Considering life to be a real stage drama, there are always some special characters whose memories are always cherished even though they might not be intriguingly related with our life. In my early budding years such was the role played by Gyanbabu or gyandadu of Durga bhabhan (the house which is just oppposite to our house. He was a balled old person with a very serious look. Probably he used to give lectures to everybody and that is why he was named as gyan babu)), Saraswatir Ma ( This lady brought up her daughter 'Saraswati'by selling milk in the locality. Later got her married also. But her husband left her and so she came back to Ramnagar to stay with her mom. She was a primary school teacher but still they had those cows then), Kuttir ma and Joyer ma dida (my grand moms friends), shibupaul dadu (Joy uncle's dad and definitely a versatile personality of that time. He used to paint, do gardening and had an awesome bungalow. He used to get his grand daughter tushididi along so that I can play with her). And those dida's used to come to meet my thakurma and sometimes read along ,Ramayana,mahabharata or manasaangal. Well I must ofcourse mention Rajmohan da!! My grand mom used to appoint him for mansion work on daily basis for putting fence around garden, for harvesting coconuts beetle nuts and e.t.c. I especially usedto like the way he used to puff is Bidi and take sip on the tea that used to served to him in some old glass. From the plate they used to transfer the whole puffed rice (muri) into a special sack made out of the towel they used to wear. There was another lady who used to come once in a while to beg money from Thakurma. Thakurma used to call her 'kalishiddhya' and somehow she used to look very scary. As soon I used to hear her voice I used to ran away and hide besides Thakurmas bed. Today most of them passed away. I dont even have any picture of them. Inspite they are alive in my memory and just as lively as I can see any of my friends now.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Grahan...........the eclipse
Solar or lunar eclipse.....Grahan used to create a thrilling effect and fantacy in our mind. It was mainly because there were demons named Rahu and Ketu involved in the story.
In Hindu astrology Rahu and Ketu are known as two invisible planets. They swallow the Sun or the Moon causing either a solar or a lunar eclipse. So this whole story used to thrill us. And the rules was that nobody used to keep any uncovered food as then Rahu Ketu will come and eat that. So on the day of eclipse, we all used to have our supper early and the utensils used to get cleaned much before th eclipse starts. People used to chant the name of god so that they save us from the demons. The whole day used to thrilling that now RAHU KETU is getting ready to eat the SUN or the MOON. We used to have some vacant space in between our kitchen and living rooms in my ancestral house. Considering RAHU KETU should see us we never used to come out of the room only,during the grahan. Every body used to be inside the house waiting for the time when the eclipse will get over.
But as we started growing up, we started realising that , that was just a mythological representation of the actual scietific fact. But today I really miss those thrill and wonder I used o have as a child.
In Hindu astrology Rahu and Ketu are known as two invisible planets. They swallow the Sun or the Moon causing either a solar or a lunar eclipse. So this whole story used to thrill us. And the rules was that nobody used to keep any uncovered food as then Rahu Ketu will come and eat that. So on the day of eclipse, we all used to have our supper early and the utensils used to get cleaned much before th eclipse starts. People used to chant the name of god so that they save us from the demons. The whole day used to thrilling that now RAHU KETU is getting ready to eat the SUN or the MOON. We used to have some vacant space in between our kitchen and living rooms in my ancestral house. Considering RAHU KETU should see us we never used to come out of the room only,during the grahan. Every body used to be inside the house waiting for the time when the eclipse will get over.
But as we started growing up, we started realising that , that was just a mythological representation of the actual scietific fact. But today I really miss those thrill and wonder I used o have as a child.
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