Different people perform wedding in different styles but the longest wedding will be the wedding of a tamil brahmin (Iyer) which lasts for three days. ( I don't know

whether brahmins of other categories follow the same way ). I have explained below the events of three days after seeing lot of marriages. The expenses for the wedding

has to be fully borne by the bride's parents and the wedding will be in their native place. The wedding will take place in a marriage hall. I am not sure whether i have

explained everything correctly and i have explained what i have seen and understood in the marriages i have seen. If anything is missing or not correct please comment.

 

Day 1

 

Usually only close relatives and friends of bride / groom will be there for most of the day. Bride and her people will mostly come to the marriage on the night before day 1

while groom and his people will come on early morning .Before the groom enter the hall two ladies from bride side will take Aarti for the groom. The same thing is done

for bride also when she enters the hall. Now lets see the events on this day one by one.

 

Viradham:

 

 

This is purely a vedic ritual full of mantras recited by the family priests of the bride and groom. The main purpose of this ritual is to get blessings from the ancestors and

to indicate to the groom that he is going to quit his bachleor life .This pooja is done by bride and groom seperately. I have explained the ritual on bride's side . Almost the

same thing applies for groom also.The bride's mami ( Wife of her mother's brother ) will put garland on her neck.Before starting the pooja, bride and her parents will take

a cocunut and do namaskars to all the elder people in their family by giving the cocunut to them. Then they will do pooja for a long stick placed on the ground. Father will

place a vessel  ( Its called kalasam )with water on the bride's head and recite mantras.Then he tells the name of the bride in her ears as if she is just born.  Then they will

arrange 9 plantain leaves for 9 priests to sit and place rice, dhoties, banana, plantain etc on that leaf and give it to them . All the family members of the bride including

her will walk round the priests for three times and get the blessings from them. Then the pooja for nine grains are done by the married ladies related to the bride. (

Actually i still don't understand hat they are doing ). Finally  after doing all poojas father ties the yellow thread on bride's left hand.

The same procedure is repeated for the groom with some differences :

• Groom's uncle ( His mother's brother ) will put garland for him
• Poojas done for the long stick and placing of vessel on bride's head is not done for groom.
• A different sacred thread indicating that he is quitting his bachelor life will be worn to the groom.
• Yellow thread is tied on groom's right hand.

 

Usually this pooja will take 2 to 3 hours for completing it.

 

Mapillai Azhappu / Janavasam ( Inviting the groom ):

 

Son-in-law is called 'Mapillai' in Tamil. This is an interesting and entertaining event of the day. But this is done only in towns and villages nowadays. We can

rarely see this in marriages in cities. Ladies from the bride side will take garlands, sweets, dress etc from the marriage hall to the temple . Bride's relatives and

groom's relatives will assemble on the temple. Bride's father will give groom a dress bought especially for the occasion. ( Mostly it will be a suite ).

Then the groom wears the new dress given and sits. Bride's brother will keep chandan and kumkum on groom's forehead. Then he will put garland on groom's

neck followed by wearing of chain, watch, bracelet etc. These things depend on the economic status of the bride. Then he gives sugar to the bride. Now the

much awaited procession starts. Groom will sit in a old style car decorated with flowers and lights and start from the temple to reach the marriage hall.

Usually small kids will sit in the car along with the groom.The procession will be followed by a large number of friends and relatives on both sides. Some

bride's parents will organise crackers like flower pots, rockets etc to be fired through out the procession. When the procession reaches the marriage hall

the bride also sits in the car along with groom for few minutes  and  two ladies will take aarti for the bride and groom together before they enter the hall.

 

Nitchayadhartham:

 

 

This is the final event for the day. Bride's parents and groom's parents will sit opposite to each other along with their relatives. Bride will sit next to her

father. ( Groom will join during later part of the event ) Bride's father invites the groom's parents by giving sugar. Then the grooms parents will give the plate

with marriage invitation, fruits, petal leaves, chandan, kumkum etc to the bride's parents. Groom's parents will give saree taken specifically for this event

( But this saree will be bought on bride's side ) to bride. Groom's sister will take the bride along with her for dressing up. Then bride wears this new saree

and sits. Groom's sister ( She is called 'Nathanar' in Tamil ) keeps chandan and kumkum on bride's forehead. She also keeps sandol on her neck and hands .

