I am stressed!

Whenever, I go visiting, I am offered tea or coffee.. array baba.. I don’t want na. These drinks affect my nervous system and they deplete available supply of vitamins and minerals which are my body’s main resource. But you don’t understand. You spoilt your health and mine too. Whenever I am sick, you offer your sound advice, and then you go to your medicine box and pluck a medicine for me…array baba try to understand I don’t want drugs to cure me…. Chemical remedies cannot ‘cure’ any problems, they merely defer their effects. Do you want me to become addicted to drugs? huh? Give me herbal teas like Camomile, passion flower or lime-blossom tea this will help me to relieve stress and tension. You don’t understand my body like I do. You offer me out of good will and I can’t refuse and then I get stressed. Ok.. When ever I feel stress, I allow my body to relax a bit. I am going to sleep.

Pills don’t cure us….. they make us more sick! uufff!

Many of us just keep popping food into our mouth without thinking. We cut vegetable, in goes a piece of carrot into our mouth. We cook the meal, in goes the spoonful of broth for taste. Food left over on the table, not charitable enough to share with a helper, we stuff it in our over full stomach. And then, we complain of overweight, discomfort, or pain. The problem arises when we don’t understand our body. It is very important to understand that health is the harmony between our physical, mental, social and spiritual states and each one of us has the power to heal ourselves. The only important thing to remember is to understand what our body indicates and act accordingly. Whenever we eat, we must be aware of what we are eating. We must be in a relaxed state of mind and we should do breathing exercise before eating for the body to have enough oxygen for doing its work We must remember that our body needs time, space and energy to function properly. It has three main important things to do: Digestion, assimilation and distribution of energy and cleaning. When we eat food, the priority is first give to the brain. Therefore all the nutrients first go to the brain for a complete refill and then other parts of the body get their nutrients. If the mind is not relaxed then lot of energy is wasted and other parts are deprived of its nutrients. The enzymes that are used for digestion make the food alkaline to be distributed to different parts of the body and the toxic is discarded by the body. On eating the wrong food, there is much toxic produced and the body starts to send signals with symptoms like high fever, cold, etc. Then, what do we do? We take medicines. To kill the discomfort, we take pills, not realizing that we are interfering with body’s way of removing the toxic from the body. By taking too many pills, we suppress the discomfort from one point but we destroy the good cells that are surrounding the sick cells. Thus with weak cell wall, there is no control and the cells start multiplying leading to many more disease and that put us in bad health. There is really no need to take pills. Just control your diet and allow body to fight with the bad germs. By eating proper food we can remain healthy. When we eat fruits, they help our body to do the safaie.(cleaning) when we eat salad, we help our body to produce enzymes that are required for digestion. When we eat sprouts and nuts, we help our body in its construction task of building of its cells. When you are sick or weak, don’t touch pills. Just take rest, or better still, go to sleep and let body go to war with those naughty germs.

I like cooked food!

Human beings are the only species who cook food. Even when they eat raw food, they cannot eat without garnishing the salad. Now my nutritionist is saying that eating cooked food is wrong. She says that cooking destroys vitamins. The application of heat is destructive to vitamins, and higher the temperature, the more destructive heat will be to vitamins. Not only are these vitamins destroyed but their residue is unstable and toxic when ingested. During cooking there is mineral loss. Minerals are essential for all metabolic activities. Their presence sustains the alkalinity of body fluids. Minerals are required for structure, in healing and repair. People who lack the mineral in their diet feel the fatigue and lack of endurance and strength. When we choose mineral-rich foods and then eat them uncooked, masticating the food well, we then will provide our body with best raw materials to produce healthy cells and tissues. Cooking destroys food enzymes that are required for the digestion of the food. Enzymes activate and control all the chemical actions and reactions within the cells and regulate the energy output for all physical and mental activity. Cooking alters the proteins and they become less digestible and toxic. It is not possible for our body to build its own proteins from food if the proteins have been coagulated and amino acids de-ammonized. Cooking fat containing foods renders the fat and the foods less digestible and highly toxic. The National Academy of science has noted that. in countries where the consumption is high of food like sausages, fish, ham, etc, cancer of the digestive track is common. All these products are high in fat content and all are eaten after being subjected to heat. So I ask my nutritionist, what do I eat? I can’t possibly eat raw veggies all the time. My forefathers have introduced us to cooked meals, you don’t expect us to go back to that raw vegetable diet? And she replies, “Eat what you are used to but eat salads. Very important! Understand! Eat salad. Eat cooked vegetables to please your tongue and eat raw veggies to please your body”. So now, I eat the tasty meal and chomp it down with salad, washed and grated. Hence forth I will eat fresh veggies with cooked food so that I get enough nutrients and not worry about the nutrients that I have already destroyed while cooking!

So today is the Cheti Chand..Happy New Year to Sindhis!

Cheti Chand A new year for Sindhis, to be celebrated with much pomp and show,

It’s the day to get kharchi from elders and to wear new clothes and go to visit relatives and get more kharchi.

 In the evening to go to some entertainment show where they will sing those same songs that they have brought from Sindh (with little alteration here and there). Those same song, sung long ago by Ram Punwani and Bhagwanti Navani etc. songs like Ek soun jo rupeeo allah ree allah. and songs like ‘Lal ja jati chau Julelal Bera hi paar, Sadai Sahukar’ (now u know how Sindhis get rich? If you chant Sadai Sahukar in front of Lal Sahi, and keep such positive energies all the time and then naturally you will get rich na? JuleLal always listen to people who are hard working and hold such positive energies. Lage raho …lage raho.. Sadai Sahukar. JULELAL!

