All about Dharba – The holy grass - On the occasion of today’s Solar eclipse.

I am writing this article on Dharba - the holy grass, on the occasion of the Solar Eclipse today, 21st June 2020, when Dharba is used extensively in Hindu families.  

Dharba is a tropical grass considered a very sacred material in Vedic scriptures and is said to purify the offerings during several Hindu rituals.

Also called Darbha and Dharbham, the botanical name is "Desmostachya bipinnata". Hindus, mostly under the directions of Brahmins use this holy grass (usually dried) in all functions, auspicious and inauspicious.

Dharba has been identified as an eco-friendly food preservative. At the time of an eclipse, people place the grass on and also in food items and in food containers to protect the food from the ill-effects of radiations emanating during the eclipse.

During an eclipse, the wavelength and intensity of light radiations available on the earth’s surface are altered. Especially, the blue and ultraviolet radiations, which are known for their natural disinfecting property, are not available in sufficient quantities during an eclipse. This leads to uncontrolled growth of micro-organisms in food products during the eclipse and the food products are not suitable for consumption. So Dharba is used as a natural disinfectant on such occasions.

Once the eclipse ends the grass is removed.

During various Hindu rituals, auspicious or inauspicious, the performing person needs to wear a ring made of Dharba (you can see the picture of these rings above this article). But many have lost the reason of why it is to be used in the first place. While chanting and reciting some Vedic phrases and verses, one needs to wear a ring made of Dharbham on his right-hand ring finger. This is most essential while performing all the rituals, such as Agni Shanthanam, Aaradhanam, all sorts of Havans known as Homam.

The count of leaves depends upon the function that is held. For some functions related to death, only single leaf Dharbham is used; for auspicious and daily routine a ring made of two leaves is used; for inauspicious but not death-related functions, (that is Amavasya Tharpanam, Pithru Pooja etc.) a three-leaf Dharbham ring is used. And for the Temple Prayers and Pooja, a four-leaf Dharbham ring is used.

Also, when the holy fire ritual known as Agni Shanthanam is performed, the Dharba leaves are spread on all the four sides of the Agni Kundam, for the protection of the ceremony.

Whenever any function is held, firstly they perform a site-cleansing act known as "Shudhhi Punyaahavachanam". While reciting the selective versus, they hold the Dharbham bunch in their hand and place the tip point of it over the vessel containing water. The vibrations from the recited verses are said to be absorbed by the water in the vessel through the Dharbham. Ancient Rishis found that the Holy Grass - Dharbham has the highest value in conducting the phonetic vibrations through its tip. Later, they sprinkle the Holy water at every nook and corner of the place, where the function is held. A Dharbham without the tip is considered of no value, as the conductor-type value is lost in it.

Ropes made of this grass are used to encircle deities to purify them. These ropes are also given to the Brahmacharinis (unmarried women) for their protection.

In Ayurveda, Dharba grass is used as a medicine to treat dysentery, menorrhagia and for the treatment of diuretic.

All this proves that our ancient Rishis had great knowledge that continues to benefit us from times immemorial.

Let us save our ancient science and our great heritage.

Mad, greedy, violent, abusive and dictatorial China, realise that the civilised world detests you.

Dear People’s Republic of China,

Are you aware of your evergrowing bad reputation in the civilised world. You are responsible for many evils within your own country and the world over.

Relative to your level of prosperity, your people are unhappy for various reasons. Your Human Rights abuses are common, freedom of speech exists just for namesake, freedom of the press is curbed and freedom of the internet is controlled.  Your Tiananmen Square Massacre, your occupation of Tibet and the oppression there and the ongoing cruelty and breaking of agreements in Hong Kong are well known to the people all over the world.

Happiness is a thorny subject in China, your people live in fear. Your country ranked close to 100 in a United Nations-sponsored World Happiness Report. You should be ashamed of your evil rule and such a bad ranking.

