How Did These Women Manage? This Ornament Called Nose-Ring ?

HOW DID THESE WOMEN MANAGE? THIS ORNAMENT CALLED NOSE-RING?

Seriously, how did these women manage? These women from over generations to today? How have these Indian women managed this Indian custom of wearing a nose-ring?

After my own experience, I’m in awe, wonderstruck, speechless & humbled.

For all women who are aspiring to get a nose-ring with nose-piercing done – please observe the intricacies involved:-

1. It adorns the pride of the face. The nose is the central attraction of the face. While the nose-ring can add an extra touch of character & beauty to your face – any irritation / abrasion / reaction can also mar the entire face, no matter how pretty you may be.
2. Unlike ears & earrings, the nose-ring has half of its ornament in the inner side of a nose (nostril) – which is extremely inaccessible & almost invisible. It is tricky to reach, remove or adjust.
3. Then, there are hygiene factors involved. Extreme care needs to be taken to keep the nostril clean & obstruction free, so that no infection centers around the foreign nasal object.
4. Added to this, if you have got your nose piercing done on the left side, it becomes a tougher proposition. Most of us are right handed, so it is easier for us to adjust things on the right side. But when it comes to your left nostril – your right hand lacks maneuverability & your left hand is not deft enough.
5. Then, when you wash your face or moisturize it – which is like 10 times in summer – you have to be careful about toweling it.
6. And if you are prone to chronic sinusitis & rhinitis like me – then you have seriously had it. Any nasal inflammation will trigger swelling in & around the nose-ring; and that can trigger pain. And most likely than not, your ENT specialist will advise you with a grim expression to `get rid of it if you can’.
7. All of the above happened with me but I have held onto it, my precious diamond nose-stud, so far, with the grit & determination of our PM-in-waiting.
8. In addition, I had some extra inconveniences too. May I add those in too, for good measure.
9. My nose-piercing was done with a gold wire by a seasoned goldsmith; a neat job I must admit. He gave me a diamond at the end of a thin gold wire – and after piercing, he pulled the wire inwards into the nostril with a small pliers & rolled it, so as to lock it. Good job actually.
10. After 15 days, I needed to readjust the positioning of the wire to my comfort – and that’s when I realized that it was practically impossible to figure out in what direction the wire inside lay, or the manner in which it was rolled & locked.
11. And when I had my next bout of sinusitis, it was absolute chaos. I needed to sneeze frequently, and every time I did, it disturbed the wire inside my nostril, which in turn disturbed the positioning of the diamond on the outside & I had to painstakingly set it right.
12. I have a manicure kit with me, purchased some 15 long years back. It has a set of 10 small surgical-like tools, fashioned from surgical steel. The best I have ever seen yet. I picked & chose from these tools, to handle that ubiquitous astray wire inside my nose. All ok so far. I managed very well.
13. Panic set in, when about few days back, when left nostril had a swelling. Then the nose-stud really began to hurt & I needed to remove it for temporary relief. When I went to the jeweler, he was as clueless as me regards positioning of the wire. But he was helpful enough to say, that he was experienced enough, and if I could endure the pain, he would fiddle around with his pliers, and try & get it off. Scary proposition & I ran for my life, and my nose.
14. I was already in a state of worry that all that tugging & pulling over 40 days would have surely torn the pierced hole wider & perhaps scarred the area too – which would become evident once I removed the stud. The pain & swelling increased each passing day – then I gritted myself & got around to it. I had to do this myself. Either that – or get it surgically removed. I chose the former.
15. Choosing a day where I would be alone & undisturbed, with my set of sterilized tools & a small bottle of surgical spirit, I lay down on the couch. And over a time span of over 4 hours, slowly & steadily – I figured out the positioning of the wire; the way it had been bent & rolled. By now it was quite mangled, but somehow, with the grace of God Almighty & my mom’s encouragement and belief that I could do it – I slowly unraveled the wire to its full length.
16. The next job was to gently pull it outwards. This was no mean task; the wire was no longer straight; it was springy & wavy. As I started pulling it outwards, I realized that the wire had got sealed in membranes of skin & hence was stuck. So gentle pulling couldn’t do the trick. It had to be slowly but firmly yanked out, with force. With every deep breath, I managed 1 tug. When it reached the very end, it just refused to budge. For a moment I thought I couldn’t do it & would need professional help – but I gave it that 1 last final try & tugged it out in a single shot. Along with a gush of blood, it was finally out.
17. The relief was more than the horror. I swabbed the inside & outside of my nose with surgical spirit, and waited till all the loose blood had run into the cotton. Then I got up & dared to look at the mirror – from a distance of about 3 feet. No trace of what happened. I came closer to 1 foot – absolute normal looking nose. I went for a close up – no mark, no scar & surprisingly no hole piercing visible. It was as if nothing ever happened.
18. With a huge sense of relief & gratitude, I allowed 2 days to pass for complete healing. Friends who saw me quipped: Oh it wasn’t real was it? If it was, then where is the hole? – Then there were those who said: Never mind, you tried, it didn’t work out, don’t go for it again.
19. The story is not over yet. Just hang on for few more sentences.
20. On day 3, I checked for the hole-piercing with a magnifying glass. It was there. If it was that microscopic, then chances are it would fill itself with skin membranes over next few days. I couldn’t afford to lose it, not after all the effort I made to get it.
21. So, I meticulously straightened the mangled wire of my diamond nose ring. Then I snipped off its extra length with a sharp scissors. I cut the wire to the exact size required for my nose – so there wouldn’t be any need to roll it or fold it. Then I gave it a slight bend in the shape of a 7 & voila – it’s back in my nose. I know exactly where & which position it sits now; and I can remove it & put it back with ease.
22. Crazy, people might say. And crazy it is too. But it is one of the things that I did with courage & conviction, and I have no intention of letting all that effort come to naught. This grit & determination is a genetic gift from my mother – and it has seen me through all my downs & ups in life – always bringing me to a place of peace, calm, contentment & quiet achievement.
23. Whatever it was that seeded this thought into my mind – remarkable inception I must say. I’m trying to recollect who or what exactly: I need to send a bill for reimbursement for expenses incurred & trauma suffered.
24. All is well that ends well. My advice: If it is not part of your custom & if it’s not mandatory that you have one – unless you are drop-dead convinced that you want a nose-ring – avoid it – or go for other it as an informed choice.

