Ananda Sangbad 2023 Q1

Ananda Mandir

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Ananda Sangbad A Quarterly Publication of Ananda Mandir, New Jersey

THE WORLD CUP 2022, QATAR – BOYCOTTS AND SPORTS-WASHING

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ports is seen as a unifier and a noble contest, pitching skill, strength, and stamina of contestants within a fair competition. The grand sporting events, like the Olympics and the football World Cup, typically embody all these noble ideals. It is heartening to see countries and people of every hue participate in sports and games in the best spirit of sportsmanship. When that happens, it seems like a sure path towards amity and cooperation.

One of the biggest spectacles in the world, the FIFA World Cup, is going to take place in a few days in Qatar. This World Cup has been plagued with improprieties. One of the most beloved sporting events, the Football World Cup is probably being used for sports-washing. This is the phenomenon where a political entity, in this case Qatar, has used these games to enhance their brand in

Tathagata Ghosh (New Jersey) South Africa was banished from international competitions including cricket for a long time. They desperately wanted to join and participate in the world stage with their segregated teams, but the world community stood firm and South Africa mended their ways and officially dismantled the horrendous practice of apartheid.

We continue to see racism against people of color on soccer fields and in other sports. Sports bodies try to address these with token gestures, but they do not seem to have made a significant impact. This is still very real in many sports, but we do see that there is slow progress in some sports like tennis, where apparently things are getting bet-

We wish all our members and friends A very happy and healthy NEW YEAR! ANANDA MANDIR BOARD OF TRUSTEES front of the world. It is a cynical use of a high-profile sports event to suppress its record of human rights abuses, including overt hostility towards the LGBTQ community and a nasty record of atrocious labor conditions for migrant labor.

There are growing calls for boycotts as of the date this article is being written.

The phenomenon of using sports to sanitize and improve one’s standing in the world has been prevalent for a very long time. One of the better-known cases is from the Berlin Olympic Games (1936) when Hitler wanted to showcase Aryan prowess. It backfired somewhat with Jesse Owens, a black sprinter, dominating the Games with 4 gold medals. The power of sports to promote an ideology, a country or a way of life has been recognized by politicians, and hence the unsavory trend of sports-washing has become quite prevalent.

ter.

The 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow were boycotted by many countries including USA to protest the invasion of Afghanistan. The expected tit-for-tat boycott, led by the Soviet Union, happened with the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984. It was obvious that these highly political superpowers were probably not the ideal neutral locales for holding international sporting events.

Two recent Olympic Games – the Winter Olympics of Sochi (in Russia) and the Summer Olympics of Beijing, China -- were additional examples of attempts at sports-washing. The standing and prestige of both Russia and China were eroding because of aggressive military postures and human rights abuses.

The Olympics, as very well-regarded events, were a way for them to bolster their standing in the eyes of the world

and showcase their countries’ achievements.

Qatar, Saudi Arabia and a few other countries have been accused of sportswashing in recent times. Saudi Arabia has started a new golf league. The oilrich kingdom does not have a tradition of golf, but it was able, with a massive financial outlay, to draw the best players in golf to play in their league and thus garner positive press to counter the negative publicity that it has got in recent times. Qatar’s case is even more strange: an insignificant soccer entity very strategically bid for the games. It is a country of about 3 million people where 90 pct of the population are immigrant workers. The workers who have been lured with promises of good wages have been treated poorly, and there are many migrant injuries and deaths as they worked on building the glitzy stadiums. It certainly looks like Qatar has imported a grand spectacle with its oil riches and will get to show off this wealth and affluence and immensely gin up its image.

It is truly an egregious case of sportswashing.

On the other hand, people could argue that Qatar has the money and the gumption to pull off this event. They would have reportedly spent about $220 billion on this World Cup, a ten-fold increase from the amount spent by Russia in 2018. Also, it can be argued that high-quality soccer needs to spread all around the globe and away from the Americas and Europe. It is certainly true that every sport wants to explore and expand its boundaries. On that score, Qatar is a reasonable candidate to host the World Cup. Money does speak after all since this is a super expensive event and only a few countries have the wherewithal to host a competition of this size and stature.

In Qatar, many well-known entertainers have boycotted the event so as not be linked with a country having a terrible human rights record. This and the archaic laws that will be in effect will keep many visitors away. Harsh punishments against drinking, show of affection (for the opposite sex or the same sex), etc. will dampen the interest of many fans.

It remains to be seen whether, in spite of all the initial and obvious problems, this World Cup in Qatar will overcome all odds and be the kind of beloved spectacle that we all know. The issues will not go away and unfortunately cannot be solved now. The FIFA World Cup of 2022 may end up being yet another successful case of sports-washing.

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Ananda Sangbad

THANKSGIVING FEAST AND REVISIONIST HISTORY

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y first Thanksgiving was in the fall of the year I came to the United States as a graduate student. The foreign student office of my university had made arrangements with some nice folks of a small town in Maryland – improbably named Damascus – to include a handful of us international students in their families’ Thanksgiving dinner. From the university campus, we were taken by bus to the bucolic town, where we were split into small groups and taken by our hosts to their homes. It was my first opportunity to go inside an American home, and I certainly looked forward to the experience.

That exposure to Thanksgiving – with a memorable feast at its center – did not disappoint by any means. It was my introduction to the meat of a hitherto unknown bird of another improbable name, turkey, and mine was a case of love at first bite. (Unlike many of my friends who complain about the dryness of turkey meat, to me it had a goldilocks quality.) I lustily devoured the side dishes too – from cranberry sauce and mashed potato and yam all the way to pumpkin pie a la mode. What a welcome relief from my normal graduate student routine of cooking relatively insipid dinner for myself!

An equally memorable thing for me was hearing from my hostess the story (or history) of Thanksgiving. What I learnt was this: The first year after the Pilgrims’ landing near Boston was particularly rough on the settlers.

Their crops had failed, so food had become scarce, and the group was famished. Rather providentially, some of their Indian (Native American) neighbors came to their rescue with provisions, which they ate together after giving thanks to the

By Amitabha Bagchi (California) Lord for their good fortune. The memory of this event had morphed over the years into an annual late-fall celebration and national holiday that we now know as Thanksgiving.

Ever since that first year, I have always looked forward to Thanksgiving. Mostly for the turkey dinner along with the accompanying sides, but also lately for the football games (now three in number). In my early years, the feast took place at the homes of American friends and neighbors who would kindly invite me. The spirit of Thanksgiving, however, caught on quickly with the (carnivorous) Bengali immigrant community, and its members started hosting the feast for family and friends. Over the years, I have acted as the host on numerous occasions, grandly offering to roast the turkey (or sometimes duck), because the task requires minimal culinary skill. The only thing to worry about is the amount of the leftover from cooking a big bird – a problem that I have tried to solve on occasion by substituting duck (or goose) as the bird to roast instead.

Also, as time passed, I kept hearing alternative stories (or revised histories) of what had happened in those early days between the Pilgrims and their tribal neighbors.

One such account held that, far from receiving food from the Indians, the Pilgrims actually stole the provisions from a kind of granary where the tribe had stored their produce for the winter. These newer stories cast the Pilgrims in a less-than-favorable light. Intrigued, I resolved to look a bit into the background of the celebration, using the lazy man’s research methodology of Google search to explore

the information that is available on the web. *** Granted that the information on the web is not always accurate, but I did not find any reference to pilfering by the Pilgrims of a Native American tribe’s granary. What I found, however, is interesting in its own right.

The bright side of the history is described in brittanica.com. In their telling, the American version of Thanksgiving (yes, there is a different, Canadian version) “is modeled on a 1621 harvest feast shared by the English colonists (Pilgrims) of Plymouth and the Wampanoag people.” The narration goes on to say – and I paraphrase here – that some of Plymouth’s colonists had gone out “’fowling,’ possibly for turkeys but more probably for the easier prey of geese and ducks.” Then, some 90 Wampanoags made a surprise appearance at the settlement’s gate, but both sides were friendly, and the two groups “socialized over the next few days.” The Wampanoag “contributed venison to the feast, which included the fowl, and probably fish, eels, shellfish, stews, vegetables and beer.”

But a darker side of history evolved a few years after that initial, friendly socialization. At first, the Wampanoags had a peace treaty with the English, and together they fought the French and other Indian tribes. But their friendship began to fray as thousands more English colonists moved to Plymouth and laid claim to more land. The local Indian population had already been literally decimated by a strange and infectious “Indian fever” that was probably brought in their midst by

the settlers. Two generations after the celebrated original Thanksgiving feast, the Wampanoags and the English settlers bitterly fought in the so-called King Philip’s War (1675-76), “in which hundreds of colonists and thousands on Native Americans lost their lives.” Because of this gruesome history, according to the website insider. com, “to some, the holiday is only a reminder of the oppression experienced

by Native Americans.”

The website goes on to state: “The real story behind the holiday, in fact, is so dark that some people are rethinking how they celebrate the holiday, or whether they should at all.”

My conclusion from this quick and superficial reading of history is that there is really no dispute between the conventional and revisionist takes on Thanksgiving with regard to the facts involved.

The inter-group feast of Plymouth in 1621 did take place, as did the later slaughter of the Wampanoag people by the English colonists. The best or most appropriate way to remember that history – either by extolling the early friendship or by condemning the later brutality – is a matter of perspective and focus. It would be interesting to explore the comparable tensions in the Indian subcontinent’s mythologies between the Aryan expansion and the indigenous people’s resistance to it. For example: Ravana, the reprobate villain of Ramayana and the abductor of Sita, is revered as a wise king and an effective ruler in Sri Lanka.

And the buffalo demon Mahishasur, whose slaying by Goddess Durga brings peace to heaven and earth, is worshipped as a noble royal by Asur and Santhal tribes in India. A discussion of those contradictions might be the topic for another day.

Ananda Sangbad

January 2023

M*A*S*H 4077

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By Rahul Ray (Massachusetts)

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early four out of seven nights a week, before pulling up the blanket Swapna would say – ‘Let’s watch a movie. I hear that the latest movie, what’s its name, by Koushik Ganguly is a very good one.’ ‘I am too tired for a two-and-half-hour stint.

Why not a short one? English movies are usually shorter’would be my standard reply.

In the end, we both would happily agree to watch yet another episode of M*A*S*H, and at the end of 30 minutes go to sleep with a smile on our faces. We know every episode, all 256 of them by heart. Yet when the series is over, we simply go back to Year 1, Episode 1.

Both Swapna and I attest to that. We have become eternal M*A*S*H lovers.

