Besides getting poked at and turned into a zombie, I really appreciate FB's BlogFriends app.
Tonight when I was exploring the recent blogs on my FB app. I came across something interesting that really made me forget it was 2 am and I couldnt resist the itch to read and blog it immdtly.
I was reading a blog called - An American Holiday and a Desi Dilema by Snigdha Sen, although the post was speaking about Thanksgiving day which is the biggest festival now in the US of A. Snigdha mentioned a report on wharton by eminent newspaper columnist Shoba Narayanan.
The report kept me awake. I know of people who made it to their american dream. I know the families who proudly flash their american relatives and the gifts.
What happened in the early 90's was the 2nd big flood of Indian Brain-Drain. (excuse my ignorance I was too young if something similar happened before)
Talent of all sorts was being whisked away and Indians (especially the IT folks) saw America as the promised land. where a Srinivas from Kuchipudi village landed in a job with a local IT company that greedily traded him as a consultant to Detroit.
Ok, it was not so bad as I just described but the bulk of the IT force which was employed were Indians and Indians who survived in a very different country with a strange culture.
All of them are now well settled, flash a green card and are overall doing great. India in the early 2K saw a great wave of enterpreunership, great flagships like Infosys, Wipro and Reliance earned a respectable place in the world forum.
This made a lot Indians abroad start dreaming about going back and there was a small wave called ROI - Return of Indians.
I do not have the statistics nor would dare to say the numbers were large. but still it was a good thing that happened. The Returning Indians brought back immense talent, knowledge and revolutionised the work culture in India.
Hyderabad & Banglore were known to be sleeping cities before 2K, but now you would be amazed that these cities do not sleep at all. we have major IT hubs, Call centers and reasearch being delivered from here.
The report by Shobha Narayanan is really a story of cross cultural dilema.
Considering our Hero even though he survived America, got a good dowry and a beautiful bride in a couple of years and yeah had a couple of kids thereafter.
He had been remitting like a loyal Indian would do for his parents, his kid brothers extravagance or his sisters marriage whatever. had now a family of his own.
While our Hero had seen his kids growing up and turning American everyday. raising them was a parental nightmare. so what does he do..he starts dreaming of R2I - Return To India.
His family was used to getting these nice gifts from him and wanted him to stay there successful forever..how hypocritical we can be.
Well, with this struggle of acceptance (a sort of) and his phobia that his kids might get the wrong culture ingrained. He starts loosing his patience.
he experiments by coming down for vacations, social events in the family - offcourse He realises that he has to buy few cartons of mineral water to avoid diahorrea and also gets the vibes of hypocrisy around him.
His relatives expect a lot from him, he has to bribe them with imported gifts and what not.
So our Hero and his alikes are as confused and troubled as those aspiring to get the american visa.
Human beings are such a disillusioned lot, we want things that we might soon repent & discard.
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Amazon: Reinventing the Book | Newsweek.com
Amazon: Reinventing the Book Newsweek.com
After reading this great article on Amazon's new (ebook reader) device - Kindle, I was impressed with some of the references Steven Levy made.
Especially the epilogue is interesting. I totally agree with him and to add to it, there would be no more trees to produce paper to be processed into books.
I would bet on shares of companies investing in recycling of existing waste paper.
Looking at the current apathy of yuppies not being able to write a 100 word composition in plain english. teachers have reported students being addicted to sms-text english.
some interesting articles on the Gen Y & technology
- Text Messaging and the death of English Language
- The Detrimental effects of america's individualistic youth
Devices like Kindle are going to be a sure welcome relief to the gadget folks.
But still the book (quote from the article) has undergone over 5000 years of technology improvisation is sure to stay. We humans have also genetically inherited the passion towards paper/physical books. It might still stay kicking alive for a few more decades.
With technology and services like Kindle replacing the traditional way of reading a good novel, We are sure to find the last few books to be preserved by those Librarians who want to keep literary artefacts available for reference in the future.
After reading this great article on Amazon's new (ebook reader) device - Kindle, I was impressed with some of the references Steven Levy made.
Especially the epilogue is interesting. I totally agree with him and to add to it, there would be no more trees to produce paper to be processed into books.
I would bet on shares of companies investing in recycling of existing waste paper.
Looking at the current apathy of yuppies not being able to write a 100 word composition in plain english. teachers have reported students being addicted to sms-text english.
some interesting articles on the Gen Y & technology
- Text Messaging and the death of English Language
- The Detrimental effects of america's individualistic youth
Devices like Kindle are going to be a sure welcome relief to the gadget folks.
But still the book (quote from the article) has undergone over 5000 years of technology improvisation is sure to stay. We humans have also genetically inherited the passion towards paper/physical books. It might still stay kicking alive for a few more decades.
With technology and services like Kindle replacing the traditional way of reading a good novel, We are sure to find the last few books to be preserved by those Librarians who want to keep literary artefacts available for reference in the future.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Chiu Tai, Chiu Tai - where have you gone ?
I remember there was a poem in Marathi (one of the Indian Languages spoke in the State of Maharashtra) which i learnt during my primary school days.
It was a rhyme by a kid asking Chiu Tai (common house sparrow) where it has gone.
it brings a lot of nostalgia to me personally as the poem influenced us to observe and care for the sparrows. I also faintly remember how a sparrow would get into my room the moment it found the windows open and then peck at its refelected image on the mirror.
The sparrow is a feeble bird, the gender of its kind can be distinguished by the dull woody brown - Male and the dark reddish brown-Female.
They collectively build a nest from hay & twigs and the female lays around 3-4 eggs at a time. The venue for the nest is usually at the loft or in the unreachable spots of an structure like an apartment. unlike the weaver birds, the sparrow's nest is a bit clumsy structurally and built to just to fit the need.
I am no Ornithologist nor did i do any reasearch on birds. but i think this might be one of the reasons it got its name as the common house sparrow as it prefers to stay close to us - Humans.
let me ask you my dear friends - When did you last notice the Common House sparrow in India.
answer - a year back or maybe when you were hit by someone and you saw stars and chiu tai singing around your head !
nah.jokes apart, I was shocked when I heard this news but its true.
Pls read the article in the following link. http://www.indiatogether.org/2005/aug/env-sparrow.htm
Its pathetic we (humans) have sucessfully wiped out yet another of the species.
It high time we care for such beautiful creatures around us !
we will have rhymes but would be in a dilema if our little ones ask us the same question back....Chiu Tai, Chiu Tai - where have you gone ?
regards,
Ganesh
It was a rhyme by a kid asking Chiu Tai (common house sparrow) where it has gone.
it brings a lot of nostalgia to me personally as the poem influenced us to observe and care for the sparrows. I also faintly remember how a sparrow would get into my room the moment it found the windows open and then peck at its refelected image on the mirror.
The sparrow is a feeble bird, the gender of its kind can be distinguished by the dull woody brown - Male and the dark reddish brown-Female.
They collectively build a nest from hay & twigs and the female lays around 3-4 eggs at a time. The venue for the nest is usually at the loft or in the unreachable spots of an structure like an apartment. unlike the weaver birds, the sparrow's nest is a bit clumsy structurally and built to just to fit the need.
I am no Ornithologist nor did i do any reasearch on birds. but i think this might be one of the reasons it got its name as the common house sparrow as it prefers to stay close to us - Humans.
let me ask you my dear friends - When did you last notice the Common House sparrow in India.
answer - a year back or maybe when you were hit by someone and you saw stars and chiu tai singing around your head !
nah.jokes apart, I was shocked when I heard this news but its true.
Pls read the article in the following link. http://www.indiatogether.org/2005/aug/env-sparrow.htm
Its pathetic we (humans) have sucessfully wiped out yet another of the species.
It high time we care for such beautiful creatures around us !
we will have rhymes but would be in a dilema if our little ones ask us the same question back....Chiu Tai, Chiu Tai - where have you gone ?
regards,
Ganesh
Friday, October 12, 2007
Foreigners flock to India for good jobs
Foreigners flock to India for good jobs
For a change this is a reverse trend of RFs (Resident Foreigners) or firangs coming to India to work not to rule or setup a mission.
What is quiet interesting is the geographical locations and domains is not the most sought for,
HR and Customer services executives, managers and other specialists in the globalisation effected markets like FMCG and Hospitality are the attraction factors.
To Indian businessmen this means having a Firang greeting rich desi's and making them feel good about it. giving whatever the service is a 'pohren' touch.
I like the idea, and would love if the government by some magic can lure skilled workers in domains like oil exploration, medicine, electronics and fabrication to name a few, into seeking jobs here in India.
The initiative that some governments like Singapore employ is to get the best talent from around the world and tie them down so tight that they contribute back the profits both to the community as well as the government in form of ERP, Professional TAX or GST. at the sametime they reduce the burden on Lower income sections, provide more relaxation to the Aging citizens.
I know some of you might snigger i am comparing a drop of water (Singapore) to the ocean (India).
But IMAHO- good things come in small sizes and can come from the tiniest to the youngest.
India as a nation drastically needs to improve on its wealth - manpower, human investment, living conditions, health, security.
Thinking and converting everyone who read this blog is the only thing I can do now, when I meet a group of like-headers, My vision is to go ahead with the planning, logistics and implementation.
More of such news articles are predictable. After all who can ignore the fact that we are the 2nd largest population on this planet.
Lets make it a place that more of us and our future generations can prosper on.
ciao.
For a change this is a reverse trend of RFs (Resident Foreigners) or firangs coming to India to work not to rule or setup a mission.
What is quiet interesting is the geographical locations and domains is not the most sought for,
HR and Customer services executives, managers and other specialists in the globalisation effected markets like FMCG and Hospitality are the attraction factors.
To Indian businessmen this means having a Firang greeting rich desi's and making them feel good about it. giving whatever the service is a 'pohren' touch.
I like the idea, and would love if the government by some magic can lure skilled workers in domains like oil exploration, medicine, electronics and fabrication to name a few, into seeking jobs here in India.