Then she wears jewels bought for the bride by the groom's parents and ties petal leaves with banana on her pallu of the saree. Now our groom joins the scene

along with bride and they do namaskars for all the elderly people . After this photograph session will start and all the friends and relatives will take photographs

along with them and this marks the end of day 1.

 

Day 2 :

 

This is the most important day in one's life as the wedding is going to take place on this day.

 

Kasi yathirai:

The day starts with this event. The groom wears the traditional 18 yard dhoti and keeps sacred ashes on his body and fore head. Grooms's mami

( Wife of his mother's brother ) will keep eyeshades on the groom's eyes. This ritual is done to bring groom to married life as the groom is very frustrated

about his worldly life and starts to kasi to become a saint. He takes an umbrella, walking stick , hand fan and a religious book with him and walks to the

entrance of the hall. Bride's parents and his guru, uncle stop him and advise him to marry the bride and invites him by giving the coconut. This is the

significance of this event.

 

Oonjal ( Swing ):

 

Bride wears the saree taken especially for this event. Bride's uncle ( Her mother's brother ) puts garland on her neck. Bride and groom exchanges garland

with each other. Lot of fun will happen while exchanging garlands as bride / groom will walk away while the other person tries to put the garlands. Sometimes

the groom's uncle will lift him so that it will be difficult for the bride to put garland. If the bride is tall she can jump and put it . Otherwise the bride's uncle also

lifts her to put the garland.  After the garlands exchanges are done, groom takes the bride to the swing and they will both sit in that. Small kids also wil sit along

with them. Then the married ladies on both the sides will sprinkle milk in their legs and give them milk and fruit. Ladies who know singing will sing during

this occasion.

 

Pachaipudi:

 

Balls are made out of rice for this event. Usually it will be red in colour. Nowadays we can see green and yellow as well. Ladies one by one will revolve

the balls around the bride and groom three times  clockwise and three times anticlockwise and throw the balls in all the directions without seeing it. Sometimes

it may even hit the head of the people standing. After this is over the bride's mother, groom's mother and groom's aunt wearing traditional nine yard saree taking

lamp kept in vessel, water kept in vessel and coconuts will walk around the bride and groom three times. Then they will give the coconut to bride and groom.

Then they enter the hall and will sit and make poojas.

 

Kanyadhanam:

 

After the poojas, the groom sits in a chair and the bride's parents washes the groom's legs with water. Then the bride's father sits on chair while the bride

sits on her father's lap keeping petal leaves and banana in her hands. Groom stands opposite to the bride.  While the bride's father keeps his hand  over the

banana and petal leaves , bride's mother pours water on the betal leaves, the groom holds his palms with the bride's indicating that he is accepting the bride.

Then the priest takes the wedding saree along with thirumangalyam and gets blessings from all. Bride makes a namsaskar to the groom and the groom gives

the wedding saree ( Traditional 9 yard saree.Usually maroon colour ) to the bride.

 

Mangalya dharanam:

Groom's sister takes the bride for wearing the wedding saree. Bride after wearing the wedding saree comes and sits on his father's lap. Priests announce

to the audience that the marriage is going to happen. All friends and relatives surround the bride and groom for the wonderful moment of life. With the

instruments playing in background groom ties the 1 knot of wedding rope to the bride while the other two knots are tied by the groom's sister. Bride's

parents gives a silk saree to the groom's sisiter for tieing the knots.We can see lot of handshakes , tears from bride's parents and smiles from other people.

Then the bride's aunt puts the silver footrim on the finger next to the thumb finger of her legs.

 

Pani grahanam:

 

Priests usually advice the audience not to shake hands with the bride or groom till this event. Wife folds her fingers in the shape of a lotus and the

husband hold her fingers and they walk around the fire praying to all gods.