END-NOTE

It is easy to pass remarks, comments & judgments over things we have never practiced or experienced.

In the context of our current political scenario – it is easy to sit in our drawing rooms & news rooms, and run down everything the man-at-the-top does. But think for a second –would you be able to handle that pressure, those permutations & combinations, those intricacies involved – even for a single day?

 

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It Happens Only In Gujarat

IT HAPPENS ONLY IN GUJARAT

Over the last 1 week, a number of friends have messaged me with a similar query: How come everyone in your Gujarat has a rags to riches story; a history of struggle; first Narendra’bhai, now Anandi’ben; I mean it’s just smart marketing right??

No. actually it isn’t. If you are not from Gujarat, it would be difficult for you to fathom this. Rising from the ranks is a very common feature in Gujarat. It’s really no big deal. It perhaps appears as smart marketing to those from an outside state – because very few states offer the kind of opportunities & social respect that Gujarat does.

THE `BEN-BHAI’ CULTURE & SOCIAL EQUALITY – HALLMARK OF GUJARAT

The rise in influx of people from other states into Gujarat for business opportunities, changed one very essential fabric of Gujarati culture – it’s `ben-bhai’ culture. (behen / bhaiya / sister / brother). This practice has now morphed into rather ugly `uncle / aunty’ & `sir / madam’ culture.

`Uncle / aunty’ is pseudo-respect & a crass attempt to look foreign. And `sir / madam’ reeks of hierarchy. I have no idea how & when the urban Gujarati accepted this format.

