Happy New Year 2014 !!

On the special occasion of new year’s day, I wish you and your family Happy New Year with lot of joy and happiness. This new year filled with wonder, peace, and meaning.

Year's end is neither an end

nor a beginning
but a going on,
with all the wisdom
that experience
can instill in us.
Happy New Year !!

For last year's words belong to last year's language

And next year's words await another voice.

And to make an end is to make a beginning.

Happy New Year 2014 !!

Christmas- A festival of Love and fraternity

On the great and special occasion of Christmas, we wish you the gift of devotion, the blessing of trust and the peace of His love at Christmas and always.

On Christmas Day,

Today we offer you greetings,

To quickly in the soul was

To make you live longer,

To happiness and joy,

Fortune and love

The life has never disappeared,

That it may be better to live.

In life without sorrow and suffering,

Here are my wishes.

Celebration

Christmas is celebrated on the 25th of December to observe the birth of Jesus Christ. It is said that God sent angel Gabriel to Mary, a virgin. Gabriel told Mary that she would give birth to the son of God, and the child would be named Jesus. The angel also visited Joseph and told him that Mary would give birth to a child and that he must take care of her.

Jesus was born in a stable on the night that Mary and Joseph were on their way to Bethlehem.

Christmas celebration begins with a midnight mass. People sing carols and decorate and evergreen coniferous tree with apples, roses, gilded candles, stars and colored papers.

Christmas is also associated with Santa Claus. He is a legendary chubby elderly person, clad in red and white dress. He rides the reindeer and distributes gifts to children.

Indian Culture

The Indian culture represents to the way of life of the people of India. India's religions, languages, music, food, dance, and customs differs from place to place within the country. Indian culture is the mother of all the culture. Many constituent of India's diverse cultures, such as Yoga, Indian religions and Indian cuisine.

Respect and Revere for the elders is the key stone of the Indian culture. In India, the youngsters never using the proper names of their elders. In respect, we touch the feet of all elders. A student always touches the feet of his teacher. Purity in mind, body, speech, though, word and deed is very important for us. The concept of Zero and the primal sound of OM was given by India.

All the regions and religions of the world have their own culture with different traditions, customs and elegant qualities. This is the culture of Respect, Honouring, Etiquette, Love and humbling one’s own ego.

Religions
India is the birthplace of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism, collectively called as Indian Religions.  India is one of the most religiously diverse nations in the world, with some of the most deeply religious societies and cultures. Today, Hinduism and Buddhism are the world's third and fourth-largest religions respectively, with over 2 billion follower’s altogether, and possibly as many as 2.5 or 2.6 billion followers.

                                    Evening Aarti at Har Ki Paudi Ghat--Haridwar 

                                         

                                             EID Namaz at Taj Mahal-Agra            

                                       

Family structure 

India has a prevailing tradition of the joint family system. It is a system in which all family members live together- Parents, children, the children’s' spouses and their offspring. Generally, the oldest male member is the head in the joint Indian family system. He makes all important decisions and rules, and other family members obey their rules and regulations.

Indian marriage

Every country and every religion have their own traditions and its help to differentiate each other. Even though wedding ceremony has the same meaning in every culture, the way of celebration is different. Indian marriages start with searching the bride or groom as a part of arranged marriage. It is considered to be the most acceptable form of marriage till date in most of the communities in India. Both of families fully involved in searching the bride or the groom. Even today, the majority of Indians have their marriages planned by their parents and other respected family-members. In the past, the age of marriage was young, especially in Rajasthan, but this is rising with modernization and there are now laws which govern the age of marriage.

Hindu marriage is a sacrament and it is neither a social contract nor a legal bond. It is essentially a religious bond based on Dharma and for the fulfillment of Dharma. The homes of the bride and of the groom are decorated 5-10 days before as part of the decorations of this special day in India.

Indian Greetings

The traditional and customary way to greet people in India is the word ‘NAMSTE’ (pronounced na, ma, stay). Indians generally prefer this non-contact form of greeting to a handshake or an embrace. It can be used for everyone regardless of gender, age or social background.

Namaste is derived from Sanskrit and is a combination of two words, ‘nama’ – meaning bow or salutation – and ‘te’ – meaning ‘to you’. Namaste therefore means “I bow to you” or “I bow to the soul in you” or “I respect the divinity in you that is also within me”. It says that the life force, the divinity, is the same in all. Namaste is generally used as a greeting or salutation by Hindus, Jains and Buddhists.

Other communities such as Sikhs, Muslims, Christians, Parsis etc have their individual tradition of greeting. Sikhs use the phrase ‘Sat Sri Akal’ which roughly translates into ‘God is the ultimate truth’. 

Muslims use ‘Salaam’ or the full ‘Assalaam Aleikum’ (‘Peace be upon you’), accompanied by a gesture – sweeping your right hand up and placing it on your heart.

In the southern state of Tamil Nadu, people use ‘vanakkam’. Khasis of Meghalaya will greet you with ‘khublei’ or ‘may God bless you’.

The ‘pranaam’ is one of the very few instances of an Indian greeting when one gets physical. It is a form of salutation that involves a younger person taking the blessing of an elder. It is also done with gurus, and icons/images/idols of gods. In response, the elder places a hand over the head of the person as a way of blessing. 

Incredible India

India is one of the awesome countries in all over the world and having number of incredible tourism options and wonder of world. India is the second most populated country in the world.  It is the world’s largest democracy in Politics. 

Continent India is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the South, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal on the east, and bordered by Pakistan to the west, Bhutan, China and Nepal to the north and Bangladesh and Burma to the east. 

This is the country from where religions like Hinduism, Jainism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism and Buddhism originated. India has some incredibly beautiful spiritual destinations located all over the country.   

In India, a number of festivals celebrated in commemoration of some saints, gurus and prophets, the gods and goddesses or events celebrating their victories. The festival celebration throughout the year starting from New year, Republic day, Holi, Bihu, Diwali, christmas, Independance day, Dusshera, Durga puja, Eid, Buddha Purnima, Lakshmi puja, Kali puja, Janamastami, Shiv Ratri, Sarawati puja, etc  these name as per my knowledge.

People speak Hindi, English, Assamese, Bengali, Urdu, Malayalam, Tamil, and Punjabi to name a few languages. 

Indian food happens to be my favorite cuisine in the world. Actually, it is more a fixation with any Asian curry, and well, Indians happen to have a number of different varieties. While in the north we find Punjabi chole, lassi, aloo paratha,Hariyani paneer etc.in the south we find sambar, idli, dosa, etc. Again in the west we find dhokla and Rajasthani sweets,etc.....and to the east we find Bengali specail dal and machor jol,Assamese pitha and kahroli etc.