 Okay this much information is enough for a child of seven year old to understand. But I need to know more about what else do they do? So I asked my sister to give me some insight.

She asked me to accompany her to Julelal mandir and she promised me lunch (good enough reason to go, free lunch? Why not! I went to Lal Sahiji’s mandir with her. The mandir was full of Sindhi ladies in late 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. There were few children (probably the grand children) but the youngsters were not there at all. Array Baba, who will go to these Mandirs after, say next 20 years from now? Our culture is dying na! With youngster, who are not in the least interested? ‘.Lal Sahi. Are You Listening? Days are numbered…..no youngsters visiting you? Eh?’

 Anyways we reached mandir and there were some ladies making the dough of flour and shaping it into diya (lamp), (each diya was stuffed with cloves and cardamom) and another dough mould (decorated with silver vark, dry fruits like almonds and cashew nuts) to hold the misri (rock sugar), they were placed in thali (a big steel plate) and given it to those who did not bring any from their home. But my sister believes in doing everything herself, so she had come prepared bringing with her all the things in her potli (bag). She only borrowed the thali from the mandir and one by one she removed from her potli and started placing items into the thali , things like diya (Filling it with pure Ghee and cotton wick), miisri, rice, fruit, biscuit and flowers, vermillion, and few coins. She then stood in a long queue to present this thali to the guryani (a woman priest) who would light the lamp, read the prayers and bless her thali. After the prayers she placed the thali (now, after prayers, this thali is called Barano Sahib) on her head and turned 360 degrees (three times) before she went outside the mandir and place the thali in front of huge picture of JuleLal (which had many more similar thalis) for the final blessing. She started praying once more (her own method this time) putting rice in her own thali, plus in other thalis and staring at the picture then shutting her eyes again.

 I meekly asked where the free lunch is. Eh? I followed the glance of my sister which rested on the long queue, waiting in line to get the food. Queues like you see at refugee camps…or those queues that you see in movies where the prisoners wait for food. Are we supposed to stand in this queue? I remembered that dialogue in some movie where protagonist says ‘hum judar khare ho jate hai.. vahi se line suroo hoti hai….’ I wondered if I could use that dialogue here…and cut this long queue…but alas!….with my sister around, nothing will work.. Disciple comes first!

So I quietly stand behind her and wait for Prasad. Delicious Prasad! Indeed! Peas pulau, bhee aloo. Salad. Puri, achar, fried bhajiysa, sweet rice, boiled channa, and sayoo and to drown it all with rose sherbet. (all fattening….my nutrition analyst would not approve of this meal.) Never mind, its new year na! …Lal ja Jati chau JULELAL bera hi Paar Sadai sahukar! Now I am getting some idea about this Cheti Chand According to the Hindu calendar,

Cheti Chand is celebrated on the first day of the Chaitra month known as Chet in Sindhi. Hence it is known as CHET-I-CHAND The Sindhi community celebrates the festival of Cheti Chand in honour of the birth of Ishtadeva Uderolal, popularly known as Jhulelal, the Patron Saint of the Sindhis. This day is considered to be very auspicious and is celebrated with pompous and gaiety. On this day, people worship water – the elixir of life. Followers of Jhulelal observe Chaliho Sahab. It suggests that for forty long days and nights they underwent rituals and vigil on the bank of Sindhu. They did not shave, nor did they wear new clothes or shoes. They did not use soap or oil or any opulent thing. They just washed their clothes, dried them and wore them again. In the evening, they worshipped God Varun, sang songs in his praise and prayed for their solace and salvation. After 40 days of Chaaliho, the followers of Jhulelal celebrate the occasion with festivity as 'Thanks Giving Day' even till today. A lamp is lit on a bronze plate, and this ritual is called Jyot Jagan. One lamp, akshaoil and vermillion are kept on this plate . A procession is taken out to the river front or sea shore. Lakhs of people participate in the long processions taken out in different cities, with colourful floats, depicting the life of the Saint and other aspects of Sindhi culture. The Sindhi folk dance called "Chhej" is performed with the procession. People go to a river or a lake and Bahrano Saheb is immersed in the water along with rice and sugar prasad called "Akho". It is customary to sing Lal Sain's Panjras and Palav to seek his grace. New ventures are started on this day. After the worship of Jhulelal, the Sindhi community display and present their rich culture through dance, drama, music and folk arts that are preserved and passed on to…next generation..?

  If only, our new generation can show some interest, then maybe. the lamp will continue to be lit…….!

Oops! India lost the first game! Storm in the cup!

I am not a cricket fan and therefore am not aware how our Indian team plays. Before the world cup started, I had asked everybody whether they played well and every body was hopeful that they will bring the world cup this time. Yesterday when Indian team played with Sri Lanka and lost, I saw the disappointment on my friend's faces. Every body is making a mockery of India's 'cash-rich cricketers' and the cricketing authorities for making cricket 'a product, not sport.' For the cricket lovers in India, the four favorite teams they would have liked to watch in the semi-finals matches were India, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Now, they are not so sure.