There are many characters in this sitcom. The central character is Captain “Hawkeye” Pierce (Alan Alda), a perpetually wise-cracking, sinister-plotting, and womanizing surgeon who is morally incorruptible. He is supported by doctors, first by boisterous and wise-cracking Trapper John McIntyre (Wayne Rogers), then gentle, yet sometimes naughty, who waits patiently for letters from home B.J. Hunnicutt (Mike Farrell), and finally by Charles Emerson Winchester, the 3rd (David Ogden Stiers), a hypocritical, Anglophilic

Such is the draw of M*A*S*H, a sitcom that is funny, yet extremely humane, violent yet calming. It pulls your heartstrings like a sweet melody that you have known since childhood.

M*A*S*H stands for Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, and 4077 is perhaps its unit number. The year is 1950, and the place is Korea. This American surgical hospital is within five miles of the front where American and allied Korean soldiers are fighting the communist North Koreans and their Chinese counterparts.

It is almost unimaginable that a popular TV show can be made against such a most unusual backdrop filled with death and destruction, scenes of spilling blood and severed limbs. Even the title music is weird – a strange melody with the whirring sound of choppers in the background.

Yet, M*A*S*H, developed for television by Larry Gelbart, based on a novel

by Richard Hooker in its eleven years run is the mostwatched TV show ever.

It is claimed that if you watch one issue of this serial, you will get hooked to it and be a M*A*S*H -lover forever.

Boston Brahmin. All of them are pulling pranks against Major Frank Burns (Larry Linville), an all-for-himself bumbling doctor who often speaks highly about the virtues of marriage, yet flirts with the chief nurse, the ’hotlips’ Major Margaret Houlihan (Loretta Swit), a sexy, full-lipped, fire-spitting golden blonde who loves the military and its discipline. The leader of this gang of doctors and nurses is first Colonel Henri Blake (McLean Stevenson), a lanky, boozy, and womanizing doctor, loved by all, except Burns and Houlihan, and then Colonel Sherman Potter (Harry Morgan), a short and fatherly surgeon who loves horses and paints as a pastime.

Then there is the ‘I will never grow up’ company clerk, Corporal Walter O’Reilly (Gary Burghoff), nicknamed Radar because he can foresee things way ahead of everyone else, and Corporal Max Klinger (Jamie Farr), a rapid-fire Lebanese jabber who cross-dresses to get out of the army to move to his beloved Toledo. Father Francis Mulcahy (William Christopher), the chaplain plays the piano and tries to keep moral

sanity among this gang of loonies.

Alan Alda made history in television by receiving Emmy awards for acting, directing, and, writing for M*A*S*H. However, it was a team effort that gave rise to numerous memorable episodes. I fondly remember two episodes among many. The first episode involved Colonel Henry Blake who was returning ‘stateside’ after finishing his term of duties in Korea.

Before leaving he was saying goodbye to everyone, when, at a slight hand-gesture by Hawkeye he grabbed Hot lips Houlihan and gave her a long and blowout kiss before boarding the chopper.

However, the clincher came the next day. In the operating room doctors, nurses and others were speaking about their beloved Henry Blake while Radar slowly came in and announced in a grave voice that Colonel Blake’s chopper was shot down over the South China Seas and there were no survivors.

In the second memorable episode, Hawkeye was moonstruck when a new nurse came to the 4077 unit.

He exclaimed in despair (to BJ Hunnicutt) “Of all the women in the world, does it have to be she!” ‘She’ turned out to be Hawkeye’s heartthrob and the one and only ‘love object’ during his intern days in Boston. However, she walked out of him because he was ‘too married’ to his job.

The anguish in Pierce’s face upon discovering that he was still madly in love with her, now someone else’s wife was simply unbearable. He neither could condone her nor could let her go. In the end, she requested a voluntary transfer out of 4077. The de-

parting embrace, the last kiss, and the parting gaze would melt anyone’s heart.

The most important aspect of M*A*S*H is the compassionate nature of the storytelling. In several episodes the wounded soldier brought in for surgery turned out to be an enemy soldier, a North Korean or a Chinese. Frank Burns and Hot Lips Houlihan, the higher-ranking majors and believers of American patriotism refused to treat them and even threatened to report to the headquarters, yet Hawkeye, Trap, and BJ relentlessly invoked the Hippocratic Oath of ‘do no harm’ even to the enemy.

Fast forward to the year 2022.

We met Abhishek and Namrata Gupta through Abishek’s father who was visiting them from Kolkata to be at his son’s graduation from MIT. Some friend of senior Gupta recommended that he meet Swapna and me in Boston.

Thus, we became good friends, and soon we were visiting them at their home in Lexington.

Almost as soon as we entered their living room, I noticed a framed picture of the M*A*S*H 4077 gang.

Upon asking about this somewhat unusual

sighting Abhishek opened the floodgate of his emotion– ‘I love M*A*S*H! So much so that I have incorporated ‘4077’ in my email address. I watch the series daily, can’t get enough of it.’ This was a spontaneous outburst of emotion from one M*A*S*H -lover to another.

It just so happened that Namrata, the sweet lady that she is, loves to throw parties. Thereby we are invited to their home again.

Swapna made a Boston Red Sox blanket for their son and a mouth-watering dessert.

I had to bring something.

Therefore, I did a watercolor painting of an updated version of M*A*S*H memorabilia, an omnipresent signpost in M*A*S*H episodes with signs of places around the world with their distances.

For the love of M*A*S*H!

4 January 2023

Ananda Sangbad

THE DINNER-TABLE CHAT

By Sophia Mitra (New Jersey)

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n my parents’ house we used to have some unspoken rules. Simple things like never walking bare-foot around the house, never watching TV till we finished our homework on weeknights, brushing with our fingers every night and praying before going to bed. As we grew up, we were able to imbibe some of those practices that have become part of our daily routine. Others, though, we had to let go with time. Among these old family rules that I miss the most as an adult and was grateful for the most as a child, is the dinner-table chat.

The dinner-table chat referred to that time in the day when all four of us – Baba, Ma, Dada and I would gather for dinner at our small dining-room table in our Kolkata apartment back in India and exchange tidbits regarding our day. We belonged to a typical middle-class family whose humdrum lives were filled with work, school, tuitions and myriads of familial and household responsibilities. While Baba was busy paying the bills and meeting our material needs, Ma took on the maximum load in terms of housework whether preparing our meals or sewing our clothes. In the evenings, Baba came home tired and sweating after a long bus ride from work. He would freshen up, change and then plop down in front of the TV to watch the news while Ma served him hot tea and puffed rice with spicy peanuts. We kids would be busy in our own rooms either finishing homework, listening to pop music or reading Enid Blyton. Power outages were a common occurrence back then in Kolkata, and we had to factor in the possibility of suspending all work in total darkness at any time. Hence, the urgency to complete all essential tasks under the comfort of tube-lights and ceiling fans was a driving force.

In the midst of all this routine, dinner seemed the only time that we would get together as a family and really find time to connect. Ma would start heating up the food and setting the plates out around 9 pm. The clanking of steel utensils and serving spoons in the dining area

meant that it was time to put a stop to whatever we were doing and make way to the dinner table. Baba would immediately turn off the TV and dada would turn-off his stereo or whatever else he was busy with. Though I would try to push it at first, specially, if I was in the middle of an interesting reading, the warning “your dinner is getting cold”, issued in Ma’s slightly irritated voice, would be enough to drag me over. The unpromising possibility of a mosquito-infested, candle-lit dinner was another motivating factor.

Usually, the first few moments would be a battle ensuing between my Ma and my Dada over the vegetables or fish that she would force him to eat much to his dislike. My Dada was a very fussy eater whose appetite was only activated by a few items. Unfortunately, those selective dishes like spicy chicken curry and deep fried luchis were only served on the weekends since they were considered both unhealthy and extravagant for daily consumption. My Baba, on the other hand, loved fresh greens and vegetables, so usually these were among the regular entrée cooked by Ma along with dal and mild fish or egg curry. If we were lucky and Ma was in a good mood, there might also be some fritters coated in gram flour on the side. Along with steaming hot rice drained and served in an aluminum pot, piping hot rotis soft and fresh from the iron tawa, and an occasional sweet chutney or spicy pickle, our dinner was a middle-class family feast. I called it the Goldilocks effect.

Not too much, not too little but just right.

Anyway, while mixing the rice with little bit of everything and making bite-sized balls to swallow, we would catch up on the days’ news with one another. Baba would usually begin by asking us in turns how school went, and both Dada and I would try to outshine each other in describing our escapades and small achievements that day.

This would also be the time to ask Baba’s permission for an after-school plan with friends or maybe money to buy essentials like notebooks or ink

pens. In the meantime, Ma would coax us to eat properly, with her eyes trained on our plates, and ready to fill them up with whatever dish followed in order.

Next would be Ma’s turn and this could get interesting or ugly depending on how her day went. For instance, if Ma was able to complete some sewing or embroidery that she was working on or if she was expecting a visit from her sister soon, Ma was usually chirpy. That would mean an extra serving of roasted cauliflowers on Baba’s plate or an extra helping of tomato chutney at the end. But then her mood needed to match Baba’s as well, and if he had a fulfilling day at work, they would be in seventh heaven.

Baba would remark on getting the curtains replaced or Ma needing a new saree and Ma would chime in about Baba not eating enough recently and what he would like for his tiffin the next day? Both of them would then plan places for us to visit as soon as Baba got his LTC, travelling allowance from his government job. This would be the most exciting part of the meal, as both Dada and I would jump in with our own ideal vacation destinations, while slurping down bowls of dal or carefully extracting fish bones. Most of these plans would remain just that, plans to be revived and serve as our next table-talk topic.

However, the small time that we got to discuss it, allowed us mentally to make that journey towards an unknown and exciting future, together as a family.

On the other hand, woebegone if either, or if both of them were in a bad mood!

Then we might endure a sulky, don’t-disturb-me kind of dinner where the only sounds allowed would be whispering for something to be passed or served, interspaced with clanking of utensils or gulping of food.

Or better still, an argument might break out, which sometimes ended in a not so appetizing situation. When really upset with Ma, Baba would dare declare one of her dishes undercooked or downright bland as an insult to her culinary skills. In return, Ma might end up throwing the whole bowl of her criticized item out the balcony into the gutter below to infuriate Baba who she claimed could

not even boil an egg. He then in retaliation would mix up the remaining items together into one mega mud pie and fling his plate away across the table like a Frisbee. Both of them would then stomp out from the dining room in opposite directions, wounded yet unyielding enemies in a deadlock.

Eventually, my brother and I would be left to clean up the spoils of the ravages clearing the table, wiping the spills and carrying away the dirty dishes and pots to the sink. We would not have to remain underfed for long though as after a while Ma would bring in cups of steaming milk and bread for all, signs of her truce. Baba would most probably make up the next day with some hot samosas or roasted corn brought home after work.