The initiative that some governments like Singapore employ is to get the best talent from around the world and tie them down so tight that they contribute back the profits both to the community as well as the government in form of ERP, Professional TAX or GST. at the sametime they reduce the burden on Lower income sections, provide more relaxation to the Aging citizens.
I know some of you might snigger i am comparing a drop of water (Singapore) to the ocean (India).
But IMAHO- good things come in small sizes and can come from the tiniest to the youngest.
India as a nation drastically needs to improve on its wealth - manpower, human investment, living conditions, health, security.
Thinking and converting everyone who read this blog is the only thing I can do now, when I meet a group of like-headers, My vision is to go ahead with the planning, logistics and implementation.
More of such news articles are predictable. After all who can ignore the fact that we are the 2nd largest population on this planet.
Lets make it a place that more of us and our future generations can prosper on.
ciao.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
We need to find alternate habitat in the galaxy: Kalam - Yahoo! India News
Hi Folks,
This article on finding alternate habitats in the galaxy compliments my earlier post - Men are from Mars.
well not actually, but the gist is that yes, we need to go ahead and seek virgin habitats once we have made our planet earth unhabitable..in other words polluted it beyond compare..what a shame indeed !
We need to find alternate habitat in the galaxy: Kalam - Yahoo! India News
This article on finding alternate habitats in the galaxy compliments my earlier post - Men are from Mars.
well not actually, but the gist is that yes, we need to go ahead and seek virgin habitats once we have made our planet earth unhabitable..in other words polluted it beyond compare..what a shame indeed !
We need to find alternate habitat in the galaxy: Kalam - Yahoo! India News
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Is Man really a Social Animal ?
Hi Folks,
I was discussing this topic in a different context with one of my colleague. I had always carried this thought in my mind, which I call it as one of my many theories (aka Gyanopdesh's)
The theory is a bit poetic and not really well framed (grammatically...but who cares)
"Man vies for a social life and in a group tries to be unique or different from the rest"
True, Dont you feel the same ?
Ok, take your time and close your eyes. try to recollect the guy/babe you hate the most and the one whom you can associate with words like - snob, show-off, et all
Thats right, there are many folks around us. and we are also one of them.
we live in a society which recognises what appears superficial, successful, glaringly bold, unconventional and all those weird things which we were taught in our school as not being right.
so what do we do, we do our best everyday to be noticed. dress up the best way, we strive to be cool (sometimes we are so cold that we have frozen expressions!)
we try to be indifferent to emotions, nostalgia, others around us. thats being cool right ?
I had heard about an experiment conducted by an psychologist studying human behaviour.
Luckily the psychologist did not use anyone but himself as the guniea pig.
He stayed away in isolation (siberia, alaska..i'm not sure where though) for few months. He had taken all the rations that would help him survive and basic needs to protect him from extreme weather.
He made it very clear that anything he carried need not have any labels on them, no markings, nothing which he can read. He had no communication device, nothing which can connect him to the rest of the world !
He had planned to stay in such condition for 6 months, but had told his friend to check on him in 3 months.
when his friend as promised went to see him. he could not believe his eyes.
The psychologist had aged more than a decade. he was worn out and unfit.
He begged his friend to abandon the experiment before he kills himself.
The psychologist had kept notes, daily log which he had updated to the tiniest detail. his observations were and are research material for experts in fields like Wild Life, Ice, Seasons, you name it.
When the psychologist came back to the civilized world, He was welcomed, honoured and praised for his will power, perseverance and determination. He was the guest of honour, speaker, & chair for many conferences and felicitations.
He continued adding to his notes/log, and later after few years He was back to normal.
He called few of his colleagues and asked them to use his notes to infer the changes he had been through.
The observations were made and the desicion was un-biased and unanimous.
1) In Solitude, the psychologist had explored beyond his interests, field of study. Each daily log had an unwritten claim and angst to be back into the society.
2) Back in Society, the psychologist had initially being happy to be loved and recognised. He carried this further when the felicitation had dried up, He became rude, commanding, demanding and proved he was an step ahead of all those experts around him.
well, I am not sure if this is a real experiment as this story was narrated to me as a kid. I dont have citations nor was i successful in finding any material on it on the internet.
The other incident which I want to share (confess) is really something which had embarassed me. but I was enlightened by a stranger on one of the IRC chat rooms where I boasted of being in the Deep Purple show in Banglore, India. which infact I never had been to, offcourse I used do listen to other classic rock bands and had nearly negligible knowledge of the legends.
when we were chatting about the show, the guy figured out i was faking and he said something which embarrased me but was really cool, I would love to quote it here.
"The Higher the monkey climbs the tree, the more of its butt can you see !"
well, you know who was the monkey now !
hope you enjoyed this post, do drop your comments and let me know if you think we are really social animals or just animals..grrr...!
I was discussing this topic in a different context with one of my colleague. I had always carried this thought in my mind, which I call it as one of my many theories (aka Gyanopdesh's)
The theory is a bit poetic and not really well framed (grammatically...but who cares)
"Man vies for a social life and in a group tries to be unique or different from the rest"
True, Dont you feel the same ?
Ok, take your time and close your eyes. try to recollect the guy/babe you hate the most and the one whom you can associate with words like - snob, show-off, et all
Thats right, there are many folks around us. and we are also one of them.
we live in a society which recognises what appears superficial, successful, glaringly bold, unconventional and all those weird things which we were taught in our school as not being right.
so what do we do, we do our best everyday to be noticed. dress up the best way, we strive to be cool (sometimes we are so cold that we have frozen expressions!)
we try to be indifferent to emotions, nostalgia, others around us. thats being cool right ?
I had heard about an experiment conducted by an psychologist studying human behaviour.
Luckily the psychologist did not use anyone but himself as the guniea pig.
He stayed away in isolation (siberia, alaska..i'm not sure where though) for few months. He had taken all the rations that would help him survive and basic needs to protect him from extreme weather.
He made it very clear that anything he carried need not have any labels on them, no markings, nothing which he can read. He had no communication device, nothing which can connect him to the rest of the world !
He had planned to stay in such condition for 6 months, but had told his friend to check on him in 3 months.
when his friend as promised went to see him. he could not believe his eyes.
The psychologist had aged more than a decade. he was worn out and unfit.
He begged his friend to abandon the experiment before he kills himself.
The psychologist had kept notes, daily log which he had updated to the tiniest detail. his observations were and are research material for experts in fields like Wild Life, Ice, Seasons, you name it.
When the psychologist came back to the civilized world, He was welcomed, honoured and praised for his will power, perseverance and determination. He was the guest of honour, speaker, & chair for many conferences and felicitations.
He continued adding to his notes/log, and later after few years He was back to normal.
He called few of his colleagues and asked them to use his notes to infer the changes he had been through.
The observations were made and the desicion was un-biased and unanimous.
1) In Solitude, the psychologist had explored beyond his interests, field of study. Each daily log had an unwritten claim and angst to be back into the society.
2) Back in Society, the psychologist had initially being happy to be loved and recognised. He carried this further when the felicitation had dried up, He became rude, commanding, demanding and proved he was an step ahead of all those experts around him.
well, I am not sure if this is a real experiment as this story was narrated to me as a kid. I dont have citations nor was i successful in finding any material on it on the internet.
The other incident which I want to share (confess) is really something which had embarassed me. but I was enlightened by a stranger on one of the IRC chat rooms where I boasted of being in the Deep Purple show in Banglore, India. which infact I never had been to, offcourse I used do listen to other classic rock bands and had nearly negligible knowledge of the legends.
when we were chatting about the show, the guy figured out i was faking and he said something which embarrased me but was really cool, I would love to quote it here.
"The Higher the monkey climbs the tree, the more of its butt can you see !"
well, you know who was the monkey now !
hope you enjoyed this post, do drop your comments and let me know if you think we are really social animals or just animals..grrr...!
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Varna's aka Vedic Caste System
Hi Folks,
Sharing a short story which I had read during my school.It is a letter being written by an old man to his grandson, demystifying why do we need to earn money and make profits.
I have to put in a disclaimer - this is my personal view, not meant to be read as an output from research nor based on any facts.
The old man explains in his letter about an mystic village in the pre-historic age.
where the population of the village is a one hundered human beings, who all do the same things over and over again.
he explains this by narrating their daily routine.
The villagers wake up every morning and start their daily chores by gathering food and water for the day's consumption.
Each family of villagers does this. So to fetch water from a brook which lies on the other side of the valley where the village lies. everyone lines up with a vessel and crosses the mountain seperating the village and the brook. this daily activity takes them almost half a day.
but human as they were who could not survive without the basic needs. they had no choice but to undergo this painful task.
one of the villagers - the dreamer as they would call him, starts thinking about a way to minimise this daunting task. He observes the mountain highs and lows, steep curves and bends. He makes note of his observation and starts digging a channel from the brook to the village. The channel gets filled with water and ends into a pond near his hutment.
this channel has costed him few extra hours daily, he would digg before he reached the brook, so in a way he worked backwards from destination to source.
And when the villagers started noticing him lazing and dreaming with abundant water at his disposal they started to envy him.
one of the villagers approached the dreamer and asked him if he could fetch water from his pond instead.
The dreamer allows him to do so but with a condition that, he should spare 5 minutes of his time to work for the dreamer everyday.
The happy villager readily accepts the offer, he has just profited from half-a-day's toil.
Slowly everyone realises that they can save time and energy. everyone approaches the dreamer and offer their five minutes. The dreamer welcomes all and is happy that he has got literally nothing to do. He carried on dreaming and worked on inventing few more things which would help not only him but all of his fellow villagers. He became powerful and his booty was abundantly filled. The village profited from each other and everyone led a happy and prosperous life.
wow ! what a tale.
This was explained by the narrator, our old man to his grandson in his letter.
Now to the other angle to this story. I interpret this story as the very begining of community and caste system - Varna in Sanskrit in ancient India.
The dreamer is the Brahmin who focusses on invention, remedies, medicine, science and discovery.
