The year was 1290 . A crowd had gathered around a clearing, where broken down pillars marked the presence of an ancient temple, now long gone. A young boy, just 14 years old, leaned against one of those pillars, deep in thought. Then, he began speaking, and the crowd fell silent, listening to his every word. He spoke without any notes, translating the Bhagavat Gita, from Sanskrit, which only the pundits knew, to the language everyone in the village knew and spoke – a variety of Prakrit which developed into the Marathi language. Even as he spoke, one of the men in the audience realized how momentous this event was, and how important this composition would be. He began writing down the words the young boy spoke, and this composition was named by its author and composer, the Bhavartha Deepika – the enlightening meaning (of the Bhagavat Gita). Now, the ancient, holy text, was no longer restricted to the pundits, but accessible to all, understood easily by them, composed as it was, in their...
The Standard chartered Mumbai Marathon took place yesterday, and the papers are full of Marathon News – about the celebrities, the figures, the statistics, the problems, the heroes… and so on and so forth. Here is an experience of none of the above – a group of young girls, who, unable to register for the marathon (the registrations were over even before we awoke to the fact that they were open!), decided to gate crash and participate in the event nevertheless! The group consisted of my sister Kanthi and her friends Manasi and Pranali . Here is their experience in their own words………. The Mumbai Marathon - An unforgettable Experience This is the first time I am trying to write my experience which will be posted on the net! Warning to all my sister’s blog friends: I am not as good writer as my sister, so bear with my English!!! The reason I am writing this article instead of my sis is that I participated in the Mumbai marathon which was held...