I grew up in Ahmedabad being taught – that it is mandatory to add a suffix of ben / bhai to a name, across social strata & across ages. It is about respect & equality. First names are a no-no & surnames denote class, creed, caste, religion – and hence best avoided in daily reference.

In Ahmedabad, my domestic help is Kanku’ben, my garbage man is Keshu’bhai, my tailor is Pratap’bhai, my electrician is Rakesh’bhai, my house broker is Rekha’ben, my doctor is Dilip’bhai, my surgeon is Manish’bhai, my CM is Anandi’ben, my PM is Narendra’bhai. Period. All equal.

When I say social equality – I do not mean `communist’ or `communism’. No – Gujarat believes in capitalism & inequality of wealth. Their motto is clear: Want it? Earn it. And you can keep what you earn. Social equality is simply respect & acceptance across genders, across classes, across social barriers, across economic lines.

And somehow it was always such an accepted norm, so natural, so un-analyzed & so un-dissected. It was just a way of life.

MY CLASS-FELLOWS ….

In my college, a friend in my circle, was a brilliant Parsi girl. She topped the university 3 times in a row in B.Com & went onto to do her Chartered Accountancy. Last I heard she was managing partner in one of Ahmedabad’s top accountancy firms.

If I were to script her success story aka Anandi’ben – it would say:

• The girl whose dad was a plumber.
• The girl who was dropped to college every day by her daddy on a moped that was practically falling apart; a moped he had put together from the junkyard; it had no pillion foot-rest, so my friend had to hold her feet in air on imaginary foot-rests till she reached college.
• The girl who stayed back an extra period every day so she could ride with me in my auto & save 2 kms of walking distance to her own home.
• The girl who would bring only 2 slices of bread from home & eat it by dipping it into sabji (curry / vegetables) from all our lunch boxes.
• The girl who made frocks / dresses from her mother’s old castaway sarees.
• The girl who would ask us if we had old spectacle frames whenever she needed to change her powered lenses.
• And this list can go on…

But the point is – no one cared. It was just so natural, so accepted. I don’t even remember discussing all this at home at the time. For us, she was simply – our friend; the funny girl with a ready wit; the genius who did us proud & brought our college 3 gold medals over 3 successive years.

Cut to M.com. University School of Commerce, Ahmedabad – my class fellow was a boy from Dholka. We lost touch after M.Com & the next I heard from him was via a LinkedIn invite which showed him as Reader of a University in southern part of Gujarat. The last I heard – he was poised to become Vice Chancellor of same.

If I were to script his success story aka Narendra’bhai – it would say:

• The boy’s whose first acquaintance with me started on the first day of college, where he took me aside & whispered: Mane English nathi aavadtu; hu tamari saathe besi ne notes copy karu? (I don’t know English, can I sit beside you & copy notes in class?).
• The boy who lost his father when he was 8 years old. The boy who had 3 younger siblings.
• The boy whose mother worked as a housemaid, after her husband’s death, to bring in money.
• The boy who travelled 3 hours (one way) from Dholka to Ahmedabad in a crowded ST bus & made the return journey back to Dholka every afternoon after college.
• The boy who would go home, sweep-swab the house, do the cooking for family, chat with his mother over the day’s activities, help his younger siblings with their homework – and then sit down to do his own studies at night.
• The boy who made do with only water from the college cooler for lunch & would politely refuse all offers to share lunch.
• The boy who would insist in speaking only in faulty broken English & ask me to correct all his sentences & then dutifully repeat same after me. In fact, he actually mastered an American accent with the logic – my accent will cover up my grammatical mistakes.
• The boy who took home all my notes, copied them over the night, because 25p per zerox sheet was too expensive.
• The boy who practiced writing 10 pages of English every day so he would not require a writer for the final exams.
• The boy who would come to my home directly from bus station, every exam morning & touch my mother’s feet – so he could beat me to the top slot because now he had the blessings of 2 mothers.
• The boy who broke down & cried that he missed it – when I bagged University 1^st with 2 gold medals. And then graciously congratulated me with the words – agli baar, aapki haar.