He employs various skilled craftsment who are sub divided into Shudra's.
The intial belief was all Shudra's are artisans and craftsmen beyond compare. their alienation and decline in social strata is the degeneration history of the caste system. I would not delve into that now.
The accountants and traders were the Vaishya's. who would classify, maintain, log and distribute the benefits amongst everyone fairly.
When the bounty, crop or wealth whatever you call it was abundant. There was a need to protect, secure and save the bounty from man, animal and nature.
The protectors were the Kshatriya's. Their strength and valor was counted for.
In this distribution each individual contributed to the well being of the system and the equation worked well for one and all.
I am sure that you might feel I am crazy but this is a hypothesis and I want to believe in the noble cause which might have helped design the Varna in Hindu system.
I want to believe that there is a much better reason for being a Brahmin because I am born as one. I want to believe that I am what I am not by birth but by pure virtue alone.
Pls let me know your comments on my thoughts.
Sharing a short story which I had read during my school.It is a letter being written by an old man to his grandson, demystifying why do we need to earn money and make profits.
I have to put in a disclaimer - this is my personal view, not meant to be read as an output from research nor based on any facts.
The old man explains in his letter about an mystic village in the pre-historic age.
where the population of the village is a one hundered human beings, who all do the same things over and over again.
he explains this by narrating their daily routine.
The villagers wake up every morning and start their daily chores by gathering food and water for the day's consumption.
Each family of villagers does this. So to fetch water from a brook which lies on the other side of the valley where the village lies. everyone lines up with a vessel and crosses the mountain seperating the village and the brook. this daily activity takes them almost half a day.
but human as they were who could not survive without the basic needs. they had no choice but to undergo this painful task.
one of the villagers - the dreamer as they would call him, starts thinking about a way to minimise this daunting task. He observes the mountain highs and lows, steep curves and bends. He makes note of his observation and starts digging a channel from the brook to the village. The channel gets filled with water and ends into a pond near his hutment.
this channel has costed him few extra hours daily, he would digg before he reached the brook, so in a way he worked backwards from destination to source.
And when the villagers started noticing him lazing and dreaming with abundant water at his disposal they started to envy him.
one of the villagers approached the dreamer and asked him if he could fetch water from his pond instead.
The dreamer allows him to do so but with a condition that, he should spare 5 minutes of his time to work for the dreamer everyday.
The happy villager readily accepts the offer, he has just profited from half-a-day's toil.
Slowly everyone realises that they can save time and energy. everyone approaches the dreamer and offer their five minutes. The dreamer welcomes all and is happy that he has got literally nothing to do. He carried on dreaming and worked on inventing few more things which would help not only him but all of his fellow villagers. He became powerful and his booty was abundantly filled. The village profited from each other and everyone led a happy and prosperous life.
wow ! what a tale.
This was explained by the narrator, our old man to his grandson in his letter.
Now to the other angle to this story. I interpret this story as the very begining of community and caste system - Varna in Sanskrit in ancient India.
The dreamer is the Brahmin who focusses on invention, remedies, medicine, science and discovery.
He employs various skilled craftsment who are sub divided into Shudra's.
The intial belief was all Shudra's are artisans and craftsmen beyond compare. their alienation and decline in social strata is the degeneration history of the caste system. I would not delve into that now.
The accountants and traders were the Vaishya's. who would classify, maintain, log and distribute the benefits amongst everyone fairly.
When the bounty, crop or wealth whatever you call it was abundant. There was a need to protect, secure and save the bounty from man, animal and nature.
The protectors were the Kshatriya's. Their strength and valor was counted for.
In this distribution each individual contributed to the well being of the system and the equation worked well for one and all.
I am sure that you might feel I am crazy but this is a hypothesis and I want to believe in the noble cause which might have helped design the Varna in Hindu system.
I want to believe that there is a much better reason for being a Brahmin because I am born as one. I want to believe that I am what I am not by birth but by pure virtue alone.
Pls let me know your comments on my thoughts.
The 4 Ashramas (stages) of Vedic Indian Life
The four Ashramas of Vedic Indian Life
The life span in vedic India was divided in 4 parts, each of 25 years. These were called Ashrams.
For Hindus the whole life is a Yagya(penance) and that is what this denotes.
These ashrams were named following:
Brahmcharya Ashram - Celebacy, Education
Grihasth Ashram - Matrimony
Vanprastha Ashrama - Social
Sanyas Ashrama - Meditation
1)Brahmcharya Ashram (Upnanyan Sanskaar-25 years)
After Upnayan Sanskar (Thread Ceremony) the person will go to Gurukul(School).
Under the guidanace of reverred guru (Teacher), he or she will study Vedas. The vedas have different parts or Angas. Vedas have knowlege of Adhyatm (Brahm), material and life...They will study and practise those till the age of 25. During this time they will live away from parents. During this they could not marry they had to maintain celebacy. The name Brahmcharya means the practice(of Yoga) on Brahm or actions carrying towards Brahm. Since in this Ashram celebacy was required so Brahmcharya also referes to celebacy. Not only Brahm Gyan was the focus, pupils also learnt various skills (Aayurveda, Shastra Vidya..) during this period.
read more on the importance of Celebacy at - http://www.yoga-age.com/modern/brahma.html
2)Grihastha Ashram (25 years - 50 Years)
After the age of 25 years people will get married and do work according to their skill set. They will have children and they will make sure that their children get Vidya (education). There is a shloka which means "that mother is an enemy and the father is an ill-wisher who do not send their child for education".
3)Vaanprastha Ashram (50 years - 75 Years)
In this Ashram people will still live in society and with family (spouse and children and grandchildren) but they will maintain celebacy and live with Niyama.
4)Sanyaas Ashram (75 years - 100 Years)
At this age person will leave general society and live with Rishis(Hermits) in some forests and fully meditate upon Brahm(GOD).
The beauty of this kind of division of the human life according to the Vedas was in its simplicity.
these stages or Ashrama's were also meant for all castes (denominations) in Hinduism
Now I need to gear up to write more on the denominations in ancient Vedic Hindu culture. keep watching this blog.
With due acknowledgements to Sarvesh Dipal - http://www.geocities.com/dipalsarvesh/
One more lovely post worth reading is available at - http://mysticsaint.blogspot.com/2006/03/hinduism-in-holy-nutshell.html
regards,
Ganesh
The life span in vedic India was divided in 4 parts, each of 25 years. These were called Ashrams.
For Hindus the whole life is a Yagya(penance) and that is what this denotes.
These ashrams were named following:
1)Brahmcharya Ashram (Upnanyan Sanskaar-25 years)
After Upnayan Sanskar (Thread Ceremony) the person will go to Gurukul(School).
Under the guidanace of reverred guru (Teacher), he or she will study Vedas. The vedas have different parts or Angas. Vedas have knowlege of Adhyatm (Brahm), material and life...They will study and practise those till the age of 25. During this time they will live away from parents. During this they could not marry they had to maintain celebacy. The name Brahmcharya means the practice(of Yoga) on Brahm or actions carrying towards Brahm. Since in this Ashram celebacy was required so Brahmcharya also referes to celebacy. Not only Brahm Gyan was the focus, pupils also learnt various skills (Aayurveda, Shastra Vidya..) during this period.
read more on the importance of Celebacy at - http://www.yoga-age.com/modern/brahma.html
2)Grihastha Ashram (25 years - 50 Years)
After the age of 25 years people will get married and do work according to their skill set. They will have children and they will make sure that their children get Vidya (education). There is a shloka which means "that mother is an enemy and the father is an ill-wisher who do not send their child for education".
3)Vaanprastha Ashram (50 years - 75 Years)
In this Ashram people will still live in society and with family (spouse and children and grandchildren) but they will maintain celebacy and live with Niyama.
4)Sanyaas Ashram (75 years - 100 Years)
At this age person will leave general society and live with Rishis(Hermits) in some forests and fully meditate upon Brahm(GOD).
The beauty of this kind of division of the human life according to the Vedas was in its simplicity.
these stages or Ashrama's were also meant for all castes (denominations) in Hinduism
Now I need to gear up to write more on the denominations in ancient Vedic Hindu culture. keep watching this blog.
With due acknowledgements to Sarvesh Dipal - http://www.geocities.com/dipalsarvesh/
One more lovely post worth reading is available at - http://mysticsaint.blogspot.com/2006/03/hinduism-in-holy-nutshell.html
regards,
Ganesh
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Where no Internet connection has gone before !
Hi Folks,
I don't read news especially when Its obviously filled with politics, hypocrisy, terrorism and human annihilation stories.
But I do connect to few of my good friends over messengers
(I have the same id on all known social networking utilities). So today when i was trying to connect to yahoo, It flashed me the news dialog which i normally take half a second to close it. but something caught my eye..and that's where it all started. One of the headlines was Orrisa Villages go Wi-Fi, have an ePostman, This was fantastic news which I couldn't resist to ignore.I jumped into to finding more.
Ok, now to what this is all about.
The news article spoke about how Daknet is helping rural villages in Orrisa, a state in north-eastern part of India.
The company behind this cool initiative is United Villages, a great company which has cropped as an initiative by First Miles Solutions. This company has been growing with more Industry big-wigs aka the Few Good Men joining its board.
A good post worth reading about Daknet can be foundt here.
I wish this virus(in the good sense) catches up to all those sinful mortals who wish to have a glimpse of the pearly gates.
Lets make this world a better place to live...and off course liberate technology from the cities and make it reach the annals of the 3rd world villages.
Great work guys (all at United Village), we are proud of it.
I don't read news especially when Its obviously filled with politics, hypocrisy, terrorism and human annihilation stories.
But I do connect to few of my good friends over messengers
(I have the same id on all known social networking utilities). So today when i was trying to connect to yahoo, It flashed me the news dialog which i normally take half a second to close it. but something caught my eye..and that's where it all started. One of the headlines was Orrisa Villages go Wi-Fi, have an ePostman, This was fantastic news which I couldn't resist to ignore.I jumped into to finding more.
