Won't be on the mail today as I have some long-pending tasks to be done at Chennai. Am already dreading a boring weekend here.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Snaking it's way through
Was standing near the door of the "2623 Tvm Mail" couple of weeks ago, when the train was taking a curve and felt that the visual resembled a snake making its way through greenery. The only camera handy was the crappy SonyEricsson phone-cam and this was the result. This was somewhere near Kottayam, if I remember correctly.
Won't be on the mail today as I have some long-pending tasks to be done at Chennai. Am already dreading a boring weekend here.
Won't be on the mail today as I have some long-pending tasks to be done at Chennai. Am already dreading a boring weekend here.
Sunday, September 05, 2010
Aman embarks on a journey - to discover the world of letters.
Am not sure how it is in other states of India, but in Kerala there exists a specific ritual called Vidyarambham (beginning of knowledge) which marks a kid's foray into the world of letters. Till this initiation is done, kids are usually not made to write alphabets - ofcourse they are free to scribble whatever they want, on their own.
This initiation ceremony is observed every year on Vijayadasami day, when kids all over Kerala (irrespective of religion, though Vijayadasami is a Hindu festival) embark on their journey to learn the alphabets.
This year Vidyarambham is on 17th October. This annual ritual is a big occasion in Kerala and on that day, almost all newspapers would feature this on the front page, with pictures of kids scribbling their first letters - on a plate full of rice-grains.
Me and my wife would have loved Aman also to start on this day. However, it seems that this ritual needs to be done before the kid attains 3 years of age. Since Aman would already be 3-years old on 3rd October, we could not wait till 17th-Oct.
My friend Sajan, whose kid Christo is the same age as Aman, had got Christo's vidyarambham done at the local church, with the parish priest initiating Christo into the world of letters by having him write "Jesus Mary Joseph" in Malayalam, on a bed of rice-grains. Note that this is a variation on the original practice of writing "Hari Shree Ganapathaye Namaha", which is a Hindu invocation to the Gods.
One major factor of the whole Vidyarambham ceremony is the person initiating the kid to the world of letters. It cannot be just anyone you fancy. It has to be a learned person, someone well-educated and respected in society, the belief being that this will rub on the kid being initiated, leading him/her to be good at letters (education).
I felt no one would be more apt for leading Aman on the path of knowledge than my father, who is not only learned, but who also taught me and my sisters much more than what our schools could ever possibly do. And ofcourse so many other kids have benefitted from being taught by him after he retired.
My in-laws (both of them) could also do the honours since they both retired as teachers, but since they stay an hour or more away, we ruled that option out. My wife said in jest that if I at all I wanted to do it, I would need to re-learn Malayalam as I would have long forgotten how to write the language.
Anyway, we chose today as the day for Aman's Vidhyarambham and Aman was excited about the whole thing. He sat in his Grandpa's lap and my Dad held his fingers tracing "Hari Shree..." over the bed of rice-grains. After the ceremony was done, Aman gave his teacher (Grandpa) Rs.1000 as guru-dakshina. Here is Aman writing his first letters - pardon the poor cellphone snap.
The other day, when Sajan came home, he was telling us in jest that "Christo has started writing with a vengeance after his vidyarambham, and looks like he will become a doctor one day". I guess Aman was around when this was mentioned, because after his initiation was done, Aman proclaimed to all of us, "Christo has started writing and will become a doctor. Now I have also started writing and I will become a train-driver". All of us could not help laughing.
For a kid, being a train-driver or pilot must figure really high as a career option. I don't really care what career path he opts for - doctor, engineer, teacher or even loco-pilot as long as he grows up to be an educated and responsible member of society.
Aman, here's wishing you a fun journey into the world of knowledge.
This initiation ceremony is observed every year on Vijayadasami day, when kids all over Kerala (irrespective of religion, though Vijayadasami is a Hindu festival) embark on their journey to learn the alphabets.
This year Vidyarambham is on 17th October. This annual ritual is a big occasion in Kerala and on that day, almost all newspapers would feature this on the front page, with pictures of kids scribbling their first letters - on a plate full of rice-grains.
Me and my wife would have loved Aman also to start on this day. However, it seems that this ritual needs to be done before the kid attains 3 years of age. Since Aman would already be 3-years old on 3rd October, we could not wait till 17th-Oct.
My friend Sajan, whose kid Christo is the same age as Aman, had got Christo's vidyarambham done at the local church, with the parish priest initiating Christo into the world of letters by having him write "Jesus Mary Joseph" in Malayalam, on a bed of rice-grains. Note that this is a variation on the original practice of writing "Hari Shree Ganapathaye Namaha", which is a Hindu invocation to the Gods.
One major factor of the whole Vidyarambham ceremony is the person initiating the kid to the world of letters. It cannot be just anyone you fancy. It has to be a learned person, someone well-educated and respected in society, the belief being that this will rub on the kid being initiated, leading him/her to be good at letters (education).
I felt no one would be more apt for leading Aman on the path of knowledge than my father, who is not only learned, but who also taught me and my sisters much more than what our schools could ever possibly do. And ofcourse so many other kids have benefitted from being taught by him after he retired.
My in-laws (both of them) could also do the honours since they both retired as teachers, but since they stay an hour or more away, we ruled that option out. My wife said in jest that if I at all I wanted to do it, I would need to re-learn Malayalam as I would have long forgotten how to write the language.
Anyway, we chose today as the day for Aman's Vidhyarambham and Aman was excited about the whole thing. He sat in his Grandpa's lap and my Dad held his fingers tracing "Hari Shree..." over the bed of rice-grains. After the ceremony was done, Aman gave his teacher (Grandpa) Rs.1000 as guru-dakshina. Here is Aman writing his first letters - pardon the poor cellphone snap.
The other day, when Sajan came home, he was telling us in jest that "Christo has started writing with a vengeance after his vidyarambham, and looks like he will become a doctor one day". I guess Aman was around when this was mentioned, because after his initiation was done, Aman proclaimed to all of us, "Christo has started writing and will become a doctor. Now I have also started writing and I will become a train-driver". All of us could not help laughing.
For a kid, being a train-driver or pilot must figure really high as a career option. I don't really care what career path he opts for - doctor, engineer, teacher or even loco-pilot as long as he grows up to be an educated and responsible member of society.
Aman, here's wishing you a fun journey into the world of knowledge.
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