and anti-clockwise directions, clicking dandiya or wooden sticks with changing partners.

Asked about the possibility of romantic connections being formed, Patel said, “It is becoming so in the modern world – and it was so before. Obviously the social interaction is different – in a rural area it may be from a distance, here the connection is much closer, and more.” Indeed, these events have become social icebreakers wherever Gujaratis live, be it in India, Africa, the U.S. or England.

Smita Miki Patel, Artistic Director of India Performing Arts Center in Edison, NJ

Garba – Changes in a New Landscape

The Nartan Rang Dance School of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in New York has many students learning Raas Garba and their origins are from all parts of India. Swati Vaishnav, who is the Artistic Director, teaches folk dances, semi classical and movie dances at this school. She says, “It is very vigorous and kids enjoy the rhythm – Garba has varying rhythms – fast and slow – so it keeps the children very interested. It’s not only going in a circle all the time – they keep making different formations all the time. It makes it more creative.”

Swati Vaishnav with students from Nartan Rang Dance School, teaches them Garba

People are certainly getting involved because Vaishnav says the ages of her students go from four years of age to 45 years! She says, “They all started at young ages and have come back for repeat lessons because Fogana has a category for adults too, 30 and over.  That’s the greatest thing they’ve done because there are so many people who are interested and this gives them an opportunity to continue.”

“In Fogana, folk arts are a way for us to reach our youngsters and make them proud of their heritage,” says Patel. “Because it’s something participatory and not something people lecture you on, you can partake of it and be social with it, and it becomes a very wonderful vehicle for us to pass on our culture to the next generation.”

Having been reared with Raas-Garba,  most Gujarati children know it almost by osmosis. For them, it’s part of religious ritual and social interaction. This writer is constantly amazed at the grace and confidence with which even middle-aged and the elderly join in the ever-expanding circle at Gujarati weddings and other celebrations. They are performing for the Goddess, and there’s no self-consciousness or shyness.

Dancers from Nartan Rang Dance Academy performing Garba

While the children are performing Garba and Dandiya, they are bringing their own changes and variations into this age-old dance, influenced by Bollywood, Indi pop and western music.

Garba – Tradition and Transformation

Patel says the dances have got modified over the years but at Fogana due to its commitment to the past, there are detailed rules and regulations for ensuring authentic performances. In the folk category competition, for instance, there has to be a maximum of two props, such as hankies, pots, tambourines or the dhol, because the dances are about the joys of working on farms, fields and on the road. She says, “We are definitely trying to preserve the extreme ethnicity of the oldest garba. We are trying our level best with the styles, the lyrics, the costumes as well as the steps of the garba.”

Dancers from India Performing Arts Center perform Dandiya Raas

While bhangra and garba raas are all folk dances, the Gujarati folk dances don’t seem to have crossed over as much as Bhangra. According to Vaishnav,  Bhangra’s rhythm has become so powerful and prominent in this country because it combines east and west and young people enjoy that more. In Garba the western touch has not come in. Patel mentions Bhangra’s rise in London and the many remixes which have made it popular on the dance floor.

“Lately, these have become a meeting place for teenagers,” says Vaishnav of the Garba celebrations, bringing another aspect into the open. “Not everyone goes to the venue in nice ghaghra cholis and kurtas and just make it a meeting point to hang out instead.”

She feels some children have lost interest in the dance competitions due to school work and other extracurricular activities. She says, “ Fogana competitions require a lot of practice and perfection for teams to be able to make it to the top and over the years, it has even become quite expensive to travel to Fogana’s national competitions.”

Garba Finds New Fans in America

Patel also agrees that it’s all a matter of exposure: Young people often get their ideas from the movies, and want to incorporate what they see in their own events and weddings. She points out that Bhangra is seen a lot more in Bollywood films which are viewed by one and all. “If we were to have 101 garba raas movies – I think you might see it more.”

Indeed, Garba Raas has entered into the consciousness of pop culture, from Salman Khan and Aishwarya playing dandiya raas in ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’ to the romantic duo in ‘Bride and Prejudice’ playing Dandiya Raas. Now more Gujarati and Rajasthani folk dances are being introduced into movie dance sequences by choreographers. Patel says even the rural, husky voice which one rarely heard before, is becoming popular in Bollywood movies.