Their patch-up like everything else about their relationship was subtle and unobtrusive, noticed in such small acts of forgiving. We could sense the change after a while with Ma spending some extra time in the kitchen to produce some delicacy especially for Baba. He, in return, would praise her cooking more lavishly, or tease her antics more fondly and just like that laughing and chatting would resume at the dinner table.

Thus, it used to continue, day after day and year after year. Our coming together, sharp 9 pm, at dinnertime.

Yes, there were occasional interruptions and diversions from that routine such as when we had guests or visitors come over for the holidays or we were visiting them, or those rare days when we would decide to eat out. However, coming back home to the regular dinner table chat always felt so good. It gave a sense of purpose and punctuality to our sometimes senseless and chaotic world. At the end of the day, it created a sense of expectancy, something to look forward to. Most importantly, it made us realize the value of family. A place to vent out or ramble on about nothing in particular in front of sympathetic ears that listened and did not judge.

That was almost two decades ago. So much has happened since then to our family. Dada moved to another state, I to another continent.

Baba, retired and home-

bound mostly with arthritic pain, eats a very light dinner.

Ma, between her social work outside and sitar classes at home, has very little interest or enthusiasm for cooking.

She suffers from various ailments as well, and over the last few years reluctantly handed over the reign of her kitchen-kingdom to a cook who comes in twice a day to prepare their meals. With time no longer a competing factor in their lives, they eat whenever they feel like it, mainly in front of the TV or listening to the FM radio station. The sounds emanating from the media fill up the void in absence of our dinner table chat.

In my own house I have failed to establish this priceless rule that I grew up with.

Dinner is simplified, maybe cooked twice or thrice a week, mostly refrigerated and reheated. Dinnerware is mostly microwave and dishwasher safe material, easy for warming and cleaning.

Sometimes when we get lazy or feel tired, ready-to-eat or frozen food served on disposable plates and cutlery, are the preferred modes of eating. My small dinette set is adjacent to the open kitchen area and joined by an island that serves both as a prepping and dining area. Everything is laid out buffet-style and offered as self-service to my husband and kids without the hassle of my serving them one by one. The entire dining process is really convenient and efficient with a user-friendly touch to it!

Indeed, dinner is a different experience now. We eat at different times depending on whenever someone is hungry. We eat at different places –some at the breakfast table, some at the formal table and some on the couch. We choose to engage ourselves’ internally while eating –some watching TV, some reading a book, or some on their iPhone or headphones.

Like a lot of other changes in modern society, we’ve learned to be alone while together. Dinner is still a routine we maintain but mainly for our basic needs than a source of bonding. We dine finer now and we dine undisturbed. There are no stories to share anymore, no arguments breaking out, no clanking of pans, or no passing of continue to page 13 }

January 2023

Ananda Sangbad

5

GUARDIAN ANGELS An Obsolete Hobby:

By Vishnupriya (New Jersey)

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o, I promise I wasn’t drunk, not at all. Although I was returning after a wedding reception, it was a tame affair with no alcoholic beverages served, in fact so traditional that there were separate enclosures for men and women to socialize in. So, the question of being inebriated was totally off the charts. But I don’t blame Mr. Ramaswamy for thinking that about me. I confess it was crazy.

In hindsight which is 20/20 always, I’d think it bordered on the outlandish, bizarre to say the least. I like to think of it as a miracle.

Well, I’d left my Fiat Padmini at my friend’s place and car-pooled with her to attend the party which was a good bit away. Saved me some driving late in the night, and a good bit of gas, and so it all seemed a win-win.

The return from the dinner party was fun but uneventful considering what would soon transpire. I had no idea of course, none of us ever have before a life changing experience. I wasn’t an exception.

It was winter time and Jamshedpur winters are pretty nippy. But I was young and somewhat scatterbrained possibly since there’s no way to explain why my Kashmiri shawl wasn’t draped around myself rather than hanging from my right shoulder to flaunt my beautiful Baluchoripallu on a blustery December night. Sheer dumbness and serve me right for everything.

We said our goodbyes and I set out for home. I used to love this enclave of bungalows perched on a hillock because of its magnificent view. Nights were even starrier with the lights peeping out of the nearby houses. I was alone driving and communing with the universe when I suddenly realized as I exited the gated community while still atop the sharp fall downhill that my shawl had somehow gotten entrapped in the door and needed retrieving. I couldn’t blame it. It was only inevitable because of its flowyness.

Also inevitable was the pumping of the accelerator instead of the brakes at a critical moment when you are on the edge of an abyss and precariously perched high up looking for divine intervention.

I lost control and hurtled downhill, knowing that the only dignified thing to do apart from praying was to accept destiny with grace. I tried but the brakes didn’t work because it was something like sledding sharply from a height, which is exactly what happened. But I wasn’t drunk, and was in complete control of my senses if not my brakes.

But Mr. Ramaswamy, my friend’s neighbor who was returning from his after-dinner walk and saw a Fiat hurtling at tremendous speed downhill, thought that this was a bloody shortcut that he hadn’t discovered yet in all his five years of stay there. Coming nearer and seeing a woman at the wheel he was sure it was a DUI not that we called it that then in our country. And was preparing a sermon mentally for the irresponsible driver.

I am indebted to him for life. He

retrieved me first from where I was trapped between the door and the wheel and helped me out with such tender grace once he was sure I was super sober that my heart sent another prayer for my savior. My forehead was all swollen, bumped up after hitting the wheel and the dashboard and my arms were all bruised and slightly bleeding from the friction. Must say no matter how elegant and feminine the sari and the shawl look, I seriously wished I was wearing my dungarees or my skinny jeans instead.

Once confident that I could walk back to my friend’s place without collapsing, he got around to gathering all his neighbors to help a damsel in serious distress.

And knights in shining armor came to my rescue. While my friend gave me warm milk to calm my frayed nerves, the rest of Mr Ramaswamy’s and my friend’s husband’s neighbors all heaved my car out of the ditch it had gotten stuck in. Honestly, I never thought it would be possible but that night I was chastened at the sheer physical strength of these wonderful men. Sometimes, I’m tempted to think that chivalry should never die and I’d rather be a little old fashioned. It doesn’t hurt at all to be indulged for a change. I really loved having all those sturdy, resourceful men around me and my car that night. No questioning that.

They were all of the opinion that the car’s damage had to be assessed, and that I should just leave it there. They would take care of it the next morning.

My friend Deepa and her husband Sunil would drive me home. I was petrified imagining my father’s reaction to this misadventure and insisted that I absolutely had to drive this car back so as not to worry him at midnight. Those weren’t cell phone days either. I did exactly that so as to get a grip on my shaky nerves and trembling hands. Deepa and Sunil followed me home and called me the first thing early next morning to ensure everything was okay on the home front.

The car did sustain damage to the chassis and my father’s trusted mechanic smelled a rat right away but promised not to share his concerns with my father.

He knew that it wasn’t a boulder that my car had hit in the dark, but decided to keep his doubts to himself. I overpaid him and promptly sold the car the next year for a new Maruti. My father never came to know of this mishap ever thankfully. Also I wear the sari and shawl more responsibly ever since.

The men around me that night clearly thought that I was the hero, daring to do the impossible, but I am sure without their help that night, I couldn’t have reached home in one piece. I owe them my deepest gratitude. You find Samaritans even in the middle of the night, seriously. Bottomline is when in sari and all other party paraphernalia, act demure, not your otherwise “I can-handle-pretty-much-anything-self”, because you simply can’t.

Autograph-Hunting

By Basab Dasgupta (California)

I

n my younger days in India, many people liked to collect autographs of famous people. Those were items of pride that one could show to friends and neighbors as proof that one had indeed met that person. This activity could also turn out to be an investment if a signed photograph or book of a celebrity increased in value over time. The effort needed was modest: to know someone who could arrange a way for meeting with celebrities and purchase an “autograph book”.

I got involved in this “hobby” during my high school years when the entire Mohun Bagan (MB) soccer team came to play the Chandan Nagar Sporting Union (CSU) team in my hometown, Chandan Nagar. Chuni Goswami’s uncle lived there and his elder brother, Manik, used to regularly play for CSU in a local league. It was some special occasion and CSU used the Goswami brothers’ connections to persuade MB to come to town.

I knew some officers of CSU and managed to get into the club house with a small white note pad after the game which MB won by a lop-sided 7-0 margin. I was awed to see players like Jarnail Singh, Thangaraj, Arumainiyagam, Kempya, Narsia and others in addition to the Goswami brothers in close proximity. Many of these players had participated in the 1960 Rome Olympics. That was the last time Indian soccer team qualified to play in Olympics. They were all very nice to oblige me with their autographs which filled up several pages of my note book.

Subsequently, I attended musical performances by artists like Tarun Banerjee, Nirmalendu Chaudhuri and Dwijen Mukherjee and got backstage to gather their signatures. I was always on the hunt for famous people – movie actors, political leaders, well-known athletes, prominent figures in the academia etc. –who visited our town and tried to find a way to face them.

After I started attending college in Kolkata, I kept mum about this hobby because I was afraid that my classmates would consider this to be a childish nonsense, even though Kolkata offered many more opportunities to see and meet famous people.

One day I found out that, my classmate Mohammad Kamal Hussein (MKH), also shared this passion of autograph collecting.

Coincidentally, an international cricket team, composed of players from different countries was in town to play the Indian team at

the famous Eden Gardens on occasion of platinum jubilee of Mohun Bagan club around that time.

MKH and I decided that it was worth the effort to see if we could collect autographs of some these famous players.

Most of the players were reportedly staying at the Great Eastern Hotel, not too far from the Eden Gardens and we thought that the hotel would be the best place to corner the players. So, one day during this cricket match, MKH and I went to this famous hotel after our classes. We immediately realized that just getting into the hotel would be a major challenge!

Neither one of us had ever been inside such a majestic hotel and was certainly not dressed to look like possible guests. There was a guard at the main entrance in colorful uniform complete with a turban and a cane. He immediately stopped us at our first effort to just casually walk in and we really had no answer for his inquiries about our purpose. Undeterred, we stood nearby and kept an eye at the entrance. We noticed that every time a hotel guest was leaving and boarding a car or a taxi, the guard would make sure to follow him/her to the car in order to get an appropriate tip. This was a momentary window of opportunity for us. Next time, he followed a guest, we sneaked in!

So far so good, but now what?

I told MKH that my first target would be Garfield Sobers, the player whom I absolutely idolized. I knew by heart his statistics of career test runs, number of centuries, number of wickets, number of tests, highest score and many other details. I had watched him play on a couple of occasions and his all-around capabilities on field amazed me. MKH had no objection. We asked a bellboy for Sobers’ room number and had to tip him a few bucks to get that information.

We knocked on Sobers’ door.

I was in a state of euphoria that I would meet my hero face to face in a few seconds and get his autograph. He opened the door. I do not know who he was expecting, but he was clad only in his boxer short and the rest of his muscular body was just gleaming. As soon as he saw us, he just slammed the door on our face.

