why is holi celebrated?

I am busy preparing snacks for Holi tomorrow.
So just copying the story from Wiki.

As per Hindu Mythology, Hiranyakashipu is the king of demons, and he had been granted a boon by Brahma, which made it almost impossible for him to be killed. The boon was due to his long penance, after which he had demanded that he not be killed "during day or night; inside the home or outside, not on earth or on sky; neither by a man nor an animal; neither by astra nor by shastra". Consequently, he grew arrogant, and attacked the Heavens and the Earth. He demanded that people stop worshipping gods and start praying to him.

Despite this, Hiranyakashipu's own son, (Prahlada), was a devotee of Lord Vishnu. In spite of several threats from Hiranyakashipu, Prahlada continued offering prayers to Lord Vishnu. He was poisoned but the poison turned to nectar in his mouth. He was ordered to be trampled by elephants yet remained unharmed. He was put in a room with hungry, poisonous snakes and survived. All of Hiranyakashipu's attempts to kill his son failed. Finally, he ordered young Prahlada to sit on a pyre on the lap of his sister, Holika, who could not die by fire by virtue of a shawl which would prevent fire affecting the person wearing it. Prahlada readily accepted his father's orders, and prayed to Vishnu to keep him safe. When the fire started, everyone watched in amazement as the shawl flew from Holika, who then was burnt to death, while Prahlada survived unharmed, after the shawl moved to cover him. The burning of Holika is celebrated as Holi.


Radha and the Gopis celebrating Holi, with accompaniment of music instrumentsLater Lord Vishnu came in the form of a Narasimha (who is half-man and half-lion) and killed Hiranyakashipu at dusk (which was neither day nor night), on the steps of the porch of his house (which was neither inside the house nor outside) by restraining him on his lap (which is neither in the sky nor on the earth) and mauling him with his claws (which are neither astra nor shastra).

how indians celebrate holi?

Holi is festival of colors, so colors of course play an important role in how Holi is played.

In most of the places in India, on pen-ultimate eve of Holi, a bonfire is carried out. Holi bonfire is also known as Holika Dahan. It symbolizes the fire which burnt Holika and left Prahlad unaffected.

On next day, Holi is celebrated, also known as dulhendi, using colors and water. People color each other's face with gulal of different colors. Next comes squirting of colored water using pichkaris and balloons filled with water.

In Barsana, UP, people play Lath Mar Holi in premises of Radha Rani temple. Females beat up men with sticks and men try to protect with shields. It's one of the most famous Holi's of India. Lots of people visit barsana to take part in Lath Mar Holi.

Traditional food for Holi eve is Gujjia and Thandai with Bhang.

2010 Goals Tracking - February End

These are my goals for 2010.
1)Continue learning new dishes to cook. One new dish per week.
2)Continue to be on budget.
3)Start saving for prepayment of mortgage. 2L should be saved for same.
4)Contribute to retirement as per the plan.
5)Be less obsessive on daily tracking of things.
6)Learn to swim.
7)Improve healthy eating.
8)Earning Rs 50250 (2010*25) extra in 2010

It's February end and let's see how am I fairing in these goals.
Goal 1 - Cooking - FAIL - I restarted cooking but not any new dishes yet.
Goal 2 - Budget - PASS.
Goal 3 - Save for Mortgage - FAIL - well had some un-planned medical things. Yes things go unplanned in my life too. :)
Goal 4 - Save for Retirement - PASS - I never miss this, touch wood.
Goal 5 - Obsession for tracking - PASS - I really made a progress. I only opened my excel sheet once in a day for most of the days and not opened it completely for 5 days in one month. This is my first time. WOW!
Goal 6 - Swimming - Don't Know - This can only be done in summers.
Goal 7 - Healthy Eating - PASS - I once again restarted my healthy eating regime, I mainly need it because I have gastric problems and if I don't take my smal meals, I am dead.
Goal 8 - Extra Earnings - PASS - This time I seriously thought that it is going to be impossible to meet my extra earnings goal and then dividend from one of my favourite share, made my month.

Recap:
January Recap

Secrets to Sound Financial Health

I love managing money. I love tracking expenses. Almost daily I track my expenses in excel sheet. Every time I get paid, I setup necessary transfers to various savings accounts for different savings goal. I spend time to make sure that there are sufficient funds in respective bank accounts so that none of the ECS or cheques gets bounce.

So, I am always in control of my money. My daily tracking makes sure that I am never spending more then what I am earning, I am not paying any unnecessary late fees on bills or any bank charges because of bounced cheque or ECS. But only this is not sufficient for my financial health.

A key aspect in Sound Financial Health is that one should know where one wants to be in next 10-15 years. One should know that what are his financial goals that he wants to achieve in next 10-15 years. The compiled list of long and mid term goals is the first step that is required before they can be achieved.

