Sri Bhaskar Mahapatra #madeofgreat

Greatness.

William Shakespeare has said- "Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them."

I say those who achieve greatness personify the #madeofgreat category. Such people enter the greatness league by being driven from within, through practice, sincerity, dedication and hard-work. Artist Sri Bhaskar Mahapatra comes in this category.

Source here: http://formsofdevotion.org/artist/bhaskar-mahapatra/

He is a simple, humble, highly talented artist from Basudeipur, Odisha. He has been practising the Pattachitra art since the last thirty years and has been a prestigious Lalit Kala Akademi Awardee.

What is Indian Culture?

A lot is opposed as being ‘against Indian culture’. What is Indian culture? #IndianCulture

Indian culture is a wonderful amalgamation of different food, clothing, festivals, religions, languages, dances, music, theatre, puppetry, art, architecture and I can go on and on! Culture refers to both the tangible and intangible aspects of our over five-thousand-year-old civilization. 

Tangible- Food, clothing, arts, crafts, architecture etc. are tangible aspects.

Intangible- Habits, mannerisms, dances, literature, music, theatre, oral traditions handed down since centuries etc. 

In fact, sense of appreciation for our tangible aspects of culture, is also its intangible aspect!

INDIA- A CULTURAL POT-POURRI!

India with 29 states and 7 UTs is a large country. Every state is considered a mini-India being a melting pot of people from different regions, religions, castes and so on. The majority group in one region mostly influences others’ cultural practices. Largely, this cultural pot-pourri has thrived successfully through continuous adaptation and suppleness. 

How my New Life Starts!

Every time I attend new events and talk/interact or listen to new people, I feel I have started a new life! Each of them are bold steps to refine me and add value to my life! Especially this year, my plate has been full by God’s grace! 

In January month I attended two Literary Fests back to back in Kolkata- The #AKLF- Apeejay Kolkata Literary Fest 2015 and the Tata Steel Kalam 2015. Both these were held in the sprawling and extremely beautiful premises of the Victoria Memorial. I felt rejuvenated! 

At #AKLF!

How I will Rebuild the World

Rebuilding the World is certainly not a simple task. It is not like erasing the sand art canvas with a brush of the hand...

'The Creator's Hand' - Snapshot taken from my video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9saZI7aa1s

And then creating another glorious new sand art image on it:

Sand Art made by prominent Sand Artist and Padma Shri Awardee Sri Sudarshan Pattnaik of Odisha in a function at Bhubaneswar

Rather remaking the world is a far more complex and an onerous task, given that so much hatred, anger and non-violence has already deeply penetrated it. Simultaneously, pollution is choking people and biodiversity to death, while man's greed, carelessness and climate change is causing disaster after sinister disaster. Today, values have evaporated while killing one another in the name of God is an accepted norm. Today, brother is the enemy of his own brother while daughter is killed by her own parents. Today, lies, corruption and deception rule, while the honest, the good, the pious suffer.

PK hai kya?!

A child is given an environment to grow- a language, a religion, a set of norms of society. Yet what happens if a grown-up has to discover all this from the beginning?

Result is this mesmerising, kind, simple, powerful and simply out-of-the-world character called PK. He embodies humanity, uses his power to reason and stuns everyone- while also having audiences in splits with his antics!

Source

PK is 'Purely Koooooool' movie! It is hilarious, touching, saddening and sweet- all at the same time.

SANITATION AND HYGIENE BEGIN AT HOME

Over 600 million Indians defecate in the open. Lakhs of tonnes of garbage are generated each day in Indian cities, which are dumped into ever-shrinking landfills. River Ganga is revered as ‘Mother’, yet remains the most polluted river of India. Lakhs die due to toxic air and smoky chulhas each year out of respiratory ailments and suffocation. Over forty percent of Indian children under five are stunted.

So, what connects all the above gruesome facts? That Indian people as a whole, care little about the filth and degraded sanitary conditions outside of their homes. As long as the garbage is outside their homes, they do not bother. Sadly, they do not realise that all that filth will ultimately enter their own well-maintained, clean homes in the form of disease-causing germs, vectors, poor quality water and air, cutting many productive years of their own and their children’s lives.

‘Charity begins at home’. So should sanitation and hygiene habits be ingrained since childhood at home, and homes be kept clean. Yet there is a need to consider the locality, city, state, country and indeed the planet as our home. “Vasudheiva Kutumbakam”– the whole world is a family. By extension, as this family lives on Planet Earth and this is our only home, it is every human being’s responsibility to keep our living spaces clean and hygienic. Once this feeling and responsibility is heartily felt and acted upon by people, then Earth will indeed be Heaven – what with all the beneficial spill-over effects like a spiritual mind, unpolluted food and air, generation of pure thoughts and living in Harmony with Nature !

