Shiv's First Trip To Badbar in April 1976 and Surma powder

During the wheat harvesting season, it was customary to go to Badbar. After two years stint in Trishuli Hydel Project Nepal, we were excited to go back to Badbar at the time of threshing of wheat in the year of 1976.

Threshing is the process of loosening the edible part of cereal grain (or other crop) from the scaly, inedible Chaff that surrounds it. It is the step in grain preparation after harvesting and before winnowing, which separates the loosened chaff from the grain. Threshing does not remove the bran from the grain.

Threshing may be done by beating the grain using a flail on a threshing floor. Another traditional method of threshing is to make donkeys or oxen walk in circles on the grain on a hard surface. A modern version of this in some areas is to spread the grain on the surface of a country road so the grain may be threshed by the wheels of passing vehicles.

Hand threshing was laborious, with a bushel of wheat taking about an hour. In the late 18th century before threshing was mechanized, it took about one-quarter of agricultural labor. Industrialization of threshing began in 1784 with the invention of the threshing machine by Scotsman Andrew Meikle. Today, in developed areas, it is now mostly done by machine, usually by a combine harvester, which harvests, threshes, and winnows the grain while it is still in the field.

Shiv enjoying the cold waters in hot summer of April.

Harvinder likes to touch cold waters from the well, while Shiv is ready to jump in the game under the watchful eyes of grandpa. Golden wheat crop is ready to be harvested. Dad is carrying freshly picked green onions and some other raw vegetables hidden in his signature bag he was always found carrying or hanging on his bi-cycle handle. He had laid down a rule learnt from his ancestres that when you go on a round of fields, you should not return empty handed even if you have to carry a piece of dirt. Harvinder strictly follows this rule to its spirit even today. She picks up something from our kitchen garden and remembers him.

The Thresher 'Toka' being trollyed to the field 

In a country like India where 80 % of population mainly poor still lived in villages, It was not possible to engage a costly industrialized machines like harvesting combines. And instead small wheat threshers were a very popular way in Punjab.

The wheat thresher machine has small size and light weight, highly movable which is very suitable for small farmer  use, this kind of small wheat threshing machine can be driven by electricity or diesel engine. This mini wheat thresher machine can not only thresh wheat, but also can thresh soybean, rice, rape seed,and sorghum,what is more, if you change a main working shaft(roller) the wheat threshing machine can also shell corn, absolutely which can called a malfunction in the machine there is one air fan which can blow the wheat brans and crumb in processing wheat.and the air flow can be adjusted thus can separating clean from the grain. it is combined working with separate winnowing so that the grain, wheat bran, wheat straw would be separated and cleared at one time. 

A very proud moment in today times, when this local threshing machines started working in our fields. What a relief to the farmers as they were always worried by the unwanted rains when the whole lots of crop would get drenched and would need further sunshine to dry the whole crop again. 

The thresher is also known as 'Toka' in local language. My Dad Vas Dev Singh is seen here carrying a year old Shiv in his arm proudly before the start of the threshing operation. This marks the start of the Threshing process with signal by the owner. Hence Dad holds Shiv in his lap to inaugurate the process. The crew of threshing team is all set to harvest our parcel of land under the guidance of my Dad's partner. 

The harvested crop is then transported to the grain market for selling the same. My Dad major works starts here when he adds up all the expenses during the last six months and matches with those of Grain Dealer.  My Dad would want me to be present when the accounts are being finalized and teach me all the intricacy of his business.

Me, Harvinder and Shiv were generously rewarded with cash money along with our grandma. While all my sisters would get their annual quota of Wheat for their families. They still continue to get the same along with some pulses, grams and Banaspati rice etc shipped from Badbar. The sisters get together at one place and distribute their ration among themselves and feel very proud and contented. The value of ration is not much though, but they get emotionally attached and remember their parents. This carries on year after year.

Couple of decades later, full serviced harvesting combines took over. The whole village could be serviced in a matter of weeks, such is the charming power of  those machines.

Harvesting Combine in action. 

The Combine works like magic, the golden wheat gets gathered in a Trolley for transporting the same to the grain markets. The combine harvester, that harvests grains has three separate operations comprising harvesting—Reaping, Threshing, and Winnowing—into a single process, was introduced in India in 1980s.

Harvinder on a heap of wheat crop ready to be threshed.

The first crops share are donated in Mastuana Sahib Gurdwara, a famous Gurdwara 5 miles towards Sangrur.  Here in this historic picture from L To R Dad Vas Dev Singh,  Grandma Karam Devi, Shiv, Harvinder, Nanaki Bai my Dad's cousin sister and her son Partap Singh are seen in the premises of Gurdwara. 