Because of Garba’s popularity and Navratri celebrations, a lot of high school and university kids drag their friends for Garba and Dandiyas for the competition as well as Navratri, she says. During weddings there are sangeet and Garba Nights where American friends of bride and groom learn to wield the dandiya sticks. She says, “I have judged many competitions for youngsters in school, colleges as well as in Fogana and have witnessed whites, blacks, Spanish, Italians besides Indians dancing to the rhythm of Garba-Raas on the stage.”

© Lavina Melwani

(This article was written in 2005 and was updated in 2010 with fresh conversations with Artistic Directors and Choreographers Swati Vaishnav and Smita Miki Patel.)

Related Article: Navratri – Goddess Power

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Dressing up for Durga Puja celebrations – Photo by Sistak

In Old Calcutta – Tales of the Maker of Saree Blouses

People seem to finish their race there only to realize they have to wait a decade for their reward to reach them! They then seems to while away their time, in what I like to call the ‘paradise of cuisines’ available there. Pretty soon they are absorbed in the lackadaisical pace of the system and put their feet up to enjoy the view.

I stayed the first few days with my in-laws. The evenings with them were spent with cup after cup of glorious Darjeeling, a big bowl of puffed rice mixture popularly called “Jhaal Moori” and tons of stories from all around. One of those evenings, my mother-in-law’s sister, whom I call Maashi, came to visit and we knew immediately we were in for an extraordinary session of chat that day.

It is almost criminal in Calcutta to start any discussion around this time without a reference to the shopping done for the upcoming festival ‘Dasherra‘ or ‘Pujo‘.  This is a time not only of shopping for your wardrobe but for the entire battalion of extended family. It is a time to give and receive gifts. The markets thrive and throb during these months and when the festival is over it’s almost as if a war has just got over! And so our conversation began with my mother-in-law and Maashi exchanging notes on each other’s bargains, new styles and various other subjects associated with ‘Pujo‘.

New sarees for Durga Puja – Photo: Celeste33

In this background,  my mother-in-law and Maashi ventured into a conversation regarding their tailor. Maashi seemed to be livid with her tailor for all the wrong reasons. She wondered why she had to keep going back to that “horrible man” when all he did was look down at her (literally)!  The tailor, Somnath Babu, seemed to be the answer to every woman’s prayer in North Calcutta. He made blouses that seemed to be a mere layer over a woman’s curves. Not only did he accentuate each and every possible angle in a woman to make her more desirable but also found ways to create the same for women who lacked – all by the way of stitches!

But Maashi was not happy! She sat there brooding over her imminent appointment with Somnath Babu. One had to take tokens (cardboards with numbers written on it to signify your appointment with him) a day earlier to get some time with this woman’s man! She fiddled with the one she got in her hand while devising ways of being bold with him.

Maashi, a well-endowed woman of late 60s, was belittled by Somnath Babu every time she went there. Not only was he most disapproving of the kind of brassieres she used for support but also very critical of the blouses she wore when she went there. My mother-in-law was spared the abominable experience on grounds of being petite.

To get the best fit,  Somnath Babu apparently almost wrestled with the bra Maashi was wearing, lifting it up so that her breasts stood where they should,  despite her age. For Maashi it almost amounted to mild molestation but he would hear no protests. He would show her the door if she even as much as cleared her throat or raised an eyebrow! And this he did without any hesitation.

A sari for Durga celebrations. Photo by Dey

There was hardly any scope of escaping the dreaded drill either. If you took an old blouse made by him for the measurements so as to divert the impending “molestation” you would only be made to sit down and listen to his scientific logic as to how women’s bodies changed every 3 months,  making all old measurements obsolete! He would even give you the address and phone number of tailors who would make do with the old blouse but he took pride in being a purist and held his nose high up while at it.

Finally here is something that takes the cake – if you were to ever realize that a blouse he made for you was getting too tight and tried your own gimmicks at it by opening up a few stitches or so it had better work for you. If it didn’t and you took it back to Somnath Babu to mend, he would charge you an extra Rs. 50 as fine for meddling with his art!

All of the above and more  – yet Somnath Babu continues to reign supreme! The queues outside his small tailor shop continue to be responsible for creating traffic jams; small squabbles over who got there first; secrets and jealousies and most of all a genuine anxiety over how to look good in front of him. Under the circumstances, I cannot help but wonder whether the ambitions of the looking good for Somnath Babu beat the age-old traditions of looking good for Ma Durga’s arrival!

Kriti Mukherjee

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