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Sharad Purnima Kojagiri Purnima or Kojagiri Laxmi Pujo:Childhood memories & adult Faith

By Dr.Amrita Basu(MBBS,MS) on October 24, 2018 6

When I was a little girl two pujas which were religiously performed at home were Kojagiri Lakshmi puja and Saraswati puja. If you know about Laxmi and Saraswati, you will know they are sisters and two sides of the same coin. They are Maa Durga’s daughter and her various avatars.

Without their blessings life is unimaginable. Now that’s a personal belief and have helped me in my own life. Even as a student at Safdarjung I used to do this two pujo in the hostel. My blog has wealth in its name and that’s for a reason.

About Sharad Purnima Kojagiri Purnima or Laxmi Pujo

The word Kojagiri is an aberration of ke jaage re.

That in Bengali means who is awake?

This Lakshmi puja is most often celebrated on a full moon or a Purnima night by people in West Bengal, Assam, Orissa.

The story of Kojagiri Laxmi Pujo

Once upon a time in a kingdom in eastern India, a kind benevolent king would buy all the leftover idols made by the artisans in his Kingdom, at the end of a market day. This helped sustain the poor artisans. One day there was an idol of alakshmi (Goddess of Poverty antithesis of all things Laxmi or good ).

The king bought the idol and took it to the palace. The Queen asked him to take it out but he didn’t listen. That night Goddess Raj Lakshmi left (Royal Good fortune).

Then Goddess Bhagya Laxmi left( Goddess of destiny).

Then Goddess Yash Laxmi left (Goddess of Fame).

But God of Dharma could not leave,as the King was just trying to do his part as a king and protector. But what good is a pauper king? The God of Dharma decided to give the good king, a clue in his dreams to solving his troubles. The king told the queen about his dream.

The Queen fasted with coconut water and chira (flattened rice), on the full moon night in the month of Ashwin. On the full moon night of Sharad Purnima, the moon is said to shower Amrita or elixir on the earth, the queen did a simple pujo. She offered five fruits, made alpana to invite Maa Laxmi’s footsteps into her home. Maa Laxmi came back and the king and his Kingdom was blessed forever, as the queen continued to observe and spread the story of the Kojagiri Laxmi puja.

A lamp is kept burning at night on Sharad Purnima in the month of Ashwin(Septemeber –October ) to let the Goddess know who is remembering her.

Goddess Laxmi is said to take care of your home health, wealth, child health, fame, fortune, and overall wellbeing. Now even if God is one, there is no harm in focussed prayers, right? One of my favorite Goddess and a much-awaited pujo at home where my little one is an enthusiastic participant.

How to do Laxmi pujo at Home:5 Things about Kojagiri Laxmi Puja

Alpana (drawing with Goddess Lakshmi’s foot being highly auspicious)
Five fruits offering
Flowers, grains, and durba or grass used to pray.
Rice kheer or paramanna as an important part signifying rice as a blessing by the Goddess.
Narkel naru or coconut laddoos.

You can make more or less according to your wish. The bhog again is blissful with Khichudi or Basanti pulao, luchi, labra, payesh, Mishti, and more.

Last words:

Faith is a personal matter. But one thing I believe in is hope and positivity. That’s what Goddess Laxmi brings in plenty. I love to invite her into my heart and home and that’s why I shared this story with you. [bctt tweet=”May the Goddess of plenty shower her blessings on all.” username=”misra_amrita”]

Diwali Gifts for Book Lovers

By Dr.Amrita Basu(MBBS,MS) on October 20, 2018 13

Diwali and gifts just go together. When I was a little girl Diwali was the day next to Kali Pujo.The day some people did Laxmi pujo!One extra wonderful day to spend eating and having fun.

My mom used to take us for prayers to a family friend’s home for Kali pujo.After the Anjali and prasad episode, I and my sis always wanted to get back home quickly.The phuljhuri and other stuff we planned to do awaited.

That friend is no more.The pujo still happens at her place.Life goes on.You do everything.Have a lot of fun.But you always remember how it was.

Maybe life is a lot more comfortable. But along the way, all the people you wanted to you, wanted to go somewhere else.That’s life.Good bad and ugly the lights of Diwali makes everything beautiful.That’s why even when you want to cry sometimes you end up smiling.Because life really is beautiful and blessed.