You are behind the spread of all recent pandemics like  Avian Influenza, Encephalitis, SARS and now COVID-19. Because of your slow response to SARS, it spread to nearly 30 countries killing thousands of people. And now once again your carelessness in starting COVID-19 and not warning the world about it in time has led to its spread to six continents and almost every country in the world killing over 4,46,500 persons so far and the number is increasing by the day. Should you not be ashamed of such death records.  

You are a rogue nation and for friends, you have other rogue nations like North Korea and Pakistan. You survive by Militarization and aggression. The world is watching your aggression on India, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Vietnam, the  Indian Ocean and the South China Sea, all peace-loving nations/areas. How monstrous and cruel it is of you to kill 20 soldiers of India and injure a few more by killing them using stones and pushing them into a valley and a river, two days ago. What sort of eccentricity is this, in civilised world issues are sorted out by dialogue and not by killing people with stones like barbarians. You deserve to be called the worst Nation in the world.

I am but a common man criticising you. But you are also under the scrutiny of the whole world. You are being criticised and hated by millions of people and their leaders around the world for the spread of COVID-19. Your other misdeeds, the oppression in your own country and the aggression you carryout all around you is being talked about. Everyone wants to shun you and your products. Beware your economy and your country shall suffer if you do not mend your ways.

Be a peace-loving Nation. Let your people live freely. Be friendly with all Nations. Live and let live.

Sri Bheemeshwaralayam (Temple), Vemulawada.

I have fond memories of Sri Bheemeshwara Swamy Temple, in Vemulawada, Sircilla District, Telangana State. In November 1976, our family along with a busload of relatives and a few more relatives following in cars went to Vemulawada for the Darshan of Sri Raja Rajeshwara Swamy in Vemulawada and Darshan of our family deity, Sri Nampally Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy, at the nearby Nampally Gutta, and specifically for the Kesha Khandana Ceremony (symbolic first hair cut) of my 11 months old nephew, Ch. Sudhir at Nampally Gutta. During this visit of 2N and 3D to Vemulawada, we stayed at a large Choultry almost opposite Sri Bheemeshwara Swamy Temple. So we youngsters spent a lot of time inside this vast Temple, having a nice garden and many trees. Unaware, I spent a lot of time here with my future wife and a few other relatives. For this reason; in remembrance of those days, whenever we visit Sri Raja Rajeshwara Swamy Temple in Vemulawada and Sri Nampally Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Temple at Nampally Gutta, we surely visit Sri  Bheemeshwara Swamy Temple and seek Sri  Bheemeshwara Swamy’s blessings. It is now quite some time since we visited any of these temples. So on Monday 15th June, we performed Abhishekam in Sri Bheemeshwaralayam and Kalyanam on 16th June, in Sri Raja Rajeshwara Swamy Temple (as online Sevas due to lockdown). Video glimpses of the Abhisheka-Sankalpam and Kalyanam are attached towards the end of this article.

Sri Bheemeshwara Swamy Temple is very popular locally; it is the second most important temple in Vemulawada. It is situated 500 metres from one of the most important pilgrimage centres of Telangana State, that is Sri Raja Rajeshwara Swamy Temple.

Sri Bheemeshwara Swamy Temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva, this temple belongs to 9th century CE. It was built by Chalukya king Bhaddega during 850-895 CE. It is a walled temple with separate entrance and exit gateways. The temple is surrounded by a massive stone compound. This temple boasts of wonderful architecture. It is to be noted that the parapet wall of the shrine was built with black stone. It indicates the greatness of the wonderful sculpture of those times in Vemulawada.  The ceiling and flooring of this temple need a special mention for its marvellous architectural aspects. Built in the Nagara style, the temple is built on a raised platform with a Mukhamandapa, an entrance hall and a Sanctum Sanctorum. The Sanctum Sanctorum houses a large Shiva Lingam of 3 feet diameter.

The raised platform has a variety of rich carvings of Lord Shiva, Dashavataras and the Panchatantra stories. The sub-temples are systematically arranged in equal distance from the main temple. The Rajagopuram of this temple is moderate in height. The towers of this temple have images of many Gods and Goddesses.