Ok, now to what this is all about.
The news article spoke about how Daknet is helping rural villages in Orrisa, a state in north-eastern part of India.
The company behind this cool initiative is United Villages, a great company which has cropped as an initiative by First Miles Solutions. This company has been growing with more Industry big-wigs aka the Few Good Men joining its board.
A good post worth reading about Daknet can be foundt here.
I wish this virus(in the good sense) catches up to all those sinful mortals who wish to have a glimpse of the pearly gates.
Lets make this world a better place to live...and off course liberate technology from the cities and make it reach the annals of the 3rd world villages.
Great work guys (all at United Village), we are proud of it.
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Some cool videos
Epica Awards for best Ad in 2004
Animator vs Animation - Part 1
Animator vs Animation - Part 2
(This was shortlisted for Webby Awards)
More to come...pls leave a comment/suggestion if you want to contribute.
Animator vs Animation - Part 1
Animator vs Animation - Part 2
(This was shortlisted for Webby Awards)
More to come...pls leave a comment/suggestion if you want to contribute.
Most talented realistic painter - Iman Maleki
(Excerpt taken with permission)
Iman was born on 1976 in Tehran. He has been fascinated by the art of Painting since he was a child. At the age of 15, he started to learn painting under the mastery of his first and only teacher - Morteza Katouzian - who is the greatest realist painter of Iran. Meanwhile, he began to paint professionally. In 1999 he graduated in Graphic Design from the Art University of Tehran. Since 1998, he has participated in several exhibitions. In the year 2000, he got married and in the following year he established ARA Painting Studio and started to teach painting, considering classical and traditional values.
The most important exhibitions he has participated in, are: The Exhibition of Realist painters of Iran at Tehran Contemporary Museum of Art(1999) and The Group Exhibition of KARA Studio Painters at SABZ Gallery(1998) and at SA'AD ABAD Palace(2003). In 2005, Iman received the William Bouguereau award and the Chairman's Choice award in the second international ARC salon competition.
Friday, July 6, 2007
Men are from Mars
Hi Folks,
Call it being influenced by media or movies. I have developed a Phobia which i want to share it with my fellow Men. I know few women would also read it and feel nauseatic at my post. but nevertheless this is a view and criticism from women is most welcome.
Note - All the below is expected be read or interpreted in a lighter vein.
The Influence
Media and literature has been a strong influence on me and I belive its the same with you all.
Media revolution came in the early 90's and those were my growing years when i started reasoning, watching, trying & experiencing things that i should not. call it adolsence or puberty. It means we experiment the most things society calls it taboo.
Ok, lemme clarify before you get carried on with your wild imaginations, I wasnt on Drugs & Sex.
But yes, I was fascinated with the cultural gap, the social gap, the gender gap turning narrower each day with each newsreport, article in magazine or whatever i could get hold of and read. We are normally like a sponge during these years, absorbing what we see, hear or think is the fad.
the positive thing was we began in a way accepting women's rights, saw powerful leaders in women
Women in Politics
India's late PM - Indira Gandhi - spouse - Feroz Gandhi
Sri Lanka - Bandarnaike - spouse - Vijaya Kumaranatunga
UK - Margaret Thatcher - spouse - Denis Thatcher
Business Woman
Forbes has a exhaustive list of the most powerful women. someday I bet someone will create an alternate site which shows the pathetic lives of the 50 spouses of these powerful women.
are you thinking of doing it already...great going then !
more to come........keep watching this space
The Facts
The Phobia
The Future of Mankind
The Martian immigration program
This is what I am going to place my wager on. I know some smart ivy league brain has already created queer things like.
Cyronics - This is an interesting subject, though not related directly to the subject of the blog, but I am going to invest in this technology and plan for the 'Return of Mankind'
Space Tourism - This is a fantastic site on tourism, a good reason to escape from women.
Thinking of places where you can stay once the planet earth would over-run by females. try these links - Real Estate on Moon & Mars
Regards,
Gyani
Call it being influenced by media or movies. I have developed a Phobia which i want to share it with my fellow Men. I know few women would also read it and feel nauseatic at my post. but nevertheless this is a view and criticism from women is most welcome.
Note - All the below is expected be read or interpreted in a lighter vein.
The Influence
Media and literature has been a strong influence on me and I belive its the same with you all.
Media revolution came in the early 90's and those were my growing years when i started reasoning, watching, trying & experiencing things that i should not. call it adolsence or puberty. It means we experiment the most things society calls it taboo.
Ok, lemme clarify before you get carried on with your wild imaginations, I wasnt on Drugs & Sex.
But yes, I was fascinated with the cultural gap, the social gap, the gender gap turning narrower each day with each newsreport, article in magazine or whatever i could get hold of and read. We are normally like a sponge during these years, absorbing what we see, hear or think is the fad.
the positive thing was we began in a way accepting women's rights, saw powerful leaders in women
Women in Politics
India's late PM - Indira Gandhi - spouse - Feroz Gandhi
Sri Lanka - Bandarnaike - spouse - Vijaya Kumaranatunga
UK - Margaret Thatcher - spouse - Denis Thatcher
Business Woman
Forbes has a exhaustive list of the most powerful women. someday I bet someone will create an alternate site which shows the pathetic lives of the 50 spouses of these powerful women.
are you thinking of doing it already...great going then !
more to come........keep watching this space
The Facts
The Phobia
The Future of Mankind
The Martian immigration program
This is what I am going to place my wager on. I know some smart ivy league brain has already created queer things like.
Cyronics - This is an interesting subject, though not related directly to the subject of the blog, but I am going to invest in this technology and plan for the 'Return of Mankind'
Space Tourism - This is a fantastic site on tourism, a good reason to escape from women.
Thinking of places where you can stay once the planet earth would over-run by females. try these links - Real Estate on Moon & Mars
Regards,
Gyani
Saturday, June 30, 2007
One Laptop per Child
Hi Folks,
I am sure you must have read abt this programme by Nicholas Negroponte. If you have been too busy to notice it, this is worth a read.
Abt Negroponte,
Nicholas is founder and chairman of the One Laptop per Child non-profit association. He is currently on leave from MIT, where he was co-founder and director of the MIT Media Laboratory, and the Jerome B. Wiesner Professor of Media Technology. A graduate of MIT, Nicholas was a pioneer in the field of computer-aided design, and has been a member of the MIT faculty since 1966. Conceived in 1980, the Media Laboratory opened its doors in 1985. He is also author of the 1995 best seller, Being Digital, which has been translated into more than 40 languages. In the private sector, Nicholas serves on the board of directors for Motorola, Inc. and as general partner in a venture capital firm specializing in digital technologies for information and entertainment. He has provided start-up funds for more than 40 companies, including Wired magazine.
Abt the programe,
The mission of the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) movement is to ensure that all school-aged children in the developing world are able to engage effectively with their own personal laptop, networked to the world, so that they, their families and their communities can openly learn and learn about learning.
official link - http://www.laptop.org/
I wish that this movement and other indegenious programmes like Simputer make India a better learned place.
official Link - http://www.simputer.org/
Great good luck
I am sure you must have read abt this programme by Nicholas Negroponte. If you have been too busy to notice it, this is worth a read.
Abt Negroponte,
Nicholas is founder and chairman of the One Laptop per Child non-profit association. He is currently on leave from MIT, where he was co-founder and director of the MIT Media Laboratory, and the Jerome B. Wiesner Professor of Media Technology. A graduate of MIT, Nicholas was a pioneer in the field of computer-aided design, and has been a member of the MIT faculty since 1966. Conceived in 1980, the Media Laboratory opened its doors in 1985. He is also author of the 1995 best seller, Being Digital, which has been translated into more than 40 languages. In the private sector, Nicholas serves on the board of directors for Motorola, Inc. and as general partner in a venture capital firm specializing in digital technologies for information and entertainment. He has provided start-up funds for more than 40 companies, including Wired magazine.
Abt the programe,
The mission of the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) movement is to ensure that all school-aged children in the developing world are able to engage effectively with their own personal laptop, networked to the world, so that they, their families and their communities can openly learn and learn about learning.
official link - http://www.laptop.org/
I wish that this movement and other indegenious programmes like Simputer make India a better learned place.
official Link - http://www.simputer.org/
Great good luck
Vote for Taj
Posted on 30th June 2007 at - http://www.saregamapa.rediff.com/votefortaj.html
Taj is a tomb, its an expensive monument, not only in the sense that it was adorned with gems as the folklore goes, but also it costed all the artisans the death of their art.
How can such cruel witness in Indian history be called to be a wonder of the world.
Ok, point 2 for my angst against this 7 wonders campaign is more contemporary.
I got a mail saying are you sleeping, Taj is 100 something in the ranking, and I shld wake-up and do my patriotic bit by voting at the link.
Crap, I would ask the people of India who have access to the internet to pledge rather than vote for better things like 1098 - child help, CRY - sponsor a child and any other ngo.
If India has educated folks even in the rural areas, we might all comeback from across the 7 seas forever, we dont want to comeback just to see the Taj for heavens sake. There are much better things in life.
BTW - has anyone been to Agra lately, has anyone read how the government treats the drinking water source - Yamuna for the people of Agra.
My friends, there are much better things that we all can contribute back if we really think abt.
an educated India will be strong and wise enough to discourage corrupt politicians make our nation inhabitable.
The punchline is if all Indians are educated, there will be 100 million votes than 1 million votes now. Do you think the worldcan stop us then ?
This is really food for thought
God Bless,
Gyani
Taj is a tomb, its an expensive monument, not only in the sense that it was adorned with gems as the folklore goes, but also it costed all the artisans the death of their art.
How can such cruel witness in Indian history be called to be a wonder of the world.
Ok, point 2 for my angst against this 7 wonders campaign is more contemporary.
I got a mail saying are you sleeping, Taj is 100 something in the ranking, and I shld wake-up and do my patriotic bit by voting at the link.