Diwali Wisdom

[bctt tweet=” Between 2 goods choose both. Between 2 evils choose neither ( Charles Spurgeon)” username=”misra_amrita”]

This Diwali prayer

When you think of all the wonderful childhood memories you have a secret wish of revisiting them.Since this is not yet possible you do the next best thing.Make new memories Life, after all, comes a full circle.I wrote about noise pollution and how

I wrote about noise pollution and how to be careful.

Diwali Gift ideas for Book lovers

There are affiliate links in the following post.Which means at no extra cost to you ,I will get a small commission which in no way affects my decision to give you an honest opinion.But it helps me maintain the blog. Read here.

I ordered Chia seeds and quinoa to get back to healthy eating after the eating marathon.

Before you get the books, do get a new pooja thali to do Diwali Lakshmi puja.

If its Diwali its about giving gifts, what better than the Go Giver.This book tells you about how the universe works and if each person helps one another then it’s a beautiful circle.If you haven’t read this book read my favorite quotes from the book.

Goddess Laxmi blesses you with wealth and prosperity .but do you know how to attract wealth.

Read my favourite book If you are as much a book lover as me then check out all my Book reviews and buy a few for yourself and your friends and relatives.

What other things can you give someone who is a book lover?

You can give them beautiful bookmarks, bookends, a Kindle or gift them a Kindle Unlimited library membership.

If you want to gift your own DIY bookmark you get stock cards, old gift cards, washi tapes, old ribbons, and sparkles.Use bits and pieces of old costume jewellery, toys to embellish them.You can also use colourful scrap cloth to make a cloth bookmark.

Bookends are great gifts too.Buy them or make them , you will make a book lover very happy.Check out these wonderful DIY bookends ideas.Ebooks are also a great way to gift without worrying about giving too many books.You can gift my books to your friends ,family or gift them to yourself.Special offers going on.Check out my Books page for links to all my books.Just click on the book preview below to get it now

DIWALI GIFT IDEAS

GIFT IDEAS FOR BOOK LOVERS

GIFT IDEAS FOR GARDENER DADS

GIFT IDEAS FOR ART LOVERS

GIFT IDEAS FOR WIFE/GIRLFRIEND

Life’s Like That When You Travel (inspired by Readers Digest)

By Dr.Amrita Basu(MBBS,MS) on October 19, 2018 8

Life’s like that when you travel is what struck me in the middle of the night. The Life’s like that is a famous series by Readers Digest, full of wisdom packed in little nuggets. As a teenager, that’s one monthly magazine I looked forward too, that taught me a lot about life and what works.

This is my tribute to the interesting column “Life’s Like that”!

I write this article while sitting at Terminal 2 of Delhi airport waiting for a connecting flight. It’s 2.30 am and I can’t doze.

While adults understand you can’t expect a bed while waiting at the airport, it’s a different matter for a six-year-old. Good thing the little angel liked the idea of camping at the airport!.

Life’s like that when you travel

Whichever airline you love, the connecting flight is a mystery.
The less luggage you have, the happier you are.
Whatever you say, scissors, knives, and cigarette lighters are not allowed as check-in luggage.
Cigarette lighters are not allowed at all!
If you carry baby food, you need to show a baby. Baby traveler is extra special.
Sometimes stale overpriced airport food is the only thing on offer. Eat before you travel and always have something in your bag to eat. Cucumber salad and biscuits are great too.
Exit lounges have nothing for you to eat. Until you check in you have limited eating options.
We all need wings. Airports are too crowded
Airport staff and flight attendants are unsung heroes.
Always carry wipes when you travel. You can never have too many wipes.
It’s no use lecturing the person cutting line. Just wiggle in front and present your I’d first. Point made.
Six or sixty the difference is debatable when you travel.
Time and Travel waits for no man or woman.
Travel is the best life experience.
Only when we travel we learn empathy.
Travel is a wonderful teacher of human nature.
Travel is vitamin for your soul.
Roti kappa makaan, retirement fund and travel .
Travel everywhere.
Until you travel away from home you don’t grow up.
Travel makes you trust your instinct.
Nature travel is the only kind which rejuvenates the mind.
Travel light, you will go far.
Never forget to travel with people you love.
Don’t marry someone who doesn’t love vacationing, the way you do.
Travel makes strangers friends.
The passenger in front of you will always have more luggage (cousin of Murphy ‘s law).
Trust God when you travel. For everything else you need insurance.