But honestly – no one really cared about his history back then. He was simply our classfellow – the tall lean guy from Dholka; who tried his luck with girls like all others; who was ambitious & aspired to be Class Representative; who harbored the hope that someday he would be an orator-par-excellence, in English.

 RAGS TO RICHES STALWARS OF GUJARAT

1. Gautam’bhai Adani Group
2. Dhiru’bhai Ambani Reliance
3. Dilip’bhai Sanghavi Sun Pharma
4. Karsan’bhai Patel Nirma
5. Indravadan’bhai Modi Cadila Pharma
6. Piruz’bhai Khambatta Rasna
7. Pankaj’bhai Patel Zydus Cadila
8. Narandas’bhai Desai WaghBakri
9. Rajesh’bhai Gandhi Vadilal
10. Uttam’bhai Mehta Torrent
11. Kartikeya’bhai Sarabhai Group

These are just the top 10-odd known names from Gujarat – and essentially from the business field. If I were to include other walks of life, my list would extend to another 10 pages… The unknown names abound in 1000s. Every 2^nd house has a similar story to share.

Every Gujarati entrepreneur listed here has built his empire in just 1 lifetime, rolling over into a maximum of 2 generations. By gen-3 their roots are deep & firm.

These are names from a league of extraordinary gentlemen – who have sold blouse pieces ferried on bicycle racks; who have roamed Ahmedabad city streets in their youth on Vespa scooters; who have lived in small cramped over-crowded houses before moving into their well earned mansions; who have started their offices from garage & warehouse corners; who have sold wares in handcarts on streets of Ahmedabad – 1-man-show all of them – driven only by the belief – `yes I can’.

These are men who started their journeys alone, people joined them along the way & a movement fell in place. These are men of extraordinary caliber who perhaps made a beginning with humble 1000’rs which was perhaps borrowed on high interest.

These are men who have retained their humility over the years; men who are not ashamed of their humble beginnings.

These are men who meet an old ex-employee for at least 5 minutes, even if they were to walk in unannounced. If there is more time to spare, chances are they will offer you a cutting-chai and enquire about what you are doing in life.

That is the simplicity of Gujarat. A state blessed with big-city benefits & small-town values.

So next time someone asks: These rags to riches stories that abound from your Gujarat, are they really true? I am forced to reply: Yes, very true, very real. And it happens only in Gujarat.

NARENDRA’BHAI’S BIGGEST CHALLENGE

In that context – Narendra’bhai’s biggest challenge will be one of mindsets. In Gujarat, people are proactive about progress; if it is profitable to them they don’t mind being driven. They are industrious, simple, compassionate; they want to rise in a single lifetime, they know it isn’t easy, hence they cooperate. And most important of all – they have social equality. When you are hoisted onto the same platform as everyone else, it is easier to reach for the skies. Question is: Is it the same everywhere else in India?

Time will tell. Big victories will always have big challenges. Hoping India takes a page from Gujarat. Waiting for May 26^th.

The 8 In Modi

THE 8 IN MODI

No.8 IN NUMEROLOGY

Those born on dates 8^th, 17^th & 26^th of a month qualify as No.8 in numerology. The undisputed master of numerology – Cheiro – does not attach too much importance to month & year. According to Cheiro – month governs your emotions & year gives a summary picture of overall destiny. The life number, the governing number of your actions & their reactions, is simply the day you are born. And no – don’t add, day + month + year – it has no real significance.

WHAT DOES NUMBER 8 SAY?

8 is a lethal number & fatalistic too. And not in the way the common man perceives it. Let me explain:

According to the Jewish Kabbalah – Number 8 comes with a karmic lesson from previous lives.