Crap, I would ask the people of India who have access to the internet to pledge rather than vote for better things like 1098 - child help, CRY - sponsor a child and any other ngo.
If India has educated folks even in the rural areas, we might all comeback from across the 7 seas forever, we dont want to comeback just to see the Taj for heavens sake. There are much better things in life.
BTW - has anyone been to Agra lately, has anyone read how the government treats the drinking water source - Yamuna for the people of Agra.
My friends, there are much better things that we all can contribute back if we really think abt.
an educated India will be strong and wise enough to discourage corrupt politicians make our nation inhabitable.
The punchline is if all Indians are educated, there will be 100 million votes than 1 million votes now. Do you think the worldcan stop us then ?
This is really food for thought
God Bless,
Gyani
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Life is straight as a Jeelebi
Hi Folks ,
Adapted from somewhere...amnesia..pls pardon me.
LIFE'S A TEST - AND YOU'RE GRADED ON A CURVE
At age 5, success is... not peeing in your pants.
At age 12, success is... having friends.
At age 20, success is... having a driver's license.
At age 25, success is... having sex.
At age 35, success is... having money.
At age 50, success is... having money.
At age 60, success is... having sex.
At age 70, success is... having a driver's license.
At age 75, success is... having friends.
At age 80, success is... not peeing in your pants.
Prepare your own charts and Guess where you stand now !
Adapted from somewhere...amnesia..pls pardon me.
LIFE'S A TEST - AND YOU'RE GRADED ON A CURVE
At age 5, success is... not peeing in your pants.
At age 12, success is... having friends.
At age 20, success is... having a driver's license.
At age 25, success is... having sex.
At age 35, success is... having money.
At age 50, success is... having money.
At age 60, success is... having sex.
At age 70, success is... having a driver's license.
At age 75, success is... having friends.
At age 80, success is... not peeing in your pants.
Prepare your own charts and Guess where you stand now !
Meditation
Meditation is a focusing of the mind on a single object, creating the cessation of all thought. As thoughts dissipate, the mind becomes quiet, and we are able to be fully in the present moment. The techniques of meditation are simple and easy to learn, but the ability to keep the mind focused takes time, patience and practice. The benefit of a regular meditation practice reduces stress, tension, anxiety and frustration as well as improves memory, concentration, inner peace and whole body well-being.
Simple Yogic Meditation
Sit in a comfortable position, either cross-legged on the floor or in a chair. Sit up tall with the spine straight, the shoulders relaxed and the chest open. Rest the hands on the knees with the palms facing up. Lightly touch the index finger to the thumb. Relax the face, jaw, and belly. Let the tongue rest on the roof of the mouth, just behind the front teeth. Allow the eyes to lightly close.
Breathe slowly, smoothly and deeply in and out through the nose. Let the inhale start in the belly and then rise gently up into the chest. As the breath slows and deepens, let go of any thoughts or distractions and allow the mind to focus on the breath. Feel the breath as it moves in and out of the body, feeling it move through the nose, throat, windpipe and lungs. Feel the body as it rises and falls with each breath. Bring as much of your awareness and attention to your body and breath as possible with each moment. As the thoughts return to the mind, let them go, and return the focus back to the body and breath.
Practice this meditation for 10-20 minutes. To end, gently let the eyes blink open, inhale the palms together in front of the heart, exhale and gently bow. Take a moment or two before moving on with the rest of your day.
Meta Meditation
Use this simple meditation often to create and nurture compassion in your life. This can be practiced in just a few minutes, so try to incorporate it as a part of your daily life.
Come into a comfortable seated position on the floor or in a chair. Sit with the back flat, crown of the head lifted, shoulders relaxed and chest open. Rest the hands in the lap or on the knees. Close the eyes, deepen the breath and release any thoughts from the mind. Gently repeat the following softly out loud or in your mind:
May I be safe from inner and outer harm,
May I be happy and peaceful of heart,
May my body be healthy and strong,
May my life be filled with ease.
Then you may replace the “I’s” to “you” thinking of a specific person, a
group of people or the whole planet.
Finish with a few slow deep breaths, feeling compassion, love and kindness flowing through your body. Take a moment or two before moving on with the rest of your day.
Heart Chakra Meditation
This heart chakra meditation is a simple technique to release sadness and fear and to bring compassion and love into your life.
Sit in a comfortable position, either cross legged on the floor or in a chair. Sit up tall with the spine straight, the shoulders relaxed and the chest open. Inhale the palms together and lightly press the knuckles of the thumbs into the sternum at the level of your heart (you should feel a little notch where the knuckles magically fit). Breathe slowly, smoothly and deeply into the belly and into the chest. Soften your gaze or lightly close the eyes. Let go of any thoughts or distractions and let the mind focus on feeling the breath move in and out of your body. Once the mind feels quiet and still, bring your focus to the light pressure of the thumbs pressing against your chest and feeling the beating of the heart. Keep this focus for one to five minutes.
Next gently release the hands and rub the palms together making them very warm and energized. Place the right palm in the center of your chest and the left hand on top of the right. Close the eyes and feel the center of your chest warm and radiant, full of energy. See this energy as an emerald green light, radiating out from the center of your heart into the rest of your body. Feel this energy flowing into the arms and hands and flowing back into the heart. Stay with this visualization for one to five minutes.
After you feel completely soaked with heart chakra energy, gently release the palms and turn them outwards with the elbows bent, the shoulders relaxed and the chest open. Feel or visualize the green light love energy flowing out of your palms out into the world. You can direct it towards specific loved ones in your life or to all sentient beings.
To end your meditation, inhale the arms up towards the sky connecting with the heavens and exhale lower the palms lightly to the floor connecting with the earth. Take a moment or two before moving on with the rest of your day.
Simple Yogic Meditation
Sit in a comfortable position, either cross-legged on the floor or in a chair. Sit up tall with the spine straight, the shoulders relaxed and the chest open. Rest the hands on the knees with the palms facing up. Lightly touch the index finger to the thumb. Relax the face, jaw, and belly. Let the tongue rest on the roof of the mouth, just behind the front teeth. Allow the eyes to lightly close.
Breathe slowly, smoothly and deeply in and out through the nose. Let the inhale start in the belly and then rise gently up into the chest. As the breath slows and deepens, let go of any thoughts or distractions and allow the mind to focus on the breath. Feel the breath as it moves in and out of the body, feeling it move through the nose, throat, windpipe and lungs. Feel the body as it rises and falls with each breath. Bring as much of your awareness and attention to your body and breath as possible with each moment. As the thoughts return to the mind, let them go, and return the focus back to the body and breath.
Practice this meditation for 10-20 minutes. To end, gently let the eyes blink open, inhale the palms together in front of the heart, exhale and gently bow. Take a moment or two before moving on with the rest of your day.
Meta Meditation
Use this simple meditation often to create and nurture compassion in your life. This can be practiced in just a few minutes, so try to incorporate it as a part of your daily life.
Come into a comfortable seated position on the floor or in a chair. Sit with the back flat, crown of the head lifted, shoulders relaxed and chest open. Rest the hands in the lap or on the knees. Close the eyes, deepen the breath and release any thoughts from the mind. Gently repeat the following softly out loud or in your mind:
May I be safe from inner and outer harm,
May I be happy and peaceful of heart,
May my body be healthy and strong,
May my life be filled with ease.
Then you may replace the “I’s” to “you” thinking of a specific person, a
group of people or the whole planet.
Finish with a few slow deep breaths, feeling compassion, love and kindness flowing through your body. Take a moment or two before moving on with the rest of your day.
Heart Chakra Meditation
This heart chakra meditation is a simple technique to release sadness and fear and to bring compassion and love into your life.
Sit in a comfortable position, either cross legged on the floor or in a chair. Sit up tall with the spine straight, the shoulders relaxed and the chest open. Inhale the palms together and lightly press the knuckles of the thumbs into the sternum at the level of your heart (you should feel a little notch where the knuckles magically fit). Breathe slowly, smoothly and deeply into the belly and into the chest. Soften your gaze or lightly close the eyes. Let go of any thoughts or distractions and let the mind focus on feeling the breath move in and out of your body. Once the mind feels quiet and still, bring your focus to the light pressure of the thumbs pressing against your chest and feeling the beating of the heart. Keep this focus for one to five minutes.
Next gently release the hands and rub the palms together making them very warm and energized. Place the right palm in the center of your chest and the left hand on top of the right. Close the eyes and feel the center of your chest warm and radiant, full of energy. See this energy as an emerald green light, radiating out from the center of your heart into the rest of your body. Feel this energy flowing into the arms and hands and flowing back into the heart. Stay with this visualization for one to five minutes.
After you feel completely soaked with heart chakra energy, gently release the palms and turn them outwards with the elbows bent, the shoulders relaxed and the chest open. Feel or visualize the green light love energy flowing out of your palms out into the world. You can direct it towards specific loved ones in your life or to all sentient beings.
To end your meditation, inhale the arms up towards the sky connecting with the heavens and exhale lower the palms lightly to the floor connecting with the earth. Take a moment or two before moving on with the rest of your day.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Sanatan Dharma facts & links
As promised, this post covers some good links to facts about Hinduism and some decent websites.
enjoy reading and surfing the links.
1) Historical facts about Lord Rama's existence - http://lakdiva.org/aryan/rama.html
2) Lord Rama's conquest to Lanka, Vaanar-sena (army of monkeys) built the bridge connecting India to Sri Lanka satelite images
- http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showthreaded.php?Number=461309
- http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/scripts/sseop/photo.pl?mission=STS033&roll=74&frame=74
3) Sanatan Dharma -website
http://www.sanatandharm.net/
http://www.hindu.org
http://www.religioustolerance.org/hinduism2.htm
4) Online Magazines
http://www.hindusimtoday.org
http://www.hindunet.org
5) Intresting articles on Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiranjeevins
enjoy reading and surfing the links.
