Neurotransmitters Flow in this Autism Mind: India

Showing posts with label India. Show all posts

Melon Stall

Just what you need for the hot summer

A melon stall during a 2018 India trip

Puthandu /Tamil New Year is believed to be the day God Brahma, began his creation. It falls on the first day of the Tamil month of Chithirai (~Apr 13-15). Tamil calendar was created during the Chola dynasty in the 9th century CE.

Mango Pachadi, is the speciality food of the day, symbolizing the different flavors of life, including sweetness, sourness, bitterness, and tanginess.

Chilling on a houseboat

This is where I would like to be today on my birthday.

Chilling on a houseboat in the Kerala backwaters

(photo taken a few years back)

Chilling on a houseboat in Kerala's backwaters
Coconut trees sway along the shore
The sun dips low, painting the sky with colors
A serene moment, that I'll forever adore.

Seatbelt? What is that

Seatbelts? What is that.

This is the way to ride to school. Students in school uniform on the back of an auto. Carefree joy!!

Photo taken during a 2018 India trip in North India.

Happy Pongal

All set for Pongal this morning, complete with Tiruman and Veshti (traditional attire). 
Happy Pongal everyone.  

Ready to make some noise with a plate and spoon along with cries of "Pongal O Pongal" when the clay pot of (newly harvested) cooked rice boils over.

Happy Pongal everyone.

A Pongal lunch spread. While farmers celebrate the rice harvest, we celebrate their hardwork by feasting!! Happy Pongal everyone.

Vaikunta Ekadasi.

What are Hindu festivals like all about and why are there so many - almost one a month. In this busy, maddening, materialistic-chasing lives of ours which often is the hallmark of our progress, they serve as a reminder for us to really pause, contemplate and take stock our of spiritual pulse and progress. You could think of them as a mindfulness monthly check in. Images, rituals and the sounds involved are tools that facilitate this mindset. Its multisensory integration and balance for the body. For instance just reciting our Sanskrit slokas generate innumerable beneficial vibrations in the body and activate the significant chakras in the body. Images help with visual focus. The practical advice of regular fasting on the bi-monthly Ekadasi day from ancient times, is rediscovered and now marketed as a healthcare gut-cleanse.

It's really amazing how Spirituality (the unexplained) of yesterday becomes the Science (the explained) of today. All the answers were always there, we just have to decode and understand them. In the modern era, we formulate explanations using the lens of science and evidence based research. Essentially, we are trying to reconstruct that old deciphering code, by asking the right questions, along with new technology; all of which kind of got lost/mangled over the centuries. Science is the process of "re-discovering" explanations.

Today is Vaikunta Ekadasi, celebrated on the eleventh day of the waxing moon in the Tamil month of Margazhi (December-January). It is also called Mukkoti Ekadashi. In our Puranas, it's the day the ocean (kshira sagara) was churned by both the devas and asuras for the nectar of immortality (amrit) during the Kurma Avatar era of Lord Vishnu; the spiritual significance being churning your own heart for goodness and purity and ridding it of falsehood, ego and conceit.

Vaikunta Ekadasi is also called Guruvar, the day our beloved Krishna imparted the knowledge of the Bhagawad Gita to Arjuna. The Gita is about inner spiritual practices in the form of the different types of Yogas, that not just help you in physical wellbeing and spiritual progress personally, but the resultant flow of unselfish thoughts results in service to society. After all, as Krishna tells us, the greatest seva (service) is service to society.

Vaikunta Ekadasi is a multiple-blessings day. It's the day the doors of Vaikunta, the abode of Vishnu open; the spiritual significance being an invitation for self-examination in our journey from the untruth to truth. On another note, it is believed that if you die on the day of Vaikunta Ekadasi, you bypass the rest of your karmic cycle of death-rebirths and attain Moksha, or liberation at the feet of God. Kind of like an escape card. Of course we don't get to choose when we die, but I sure hope that when my time comes, it's on Vaikunta Ekadasi day. The essence of Karma is action and equal reaction, cause and equal consequence, which Newton "re-discovered" with a lens of science. Your actions in the present (positive or negative) will have equal consequences in this lifetime or a future lifetime and our goal in every lifetime should be to cancel out all the negative accumulated karmic debt. Your atma (soul) has a much longer timespan that your mortal body in its journey to liberation. Rebirth makes total sense in modern lingo; we call it recycling now, instead of use-once and dispose off the old which just accumulates in polluting landfills.

Grandpa and me

Some photos with my late grandpa Raghavan Thatha taken in Ooty, India.

Manimandapam and Kanchipuram Silk

During my (short) summer trip to India, got to visit Manimandapam, samadhi (resting place) of the late Kanchi Shankaracharya. A fantastic work of architecture. Refreshingly cool inside (natural AC) amidst the blazing heat outside.

A visit to the Gosala outside the temple.

And got to go sari shopping in Kanchipuram (famous for silk) with my Kapil Maama and Anu Maami for my cousin Ved's Poonal.

Got to see the mill where they handweave all the saris. And they use punch cards to feed in the patterns.

A Ganesha Carrot

Ganesha shaped carrot from our garden

In time for Ganesha Chaturti

Kollu Paati

This artwork from the 1920s-1930s, still in its original frame, was made by my Padmasini Kollu-Paati (great grandma) - died 1958. She was quite the entrepreneur, ran her small home based milk business, and has even made speeches to mobilize other women to join the Indian Independence Movement.

Some of the relatives from that branch of the family run the Gandhi Ashram in Selam, Tamilnadu. Another aunt of my grandpa went off to live and do social work with Harijans in the villages, which is pretty progressive for a femail from a conservative Brahmin family of that era.

Fossil

My late Raghavan Thatha liked to collect fossils. This is not a piece of wood but actually a fossil and as heavy as a stone. How cool is that.

Harrapa Artifact

My late Raghavan Thatha (grandpa) worked in archeology for a while. Replica of an artifact - Harappan seal from the Harappa archeology digs from the time of the Indus Valley Civilization. 2600BC-6000BC

Lunch Appetizer

Lunch Appetizer was Corn Soup made by Paati

Watching Paati prep the soup.

Tree Cup

Afternoon snack of Dosa with Muruga Sambar made by Paati, accompanied by Green Tea with Lemon and honey in a cup that's shaped like a tree trunk.

Remote Instruction, International Edition

So I'm in India for a few weeks.

Remote Instruction, International Edition

Remote Instruction at the table your parent used during their schooling. No laptops back then!!

A Variety of Kozhukattai Experience

The tiffen scene in Chennai is quite interesting.

I had multiple varieties of kuzhutattai for breakfast. Kuzhukattais are traditionally steamed rice balls with sweet or spicy stuffing inside. They just got more creative. The white one is made with palm sago, there were ones made with Ragi (Millet) and also upma kuzhukattai.

A variety of spice and sweet Lip-smacking and finger-licking varieties.

Murunga's Three Feet Long

Freshly harvested Murunga Drumsticks (Moringa Olifera). Murunga's are loaded with good nutrients right from Vitamin C to antioxidants with many parts of the plant used in ayurveda meds. I've never seen a muruga drumstick this long before - its over 3 feet long. And these look fat and juicy too, when cooked.

I'm think I'm getting a yummy Murunga dish from Paati (grandma) tomorrow. Can't wait.

Competitive Cats

The cats at my grandma's place are seriously competitive. It saw me hugging grandma and demanded - as in meowing away loudly and pawing the rug and couch - to be be given room on the couch so it could get in on the love.

There are actually 2 cats here, one on each floor and each possessive about its territory. The downstairs one (Chinni) never goes up and vice versa for Feather. The upstairs cat is quite old and decides to meow away in the middle of the night for food.

And did I mention the visiting fellows. A couple of cats turn up at the backdoor several times a day and meow for food. My Paati promptly feeds them. These cats never venture inside else they face the wrath of the house cats.

They are too funny. LOL

Lifelong Learning

My Paati (grandma) likes languages and at 82 doing courses on conversational Sanskrit. Got distinction in her last exam too.

No cats competing for this Paati's attention. Lol

Healthy Idly's

Breakfast today was healthy Bajra Idly's

The Ubiquitous Masala Dosa

Evening tiffen was Masala Dosa with sambar and chutney served on a banana leaf

and filter "Kapi" (coffee) served in a tumbler and dabara (saucer)

April 15 - Tamil New Year
Happy Tamil New Year Everyone. Its the herald of spring.

My first Tamil New Year in Tamilnadu!!

An elaborate and delicious naivedyam lunch made by Paati (grandma) and Athai (aunt) with mor kuzhambu, kootu, 2 karamadhis, vadas, green mango pachadi, carrot payasum and more. Delicious and served on on a freshly harvested banana leaf from the garden.

It usually rains on Tamil New Year and the weather did not disappoint. Complete with Thunder. Rain is considered auspicious, means things will go well.

Banana Leaf Lunching

Warm delicious Paati samayal (grandma's cooking) on a freshly cut banana leaf from the garden.

Eating traditional style on an organic, eco-friendly, biodegradable plate with extra nutrition thrown in.

Extra nutrition? Polyphenols (think micronutrients in plant based foods packed with antioxidants) in the banana leaves get stimulated from the warmth of the food and get absorbed into the food along with Ascorbic Acid, Citric Acid, Ca and Carotene in Banana Leaves.

Can I get a banana leaf every meal?

Eating with fingers? Its a natural exercise and builds dexterity for the fingers and the hand (kind of useful for someone like me actually with poor fine motor skills). It's slows down eating and brings about greater awareness of texture and taste, a.k.a mindful eating.

And isn't seeking sensory experiences an autistic thing? LOL Using silverware actually lends to faster eating.

Faster eating is linked to Type 2 Diabetics. Silverware actually lends to faster eating.

Ayurveda says nerve endings on the fingers stimulate digestion and improves blood circulation. Incorporating the five elements represented by the fingers - starting with thumb - space, air, fire, water, earth - is holistic eating. Somehow the Colonial legacy has meant that such indigenous cultural practices were frowned upon. That such things were "inferior" and made you "less than"

This sound familiar? - that the disabled mind-body is somehow "less than"

Image Description: Young male of South Indian origin eating food served on banana leaf. Also seated at the dining table is his grandpa with his grandma serving them food.

#PaatiSamayal #GrandmaCooking #EatingOnBananaLeaf