It is a number that indicates immense hard work that was put into a chosen field in past lives. That hard work would have taken you to the pinnacle of your chosen field / profession / life area. That hard work / rigour now materializes, in current life, as inborn talent / latent skill.

Number 8 usually finds its own calling. Irrespective of qualifications or initial choice of profession, sooner or later they will be drawn towards their calling, and then there is no stopping them. But – their vision, their goal usually becomes evident sooner than later.

So by layman standards that’s a good thing. Then why does carry a tag of lethal & fatalistic? That’s what we need to understand.

8 in present life – is a number that has grossly misused its immense talents, in a past life – for greed & self gratification.

For. eg. Ace surgeons, brilliant bankers, skilled engineers, spiritually enlightened gurus, outstanding teachers, entrepreneurs par excellence, political statesmen – and so on in every possible field – but people, who sold their skills for materialistic gains, worldly fame & self gratification – to the point of being ruthless.

Now let me make a clarification here – these are not people who dishonored their trade. They probably never swayed from integrity of their profession – they would have given their outstanding best every time – but they swayed from human ethics & human compassion.

So in this lifetime – they come back with skills intact, because they never messed with those – but they come back under the influence of number 8 which says:

You’re getting a 2^nd chance here to prove yourself; this time around sacrifice personal gains & gratification and do things for a bigger purpose. If you do so, I shall take you to heights from which you will never fall even after your lifetime ends – but if you don’t, then I will take you to depths from which you’ll take several lifetimes to rise again. The choice is yours. That’s what makes it lethal. It’s an unforgiving number. But if you stay on right side of destiny – it will be lethal for those who stand in your way. It’s unforgiving that way too. How you swing it depends on you.

What makes it fatalistic is that number 8 comes woven with a series unplanned opportunities & events that nudge you closer & closer to your pre-chosen destiny. Fatalistic is not `fatal’ – it simply means pre-destined; that you have to learn human ethics, human compassion & see the big picture beyond your own self. That is `fated’ hence fatalistic.

Ages – 4, 8, 13, 17, 22, 26, 31, 35 & so on and so forth – and all dates that total to 4 or 8 – will come with new realizations & renewed enlightenment. Almost to the point of being predictable.

WHAT ROLE DOES NUMBER 4 HAVE TO PLAY?

Number 4 is number 8’s soul number. A number of connect, companionship & guidance when it comes to people – and a number of applause or foreboding (depending on how you are charting your destiny) when it comes to dates.

Number 4 is soul-mate to number 8. It comes like a writing-on-the-wall. Read the signs – and you can change the end result. Ignore the signs – and you will face the consequences. Hence number 4 becomes very integral to life of number 8.

NUMERICAL RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHER NUMBERS (DATES / PEOPLE)

Unlike other numbers, there is hardly any scope for variation as far as 8’s equation with numbers is concerned. The variation if any, can come only as a conscious effort from other numbers to change the equation for the better.

Number 1: Very beneficial, guiding & supportive whenever it surfaces either as a date or a person. It brings with it a lot of moral support & strength. Advice: Hold on to each other over ego-clashes. `Boredom’ & `boring’ are not reasons to part ways.

Number 2: Will attempt emotional string-pulling & manipulation. Initially it will work, but as individuality & self realization becomes stronger, it will make number 8 more distant & detached. Advice: Give space & lots of it.

Number 3: Will bring with it beneficial networking, communication & connections. Will take great load of responsibility off number 8’s shoulders. Advice: Ignore petty differences & make it work.

Number 4: Soul connect & passive submission. It is your writing-on-the-wall. Read it well & read it often. Advice: Don’t shoot the ambassador if you don’t like the message.

Number 5: Wants a bond with you but may find you too serious / stifling at times. They can bring good energy with them, so give them a chance. Advice: There will be see-saw towards extremes. Try & balance it.

Number 6: Will teach you to loosen up & have fun. An adventure trip of experiences, whether dates or people; 6 will give in to your authority most of the time. Advice: Mutual respect will take this relationship to great heights.