My Dad Vas Dev Singh and uncle Partap Singh were very fast and close childhood friends. Both of them remained parteners in the farming business through out.

Another view in the Mastuana Sahib Gurdwara

My grandmother Karam Devi was overwhelmingly excited to have Shiv also with us on the trip. As Dad, Harvinder and me had gone to our fields on an early morning round of the crops inspection. It was a glorious opportunity for my grandma to baby-sit Shiv. She took over Shiv in her charge and gave him a through oil bath after a hard message which she was expert at. Finally she dried him with a towel and  applied a super dose of Surma powder into his eyes. Naughty Shiv was looking so different with his half cheeks and temple spaces smeared with Surma but looking pretty though. As we came back, Harvinder quickly washed Shiv's eyes and removed the Surma powder immediately. That was perhaps the first and last time when Surma Powder was applied into Shiv's eyes.

But We always waited for this time of next year to visit Badbar and have fun while camping in the village to get our cash rewards.

Brief Guide To Instant Gratification

We are in the era of Instant Gratification!

Overuse of internet dependence and over eating favorite foods lead to inactive life styles with surmounting consequences both financially and physically.

That’s not news. But Paul Roberts has written an excellent essay at The American Scholar  looking at the breadth of this phenomena on our society — it’s a must read.

A sample quote from Roberts’ essay:

‘The notion of future consequences, so essential to our development as functional citizens, as adults, is relegated to the background, inviting us to remain in a state of permanent childhood.’

And while he concludes that we need to change as a society, not just individuals, I’d like to show a path for individual change that might highlight a larger path for us as a whole.

This is a personal guide to overcoming the instant gratification to which we’ve all grown accustomed.

Why? What’s wrong with instant gratification — isn’t it true that You Only Live Once and that Life is Meant to Be Enjoyed?

Yes, life is meant to be enjoyed, but perhaps not wasted. Let’s take a look at a couple different ways of living to see what I mean.

The first way is Instant Gratification: pleasurable food, the riches of the Internet, video games, TV, drink, online shopping … anything we want, anytime we want it.

No limits, no restraints. This first way leads to debt, clutter, bad health, distractions, mindlessness. I’ve lived it, and it took me a long time to climb out of it.

The second way of living is the opposite: eat simple food in moderation, enjoy the Internet but with limits so that we can focus on important work, get away from TV and computers once in awhile to enjoy nature and being active and exercising, shopping less and having less possessions, finding focus and being mindful. It’s not that we don’t indulge in the treats of the first way, but we do it with a little restraint, and consciousness.

This second way leads to simplicity, health and fitness, focus, achievement, mindfulness, appreciation for all the gifts of life.

The first way is the result of the childish mind that we all have. The second way is the way of mindfulness and consciousness.

How to Overcome Instant Gratification

If the first way sound perfectly fine to you, there’s no need to read on. But if you’re interested in a bit of conscious living, a more mindful life, simplicity and health … how can we cope with the urge to be instantly gratified?

Here are the simple steps:

1. Watch the urges. We all have urges, to check on email or social media, to eat something sweet or fried, to procrastinate or find distractions. They arise in all of us, but that doesn’t mean we need to act on them. The first step is to see the urges arise. What I’ve done is carried a pencil and piece of paper around, and put little tally marks on the paper each time I’ve had an urge. It’s a great tool for mindfulness.
2. Delay. Instead of acting on the urge right when it arises, pause. Don’t act right away. Put some space between the urge and your action. Let your heartbeat return to normal, your breathing become a bit deeper. Calm down.
3. Make a conscious decision. If you decide to indulge in a sweet, that’s perfectly fine … but do it consciously, not just following every whim and urge. Decide that this is a healthy thing for you to do, that you can afford it, that it’s a compassionate act for your body. Each decision is best made consciously, instead of just trying to gratify our desires.
4. Learn over time. There will be many times when you give in to your urges — that’s OK. We all do it. There’s nothing wrong with giving in sometimes, but the key is to see how that makes you feel afterward, and learn whether the decision was a good one or not. The next time the decision comes up, think back to the previous time, and make a conscious decision not to make yourself feel greasy and bloated (for example), if that’s how you felt last time. Over time, your decisions will get better if you pay attention to how they turn out.
5. Enjoy the moment without following the urge. Life is meant to be enjoyed, but there are different ways to enjoy it. You can eat that donut, or you can breathe, pass on it, and mindfully enjoy a handful of berries. Both are delicious! Both can be done mindfully. One is healthier. Either decision can lead to equal happiness if done mindfully and consciously.

