Editorial The OKA Picnic gammath, giggles and excited shrieks have not yet died down and there we go again with our KPL. First on the OKA Picnic hulla-baloo. The event attracted a near record 200+ people on an otherwise beautiful cloudy Saturday. I am yet to come to a consensus about this …. Was it the lack of Sun or the yummilicious food or was it the getting to-gether for a panchyadhikk session. You know we Amchigello’s can be steered into any or all of the above. The games organized by that beautiful lady from Erin (wonder who was she?) did get the young and the younger crowd in a tizzy. The Rakda Kudko aani Dhori Dhornu Chamkuche Game w as a super hit. The Lemon and Chamche must have tickled many in the audience to see the waddling Amchi’s get to the finish line. But the real game that got many of us revved up was the Ghonni Race. O Boy!!!! I have never seen Sheetal Akka, Shantha Pacchi so excited there. One cannot deny the Again!!! Again!! Sadanand Maam was even suggesting techniques to do it better to Shivdas Maam whose Dhollo’s looked as if they will drop off. Such was the excitement amongst fellow Konkani’s. What can I say! The ones who missed it do not have those rib tickling memories. That event closed the curtains on Divya-Ravi Nayak et al EC. The new team spear headed by Vinaya and Gurunath Pai have already hit the ground running with OKA KPL. What!!!! what is that you say…. Where are you Maam…. Chaar varsh jalle Cricket khellnu… Some people I say never get out of their orbits. More about the winning team and other details inside. The current EC Turks have decided to take the Reddo (Bull) by its horns. And why not!! Mysuru – Mumbai combo of Vinaya- Guru combine the laid back yet vocal Royal Mysoreans and the brisk chal tu ja mai atthai Mumbaikars. Expect the phattaki full-on for our 30th Year of OKA. The buzz is that it will be memorable and lots of razzmatazz. Oooooo this Amchi is excited. This E Samachar has a lot of interesting reads. The article on Moksha Patam is one such article. Naaaa re Gurunatha Moksha Patam does not mean getting Moksha… ( %%##$$) The British merely stole it from us as they have often done with other things and called it Snakes & Ladder. As you will read inside we Amchi’s are born busy…. Kassale naa mahleri Konkani ka bhodd huun jaina ve… From Pranav Amladi, to Deeksha Nayak to Nandita Yedery all have been super busy. Read about them inside. Vinaya - Guru are literally rolling their sleeves and letting their imagina-tions wild to commemorate OKA’s 30th Year. More on this very soon. Lastly Yogesha edde kajjubi, edde halwo aani ek cupbashi kadak chai ghevnu ek mullay vochunu baissunu August E Samachar vajje plzz. Jai Ho!!!! Niranjan Kamath

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Editorial ..............................1

President’s Message ...........2

KPL 2018 Champions ........4

IPL Se KPL Tak...................5

My KPL Experience ............7

My Thoughts On KPL ‘18 ...9

A Summer Off The Couch ..11

Important Message ............12

Award For Great

Initiative……………………..….13

OKA Art Biography ............15

Seniors’ Program ................17

Moksha Patam ....................20

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Volume VIII Issue August - 2018

KPL EDITION

Namaskar, The Ontario Konkanis Association welcomed its 30th year on July 21, 2018, with a wonderful, fun filled picnic – with great games, including, to coin our versatile editor Niranjan, “ghonni race”, yummy potluck food, and lively, spirited Antakshari!! Vinaya and I are privileged to serve this wonderful, talented and ever supportive Association of Konkanis this year. As we celebrate our OKA family’s 30th year, we will strive to showcase the talent of the Konkani community beyond OKA, recognize the achievements of Ontario Amchis and continue the objectives of our founders and seniors, to nurture and preserve our heritage. Konkanis worldwide have the blessings of Goddess Saraswati, and excel in their chosen field. Our Ontario Konkanis are no different, with our members at the pinnacle of success in various disciplines including art, music, literature and technology. While most of us are connected with the latest milestones in our Amchis’ lives through Facebook and other social media channels, our humble endeavour this year is to recognize our members’ achievements on our website, e-Samachar and during OKA functions – with the sole purpose of being a source of inspiration to our younger generations, and, with every breath, be proud to be a Konkani! With this goal in mind, while celebrating 30 glorious years of our beloved Ontario Konkani Association, it is appropriate that we recognize the Achievements of our Members. Even those born during these 30 years have already excelled and reached a pinnacle in their chosen field. We request all members to send us a paragraph or two about achievements of their children, themselves and other members to ontariokonkanis@gmail.com In this issue, we are excited to highlight two of our members’ talents and proud moments – Pranav Amladi and Nandita Yedery. In this e-Samachar, we also take the opportunity to recognize our very own Thalaivar cum Michael Jackson aka Srini – the driving force behind the Konkani Premier League, which is now one of our signature events, in its 5th successful year. The nail-biting finish of all the KPL 2018 matches has assured that the teams will practise with extra vigour for the challenge next year! Congratulations, Amchi Royals for winning the coveted KPL Trophy this year!! Take a trip down memory lane with Srini on his KPL journey, and read what our young KPL winners have to say about their recent experiences. Bollywood movies over the years, and Yash Chopra productions in particular have romanticized Europe. Check out Deeksha Nayak’s experiences from her recent Europe trip and hope this inspires you to contribute your own memoirs for our future e-Samachar and web articles. The Seniors' Program continues to provide OKA members with extremely useful programs and information sessions for older adults under Sadanand Mam's leadership. Catch up on the latest activities planned in this area, including an interactive session on Diabetes, Technical Workshop and Aadhar Chat.

