The Divine Awakening and Miracles

By Suchitthra Shreiyaa Lakshmi Vasu

A motivational inspiring journey of Shreiyaa from darkness to light, Initial mistakes in her life does not end the story. With changes and transformation under the guidance of eminent Gurus such as HH Dalai Lama her life transform into a meaningful, glorious, and happy, interesting and exciting life. Her life blossoms into the most beautiful flower soaking in the goodness of the resplendent sunshine.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing Singapore
• Release date: Dec 22, 2021
• ISBN: 9781543768350

Suchitthra Shreiyaa Lakshmi Vasu

Ms Suchitthra Vasu was trained as a lawyer at Lincoln’s Inn at the Bar of England and Wales. She also holds a masters degree from Monash University Melbourne Australia in Advanced Maritime Law. She is admitted to practice law in several jurisdictions namely England , Australia and Singapore. She was a legal practitioner in Singapore for two and half years and subsequently worked as a Claims Manager and Legal Officer with a British Shipping company specializing in Protection and Indemnity Insurance. She is also a writer having had her first book published in 1999 as well as several articles published in various magazines journals and Infoexpress at the National Library She has also many published articles on Buddhism and Hinduism. Since she began writing as part of her career she has authored ,co authored and ghost written a total of 15 books .Of these some of her books are legal books and other are socio legal related matters. She also writes non legal fictions. Two of her books have been very well received by the United Nations namely “ The Rights of a Minor in Singapore and her masters thesis ‘ The Role of the United Nations and International Red Cross in Armed Conflict. ”She is now a full time writer and author in Singapore She is also an award wining writer.

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Copyright © 2022 by Suchitthra Shreiyaa Lakshmi Vasu.

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CONTENTS

Dedication

Chapter 1 My Parents Before Me

Chapter 2 Early Childhood

Chapter 3 Teenage Years

Chapter 4 The Love

Chapter 5 The Deep Abyss Of Misery, Diagnosed With Bipolar Disorder

Chapter 6 Turning Point

Chapter 7 Food Reviews And Social Life Of Shreiyaa

Chapter 8 A New Life Has Begun

Chapter 9 Keeping Close To Indian Culture And Keeping Abreast Of News In India

Chapter 10 Final Journey Of Kishen And Nandini Venugopal

Chapter 11 Visual Art And Shreiyaa—A Journey Of Deep Expression

Chapter 12 Anil’s And Shreiyaa’s Children, Now Adults, Embrace More Blessings And Family Grows

DEDICATION

D edicated to my late beloved parents, Krishnan and Shantha Vasu. Their spirit lives on, and they and God are my guiding light in all I do. I want to give special thanks to my late mother, who was my first guru in training me as a writer at a very young age. I am humbled with gratitude to her. This book is to honour the sacred memory of my beloved parents.

And to my dearly beloved brother, Aravind Vasu, his very lovely wife, Tanaaz Daver, and our precious Zahaan Daver Vasu, my nephew, who brought us all light and joy.

I also want to give thanks to my doctors who made me well, my divine masters who spiritually guided me and prayed for me. In this respect, I am grateful especially to HH Dalai Lama for transforming my life, and, last but not least, I want to thank the government of Singapore for making this beautiful country safe to live in as a single lady.

I worship writing, and it runs through my jugular vein.

Most of all, thanks to God Almighty for giving me the gift of writing.

CHAPTER 1

MY PARENTS BEFORE ME

K ishen Venugopal and Nandini Venugopal are my beloved parents, originally from North Malabar, Kerala, in South India. Now they are pioneer-generation Singaporeans.

Kishen was born in 1921 and Nandini in 1929. We are Malayalee by origin and Hindu in faith. Malayalam, the native language of Malayalees, has its origin from the words mala, meaning ‘mountain’, and alam, meaning ‘land or locality’. Hence, the term Malayali refers to the people from the mountains who lived beyond the Western Holy side of the river, and Malayalam the language that was spoken there. We speak both Malayalam and English.

A LITTLE ABOUT THEIR ROOTS: CHOKLI AND ERANHOLI THALASSERY

My father, Kishen, was born in a village called Chokli in the Kannur district of Kerala in South India. He is of North Malabar origin. Chokli is a village in Thalassery Taluk. What does this mean, Thalassery Taluk? Chokli is 7 km from Thalassery and 458 km from the state capital Thiruvananthapuram. Nearby is the Arabian Sea. The weather is either hot and humid, or wet and cool in the monsoon season. Malayalam is the local language.

This part of Kerala is blessed with crystal-clear waters running through their lakes and rivers and abundant river fish. It also boasts of coconut trees that line the beaches, lakes, and riverbanks. Coconut is the land’s most important fruit, known as the tree of a hundred uses. Coconut milk is used in curries and for medicinal products, coconut water from tender coconuts is a wonderful thirst quencher, the stem of the leaves is used to make brooms for sweeping, and tender coconut is used to make a delicious coconut liqueur called toddy, which tastes like the Caribbean Malibu.

BOX NORTH MALABAR

North Malabar starts at Korapuzha in the south and tapers off at Manjeshwaram in the north of Kerala. It consists of the former royal principalities and fiefdoms of Kolathunadu, Kadathanadu, and southern part of Tulu Nadu.

Going back in time to the early medieval era, North Malabar preserved its distinct political identity. The Chera dynasty did not control this area, and that is why even today, the area boasts of a unique cultural identity.

When you compare the rest of Kerala with Thalassery, both in its geographical and cultural make-up, it is distinct in many aspects of the word.

The indigenous people comprises Hindu natives Muslims locally known as Mappila Jains and migrant Christians. The Arabs, Chinese, and Jews were deeply involved in the spice trade during the yesteryears. Thalassery was a haven for growth and sale of peppercorns, and it was abundantly harvested and formed part of the spice trade.