And that’s the simple guide. It’s not an easy method by any means, but I can attest that living in a more conscious and mindful manner is a wonderful way of being. And the benefits I’ve found have been too numerous to name.

You may adopt the life of Yoga and Simran/meditation in your daily routine which would go a long way to curb the tendency of Instant gratification. 

May your day be lovely and mindful.

Patiala Necklace Lost, Found & Restored(?)

  

Gems fascinate almost everyone. They sparkle, shimmer, and glimmer with mystery and beauty. I have also been fascinated by the glitter they produce which digs deep into me. This fantastic piece of antique jewelry, the 'Patiala Necklace' as majestic it looks, instantly attracted my attention while going through the history pages. My mom Savitri Devi was perhaps the first person to induce me to go for gems in the first place. She decided to buy a diamond stone ring - a first in our family, for offering to Harvinder on our engagement.

The Patiala Necklace, the largest single commission Cartier ever executed, symbolized the Maharaja’s wealth and power and is a metaphor to the lifestyle he led. It is also modern in both dimension and its geometrical format. It was made of platinum, breaking up with the tradition of yellow gold that was prevalent then.

Discovered in a South African De Beers mine in March 1888, the pale yellow Octahedron diamond was cut and displayed at the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1889 where it caused a sensation. Its present weight of 234.69 carats was the inevitable result of 200 carats being lost during the cutting process from its original, natural state. It was purchased by Rajendra Singh, the Maharaja of Patiala at the time of the Paris Exhibition. Although he never had it mounted, it is believed that Maharaja Rajendra Singh may have worn it on his turban.

Jacques Cartier with Indian gemstone merchants, 1911, Cartier Archives. Since his first trip to India, in 1911, Jacques Cartier (1884-1942) had become familiar with the extravagant tastes of the maharajas. Fabulously rich and passionate about precious stones, the Indian princes stopped at nothing to satisfy their perpetual appetite for jewels.

Maharaja Rajendra's son, Bhupinder Singh often visited London and Paris. Maharaja Sir Bhupinder Singh, the magnificent ruler of Patiala was an avid collector of all things fine- cars, horses, watches, paintings. But his special passion was jewels. During the years of the Great Depression, his commissioning of jewelery sustained many European jewelers. - Westley Richards made his guns in Birmingham, England; S. T. Dupont created his lighters in Paris; and Rolls Royce supplied the Maharaja with his cars. 

Maharaja of Patiala, Bhupinder Singh

In 1925, Maharaja Bhupinder visited Cartier's in Paris with an abundant cache of loose stones in tow and with the intention of creating a ceremonial necklace; among those loose stones were the yellow De Beers diamond, another large, tobacco-colored diamond, and two Burmese rubies. To help finance the new commission, Maharaja Bhupinder Singh sold Cartier some of the pink diamonds and pearls that he brought with him and which, at the time, were reputed to be worth more than a Rembrandt.

In 1926, the Parisian jewelry workshops of Cartier SA received a special delivery: a trunk full of precious stones and jewelry, including the De Beers diamond, from the Maharaja of Patiala, Bhupinder Singh, with a request for creating a ceremonial necklace worthy enough for a king. 

Three years of labor and patience later, the iconic Collier de Patiala, or the Patiala Necklace, was created in 1928. The massive art decor  necklace is famous for its unmatched brilliance and extraordinary design. With five rows of diamond-encrusted platinum chains, the necklace originally contained 2,930 diamonds and weighed 962.25 carats. In the centre, a cascade of seven large diamonds, each between 18 carats and 73 carats, surmounted a pendant where the iconic De Beers rested. A tobacco-colored  diamond of 18 carats and two rubies weighing 29.58 carats completed the color scheme. This necklace later came to be called the 'Patiala Necklace', Cartier’s largest single commission ever. The masterpiece looked so exquisite that Cartier sought the Maharaja’s permission to put it on display before sending it to India.

The Maharaja of Patiala wore this necklace on special occasions. However, post 1947, the state fell on hard times and stones from this necklace were dismantled and sold off separately. All that remained were the platinum chains in which this necklace was set. This too disappeared from Patiala. The $25 million necklace sparked controversy after the end of the Raj, when it disappeared mysteriously from the royal treasury of Patiala in April 1948. The last man to wear it was Maharaja Yadavindra Singh, son and heir of Maharaja Bhupinder Singh. 

Five decades later in 1998. Eric Nussbaum, a Swiss born gemologist working with Cartier, stared in complete disbelief. He couldn’t  believe what he was seeing. Like a palaeontologist  who had stumbled upon a rare fossil of a once mighty dinosaur, he proceeded to inspect the skeletal remains with great detail. For these were no ordinary remains, but those of one of the most spectacular pieces of jewelry ever created. In an antique store in London, Eric Nussbaum found the platinum chains which formed the base for the fabled Patiala Necklace. Soon, the news of the discovery was all over the papers. The story of the Patiala necklace was back from the dusty pages of history into the limelight.