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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Last but not the least, my mother would always quote the adage “My right to swing my fist ends where your nose begins.” This adage, attributed by Quote Investigator to John B. Finch in the 1880s, is so relevant in today’s age of social media. Today’s technology allows us to instantly communicate our feelings and ideas across an entire community. We re-quest those who do so anonymously, to pause for a moment, and reflect on the impact of their actions on the lives of others. A respected and long-standing member of OKA, Mr. Narayandas Kamath, is known within his circle of relatives and friends as Satish Kamath, and was shocked at the emails circulated in OKA circles with that name. Thank you, Nara-yandas Mam, for your open letter to the OKA community, that we have published in this e-Samachar. In its 30th year, OKA is a mature association and can take constructive criticism in its stride. Please feel free to email your opinions and feedback to ontariokonkanis@gmail.com, and we will discuss these with the EC and other OKA members. We welcome all new members – to join our Ontario Konkani Association and enjoy life in North America surrounded by friends and members of our close-knit Konkani family. Request all members to continually visit our website and Facebook page for the latest activities, conversations and photographs. Eagerly looking forward to meeting some of the members on September 8, 2018 at the Tech Support workshop organized by Sadanand Mam, and all members on Sunday, October 14, 2018 for our Dandiya event on the sixth day of Navratri! Thank you all for your support to our 2018-2019 Executive Committee team: President Vinaya and Gurunath Pai Treasurer Jayashree Pai and Divakar Shenoy Entertainment Aparna and Chetan Kumta Food Neeta and Murali Nayak Web/Facebook Rahul Kamath Youth Coordinators Pratha Bhat, Prerana Prabhu, Reyanshi Chauhan, Pranav Kamath Vice President Pravada and Pramod Bhat Jt. Treasurer Ashwini and Arun Bhat Jt. Entertainment Sangita and Prashant Amladi Jt. Food Sumana and Sudhir Nayak Jt. Web/Facebook Gayatri and Jayesh Nayak Jt. Youth Coordinators Pranav Amladi Vinaya & Gurunath Pai Presidents, Ontario Konkani Association; 2018 – 2019

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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Congratulations to AMCHI ROYALS for winning the Konkani Premier League 2018

Captain: Vinayak Shanbhag From Left to Right: Srini Kesavan, Mangesh Bailur, Arjun Mavinkurve, Vinayak Nayak, Abhishek Shinde, Arjun Suresh, Vinayak Shanbhag, Rahul Kamath, Sudhir Nayak, Navin Shenoy and Darshan Ravi