That was disheartening, but we continued our stroll through the hotel corridors. It seemed that several players were housed in the wing where Sobers was staying.

One door was ajar and we saw continue to page 7 }

6 January 2023

Ananda Sangbad

INDIA’S HERITAGE IN WRESTLING PART 2: FAMOUS WRESTLERS & TRADITIONS

By Partha Sircar (California)

(Part I of this article was published in our October, 2022 issue)

The Great Gama The great Gama, also known as the Gama Pehalwan, was undoubtedly the greatest Indian wrestler of his time, perhaps of all time. In 2015, the Great Gama was inducted posthumously in the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame (PWHF) as a wrestler of the Pioneer Era. In the list of inductees he is described as “Posthumous Inductee: Won the Indian version of the World Heavyweight Championship. Billed as the greatest pahalwan of his time”.His real name was Ghulam Mohammed Butt, and he was of Kashmiri origin, born in a wrestling family in Amritsar in 1878. He was not very tall, only 5’7” in height. But his strength, daily routine and food habits were legendary. He used to do five thousand squats and three thousand pushups. Gama’s daily diet was 4 gallons (15 litres) of milk, a pound and a half of crushed almond paste made into a tonic drink along with fruit juice and other ingredients to promote good digestion. Way back in 1902, he had lifted a 1200-kg stone, which is presently exhibited in the Baroda Museum inSayajibag.

After proving his mettle in India, Gama, accompanied by his younger brother Imam Bakhsh, sailed to England to compete with the western wrestlers. Per Wikipedia, he could not gain instant entry, because of his lower height. In London, Gama issued a challenge that he could throw any three wrestlers of any weight class in thirty minutes. This announcement, however, was seen as a bluff. For a long time, no one came forward to accept the challenge. To break the ice, Gama presented another challenge to specific heavyweight wrestlers. He challenged top-ranked wrestlers Stanislaus Zbyszkoof Poland and Frank Gotch of USA, either he would beat them or pay them the prize money and go home. The first professional wrestler to take his challenge was the American Benjamin Roller. In that bout, Gama pinned Roller in 1 minute 40 seconds the first time and in 9 minutes 10 seconds in the other. On the second day, he defeated 12 wrestlers, and thus gained entry to official tournament. He was pitted against world champion Stanislaus Zbyszko,and the date of bout was set as 10 September,1910. Zbysz-

Author’s Note: In the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, India ended up with a total of 61 medals, including 12 medals (6 gold, 1 silver and 5 bronze) in Wrestling, the maximum in any single sport. This was no flash in the pan. There seems to have been a tradition of wrestling as a sport in India from time immemorial.

Our mythologies are replete with allusions to wrestling. Wrestling, as a sport, finds mention in historical times with infusion of ideas and techniques from Persia and the Middle East. And in more modern times, native rajas and zamindars seem to have been attracted to the sport. Their promotion and encouragement contributed to the popularity of the sport in India. Names like Gama Pehlwan attained legendary status, followed by names like Dara Singh and King Kong in more recent times. This 2-part article tries to provide a cursory ‘march through time’ of the sport through all these phases. It also includes a discussion of the brief foray of the staid Bengalees into the sport in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. ko was then regarded among the premier wrestlers in the world. On the agreed date, Zbyszko faced the Great Gama for a £250 prize money. Within a minute, Zbyszko was taken down and remained in that position for the remaining 2 hours and 35 minutes of the match, crafting a defensive strategy of hugging the mat in order to nullify Great Gama’s greatest strengths.

Zbyszko wrestled the Indian legend to a draw after nearly three hours of grappling. The two men were set to face each other again but Zbyszko didn’t show up, and Gama was announced the victor.

During this tour Gama defeated some of the most respected grapplers from various countries: United States, France, Switzerland, Sweden. In the match against Roller, Gama threw “Doc” 13 times in the 15-minute match. Gama now issued a challenge to the rest of those who laid claim to the World Champion’s Title, including Japanese Judo champion Taro Miyake, George Hackenschmidt of Russia and Frank Gotch of the United States – each declined his invitation to enter the ring to face him. Shortly after his return from England, Gama faced Raheem Bakhsh Sultani Wala in Allahabad. This bout eventually ended the long struggle between the two pillars of Indian wrestling of that time in favor of Gama and he won the title of Rustam-e-Hind or Champion of India. Gama did not have any opponents until 1927, when it was announced that Gama and Zbyszko would face each other again. The day finally came in 1928 when both wrestlers met again in Patiala. The result of the bout was quick when Gama threw Zbyszko in only 42 seconds.

The Great Gama moved to Pakistan after Partition in 1947 and settled in Lahore, where he died in 1960.

Bholu Brothers Five of Imam Bux’s sons (Gama’s nephews): Bholu, Aslam, Akram, Azam and Goga, all became accomplished wrestlers and were collectively known as the Bholu Brothers.

They all had impressive wins against

foreign wrestlers and wrestlers from the subcontinent. The eldest, Bholu (real name Manzoor Hussain (1922– 1985)) competed against foreign wrestlers active in India in the 1950s, including for Emil Koroshenko, George Pencheff, Goldstein, George Zbisko, Zybisko-2. In the 1960s, most wrestlers were reluctant to fight him for some unknown reason. Therefore, in 1967 Bholu offered a sum of 5000 pounds through promoter Orig Williams of the United Kingdom to anyone who could beat him. And finally in May 1967, BholuPahalwan competed in a world championship event sponsored by the Eastern Promotions Limited in UK and defeated the Anglo-French heavyweight Champion, Henry Perry for the World Heavyweight Title.

Perhaps the best wrestler of the Bholu Brothers was Aslam (19271989), the fourth brother. He was the adopted son of the Great Gama.

Like his brother Bholu, he competed against foreign wrestlers active in India in the 1950s, including George Pencheff, the 1939 IWA Heavyweight Champion. To appease then current world trends, he picked up the techniques of freestyle wrestling. In another challenge match, Aslam defeated the European Heavyweight Champion, and former World Champion, Bert Assirati in Bombay, India on 3 June 1954 in front of the 40,000 in attendance. The exact record of Aslam Pahalwan’s wrestling bouts has not been arranged yet. However, in 1953, he won the Commonwealth Championship. In 1967, Aslam was sponsored by British promoter Christopher Whelan. He toured the United Kingdom and faced opponents at the leadingarenas of the North, Midlands and Scotland. There he defeated the Canadian champion George Gordienko. On his return home he was awarded the President’s Award of Pride of Performance. It is a pity that a bout between contemporaries Aslam Pahalwan and India’s legendary Dara Singh did not materialize due to schedule conflicts but perhaps more due to internal squabbles between promoters and organizers.

Dara Singh (and King Kong) We in our generation had all grown up with the name of Dara Singh and his beating up a huge foreign (read white) wrestler named King Kong.

Their names seem to be inextricably joined in our minds.

Dara Singh was a legend in our time in the 1950s and 1960s and for some time afterwards. As is so often the case for such legends, it is some-

what difficult to extricate fact from fiction regarding Dara Singh. There is a paucity of coherent corroborating information. Nevertheless, he was undeniably a great wrestler who had beaten some of the best in the world at the time. He was also quite a handsome man to boot, tall and with rippling muscles, traits that served him well later in his reasonably successful run as an actor in second rate Bollywood movies.

Dara Singh, whose birth name was Deedar Singh Randhawa was born in a Jat Sikh family in 1928 in a village near Amrirsar. As an adult, Dara stood at 6’ 2” and weighed 280 lbs.

(127 kilos) and had a 53” waist.

Dara Singh had little education.

This forced him to go to Singapore in search of a living in 1947. Initially he was employed in a drum manufacturing mill. It is in Singapore that he found his calling when he came in contact with Harnam Singh, a wellregarded wrestler.

Over the years, Dara Singh won many bouts against top wrestlers, names like FirpoZbyszko, Johnny Da Silva, Japanese pro-wrestling pioneer Rikidozan, Danny Lynch, George Gordenko, Bill Verna, WWE champion Lou Thiesz, and Ski Hi Lee and of course, King Kong. In 1954Dara Singh won the Rustam-e-Hind (Champion of India) tournament, where he won the final by defeating continue to page 7 }

January 2023

Ananda Sangbad

AN OBSOLETE HOBBY: AUTOGRAPH-HUNTING | continue from page 5 Chandu Borde and Hanumant Singh conversing with two Bengali women wearing gorgeous saris; apparently the women were trying to teach them Bengali. Unlike Sobers, they were very friendly and signed our autograph books. We cornered Salim Durrani and also tracked down Peter May and Nawab of Pataudi for their autographs.

There were a few other players signing our books but I do not remember who they were. All in all, it was an exciting adventure, but I gave up this hobby shortly after that evening. Perhaps it was the disappointment at the way Sobers treated us or perhaps it was the realization that I had better things to do with my time than chasing famous people using trickery and lots of patience.

However, I will cherish memory of one incident for the rest of my life.

I was visiting Shanti Niketan with my family. My father was an assertive man and knew how to get things done. During our visit he asked some local person if he knew where Nandalal Bose, the famous artist lived. He indeed knew and gave us directions to his house. My father instructed our driver to drive straight to Mr. Bose’s house. We arrived at the house of such a famous and well-respected man with our whole family completely unannounced.

Surprisingly or perhaps not surprisingly, considering the fact that it was Shanti Niketan, we received a decent welcome and were invited into the living room. After profusely thanking Mr. Bose and apologizing to him for this unexpected intrusion, my father introduced me as an aspiring artist and mentioned that he could not pass up the opportunity for me to just see

the great artist for five minutes.

My father gave me his usual command – “why don’t you do a sketch of this famous artist”. Without allowing time for a formal permission from the great artist, I got busy and drew a pencil sketch of his face on a piece of paper. He seemed to be pleased with my work and signed it at the bottom.

We left soon thereafter. My parents framed that sketch, but with my parents moving multiple times and my coming to USA, it is a tragedy that I do not know where that sketch is today.

During my professional life, it became more appealing to me to be able to converse with famous people, even for a few minutes, rather than silently getting their signatures. I did have opportunities to talk to famous people like political leaders Benazir Bhutto and Bob Dole, physicists Eugene Wigner and S. Chandrashekhar, comedian Dennis Miller, ex-CEO of GE Jack Welch and ex-President of Sony Kunitake Ando.

I do not hear much about this hobby anymore. I have heard that autograph hunters are routinely chased out from any venue where celebrities gather.

Even at book signing events, a fan has to wait in que for a long time and the author simply copies whatever the fan writes down on a yellow stick-it (handed to them ahead of time) without much personal interaction Taking selfies on one’s cell phone with a famous person seems to be the trendy thing to do these days – perhaps something that should be called “photograph hunting”.

