Eastern India- The Eternal Part of India

The region, east India is famous for its rich cultural heritage which is reflected in the temples and other monuments of architectural importance. You can have a taste of beaches, temples, monasteries, buddhist circuit with a rural touch.

Most popular tourist destinations of this region are Kolkata, Puri, Bhubaneshwar, Gaya and beautiful valleys of Mountains in Darjeeling. Hindi is the widely spoken language in this belt, followed by Bengali and Oriya. English is also widely spoken and understood.

If I talk elaborately, West Bengal is a natural beauty with enthusiastic people. This state has a long tradition in folk literature and music. The Style Baul is a kind of folk music by wanderers who were protagonist of the Bhakti movement in West Bengal. Rabindra Sangeet and Nazrulgeeti is very popular genre here. People are here also known for their love for Football.

Places to visit- New market, the heritage building, Park street, the Food lover's paradise, Indian Museum, the Birla Planetarium, St. Paul's Cathedral, Victoria are close by to each other. Iskcon in Mayapur, Nawab's palace in Murshidabad, Moti Jheel and Katra Palace are worth to visit. Darjeeling is the hill resort  of the region is adventure with its scenic and sports, tea gardens and spectacular view of the Kanchanjunga range.

Goddess Durga and its forms

India, the country of festivals, the country of Goddesses, the country of religions where everything is connected directly or indirectly to various spheres of life.  It’s the India and there is no any such place or country in the world that can be compared to my own country. It’s unique itself.

If I talk about the recent festival Dussehra which is like a carnival across the India, mesmerizes our heart to believe the power of faith and God. A ten days festival has its own importance and significance in Hindu culture. 

Durga, the Goddess, the mother of the universe and believed to be the power behind the work of creation, preservation and destruction of the world.  Since time immemorial, she has been worshipped as the supreme power. She has been mentioned in scriptures like Yajur Veda, Vajasaneyi Samhita and many more.

Goddess Durga

The nine day ritual of Navratri signifies the victory over demons and negative energy that are present around us in the form of falsehood, hatred, greed and discrimination. To win over evils, we need to ourselves through the power of meditation. We have to conquer the negative thoughts that arise in our minds.

The word Navratri means nine nights which is dedicated to Goddess Durga and her nice forms. As per Hindu calendar, it begins the first day of the fortnight of Ashwin which coincides with the end of the rainy season.  Religiously, it has a great significance as Goddess Durga destroyed all the evil during this period.People irrespective of caste and creed, equally enjoy and celebrate this festival by visiting temples and puja pandals. 

If I talk about the first day of navratri, it is dedicated to one form of Goddess Durga who is called as Shailputri, a form of shakti. The second day is dedicated to the form of Brahmacharini, derived from the word Brahma. Goddess Chandraghanta is worshipped in the third night of navratri representing beauty and bravery. In the fourth day, Goddess Kush-mandas is worshipped as the creator of the entire universe.  The Goddess Skand mata, the chief warrior of God’s army is worshipped on the fifth day.  The sixth day is dedicated to the Katya-yani, a Goddess with three eyes and four hands. The seventh day id dedicated to the Goddess Kalratri meant to make the devotees fearless. Mata Rani, the Goddess who represents calmness is worshipped on the eighth day. And the ninth day, Goddess Durga is worshipped.

Life and liquors

Reference of wine can be found in Vedas, Bible, the odyssey and many other ancient scriptures. According to the dictionary, wine is defined as the fermented juice of ripe grapes, but liquors made from other kind of fruits, grains and flowers are also called as wines. Actually it is possible to ferment any liquid containing natural sugar by adding yeast. But for wine, there is no need for intervention with yeast.  True wine ferment itself.  After the fermentation is complete, the wine is left in oak wood casks to mature. There are wines that cost over Rs 1,20,000 a bottle and that’s nothing for the high and mighty to gulp down in a dinner evening.

