*************************************************************************************************************
I think the meaning of the mantra above is clear...at least as clear as the mud of which we used to make our own Vinayakas in our childhood...we would collect the mud from the banks of our village-tank and Father would press it in a mold as old as himself. And the hot and bright Muthukur Sun God would dry it in a few hours into a clay god. It was only in the late 1950s that we saw Plaster of Paris gods coated with aluminum and lead paints...they looked gaudy.
The other day I saw a photo-op where a bunch of cute college girls were offering for free our Muthukur Vinayakas to passersby...but I guess there were no takers except the photo-takers.
The operative part of the above mantra is Gandham...the sandalwood paste that is rubbed on our Ganeshas and ourselves...forehead, arms and chest. It has a mild perfume and is holy.
The picture above shows the sandalwood stick (more like a rod) placed above a grinding stone. The grinders were of hard wood in our childhood. The kit was there in all brahmin families long ago. And whenever Father wanted Gandham we would compete to make the paste...just sprinkle a couple of drops of water on the grinder and grind the sandalwood stick on it till we get a paste of the required thickness...one stick would last a couple of years.
Alas...the kit is not easy to buy these days. Click on the link below the pic and you would see that it costs Rs. 665 only...and is out-of-stock. The reason is simple...our South-Indian sandalwood found a huge market overseas and is poached and smuggled rampantly. Remember the brigand with mustache who killed dozens of policemen, abducted an actor, had a private army, and played hide-and-seek with three states for decades till he was shot dead...only to be replaced with other more powerful brigands of other 'substances'.
These noveau-brigands found many things other than sandalwood to form mafias. We hear of mining-mafias, coal-mafias, and lately sand-mafias. And these have powerful political connections that our poor mustache-man lacked and got killed. He ought to have entered active politics and dismissed a few IAS officers...in minutes.
What next? Water-mafia? Air-mafia?
I heard, by the way, this 'making waves' thing at IIT KGP a couple of decades ago. One evening, Prof SNB walked into our room excitedly, holding the latest Telegraph Supplement that had the photos of two young Calcutta physicists on the front page. And SNB rebuked me and DB for not making even 'ripples' while Calcutta theoreticians were making waves by proving Einstein wrong.
Poor Einstein!
Coming back to our 'gandham', I came to know from Farrukh Dhondy's article that, long ago, Gujerati traders used to make perfumes (sugandhs) out of sandalwood sticks and sell them at an exorbitant price. First you extract oil from sandalwood and the rest is easy...dilute it and you have the base for the 'ittars' of Arabia...hence the 'Arabian Sea'.
These perfume-selling banias called themselves, first, 'Sugandhis', and then, when they were in a hurry, 'Gandhis'.
And when Gujeartis flourish, can Parsis be left behind? (Dhondy is a Parsi).
So we had our Mahatma Gandhi (Hindu) and then Feroze Gandhi (Parsi). FG wanted to marry our Indira Priyadarshini Nehru but Nehurjee opposed their alliance...Indiraji didn't. It was left to MG to broker peace and arrange the wedding...Gandhis of this land stick together.
For a while I used to read, when I was in the university in the 1960s, the word Indira-Nehru-Gandhi.
But it was found a mouthful and the choice was between Indira Nehru and Indira Gandhi. And you know who won and why. Then on the 'Nehru-Gandhi Clan' was established...and is flourishing.
Dhondy also tells us that, at a get-together of foreign journos, his colleague who was helping Attenborough in making the film 'Gandhi' was asked (before it won all those Oscars):
"Why was this film made?" (ital mine)
And got the reply:
"It was made to prove that Indira Gandhi was not Mahatma Gandhi's daughter "
The quizzer apparently was silenced...he must have been under this precise confusion ;)
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/130913/commentary-columnists/commentary/what%E2%80%99s-surname
*********************************************************************************************************
Om! Gandha dwaaraam duraadharshaam nityapushtaam kareeshineem
Ishwareegm sarvabhutaanaam taamihopahvaye sriyam
Harichandana sambhuutam hari preeteshcha gauravaat
Surabhipriya govinda gandha snaanaaya grihyataam
The other day I saw a photo-op where a bunch of cute college girls were offering for free our Muthukur Vinayakas to passersby...but I guess there were no takers except the photo-takers.
The operative part of the above mantra is Gandham...the sandalwood paste that is rubbed on our Ganeshas and ourselves...forehead, arms and chest. It has a mild perfume and is holy.
The picture above shows the sandalwood stick (more like a rod) placed above a grinding stone. The grinders were of hard wood in our childhood. The kit was there in all brahmin families long ago. And whenever Father wanted Gandham we would compete to make the paste...just sprinkle a couple of drops of water on the grinder and grind the sandalwood stick on it till we get a paste of the required thickness...one stick would last a couple of years.
Alas...the kit is not easy to buy these days. Click on the link below the pic and you would see that it costs Rs. 665 only...and is out-of-stock. The reason is simple...our South-Indian sandalwood found a huge market overseas and is poached and smuggled rampantly. Remember the brigand with mustache who killed dozens of policemen, abducted an actor, had a private army, and played hide-and-seek with three states for decades till he was shot dead...only to be replaced with other more powerful brigands of other 'substances'.
These noveau-brigands found many things other than sandalwood to form mafias. We hear of mining-mafias, coal-mafias, and lately sand-mafias. And these have powerful political connections that our poor mustache-man lacked and got killed. He ought to have entered active politics and dismissed a few IAS officers...in minutes.
What next? Water-mafia? Air-mafia?
Not yet but very soon...but onion-mafia is already making waves here.
I heard, by the way, this 'making waves' thing at IIT KGP a couple of decades ago. One evening, Prof SNB walked into our room excitedly, holding the latest Telegraph Supplement that had the photos of two young Calcutta physicists on the front page. And SNB rebuked me and DB for not making even 'ripples' while Calcutta theoreticians were making waves by proving Einstein wrong.
Poor Einstein!
Coming back to our 'gandham', I came to know from Farrukh Dhondy's article that, long ago, Gujerati traders used to make perfumes (sugandhs) out of sandalwood sticks and sell them at an exorbitant price. First you extract oil from sandalwood and the rest is easy...dilute it and you have the base for the 'ittars' of Arabia...hence the 'Arabian Sea'.
These perfume-selling banias called themselves, first, 'Sugandhis', and then, when they were in a hurry, 'Gandhis'.
And when Gujeartis flourish, can Parsis be left behind? (Dhondy is a Parsi).
So we had our Mahatma Gandhi (Hindu) and then Feroze Gandhi (Parsi). FG wanted to marry our Indira Priyadarshini Nehru but Nehurjee opposed their alliance...Indiraji didn't. It was left to MG to broker peace and arrange the wedding...Gandhis of this land stick together.
For a while I used to read, when I was in the university in the 1960s, the word Indira-Nehru-Gandhi.
But it was found a mouthful and the choice was between Indira Nehru and Indira Gandhi. And you know who won and why. Then on the 'Nehru-Gandhi Clan' was established...and is flourishing.
Dhondy also tells us that, at a get-together of foreign journos, his colleague who was helping Attenborough in making the film 'Gandhi' was asked (before it won all those Oscars):
"Why was this film made?" (ital mine)
And got the reply:
"It was made to prove that Indira Gandhi was not Mahatma Gandhi's daughter "
The quizzer apparently was silenced...he must have been under this precise confusion ;)
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/130913/commentary-columnists/commentary/what%E2%80%99s-surname
*********************************************************************************************************
No comments:
Post a Comment