Hope you enjoyed this.Comment below to share a wise travel insight of your own.

Another post in the Life’s Like That series

Life’s Like that when you are a Book Lover

Carrot or the Stick: Do incentives work?

By Dr.Amrita Basu(MBBS,MS) on October 19, 2018 39

Carrot or the stick?

What works for you ?

What works for your children?

Call it what you will, incentives are what get people to work harder.
– Nikita Khrushchev

Management bosses drive their teams with alternate use of both.

Insurance agents get lifelong percentage, from the premium paid by their customers.This encourages their tremendous enthusiasm to make you buy those policies.

Shopping at Shoppers Stop Pantaloons Big Bazaar helps us get points on our store cards . Encouraging us to shop more at those stores.

Not using a helmet can lead to serious head injury while accidents and fine if caught. Unfortunately the first one rarely stopped people in this small town.But surprisingly after increase of the fine for helmet less travel ,more people wear this ,to protect their not so important head.

This led me to think deeply about what motivates me.

When I was a little girl .My mom used to tell us stories of all the places we would visit once money was not an issue. How to make that possible?

For middle class families the best way to plan that is to study hard and get a great job.

I followed the plan to a T .But I wanted to be a doctor. For as long as I could remember,I wanted to be a doctor.

Probably a childhood wish of making my father better ,who suffered from swinging moods of MDP.

Whatever the reason I did become a doctor and I would recommend it to anyone ,who wants a chance to make the world a better place .

Life is comfortable and you feel good when you help people.

That’s when I realized the truth about why people do what they do.

At the end of the day ,we all want to make a difference. We all want to feel important. We all want to create value. If that comes with a good life ,that’s the cherry on the cake.So for people to do what you want ,they must feel a need .

A need for something.Once they start doing it ,it becomes a habit.

To get them started, incentives can go a long way.

The Governments Kanyashree and Ladli all promise money, when the girl child is educated.Shouldn’t a better life following education be prize enough ?

Unfortunately no.That’s why the cash helps.Incentives help in many places where goodness of the heart or sensibility of mind doesn’t seem to find a place.

Incentives also increase enthusiasm .It helps create a happy dedicated workforce. If great work gets you rewards ,doesn’t that create impetus for awesome results?

In fact rewards have been used in this study to help stop smoking.

In this study incentive helped physicians give better quality care for diabetes patients.Sounds weird right. But healthcare is the perfect place for a reward based programme.

Health insurance premiums are distinctly lower ,for healthy people with normal weight and no history of smoking .

In this study with 704 participants found, that with difficult tasks , performance based incentives work better.Tasks are completed more with performance based incentive than any other.

So what the truth about incentives?

They work .

Most of the time.

But at other times the stick may work.
What works for you?Comment below to let me know.

Iceland Nature Travel #SayYestoTheWorld

By Dr.Amrita Basu(MBBS,MS) on October 17, 2018 9

Iceland Nature travel is famous.But it’s mysterious too.When it’s a chance to travel to places with natural beauty, I am happy to let an adventure begin.

May be I will take a flight in summer, autumn or winter.Will I stay for a week or a month?If I can be there from August to October,I could see the change from only days to only nights.

Will it be very cold and dark in winter?So many questions and only one way to find answers.

This gorgeous country, with some of the most glorious vista in this world will be a self exploration journey.

Iceland is volcanically and geologically unpredictable.That means some great big bangs are always on the cards.

But its attractions, will overcome these challenges.

I want to wander in the Natural park,picnic by the lakes, paraglide and roam the mountains and relax by the beaches. Maybe I should go bird watching and rainbow catching.

Should I wander Iceland in September ?That’s when I hear the lush green,turns red gold and orange.

I want a glimpse of the winter to come .I want to see the spectacular northern light and visit the glaciers .I want to dip my toes in the ocean and stare at the Dynjandi waterfall .I want to listen to the silence and the birds chirping . I might visit the famous volcanoes or I might not but they would be there for me to wonder about.

I want to taste the Kjötsúpa meat soup and enjoy the other local cuisine.I might not want to come back, if I find my magical cottage and the wishing well!I want to get lost in nature and find myself again.I think,if I say yes to the world,Iceland is going to be amazing in Autmn!
I want to try this and that.This place where the sky and sea meet.

(Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=938594)

But what if I went in summer?

Shall I drive to the Golden circle ?Should I go glacier hiking or whale watching?Will the Puffins come huffing and puffing to meet me?

Will the midnight sun be any different than the morning sun?

Will the geothermal pools be comfortable for a quick dip?Will I get lost and find myself again?

Will there be rainbows and sunshine?

Or should I expect sleet and hail?

From the time I watched the rang de mohe gerua song(Dilwale Srk -Kajol) I am fascinated by Iceland .I have plans to one day visit this country .Travel inspirations are everywhere.Dreams help us keep them alive till one day,they come true.

Will I survive this beautiful but unknown adventure?Should I #SayYestoTheWorld and go on this Blinddate with the world?

Want to make your dream come true?

Participate in The Blindlist contest and get a chance to make your dream come true.

10 Things you should not let your children play with:Dangerous Toys Alert!

By Dr.Amrita Basu(MBBS,MS) on October 15, 2018 52

Coins, disc battery, battery cars, button batteries, magnets, nuts, buttons,beads,medicine foil, sharp objects are dangerous toys! I am an ENT surgeon. Some of the commonest emergency problems I face are foreign objects in the ear nose or throat.

A foreign body is an object placed in the body where it’s not supposed to be. Children try to eat everything except food sometimes. But problems occur when they swallow coins, button batteries, beads, other play objects. These can get stuck in the esophagus or food pipe. They can also enter the airway.

Or pass to the stomach and pass away in their poop. That’s the better way. If it gets stuck, it will need to be removed. The main problem is timely detection. Button battery is dangerous. If inside the food pipe for more than 3 hours, it can burn the lining of the food pipe and can be life-threatening.

Delayed removal can lead to chemical burn in the food pipe (from the leaching button). Battery cars for kids and other battery toys playtime should be under parental supervision.

Other dangerous objects include: These are things kids aren’t allowed to play with ever !

Safety pins,
Earrings
Magnet
Whistle
Sticky toffee(lozenges)

10 Things you should not let your children play with .While growing up children put a lot of things inside their mouth.It's their way of identifingers objects.The danger lurks here

Battery cars, Battery toys, should be allowed under parental supervision. But sharp objects, button batteries, coins, earrings, magnets should never be play objects.

How to suspect that child may have swallowed any of this?

Difficulty breathing
Drooling
Crying
Vomiting food
Unable to eat

When should you worry and hurry to the nearest hospital emergency and not a clinic

Whistling noise during breathing is a sign of a whistle in the windpipe .

Vomiting
Child turning blue gasping for breath
Hoarse cry
Rush to your nearest emergency. In the case of the last two, the object may be in the airway.

What can you do if you suspect a swallowed object and the child is not able to confirm?

Visit the nearest emergency. The doctor can get an X-ray done of the neck, chest, abdomen. This detects a radio-opaque foreign body like a coin magnet, any metallic object.

For things made of nonmetallic substances, a CT scan may be needed to see the position and find the level of obstruction depending on the symptoms and doctor’s advice.

A child may have a fishbone stuck in the throat. Your ENT doctor will be able to remove this if visible. Chicken or mutton bone need urgent intervention

Precautions parents should take:

Watchful independence of the child.
Always check his/her toys for loose pieces.
Never give them small objects which they can insert in the mouth to play with. This is especially important during the time they are teething.
Never give coins, magnets, safety pins and other objects mentioned in the post above,to play with.
Visit your nearest hospital emergency department,if in doubt. Precious minutes may be lost otherwise.
Treatment may need intervention in the form of a pharyngoscopy or esophagoscopy depending on the location of the foreign body. Sometimes observation is done in case of a definitive diagnosis of the coin in the lower part of the esophagus. All decisions need to be taken on a case-to-case basis according to patient particulars and available resources.

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Disclaimer :

This information is meant for educational purposes and shouldn’t be taken as professional advice. Consult your doctor for personalized care. Read my full disclaimer here.

Do you have any tips to share?Write in the comments below.

Resource:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK459279/

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Sharad Purnima Kojagiri Purnima or Kojagiri Laxmi Pujo:Childhood memories & adult Faith