Beers are classified as lager, ale, stout and porter. The grain used to prepare beer is malted barley that is steeped in water until it begins to germinate. Then it is fermented with yeast and herbs are added for flavor. It has always been a favourite drink in the plains traditionally where wine grapes do not grow. In Germany, it has excellent wines from the Moselle valley. The population consumes almost woo million barrels of beer annually. The ‘Oktoberfest’ held in Munich every year is the world’s premiere beer drinking festival, where visitors from all over the globe congregate for three days of merriment.

Love for Alcohol

The pirate’s drink Rum is very popular among the sailors and soldiers.  Robert Louis in his book- The Treasure Island immortalized the song by one of his pirates- fifteen men on the dead man’s chest! Yo, ho, ho and a bottle of Rum! The source material for producing rum is sugar cane molasses. The molasses is fermented to produce brownish liquor that is distilled to form Rum.

Gin a medicinal spirit was first created by a Dutch Chemist, Prof. Sylvius. It is distilled from grain and flavored with botanicals. On the other hand Vodka, which is discovered in Russia, is distilled from grains and potatoes. Both vodka and gin are odorless, tasteless and colorless spirits that are not matured. They are easy to mix with fruit juices and other carbonated drinks to produce cocktails. 

An Aperitif is a small alchoholic drink used as an appetizer and among those well known are Martini, Vermouth and Campari. Italy discovered them and world adores them. Desert wines like Sherry, Port and Madeira are served after meals and usually fortified red wines with higher alcohol percentage than usual. Liqueurs are often sweet and fruit-flavored wines made from peaches, plums, pears, pineapples, cocoa and even banana. Particularly they are good after dinner.

Another very popular drink, Brandy is nothing but burnt or distilled wine. In the medieval era, wine producers decided to lower the volume and increase the potency of wines for shipment by distillation and that is how brandy was discovered. Some of the best brandy comes from the region around Cognac in the southwest of France. In fact, Cognac is a very fine brandy that is doubly distilled and matured for up to 50 years in wooden casks and then bottled. A brandy labeled as VSOP stands for very superior old pale and is naturally priced higher than the lower quality ones. 

Champagne is a white sparkling wine produced mainly from red grapes in a very exclusive valley of the Champagne district of France. It was discovered by Dom Perignon who was a blind monk in the abbey of Champagne. It is expensive even in France as it is highly taxed and also takes a lot of time, energy and care to manufacture. Underground cellars where the barrels of champagne are matured have to be kept at a predetermined temperature throughout the year.

Whisky is a light golden color spirit distilled from fermented barley, rye, corn or other grains. The Scots, English and the Canadians spell the word as Whisky while United States of America spell it as Whiskey. Modern distilled whisky is of two types-Grain Whisky and malt whisky. And the modern whisky market is divided into three main types- Blended, Deluxe and Single Malt whisky. Whisky first emerges from the distillation process as a clear liquid. Then it has to be stored in oak casks for a minimum period of three years before it can be legally defined as whisky.

From the very beginning of civilization, social drinking has been in vogue and no amount of prohibition has ever been successful anywhere in the world. Excessive consumption of liquor in any form over a long period can be severely harmful to the liver and other organs. Edgar Allan Poe had graphically described a drunkard when he wrote- His eyes were like bulbous, watery orbs that distilled the rheum of intoxication. Everyone should know the threshold limit of alcohol consumption and stay well within that to be saved such an embarrassment.

Rath Yatra, a Carnival for Hindus !

Rath Yatra, a carnival of Odisha, is a festival to worship lord Jagannath. This carnival is celebrated almost across India now. Hindus believe that lord Jagannath is the reincarnation of Lord Vishnu and Krishna. Lord Jagannath is the oldest and most famous deity in the city of Puri, at Odisha. Every year this carnival takes place in the third month of the lunar calendar.  The word Jagannath means lord of common. It means lord loves all. Besides, the Jagannath temple is regarded as one of the four scared Hindu pilgrimage destinations in India.

