TV Report on 'Simhasta' 2016 on Doordarshan

On 22nd May 2016, after the programme 'Mann ki Baat', Doordarshan National showed a report on Simhasta, the Kumbh Mela at Ujjain. I really loved to watch the programme. It presented many long shots of the ghats of the river Shipra, which were full of devotees. Many scenes of early morning, even before sunrise :) :). Loved those scenes.

1st Shaahi Snaan was on- 22nd April, 2016

Then the 2nd Shaahi Snaan on- 9th May, 2016, 

Special snaan dates were also there like 3rd May, 2016, on the occasion of Varuthini Ekadashi.

Last Shaahi snan was on 21st May, 2016.

Many pilgrims appreciated the arrangements made by the State Govt and the volunteers (/organisation in charge).

All the 13 groups of Sant Sampradaay participated in the Shaahi Snaan.

Around  5 to 7 crore people attended Simhasta this year, according to the state Govt.

The programme also showed the temple of Mahakaal which is the heart of Ujjain (earlier known as Avantika nagri in mythological texts).

Kumbh Mela takes place once in every 12 years. This year the celebration was from 22nd April to 21st May.

One spiritual leader explained how the Sanskrit word ‘nadi’ has come from the word Neer, which means water, and how 'Naraayan' is directly related to this concept. Water is an important part of archan, tarpan- all these religious  activities.

This programme reminded me of one song from Ramanand Sagar's ‘Shri Krishna’, where Krishna and Balaram travel to the aashram of Guru Sandipani on the banks of Shipra, at Avantika nagri, to receive education. Here is the lyrics of the song -

Shiksha praapt karne ko chale hain brahmachaari

Mathura se Avantika chale hain Brahmachaari

Sevak hain sang me na sang hai sawaari

Shiksha praapt karne ko chale hain brahmachaari

Mathura se Avantika chale hain Brahmachaari

Pag pag chalna bhumi pe sona

Sanyam se vichalit nahi hona

Bhiksha maangke bhojan pana
Bharmacharya ke niyam nibhaana

Bharatiya batukon ki parampara hai nyaari

Shiksha praapt karne ko chale hain brahmachaari

Mathura se Avantika chale hain Brahmachaari

Sevak hain sang me na sang hai sawaari

Shiksha praapt karne ko chale hain brahmachaari

Mathura se Avantika chale hain Brahmachaari

Om Namah Shivaay

Jai Mahakaal param kripaal

Shambhu namaste

Shambhu namaste

Swayambhu namaste

Jai Mahakaal param kripaal

Shambhu namaste

Punya bhoomi Mahakaal ki

Avantika shubhnaam

Sapt puri me ek yeh paap moksh ka dhaam

Kshipra teere upvane Sandipani ka vaas

Sarva kalaa jinko sulabh

Sadgun inke daas

Shishyon ko gurudev den ved vihit sanskaar

Guru sang milke sab karen Vidhivat mantrochchaar

And here is the video- 

This report on Sinhasta was a pleasant surprise for me, giving a taste of a Kumbh Mela :), which we could not attend, still felt like taking part in it, after watching the programme.

Lots of Thanks to Doordarshan for airing it.

Jai Shri Krishna.


(Photos taken from internet. Credit goes to the uploaders. Used only for the purpose of appreciation.

Video from Ramanand Sagar's 'Shri Krishna' used for the sole purpose of spreading devotion. No personal profit intended.)

Mahalaya- The Auspicious Day!

Yesterday was Mahalaya. As usual we woke up at 4 am with the great 'Mahisashura Mardini' on All India Radio :). This presentation is a legend in the true sense of the term. All Bengalis feel the emotions, songs, and all the related associations of childhood - while listening to the programme.

A pious day indeed! End of Pitripaksha and the beginning of Devipaksha. The ritual of the 'tarpan' of the ancestors are also done on this day.

After the completion of Mahisashura Mardini on radio, almost all the tv channels presented 'Mahalaya' in some way or the other. On this day, I love to watch all the programmes/ dance/ drama offered by all the channels. I keep on watching all of them by changing the channel frequently :). This day has an unique charm, which conveys itself through all these enactment of the glories of Ma Aadi Shakti.

Here I am giving the list of programmes aired today on various channels-

* Star Jalsha- 'Abhaya Mangal' ( Stories from Chandi Mangal)

* Zee Bangla- 'Maatri Rupena' (covering the stories of- Kali

                                                                            Shatakkhi

                                                                            Chaamunda

                                                                            Durga

                                                                            Parvati

                                                                            Kaushiki

                                                                            Annapurna

                                                                            Chhinnamasta

                                                                            Kaalraatri

                                                                            Mahisashuramardini)

                 - 'Dugga Ma er Chitra Katha' (animated short film for children)

* DD Bangla- 'Mahisashuramardini' (dance)

                - 'Shokal Shokal' (Guest Raja Bhattacharya discussed many stories related to Durga Puja and sang related songs. He also sang famous stotras like - 'Na Taat Na Maat' and 'Nirvaanshatak' by Adi Shankaracharya)

* Aakash Bangla- 'Raat Phalo Shaarod Praate' (very unique attempt by the channel- discussion/ adda throughout the whole previous night to the dawn of Mahalaya, i.e.- 11 pm - 7 am, with many eminent artists :) )

                     - 'Good Morning Aakash' had Sriradha Bandhyopadhyay and Srikumar Chattopadhyay as guests.