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KPL 2018 CHAMPIONS

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By Srini Kesavan

It all started when Barack Obama was reiterating ‘Yes we can’ in US. I believed in that mantra and thought that if Lalit Modi can start IPL in India, we can have KPL (Konkani Premier League) here. I told myself ‘Yes We Can’ It was the year 2013 and 24th year of KAO (OKA was called KAO then) when the KPL idea started to germinate in my mind. I remember the first time when I had discussed this idea, it was with Naren Kamath, Pramod Udiavar and Kashi during our camping while biking. I doubt that they remember my chat with them. They showed interest in my grandiose idea of forming teams, giving team names, printing t-shirts and conducting a cricket tournament like IPL. I also discussed with Niranjan Kamath who was the president that year, he liked the idea and suggested that we do something during the picnic. But things didn’t pan out that year. Next year was our KAO’s 25th year and I was the entertainment coordinator along with my Konkani half Supritha. The idea of KPL was lingering in my mind and it was a great opportunity to do something special that year. When I suggested the KPL idea to Mahesh Nileshwar - President that year, he was fully supportive and said that he knew someone who could print t-shirts. Now, when we say KPL, everyone is aware of it but in the first year we had to build the momentum and awareness, initially people were not sure about KPL, but everyone warmed up to the idea and we ended up making 4 teams. We formed an EC (Executive Committee) team - It was called EC Thunders, yours truly was the captain. The other three teams were randomly picked with kids and ladies as well. Following years did not have an exclusive EC team. Even though KPL was my brain child, I had a strong support team who helped in realizing my vision. Support team which we called KPL Committee comprised Shashikant, Srikant and Kashi and me. I had booked the ground at Oakville where I play league cricket and we have been playing there since until now. KPL Committee had 4 different colored T-Shirts printed with team names, logos, names & numbers and we also had detailed playing rules. 1st year cup was lifted by Kashi’s team after fierce competition and Srikant’s team. I thought KPL would be an one-off event for the 25th anniversary but it was so well received and OKA Executive Committee embraced it as a yearly event and we have just completed it’s 5th year! Right from year one it was a family event with ladies and kids cheering for their favourite teams.

IPL SE KPL TAK

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For 4 years I have been in the losing team, it almost seemed like I was the bad luck for the team I was part of but this year in the 5th edition, I was finally able to break the curse and be part of the championship team under the captaincy of Vinayak Shanbhag. I think the kind Amchis felt bad for me and made an elaborate scheme to let my team win :)

I feel proud to see KPL growing stronger every year and when people say that they really look forward to KPL every year and for some it’s their favourite OKA event. Also, it is great to see players wearing the caps that they had received for their accomplishments in the tournaments, even from year one. Kashi’s team won the 1st and 2nd KPL, Sanath’s team won 3rd and 4th KPL and 5th KPL is won by Vinayak Shanbhag’s team. Going by this trend it looks like KPL 6 will be won by Vinayak’s team as well, so make sure to be part of his team. Future vision - Team owners, Player auctions, Live telecast, Cheerleaders, Big $$$, Biscuit Ambado with Chutney, etc. Amchis with big fat wallets, are you reading this?

IPL SE KPL TAK

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MY KPL EXPERIENCE

By Om Nayak

On August 12, I took part in OKA’s (Ontario Konkani Association) annual cricket tournament, the KPL (Konkani Premier League). This was my second year playing. The KPL is a friendly cricket tournament between 4 teams:

The Amchi Royals The Kokke Knights The Konka Lions The Dorke Kings

The teams are different every year. Anyone 10 years and up can participate. This year, I was on the Konka Lions. My dad, my brother and I were all on different teams. Our first game was against the Kokke Knights, we were batting first. After our innings was over, we had a total of 80 runs! Unfortunately, the Knights managed to beat our score. Although we had lost our first game, I was excited and looking forward to our second one. While we were taking a break, the Amchi Royals played the Dorke Kings. The Kings batted wonderfully but the Royals had the skills to match. After a nail biting finish, the Royals came out victorious. After having a delicious lunch, it was time for our second game. This time, we were against the Kings. We won the toss and we chose to field first. After a few overs it was my turn to bowl. On my second ball, I got a wicket! The ball skimmed the bat and went straight into the wicket keeper’s hands. The same thing happened on the fourth ball as well. I was congratulated by my team after my over. Our wicket keeper made several catches that game and because of this we managed to get the Kings all out! Despite our efforts, the Kings put together a massive total of 93 runs! But we kept the runs coming as well, and this lead us to our first win of the tournament!

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MY KPL EXPERIENCE

After the Royals bested the Knights, in an exciting finals, it was time for the awards ceremony. I was not expecting to win the award of Best Upcoming Player. When my name was announced I was very surprised. This was my favorite part of the 2018 KPL.

I would recommend participating in the KPL to all OKA youth, because it is an exciting and enjoyable experience. I would also like to thank the KPL organizers and the EC for such an enjoyable day. I am already looking forward to the 2019 KPL and you should be too!