 

Sapthapadhi:

Husband holds the leg of his wife and she walks 7 steps  and the meaning of the seven steps are:

1. For a happy and healthy home

2. To improve ourselves physically, mentally and spiritually.

3. To increase our wealth in honest ways.

4. To gain knowledge and happing by mutual understanding and love.

5. To have  good children.

6. To care for each other till the last moment in our lives.

7. To be true companions and partners till the end.

 

Laja Homam:

 

Husband will help her wife in taking the popped rice and throwing it to the fire. Then the brother of the bride takes popped rice and gives to the

groom and bride who keeps their hands one below other open to get the rice and throws it to the fire, This is repeated for three. Usually the groom

will gift the bride's brother for doing this ritual. Many will give a gold ring.

 

Grahapravesam:

 

If the groom's native is also the same as bride's this will take place in the groom's residence. Otherwise they will do this in the marriage hall.

The groom's parents will invite the bride to their place and offer her milk and fruits. They usually give a saree to her for this occasion. Then

they will give blouse bits for the relatives of the bride.

 

Nalangu:

This will happen in evening and is a funny game. This was kept in olden days as the bride and the groom were unknown to each other and this

can help them to get little closer. But nowadays the boy and girl are talking daily with each other and going out. So this event is not popular in cities

and happend only  in towns and villages .Bride and groom will keep kumkum on the forehead , hands and legs. They will comb each other's hair and

show the mirror to them and ask whether it is good. They will break pappads on each other's head. Then one will keep cocunut by closing his fingers

around it and the other  will try to remove his fingers and get the coconut. This is to find out who is stronger. Rule here is girl can use both hands

but guy can use only one. Then they will exchange rice and dhal.  They will sing songs and this event marks the end of day 2.

 

Day 3:

 

There are no events on this day. This day will be a sad day for the girl and her family as she is leaving her place. So we can see lot of crying on this

day by the bride, her parents, relatives etc. The bride will start her journey for a new life along with her new family. Mostly bride's parents go along

with her and drop her at her inlaws house and return.

 

Multistoried buildings and slums are common in a city

Houses in rural areas

There are small houses. A pucca house, it will have two small rooms, a kitchen room and a toilet. This is because raw materials are expensive and will need to employ many construction laborers.

Houses in urban areas

In big cities and towns, people live in pucca houses. These houses are made of bricks, iron and steel, cement, and glass. These houses are strong and last for a long time. They d not need to be repaired often.

Multistoried buildings

There are many multistoried buildings in cities. Multistoried buildings are tall buildings with many floors. Each floor has many flats. Hundreds of people live in a multistoried building.

The multistoried buildings complex usually has all the modern facilities such as a shopping centre, community hall and a park. This makes life ways for people who live there.

Slums

You must have seen jhuggi colonies in your city where small temporary hoses are built very close to one another. These are called slums. Poor people like construction laborers, rickshaw pullers and factory workers live in these slums. They make kachcha houses with cheap and readily available materials like plastic and tin sheets.

The people in slums live in unhygienic conditions. There is no safe drinking water and proper toilet facilities foe them. Stagnant water and garbage is found all over, it is an ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes and flies.

Dharavi in Mumbai is one of the largest slums in Asia. More than one million people live here.

Old houses

Meenal is in Bhopal these days. She has come t visit her grandparents. Her grandparents stay in their ancestral house. It is a big house with a lawn in front.

The house has high ceilings in all the rooms. But this is not o in meenal’s flat in Delhi. Her grandfather tells her that in earlier times houses had much higher ceilings as compared to day’s houses.

Another difference that Meenal spotted between her hose and her grandparents’ house is that the toilet and bathroom were in the backyard. Meenal’s grandmother told her that in earlier times, toilets and bathrooms were always constructed a little away from the house. Se also told her that there used to be a well in the backyard. Now it has been covered.

The hose has a big kitchen. However, it does not have a slab to cut vegetables and cook. This is because in olden days women cooked food sitting on the floor.

 

 

 

An optimist is a person who believes that al good things happen to him and the world is the best possible place to live in. his attitude is always to look at the brighter side of life. Being active, he is prepared to face any challenge in life. Courage and courtesy are armor in life. His speech is melodious and heart is happy.

In spite of a series of failures, an optimist takes a hopeful view of things. He comes out brilliantly with flying colors. On the initial steps of failure, he constructs a concrete stairway of success with optimism as is tool and hard work and sincerity as materials. Helen killer said, ``keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow’’.