* Star Ananda- 'Mahalayae Mahisashuramardini' ( Discussion/ Adda with many famous personalities)

* News Time Bangla- 'Gouri Esho' ( Discussion and Songs by guests)

* Chobbish Ghonta-  Dance on Mahisashuramardini with Chhou and Kathakali artists, Tamnay Bose was also seen in the music team)

* Zee Bangla Cinema- 'Nabarupe Nabadurga' (presentation of the nine forms of Aadi Shakti. Dance - Koel Mullick and anchored by Aditi Munshi. Re telecast of last year's Mahalaya dance programme of Zee Bangla, which was very good in its content.)

* Colors Bangla- 'Gonudada'r Durgapujo' (animated programme for children)

                    

                     - 'Durga Durgotinashini' [this one presented a family reunion story-  where a Saadhika (Rimjhim Mitra) comes to a house and brings joy with her- also, with the main Mahisashuramardini story, through narration and dance]

Also all the news channels were airing Live telecast of the 'tarpan' ceremony or any other religious ceremonies being performed on the banks/ ghats of Ma Ganga. I enjoyed all those images.

Last year Mahalaya was on 12 October. I was remembering that I could not write a post last year on this day, so just mentioning some of those programmes in this year's post :). Last year we watched Mahalaya on Zee Bangla, Colors Bangla, Rupashi Bangla, DD Bangla, CTVN and so on. Also we watched the animated programme – ‘Chhotoder Dugga Thakur’. Programmes were there in almost every channel. All of them were very nice. Only Star Jalsha presented the story of Ramayan - the incident of 'alaakbodhan' by Shri Ram. That was very unique :), as most of the other channels focused their programme on Mahisashura Vadh by Ma Durga.

Truly a blissful day :), which always makes us look forward to Durga Puja :)

Joy Maa Durga!

'Devlok with Devdutt Pattanaik'- A Talk Show on Indian Mythology on Epic Channel

This is a talk show on Epic Channel where 'they bring Indian mythology to our home', as the tagline of the show truly says.

The anchor is Himanshi Chaudhury and the expert is Devdutt Pattanaik, who is known to all through his writings in various subjects. In any book shop we find his books now a days. He is writing in this field for many years now.

Each day they take one or more topic from Indian Mythology and discuss about it along with some related topics.

I like the programme because of its content. These days, one or more mythological serials can be found very easily on almost every channel of the television but a discussion on such topics are quite uncommon. This show deals mainly with information, analysis and symbolism of various mythological topics, without going much into the devotional aspect, (which is often the main focus of normal spiritual/ religious channels). In this way, this show is slightly different from them. I feel, The element of spirituality is not the focus of the show. Devdutt Pattanaik talks about real world around us.

Sometime I feel a more detailed explanation was needed and do not agree completely with the views presented in the show but that can happen in the case of any other show also, as many times in our life we all have our own different interpretations of the same event. And sometime I learn something new from the show or get a new angle of a certain incident.

This show deserves praise because of its unique content, that is, discussion on such topics. 


I came to know just recently that this is Season 2 of this programme, they also had it last year. As the vidoes are not available on YouTube, Epic Channel has come up with the published book with the same title of the show, which covers the content of Season 1 of this programme.

Good work by Epic Channel. Looking forward to more such programnes in future.

'Har Ghar Kuchh Kehta Hai' – Episode featuring Saina Nehwal

'Har Ghar Kuchh Kehta hai' is programme on Sony TV, where they take us to the homes of many famous personalities, we listen to their stories from them and also from their near an dear ones. Vinay Pathak is the anchor of the show.

The episode about Saina Nehwal took us to her house. We listened to her parents, their memories about the childhood of Saina. Her father shared his struggles for giving a better future to Saina, for making arrangements about her training, and many such stories. We were also taken to the school of Saina, where all the students were so happy, so proud about the achievement of their former student :) :). They even had a wing of the school named after her J ,Wonderful!

Loved the programme because of its simple content : ). Thanks to Sony tv for such a nice programme.

Here is the YouTube link of the episode. It was aired on 27 September 2015.

All the best to Saina for her future :)

Koshish se Kaamyabi Tak- Episode featuring Dia Mirza

'Koshish se Kaamyaabi Tak' is a series on Doordarshan National, where famous persons are invited to share their life stories. I  have watched only one episode of it, where Dia Mirza was the guest. Kiran Juneja was the anchor of the programme.

Till now I knew Dia Mirza as a beauty queen and as an actress. But in this proramme, I came to know about the real person behind all these professional identities. She told us about her childhood, her memories, her struggle, her experiences and her opinion about life. I was very surprised to now how she got the exposure to many religions during her childhood and growing up days, as her mother was a Hindu and her father was Christian and then her step father was Muslim. Indeed, all these influences has made her what she is today :). Felt really good to know all about it. She also told about her experiences during Miss India Competition, about Film Industry and about meeting her would be husband, whom she is married now.

I also came to know about her charitable work – Truly a wonderful effort by Dia!

Here is the link to her website, which I visited while writing this post.

Lots of love and best wishes for her future :)

Nice programme by DD National.

(Picture taken from internet. Credit goes to the uploader.)

'Aaj Savere'- Featuring Shanno Khurana

'Aaj Savere' is a daily programme which is aired on DD National, from 7:30- 8:30 am,  where they bring eminent personalities  who share about their life, works and about themselves. Recently I watched an episode where the famous classical artist and musicology expert Shanno Khurana was the guest. She narrated her experiences about learning classical music, about maintaining her passion for music throughout the obstacles of life, about her research on Classical music in India. I didn’t know about her before watching the programme. But after watching it, read about her from Wikipedia and came to know many more details.

It was a nice programme, inspiring the audience about the undefeatable spirit of Ms Khurana, who is working untiringly all her life.

Lots of best wishes for her future.


Jai Shri Krishna.

(Photo taken from internet. Credit goes to the uploader.)