Number 7: Conflict & success. Trust & suspicion. Agreement on cause / purpose but differences on modus operandi / method. Perception of betrayal happens more than real betrayal. Advice: Communicate openly, don’t presume; try to harmonize differences to mid-way.

Number 8: Telepathic. You will either build all the way to heaven or destroy all the way to hell. Advice: Make informed choices & take informed actions.

Number 9: Supremacy issues. 9 will try to control; 8 will not be controlled. 9 will try to manipulate; 8 will see through the deception. Advice: Build trust & don’t break it.

The above are notations taken from the Jewish Kabbalah. Make a list of all the number 8s you know & cross-check dates / events – and 8s relationships with people across numbers. It’s unlikely you’ll disagree with anything from above. Really – 8 is very predictable.

THE 4 & 8 IN NARENDRA MODI’S LIFE GRAPH – some evident, some veiled

• Born on 17^th September 1950 (8)
• At age 8 – he was inducted into RSS (Rashtriya Swayam Sangh). It was to calm his inexplicable restlessness. (8)
• At age 13 – he got engaged to Jasoda’ben. (4)
• At age 17 – he got married to Jasoda’ben. (8)
• After 8 months of marriage, he took off for the Himalayas. (8)
• Years ’67 to ’71 remain mysterious. No one really knows where he went & when he came. (67 = 13 = 4 / 71 = 8)
• Around September 1971, at the onset of his 22^nd year, he was once again formally inducted into RSS, as an adult major. (4)
• At age 26 he was acknowledged by RSS as a man with an analytical mind & great organizing skills & was given dedicated role with formal boundaries. (8)
• He chose L.K. Advani as mentor – and was chosen by Advani to take on the role as Chief Minister Gujarat in 2001. L.K. Advani’s DOB: November 8. (8)
• 2002 still hangs like an albatross around his neck. (4)
• He was CM-in-office for Gujarat, for 13 years. (4)
• On May 26, he will be sworn as Prime Minister of India. (8)

*** The above are available / verified dates. A lot of information about Modi, on social network, has been recently edited only to standard information. PR machinery in full swing. But if & when more information filters in, it will be annexed.

Those interested in numerology can search for birthdays of close associates of Modi & correlate to the number relationship given in the Kabbalah.

END-NOTE

I have a gut feeling that this man is now on the right side of destiny. Maybe he made few mistakes in the past, but he has read the writing on the wall – and somehow at the present moment, he looks poised for a bigger purpose beyond self greed & self gratification. If he continues on this path – it is a numerological given, that his name will be scripted in golden ink in the history of India. And right now – I do not wish to contemplate the other extreme.

May the good times begin. Amen.

Brahmam’garu – the Nostradamus of Andhra

BRAHMAM’GARU – THE NOSTRADAMUS OF ANDHRA

Sri Madvirat Pothuloru Veerabrahmendra Swami was a mystic, a saint, a siddha and an astronomer from the 17^th century.

Born in November 1608 in Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh, in his lifetime he performed many miracles before he took `jeeva-samadhi’ in the same village that he was born – Kandimallayapalli. Brahmam’gari mattham (matth / ashram) is a landmark in the area.

Brahmam’garu – as he was fondly referred to, put together a collection of future prophecies for India & the world. The prophecies were inscribed by him on palm leaves in ancient Telugu language, and over centuries have been translated into various languages for information & analysis.

KAALA-GYAANAM, AATMA-GYAANAM & MAHABHARATA

His works “Kaala-gyaanam” (Knowledge of Time) and “Aatma-gyaanam” (Knowledge of Self) are his 2 most prominent treatises. All his works were penned from an `inner knowledge’ which he said was available to him from Heavens above.

His most interesting analysis was calculation of time & timing of the Mahabharata era, as well as reasons for the occurrence of the epic. He had written that human genes had degenerated to a point of beyond repair. Any further procreation would be of no use. Fresh genes & fresh blood had to be infused into the human genetic system.