It is observed every year on the second day of shukla pakshya of Asadh Maas.  Deity of lord Jagannath alongwith lord Balarama and Lord Subhadra with the Sudarshana wheel is taken out for ritual and holy procession from the temple in their respective giant size chariots. The beautiful decorated chariots are drawn by thousands and lakhs of devotees on the grand avenue (the bada danda) to the Gundicha Temple. This temple is like two miles away to the north. While on their way, the three chariots take a halt at Mausima Temple. They are offered a particular pancake called poda pitha. The deities return to their abode after seven days of stay.

This festival is popular in various names like Gundicha Jatra, Navadina Jatra, Dasavtara Jatra to name a few. It is considered to be the most auspicious occasion for Hindus. Even a touch of the chariot or to get the chance to pull the chariot is considered to be the result of some pious deeds.

The devotees in Rath Yatra

The chariots of Balarama, Jagannath and Subhadra are constructed newly every year with special woods. These woods are from the trees like phassi and dhausa which are brought from the princely state of Daspalla. The chariot is made by special carpenters who have the privileges and hereditary rights to do.

Nandighosa is the name of the chariot of Lord Jagannath. The height of the wheel is 45 feet high. The chariot is made of 16 wheels with the 7 foot diameter respectively.Taladhwaja, the chariot of Lord Balarama has 14 wheels, each constructed of 7 foot diameter and the height is 44 feet.Lord Subhadra’s chariot is called as Dwarpadalana is 43 feet high with 12 wheels with 7 foot diameter. All three chariots are attached to four horses but with different colours. It is white for Lord Balarama, black for Lord Jagannath and red for Lord Subhadra. Sarathi, the charioteer is attached to all the chariots.

The prominence of Rath Yatra lies in the ability to unite the people.  All sphere of people, rich and poor, shudras or higher caste Brahmins equally enjoy the festival. In fact Muslims are also equally involved in building the chariot to participating in the chariot pulling during the yatra.

Bitcoin a bitter truth !

Bitcoin, a purely virtual currency backed by no central bank. Surprisingly it is oscillating impressively in the world which is really achievement. In simple words we can refer Bitcoins are digital currency. It is an uncomfortable combination of currency and commodity. The commodity value of bitcoins is embedded in the currency value.  It allows a direct transfer of values between two people across the world.

It is actually designed by a pseudonymous virtual denizen known as Satoshi Nakamoto.  He introduced in February in the year 2009 to the world. Nakamoto boasted about his currency that it is decentralized with no trusted parties.  He also said, if you hold dollars it means you trust the US but bitcoins is based on mistrust. It is specially designed so that it is every ones.

Bitcoins

 It is the first anonymous payment mechanism for the digital world. One of the best things about bitcoins is once you send them, they are sent. Likely if somebody sends you, the bitcoins will be yours. And really you don’t need to know who the sender was. The transaction cannot be reversed.  If the coins arrive, you just need to save or shop in the virtual world. It is the perfect designed digital currency for the virtual world. These bitcoins will anonymous, frictionless, and cryptographically secure. There will be no cheating, no hidden extra charges like banks and other service providers.   It cannot be printed, inflated, counterfeited or devalued over the period of time. Bitcoins can be operated for free from any computer or high-tech smart phones.

The major fact to know about bitcoins is that it is invisible to any law bodies or to any bank. In fact there are no influences from any banks, organizations or control from the government. Gradually it is increasing as a virtual emerging market.  There are lots of things that a person can do with the help of bitcoins. It can be converted to any currencies, can be used for gambling online casinos. It is no means confined only to laptop or computers.

In reality, it is much more like a volatile commodity. It does not actually behave like a currency. To be lucid, it is the most fungible commodity the world has ever been experienced. To the point, it erases effectively the difference between a currency and a commodity.