This post will first clearly demarcate reasons why sanitation and hygiene are so important for India : what are the real spin-offs in fields like health, education, productivity, innovation due to good hygiene and what are the consequences of poor hygiene. Next, it will

My Definition of 'Educated Person'

Education is not merely Stacking of Degrees but also Dressing up of one's Mind and Soul.What is Your Definition Of an Educated Person.And what is your opinion about Educated Illiterates. #Education


An educated person is one who has not just internalised study concepts learnt in educational institutions. More importantly this person must have good values embedded in him/her; be an aware local, national and world citizen; do right towards other human beings; be sensitive to Mother Earth; have a habit of solving problems and doing things pro-actively than whining; practice sustainable living and also be grounded in life than simply showing off position at work, salary or degrees.

CIVIC SENSE AND ENVIRONMENT:

In today's exhibitionist world, people love to flaunt their jobs, degrees and education. Meanwhile, it is utterly shameful that these same people have no basic civic sense such as not littering the road or saying no to plastics which clog our drains. Rather, if these same people will stay in USA or Switzerland, they will not spit or litter or urinate there, but when they stay in India- LET'S DIRTY OUR COUNTRY- WE HAVE THE FREEDOM- is their mantra! Disgusting.

Treasured Assets

Why is the world so focused on physical assets- bank-balance, material-possessions, external beauty/body/cleavage...? What's the value of good thoughts, clear heart, inner beauty & values like honesty, discipline etc. today? What is important to you? #TreasuredAssets

 

I like this topic. Because it gives me a chance. To reach out to all and sundry. And to scream- DON'T FALL INTO THE MATERIALISM ABYSS! Never let anyone's dress, job, body, bank-balance or material things make you feel inferior. Coz each of us is elegant with whatever we are and have. It is paramount that we be proud of the way God made us; that we have patience, ambition and work hard in our chosen fields- not to overtake Mr.Sharma the neighbour or Mr.Tata the businessman but because we love our work so much and want to exceed limits of possibilities. Remember? In blockbuster movie 3 Idiots, Aamir says- "Work such that success chases you, & not vice versa"!

SPECIAL STRESS ON "EXTERNAL BEAUTY": 

 

Human beings are naturally given in to senses. An attractive female grabs eyeballs of everyone-male or female. The problem occurs when she is judged on the basis of that only- then none gives attention to her intelligence or talent.

My Asus Superphone's Unique Super Power!

Dear Troopers into the Well of the House,

If you think you will quench the thirst of your eternal demands by trooping into the 'Well', let me tell you that you are doing the greatest disservice to our great Nation.

Source

You are putting crores and crores of hard-earning taxpayers' money deep into a dry well each time sessions are adjourned. Just like so many poor 3-and-above year old children have been falling into dry borewell open holes and die gruesome deaths, tax monies with life of their own to feed and care for millions, die immediate deaths due to your parochial behaviour.

There are so many Parliamentary devices for you to raise your demands and issues- short duration discussion, zero hour, calling attention motion, half-an-hour discussion, adjournment motion, censure motion and so on. Why don't you use them?

Rath Yatra Day: Celebrating on Twitter-II

Here my selected tweets' compilation on auspicious #RathYatraPuri day continues! Catch Part I here.

Source: @bikashindian 4m Twitter

#RathYatraPuri Lord wid siblings will hv yummy Pithas at His Aunt's place!He'll b pampered n showered wid love n affectn! He's so like us!:)

 

#RathYatraPuri Lord Jagannath is keenly watching the World wid his large round eyes..sinners will nvr go unpunished..His justice is Ultimate

#RathYatraPuri Car Festival,Chariot Festival or Rath Yatra is nw celebrated almost in every country of d wrld!True Globalised Lord is He!:D

Rath Yatra Day: Celebrating on Twitter-I

Rath Yatra is the Chariot Festival of the three presiding deities at Jagannath Temple, Puri, Odisha, India - Lord Jagannath, His elder brother Lord Balabhadra and His sister Goddess Subhadra.

My tweets on Rath Yatra Day today have been as below. I've almost tweeted 300 so far- so giving chosen ones in 2 posts! Enjoy reading them in a compiled form! We could make #RathYatraPuri trend in India and 'Jagannath' has been trending right throughout! :)

Courtesy: @devasissarangi

Jagannatha Swamy Nayana Patha Gaami...Bhava Tumey! Jay Jagannath! #RathYatraPuri It's d day when our beloved Lord goes on his annual outing!