1) Historical facts about Lord Rama's existence - http://lakdiva.org/aryan/rama.html
2) Lord Rama's conquest to Lanka, Vaanar-sena (army of monkeys) built the bridge connecting India to Sri Lanka satelite images
- http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showthreaded.php?Number=461309
- http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/scripts/sseop/photo.pl?mission=STS033&roll=74&frame=74
3) Sanatan Dharma -website
http://www.sanatandharm.net/
http://www.hindu.org
http://www.religioustolerance.org/hinduism2.htm
4) Online Magazines
http://www.hindusimtoday.org
http://www.hindunet.org
5) Intresting articles on Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiranjeevins
Faith
Dharma or Religion is to me a very personal & sacred feeling.
I have seen people of two kinds around me so far, majority being the Being born in a religion and the later minority being the converted.
Conversion is a big issue....a political winning horse for most Indian socio-economic policies and ruling politics.
I wish i can abstain from speaking about it but it would be acting blindfold to things which i can see.
I think the rise of Indian politics will need a seperate thread altogether. so let me continue with my thoughts about Faith.
Faith has different meanings in different religions.
absolute submission to religious beliefs
deliverance or salvation from mortal sins
expectation of the goodness of eden
each religion ultimately preaches the beautiful & noble thought of being dissolved into the supreme power
Sanatam dharma...thats what Hinduism was called earlier..preaches moksha.
Moksha is deliverance or salvation.
The Sacred Bhagwad Geeta is infact a tutorial on the evolution of all living beings ultimately ending in salvation.
No Being honest I have not read the Geeta till now. but i have tried to understand and summarise from various citations & excerpts.
Lord Krsna conveys this message to the bewildered warrior prince Arjuna.
The situation of Arjuna being in a dilema when he confronts his own brethren in a battlefield makes him feel guilty of fighting them.
But Krsna through Geetopdesh summarises to Arjuna that He should do his Karma* (duty)
and his karma at that moment was to win back his country from the illegal occupants - the Kauravas. The Kauravas being his brethren was secondary to his duty.
Coming back to what is the interesting part is the karma factor.
Doing one's duty and not expecting the returns, sounds un digestable in todays world right. well thats what Hindusim preaches. there are many devot hindus much more deeper into knowing the meaning of the Geeta and the various religious rites and their significance who, unfortunately miss this gist.
But thats all fair and Hinduism doesnt object.
Krsna also explained the cycle of birth-death-reincarnation and the ultimate exit of the soul aka moksha.
Various Hindu devots and gurus have interpreted this cycle and have put in their own checks and inferences.
if you do not pray to the God
if you do not practise charity to the preists
if you do not respect your elders
and a lot of other factors...your next birth is that of an animal where you might be either expected to do laborious tasks or be slaughtered for food or even be despied for what you are.
Well, this is in hinduism as preached to me by my peers. maybe i am wrong.
I find similar parlance in other religions which have given to vocabulary like - taboo, sacrilige, etc.
confess your sins & God will forgive you
fear God and ask him for atonement
all sounds similar.
In 1990's when the Ayodhya fever had gripped the Indian sub-continet, some fiery forms of Lord Rama came into being. One of the most famous being Lord Rama crossing the river saryu with his weapons ready for war. people began to associate this image of Rama and the promised mandir (temple) to be the symbols of the Ayodhya cause.
What was interesting was that the painter had add a label(in hindi) to this painting - Bhai Binu Hovey na preet.
which translates to - There is no love without fear.
strange fact but i drew a parallel to what it means to all the promises of religion mean to the rest of the world. which translated by means - You will get God's grace if you fear(respect & have faith in) him.
This is what faith means to me whichever religion it might be, whichever way it preaches its followers to practise it.
If you have faith in your God, then you will love the variety he has created around you and in the end love the man besides you.
May God be with you all the way to your journey towards moksha
Dharma* - Sanskrit defintion for Dharma is contextual and has more than a dozen meanings to it, most commonly referred meaning is Duty.
He who has faith has everything,
and he who lacks it lacks everything.
It is faith in the name of the Lord
that works wonders; faith is life
and doubt is death."
- Sri Ramakrishna
Ps- In my next few post i will try to post some facts on Hinduism, some very interesting links dedicated to Sanatan Dharama.
Keep reading and enjoy.
I have seen people of two kinds around me so far, majority being the Being born in a religion and the later minority being the converted.
Conversion is a big issue....a political winning horse for most Indian socio-economic policies and ruling politics.
I wish i can abstain from speaking about it but it would be acting blindfold to things which i can see.
I think the rise of Indian politics will need a seperate thread altogether. so let me continue with my thoughts about Faith.
Faith has different meanings in different religions.
absolute submission to religious beliefs
deliverance or salvation from mortal sins
expectation of the goodness of eden
each religion ultimately preaches the beautiful & noble thought of being dissolved into the supreme power
Sanatam dharma...thats what Hinduism was called earlier..preaches moksha.
Moksha is deliverance or salvation.
The Sacred Bhagwad Geeta is infact a tutorial on the evolution of all living beings ultimately ending in salvation.
No Being honest I have not read the Geeta till now. but i have tried to understand and summarise from various citations & excerpts.
Lord Krsna conveys this message to the bewildered warrior prince Arjuna.
The situation of Arjuna being in a dilema when he confronts his own brethren in a battlefield makes him feel guilty of fighting them.
But Krsna through Geetopdesh summarises to Arjuna that He should do his Karma* (duty)
and his karma at that moment was to win back his country from the illegal occupants - the Kauravas. The Kauravas being his brethren was secondary to his duty.
Coming back to what is the interesting part is the karma factor.
Doing one's duty and not expecting the returns, sounds un digestable in todays world right. well thats what Hindusim preaches. there are many devot hindus much more deeper into knowing the meaning of the Geeta and the various religious rites and their significance who, unfortunately miss this gist.
But thats all fair and Hinduism doesnt object.
Krsna also explained the cycle of birth-death-reincarnation and the ultimate exit of the soul aka moksha.
Various Hindu devots and gurus have interpreted this cycle and have put in their own checks and inferences.
if you do not pray to the God
if you do not practise charity to the preists
if you do not respect your elders
and a lot of other factors...your next birth is that of an animal where you might be either expected to do laborious tasks or be slaughtered for food or even be despied for what you are.
Well, this is in hinduism as preached to me by my peers. maybe i am wrong.
I find similar parlance in other religions which have given to vocabulary like - taboo, sacrilige, etc.
confess your sins & God will forgive you
fear God and ask him for atonement
all sounds similar.
In 1990's when the Ayodhya fever had gripped the Indian sub-continet, some fiery forms of Lord Rama came into being. One of the most famous being Lord Rama crossing the river saryu with his weapons ready for war. people began to associate this image of Rama and the promised mandir (temple) to be the symbols of the Ayodhya cause.
What was interesting was that the painter had add a label(in hindi) to this painting - Bhai Binu Hovey na preet.
which translates to - There is no love without fear.
strange fact but i drew a parallel to what it means to all the promises of religion mean to the rest of the world. which translated by means - You will get God's grace if you fear(respect & have faith in) him.
This is what faith means to me whichever religion it might be, whichever way it preaches its followers to practise it.
If you have faith in your God, then you will love the variety he has created around you and in the end love the man besides you.
May God be with you all the way to your journey towards moksha
Dharma* - Sanskrit defintion for Dharma is contextual and has more than a dozen meanings to it, most commonly referred meaning is Duty.
He who has faith has everything,
and he who lacks it lacks everything.
It is faith in the name of the Lord
that works wonders; faith is life
and doubt is death."
- Sri Ramakrishna
Ps- In my next few post i will try to post some facts on Hinduism, some very interesting links dedicated to Sanatan Dharama.
Keep reading and enjoy.
Friday, June 8, 2007
Crazy Patents
Hi Folks,
Just came across this site...check the link -
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/crazy.html
No wonder i know what inspires hollywood script writers to make movies like the MatriX - over loaded.
anyways I feel the sum of any sci-fi hollywood movies is..."And America, Saves the world !"
Just came across this site...check the link -
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/crazy.html
No wonder i know what inspires hollywood script writers to make movies like the MatriX - over loaded.
anyways I feel the sum of any sci-fi hollywood movies is..."And America, Saves the world !"
My Friend - Motee Sheem
Hi All,
I have scripted a small story which needs your criticism.
pls reply back with your comments when you have time.
I did this on one lazy rainy saturday, when i had nothing to do but put my nostalgia into e-paper.
hope you all are doing fine.
till then,
Love and regards,
Gyani
"I haven't lost my mind ~ it's backed up on disk somewhere!"
My Friend Motee-Sheem
Preface – This had been my favorite story I had narrated so far. I have tried to key it down as it brings back nostalgia and a sense of happiness to me. It is not meant to hurt anyone and I believe all my alumni would agree with the facts associate with our school.
I had studied in a convent school, a co-ed convent located in an area which had a fair mix of Believers of Christ & the holy mother.
This mix of people composed of East Indians (Marathi speaking Christians), Goan’s, Mangees (people from Mangalore, Karnataka State), Mallus (Malayalam speaking folks from Kerala), Buddhists & a set of Hindus.
The place was called Sahar village, it had houses which had the distinct East Indian look.
A front lawn which had domestic animals like hen, mud soaked pigs, ducks, geese & occasionally few turkeys and horses.
Every such house had a distinct small balcony where you can find Old Uncle Joe in his trademark deshmukh chaddi (striped cotton shorts) and a ganji (vest) sipping some brew.
And yes the brew, All Christians in Sahar gaon (village) do make wine and other liquors. So Uncle Joe may seem to the new comer as the official wine connoisseur.
All homes would definitely have a good music system all blaring songs from Prince, George Michael, Pet shop Boys & bands which you never heard of.
The lingua franca is Konkani and the Hindi is accented, it has given rise to the mumbaiya term called Pau-Walla.
Pau is the local salt bread which forms the daily bread for all folks from Sahar. The bakery is a profitable institute. Opens at 4:30 am and by 6 am there is a huge queue. All the bread is sold out by 7 am.