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MY THOUGHTS ON KPL 2018

By: Rishab Udiaver

August 12th, 2018 marked yet another outstanding edition of the fifth KPL (Konkani Premier League). Not only was the day compiled of very intense, competitive, and nail-biting matches for the players, but also for the fans of each team. A big thank you goes to the OKA EC for organizing such an event. A hearty congratulations goes to the Amchi Royals for being crowned as champions of KPL 2018. Throughout all four matches, whether a youth or an adult, each player demonstrated their unique skills that set the team up for success. However, certain individuals showcased a high degree of consistency in whatever strengths they have which could have been batting, bowling, fielding, or even an all-rounder. When the awards ceremony took place after the final, I was honoured to be a recipient of the best youth player of KPL 2018. This award is a good motivator for me to have that ambition to always get better and realize there is no end for improvement. It was not only because I won this award, but I was just happy in general that many awards were given to the youth and upcoming players. As our dads start to age, many may not be able to participate, and it is up to the youth to continue this annual KPL tradition. Although this was my third time playing in KPL, I still gained a lot which can add to my overall experience of participating in this competition. By playing with adults, I learned some strategies that could potentially work to win a game of cricket. For example, by observing the field placement (done by the captain), I learned where to place certain fielders according to where the batsman likes to hit the ball. Ever since I was a young boy, being active and taking part in sports always resonated with me. Although soccer is my all-time favourite sport, cricket is something I started to watch not too long ago and have developed an interest in ever since. By watching all the great cricketers on TV play so proficiently, it motivated me to also perform to the best of my ability. KPL is a great way to fulfill my passion for cricket since I get to play the game, and get the opportunity to perform to the best of my ability. In the final, we did not put up a good score, but did our level best to defend the total. Unfortunately, we fell short of a few runs. Although my team - Kokke Knights- lost in the finals, playing soccer on a regular basis did help to reach the final. The attitude of “never give up” was one of the big factors that helped make the final a good one. Likewise, winning doesn’t come easily. It takes hard work, dedication, commitment, and each person on the team must to play well in order for the team to win. These are just a few things that I attempt to do when I play soccer, as well as during each KPL. Whether playing a sport or not, one should always remember to be hungry but stay humble!

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MY THOUGHTS ON KPL 2018

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A SUMMER OFF THE COUCH By Deeksha Nayak When my father told me he was going to buy me a ticket to explore Europe, I was more than excited. I had heard a lot about the cities in grade 10 History, from some of my friends, and through Bollywood movies. Watching movies like Jab Harry Met Sejal, DDLJ and Bachna Ae Haseeno, my excitement for the Europe tour heightened. I packed everything I thought was necessary and got ready to experience new adventures. We were accompanied by two other families and we travelled four European countries in fifteen days. On the first day, we landed in Stuttgart, Germany and immediately drove to the city of Munich. The people were so friendly and the scenery was beautiful. What really intrigued me was the Mcdonald’s in Germany. Fast food franchises are much more grand in Germany than any North American Mcdonald's I have ever seen. It had two floors, fried shrimps on the menu and twelve different sauce options: curry being one of them. The aesthetics were so pleasing that it could easily be passed as a three-star restaurant in Canada. After experiencing the grief of the Dachau Concentration camp, and the jaw dropping BMW museum, we continued our journey to Vienna, Austria. Austria was a place full of history from the beautiful palaces to Mozart's legendary music pieces. We also went on a Sound of Music tour in Salzburg visiting all the memorable scenes from the movie and also witnessing where the actors used to live, while shooting the movie. After Austria, we continued our stay to Bratislava, Slovakia where we spent the day eating ice cream, trying some pastries and drinking coffee while roaming the streets. Budapest, Hungary was an experience in itself since we got to take the public transit and do the famous thermal baths. The bakery items were mouth watering in Budapest and there were many monuments to look at. The adventure continued to Switzerland where we danced on top of the Swiss Alps as if we were Bollywood actors and ate lunch in an Indian restaurant at the highest point of a mountain. It was truly a proud moment for all of us to eat at the Bollywood Cafe. The scenery was breathtaking, with the cohesion of ice, land, and water. After all of those memorable cities and experiences, we returned to Stuttgart, Germany and went to the Mercedes museum. On our way back, we reflected on the new memories we had appreciating each other’s company, savouring amazing food and realizing that nothing beats German beer! I look forward to going back to Europe for other adventures. If you get an opportunity, I highly recommend a visit to Europe at least once. The experiences and knowledge you will learn in a single visit, will last you a lifetime.

