The War memorial at Ferozeshah is a testament of the indomitable courage and the supreme sacrifice of the Sikhs in defending their land from the onslaught of the mighty British.
The Anglo-Sikh Wars took place between the period 1845-1849. There were four encounters between the British forces and the Sikh resistance. The first one was at Mudki on 18th December 1845, the second one at Ferozeshah on 21 and 22nd december, 1845, the third one View full article »
The festival of colours is here again. The kids had a great time.
Surajkund is a small sleepy town located some 8 kms from the Delhi border just off the main Delhi-Faridabad road. Once a year, this sleepy town comes alive during the month of February when the Surajkund Mela brings together arts, crafts and artists from all over the country for a colourful mela.
Started in 1981 as a cultural event with an aim to encourage the dying art of handloom and handigrafts in the far flung corners of the country, the mela has View full article »
The most important cultural festival for a Manipuri women would no doubt be “Ningol Chakouba”. A festival wherein all the married woman are invited by their family, especially the male members to their paternal homes and treated to all the lavish pleasures that the family can afford, by treating them to a sumptuous meal and showering them with gifts.
Its been a long time since we last attended a ningol chakouba. On the one hand I have not been able to spend time with my sisters, neices, aunts etc while, more importantly, my wife has been missing her family on this occassion for more than 12 years now.
However, we have been celebrating the View full article »
We have always enjoyed celebrating the biggest festival of all-DIWALI or the festival of lights and we often make elaborate plans for the celebration. This time around there was a little hitch in the sense that I had to attend a one week training in Dehradun just before Diwali and there might not be enough time for us to plan well in time. We had the house repainted before I leave. Each year we try to have a different type of lighting but as the demand for lights in the season is so high that one has to arrange everything well in time or be left out. As I returned just one day before Diwali there was no hope of finding anything interesting in the market. However, we came across a lighting system which we thought was quite ordinary looking but turned out to be having a beautiful display when lighted and giving out blue colours which is not common.
The day started with a brief prayer after which we cleaned the place, fixed the lightings, and visited friends nearby to wish them. In the evening the main puja was done at 7pm as it was said to be View full article »
The festival of Dushehra signifies the triumph of good over evil. As usual the festival is celebrated with great fanfare throughout the city. Apul likes Hanuman and Ganesh after watching the animated films of the two mythological figures and even though he gets scared by the deafening noise of crackers, he loves to see Hanuman so we took him alomg to see the celebrations. It was a good outing for the kids.
The immortal story of Ramayana wherein Rama signifies the good and Ravana signifies the evil is retold all over again, sometimes with a flavour of modern touch.
In fact, it culminates 10 days of festivities, with the first nine days often referred to as “Navratri” with the tenth day as Vijay Dashami which marks the day Ravana was killed by Ram.
The hindu custom of observing “Shraadh” is perhaps one of the most pious activities that a person can do. “Shraadh” is a sanskrit word meaning unconditional, limitless reverence and love. However it is mostly understood as the customary ritual that a hindu performs to offer his love, affection and homage to his departed ancestors, usually on the anniversary of the ancestor. As per hindu scriptures there are 12 different types of shraadhs which are performed for various benefits and at various times. Mahalaya shraadh is a form of shraadh in which a person performs the ritual not for a particular ancestor but for all the ancestors in one ritual. In the Hindu Vikram samvat calender, in the month of Ashwin, which usually falls in September-October of the Gregorian calender, a particular fortnight called as ” Pitru paksha” occurs. It is during this fortnight of ” Pitru paksha” that the Mahalaya shraadh is performed.
In Manipur the word shraadh (sorat) is usually associated to mean View full article »
Raj Kumar Chandrajit sana Singh or better known as RKCS, was born on October 13, 1924 at Keishamthong Longjam Leirak. He started his career as an apprentice to his illustrious father, RK Yumjaosana (1870-1954). During a career spanning some 65 years, he produced more than 10,000 pieces of art, mostly paintings covering a wide range of subjects as mythology, historical and cultural subjects and distinguished himself as a portrait artist.
