ECHO NANDINI

                            GODDESS DURGA ENTERS OUR LIVES Since the day Guru Ma was seen and decorated as Goddess Durga at our place, the Navratras began to be observed by us very religiously each year. It was much later that I realized that not only these holy days are spiritual in nature, they are immensely scientific in occurrence! I would devote some space to this.   The most common calendar used throughout the world  is the English or Georgian whereas calendar system used by Hindus is the Vikrami Samvat named after King of Ujjain, Vikramaditya who started it and Samvat is the Sanskrit name for ‘year’. Chaitra  happens to be the first month (starting just after Holi, the festival of colours or to say with Holi Purnima, the full moon day)  and Phalgun month (which has Holi in it) is the last month of  Hindi calendar , just as January happens to b...

                                 GURU MA'S SUDDEN DECISION TO ARRIVE AT OUR HOME That was the most blessed day in the lives of four of us in our family. My dad got conveyed the news that on such aand such date at such and such time, Guru ma is arriving at our place to bless us. Now imagine the sinking with gratitude feeling for us, that the divine who was sought after by thousands of  top Industrialists like Jaipurias, eminent bureaucrats and topmost politicians like the then Prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi has decided to come to our modest abode and family comprising of an ailing with Spinal Tuberculosis father, a school teacher mother and two little girls!! Oh my God, my dad went berserk waiting for my mom to convey to her this BIG NEWS on her return from School duties. No cell phone, not even phone, my dad stood on the gate waiting for her desperately!! There mu ...

                                                             MY AGRA MEMORIES                                                                        Agra, the enigmatic city of GRAND TAJ MAHAL for the world, but the monument not so much of an attraction for us because of our frequent visits and easy access, reminds me of a famous and often recited couplet rendered by poor people: EK SHANSHAH NE BANWA KE HASEEN TAJMAHAL HUM GAREEBON KI MUHABBAT KA UDAYA HAI MAZAK!  (By getting the majestic Taj Mahal built by one Emperor, Shah Jahan in the memory of his darling wife Mumtaz Mahal, he has ridiculed the love of we poor people!). I am a...

                       MULTI FACETED SAROJ  AND OUR SHIKOHABAD ASSOCIATION Location of Shikohabad near Agra and Firozabad the Bangle Town The enigmatic multifarious Saroj soon became the Apple of everyone's eye in the school. The dusky, chiselled featured angelic beauty with long black wavy tresses and a curvaceous body was found by students and the colleagues to be approachable, attentive to the hilt, adaptable,accommodating, appreciative,adventurous,accepting,balanced,brave,benevolent,cheerful,caring,compassionate,content,committed,coolperative,couragoeus,confident,centered,calm and creative. While she kept busy minding the house and two little children plus a fast deteriorating husband, my emotional heart often wandered in the fond memories of Etawah, thinking about the juicy kampats (lollies in local dialect) from nearby shop, the lip smacking chuski (crushed ice with syrup in the form of a cone)...

         ADVENT OF GURU MA IN OUR LIFE  WITH MY PRESIDING DEITY KRISHNA   ·          The great soul of Saroj and her husband, was wandering in the search of a Guru, the guide and the sheet anchor, till she was directed to Dadda, an old, deeply spiritual disciple and the caretaker of Shree Shree Ma Anandamayee Aashram in Etawah. My faint memories of Etawah Aashram as an infant, remind me of a Kuccha Pucca (means mud and concrete) cool building, nestled with big shady mango, banyan trees and a temple of Shree Shree Ma and other deities with living quarters of Dadda and his family, which included his son Ganga Narain. This place was considerably far from my grandfather's majestic bunglow situated in the posh locality named Chowgurjee. Our residence was bang opposite Rangoon Walon Ki Kothi (Bunglaow of people from Rangoon) as the forefathers of the residents had long time ago sup...