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IMPORTANT MESSAGE— NARAYANDAS KAMATH

To: President & Executive Committee Members: I recently came to know that some individual belonging to the KAO has been circulating his/her extreme critical views on KAO Affairs and other private functions in the name of : satishkamathaa@gmail.com. After initial investigation, we found out that this is the 3rd time over the past several months that this person has been repeatedly sending offensive e-mails, which needs to be stopped. Even though my official name is Narayandas, my close family members and a few of my friends also know me as Satish. It was therefore, shocking to see e-mails in my name being circulated to KAO members to express this person's radical views, which does not represent me or my views. This is an act of Cyber fraud and when contacted, the York Regional Police Dept., advised me to request the association to inform all members to treat this kind of email ID as Spam and to Block it. I have already obtained this fraudulent e-mails' IP address and also in contact with Google Headquarters to obtain the real identity of this person. In the meanwhile I request the Association to inform all the members to be aware of this e-mail and to block it. Thank you for your co-operation. With best regards, Narayandas Kamath

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AWARD FOR GREAT INITIATIVE DURING GRADE 8 GRADUATION

By Sangita Amladi Pranav is a shy, kind hearted, happy go lucky but confident average school age boy. He is not like other Desi kids who are mostly aiming in school for specialized academic programs or advance placement. As his parents, we never forced our dreams on any of our children or expected them to be an extraordinary academic achiever. We always celebrated their victory big or small, accepted them as they are and let them be their own self. Daily I hope and pray that my child grows up to be a happy, friendly, respectful, courteous and good citizen of our country. This photo of my son with an award is not an academic achievement, it is an accomplishment of his perseverance, belief and hard work. This trophy is his victory over laziness and procrastination to achieve the goals he set for himself in Grade 8. It is an appreciation of his hard work, believing in his abilities and taking initiatives. I know my son has a long way to fulfill his goal in life of becoming a great animation artist but I also know we as his parents will continue to empower & motivate him to do his best.

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AWARD FOR GREAT INITIATIVE DURING GRADE 8 GRADUATION

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OKA ART BIOGRAPHY Nandita Yedery is a visual artist and has been painting since her childhood. She is a trained Commercial Artist and Fine Artist. Working in advertising, Nandita created many product designs, advertisements and related sales products for pharmaceutical firms. However, she always likes artistic freedom as a fine artist and thrives on the happiness of seeing her concepts and vision on a canvas.

Over the years she has received a lot of appreciation for her paintings, some of which are displayed in a few homes in India. She has dabbled in a range of styles such as miniature paintings, sand art, etching prints, clay art, sculpture, pastels, pencil sketching and photography. Nandita sees the beauty in nature and around her and that inspires her to paint. She then converts the pictures and visual mental images into assorted styles of paintings such as Contemporary, Abstract, Impression, Realism - Landscape and Still life. She paints in different art media such as mixed media paintings, ink & pen, oils and acrylic medium. Recently her painting “Elements of Nature” was selected and promoted by Visual Art of South Asia Festival. This painting was displayed at Beaux-Arts Gallery, Brampton. It was highly appreciated, including by the political dignitary present, a Member of Parliament who talked about her painting in his speech and later complemented her in person. Nandita undertakes commissioned paintings and she also has an enormous collection of paintings for your gifting needs, for any occasion. She can be contacted via email at art4uboutique@gmail.com Her mission statement is to inspire people towards kindness, acceptance and generosity. She wants her paintings to be a portal that can touch the heart of a soul and create a feeling of calmness and happiness. Nandita is a member of MAC and VAM two prestigious art organizations in Ontario, CANADA

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OKA ART BIOGRAPHY VASA Festival painting details: Painting Title: Elem ents of nature Medium: Acrylic on canvas, Colors & Texture - Abstract Size: 36” x 36” Photo Credit: Arvind K am ath About the painting: This painting conveys the several aspects of life and energy that is around us. The Sun, Moon, Water and Air. These elements are powerful energies and they can create high vibrations in our life. We can see this energy in every elements of life forms. This painting talks about us connecting to the source and charging our lives with high vibration. It informs that there is beauty in nature and we can find the beauty within us as we are part of this beautiful world.