One of the singular achievements of RKCS was the completion of an ambitious project, depicting the history of Manipur over a period of some 250 years from 1709, the year Maharaja Garibniwaj came to the throne, to the year 1949, when Manipur became a part of India. The project took more than 10 years of deep research not only to have correct historical facts but also to give as near a perfect look to his paintings as possible by getting the right costumes, ornaments, style etc as also the physical appearance of the persons appropriate to the particular period. The effort can be gauged from the fact that there is hardly any visual record in existence even for the period when photography has already been introduced to the world. For the “pre-photography” period, the fact that the system of encouraging art was not prevalent during the reign of kings means that paintings, sculptures, murals etc which are a vital source of information for reconstructing history besides the written records and View full article »
The statue of the legendary king of Manipur, Maharaja Bhagyachandra taming the wild elephant of Assam stands at the heart of Imphal city. It has been standing there since the last few decades reminding us all of our rich heritage and culture. However, it is with great sorrow that the once mighty and majestic figure now lies neglected and surrounded by heaps of garbage, stained by paan spits and guarded by street dogs.Legend has it that Maharaja Bhagyachandra, was taking refuge in the Palace of Raja Rajeswar of Ahom after being chased away by his uncle Chitsai/Jitsai with the help of the Burmese. Jitsai had already murdered his father, the illustrious Garibaniwaz/Pamhieba and other siblings who are the contenders to the throne. Jitsai wanted to leave nothing to chance and also made plans to eliminate the young Bhagyachandra by sending a message to Raja Rajeshwar that the person in his refuge is not the actual Bhagyachandra but an imposter. Raja Rajeshwar then devised a method of proving the actual identity of the young prince saying that if he can tame the wild elephant in the king’s stable, then he will be convinced that the young lad was indeed the prince of Manipur. Young Bhagyachandra was at a loss and prayed at night and it is said that Lord Krishna appeared in his dream and said that he need not worry and that HE would help tame the wild elephant. Next day, when the young prince came out in from of a huge crowd, the so called “wild” elephant crawled like a domestic animal and lay on the feet of the young prince. This defining moment is depicted in the statue that stands in the heart of the city.
Raja Rajeshwar having been convinced, subsequently helped Bhagyachandra regained the throne of Manipur, and Bhagyachandra went on to become one of the greatest Kings of Manipur, ushering in a new era in the field of art and culture, and administration.
Its been a long time since we had gone out for a holiday. This weekend presented a golden opportunity as Friday was declared a holiday on account of Shivratri. So I took half day leave from office on thursday, pack my bags and set off with the kids on my car. As for the destination, with the romance of Valentine’s day still lingering on, what better place than the epitome of love – the Taj Mahal…
As it was almost 4 pm by the time we left Chandigarh, we stopped over the night at Delhi. The ride was quite ok, except for the 40 odd kms from chandigarh to Ambala which earlier was a one lane road but is under process of conversion into a 4 lane drive. Another bottleneck is at Panipat, which is some 100kms from Chandigarh where there is perpetual traffic jams. The government has already initiated construction of an overbridge, however work is going on at a snail’s pace…
Anyway, we started for Agra at around 10:45 am from Delhi. My friend Sanjio, who was earlier posted in Agra had earlier phoned to confirm that my accomodation has been arranged at the UP Tourist Bungalow, some 4-5 kms from the Taj. I had expressed my desire to stay at the forest rest house situated just adjacent to the Taj and where I had the pleasure of staying on earlier occassions. However, the resthouse have been booked for another party that day.
As we crossed the delhi border towards Badarpur I was hoping that the traffic would mellow down a bit,, but it was not to be. Almost for the entire length upto Faridabad which is some 40 kms from Delhi, the traffic is just the same unmoving, unrelenting juggernaut. However, I heave a sigh of releif once we touch the outskirts and drove into the countryside, with wide open fields and clean vibrant air.
The road on this section is also quite good. It is part of the Grand Trunk Road by Sher Shah Suri some 500 years ago and one can still see some of the commemorative minarets built by him along the road. I had seen these in the sections of the GT Road falling in Punjab and Haryana, now I’m seeing them in the UP section and one is right in the heart of Agra city! Well we reached the Soorsarovar Wild Life Sanctuary, which is situated just 16 kms from Agra city, at around 2:00 pm. Here we were greeted by the Range Officer in charge, who was kind enough to arrange tea for us. After a refreshing cup of tea to break the long drive, we drove down to the Tourist Bungalow at Agra, have some rest and then at around 4pm, we set off to view the Taj.
Because of the damage caused by pollution, the immediate vicinity of the Taj is not approachable by normal vehicle. You have to park your car some 1.5km from the main gate, and then take various options like simply walk, take a cycle rickshaw, ride on a tonga or take a battery operated vehicle (like the ones on the golf courses) to reach the main gate. Well, I wanted my kids to enjoy a tonga ride so we sat on one and proceeded towards the taj. As it was a friday, the Taj itself is closed to visitors, so we went behind the Taj, towards the Yamuna river to take a boat ride and enjoy a different perspective. From whichever angle you see, the Taj is still spectacular and to view the Taj from the Yamuna river, with the scintillating reflection dancing in the waves was simply amazing. However, the sad part is the dirt scattered around. Hardly 10m from the foundation is fenced, protected and has a well manicured lawn, however, the rest of the area is littered with all kids of dirt – excreta of human, animals, bones, plastic, plastic and plastic everywhere. The Yamuna river has all but dried up and you can’t help but wonder, how we are going to preserve this wonderful monument of love after it has survive for more than 300 years now…
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