 

#RathYatraPuri @DDNational has already started LIVE Telecast of majestic Raths and glorious Bada Danda of Puri! Hv U started tuning in yet?!

#RathYatraPuri Lord Jagannath with siblings Devi Subhadra and Lord Balabhadra will go on outing to His Aunt's place and give Darshan 2 all!

#RathYatraPuri Lord is so much like us! He loves goin out on his majestic chariots! B4 this on #SnanaPurnima He had bath & fell ill too! 1/2

T: Tihar

Did you know all this?!

• Tihar Jail (TJ) is the largest jail complex in South Asia, located in 'Tihar village', New Delhi. 
• It is also called 'Tihar Ashram' as correctional activities aim to transform prisoners to good citizens who can join society again.
• Four of its inmates have written a book of poems called 'Tinka Tinka Tihar' which was released recently.
• It has its own TJ FM channel and RJs are creative jail inmates, some of whom have even got jobs outside after their release!
• It has its own rock band who sing and compose wonderful original songs! Watch the video here:
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXCyVtC2idI
• Inmates make several products which are sold at various outlets of Delhi including bakery, bags, accessories, pickles, chips and lots more!

#DoRight:: Be a Do-Gooder for Dooars XI

Hockey is India's national game. Still the story of how badly India has deteriorated in hockey is a very sad one indeed. India which won the admiration of the world by winning a record consecutive six golds in Hockey at Olympics from 1928 to 1956, following it up with another two golds in 1964 and 1980, merely qualified in Men's Hockey at 2012 London Olympics after a long 8 years gap! Adding fuel to the fire, it finished last.

Similar stories plague almost every other team sport in India (exceptions like Kabaddi exist, which is a sub-continental sport). India's Cricket craziness/obsession has zapped out all performance from most other sports.

And what about Football? That lovely team game played by 209 countries all over the world and having far more spectators than Cricket or indeed any other sport in the world?!

Don't even ask!

Yes- 1.2 billion people, enough grounds to kick a football around (though decreasing now especially around cities due to encroachments), least infrastructure needed for this most common team sport- yet our Indian Football Team ranks 152 amongst 209 countries in FIFA rankings of March 2014!

And that's men's football.

Indian women's football team hovers around a much better 50th rank out of 130 countries. That's why they can teach the men's team some good lessons inspite of all the difficulties they undergo to pursue their dream.

April 1st is #UtkalaDibasa!

April 1st happens to be a very special day for over 5 Crore (50 million) people belonging to the eastern state of Odisha in India. This was the day - 1st April 1936- that Odisha was born as a state. Odisha's people are also called Odias. Today Odias are dispersed across India and the world, in this increasingly globalised era and all celebrate #UtkalaDibasa or Odisha Day with great joy and reverence. Odia is the language of the people of Odisha. This ancient, rich and great language has recently been announced as the Sixth Classical Language of India and the very first Indo-Aryan language which has been granted this highly esteemed status. Odissi is the classical dance of Odisha- one of the most subtle, beautiful, graceful dance forms of India.

On auspicious #UtkalaDibasa I convey my best wishes to all Odia brothers and sisters..Source

Odisha since historical times has had several names- Udra Desa, Kalinga, Utkala, Odisha. Hence April 1st is popularly called Utkala Dibasa : 'Utkala' name was popular during 19th and early 20th centuries when Odia freedom fighters took up the cause, and 'Dibasa' means Day. Famous patriotic song written by Kantakabi Laxmikanta Mohapatra 'Bande Utkala Janani' was made the state anthem upon Utkala's independence on April 1st, 1936. For full lyrics, click here.

#DoRight for Talented #Raghurajpur Artists in #Odisha

Natural colours filled delicately on unique eco-friendly canvasses,

Exquisite work of Raghurajpur artists of Odisha is a treat to the senses!

Be spellbound by the magnificence of their marvellous art,

Buy directly from them the masterpieces which touch every beholder's heart....

The right thing for all of us to do,

Is to visit this artists' village of great heritage,

And see for ourselves their art and hard work,

And pay them the right price then and there....

Artists crouch for hours to create the most brilliant art pieces in Raghurajpur

Else unfortunately middlemen meddle,

To make hefty gains at their cost...

To do right is to recognise the arts' true worth,

To never make these uber talented artists feel lost...