Ok so much for the surrounding around my school, the school was run by a mission, so had a church, a graveyard and surrounded by trees. The principal would be the strictest & oldest holy person around usually.
Once inside, the huge mammoth gates where shut down and we were literally disconnected from the rest of the world and the now bustling and awake Sahar village.
I was in class 6 when we had 3 kids sharing a bench. A class of 70+ shouting, scratching, fighting, crying students all over from the suburbs of Mumbai.
I shared my bench with Paul & Intikhab…our trio were referred to as the Amar Akbar Anthony of the class.
But we had a bigger group of confederates. This gang wasn’t christened but you can always find one of them setting examples by being punished for breaking rules. Oh yes the rules, our princy had a fetish for rules and they kept growing each day.
The gang all had one thing in common, we wanted to rebel each rule set against us.
One such day when the weather was just fine, a thought came to my mind. During the recess (lunch break) while everyone was gulping from their (or someone else’s) lunch boxes. I said, “Isn’t it the perfect time to be in the outside world?”
Everyone agreed, but was quiet as we couldn’t scale the huge perimeter wall or the huge iron gates.
The situation cried of rebel, I remembered ‘the Abbot’ & ‘Edmund Dante’ plotting to escape from the prison in Count of Monte Christo, which my dad used to tell me every night before bedtime. The story took from November to the next August but I was never tired of it.
I had to bring the gang to spirit. I said, “Intikhab, what do you think, what can we do once we are out in the fields which is behind your home”, Intikhab said, “It’s a lush green ground perfect for Cricket! Alas, it’s been occupied by unworthy buffaloes that graze all the green grass down to the brown mud.”
I said,” Gentlemen, we have to have a cricket match on that ground and legally establish it as a playground, I need volunteers, all who agree raise your hands”
I saw 9 out of the 10 member gang raising their hands with a broad smile reaching their ears, except for Motee-Sheem, and I knew him too well to know why he was looking at his shoes.
O yeah, you haven’t met this friend of mine, the great Motee-Sheem!
Motee-Sheem is from Nepal, he told in his famous brags his family was washed into Mumbai when Mount Everest felt that it has to loose its cold ice cover and take some sun for a change. Nah…no one believed it. But yes one thing is sure, the cold Himalayan ice has blessed Motee-Sheem with a perennial cold. He can be always found with a streak of pale yellow phlegm running down his nose. We used to bet on which nostril would run down when Motee-Sheem came to school everyday.
Think you already have formed a bad image about my friend. No he is very clean otherwise, bespectacled with lenses the thickness of soda glasses which made his small eyes almost tiny to a speck.
He came everyday to school neatly ironed, his creases last till recess, while mine goes off during the mock wrestling matches I had once aboard the school bus.
His shoes are perfectly clean, the official navy blue canvas shoes with no pencil drawings on the front white patch. Though he had not mastered the art of tying shoe laces and always needed a helping hand. He wears the tie the whole day, whereas we end up either strangled or with a tie tucked into our shirt, pretending to be good kids and violating rule with the ties (there were so many cant remember the number).
But yes the only thing which Motee-Sheem can do is make a very serious classroom go berserk. Let me tell you about his divine power.
This happened during our Hindi class; we had a new teacher, Mrs. Agarwal. She had come from Africa (probably after killing all the lions there). She had a bob cut and was fat. She always wore sleeveless which would scare us as she had biceps fatter than that of ‘The Undertaker!’
She would read a poem, give us the poem to be learnt-by-heart as homework (which was mean). The next day she would call everyone turn by turn and make them recite the poem.
If anyone misses a line or fumbles, he/she had a day, the cane would flash...Swish...Swack…whack. then you have to get your calendar ( a record book where teachers wrote their lies about us and which had to be accepted by our parents by signing them…in a way agreeing to correct our mistakes.)
Mrs. Agarwal would then give you not one but two remarks saying homework not done.
Now what’s with the two remarks, rule 567 stated that a student if he gets 5 remarks, he is issued a warning card. His parents have to come and meet Fr Angelo (the principal) and beg before him, slap their kids before him….in all make him smile which is very tough. He smiles only when the student cries. So now that you know about the warning card, two remarks are closer to a warning card. The nerds in our class, the sissies and the girlies would cry. The class soon turned into a crying class.
And it was Motee-Sheem’s turn to recite the poem.
He walked towards the teacher, measuring his steps. Mrs. Agarwal was grinning at him, probably thinking...”Fresh meat”.
He turned towards the class and was still staring at his shoes. Mrs. Agarwal bellowed, “Why don’t you look at your class and read the poem loudly”
Motee-Sheem looked up, everyone was praying that he won’t break down and have a attack of memory loss.
He was about to start reciting, then the miracle happened.
A huge yellow balloon formed under his right nostril and exploded with a phut!
That’s it, the class went wild, Mrs. Agarwal couldn’t stop anyone even as she went on a blind cane trashing rampage.
No one can do that…what a performance…blow a balloon with your nose and explode it!!!
Ok, back to our voting session. Now I had to convince Motee-Sheem and put back his self-confidence. I placed an arm around him; He was the shortest in our group.
And said, “Motee-Sheem how bad it would be for us playing without a great wicket keeper like you.”
That bought a halo over his head, he was floating in air, as someone…someone had finally accepted before the gang that he was a great wicket keeper. Though the gang always felt one who can’t bat nor should bowl be the wicket keeper.
While I was sure that Motee-Sheem can’t escape my bid. I let him alone soaking in the moments of glory.
I turned to the Gang,” When & how, these would be our primary questions for the challenge”
Paul said, “We can play only during school time, the objective of our rebel would be to escape during this time and comeback undetected. So I think recess is the best time, we have 30 minutes of chaos where the teachers don’t have eagle eyes on us”
“Perfect, agreed”, I said.
Intikhab who is known for his analysis said, “There is no way we can scale the perimeter wall. They have reinforced it with broken glass as topping to the ice. So we have to scale the gates and that too the back church gate as the front gate has Kalluram the watchman dozing on it.”
“Hmm, so we have only one option of scaling the church back gate, but I am not sure how many can do that from our gang.” I said.
Roland, one more active member of the gang, who is famous for breaking rules, came out with the solution at the great moment of dilemma. He said,” I agree with Ganesh, no one can scale the gates, be it the main gate or the church back gate. They are too huge. But we can easily wiggle under it. The gates are ½ feet off above the ground, and I think that’s the only way out”
Everyone was beaming at the idea, a true military style escape. Everyone remembered the great escape planned by Sylvester Stallone in the recently aired movie at school called ‘The Great Escape’.
Yes this is going to be our great escape!
Everyone silently voted for the idea. Now we had to get the kit. “No problem” said Paul, “we have a bat, which is the under part of our desk. Ball is easy to sneak through in our school bag. We need pads which I think we can borrow the cardboard from the paper scrap shop. We don’t need a helmet as no one in our Gang can bowl over shoulder length.”
All was set, perfect, the D-day was set. We all went back to our class as the bell for the assembly rang.
Tomorrow was the big day, when I came back to School; I saw a gleam of happiness in everyone’s eyes.
The first 5 periods which were 45 minutes each seemed to look like they were for 45 hours. Everyone was dying in anxiety.
The recess bell rang and we all looked like a charged team reaching glory.
Paul expertly took the wooden bat from under the desk. He also produced the ball from him bag.
We all teamed up behind the church where a group of nerds where discussing bad things like math’s and science over their lunch boxes.
They didn’t notice us nor did we expect them too. We all reached the back gate. The ground was visible from there. I ushered in Paul to be the first volunteer; he lay flat on his belly and crawled like a worm under the huge gate.
Everyone was happy when he reached the other side of the gate and jumped at his new found freedom.
That was it, everyone was scrambling under the gate and the entire gang was outside school into the open free world during school hours for the first time.
The taboo was broken and how easily. What mattered more was not the game but the sheer idea of being out in the open.
The ground was green but not flat. it had mud puddles, buffalo dung and the ball would always be lost each time a fielder missed it. The whole team would spend time searching it. Motee-Sheem was happy. Adjusting his specs each time he took his wicket keeper stance.
Intikhab was bowling, He was a promising pace bowler, and Rolland was on the crease, ready to take the delivery with the crude bat in his hands half raised.
As Intikhab started his run up the situation was tense. Motee-Sheem with his yellow streak of Phlegm was wide eyed and opened his hands wide to collect the ball incase Rolland missed it.
The ball was way wide and Motee-Sheem dived to collect it, no use; the ball zipped past him and went into the shrubs behind him.
Jus then chaos began. The recess bell rang, our freedom tenure was over. We had to go back and join the assembly.
Motee-Sheem was speeding towards the shrubs to get back the ball. The gang had already started helter-skelter towards the church gate.
I was in a dilemma, should I race back to the gate leaving poor Motee-Sheem lost in the shrubs or whisk him back.
I decided to opt for the latter. I ran towards Motee-Sheem who now seemed to be invisible in the shrubs.
I paced across the shrubs to find Motee-Sheem stuck in a mud puddle.
He had tripped and his specs were in the mud and so was he ankle deep.
He was crying and the yellow balloon was blowing each time he took some oxygen to cry aloud.
I pacified him, took his hand and pulled him out of the mud puddle. His left shoe was stuck in the mud; he wanted to get it back. I had to pull him back. So he felt over-powered and crying left his left shoe back in the mud.
Being dragging Motee-Sheem crying was a sorry thing to do, but I had a greater motive and that was to be back in class. Mrs. Agarwal made late comers take 4 canings and one remark.
I couldn’t afford that as I already had 4 remarks in my calendar.
We reached the gates; I had to push Motee-Sheem underneath. He wriggled like a stuck pig to get past. I followed suit.
We reached the class. Everyone was already in except us; we could not take the main door and risk Mrs. Agarwal noticing us. So we decided to sneak past the back door
As we did that Motee-Sheem who had some mud in his leg touched Pinky Das. Now Ms Pinky Das was a real sissy. She would shout and scream at anything and everything.
