FOOD

FOOD.  As an Indian, who has lived here all my life, I still cannot vouch for the fact that I have tasted even half the food this country has to offer.  Not even a quarter, in fact.  Then again, food so familiar to us- that it gives us a sense of comfort and belonging, is looked upon as strange, new and exciting by others.  The experience of Indian food is one which is gastronomically synesthetic. It involves all the senses and pleasures all the senses. Which is why Indians eat with their hand.  The colors, the richness, the flavor and the beauty of the slow, unhurried style of Indian cooking, to me makes the Indian cuisine one of the best in the world.  But that is just me.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3z-gszOdDGw&feature=player_detailpage

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjEjfVcu8Ak&feature=player_detailpage



Watch as a group of Americans take on Indian food and desserts and become slightly flummoxed in the process.  Then go and watch all the Buzzfeed videos in the series.  Also, they eat Pani Puri without the Pani - which is blasphemous, in my opinion, but that poor guy who was panting throughout is testimony to how spicy Indian food can really be.  But that is exactly why we love it, is it not?  Also, they loved the jalebis, so all is forgiven.



Anumathi Malak.

The Aghoris

India is home to some of the most fascinating practices, shocking traditions and sensational lifestyles of the world. Of all such practices, traditions and lifestyles found in India, the most unique are probably those of the Aghori Sadhus. These ascetic Shaivites, who are easily recognizable by their long matted hair, the cremation ash smeared across their bodies and their constant smoking of marijuana, may be found across Nepal and the northern parts of India, especially around cremation grounds and temples dedicated to Lord Shiva.         

An Aghori Sadhu aims at transforming himself into a deity of Bhairava (a fierce incarnation of Lord Shiva) and by doing so, escaping his cyclic existence, the never ending cycle of birth and rebirth that an ordinary man is entitled to unless he learns to accept the illusory nature of his Self and his worldly experience. In so escaping his cyclic existence, an Aghori Sadhu hopes to attain moksha, to become one with the universe and to leave his physical life behind.

Bhairava - the incarnation of Lord Shiva associated with total destruction

It is quite a curious and taboo lifestyle that these people lead, especially with their penchant for cannibalism, macabre practices and symbols, decadent and vile sexual practices, lack of proper hygiene as well as their self-sanctioned dependency on ganja, charas and alcohol.

An Aghori Sadhu smoking either ganja or charas out of a chillum 

When asked why he would want to do some of the sickening things he does, an Aghori Sadhu would claim that he finds purity in even the filthiest of actions or objects. Everything, according to the Aghori doctrine of beliefs, will ultimately be destroyed by Lord Shiva when the time comes, regardless of whether ordinary people view it in a positive or negative light. The universe is a non-dualistic experience and no distinction exists between pure and impure. Everything belongs to Lord Shiva, and is therefore, pure. An Aghori Sadhu holds that society is an illusion that is perpetuated, generation after generation, by individuals who are either too blind or too unwilling to take the anarchic path to moksha, or final release. In his view, it is the society that does not belong to the universe, not him. He has already projected himself onto every component of the universe, and has long left our world of maya, or illusions, far, far behind. He lives in a mystical, drug induced world inside his head, free to roam through the infinite combination of space and time that is the universe, no longer shackled by the chains of memory.

The process of initiation into the Aghori sect is a rather painstaking effort that may last up to twelve years. Nobody is born with an Aghori view of life. Every Aghori Sadhu was once a normal person who had familial considerations, spent his time hanging out with his friends, experienced the petty emotions of jealousy, greed and disgust that plague humans and, in many cases, even held jobs!