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SENIORS’ PROGRAM

UPCOMING EVENTS

INFORMAL, INTERACTIVE SESSION ON DIABETES PRELIMINARY INFORMATION

Plans are underway for conducting an informal, interactive session on “Diabetes: Management” on Sunday, October 28, 2018. If you have been diagnosed with Diabetes or with high sugar or someone in your family is diagnosed with Diabetes/high sugar or just want to learn more about Managing Diabetes, YOU MAY WANT TO REGISTER FOR THIS SESSION SVBF has been contacted for cohosting and supporting this event. Therefore, the venue has not yet been finalized. TOPICS AND SPEAKERS: Diabetes: Diagnosis, Treatment, Prognosis Speaker – An experienced Diabetologist/ Endocrinologist is being lined up Diabetes and Yoga Speaker – Veena Shanbhag, Pharmacist, Certified Yoga Trainer and long standing OKA Life Member Diabetes and Diet Speaker – Siva Swaminathan, Chef, Trainer and Cofounder South Asian Chapter of Diabetes Canada. (for more information on Siva Swaminathan google Chezsiva and click on About Siva) Registration will be limited. Once the details are finalized, m embers of other Associations will be notified, so register asap by sending an email to sadanand.mankikar@gmail.com For more information please join OKA Aadhar Chat and visit OKA website http://ontario-konkanis.com and click on Seniors Forum

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SENIORS’ PROGRAM

OKA TECHNICAL SUPPORT WORKSHOP

Saturday, September 8, 2018

(House Full – Registration Closed)

This project was developed by Minakshi Pai with the input from various members of our community and was launched on May 12, 2018. That house full workshop was conducted by Minakshi Pai and Kartik Kulkarni; hosted by Nandini and Shiv Ganguly and sponsored by Belene Victoria of Penncorp La Capitale. The purpose of this program is to INFORM & TRAIN OKA members/seniors on new and existing technologies, SUPPORT those who require technical or other assistance and ENABLE increased independence, confidence and self -sufficiency through information and online services The next workshop will be held on Saturday, September 8, 2018. This will be hosted by Mahesh Nileshwar of PCHS and once again sponsored by Belene Victoria of Penncorp La Capitale.

AGENDA Introduction to the Task Force Mission of the Task Force, Introduction to the team , Services offered Keeping your phone health This session w ill w alk you through a checklist of w hat you need to keep your phone or other mobile device healthy. This includes battery optimization and longevity, memory usage, device speed, data and security. All about apps You w ill learn w hat to look for in an app before dow nloading it, and how to monitor its performance. Should it stay or should it go? We’ll help you figure it out. We will also walk you through some must-have apps. Sponsor – Belén Victoria of Penncorp La Capitale Invest in your health. Providing tax-efficient solutions to protect your retirement savings and legacy. Because a health crisis should not become a financial crisis. From smart phones to smart homes Discover in brief the capabilities of Google Hom e and Echo Dot - devices that allow home automation. We will also revisit Google Chromecast and Amazon Firestick and demonstrate how to maximize their use for home entertainment. Practical workshop 13.00 W e w ill use this tim e for one on one support and troubleshooting. Bring your devices and ask us all your questions! Closing discussion Future topics, Logistics Unfortunately, this workshop is full and registration is closed.

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SENIORS’ PROGRAM

INVITATION TO JOIN OKA AADHAR CHAT

This Google group has been set up to interact, share info, ask questions, plan events, etc., OKA mem-bers are urged to join this Chat.

How to sign up?

If you don't have a Google account, create one by going here. If you already have gmail, then you already have a Google account.

Our chat group is called oka-aadhar-chat. Bookmark the webpage for easy access: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/oka-aadhaar-chat.

To post a new message you can go to the page above and click the red "New topic". OR you can just

send an e-mail to oka-aadhaar-chat@googlegroups.com.

To reply to a message is the same. You can either do it through the webpage or by clicking "Reply" to a message you got in your Inbox.

If you require any assistance please contact Shraddha Pai.

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MOKSHA PATAM

The 13th century poet Saint Gyandev created a children's game called Moksha Patam. The British later named it Snakes and Ladders instead of the original Moksha Patam. In the original one hundred square game board, the 12th square was faith, the 51st square was reliability, the 57th square was generosity, the 76th square was knowledge, and the 78th square was asceticism. These were the squares where the ladders were found and one could move ahead faster. The 41st square was for disobedience, the 44th square for arrogance, the 49th square for vulgarity, the 52nd square for theft, the 58th square for lying, the 62nd square for drunkenness, the 69th square for debt, the 84th square for anger, the 92nd square for greed, the 95th square for pride, the 73rd square for murder and the 99th square for lust. These were the squares where the snake waited with its mouth open. The 100th square represented Nirvana or Moksha. The tops of each ladder depict a God, or one of the various heavens (Kailasa, Vaikuntha, Brahmaloka) and so on. As the game progressed various actions were supposed to take you up and down the board as in life.