An optimist person with such an approach finds a way through even the most add situation. He tames a dragon and continues to show many remarkable and unimaginable things arousing curiosity in others. With such an approach an optimist adds a feather to his cap every time he makes an attempt. And success awaits him at his doorstep. Here is the story of brave Terry Fox.

Terry Fox was born in 1958 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. When he was ten years old the family moved to Port Coquitlam, British Columbia. There terry grew up with his family members.

Terry Fox thought of himself as an average boy. But he loved challenges. One he started something; he simply would not give up until he had seen it through. Terry set himself many challenges as he was growing up. Basketball was one of them.

Terry finished school with a very good sports career and entered Simon Fraser University. There too he made it to the basketball team. But before e finished his first year at university, something very sad happened. A pain in his right knee had been bothering Terry for weeks. Tests showed that terry had cancer. He was going to lose his leg. This was surely the greatest challenge terry had ever faced in his life.

And Terry did face the challenge, with spirit and determination as always. Barely six weeks later. Terry was walking around with an artificial leg and a cane in his hand. Once his coach had brought for him a magazine article, it was about Dick Traum who also had an artificial leg and ran in the New York Marathon. This set him thinking. Terry said. ``well if Dick Traum can do it, I can too! In fact I can do more all the money I raise will go for cancer research’’.

Terry began to prepare for his marathon. To test himself terry entered the Prince George marathon. And terry did reach the finish line. After running 3,000 miles in training, he was ready to take the challenge of 5, 3 00 miles to run across Canada.

On April 12th 1980, terry started the run. His family and many others watched him on television in the morning news. Terry told reports that his challenge was to raise a million dollars for cancer research.

In St. John’s new found land his friend, Doug Alward was there in a car with Terry. Ford Motor Company, imperial oil and many other big companies also helped in many ways.

Terry felt a sharp pain in his chest. He did not want to disappoint the crowds waiting for him. But he had to discontinue. This time the cancer was in his lungs.

Terry became the youngest Canadian ever to receive Canada’s highest civilian award, the companion of the order of Canada. He received thousands of letters, including from the America president Jimmy Carter and pope john Paul II.

Terry died on June 1981, but today he remains a symbol of hope and courage to million throughout the world.

 

 

 

 

India is a land which is known for its rich customs and traditions.  There are various festivals which are celebrated in India which have its own significance.  Not every festival is celebrated in the entire country.  There are some festivals which are predominantly North Indian Festivals while there are some which are celebrated primarily only  in the South.  There are even some festivals like Onam which is celebrated in a particular state.

However when it comes to Deepavali, it is celebrated all across the country.  Deepavali is not just a festival, it is more than a festival. While Deepavali has mythological significance as is in the case of most Hindu festivals, Deepavali goes much more beyond mythological significance for an average Indian in today's era  Deepavali is a festival of lights..  The lights come in form of Diya or Deepa meaning lamp in English..  Deepavali to many is like a adventure sport or a action movie, with the atom bombs, hydrogen bombs. Deepavali cracker also bring in grace in the form of sparklers and flower pots which are a treat to the eye. I am sure even in a cricket crazy country like India, we prefer to burst crackers than watch a cricket match.

If crackers are not enough, then Deepavali is also the festival of Sweets.  Maximum number of sweets are distributed in India on Deepavali than on any other day.  In India, even Muslims and Christians celebrate Deepavali.  Infact some Muslims and Christians from affordable families burst more crackers than middle class Hindus. For Muslims and Christains it is an opportunity to share their happiness with their Hindu friends, while for others celebrating Deepavali by bursting crackers gives them immense happiness.

Deepavali will never ever lose its charm because we see this festival as an opportunity to  show  our happiness in today's world   by distributing sweets and bursting crackers.  Deepvali gives an opportunity to almost every Indian to forget their routine day to day problems. Deepavali it is not just a Hindu festival, it is an Indian Festival.  If at all there is something which represents our people, culture traditions and our attitude towards life, it is Deepavali. Even people who are very old and cannot take part in Deepavali celebrations take pride in seeing others celebrate Deepavali. Such is the importance of Deepavali for an average Indian.

Wish all of you a Very Very Happy and Prosperous Deepavali.

Regards

Satish