Once these are set, it's important that other then tracking expenses and setting up transfers, one spends some time understanding various tools how these goals can be achieved. If you don't know anything about real-estate market and one of your goals is to buy a house in next 5 years, then please make yourself aware with know-how of dealing in real estate. Same goes with Stock Markets, take out some time and read from Internet or so many good books on investing.

And as the last thing, do review your progress on the goals on fixed intervals, say every 6 months.

This along with managing expenses on daily bases will give you good and sound financial health.

Women as important as extra salt in food

I have the allure for childhood. I am, as always, swayed that childhood is the best phase in your life. Whatever you learn there, will always be with you. It is like a footprint of your life and all other phases are mere caricature with respect to the footprint. I think that is the reason, every time something I find interesting enough to write about, at the same time something from my old memories come and I can draw a parallel.

So here I am, once again to contemplate my thoughts, about something and draw a parallel. I think this is my way of judging, though it feels like a hypocrite as I always condemn sagacity. :)

“Once there was a donkey, his master and master’s little son. One day they all were going somewhere, and master and son were walking beside the donkey. A passerby passed and commented, ‘what a fool. Why can’t they ride donkey!’ Father immediately ordered his son to get on donkey’s back. After traveling some distance, another passerby passed and commented, ‘what a shame! Old father is on foot and son is riding on donkey.’ After listening to the comment, father and son changed their respective positions. So good so far! NO! Another passerby commented ‘what a shame, small kid is walking and father is having nice smooth journey.’ Both of them then sat on donkey’s back and least to say that donkey died soon. But story continues, passerby still commented, ‘cruel people, killed an innocent animal! ”

In school or from your grand mothers and aunts, all of us must have heard about this story. This is again one of the stories that I have learnt a lot from. Erudition stands the test of time and still holds legitimate. In the circumstances you are caught in your life, many times you have multiple picks to choose from and choice is purely yours. But, no matter what you choose, there will always be passerby that will comment. So the basic idea to survival is not to be bogged down by such passerby’s but rather be firm on your choice. Remember they are only passerby and no matter how much importance they might affix to themselves, they are only as important as extra salt in food. :lol:

Now coming to the point, which reminded me of this story, well plenty! But maximum credit will go to a woman who thinks that she is a judge and for me she is again as important as passerby, or may be even less than that. She is [B][I]somehow caught [/I][/B]in a successful love marriage and has full right to comment on anyone’s love life. Every time she will see some couple together, she will pass a judgment about the future of their providence. I think it’s not exceptional, as most of the Indians have this as their darling past time. If a couple manage to be with each other perpetually, she will tell you all the tales about how much compromise that girl or boy has done for this marriage and how this alliance is mostly a concession. And if, god forbid, couple separates, then she announces that ‘they are never bound to be together. I never gave any approval to this relationship.’ As if it’s their acceptance that dictates your relationship. :yuck: What these type of women doesn’t understand is that probably they are themselves self-doubting and most of the times themselves busy getting acceptance from their near ones. May GOD grant them same so that others psyche may rest in tranquility.

And always commit to memory, no matter what track you may pick, you will get these types of women or men to pass judgment on. Again the idea is not to be bogged down by these miniatures but to move on.

How Healthy is your Debt Management?

Take FINANCIAL IQ TEST: How Healthy is your Debt Management? at WiseBread.

Find mine answers below.

Knowledge / Awareness
I know how much I owe and to whom, and what each interest rate is. - Yes

I understand the difference between secured and unsecured debt. - Yes

I understand the difference between good debt and bad debt. - Yes

If my mortgage interest rate increased, I could easily handle the increase in payments. - Yes

I never get payday loans. - Yes

I know the difference between a line of credit, credit card, and fixed loan. - Yes

Credit Cards - I don't have one so I'll mark all as Yes. :)
I don’t charge anything new to my credit card if there is a balance outstanding. - Yes

I never use my credit card for cash advances. - Yes

I understand the consequences of making only minimum payments on credit card debt. - Yes

I will use one credit card to pay off another only if it is a 0% interest balance transfer deal and I can pay it off in full before the rates increase. - Yes

I never carry a balance on department store credit cards if there are interest charges or fees. - Yes

Transactions - Here I am replacing use of credit card with debit cards to answer.
I negotiate interest rates and/or annual fees with credit card companies, mortgage issuers, and other lenders. - Yes

I pay the entire balance on my credit card each month, before interest is charged. - Yes

If for some reason I miss a debt payment, I immediately call the lender to advise them of what happened to reduce or eliminate fees and penalties. - Yes

Security - Here I am replacing use of credit card with debit cards to answer.
I check my credit card statement every month for suspicious activity or incorrect charges. - Yes

I have a list of all my credit card numbers, and phone numbers to call if they are lost or stolen. - Yes

Credit Rating - skipping.

So, I scored quite well. :) How about you, share your score.