I miss my autograph-hunting days.

There was an intimacy involved in someone writing their names on a piece of paper that belongs to me which is not present in other interactions.

7

Meet New Members of Ananda Mandir Editorial Board!

W

e are pleased to welcome the following two new members to the Editorial Board of Ananda Mandir. In this capacity, they will join the team that supervises the publication of Ananda Sangbad (our quarterly news magazine) and Anandalipi (our annual literary magazine). They will also become members of Ananda Mandir’s Publications Committee.

Dr. Sophia Mitra: As a professor, Sophia teaches English literature and composition classes at Union County College, NJ, and conducts creative writing workshops for elementary to high school students. As an academic, she publishes regularly in research journals, but creative writing in all forms is her true passion. She has published in many magazines and maintains a blog, English 101, where she muses about topics related to societal change. She enjoys writing for children as she is a mother of two kids, aged 13 and 16.

Dr. Rahul Ray: Rahul Ray has written numerous essays, poems and short stories and has published in many magazines in India and America (such as Desh, Krittibas and Nabakallol in India and Utsab, Aamra, Parabas and Anandalipi in America). Rahul writes in English as well as in Bengali and has authored or coauthored three books of fiction and one book of poetry with Swapna Ray. A professor and a scientist by profession, Rahul received training in art and classical Western violin and Indian classical vocal music. He is an active member of several writer groups.

Both Sophia and Rahul have received Gayatri Memorial Awards for Literary Excellence from Ananda Mandir.

A warm welcome to the new members of our Editorial Board!

INDIA’S HERITAGE IN WRESTLING | continue from page 6 Tiger Joginder Singh and received a silver cup from Maharaja Hari Singh.

In 1959, he won the Commonwealth Championship by defeating George Gordienko in Calcutta. But surely the crowning achievement of his career was his victory over the AWWE Champion Lou Thesz from America in 1968. That victory earned him the title of World Champion. Dara Singh was inducted into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame in 1996, and in 2018 he was inducted in the WWE Hall of Fame Legacy.

The encounters with Lou Thesz are particularly significant. He first met Thesz in the Royal Albert Hall in London in 1957. It was a draw. Then In 1968 Thesz traveled to India and a bout took place on 29 May 1968 in Bombay. Hs victory over Lou Thesz earned him the World championship.

According to Thesz, Singh was “an authentic wrestler, was superbly conditioned” and had no problem losing

to the latter.

But without doubt, Dara Singh’s lasting legacy is his bouts with the legendary King Kong of the United States. Born Christopher Alan Pallies, “King Kong Bundy” as he became known, weighed over 450 pounds and stood 6 ft 5 in tall. It is not clear how many bouts they had between them, there must have been several. I found a description of one such bout: “In what went down in the history as one of the most breathtaking fights in the wrestling ring, Dara Singh, weighing 130 kg, lifted King Kong over his head and twirled him around in dramatic fashion. It made King Kong yell at the referee, reminding him that this was not in the rules. When the referee tried to come and stop it, Dara Singh virtually threw the Australian out of the ring and he fell just a few feet from the crowd.”

Dara Singh’s last tournament, where he announced his retirement, was held in Delhi in June 1983. After that he had a brief fling with politics in his late life. He joined the Bharati-

ya Janata Dal in 1998 and served as a member of the Rajya Sabha from 2003-2009. Dara Singh died in 2012 in Delhi of a massive heart attack.

To his many fans Dara Singh will forever remain a lasting memory.

The wrestling afficionados will forever recall his signature moves: the “Airplane Spin” and the “Indian deadlock”.

The Bengali Heritage in Wrestling And finally, a little bit about the once pervasive penchant for wrestling among Bengalees. Memories have more or less faded of a bygone era starting around near the last quarter of the nineteenth century, when wrestling was highly popular in Kolkata and other parts of Bengal. From around this time, a kind of muscular nationalism was beginning to gain ground in Bengal. Fed up with being classified as a ‘non-martial race’ Bengalees – both men and women –

began to participate in various kinds of physical cultures, ranging from martial arts to gymnastics, trapeze acts to hot-air ballooning. Akhadas (gymnasiums) had sprung up all over, patronized by prominent zamindars of the time and many scions of the wealthy families indulged in wrestling as part of their pastime and physical activity. Mention may be made of the Tagore family – Rabindranath Tagore has mentioned in his biographies his flirtations with the sport of wrestling as a boy. One such akhada was set up by the great grandfather of one nicknamed GobarGoho, possibly the biggest and most popular name in Bengali wrestling.

Incidentally, Swami Vivekananda and Swami Brahmananda, the two most prominent disciples of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and pillars of the Ramakrishna Vedanta movement first met in Goho’s akhada and were trained by Ambubabu (Ambika Charan Guha), several years before they met their guru Sri Ramakrishna.

8 January 2023

Ananda Sangbad

PUJA ACTIVITIES FOR OCTOBER-DECEMBER, 2022

Reported by Mita Sinha Chair, Puja Committee

A

nanda Mandir Puja activities are going great this year. The Mandir is very busy and the number of Private Pujas has gone up twofold. People are finally catching up with their previously planned pujas.

October was a great month for us. This year we had our Durga Puja and Kali Puja both in the month of October. The weather was good and since COVID restrictions were lifted by state, we all enjoyed this year’s Pujas.

Durga Puja started on October 1st. with Shoshti puja and ended on October 5th. with Bijoya Dashami celebrations. Durga Puja is an annual five days festival dedicated to Goddess Durga. This puja is particularly significant for the Bengali community. This festival is meant to celebrate the triumph of good over evil. Thousands of people visited Ananda Mandir in the course of these five days.

Our puja was streamed live on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.As a result, Bengalis from all over the world were able to see portions of our Durga Puja celebrations.

Boxed foods were served every day in the morning and in the evening.

The Durga Puja started on a Saturday. This was a special treat for so many people, they were able to enjoy the puja on a weekend. Saptami was on a Sunday this year. We had a big crowd on Ashtomi as well. This year we had Sandhi Puja in the afternoon. This was performed in the afternoon and the Mandir was full. On the Nabami day we had Kumari Puja.

Little girls between the ages of 5 to 11 were worshipped as living goddess on the Nabami day. In the evening of Bijoya Dashami we had SindurKhela and dance with dhak, sankha and ghanta.

All of us enjoyed the last day of the puja. The Temple was packed with devotees.

On October 9, we celebrated Kojagori Lakshmi Puja at Ananda Mandir. This Puja always falls on a full moon day in the month of Ashwin.

Goddess Lakshmi symbolizes prosperity and wealth and

it is believed that on this day Lakshmi visits the homes of devotees and blesses them.

After the Lakshmi Puja we had our monthly Satyanarayan Puja in the evening.

On October 24 we celebrated the Maha Kali Puja at our temple. Kali Puja is a Hindu festival dedicated to the Goddess Kali. Kali Puja is performed at midnight preceded

by Lakshmi Puja. Goddess Kali is worshipped to bless devotees with health, prosperity, peace to fight against evils. Kali Puja ended after midnight and all of us were able to see the entire puja at the Temple. Ananda Mandir was beautifully decorated with lights for Kali Puja. We had fireworks at our premises. This was a special day for all of us.

On November 2nd we had Jagadhatri Puja, this puja is observed in the month of Kartik. At Ananda Mandir our Puja was celebrated in the morning. Visitors came to offer their pujas in the morning.

Our monthly Satyanarayan Puja was scheduled in the evening of November 7.

Number of devotees came to the temple to attend this puja. After the puja &arati devotees had their dinner.

On 23rd. November, in the evening we had our monthly Shayama Puja. This puja was very well attended. Devotees came and stayed through the puja performance.

Our next puja was on December 4, monthly Satyanarayan Puja. The temple was full of people and all of us enjoyed the puja. After the Arati we had our boxed dinner.

The month of December ended with our monthly Shyama Puja. Lots of devotees attended this puja.

Ananda Mandir is a special place for our community. We gather here to worship and we do our socialization here as well. People are friendly and welcoming. Please come and visit the temple and experience for yourself. All of our puja details are available at our website www.anandamandir.org.Come and join us, and become a member.

Ananda Sangbad

January 2023

9

OUR VOLUNTEERS IN ACTION AROUND THE CAMPUS DURING THE PUJA SEASON From Cleaning to Organizing to Cooking to Serving

(Special thanks to volunteers from Kallol of New Jersey who donated and cooked the dinner for Kali Puja attendees)

10 January 2023

Ananda Sangbad

HIGHLIGHTS OF CULTURAL COMMITTEE ACTIVITIES

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Reported by Debajyoti Chatterji (New Jersey)

T

he year 2022 was a highly productive year for our Cultural Committee (Chaired

by Sajal Mukherjee). Unlike the previous two years when the COVID pandemic forced us to use our digital platform to present virtually all our cultural programs, this year we could happily return to traditional, in-person staging of musical concerts, theatrical shows, dance performances, etc.

Three programs were presented during the first half of 2022. Bani Bandana was the first program of the year, held on March 5. It featured a medley of performances by the children of Ananda Mandir community – as their offerings to Goddess Saraswati.

On April 23, the Bengali New Year was celebrated with “Naboborsho”, a cultural program featuring introductory songs by our own Anandadhwani group, followed by presentations from several organizations such as Creative Mind Mirror, Rhythm of Dance & Music, Nrityalina, IMGE and Bornomala. Popular modern songs were presented by Shrabasti Ghosh Palit and Atanu Ghosh – and Shankari Bhattacharya recited a poem. This program raised a sum of $2500 for the “Hope for Ukraine” project, organized by the Ukranian Center of New Jersey.

The highlight of the first half of the year was a highly successful “Summer Fest” on June 19. The three-event program featured musical tributes to Sandhya Mukherjee and Lata Mangeshkar (by A2Z Sounds) and to Bappi Lahiri (by Resonance Band), the three giants of Indian music who had passed away in quick succession. The final part of the program was a musical play, Rani GhaterBritanta, starring Partha Pratim Deb and Rupa Deb of Kolkata.

In the second half of the year alone, the Cultural Committee organized five major events: 1) “Nari” (on August 13), a first-rate dance program featuring over 50 dancers from

Satrangi School of Fusion, under the direction of Rohit Baxi, a NJ-based renowned dancerteacher.

2) “End-of-Summer Cultural Fest” (on September 11), a two-part program with four short plays in English and Hindi produced by Onejari Arts, Crafts & Music in the first part, followed by a poetry concert by Shovansundar Basu and The Brishti group from Kolkata.