Bheemeshwara temple is known for its strict following of Vedic rules and regulations with a lot of perfection. The pujas and rituals are performed in a religious manner and in time. The priests of this shrine are having vast experience and high qualification in perfectly performing the various kinds of religious functions and activities.

At this particular temple, special pujas are performed for seeking blessings for good health, wealth and all-round success in personal and professional life.

VIDEO:

VIDEO:

(Of Kalyanam Seva performed at Sri Raja Rajeshwara Swamy Temple)

Here’s a memory to reflect a childhood monsoon amusement!

It’s raining in Twin Cities,

Non-stop since yesterday!

Come! Let’s play!

Floating paper-boats in puddles!

-Atharv

(My grandson playing in Hyderabad)

Can people survive without restaurants?

Lockdown after lockdown has proved,

That people can survive without restaurants…

As all eateries and restaurants are closed,

People cooked at home a variety of food,

Regular, exotic and restaurant foods happily,

In large quantities, unlike the small restaurant portions,

To their satisfaction!

Those who could not cook learnt to cook,

Thanks to their mothers and sisters,

And of course to YouTube and cookbooks,

They all became not-so-bad to good chefs,

And the lockdown of seventy days passed quietly.

However, the restaurants could not endure,

The lockdown and the mounting overheads,

They had to pay rents, loans, wages,

Taxes and electrical charges,

The owners were in tears,

All that they could do is blame Coronavirus.

Now that the lockdown is relaxed,

And restaurants are permitted…

To operate with several safety measures,

Restaurants are anxiously waiting for customers.

Craving for restaurants is very high,

The desire is there to visit favourite restaurants,

But the fear of hygiene at these places is high,

So the multitude are sticking to healthy homely food,

Which they have accepted during the lockdown period.

Roadside and small eateries and restaurants,

Will be shunned by the majority,

5-Star restaurants shall thrive,

Due to their high standards of hygiene.

For years, every month new restaurants,

Opened all over Hyderabad,

Especially in Cyberabad,

Now one by one; many may close,

As a therapy or vaccine for Coronavirus seems distant,

And until such time customers will keep away,

And restaurant businesses shall crumble.

The Coronavirus pandemic has caused chaos,

In the lives of people and to businesses,

Fear apart it has set many trends and established,

That people can survive without restaurants,

But restaurants cannot survive without customers.

If you are craving for restaurant food,

Order only from reputed restaurants,

That can safely home deliver,

Until we have overcome this pandemic.

Pleased with online ‘Temple Sevas’.

You are all aware that the entry of devotees to temples within Telangana State and for that matter all over the country has been prohibited, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

For some of us who have the tradition of visiting temples a few times in a month, at least the one closest to our house is no longer possible. And such a situation may continue even if the prohibitory orders are relaxed or lifted, for the fear of contracting the disease.

When the need for something becomes imperative, we are forced to find ways of getting or achieving it. And this issue of offering prayers at temples too got sorted out strangely.  Like many other modern commercial practices, a digital solution is being offered… of a variety of online Pujas/Sevas. This is through a widely publicised notification by the Commissioner of Endowments, Telangana State, stating “All devotees are requested to utilise the facility of online Puja/Seva and gain the divine blessings of the holy deity,”

Though this appears very strange, under the present circumstances this seems to be the only way to offer our prayers at temples, though ‘In absentia’.  

I am happy with this new settlement and I have participated in the ‘Anthralaya Archana Seva’ and ‘Swami Vari Nitya Kalyanam Seva’ at the temple close to my heart, the popular Sri Seetha Ramachandra Swamy Vari Devasthanam, Bhadrachalam, on 6th June 2020.  

I booked for these two Sevas and a few packets of ‘Swami Vari Talambralu’, through ‘T App Folio’.

If interested you may book for such Sevas at few other temples too in Telangana State and seek the blessings of the Gods.

In celebration of making an exotic dish - Chicken Lasagne.