A person who has decided to leave the world of maya behind and join the Aghori sect would have to approach an existing, experienced member of the sect and request him to accept them as their student. Under their guidance, the individual is put through several physically and mentally agonizing experiences which aim to sever his ties with the world he once knew. In order to enhance his spiritual powers, the student begins to meditate for several hours a day accompanied by regularly smoking copious amounts of marijuana as an entheogen to heighten his spiritual experiences. He is also required to find a human skull from the cremation ground, called the kapala, which he must keep with him at all times, for use as a bowl for food and drink. The student must also change his diet completely. An Aghori Sadhu in the making is required to eat whatever is available. It should not matter to him if he is consuming decomposing garbage, feces, urine or the bloated carcasses of humans and animals – the more tolerance to the emotions of disgust and repugnance  he shows, the closer he is to becoming an Aghori Sadhu and attaining moksha. During the more advance levels of meditation, the Sadhu is required to find a corpse and use it as his seat of meditation. The corpse symbolizes the shava, or the body of the Aghori Sadhu, and is ultimately consumed by the Sadhu as a way of removing it from the world of maya. Despite such cannibalistic and other abnormal activities, an Aghori Sadhu is rarely, if ever, violent towards other people. Their way of life dictates that they must live a life of peace and never harbor feelings of hate or fear towards anything that belongs to Lord Shiva, which is practically everything around them, including humans and animals.  

An Aghori Sadhu drinking out of his kapala

After roughly twelve years, the Sadhu emerges as a being that has transcended all the rules of humanity, choosing to live the way he pleases and striving to stay outside the ranks of the society. But as a student of psychology, I can’t help but wonder how these Aghori Sadhus are affected by all the harsh treatment they subject their own bodies to. The alcohol, the marijuana, the unhygienic living conditions and diet – won’t all these things catch up to the human bodies and psyches concealed somewhere behind all the projected mysticism? Or have they been right all along in claiming that it is we who do not recognize the world around us to be full of illusions. Their philosophy of a simple and uninhibited life and of being completely and ecstatically overwhelmed with just devotion to God makes for a good reason that the Aghori sect today, is not a dying one.

According to the Aghori Sadhus, the decision to join the Aghori sect is the very last one a soul makes in its time in this world. The soul that makes such a decision has had enough of this life, which to it is only an illusion. The soul seeks to attain moksha, and for that purpose, even suicide is not a viable option. The only exit route that the soul finds to escape its cyclic existence in maya therefore, is a slow and steady loss of sense of reality, which is exactly what is offered by the Aghori way of life.  

By Rtvik B.M

Links to Articles of Interest

An extremely interesting article about an experiment by journalist Ester Honzig, who had 27 different makeup artists assisted by 5 Photoshop pros,  make her "look beautiful". The results are a stunning depiction of the diverse cultural ideals of beauty.

Do read. Or just look at the photos. They explain quite a bit.

http://petapixel.com/2014/06/26/photoshop-experiment-1-photograph-27-countries-27-definitions-beautiful/

Another interesting article by Buzzfeed, with a video showing the changing notions of beauty through time. Very, very cool.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/eugeneyang/womens-ideal-body-types-throughout-history#.ht6oD0xX6

Go look at these,people. Makes you think quite a bit about what actually led to these changes in beauty ideals.


Avani Konduri

Culture and Beauty

In my two previous posts, I had written about fairness being used as a parameter of beauty and how it seems strange that such a belief still continues to thrive in a society such as South India.  However, as a young woman living not only in Bangalore, but also in a fast paced, globalized world, I have found that it becomes difficult to hold onto solely one’s  “traditional cultural roots” -  Almost like as if it is a small creeper caught in a cross wind of cultural influence.   The implications of this being, that all our notions of beauty, somehow, somewhere, are a mixture of the beliefs of the different cultures we are engaging in and engaging with. Whether it’s a pair of jeans or a streak of red in the hair but huge golden jhumkas in the earlobes, it’s a fascinating time to be growing up. While I do wholeheartedly believe in retaining a lot of traditional cultural values, I see no wrong in questioning some practices and even welcoming and embracing the multifarious cultural beliefs and practices that surround us – especially as Indians who are blessed to be constantly interacting with different people with different practices. This being said, it is important to remember and this wholly rests upon the head of the individual, to be responsible and respectful in this exercise of cultural give and take.