3) “A Sitar and Odissi Dance Concert” (on October 4) as a part of our Durga Puja festival. This Nabomi evening program featured the wellknown sitarist, Anjan Saha (accompanied by Arup Chattopadhyay on tabla), and the highly acclaimed Odissi dancer, Dr Kaberi Sen. 4) “Nababer Darbarey Sadhak Ramprasad” (on October 22), a jatra presented at Tagore Hall for the first time. Jatra is a folk theatrical form once very popular in rural Bengal but rarely produced by Bengali organizations in America. Fortunately, New Jersey Opera, a NJ-based Bengali group under the direction of Aparajita (Tufani) Das, accepted an invitation from Ananda Mandir to present this musical jatraon life of Ramprasad, an earnest devotee of Goddess Kali. To create the special ambience of jatra productions, Ananda Mandir had to build a “thrust stage” inside Tagore Hall. The jatra was an outstanding success and attracted a full house.

5) “A Devotional Music Concert” (on October 24), featuring all local talents, was organized to celebrate Kali Puja. Shreya Bhanja Choudhury, Swagata Chakraborty, Sankhadip Chakraborty and Mitali Bhawmik enthralled the audience with a wide range of classical and semiclassical devotional songs. They were very ably supported by instrumentalists, Arindam Chakrabarty and Dibyarka Chatterjee.

We are looking forward to continued high level of activities by the Cultural Committee in the year ahead.

January 2023 11

Ananda Sangbad

PAIN, PAIN, GO AWAY PAIN! C

hronic pain is something people do not like to talk about. Those in pain are often encouraged to “suck it up” or “put on a happy face”. Even worse, there is a lot of misunderstanding around chronic pain. For one thing, it isn’t the same as acute pain. Explaining it to someone who has never had to deal with it can be a challenging exercise.

People may believe that they understand chronic pain. However, it is completely different from the separate instances of pain that they have experienced. For me, chronic pain is a pain that never goes away. I can barely stand because of it, but that doesn’t mean that lying down or sitting is comfortable. I know it will come back for sure once I move around the slightest bit.

By Nupur GangopadhyayLahiri, MD (New Jersey) Editor’s Note: The author is well known in the New Jersey Bengali community as a professional psychiatrist and a creative writer, playwright, actor and director. She is also a long-term sufferer of chronic pain herself. In this article, she has shared her many personal experiences -- physical, emotional and social – to comfort other chronic pain patients in their journey to live through their agonies.

Guilt is My Constant Companion I feel guilty that I’m not the person that I both used to be and wish to be.

I feel guilty when I sit. I feel guilty when I take a nap. I feel guilty when I eat good food and when I laugh at a funny movie. Yet, all those things are necessary to turn off my negative thoughts and better my health.

Looking Fine Doesn’t Mean I am Fine

Grouch is the Other Name of Pain

From the outside, I don’t look like I am in pain or suffering. However, I am still in pain. People don’t understand how much effort it takes for me to function even a little bit.

People yell when they bump their funny bone or accidentally slam the door against their fingers. Imagine this happening to you every second of the day. That is what chronic pain is, and you cannot tell me to be patient and cheerful when all I feel is grouchy.

I Need the Accessible Parking Spot but I am Afraid to Use It Having an invisible disability like chronic pain means that I still need accommodations like anyone else with a disability. Still, I am always worried about being judged about my handicap placard.

I am not Lazy, just Exhausted Every task puts an immense toll on my body, whether it is lifting a cup of tea or hobbling to the bathroom.

Some view my inability to move normally as laziness, but I am simply exhausted.

Consequences of Chronic Pain My pain prevents me from the physical tasks I used to enjoy such as swimming, dancing, and playing tennis. I can’t even play the piano because my back hurts from sitting on the bench. My lack of activity has not only taken away my simple pleasures but also has made me gain an awful lot of weight. My weight has spiraled me into a sense of insecurity that makes me isolate myself more.

Advice is Cheap and Doesn’t Cost Anything I am often told by people who haven’t dealt with chronic pain to try a new pill, homeopathic medicine, ayurvedic tincture, and so on. Believe me, I have tried everything and more to become slightly more functional. If I hear one more suggestion, I think I might lose it.

Consider my Pharmacist a Friend I cannot do without medication. I send someone to the pharmacy once a month. The pharmacist dispenses the medication without question. They understand my chronic pain condition better than anyone else, and we both know that I need to be on medication for the rest of my life.

Some Get Treated like Drug Addicts Dependency may be a real concern, but so is undertreated chronic pain. Often, those with chronic pain conditions aren’t treated with empathy from their doctors and all others concerned.

Pain Management is a Lifestyle, not a Pill Everyday, I have to complete my routine for pain management. I watch what I eat, how much I exercise, how much sleep I get, when to go to physical therapy, how I move my body, and more. My pain perception is a lifestyle.

The Story of my Life is not Knowing Although chronic pain is a common problem, the medical community is lacking in its research and understanding of it. It was 5-1/2 years before I finally got properly diagnosed. No one knew what I had or how to treat it. I felt like a guinea pig.

Even though now I have a name for my condition, they still have no idea how best to fix it.

Pain Affects Our Brains Pain hurts, but it can also cause cognitive issues - an inability to focus, mental exhaustion, and brain fog. However, I am lucky that I don’t have a cognitive issue in spite of my severe chronic pain.

Desperation Forces One to Try Anything There are many chronic pain patients that marginally get through life by using medical marijuana. Pain pushes people to consider things they wouldn’t in their bodies.

Can be Accused of Faking it Since chronic pain is an invisible disability, many people believe that it doesn’t exist. I really do a good job of hiding my pain, and sometimes, people think I’m faking my condition.

This attitude can be particularly painful when coming from loved ones who should know better.

I Lie about My Pain so Others MayFeel Better I don’t want to remind people, especially my lovedones of the hurt I am feeling. Most of the time, I tend to tell those close to me that I am okay. The consequence of not telling the real intensity of my pain is that I won’t get my appropriate treatment.

I Have Spent Several Christmas and New Year’s Eve Aloneat Home My pain doesn’t care if it is Christmas, New Year’sEve or Thanksgiving, times to celebrate with familyand friends. Instead, I chose to be alone because I didn’t want to share my melancholy with my near and dear ones and rob them of their joy.

I Laugh When People Ask When I’m Going to Get Better Chronic pain is unfortunately very often a permanent condition. A lot of people have the expectation that I will get better with my next consultation visit, but I don’t. Others want to see my progress. However, the reality is that there is no cure for chronic pain. Pain is my constant companion.

What Makes You Feel Chronic Pain?

The feeling of pain comes from a series of messages that zip through one’s nervous system. When one sustains an injury, the injury turns on pain sensors in that area. The pain sensors send a message in the form of an electrical signal, which travels from nerve to nerve until it reaches one’s brain. Then, the brain processes the signal as pain.

“One in five adults are living with chronic pain and it is one of the top reasons people seek medical care.

Chronic pain impacts nearly every facet of daily life and has been linked to disability, dependence on opioids, higher rates of anxiety and depression, and a reduced quality of life overall,” according to the CDC. With chronic pain contributing an estimated $560 billion annually in direct medical costs, it’s clear that new interventions are needed.

Chronic pain goes beyond the pain itself. The mental stress and biological, psychological effects of pain can be just as severe as the pain itself.

In fact, people with chronic pain are three times more likely to develop depression.

What Can Affect Your Pain Threshold • Genetics. Your genes can affect how you perceive pain and respond to pain medications.

• Age. Elderly individuals may have a higher pain threshold.

• Sex. Women have longer-lasting and more severe pain levels than men do.

• Chronic illness. Over time, a chronic illness can change your pain tolerance.

• Stress. Being under a lot of stress can make pain feel more severe.

• Social isolation. Social isolation will add to the experience of pain and decrease your pain tolerance. On the other hand, social interactions, such as going to Ananda Mandir and hanging out with your old friends, will improve your pain tolerance.

• Past experience. Your previous experiences of pain can influence your pain tolerance. For example, people regularly exposed to extreme temperatures may have a higher pain tolerance than others.

• Expectations. Your upbringing and learned coping strategies can affect how you think you should feel or react to a painful experience.

I Have Used These Methods to Increase My Pain Threshold • Vocalization: Simply saying continue to page 12 }

12 January 2023

Ananda Sangbad

Report on Evergreen Club Activities

Report on Writers Club Activities

(July 1 to December 31, 2022)

(July 1 to December 31, 2022)

By Debajyoti Chatterji (New Jersey)

By Debajyoti Chatterji (New Jersey)

Note: Evergreen Club is an “open forum for seniors” to enjoy each other’s company and exchange experiences, issues and insights in a relaxed, informal setting. Any member of the community who is 55 years of age or older is welcome to join. Please call (908-507-9640) or email debsmee572@gmail.com, if interested.

Note: Writers Club meetings are open only to “active writers” who are willing to present their own writings (in Bengali or English) to their peers. Readings of third-party authors are not permitted. Club members are welcome to share their poems, short stories, personal narratives and essays – whatever they prefer to write. After each presentation, a constructive Q&A period follows. If you are an active writer and would like to join our club, please send an email to debsmee572@gmail.com.

S

ince the onset of the pandemic-induced restrictions in March, 2020, Evergreen Club (and other similar cultural and social programs of Ananda Mandir) had to move to Zoom videoconferencing for all group sessions. To a large extent, such sessions have been very successful, with good attendance and active interchange between members. Evergreen Club managed to squeeze in a couple of in-person meetings (and lunches) when the pandemic loosened its grip on the community.

During the reporting period, we held meetings on the following dates: Sunday, July 31 (Zoom session) Friday, September 23 (Zoom session) Sunday, October 23 (In-person meeting) There were no meetings in August, November and December because of conflicts with summer vacation plans and Thanksgiving/Christmas festivities.

The “BijoyaSammelan” on Sunday, October 23 was held over a catered lunch

and was a huge success. Almost two dozen members attended and enjoyed a multi-course lunch while actively participating in an open forum of songs, recitations, stories, narratives and jokes.

Members enjoyed meeting their friends face to face for the first time after several months.

The two other sessions during the reporting period were held over Zoom and followed our regular format of songs, readings, travelogues and sharing of experiences and concerns on a wide range of subjects. At the July 31 meeting, the mourned the untimely passing of Dr Tarit Mukherjee, a core member who was a regular attendee and was liked and admired by all for his gentle, friendly and caring personality. Our sincere condolences for Bharati, his wife, Deb, his son, and his new daughter-in-law.

We wish all our members and their families a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!

Ananda Mandir performed its first Mahisasur Mardini on October 14, 2004. Arun Bhowmik was the organizer of that program – and he has remained the organizer and the leader ever since. This article, published in Aajkaal, a Kolkata newspaper, on September 22, 2022 gives due recognition to Arun Bhowmik’s unique role. | continue from page 11

PAIN, PAIN, GO AWAY PAIN! “ow” when you’re in pain can increase your pain tolerance.

• Visual Imagery: Creating vivid images in my mind can transport me to a space of blissful relaxation. Imagine that you’re in a nice, warm bath or in a beautiful flower garden.