It has been in my mind since very long to make Veg. or Non-Veg. Lasagne. And as a result, it has been long since Lasagne sheets were available at home. Finally, the right time came on the evening of 2nd June to celebrate Telangana State Formation Day. And it was Chicken Lasagne with creamy béchamel sauce, a variety of cheeses and a spicy tomato sauce (3-layer Lasagne). Though this was my maiden making of Lasagne (with the assistance of my wife), the dish turned out to be extraordinary, wonderful to look at and extremely delicious, far better than what we have tasted in restaurants.  

Every member of the family relished it and wanted more, so it will be Lasagne time again and very soon. After all, life is a combination of family and good food.

Here is how we prepared this exotic dish, to everyone’s delight at our house. Hope the attached photographs will interest you in making Lasagne:

Of all the movies you've seen, which do you remember and like to see again.

During this lockdown period Television and to some extent Internet have become big entertainers and pastimes to many families. Countless old and new movies in regional and English languages are being screened 24X7, and also many old and popular TV shows/serials.

I like movies but I am not a big follower of them. I do not see all Telugu and Hindi movies but only a few popular and good ones that are recommended to me. And same is the case with English movies; I see only the good and popular ones based on their reviews. As I am browsing TV Channels if I find some movie interesting I see it till the end. And on the recommendation of my sons, I and my wife watch some movies on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, even Korean, Malayalam or Tamil with English Subs. And this has become more frequent during the lockdown.

Now coming to the title of this article… ‘Of all the movies you've seen, which do you remember and like to see again’:

In my life, I've seen many movies in Telugu, Hindi and English. I do not remember all the movies that I have watched but for the extremely good and great ones. I like movies with unique original good stories, and universally acclaimed ones, to whichever genre they may belong. Whatever the genre from romance, fantasy, comedy, drama, historic, revenge to a mystery I like them all only if there is a good and captivating story in them. I would normally not prefer horror, action and thriller movies unless the reviews are extremely good. And definitely, I would not see (9 out of 10) Telugu movies, which are said to have a common and highly predictable story with loud background music, artificial dialogues with funny accents, cheap comedy, silly and unrealistic fight scenes with absolutely no respect to elders and the laws of the land and vulgar bosom-tossing and obscene pelvic-gyrating dance-song scenes.

The list of my favourite movies is quite long and it would be difficult for me to mention them in total and impossible to state in the order of my preference/liking.

As I said there are many movies to my liking but somehow I preferred to write about a few of them in the past, in my blog. Here are the links to these posts by me. From this information you would surely know the type of movies I like, these are movies with very good storylines. If it has been a while since I saw one such good movie, I would love to watch it again after some time!

You may click on the following movie titles to reach my blog posts:

My Fair Lady.

(IMDB Link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058385/ )

Fiddler on the Roof.

(IMDB Link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067093/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 )

The Terminal.

(IMDB Link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0362227/ )

Turn Left, Turn Right.

(Wiki Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turn_Left,_Turn_Right)

Hum Aapke Hain Koun…!    

(IMDb Link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110076/ )

This is just a sample representation of a very long list. There are however two other movies I would always remember and I would like to mention them here not only because they are good but because they have an extraordinary connection with our house. By house, I mean these movies have extensive use of our decades-old phone number and house address number. In the movie ‘Turn Left Turn Right’, our phone number is repeated several times in the movie, it is a pivotal number to connect two lovers. The lovers know each other only by this phone number and the story revolves around this.

And the other movie is 'Sully', a true story wherein the pilot Chesley Sullenberger landed the US Airways Flight 1549 on the Hudson River on 15th January 2009, when both the engines of the Airbus A320 were damaged by bird hit soon after takeoff. The number of passengers and crew on the flight matches our House Number. This number keeps repeated regularly as the safety of the passengers and crew is most important and after the rescue of everyone, there is a great relief that all have arrived safely.

I am sure you too have such memories of movies!

For your amusement, here are some pictures from our family’s Movie Themed Birthday Party: