Happy Birthday, Sachin Tendulkar -- India says "Mein Khelega!"

It was the year 1987. A year made memorable in India’s cricketing history by virtue of being Sachin Tendulkar’s debut year in international cricket. India was touring Pakistan and Sachin had been out for a duck and a 7 in the first match, scored 12 in the second, dropped for the third and the fourth was being played in Sialkot. The first three matches had been drawn and for this one, in Sialkot, an obnoxiously green, grassy pitch had been specially prepared by the Pakistani captain Imran Khan. His express orders to the groundsmen had been, “If you cut the grass, I’ll have your heads cut off.”  The pitch was covered with inch-long blades of thick green grass and the four world-class fast bowlers in the Pakistani team; Wasim Akram, Waqar Younus, Aquib Javed and Imran Khan himself, were making their presence felt.

 

With Kapil Dev (left) and Captain Mohammed Azharuddin (right) on his debut in 1987

It was the fifth day of the match. India was tottering at 22 for 4. Sidhu and Ravi Shastri were at the crease.  The bowling was murderous; the newly-married Sidhu had been hit several times on the body and was just desperately praying to God to be given out.  He remembers thinking if he would ever see his bride again. The balls would just come flying at 170 kmph; deviating and swinging in the air in lethal, unexpected ways. Most times, the batsman hardly saw them coming. One such vicious, whistling bouncer hit Shastri on the gloves and India were 22 for 5. 

 

Coming out to bat at no: 6 on that fateful day at Sialkot

Sidhu looked towards the dressing room, dreading to see who the India captain would send out. The moment remains etched forever in his memory. Out walked Sachin Tendulkar, at 15 years 3 months old, 5 ft nothing, with a mop of curly hair.  He recalls thinking they had thrown the chicken out at the hungry jackals. Mentally preparing himself to be batting with the bowlers next, he walked up to him, “Shabash, shabash Tendlya, sambhal ke (Well-done, Tendlya, look sharp). The very first ball Tendulkar faced was a lethal, sizzling delivery from Waqar that would have cut Tendulkar in half had he not stepped out of the way. The next ball was a bouncer that Sachin tried to hook. The ball took an inside edge and smashed his nose at 170 kmph. He collapsed like a sack of flour collapsing to the floor, when a biggish hole has been cut into the bottom.

 

The way to cricketing history is paved with a broken nose!

“I ran towards him pell-mell,” Sidhu recalls. My first thought was, “Oh my God the kid is dead… blood was gushing from where his nose had been.  The front of his shirt was soaked red by the time I got to him. He was writhing in pain on the crease, his eyes already outlined in deep black circles, within a few seconds of being hit. I scarcely knew what I was doing. I tore off my gloves and went down on my knees beside him, propping him up at the neck with one arm and wildly signalling the dressing room with the other. There was blood on the grass everywhere.” First-aid walked up in the form of Dr Ali Irani, the Indian team’s physio. Everyone knew what would follow, a slab of ice on the head and a Saridon popped into the mouth; his remedies were often worse than the injuries he was called upon to treat.

 

Bringing out the best in each other: Sidhu and Tendulkar

“There is no place like the non-striker’s end to make you appreciate your fellow player.” 

Sidhu walked back despondently to his end of the crease, looking at the scorers walking towards the board, all set to change ‘for 5’ to ‘for 6,’ when all of a sudden he heard a squeaky voice. “I can still hear it clearly,” he recalls, “and 23 years on, I get the same goosebumps that I got back then.”  I turned back, and I saw this young boy with three failed innings behind him, who had nothing to lose in the current situation, trying to push the plump Ali aside, ridiculous bloodied blobs of cotton hanging out from the still-streaming nostrils, “Mein khelega (I will play)” he said.  

 

Here was I, 24 years old, with three centuries to my name, and all I could think of was my wife. Here was this boy, barely out of school, with nothing but a string of dismissals behind him and all but dead, insisting on playing for his country.  

 

It was unbelievable. I went back and stood next to him. “Tendlya, I can’t tell you how proud I am of you,” I said. “Ae Sherry, you don’t have to be proud,” the squeaky voice now made gluggy by all the blood he was swallowing. “We cannot lose this test match re, hamaare desh ki saakh daao par lagi hai” were his exact words. He walked back to the striking end.

 

Both of us went back to the business at hand, struggling to gain control of our emotions. I anticipated a yorker next and he, even with his eyes shut with the pain and sunken beyond belief, blood spattered all over the top-half of his trousers now, face swollen, nostrils bleeding non-stop, even in that state he anticipated a yorker too.  The yorker came at 160 kmph and found Tendulkar standing a feet and a half behind the crease, with his brain ticking, absolutely prepared. He just parted his feet and let it go, with Waqar glaring at him.  He walked up to Waqar and looked him in the eye -- “Ae ungli katwa (Waqar has a cut finger on one hand) tuzha makhan re, makhan (Hey you with the cut finger, you’re as soft as butter/I’ll slice through you like butter!). He walked back calmly and hit Waqar for two boundaries in that over.

 

Sachin and Younus snapped on debut: Tuzha makhan re makhan!

We closed the day with the scoreboard reading India 186 for 5 plus extras. Navjot Singh Sidhu N.O. 97 and Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar N.O. 67.  No more Indian wickets fell that day. We eventually drew that test match with the hosts Pakistan.

 

It was baptism by fire (by blood?). That’s the hallmark of a great champion that sets him apart from common men. He has the courage to conquer his fears, turn weakness into strength, obstacles on his path into stepping stones -- turn defeat to victory. It’s all in his mind, in his will. It’s in the way he thinks.

 

With the cricketing legend Sir Donald Bradman: "I see myself, when I see Sachin batting."

On his 48^th birthday, leftrightthodasacenter.blogspot.com salutes Bharat Ratna Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, student of Ramakant Achrekar. Thanks for making us feel “Saare jahaan se accha, Hindostan hamara” whenever we look at you.  As a nation, we shall forever be in your debt.  You showed us what it is to be dedicated to your passion, beyond religion, beyond politics.

 

Coach Ramakant Achrekar: The Man who gave us Sachin Tendulkar

So what do you think? Please leave your comments and best wishes in the section below and don’t forget to read, share, follow and subscribe to leftright 'thoda sa' center!

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The Ram Within

 

Ram was the 7^th avatar or incarnation of Vishnu. While all his avatars may not be worshipped as Gods, Ram is worshipped as God, perhaps because he appeared in human form and he exemplified the ideal human being, the ideal man, son, brother, husband, friend, king… and so on. This, to my mind, is the reason why Ram and his story, the Ramayan, appeals to all people, of all communities, across all religions. He showed us how each one of us was intended to live on this earth, irrespective of religion, with our parents, our family, our friends, our enemies, with fellow humans, with Nature. He showed us what it means, what it calls for, and how each one of us, whether we are son, brother, friend, father, husband, king, how each one of us can progress – by first becoming the ideal human and in so doing, even become God.

However, we realised this was tough and calls for a lot of doing. And as we are the smartest of all creatures on earth, we found a way to get out of this. We decided to call him a God and shut him up in temples and began worshipping him.

I feel we need to take him out of the temple and see him as a human who lived through all of life with composure, compassion and balance. Within the span of a single day, not only did he lose a kingdom, he also got exiled to the forest. He maintained his composure and saw both with the same eyes… of detachment. When he went to take leave of his mother, he said, “Father has not deprived me of the throne of Ayodhya, he has made me the king of vast forests.”   If he wanted to, he could have side-stepped the issue of keeping up the promise his father had given to his third queen by saying it’s a promise you made, so you need to keep it, not me. His father’s honour became a question of his own honour.

When the battle with Ravana was about to begin, Vibhishan asked him how he hoped to emerge victorious when Ravana and he were clearly on an unequal footing. “Look at him, he’s mounted on a chariot and look at you… leave alone riding a chariot, you are barefoot!” Rama smiled and told him, “I am riding a chariot, Vibhishan….only you can’t see it! When Vibhishan looked surprised, he told him “I have everything I need to win this war. I am riding a chariot mounted on twin wheels; one of Courage and the other of Fortitude. Strength and Intelligence fly like banners on this chariot which is pulled by three horses: Truth; Modest and Humble behaviour, and the spirit of Goodwill, Helpfulness towards all. I am holding the reins of Forgiveness, Kindness, Grace and Mercy that keep these horses tied to my chariot. Such is my chariot, O Vibhishan, and as long as I am on this chariot, no one can shake me, leave alone defeat me.”

So at any time in our life’s battles, if we feel we have fallen short of resources, tools or implements to win, if we have these resources on our side, let us firmly believe we are invincible.  

Throughout his struggles, he didn’t look for help to royal armies which would have been his for the asking. Instead he befriended the depressed, the marginalised, the natural citizens of the lands he set foot in and put his faith in the knowledge of the locals.

The day he left the palace, he left his princely self behind. This was the reason he could identify with the likes of Jatayu, Sugreev and Hanuman.  He saw himself as indebted to the boatman who he had nothing to pay for taking his wife, his brother and himself across the river. He saw himself as an equal.

We need to see him in everyone we come across.

On RamNavami, the day Ram came to earth, let us try to see him as a man, who became God through being an ideal human being.

As always, leave your comments in the section below and read, share, follow and subscribe to leftrightthodasacenter.blogpost.com

Image credit: Google

Also see: 

https://leftrightthodasacenter.blogspot.com/2019/04/rama-navami.html

https://leftrightthodasacenter.blogspot.com/2019/04/muskmelon-drinkpanaka.html

The Eternal Tramp - Charlie Chaplin

 

The Reel and the Real

Who would believe that Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin KBE (better known as Charlie Chaplin) spent a childhood living in and out of orphanages? His father Charles Spencer Sr. and his mother, Hannah Hill, were both stage performers; his father, a singer and mother, part of a touring drama company. He was born to them on 16^th April, 1889. His mother did odd jobs as a nurse, as a dressmaker besides working on the stage to support herself and two sons, Charlie and  his half-brother Sidney, born to her from an earlier marriage. His father did not contribute to the family upkeep at all, in fact Chaplin barely remembers even seeing him much. They had separated by the time he was two.

 

Charlie recalls how he and his brother would entertain themselves sitting at the window and watching passers-by; his mother would often mimic them, and it was from her that Charlie learnt how to use his face and hands to emote.  His earliest memory of performing on stage was when his mother was booed off stage and the manager, noticing the small kid watching her from the wings, called him to replace her.  All of five years old, he managed to keep the crowd entertained and won a lot of applause.

 

But by the time he was seven in 1898, his mother had to be admitted to a mental asylum and both the brothers spent their childhood in orphanages across London. She would become better from time to time and allowed to leave. She would encourage him to perform, “She was the first one to make me believe that I had some sort of talent,” he would confess later.  But she would often relapse and have to be readmitted, with Charlie having to take her back to the asylum.  He was 14 then. Recalling those days, he would say, “I was hardly aware of a crisis because we lived in a continual crisis; and being a boy, I dismissed our troubles with gracious forgetfulness.”

 

The Orphanage Days: The boy with his head tilted at the camera

Their father had become a chronic alcoholic and passed away in 1900. Sydney joined the Navy in 1901, and that left Charlie to fend for himself. Until he was 13, his mother had ensured that he got some schooling. But after her relapse, he had to give up all education. Though he lived alone and spent his days scrounging for food, the young Charlie had grown interested in performing and through his father’s contacts, became part of a dancing troupe. He worked hard at the dance routine, doing many odd jobs on the side to keep body and soul together, but longed to perform comedy on stage.

The Dancing Troupe: Fourth from left

Meanwhile his brother Sydney returned in 1906, looking to make a career on stage like Charlie, and found work at Fred Karno, a reputed comedy company. He persuaded Karno to try out Charlie and in 1908, he got a lead role in Jimmy the Fearless that got good reviews in the press. The turning point came when Karno decided to tour America with the play and took Charlie along. America welcomed him calling him “one of the best mime artists seen here.” His acts resounded with hope and resourcefulness in the midst of abject poverty and sadness -- his best-loved part was where he impersonated a drunk. In 1913, while on his second tour of America he got an offer from Keystone Studios to work in films.     

 

He joined but always dreamt of developing a persona for a role that he was going to write for himself – a role that everyone would identify him with. “I wanted everything to be a contradiction: the pants baggy, the coat tight, the hat small and the shoes large ... I added a small moustache, which, I reasoned, would add age without hiding my expression. I had no idea of the character. But the moment I was dressed, the clothes and the makeup made me feel the person he was. I began to know him, and by the time I walked on stage he was fully born.”

The Tramp is Born

 

The idea was rejected by his directors. He wanted to make the comedy slower than Keystone’s standards. He was fully convinced though and offered to pay the studio $1500 (about $40,000 in 2021 dollars) if the film didn’t do well.  Made with his convictions, Caught in the Rain his directorial debut, was a success. The Tramp became his signature, making him “universally familiar” a figure people identified with wherever silent films went, “a part of the common language of every country.”

 

He jumped studios, began forming his own stock company of actors, some of whom with which he would work for the next thirty years.  He found themes and settings that would identify with the tramp.   The character became more gentle, more romantic, adding pathos and irony that people identified with. He became bold enough to add sad endings too.  These were innovations that even serious  critics of cinema sat up and took notice of. By the time he was 25 (1915), ‘Chaplinitis’ spread across America, stores began selling his merchandise, there were songs and cartoons featuring him – he had become film industry’s first international star and by the time he turned 26, the highest-paid one too.  

 

Posing With his Tramp Doll

Sydney became his business manager. But interestingly, with financial independence, he strived not for a luxurious lifestyle, but for artistic freedom, to conceive of ideas that he could film at his own pace. He built his own studio with the best production facilities that money could buy in the day. The films that followed, The Kid, followed by The Gold Rush were said to be epic comedies born out of grim subjects, the first one where the tramp turned caretaker of a child, was based on poverty and parent-child separation, steeped in his childhood experiences, with the sets often reminiscent of the South London localities he roamed in search of food and work as a child and the second one was about a prospector, looking for gold but actually searching for love.  They were top grossing films of the silent era with the latter making $ 5 million at the box office (it had the famed sequence of him dining off his shoes and the “Dance of the Rolls”) – both together being screened in about 50 countries of the world.  In 1925, Chaplin featured on the cover of the Times magazine, the first movie star to do so, the same year, that the London asylum informed him of his mother’s death.

 

Re-living his Childhood Traumas on Screen: The Kid

Dealing with Pangs of Hunger in The Gold Rush

How to Polish off your own Shoes as a Fine Delicacy: The Golden Era of Mime 

He went on to make The Circus, with the tramp on a circus tightrope being plagued by monkeys, taken from the incidents of his own life; his first divorce, wherein he was accused of infidelity, abuse and perverted sexual desires that drove him practically to a nervous breakdown. The film did well enough to earn him a special prize at the very first Academy awards for “versatility and genius in acting, writing, directing and producing The Circus". 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AaCIfIRRLY

Meanwhile sound technology came to the movies, but he refused to make it part of his films believing that the “talkies” took away from the artistry of the silent films. In defiance, he made City Lights without any dialogues. The film revolved around the tramp falling in love with a blind flower-seller and saving up money for an operation that would restore her sight. Although they kept dialogues out from the film, all his anti-sound views could not keep him from giving the film a glorious background score which he composed himself. City Lights went on to tug the audiences’ heartstrings worldwide (grossing over $ 3 million) and always remained his personal favourite.

 

Love is Blind: Romancing the sightless flower-girl in City Lights

For someone who lacked formal education, Chaplin had distinct political and social ideology, which found unabashed expression in his films, such as the Great Dictator in which he parodied Adolf Hitler’s anti-Jewish obsessions and attacked fascism; Modern Times in which gave vent to his fears of capitalism and machinery in the workplace; Monsieur Verdoux, that criticised capitalism that encouraged wars and creation of weapons of mass destruction. The Great Dictator went on to win five Academy nominations, but Chaplin’s private life, his disastrous marriages to Mildred Harris, Lita Grey and Joan Barry and alimony suits that kept the gossip mills churning, his communist leanings that kept the FBI hot on his heels, all proved to be his undoing. His life in Hollywood was decried as being “detrimental to the moral fabric of America” and there was a public outcry for his deportation. In this atmosphere, he made Limelight, a romance between a once-famous stage performer and a young ballerina drawing inspiration from his own life and his loss of popularity in Hollywood. He decided to premiere it in London since it was based there, and the day after he left with his family, the US revoked his work permit, saying he would have to re-apply for the same on his return.   

 

Playing Adolf Hitler in The Great Dictator

Playing out the Dilemma of Man vs. Machine in Modern Times

This broke his heart and he decided to stay back in Europe, which welcomed him and his film with open arms. In 1953, he settled in Switzerland with his fourth wife Oona O’Neill (daughter of famous American playwright, Eugene O’Neill) and all his eleven children (8 from his marriage with Oona and 3 from his previous marriages). America continued to remain hostile, leading his biographers to comment that his fall from the public eye was perhaps “the most dramatic in the history of stardom in America".

 

In the last twenty years of his life, he made two films A King in New York and Countess in Hong Kong. The first was his most openly autobiographical film ever, with himself playing an exiled king who seeks asylum in the United States, and his son, Michael, playing a boy whose parents are targeted by the FBI. The second was made in Technicolor and the widescreen format, with Marlon Brando as an American ambassador and Sophia Loren as a stowaway in his cabin. Chaplin was cast in a minor role as a seasick steward. The former was not allowed to release in America and received lukewarm success in Europe, while the latter flopped everywhere. He published his memoirs, My Autobiography, which became an international bestseller.  He spent the remaining days of his life reworking his older films such as The Kid and The Circus.

 

With Marlon Brando during the filming of Countess in Hong Kong

With Sophia Loren at his own Birthday Parties

With Fellow Legends from Hollywood: Movie stars Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and film director D W Griffiths

 

With Amy Johnson, Britain's greatest airwoman and Lady Astor, Britain's first lady parliamentarian (centre) and the legendary author George Bernard Shaw

With the world's greatest ballerina, Anna Pavlova

With Mahatma Gandhi, in London

With Einstein: "They're cheering us both you because no one understands you and me because everyone understands me."

How Could India Stay Uninspired by Chaplin's Greatness?: Raj Kapoor doing a desi Chaplin in Anari

His health became progressively worse and he suffered a series of strokes. Honours and awards still kept pouring in, the French Legion of Honour in 1971 and in 1972, he was invited to the Oscars to receive an award for "the incalculable effect he has had in making motion pictures the art form of this century". It was widely interpreted as America trying to make amends. He was sceptical about going back, but eventually when he did attend the gala, he was accorded a 12-minute long standing ovation, the longest recorded in the history of the awards. In 1975, he received knighthood from Queen Elizabeth, though he was so frail that he had to accept it on a wheelchair.

 

Accepting the Oscar from Jack Lemmon at the historic Awards presentation in 1972

KBE: Chaplin gets knighted by Queen Elizabeth II

Finally, on Dec 25^th 1977, Chaplin passed away in his sleep of a stroke at age 88 and was buried on his estate in Switzerland.  Sadly, controversy dogged him in death as in life, with his dead body being stolen for ransom. The Swiss police launched a massive manhunt and it was discovered in a field and restored to his rightful grave at his estate, this time in a steel vault.  

leftrightthodasacenter.blogspot.com salutes the comic genius on his 132^nd birthday on April 16, 2021. We look forward to reading your comments on this legendary actor in the space below, and as always, do not forget to read, share, follow and subscribe!

When India Celebrates Multiple New Years!

 

 

In a glorious example of unity in diversity, people of different Indian communities  all over the world celebrate their new year over the next few days, on April (13^th/14^th/15^th). Bengalis would call it Poila Boishakh, Assamese Bihu, Punjabis Baisakhi, Sindhis  Cheti Chand, Malayalis Vishu, Maharastrians Gudi Padwa, Telegu and Kannada-speaking people would celebrate Ugadi,  Odia speakers Pana Sankranti and Tamil-speaking Indians Puthandu (the title pic is of Puthandu kolam in a Tamilian household).

 

Not for nothing is India known as the land of festivals.  When in India…a festival by any other name would be as …celebrated?  In general, this particular festival coincides with the first day of the Hindu calendar, so Happy New Year everyone!  Since the first month of the calendar is called Vaishakh (Baisakh/Boishak), the first day itself is called Vaishakhi or Baisakhi. (This falls around the 13^th or 14^th of April of the English calendar every year). Hence, the festival that falls on this first day of Vaishakh is called Vaishakhi (or, that’s right, Baisakhi).

 

All over India, it’s that time of the year when the fields are filled with golden crops, ripened and ready for harvesting. For the farmer, it’s the time to reap the hard-earned fruits (grains) of his labour.  India was (still is) a largely agrarian economy, so the day marks a time of plenty.  It’s also the season of spring, when Nature fills every bough and branch with flowers and fruits. Hence families celebrate the first day of Vaishakh as a day of thanksgiving: for the abundance of grains, fruits and flowers that Nature has blessed them with.