Older Generations however, complain that the younger generation is becoming extremely westernized -but being westernized is not a holistically negative thing. It has its positives and its negatives and depends almost entirely on subjectivity - as most things involving opinions do.  Even concepts of beauty have undergone so many generational changes. I cannot even count the number of times my grandparents have sat down to watch TV and  immediately extolled the beauty of Waheeda Rahman and Savitri or Saira Banu - extolling their grace and poise, which none of these “today’s actresses have”.

 Back in the day – women were plumper, curvier, fuller figured and beautiful. Actresses today are also beautiful, but the concept of what is beauty has changed.

Indians for example, traditionally hold that a nose piercing is a very integral part of an Indian woman’s beauty.  Interestingly, nose piercings and multiple ear piercings are very common today and are back in vogue in many parts of the world.  When I decided to get my nose pierced for example, my biggest fans and supporters were every individual I met, over the age of 65. To me, my nose stud held and still holds no traditional value but every single time an elderly Indian person notices it, I have constantly been complimented for retaining our cultural values.  Tattoos, haircuts, body size, skin and even appendages have been, for a long time caught in between the crossfire of culture and beauty.

This got me thinking about the many different but traditional notions of beauty and attractiveness and how cultures approached these practices of beauty.  Today, while the West looks at the beauty ideal as being slim, many African countries like Zambia, embrace being on the heavier side. For them, beauty comes from curves and curves are the ultimate mark of femininity.

Pa Dong woman with rings in place to elongate her neck

I read somewhere that a tribe known as Pa Dong tribe that live in Thailand and Burma, believe that beauty comes from possessing a long neck.  So what the women do is that they begin by circling their necks with rings usually one ring, made of brass and then just keep adding more to their necks over time. Apparently, the only time that these are removed is on the wedding night of the woman.

Certain tribes of Africa use extreme measures to beautify themselves

There are communities like the Maoris of New Zealand who tattoo their faces and even completely tattoo their lips to make them blue- a mark of ultimate beauty. Some tribes in Africa believe that big lips are beautiful. They even go to extreme measures such as making a hole in their lips and inserting plates into the whole, plates that are eventually replaced by those of a bigger size till they are satisfied with the size of their lips and the Masai tribe of Kenya do similar things to their earlobes to conform to their belief that big earlobes are pretty. In China, tiny feet were considered a beauty necessity and were bound tightly in ropes to keep them from increasing in size.  Sometimes, bones would have to be broken in order to perform this task.

Another interesting practice that I read about, was those of the women belonging to the Karo tribe in Ethiopia – where, they believe that scars are the mark of a woman, and start making scars on the woman from her childhood as a means of finding and attracting a husband.  The scars are usually made on their torsos.

Basically though, concepts of beauty are so culturally diverse, that if one looks deep we will find numerous such beliefs and practices. However, it is important to remember to respect different notions of beauty despite them seeming weird because these opinions go two ways - Some of these communities might just look at us and find our ideas of beauty strange.

PICTURE CREDITS

--http://goo.gl/x6lR5h

--http://goo.gl/CKRgX3

Avani Konduri

Rishikesh - Of Beauty and Spirituality

Rishikesh, now a tourist spot in Uttrakhand is one of my favorite travel destinations - mainly for its beauty and its charm. There are very few places on this planet where you get peace as well as fun at the same time. Rishikesh is one of those elite places. Last year, I went to Rishikesh for my holidays. The place is now known as the hub of adventure sports like rafting and rock climbing in India. We also went with the same perspective in mind. What we discovered and experienced was truly unbelievable and exciting. Its not just a place for adventure sports but also a prominent religious centre for Shiva worshipers, the Aghoris. the influence of Marijuana and the serene locations usually make it a desired destination for artists and creative minds. While trekking, we discovered some prominent temples and city locations that were unknown to us. Hills, rivers, soothing wind, aghoris etc all these mysterious elements make  Rishikesh. Not to mention, Rishikesh is currently growing as an industrial city as well. Recent advancements such as the opening up of AIIMS in Rishikesh makes it a hot spot for medical tourism.