The people of Thalassery are proud of their unique and distinct culture and traditional values and their identity that up until the early twentieth century, it was rare for any intermarriage. They jealously guarded their blood and would not allow for outsiders to marry into their families. There were social taboos attached with other communities so that it was forbidden for their women to marry anyone from the southern territories. Even today, marrying out to someone in the southern territories is frowned upon so much so that when they place newspaper advertisements for a marriage alliance, they would openly make known their preference that the prospective bride or groom should hail for North Malabar and not Travancore. If you are from North Malabar, you should only marry someone for North Malabar because that is the ideal choice for a life partner. This is how they think in Thalassery, and this trend of thought is the jugular vein that runs in the blood of all the people of North Malabar, and it is still preserved even today. Today, you can see that the Malayalees live in bigger houses, and each home is blessed with prosperity that came from them going out of the country to Dubai and other Middle East countries. Locally, they would say, ‘Ar vedu Dubai kash’, meaning ‘That house has Dubai money’!

MALABAR WOMEN: A MUST MENTION

Malabar women are by far some of the most beautiful women in the world. They are naturally endowed with well-toned shapely bodies and are fair complexioned even though they are full-bred South Indians. Why I say this is because North Indians have the advantage of mixed blood of Aryan descent to give them a fair complexion, which Malabar women do not have and yet they are beautifully complexioned. They say they are of wheatish complexioned that is fair, with a hint of a golden highlight on their smooth as silk skin. They have neatly chiselled features with sharp pointed noses and eyes formed like a perfect lotus petal. Their eyes gleam with inner and outer radiance, and when they are sari clad, it is indeed a joy to watch them with their feminine charming demeanour. They are house proud women who are sticklers for cleanliness, qualities that they derive from their mostly Hindu background. Hinduism venerates the woman as a mother goddess. The Mother Goddess takes three forms as Durga, Mahalakshmi, and Saraswati. Durga is worshipped to eradicate vices. Mahalakshmi is the goddess of wealth and abundance, and Saraswati is the goddess of learning and knowledge. The Hindus predominantly propitiate the universal Mother Goddess and put her on a pedestal and worship her. Most women in Malabar try to emulate the Mother Goddess, aiming to assimilate all her divine qualities. So, in essence, cleanliness is next to godliness, and therefore they keep themselves clean, so too their homes to invite abundance into their lives. The sari is the most graceful of apparel, and they will wear ornate gold jewellery and gold bangles with strings of pristine jasmine flowers in their hair. This they will do when they set out in the mornings to begin their day by worshipping in a temple. It is such a pretty sight to see these sari-clad women in an array of multicolours with floral and other patterns. They also smell as fresh as a flower having bathed in sandalwood shavings. Perfume is natural, and most of them do not use make-up. They are naturally beautiful to look at. To the Malabar women, marriage is very significant, and their husbands take the role of head of household, and children are brought up with much care and love.

My mother, Nandini Venugopal, is from Eranholi, Thalassery, North Malabar also, from Kerala. Thalassery has a culture of its own, and it is worth knowing about it as much of it influenced my parents’ lifestyle when they immigrated to Singapore. They jealously guarded their Indian values and were also open to mingling with the multicultural society of Singapore. Though their values were old-fashioned and steeped in tradition, you could say they were altogether ahead of their times.

TWO MAJOR FESTIVALS IN KERALA: VISHU AND ONAM

Vishu is the New Year, whereas Onam is the celebration of the harvest festival. Vishu in Kerala is Puthuvarusham for the Tamilians and Vesakhi for the Punjabis. It all falls around the same time of the year and is usually celebrated with a sumptuous vegetarian spread known as a Sadhya, which literally translates as ‘banquet’. Onam is mainly celebrated with a large vegetarian spread served on banana leaves. It is normal for households to make carpets out of flowers, called a pukolam. It is placed on a plank of wood and a picture or motif is drawn and it is decorated with a lovely array of colourful fresh flowers and placed at the entrance of the home. The more artistic the person doing the pukolam, the more spectacular the result will be.

THALASSERY CUISINE

I must include this because it is unique to my parents’ origin and very delicious.

Thalassery is known for its biryani (in local dialect, biri-yaa-ni). Unlike other biryani cuisines, Thalassery biryani uses Kaima/Jeerakasala rice instead of the usual basmati rice. The Arabian/Mughal influence is evident in its culinary culture, especially in the dishes of the Muslim community, although many have become popular amongst all communities. Kerala, a state in the south-west of India, is known as the ‘Land of Spices’ because it traded spices with Europe. Also, most of these spice were home-grown, especially pepper from Thalassery. Food is served on a banana leaf, and almost every dish has coconut and spices added for flavour, giving its cuisine a spicy taste that is made tantalizing on the palate. There is also a liberal use of tamarind to make the taste of the food piquant. Seafood is the main diet in coastal Kerala. Meat is served as the main course in tribal and northern Kerala. Dishes range from simple porridge known as kanyi to lavish feasts or sadyas. Coconuts grow in abundance in Kerala, and as such, coconut kernel (sliced or grated), coconut, cream, and coconut milk are often used in dishes to thicken and flavour it.

Now, let me tell you about their awesome mouth-watering Thalassery biryani, which is the signature dish of the Malayalees from Thalassery. I also want to add that this dish is cooked to perfection served in copper bowls. Not too greasy and incredibly delicious Thalassery biryani is a hybrid of dum biryani but having an originality and culinary individuality of its own. It is sometimes called ‘green biryani’ because the masala is different from dum biryani, which uses saffron liberally to make it look orange in colour. The concept is similar. Either fish, prawn, chicken, goat, or mutton is cooked with