Special Som Sverige (Special like Sweden)

So, to save time and maintain memories, I write these short ones.  I have increased my learning of Swedish by three times. I spend nearly 2 hrs everyday on Swedish. It is hard, I go back and forth, but I really want to learn. Not just need to, but want to. Love of languages has always been my weakness. But knowing a language and a culture takes time.  

Other than that, I am taking pictures. Even when I am not sure what I am going to do with them. But there is so much we can say in images.  See the above image? It is just bananas right, with a picture of a monkey on top.  Look at the note closely...

Welcome, All you children, help yourself to a banana!!  Imagine coming to a grocery store like WalMart, and seeing this!!  This was taken in ICA--a store, very much built on the concept of WalMart.  Has been since the 1970s.  And getting bigger and bigger. I did another short post on it (A Rose for No Reason), years ago.  But these things, such as this above, do make one smile...!! 

Surviving, but Smiling

Got this image from one of the social media platforms. Do not want to mention much details except that his woman was asked to start working---she is a flower seller outside a temple, by her husband.  He wanted her to get confidence.  If I remember correctly, he passed away shortly afterwards and she talked about how his support helped her sustain her family with this simple job, that both brought her joy and a daily earning. Stories of men and women helping each other and loving each other, especially from non-western countries are not shared often (_though they exist in plenty)---so wanted to share....

Where Else But India!!

Took the sometime last year!!  Like you can see in the following picture, it says, India is the only place in the world, where all times exist simultaneously.  Any doubt that the above picture actually shows it!!  Was in the passenger's seat when I took it and well----image etched in my mind!!  (as are so many others).  But I love this aspect of India.  I love the craziness, and liveliness of that country. People often ask me why do I not return, well, I do not know. Working there is not something that I know much of. left so long ago. I also think work environment can be stifling.  But I would love to sit there and write and write about the country.  Or be paid simply to take pictures of this country filled with love, life, mystery, misery, joy, and all that life is made of!!

Kreeda: Play Time: Some Board Games of India

Kreeda is a sanskrit word meaning Play.  The root 'Kri' means action.   So, listen to these words that may make sense Karya (work, task), Karma (action, action/reaction), Krum (order, as in sequence.  Which order are the books kept in? Which Krum?)

Sanskrit, is said to be one of the most mathematical language.  Another example, Gri the root.  Greh--meaning house.  The same word is used for planets. E.g. Shani (Saturn)-- is a Greh.  Eclipse then? Grehan! The incomplete or only partial planet.

A picture of Alpana/Rangoli/Kolam at Dubai airport to commemorate Diwali, the Hindu festival of light!!

From the same root---Garbh--meaning womb.  Garbvati, meaning pregnant woman. Or the one carrying in her womb. Ending in 'i' is usually feminine, and those ending in 'aa' are usually masculine. 

Greh--house, Gram--village, Grehast---the householder --a person with family life--married people are said to be in 'Grehast ashram (stage)' the life stage that involves maximum interaction with society. Not your study years, not your youth, not retirement years.  But the Grehast ashram.  Strictly between 25-50 and loosely between 50-75, when weaning away from society begins.

This is interesting to me, because I recently  learnt about the 'integral unity' of Hinduism. The words, the music, the art, the festivals, are all interconnected and usually refer to the land mass that is India, or even larger, usually south asia, since both Pakistan and Bangladesh were a part of India until 1947 (complicated, but have little time to explain).

This post however is about 'Kreeda'--play.  A story about reviving old Indian games. A concept I learnt only 2-3 years ago as I was learning about Hinduism is 'integral unity'.  So, treatise/works like Arthshastra were then to be found in stories for children under 'Panchtantra' or 'Jataka tales', both of which have much overlap with Aseop fables.  The former were clearly used for strategy and followed principles mentioned in some old texts. Aseop fables seemed to have absorbed some of these  ((travelling Greeks _(also invaders), Europeans and Arabs (while later they came as invaders, earlier there was much exchange of knowledge.  Arabs were one of the first to take Indian numerals to the west, --often called Arabic numerals ---early arabic texts credit India for those numbers that we take for granted.  By the time it arrived in the west, the concept of connection with India was erased.)) but do not associate it with strategy to be used in war and statecraft.

Snakes and ladders, which is so common around the world, was a game to teach children about the concept of karma and reincarnation.  However, when it was picked up by the west and simply called 'Snakes and Ladders' it lost its connection to being an instructional game.  Originally called Gyan Chaupar or Moksha Patam --Knowledge path, or path to achieve Moksha (Nirvana)--the game was a way to introduce children to the concepts that would make them weigh their actions as those that took them to the path of moksha or not. 

Chess, at least, everyone knows is from India.  Again a game of strategy requires forward thinking, planning and math to play it well. A good game can last days.  I remember my father telling me about a story where a shopkeeper kept a chess board complete with the set on his counter and how two of his customers played each other for months, without ever having met. 

Another game called Pachisi, now called Ludo, also originated in India. Here we can read more about this. 

This post was actually inspired by a recent news story about these young people who have started an online store to sell these games.  The games, they say, cannot be sold on Amazon, since they are all handmade and hand painted by local artists with environmentally friendly colours. 

Please read if you are interested.  Also, my knowledge of Sanskrit is limited, so the examples I gave are correct in their meaning, I am not too sure about the 'root words and how they work'. But I have written that section from my understanding of the meaning and how these words are used. I find a remarkable pattern, compared to other non-Indian languages that I study/ and know a bit of. 

Swedish Haiku

Swedish Autumn, Like Nowhere Else!!

My first year in Sweden, years and years ago..ha, ha...I went to this music festival. A colleague played there so I went with another colleague. Both of us had started together, and he wanted to attend.  Soon as we arrived at the festival, we were all in different directions.  All following what we liked about the festival.  There was a young man, who was writing Haikus.  He would write a personal one for everyone who visited.  

Following is the one for me. I kept it in my office, hanging on a board for all these years.  But, as I was organising, I typed it down, so that I can immortalise my first August in Sweden and that sweet boy, who chose to give people the gift of word.

Interestingly, I understand this now, I can actually understand this beautiful poem...

Dimman sänker sig
Över min svala skogs tjärn
Solen är min vän

The Fog descends
over my cold (cool) forest lake
the Sun is my friend

At the bottom he scribbled this note.  I did not understand much.  But today I see how he is using words ...to create poetry...


sjön --lake ---not tjärn (meaning star) as written
svala _(cool) not kalla (meaning cold)!!