Harini Calamur's Writings
Kurma (the Tortoise) is the second avtaar of Lord Vishnu. The first being Matsya or the Fish. The first time you encounter Kurma avtaar is during the great cosmic ocean churn (Samudra Manthan), the great mount Mandara is being used as a…
My column in @DNA last week My earliest memories are of growing up in Delhi, and going to school there. Amongst those memories was a line that a six-year-old had seared into her subconscious — tu kaali hai (you are dark). It…
Being in love with God. Filled with passion for God. Having a mystical connect with God. Having communication with God that bypasses organsied relgioun. Where you stop referring to God in the terrifying patriarchal formality – and refer to him in the…
Shiva . Mahadeva. Shankara. The greatest of all Gods. The God who is beyond Space and Time. The God other Gods worship and venerate. Those who dont’ understand call him the Destroyer. But, he isn’t. He ends the Universe at the end…
This morning a bunch of Priests visited our house. Two of them seemed to be grihasta’s (householders), and one seemed to be a Sanyasi – he was wearing the saffron of renunciation. They said the shloka’s, blessed the family and left. They…
This from the DNA: An enterprising NRI doctor from East Godavari district has come up with a novel idea of an all purpose and inclusive housing colony for members of the [tag]Brahmin[/tag] community near [tag]Hyderabad[/tag]. Resurrecting the traditional and conservationist ambience of…
This from CNN IBN Britain’s first state-funded Hindu school has come up with a unique definition of ‘practising Hindus’ as part of its admissions policy — those who pray daily, do voluntary work at temples, follow a vegetarian diet and abstain from…
Mumbai gets geared to welcome its favorite deity. Over the decades it has moved from being a Maharashtrian festival to something lots of others follow. This Ganpati is made almost in the style of Srinivasa of Tirupati – check out the tilak…
January Second, at about 5 a.m. on a cold desert’s winter morning, we drove down from [tag]Jaipur [/tag]to Pushkar. It was my unlce’s 7th death anniversary, and my aunt wanted to offer prayers for his soul. The predominant colours along the journey…