How amazing it is that such chance discoveries lead to your personal growth! While experiencing the mysticism in these places,  you deeply introspect into your conscience, your behaviour and even into ideas of Karma and salvation. Being a traveler myself, I feel these places in a way help you to find yourself - the real you - the one that is so often lost in the hustle and bustle of the crowds in cities.

The video above shows some of the hidden elements of Rishikesh which will hopefully tempt you to visit this beautiful place - one of  pure spirituality - currently in the process of being ruined by the upcoming commercialization of the place after the video.

By Ritwik Awasthi

And They Lived Duskily Ever After - pt II

But then marriage also becomes some sort of skin color goal. I remember reading a matrimonial ad from this well-educated guy, working in America whose marital ambitions lay in the direction of possessing a wife with the qualities “Fair and Slim”. It doesn’t matter how much she has studied, where she works, what her hobbies are etc. Everything else is “swalpa adjust maadi-ed", but we can never compromise on fair skin. Ayyo. 

But this is all so common, even today.  I have heard people call my friend good-looking and the wistfully hope that he might have been fairer. My nanny, when I was a child, would never leave the house, even to open the gate, without putting on skin whitening cream and every day, I see around fifty women  walking around with congealed turmeric on the side of their faces, miraculously hoping for a “cure” to dark skin. However, if one looks at this phenomenon, and studies it from a more macro perspective, it becomes evident that these ideas are being validated and encouraged, not to mention - built into our value systems by our media and other instruments of pop culture.

Cinema actresses are congratulated for being dusky and still bold, brave and beautiful and skin lightening creams are named things like Fair and Lovely. Fair and Lovely, for example, thrives on ad campaigns that equate fairness to being lovely, beautiful, happy and successful. A miserable dusky woman, after four weeks of diligent “Fair and Lovely” application is magically transformed into a successful billboard model. Now that she is fair, she can conquer the world – be happy, successful and beautiful.  In a few years, this woman, still fair of course, has given birth to two fair children - one boy and one girl and does miracles in the kitchen every morning, cooking one breakfast each for every individual in the household, not one strand of hair out of place while simultaneously running a successful business and making happy faces with Kissan ketchup on her children’s lunch.

 A recent ad film for a big jewellery brand was considered “groundbreaking” as it portrayed a bride who was not very fair. She was a beautiful woman, but the first thing that people picked up on was that she was not fair. The fact that in the 21^st century, in a brown skinned country, using a brown skinned woman in an ad is considered revolutionary, is an accurate statement about the extent to which ‘fair is good', as a notion, has infiltrated our systems. Marriage requirements and bio/profiles specifically state “fairness” as one of the virtues necessary for being a good spouse.  In movies, the darker characters are always the “ugly” best friend or the unattractive brother/sister-or the villain. Women like Nandita Das and Konkana Sen are called “unconventionally beautiful”, because they are beautiful, yes, but not fair or even worse, they are sometimes specifically addressed as “dusky beauty”, as opposed to having the privilege of being referred to as just “beauty”- a privilege reserved for fair women.

Everyday, numerous products flood our markets and eventually our houses, each promising lightening, whitening and beautifying and people lap these up as fast as is physically possible – soaps, lotions and gels. 

Then again, I can’t claim pious disdain for all these products. I’ve used these creams too, for removing tan lines and marks left by my numerous acne tragedies, but, I have never felt unhappy with the color of my skin. My complexion makes me miserable all the time since pimples take it upon themselves to visit regularly, but never my skin color. Even when dark and beautiful, all our famous actors and actresses, cake on makeup to look fairer, ensuring that - all that the audience saw for a long time is that famous people were fair, fair people were moneyed and moneyed people were happy.

