Indian Samurai इंडियन सामुराई

I got surprised first when I saw men wearing rings. Lots of rings. I still don’t like it but at least I understand it: they wear them out of superstition.

Spirituality and superstition, the line is very thin. I think belief in stone belongs to the second category but this is only my opinion…  Here some people are ready to pay a fortune to have a certain number on their car plate. Some women change their first name after marriage to have a more auspicious one. Some marry trees or cut the throat of a goat if the marriage is announced inauspicious by the stars – and we are talking high class society here.

So why not wear gems?

“In Vedic astrology, gemstones are recommended based on your horoscope. It is believed that by wearing these prescribed gemstones you can overcome (click on Lire plus to Read more)

Yesterday it was Makar Sankranti in India.

It is a festival celebrated almost throughout India. It is a harvest festival.

“Makar Sankranti is the day when the glorious Sun-God begins its ascendancy and entry into the Northern Hemisphere and thus it signifies an event wherein the Sun-God seems to remind their children that 'Tamaso Ma Jyotir Gamaya', may you go higher & higher, to more & more Light and never to Darkness.” (source: here)

It is also known as the kite flying festival.

Hence yesterday, all over Mumbai, kids and adults were flying kites everywhere.

Including on the roofs of slum houses!! 

I am learning about the differences between Mumbai and Delhi (about which you will hear a lot about in a near future).

Anyway, the first contact with any city is with its airport (or train station). I landed recently in Mumbai international airport (December 28, 2011) and had to carry 3 huge pieces of luggage because it was a total chaos and there was no trolley…

And here is what welcomed me in Delhi in the first week of January… 1 – 0 for Delhi!!!