A fiend of mine alerted me to a 1974 film called Har Har Mahadev – the whole thing is on Youtube – in Hindi. A part has English subtitles where Brahma and Vishnu seem to be suggesting Mahadeva smokes too much opium :) Here is the beloved Lata M singing about Shiva’s wedding to Parvati along with his lovely retinue. Pot, surely. ψ
ACCORDING TO this page on the Interweb, one of the most famous advertising slogans ever was by Boase Massimi Pollitt in 1974 for instant spuds – “for mash get Smash”.
“Smash” was a smash hit in the 1970s for those who could not be bothered to peel a spud but instead pour boiling water on stuff that instantly became mashed potato (not the dance).
I have a confession to make. In the early 1970s I worked as a PR for an advertising agency called MMR. Its clients included the 18-30 Club (I was 27), Marshall Amps, Zildjian Cymbals, Rose-Morris, and a laboratory which introduced a weird way to stop smoking by using cigarette holders which gradually cut you down over four weeks to the point you were smoking air. The phrase was “cognitive dissonance”, but you could still smoke everywhere, then.
The firm, MMR (Mukerjee, Maisey, Russell), was also the spinner for the prep school association in the UK, for someone who played the silver flute, and the agency really was quite creative, in an advertising sort of a way. They all were quite pally with journalists who worked for Campaign magazine, down in the Covent Garden of the early 1970s.
I had to organise a press gig for the 18-30 club in the Covent Garden of the early 1970s. The 18-30 Club was then headed up by someone who to me seemed like quite an old geezer, but it was the attitude of the Sun journalists that stiffened my sinews. “Mike,” he said. “You seem like quite a decent bloke. Tell me what really happens on 18-30 holidays.” I couldn’t. As the temporary PR, I just had to organise events and never got to go abroad, although I did a tour with Marshall Amps across the UK in the early 70s with frantic executives from Rose-Morris asking me if I knew anything about punk. Naturally, I didn’t know. I had been a mod 10 years earlier, complete with scooter. I was passe.
And so on to the picture of Aloo Mash. There’s nothing nicer than Aloo Mash with a knob of butter. The bull above the butter is Nandi, the vehicle of Lord Shiva. Δ
INDIA TODAY reported that Heidi Klum and her man called “Seal” have invited a Varanasi pandit to celebrate their third wedding anniversary.
This man, Shailesh Tripathi, said the mag, conducted a “Ganga Puja” for them when they visited Benares last year. Tripathi also showed me round Varanasi last year, but I wasn’t offered “Ganga Puja”. He had an intriguing explanation for a large painting of a Kali Yantra on Narad Ghat which we noted, with interest, and some scepticism.
He also took me to a Durga temple where they don’t sacrifice goats any more, but merely nick the ear of the male to draw blood, he said. Durga is fond of blood sacrifice, but they all have to be male animals. The head of the unfortunate creature is supposed to be severed with one blow. Formerly, human sacrifice was performed, but the folks have it the animals for sacrifice represent peculiarly male characteristics, such as greed for tom cats, lust for billy goats, and pride (ego) for men. The idea, according to the Bengali Karpuradistotra, is the real sacrifice of these characteristics inside yourself, not beheading poor creatures.
Here’s a little vid of Tripathi on the Ganga, doing his thing at dawn. And here’s a pic below of Narad Ghat, complete with Kali Yantra, pictures of Shiva and Kali, and a couple of goats, one of which we were to encounter in unusual circumstances, later in the day. The goat was unscathed. And so was I for that matter… The Kali Yantra is below the bush in this picture. ♥
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Tagged Durga, goats, Heidi Klum, Kali Yantra, Kalika, Karpuradistotra, Narad Ghat, Seal, Shiva, Tripathi
Dūrgā Devī