 

Although it’s called by many names, this is the common thread that runs through the celebration everywhere.  Householders clean up their homes, take a ritual bath/dip in the holy rivers, be it Ganga, Jhelum or Kaveri (this is the day when Ganga is believed to have descended from the heavens at the Brahma Kund in Haridwar) and worship their Gods, offering them the first of the fruits, flowers and grains that they have blessed the worshippers with (Malayali households make arrangements of flowers, fruits and grains and call their friends and relations to come over and admire the Vishukanni or “the lucky sight”).  People visit their temples or holy shrines, invite friends and family home to party, offering them gifts, to share in the abundance and splurge at fairs and festivities, giving alms to the needy. Wearing new clothes (puthukodi), lighting up fireworks and eating special goodies (jaggery and sattu in UP, fried gram cakes in Himachal, sadya a mix of sweet, salt, bitter and sour in Kerala, a drink called pana in Odisha which is a mix of wood apple, mango, jaggery and pepper, eating sweetened rice or tihri amongst the Sindhis). The whole ambience is one of gratitude and sharing the abundance.   

Vishu in Kerala: Vishnukani, the 'lucky sight' -- worshipping Lord Vishnu (in the form of Krishna) with an offering of the best of flowers, fruits and grains 

 

Pana Sankranti: On the right, the customary clay-pot with a small opening for water to drip over the Tulsi in the backyard, and on the right, a glass of pana, a cooling drink of wood apple (bel), mango juice, pepper and jaggery

In Maharashtra, as in Bengal, houses are cleaned up and floors decorated with intricate, colourful patterns called rangoli in Marathi and alpona in Bengali that echo the burst of colours in Spring.  Both in Maharashtra and Goa, womenfolk prepare special dishes that are mixture of sweet and bitter (gur, gul) with sour (tamarind) along with poori, shrikhand and/or puran poli.  For Ugadi celebrations in Karnataka and Andhra, a garland of bella and bevvu (mango and neem leaves) is hung over doorways, and special pacchadi (a dish of sweet, sour, salty and bitter ingredients) is prepared and eaten as a welcoming precursor of life’s sweet and bitter experiences in the year to come.

 

The Ugadi platter:  With mango, jaggery, chilli, tamarind and neem representing the tastes of life

The Gudi Padwa Rangoli in a Maharashtrian Home

In Assam and Bengal, everyone wears new clothes, worships Lord Ganesh and Goddess Lakshmi for prosperity with special offerings of sweets and gifts to mark the occasion.  It’s a time of family gatherings with lots of good food, when youngsters take the blessings of elders and everyone greets each other with ‘Shubho Nabobarsho’ (Happy New Year). In Assam particularly, Bihu is a time of much community singing and dancing to the beat of the drums.  

 

Poila Boishakh: Alpona on the passage floor

Street Alpona in Chittagong, Bangladesh

Shubho Naboborsho: Worshipping Ganesh and Lakshmi

Bohag Bihu: Dancing and singing in the customary white and red to the sound of drumbeats 

For the Sikh community, this day is of special historical significance as it marks the day of the coronation of Guru Gobind Singh as the ninth guru and the foundation of the Sikh/Khalsa community to protect Hindus and fight their persecution by the Mughal rulers to convert to Islam. In subsequent years, it was on this day that Ranjit Singh was proclaimed king of a unified Punjab to defy the British; it also marks the day of the Jallianwala massacre by General Dyer on a Baisakhi gathering. Gurudwaras and temples all over Punjab are decorated; people offer a drink of sweetened water cooled in earthen pitchers mixed with seasonal fruit, (called chabeel) at street corners. Community fairs and kirtans (congregational singing of hymns/holy songs) are organised. Wearing turbans and clothes of a bright yellow colour and eating foods coloured yellow (such as jalebis) is considered auspicious. The entire area around the Golden Temple is awash with a sea of yellow as Sikhs congregate in a festive mood to celebrate melas or fairs. Baisakhi is considered an auspicious day for getting married or starting any new ventures in business or education or otherwise.     

Baisakhi: Oye jatta aai Basakhi! 

However, the Gujarati and Rajasthani communities celebrate their new year called Bestu Varas closer towards Deepawali in October, whereas the Buddhists celebrate Losar in February. The Parsi New Year Navroz is celebrated in March, in July or in August, depending upon the calendars the particular section of the community follows.  Yes, you are right again...in India, New Year celebrations last the whole year!    

Over the next three days, even in far-off US, UK Canada, Australia, Srilanka, Nepal, Bangladesh and in parts of the Far East, people of Indian origin will celebrate the many forms of Vaisakhi as a day of thanksgiving, festivities and togetherness and of new beginnings, with friends and family in attendance.  

 

Leftrightthodasacenter.blogspot.com wishes all Indian communities across the globe a most warm, prosperous and happy new year (but do be mindful of your masks and social distancing!) As always leave your comments in the section below, and remember to read, share and subscribe.

Image credits: Google