And hence descended on Earth – a genetic strand via aliens from above. To be more specific – Krishna & his clan, as well as Pandavas, Draupadi & those related to them. They were `born’ through highly evolved reproductive techniques by localizing an alien genetic strand, and cloning it into humans.

This done, it was important to annihilate the defective genes from Earth. Hence the master-plan of Kurukshetra was laid. The victory meant nothing, it was a means of converging a 1000+ people with defective genes, that were subject procreation, at a single point – to be annihilated, so that no further reproduction takes place.

SRI KAALAHASTI

Brahmam’garu also accurately predicted many significant events & catastrophes that came to pass in the history of India. Closer to Andhra Pradesh, Brahmam’garu predicted the collapse of the `Raja-gopuram’ (main roof) of the Sri Kaalahasti Temple, close to the foothills of Tirupati. This prediction came to pass.

An interesting note that Brahmam’garu made at the end of the prediction was – do not blame nature or time for what happens. Blame yourself. `Yatha praja tatha raja’. The people determine the leader, the leader will determine what happens to the nation, so what happens to the nation has been scripted by you.

In correlation to the collapse of the Raja-gopuram of Sri Kaalahasti temple – in the end it was simply concluded that `bad management’ failed to notice apparent cracks in the wall & hence the collapse, whereas a stitch in time would have saved nine.

**For those not in the know, Sri Kaalahasti is a temple dedicated to Lord Shiva and is one of the few `Vayu-Lingams’ in India. Those who have visited would know – the sanctum sanctorum is practically in a long tunnel of sorts where it becomes impossible to breathe if the crowd is large, as in that much paucity of air – yet at all times, the lamps in the sanctorum are swaying as if a light fresh breeze from a mysterious source is fanning them.

**Sri Kaalahasti is also famous for performing shanti-pooja for those who have Kaal-sarpa yog in horoscopes.

THE PRECDICTION THAT I SEARCHED FOR:

I will perhaps pen a list of predictions that came to pass by this Nostradamus of Andhra, but on another day. For now, I wish to come to that particular prediction for which my search began.

I first heard of Brahmam’garu in the bedtime stories that my mother would narrate to us – a collection of stories of future prophecies for India that came to her via a legacy of stories narrated by her mother & grand-mother.

A certain story had caught my attention & stuck with me over the years. Over the last one week, I have consciously hunted for it in journals & books – and this is what I came up with. This is the available translated version:-

• Somewhere around the first decade of the 21^st century, India will see hope.
• Around this time, the country would have been well torn apart by greed & malice. India would have lost its Vedic glory & will be held ransom by foreign powers. Helplessness & chaos will be order of the day.
• And then the `saffron-man’ will come. He would have renounced worldly pleasures. He will have no royal lineage. He will one among masses.
• The `saffron-man’ will take over reigns & India will see hope.
• Vedic principles, Hinduism & Sanskrit will see new light of day. Peace & peaceful co-existence will be re-installed.
• India will emerge as a centre of spiritualism & world peace.
• India will become a force to reckon with & will emerge as super-power amongst nations.
• India will regain its lost glory.
• And the footnote again says – Yatha praja, tatha raja – as you sow, so you reap.

IN 2014…

In 2014, as I pen this today, India is celebrating & is full of hope for tomorrow. I make no correlations – BUT ….. he is a `saffron-man’, he has renounced his family, he has no royal lineage, he is one among masses, he is a believer of Hinduism & wishes to restore Vedic tenets, he talks of peaceful co-existence – and for some strange reason, India has recently acquired a new found respect amongst world leaders. Don’t mess with us – is a message that has gone across loud & strong.

I believe. I have hope. God save the King. God bless the King. Amen.

Moral of the story: All mothers must narrate bedtime stories to their children. These are carried forward heritages that only come through hear-say. You never know, 30 years down the line, your child may delve into something you said while lulling him to sleep, and some old lost information may be revisited.