Tricks I Use to Forget My Pain I watch Charlie Chaplin, Carol Burnett, and Lily Tomlin.

National Geographic’s Expeditions make me feel alive and away from all evils. I also enjoy writing, reading, and having my young friend come to edit my writings. My biggest joy is the television in my bedroom: for laughter, the best medicine.

D

uring the reporting period, Writers Club held Zoom video sessions on the following dates: Friday, July 22 Friday, September 16 Friday, October 28 There were no sessions in August, November or December because of conflicts with summer vacations and Thanksgiving/ Christmas holidays.

At these sessions, members typically present their original writings and then receive constructive feedback from their peers. Because a session lasts 2 to 2.5 hours, we can accommodate only 6 to 7 authors, each getting an allocation of 25 to 30 mins, including time for the readings and constructive feedback after-

wards.

During the reporting period, we implemented some of the recommendations from the brainstorming session held (on October 29, 2021) on new formats and themes for future sessions.

For example, the October 28 session encouraged members to capture in their writings their childhood memories of Durga Puja festivities. We had also planned to fucus the December session on stories involving ghosts and other supernatural forces. Because of conflicts with holiday plans of members, we hope to enjoy that session early in the New Year.

Wishing all our members and friends a very happy and healthy New Year!

January 2023 13

Ananda Sangbad

COMMUNITY NEWS

GSCA CORNER Reported by Pradip R. Das (New Jersey)

Durga Puja October 8 & 9, 2022 For us Bengalees, Durga puja is the time of the year, irrespective of whatever challenges and difficulties we faced in the past year, our spirits are lifted by the joyous festivities and cheers that the season brings. In our adopted homeland here, we strive to recreate and relive the nostalgia surrounding Durga puja back in India and pass it onto the next generation. We all participate wholeheartedly in this endearing process.

2020 and 2021 have been particularly difficult for all of us as the coronavirus pandemic engulfed the entire globe and caused innumerable health and/or economic distress tocitizens in all countries.

The world witnessed various attempts by different governments to face this pandemic through national lockdowns, partial closures and issuance of commonsense guidelines for their citizens, hygiene, social distancing, wearing masks, and avoiding large groups being the most basic.

After a lapse of three years, GSCA resumed its in-person puja at its usual Plainfield High School venue with all its marvel. Every aspect of the two days’ festivities, the reception, the magnificent puja itself with eloquent mantras, anjali& prasad and puja concluding dhunuchinaach and sindurkhela, dinner, talent & youth activities and the evening’s cultural on-stage programs earned much appreciation and kudos (a post puja online survey supported this overwhelmingly as well). For the first time at GSCA pujo, “Kumaripujo ‘’ was also celebrated.

A notable and added attraction to GSCA’s puja this year was the “sharad mela”. This was the third year GSCA included this attraction. The massive space of the high school’s gymnasium was decorated by GSCA members and set up for this purpose. An open mike, “alpona” competition, walk down the ramp “sharadsundori” competition for beautifully saree clad ladies (over 40 participated) added to the novelty of a community durga puja in this country. Several stalls by jewelers, sarees and other clothing, books and CD’s, insurance companies, food stalls drew interested on-lookers all evening and created a nostalgic melalike atmosphere to augment the puja experience.

The two days’ evening program consisted of, on Saturday, Devi Bandana by solo and group singers of GSCA, with renditions of some Bengali and Hindi devotional songs revering Maa Durga.

Starting with a Agomoni song, followed by “Bhavani Dayanti”, “MaagoDakiTomay” which describes almost every ritual from Mahalaya to BijayaDasami and concluding with an ultimate puja song “Elo je Maa amar Maa sobar Maa Durga Maa”.

This was followed by a dance performance by Pta. Archana Joglekar in a ‘Kaleidoscope of Kathak”, a unique presen-

tation of fine nuances of Kathak artistry.

Archana and her students displayed an outstanding performance which enthralled all.

Final program on Saturday was vocal performances by Iman Chakraborty and Piu Mukherjee. These two singers from different schools of music sang solo and jugalbandi covering various genres of Bengali music: Raag to Rabindra Sangeet, Thumri to Kirtaan, Folk to Fusion, Classical to Contemporary plus originals from each singer. This was a musical soiree curated specially for GSCA Durga puja 2022 and a first time in US stage shows.

Sunday’s only item had a vocal performance by Benny Dayal, a king of Bollywood dance items. He and his band rocked the stage with blockbuster Hindi hit songs. This non-stop two-hour performance drovethe audiences into a frenzy with this mesmerizing and gala extravaganza.

GSCA’s objective of bringing communities together and propagating goodwill and brotherhood towards all through such social gatherings was met in all aspects.

GSCA Board Election 2022 Three of the seven positions being vacated in 2022 are being filled by members’ secret ballot election during November/ December. Results will be announced later in December but after this report has gone into print. Details will be covered in the April 2023 issue of Ananda Sangbad. The new board takes office from January 1, 2023.

GSCA Holiday Party, December 10, 2022 The annual fun-filled extravaganza will take place at the Crown of India banquet in Plainsboro this year. This is a free event for members but open to paying non-members. Details will be provided in the April 2023 issue.

GSCA Philanthropy For several years, GSCA has been making concerted efforts to expand its philanthropic activities in ways that are having greater impacts on communities and individuals. Most notably, currently GSCA’s scholarship fund is supporting 40 students in West Bengal - 18 MBBS, 6 BSc Nursing, 9 Engineering and 7 in Science. The students that are selected for support by GSCA are funded through their entire curriculum until they graduate successfully. Additionally, GSCA provides a one-time scholarship to 6 Plainfield High School graduatingseniors every year. GSCA’s philanthropy wing is indeed doing a noble and praiseworthy job in making a difference in individuals’ lives and to their families.

NJPA CORNER

By Chanakya Ganguly (New Jersey) On November 15th, NJPA celebrated Kali Puja at the house of NJPA’s VP, Nimai Ghose, where NJPA’s Ma Kali murti is located.

Biswabhai from Ananda Mandir performed the puja with devotional chants. The puja was video streamed online through YouTube for all to be able to participate vicariously from afar. The video streaming arrangement was made possible with assistance from a few members at the puja premises. Since the Covid-19 virus continues to infect people in our community, it was decided to not perform the puja at a public place this year.

Goddess Kali comes from Kal (meaning Time -- nothing escapes the march of time). The necklace of skulls, the dismembered hands around the deity’s waist -- they represent ego escaping out of limited bodily attachments and the feeling of self-importance. Thus, suggests the extreme Yogic discipline, the idea is to dismantle life and put it back again for gradual mastery of activity to be converted to action, cessation of vibrations, operating from Stillness, as it touches Shiva.

For spiritual aspirants, yogis and awakened devotees, Kali represents Enlightenment. Just as reality itself can be both kind and tough, the yogi’s Kali is the enlightening force that removes preconceived notions, frees one from conditioned beliefs and everything else that keeps one away from recognizing one’s true identity, through the process of selfrealization.

Spiritual Discipline can help increase resilience to handle discomfort (such as heat and cold), raise the capability to do more with less, have a higher perception, increase sustainability through reuse and recycling, and align with nature, as what

we release the trees breathe, and vice-versa; it allows us to see the woods as part of our living lungs, increase ruggedness, oneness. It can make one look inwards for the growth of the Spirit to find Home; put one at ease with oneself, as the mind stops wandering outwards. Spiritual Poet, Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore wrote, I spent a lot of money, went distances, to see the mountains and the seas, but never had time to see the beauty of the dewdrop on a blade of grass just two steps away from home; reminding us that the real experience of life comes from within.

Yogic Practice can help unravel the deeper issues of consumerism, power, status-quo. Amitav Ghosh’s book, The Living Mountain, tells the story of heedless commercial extraction disrupting the harmony between a sacred landscape and the indigenous people who live in its shadow.

In a few thousand words, he beautifully captures the deadly combination of ignorance, aspiration, greed, and the display of false power that has led to much of the environmental crisis. He says that the modern model could only work if practiced by a small minority. It is now clear that a consumerist mode of existence can quickly become unsustainable if adopted by too many people. Without spiritual grounding, industrial civilization can become anything but delusion. He feels that the wholesale secular extractive practices, without inner resistance, has led to mankind’s decay.

Stay warm, upbeat, calm, composed, rugged and focused this winter; and have a bright year ahead. Information about upcoming events will be available on our Facebook page “NJPA Parivar.”

The Dinner-Table Chat | continue from page 4 bowls. It’s neither fun nor exciting anymore but perfect for a family always on the go.

Sometimes when it is warm outside, I take walks after dinner around the neighborhood and listen for sounds spilling out from open windows. Most often, it’s the radio or TV that I hear.

But occasionally a real voice or two seeps into the darkness that I imagine belongs to a family sharing stories and having fun over

dinner. It somehow comforts me and transports me back in time as well.

They say rules are meant to be broken, that change entails progress. They don’t mention the heartbreak that might ensue.

I miss the dinner-table chat and what it meant for my family. Such family values are fast dying in this shadow society where real connections are lost, and we’re left to face our day-to-day struggles unheard and all alone.

14 January 2023

Ananda Sangbad

GROWING A MONEY-PLANT

By Pravesh Lal (New Jersey)

E

ach January many of us make resolutions - to eat healthily, exercise more, clear out clutter, save more, find new careers, relax, and spend more time with our loved ones. Have you considered that growing a Money-plant in your home or office can help you in this quest? While you can’t get wealthy from these plants, if you read on, you will learn more about how Money-plants can impact your life.

Growing up in India, I remember having small or large Money-plants growing in every room of our home.

Some added a touch of green leaves to a corner or a shelf, while others trailed along a wall, balcony railing, or window. You may have seen Money-plants growing in various-sized planters, hanging baskets, and also in vases or recycled jars and bottles with just water in them. As a 10 or 12 year old, I remember using a hacksaw to cut off the bottoms of light bulbs, filling them with water, inserting Money-plant cuttings, and hanging them on a wall. Money-plants are easy to propagate, grow, and manage in a wide range of climates. They are also commonly grown as indoor plants in the USA.

Identifying the Plant There is a lot of confusion regarding what is a Moneyplant. The Golden Moneyplant, Money tree, Jade plant, Dollar plant, Lunaria or Silver dollar plant, and Chinese Money-plant can all be grown indoors. They are ornamental and also considered to bring good luck, prosperity, fortune, and happiness. The

name Money-plant or Money tree in the Asian culture may be based on the round coinlike shape of the leaves, but what we, South Asians call the Money-plant, is a tropical, ornamental climber with distinctive heart-shaped green leaves with bright variegations. In Europe, Moneyplant is called Devil’s Ivy or Devil’s Vine to represent this plant’s resilience. In the USA it is commonly called Pothos, based on an over three hundred year old classification of the plant. Around fifty years ago this plant was re-named Epipremnum aureum.