Interestingly, Vedic literature as a scripture of the predominant Indian religion of Hinduism has always alluded to the fact that its most beautiful characters were always dark – Draupadi, Krishna, Rama etc. Despite worshipping dark skinned gods, who have always been described as dark skinned, it is odd that Hindus, especially still hold onto notions of skin and beauty. Aryans, when they ruled India, intermarried with the native Indians and there is not much evidence of  discrimination and a lust for fairness till the period of  colonialism . Perhaps, the allusion to the dark skinned natives as barbaric and savages, is a connotation that we culturally attached to our skin. Perhaps, at least in Hindu society, even  Goddesses like Sarasvati and Parvathi – the Goddesses of learning, music and knowledge are always depicted as fair whereas goddesses like Kali or Durga, who are considered more “aggressive” and more “bloodthirsty and rustic” are dark skinned.

 Even South Indian films, had and to a large extent still have qualms about using a dark skinned heroine. They may even go to the extent of bringing in a woman from another country - but! will not use a dark skinned heroine. Then again, its heroes are usually dark skinned. There is a huge double standard, especially for women to be fair possibly because, at least in South India, being fair is alluded to being more “cultured” and “feminine”. Now, however , Campaigns like “Dark is Beautiful” are gaining followers and more and more actors like Deepika Padukone and Vidya Balan – who are dusky- are making it big in the film industry. One can only hope that these campaigns help  our transitioning into a culture, which not only accepts the traits that are characteristic to, but embraces them. If brown skinned people cannot be brown skinned in a brown skinned country, where else can they be who they are and be who they are proudly? 

Till then, we must arm ourselves with Vicco Turmeric cream and fend off insults about our skin like we swat fruit flies away from our dining tables. Proudly and duskily. Till the very end.

Avani Konduri

And They Lived Duskily Ever After - pt I

India has always been obsessed with skin but this obsession is not merely skin deep. It flows through our veins and our arteries and clogs our cultural pores.  This preoccupation with skin or the importance of skin color is one that is very typical of India.  As a young woman living in India, skin based discrimination is a very predominant, easily relatable and predictable experience. Removing the slightly racial undertones of North Indians vs the Dravidians, as a young woman from South India, living in South India, the phenomenon based experiences of skin based discrimination is very common - despite me being a part of a subculture that is essentially darker skinned than its northern counterparts. I have never really been considered “dark”.

 Most people would benevolently refer to my complexion as wheatish- a term created and used only in India as a compromise between being fair and being dark skinned. This being said however, wheatish is still a compromise where being fair is the ultimate guarantee of beauty, salvation and everything in between. 

Throughout my childhood, I have had maids discreetly and sometimes not so discreetly, apply turmeric to my face to lighten my skin  and at the age of ten, even had a shopkeeper try and sell me a bottle of skin whitening cream to use “before it was too late”. I have heard people whose names I barely remember; moan and groan, practically beating their chests in agony, that I had gotten tanned during the summer and have had people whom I wouldn’t even call acquaintances for the fear of exaggerating the nature of our relationship, take it upon themselves to give me recipes consisting of besan, honey and lemon juice to slather onto my face. 

But I remember my first real encounter with blatant skin discrimination. It was my cousin’s wedding and I had just turned 15 years old and I was walking around with one of my cousins when an elderly lady beckoned me towards her. She immediately struck up a conversation with me and we were soon joined by a few more people – now middle-aged. As we were talking, the conversation turned to my cousin and my brother in law, and one woman loudly exclaimed, that she was happy to see that the groom was fair and that she had been “really worried” that my cousin had married a dark skinned man. Interestingly, it must be pointed out, that the women speaking these words were dark. This fact would not have mattered  had they not been speaking a tad hypocritically.  (CONT...)

Avani Konduri