Friday, October 31, 2014

Wedding Season about to begin



In India, joking there are four seasons. There is summer, winter, raining [monsoon] and wedding season. The most auspicious day for wedding are on Tuesday and Friday. Sometimes couples get married around 4 am because of astrology. Nearly all couples will consult a priest for an auspicious day and time for their marriage.
 
Weddings in India are big occasions - more so than in other cultures. Families save for their whole lives to pay for this one special event, which very often runs into days of celebrations with thousands of guests.
With so much invested in the extravaganza, it is common for a family to hire a private detective to check up on a prospective bride or groom before the ceremony.
And India has a wealth of pre-matrimonial detective agencies set up to check out people's past relationships, earnings and family history.
 
Families want to be sure that the man or woman chosen for their daughter or son is genuine and not a fraudster.
 
So when the wedding seasons will begin and there will be so much celebration and fireworks in all over India.

 


Women are half of the world’s population, and they are seriously incredible. It is the women that bear children, end up doing around 80% of the work and basically run the world. And every now and again there are women that are just ridiculous working hard to make ends meet. In India I witnessed Indian women working along the road side digging, carrying soil in a hallow bowl on their heads, digging drains, transporting bricks and even smashing bricks with a hammer. I don't see such things back home. In my culture if a lady does a guy's job, it is shameful. However, in Lucknow, people get married in the same caste, and usually each type of job is their caste and couples marry within their caste. My Indian friend told me that there is a custom where a man will climb a tree and will be persuaded by his wife to come down. He will only come down when she agrees to work along side with him.


 
 
 
Meet my language teachers. There are a fantastic bunch of educators. This picture was taken while we celebrated World Teachers Day in India. They were thrilled and they should be. My teacher is the one who is holding the plate of cakes. So here is bit of a promotion coming your way. If you are interested in learning Hindi, Urdu or Spanish - Heritage Institute of Language would be your answer to language learning.

Learn Spanish, Hindi or Urdu from the best

A Teenager mulled by a tiger in Delhi, India. Sadly, a teenager at a zoon in Delhi was trying to take pictures but he fall into the closure and was mulled by a white tiger. What is more sad this that the TV news channel kept showing moving images of the teenager being mulled by the tiger. Come on, they should show some respect for the deceased. They shouldn't show those moving images. Many reportedly said there weren't enough security guards or zoo personnel to come to the boy's rescue. read more here: White tiger kills teen new Delhi zoo. This website is from New Zealand but if you are looking for this news story in an Indian website, you won't find an article written, instead ZEE news uploaded a video of the incident. Let us respect the dead.

 
 
 Have you heard about a King who transported rubbish in his Rolls Royce?
 
It is true! Maharaja Jaya Singh used his 6 brand new Rolls Royce to carry garbage!
 
On a visit to England, Maharaja Jaya Singh of Alwar went to a Rolls-Royce showroom situated at Bond Street in ordinary dress. Not know who they were catering to, the owner and salesmen insulted him in every possible manner and kicked him out of the showroom.
The Maharaja returned to his hotel, called the showroom and made a purchase over the phone. He returned to the showroom with a royal attire and his full procession where the scene was quite the opposite. A red carpet was rolled out for his honor, the whole staff was paying their respect, obeying and treating the Maharaja as a king like they were supposed to.He ordered and paid for six Rolls-Royce, including their transportation to Alwar. Upon arrival, the Maharaja ordered his officials to use all the six cars to carry garbage of whole of Alwar.
Jai Singh
 
Word spread of his excursion and it soon became the biggest shame for the company’s reputation. Whenever anyone proudly said they owned a Rolls Royce, someone would ask whether it was “the same Rolls Royce which is used to carry garbage in India?”
The Rolls Royce company reputation was going down considerably and they wrote many letters and telegrams to Maharaja Jaya Singh, apologizing to him over and over again, even offering him six more Rolls Royce for free so he would stop using their car for garbage collection. But the Maharaja totally ignored their pleas, only stopping when he was finally satisfied that the Rolls Royce company had learned their lesson for disrespecting him in Britain.
AND…. Maharaja of Patiala – Bhupinder Singh, King of Gurjarat Bhagvat Singh and Nizam of Hyderabad did the same thing as well. They converted their Rolls into garbage bins in protest.
 
Language Study

Gearing towards the end of beginners level. About to finish Unit 12 and than two exams. So far I have done three exams. For my first two exams I studied hard but for the 3rd exam I didn't do any revision but I passed with good marks. I was so stoked. Until than have n amazing month.

Birthday

I celebrated my birthday with some of my close friends with dinner. We were like 12 of us and it was amazing. I ate lot of meat that day. I made up my intake for protein for the next 3 months.

Cooler weather

The temperature has dropped dramatically. No need for air conditioning system or ceiling fan. I am so happy with the shift in temperature.

Anyway, take care and God bless you all


Ravi




Thursday, October 23, 2014

In pictures: India celebrates Diwali

In pictures: India celebrates Diwali


Indians are celebrating Diwali, the biggest Hindu festival, by lighting earthen lamps, bursting firecrackers and distributing sweets.

An Indian artist gives the final touches to a statue of Hindu Goddess Lakshmi, who represents wealth, at a workshop ahead of Diwali in Hyderabad on October 21, 2014.

On Diwali, many Indians worship Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth. Here, an artist gives the final touches to a Lakshmi statue at a workshop ahead of the festival in the southern city of Hyderabad.

An Indian vendor arranges colourful lanterns at a market ahead of the Diwali festival in Mumbai, India, 21 October 2014.

Homes across India are decorated with bright lights and colourful lanterns. Also known as the Festival of Lights, Diwali marks the victory of good over evil and celebrates the time when Lord Rama returned to his kingdom Ayodhya after vanquishing the demon king Ravana.

Indian shoppers try on gold jewellery at a jewellery store on Dhanteras in Amritsar on October 21, 2014.

The three-day festival began on Tuesday with Dhanteras - a day many believe is auspicious for making purchases. It's a day shops across India and jammed with shoppers and many buy precious metals like gold and silver.

An Indian applies kumkum, a red coloured powder used for social and religious markings, onto one rupee coins during the Samuh Dhanteras Pujan religious ritual on Dhanteras in the outskirts of Ahmedabad on October 21, 2014

Dhanteras holds special significance for the business community. Here, a man marks one-rupee coins with kumkum - a red coloured powder used on social and religious occasions - as part of a Dhanteras ritual near the western city of Ahmedabad.

Widows, abandoned by their families,  offer prayers on the banks of the river Yamuna as part of Diwali celebrations on October 21, 2014

Thousands of widows, who have been abandoned by their families, are for the first time participating in the Diwali celebrations organised by the non-governmental organisation Sulabh International. Here, a group of widows hold earthen oil lamps as they offer prayers on the banks of the river Yamuna.

Widows light sparklers in Vrindavan, in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh October 21, 2014

Here, some elderly widows light sparklers after offering prayers in the northern town of Vrindavan.

The awesome thing was that in India you get 3 days public holiday during the festival of Diwali. how awesome is this.

Regards
Ravi