The Money-plant is a member of the flowering grass family (Monocotyledons), known as Araceae.

This family includes many tropical/subtropical evergreen climbers, all of which have aerial roots. These roots absorb moisture from surroundings, help the plants stick to surfaces for support and growth, and function as regular roots once they find soil. The flowers produced by most members of this family have a thick brush-like inflorescence, covered by a white or colored leaf-like structure.

Common flowering plants of this family include the Peace lily and Calla lily.

The Epipremnum or Money-plant, however, has a genetic mutation due to which it cannot produce a key hormone needed for flowering.

Another flowering cousin of the Money-plant, a Philodendron,also has heartshaped leaves but they are wider and have a more curved shape. Another difference is that its aerial roots, growing from the stem, are thinner and longer than that of the Money-plants.So, the next time you are near a “Pothos” plant, take a few moments to look carefully to see if you can figure out if it is an Epipremnum, or a Philodendron.

Types The Epipremnums are thought to have originated in the tropical forests of South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Australia. As houseplants, they are quite easy to grow indoors, with minimal care.

However, they are not hardy

below freezing temperatures.

There are several varieties in the Epipremnum species that can be differentiated based on amounts and colors of variegation on its leaves.

The ‘Golden’ Money-plant’ has golden, yellow variegations on its glossy bright green leaves, while the ‘Jade’ Money-plant has solid dark green leaves. The ‘Lime’ Money-plant has bright yellow-green leaves, while the ‘Marble Queen’ Moneyplant has creamy white stems and leathery leaves streaked with moss green. The ‘Neon’ Money-plant has all bright neon-green leaves, while the ‘Tricolor’ Money-plant has off-white stems and leaves that are variegated with white and yellow stripes.

Two other Money-plants that are commonly available and commonly known as Monstera ‘split-leaf’ which have very large leaves with lobes or regular cuts and the Monstera ‘swiss-cheese leaf’, which have large leaves with swiss-cheese like perforations and are often grown outdoors near large trees

Growing and Caring: Propagation: Since the Money-plant does not produce any flowers, fruits, or seeds, it propagates itself through stem cuttings and broken off leaves. Interestingly, a piece of stem or a single leaf placed in water or soil quickly grows roots and starts a new plant.

The winding stems of the Money-plant make it easyto create hanging baskets with stems trailing down or to spread them on a moss stick in a planter.

Soil: When growing in soil, a Money-plant needs a potting mix that drains well but stays wet. For making this soil, I mix equal parts of organic potting soil, peat moss, and perlite. Mixing perlite helps increase drainage of the soil and reduces waterlogging of the roots. I also regularly clean the drainage holes at the bottom of the pots.

Watering: I water my Money-plants whenever the top 1” to 2” of soil dries up completely. To check for moisture, press firmly into the potting mix with your fingers. If you feel moisture, wait until the soil dries up and If the potting mix feels dry, it is time to water the plant.

Light, temperature, and humidity: I take some of my pots and hanging baskets with Money-plants outdoors, during the summer, and keep

them in the shade of other taller plants. These plants like filtered/partial sunlight or morning sun. If exposed to prolonged direct sunshine, the Money-plants develop brown and crispy spots on the leaves and stems that eventually die off. On hot days they need additional water. Once the summer season is over, I bring them indoors as soon as the temperatures start falling below 60 degrees.

While indoors, the Moneyplants are happy with ambient light from household light bulbs. Keeping bright lamps or grow-lights near the foliage will help them develop brighter variegations on its leaves. If you want to position your plants near a window, especially in the winter, make sure it is an east or west facing window since a south facing window will provide too much sunlight and warmth during the day.

Money-plants are tropical plants and require medium to high humidity (over 40%) to survive the winter months.

Since indoor heated air can be dry, I keep a humidifier running or create a pebble water tray near these plants.

Locations with extra humidity, like bathrooms, are also good for these plants.

Feeding: I mix a slow-release granular fertilizer with a Nitrogen Potassium Phosphorus (N-P-K) ratio of 3-3-3 or 5-5-5, with the soil for the Money-plants, once every 3 months. The fertilizer releases nutrients whenever you water the plants.

Money-plant growing in water, jellies, or water beads, do not need fertilizers. All they need is for someone to top up their water levels weekly and clean the container and the roots as needed.

The plant can grow happily with its roots absorbing the essential minerals and salts in the fresh tap water.

Pruning and trimming: If the stems get too long or when leaves drop, the stems look bare. I trim back vines to encourage bushy growth.

I also regularly prune off any brown, dead, or decaying leaves, stems, and roots, which helps the plant stay healthy.

Problems & Pests: Moneyplants grown in either water or soil, sometimes form a black/gray layer of mineral salt deposits on the roots, soil, pot, or container walls.

This can often lead to leaf and stem burns or root-rots, eventually causing the plant to die. I wash the pots and water containers regularly

to clean these deposits to encourage healthy growth.

Care should be taken to keep the Money-plant away from children and pets. The leaves, stems, and roots contain calcium oxalate, which is a toxic compound that causes mild to severe stomach symptoms when ingested.

Although Money-plants are not highly susceptible to pests, they can attract mealybugs and scales. You can see the mealy bugs as white fuzzy spots and scale bugs as brown or black lumps that attach to the leaves and stems.

Here, they feed on the plant sap and draw moisture and nutrients from the plant. The best way to remove these bugs is to clean the leaves and stems by using cotton swabs dipped in rubbing alcohol.

Making and Fulfilling Resolutions Today, most of us spend a large part of our lives indoors - in homes, officebuildings, and cars. In these enclosed spaces, we are often exposed to chemicals and toxins released from paints, and radiations from various electronic devices. The medical literature describes “sick building syndrome” where occupants of a building experience itchy eyes, skin rashes, drowsiness, and other health effects resulting from indoor pollution. In 1989, a study funded by NASA showed that certain plants could reduce indoor atmospheric pollutants like cigarette-smoke, and organic solvents like formaldehyde, benzene, ammonia and possibly radon as well. Money-plant was one of the plants that help purify indoor air, along with many other members of the Araceae family like the Calla lily, Peace Lily, Philodendrons.

By eliminating or reducing these air pollutants these plants are able to help resolve the ‘sick building syndrome’ that afflicts many people.

So, if you resolve to improve your health and wellbeing consider growing some Money-plants in your home and/or office space.

They will not only make your space look beautiful, but will also help you feel relaxed, rejuvenated, and happy.

We hope this article gave you some new insights or ideas about caring for Money-plants. Please share your experiences and stories about these plants by emailing us @ pushpashree.usa@gmail. com.

Ananda Sangbad

January 2023 15

Tagore Hall at Ananda Mandir

Available to all Members of Our South Asian Community!

A 12,000 square foot, multi-purpose facilitythat serves all members as anauditorium (with stage and audio-visual capabilities) as well as a community hall, and offers classrooms and meeting rooms.

Ideal for your religious, educational, cultural and social events!

For more info, please email TagoreHall@anandamandir.org Or call 732-873-8300 ADVERTISEMENT

EDISON, NJ, Feb 3rd, 2022 – Samragnee Majumdar, an agent for New York Life in New Jersey, has earned membership in the Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT) for 2021. Achieving membership in MDRT is a distinguishing life insurance career milestone, attained only by those who have demonstrated superior professional knowledge, experience and client service. MDRT membership represents the top life insurance and financial service professionals worldwide. MDRT is an international, independent association of the world’s best life insurance and financial services professionals. In addition, this is the 60th consecutive year that New York Life has dominated the MDRT in the United States.

“Leading the MDRT’s membership ranks for 60 years speaks to the unwavering dedication of New York Life’s family of agents as well as to our industry leading training program. Our agents are unsurpassed in providing families and businesses with extraordinary professionalism and outstanding service year after year, and in upholding the professional standards set by generations of agents before them,” said Mark Pfaff, co-president of the Insurance and Agency Group, New York Life. “I am proud that we have attained this level of achievement for sixty consecutive years, and I want to thank all of our agents and managers past and present for helping us reach this level of success.”

Ms. Majumdar has been a New York Life agent since 2010 and is associated with New York Life’s New Jersey General Office in Edison.

She is actively involved with the Kallol Women’s Forum of New Jersey, a non- profit organization supporting deprived children in India.

Ms. Majumdar currently resides in Hillsborough, NJ with her family.

16 January 2023

Ananda Sangbad

WINNERS OF 2022 GAYATRI MEMORIAL AWARDS FOR LITERARY EXCELLENCE Ananda Mandir has announced the winners of the 2022 Gayatri Memorial Awards. The co-winners in the Bengali nominations category are Shamita Das Dasgupta(Montville, NJ) and SudiptaBhawmik(Bridgewater, NJ). The winner in the English nominations category is Ranjana Sanyal(Bridgewater, NJ). Each winner will receive a cash award of $500 and a plaque with an appropriate citation. Congratulations to all the winners!

Shamita Das Dasgupta A retired professor, Shamita is an established writer and an active social worker, specializing on the betterment of marginalized and abused women in society. She is one of the co-founders of Manavi, a NJbased non-profit organization serving the victims of domestic abuse within the South Asian communities. She has authored five books in English (four were published in America and one in India) and one mystery novel and two collections of mystery stories in Bengali. She has also published three translations of English books and authored two books of her own poems.

Sudipta Bhawmik

Ranjana Sanyal

Sudipta Bhawmik is an acclaimed playwright, director and actor. He has published four volumes of plays, and he leads ECTA, a NJ-based theatrical group that is well-known to theater lovers in America, India and many other countries.

Since many of his plays deal with the lives and struggles of Bengali immigrants in America, they have found warm reception from the Indian diaspora in many countries. His works have been translated into several languages (such as Hindi, English, Marathi, Tamil, etc.), incorporated in the syllabus of several American universities and have been the subject of research studies. Sudipta’s plays have been staged not only in many states America but also in many parts of the world. Recipient of numerous awards and honors in drama circles, his serialized podcast, “The Stories of Mahabharata”, has received special recognition from Apple iTunes for its extraordinary popularity around the globe.

The daughter of an Indian Army Medical Corps Colonel, Ranjana Sanyal was born in Calcutta and grew up in various Army bases all over India. She received her MA in Political Science from Presidency College, Calcutta, and then globe-trotted with her husband for a few years before immigrating to the USA in 1997. Ranjana has served the disabled adult population of NJ for over a decade, and currently works for the Office of Program Integrity and Accountability in NJ’s Department of Human Services. She has had a varied earlier career in market research, medical administration and school-teaching. Ranjana is active in several religious, cultural and charitable organizations in the Bengali Immigrant community. Ranjana lists art, music and literature among her passions and raising her two children as her biggest blessings.

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