Goddess Saraswati Valentine’s Day - from the martyrdom of St. Valentine to Archies and Gary Marshall - has come a long way in popular culture. With globalization, Valentine’s Day has also latched on to native cultures and helped publicize youthful traditions around the world to create a lifetime of memories. One such youthful event is… Continue reading Saraswati Puja, Bengal’s Valentine’s Day
Tag: travel
The Goddess Rides an Elephant and a Lion
The biggest festival from my hometown, Chandannagar (a former French colony on the suburbs of Calcutta), is “Jagaddhatri Puja” (Puja means worship). It’s a cultural event for the worship of one of the many avatars of Shakti, the Hindu Goddess of power and energy. It happens sometime in November and is the largest revenue generator… Continue reading The Goddess Rides an Elephant and a Lion
Meat as Offering on Diwali?
Contrary to how it's weaponized by India's political class, Hinduism is actually pretty cool. In that, it's insanely diverse and there's no iron-clad definition of who's a Hindu and what's Hinduism.Neither are there rituals, customs, traditions that one must follow to become and remain a Hindu; no matter what they say. There's no formal initiation… Continue reading Meat as Offering on Diwali?
Where the River Crescents like the Moon
If you travel up the Hooghly River from Calcutta, you’d find a number of small settlements stacked up one after another along the banks. Now, there’s nothing extraordinary about these settlements that evolved into bustling towns with the latest commercial opportunities; except for one little detail. Up until ~150 years back, each of these towns,… Continue reading Where the River Crescents like the Moon
arguments & agreements 