Maharaja Yadvinder Singh was last seen wearing the necklace in 1948.

After its chance discovery, Mr. Nussbaum purchased the fragmented Patiala pieces and offered to restore it using substitute gems. To that end, Cartier, deciding it was impossible to restore the original De Beers diamond and the rubies, attempted to substitute the missing gems with white and yellow sapphires as well as with white topazes and garnets but, to their dismay, it was found that the topazes lacked the light refraction and brilliance of diamonds. So, at Nussbaum's suggestion, the decision was made to use synthetic stones instead: cubic zirconium in place of the absent diamonds and synthetic rubies for the natural ones. It took Cartier two years to reassemble the necklace.

At the end of its restoration, the necklace was once more exhibited by Cartier, this time in the window of its New York boutique in 2002. It now appears as it once did in 1928 - albeit, without the panache of its natural stones. Had it possessed those original gemstones, in today's market, it is estimated that the Patiala Necklace would be worth in the region of $20-$30 million.

There still exists a Maharaja of Patiala: Amarinder Singh. According to family legend, a sacred fire was given to the founder of the Patiala family nearly three-hundred years ago. As long as the fire exists, it is believed, so will the Singh family; today, much as they had done for centuries, religious dignitaries still protect the fire and the family is thriving.

In Cartier New York

The necklace was displayed by Cartier across the world to rave reviews. The New York Times wrote gushingly “The crowds are lining up in front of Cartier on Fifth Avenue and 52nd Street, but they are not your average New York Christmas shoppers. They are passers-by staring, aghast, at a fabulous piece of antique jewelry. It’s not even for sale. Nor was it made to satisfy a beautiful woman. It is an ornament made to adorn the chest of a man”. A fitting tribute to the most spectacular piece of platinum jewellery ever created!

Now Nainital in 2012 and Then in 1972

Now -  Nainital re-visited after 40 years in  Dec 2012

Nainital or the City of Lakes is a famous hill station nestled in the state of Uttarakhand. Identified with the unique, eye-shaped Naini Lake, this beautiful destination is a tranquil break from a monotonous routine.

Nainital situated at 6837 ft above see level, is one of the most popular hill stations in India. Nainital not only offers majestic views of Himalayas and lakes but has many sightseeing places with lot of hustle and bustle of tourists and local people on the Mall Road.

A Selfie

A temple, a Gurdwara and a Masjid

Amidst seven mountains touching the sky, the heart of the place is a ravishing lake showering its beauty with pristine and stagnant water. Naini Lake has earned respect since beginning and even the district is named after this enchanting lake. The lake offers ample opportunities for adventure lovers as well with yachting, boating and paddling facilities. One can explore the lake from one end to another watching the dynamic sun setting for the dusk providing peace and tranquility. Naini Lake is divided into two parts Mallital and Tallital. The north end of the Lake is called Mallital and the southern end of the Lake is known as Tallital. Both ends of the Naini Lake have shopping centres with luxury and varied shops.

The lake is on its majestically height during the night time when the light of the houses, cottages and hotels situated on the mountains covering Nainital reflects upon it and makes the view invigorating. During night it feels like there's a city underneath the stagnant water of Naini Lake. The perimeter of Naini Lake is approximately 3.5kms. Nainital is an ideal destination for families, honeymooners, poets and writers, nature lovers and adventure lovers as well.

And Then -  Nainital as visited in Sept 1972 on our Honeymoon Trip.

On the way to Kathgodam after a change over at Barreilly Railway Station where Harvinder lost her ear ring.

"Jhumka Gira Re Barreilly......"

Promising to drive me through thick and thin, which She really has!

Boating in the Naini lake. Bains Devi temple is in the background on the Northern shore of the lake.

In the Balcony of Evelon Hotel on the Mall Road

Boating

In the Park enjoying the Flora and Fauna

On the trail To Tiffini Top 

Near the Bhim Tal

Boating in the Bhim Tal

A Panaromic view with help of a Passer by

Making her listen is the victory

With the Hotel friendly Cat

Showing the horizon we aim to reach

Bhim Tal

Near a guest house

Enjoying the stunning views of the Valley on our way to Snow View Point

Up on a hill top

On our way back to Delhi, we bought a bag of beautiful and delicious Apples for family as a Gift. 

As we came back my Mom and Dad were visiting my aunt's house near by. I immediately went and brought them home. I had never seen my parents as happy as that day in my life time.