Motee-Sheem’s mud laden leg touched Pinky and all hell was loose.
She screamed fearing Anaconda had entered the class.
The next moment Mrs. Agarwal pounced upon us.
I knew we were done.
She pulled the struggling Motee-Sheem by his ears, and asked him, “What are you trying to do, hide from me?”
“No, madam, we were searching for Motee-Sheem’s lost eraser” I said, gathering my wits.
“Ok, you could have told me, now get back to your seat fast” She said convinced.
And left us. I could see it in Motee-Sheem’ eyes full of gratitude and thanking me.
Since that day, Motee-Sheem believed me blindly. He sought his savior in me.
This went on till a year and his father was transferred to Delhi. He cried all day and his yellow streaks were obvious from both his nostrils.
I haven’t heard from him after that. But I remember him and the good days we had together. I have told this awesome story to my kid whose favorite character is Motee-Sheem uncle. Hope Motee-Sheem’s yellow streak kids too would have heard the same story as told by him.
I have scripted a small story which needs your criticism.
pls reply back with your comments when you have time.
I did this on one lazy rainy saturday, when i had nothing to do but put my nostalgia into e-paper.
hope you all are doing fine.
till then,
Love and regards,
Gyani
"I haven't lost my mind ~ it's backed up on disk somewhere!"
My Friend Motee-Sheem
Preface – This had been my favorite story I had narrated so far. I have tried to key it down as it brings back nostalgia and a sense of happiness to me. It is not meant to hurt anyone and I believe all my alumni would agree with the facts associate with our school.
I had studied in a convent school, a co-ed convent located in an area which had a fair mix of Believers of Christ & the holy mother.
This mix of people composed of East Indians (Marathi speaking Christians), Goan’s, Mangees (people from Mangalore, Karnataka State), Mallus (Malayalam speaking folks from Kerala), Buddhists & a set of Hindus.
The place was called Sahar village, it had houses which had the distinct East Indian look.
A front lawn which had domestic animals like hen, mud soaked pigs, ducks, geese & occasionally few turkeys and horses.
Every such house had a distinct small balcony where you can find Old Uncle Joe in his trademark deshmukh chaddi (striped cotton shorts) and a ganji (vest) sipping some brew.
And yes the brew, All Christians in Sahar gaon (village) do make wine and other liquors. So Uncle Joe may seem to the new comer as the official wine connoisseur.
All homes would definitely have a good music system all blaring songs from Prince, George Michael, Pet shop Boys & bands which you never heard of.
The lingua franca is Konkani and the Hindi is accented, it has given rise to the mumbaiya term called Pau-Walla.
Pau is the local salt bread which forms the daily bread for all folks from Sahar. The bakery is a profitable institute. Opens at 4:30 am and by 6 am there is a huge queue. All the bread is sold out by 7 am.
Ok so much for the surrounding around my school, the school was run by a mission, so had a church, a graveyard and surrounded by trees. The principal would be the strictest & oldest holy person around usually.
Once inside, the huge mammoth gates where shut down and we were literally disconnected from the rest of the world and the now bustling and awake Sahar village.
I was in class 6 when we had 3 kids sharing a bench. A class of 70+ shouting, scratching, fighting, crying students all over from the suburbs of Mumbai.
I shared my bench with Paul & Intikhab…our trio were referred to as the Amar Akbar Anthony of the class.
But we had a bigger group of confederates. This gang wasn’t christened but you can always find one of them setting examples by being punished for breaking rules. Oh yes the rules, our princy had a fetish for rules and they kept growing each day.
The gang all had one thing in common, we wanted to rebel each rule set against us.
One such day when the weather was just fine, a thought came to my mind. During the recess (lunch break) while everyone was gulping from their (or someone else’s) lunch boxes. I said, “Isn’t it the perfect time to be in the outside world?”
Everyone agreed, but was quiet as we couldn’t scale the huge perimeter wall or the huge iron gates.
The situation cried of rebel, I remembered ‘the Abbot’ & ‘Edmund Dante’ plotting to escape from the prison in Count of Monte Christo, which my dad used to tell me every night before bedtime. The story took from November to the next August but I was never tired of it.
I had to bring the gang to spirit. I said, “Intikhab, what do you think, what can we do once we are out in the fields which is behind your home”, Intikhab said, “It’s a lush green ground perfect for Cricket! Alas, it’s been occupied by unworthy buffaloes that graze all the green grass down to the brown mud.”
I said,” Gentlemen, we have to have a cricket match on that ground and legally establish it as a playground, I need volunteers, all who agree raise your hands”
I saw 9 out of the 10 member gang raising their hands with a broad smile reaching their ears, except for Motee-Sheem, and I knew him too well to know why he was looking at his shoes.
O yeah, you haven’t met this friend of mine, the great Motee-Sheem!
Motee-Sheem is from Nepal, he told in his famous brags his family was washed into Mumbai when Mount Everest felt that it has to loose its cold ice cover and take some sun for a change. Nah…no one believed it. But yes one thing is sure, the cold Himalayan ice has blessed Motee-Sheem with a perennial cold. He can be always found with a streak of pale yellow phlegm running down his nose. We used to bet on which nostril would run down when Motee-Sheem came to school everyday.
Think you already have formed a bad image about my friend. No he is very clean otherwise, bespectacled with lenses the thickness of soda glasses which made his small eyes almost tiny to a speck.
He came everyday to school neatly ironed, his creases last till recess, while mine goes off during the mock wrestling matches I had once aboard the school bus.
His shoes are perfectly clean, the official navy blue canvas shoes with no pencil drawings on the front white patch. Though he had not mastered the art of tying shoe laces and always needed a helping hand. He wears the tie the whole day, whereas we end up either strangled or with a tie tucked into our shirt, pretending to be good kids and violating rule with the ties (there were so many cant remember the number).
But yes the only thing which Motee-Sheem can do is make a very serious classroom go berserk. Let me tell you about his divine power.
This happened during our Hindi class; we had a new teacher, Mrs. Agarwal. She had come from Africa (probably after killing all the lions there). She had a bob cut and was fat. She always wore sleeveless which would scare us as she had biceps fatter than that of ‘The Undertaker!’
She would read a poem, give us the poem to be learnt-by-heart as homework (which was mean). The next day she would call everyone turn by turn and make them recite the poem.
If anyone misses a line or fumbles, he/she had a day, the cane would flash...Swish...Swack…whack. then you have to get your calendar ( a record book where teachers wrote their lies about us and which had to be accepted by our parents by signing them…in a way agreeing to correct our mistakes.)
Mrs. Agarwal would then give you not one but two remarks saying homework not done.
Now what’s with the two remarks, rule 567 stated that a student if he gets 5 remarks, he is issued a warning card. His parents have to come and meet Fr Angelo (the principal) and beg before him, slap their kids before him….in all make him smile which is very tough. He smiles only when the student cries. So now that you know about the warning card, two remarks are closer to a warning card. The nerds in our class, the sissies and the girlies would cry. The class soon turned into a crying class.
And it was Motee-Sheem’s turn to recite the poem.
He walked towards the teacher, measuring his steps. Mrs. Agarwal was grinning at him, probably thinking...”Fresh meat”.
He turned towards the class and was still staring at his shoes. Mrs. Agarwal bellowed, “Why don’t you look at your class and read the poem loudly”
Motee-Sheem looked up, everyone was praying that he won’t break down and have a attack of memory loss.
He was about to start reciting, then the miracle happened.
A huge yellow balloon formed under his right nostril and exploded with a phut!
That’s it, the class went wild, Mrs. Agarwal couldn’t stop anyone even as she went on a blind cane trashing rampage.
No one can do that…what a performance…blow a balloon with your nose and explode it!!!
Ok, back to our voting session. Now I had to convince Motee-Sheem and put back his self-confidence. I placed an arm around him; He was the shortest in our group.
And said, “Motee-Sheem how bad it would be for us playing without a great wicket keeper like you.”
That bought a halo over his head, he was floating in air, as someone…someone had finally accepted before the gang that he was a great wicket keeper. Though the gang always felt one who can’t bat nor should bowl be the wicket keeper.
While I was sure that Motee-Sheem can’t escape my bid. I let him alone soaking in the moments of glory.
I turned to the Gang,” When & how, these would be our primary questions for the challenge”
Paul said, “We can play only during school time, the objective of our rebel would be to escape during this time and comeback undetected. So I think recess is the best time, we have 30 minutes of chaos where the teachers don’t have eagle eyes on us”
“Perfect, agreed”, I said.
Intikhab who is known for his analysis said, “There is no way we can scale the perimeter wall. They have reinforced it with broken glass as topping to the ice. So we have to scale the gates and that too the back church gate as the front gate has Kalluram the watchman dozing on it.”
“Hmm, so we have only one option of scaling the church back gate, but I am not sure how many can do that from our gang.” I said.
Roland, one more active member of the gang, who is famous for breaking rules, came out with the solution at the great moment of dilemma. He said,” I agree with Ganesh, no one can scale the gates, be it the main gate or the church back gate. They are too huge. But we can easily wiggle under it. The gates are ½ feet off above the ground, and I think that’s the only way out”
Everyone was beaming at the idea, a true military style escape. Everyone remembered the great escape planned by Sylvester Stallone in the recently aired movie at school called ‘The Great Escape’.
Yes this is going to be our great escape!
Everyone silently voted for the idea. Now we had to get the kit. “No problem” said Paul, “we have a bat, which is the under part of our desk. Ball is easy to sneak through in our school bag. We need pads which I think we can borrow the cardboard from the paper scrap shop. We don’t need a helmet as no one in our Gang can bowl over shoulder length.”
All was set, perfect, the D-day was set. We all went back to our class as the bell for the assembly rang.
Tomorrow was the big day, when I came back to School; I saw a gleam of happiness in everyone’s eyes.
The first 5 periods which were 45 minutes each seemed to look like they were for 45 hours. Everyone was dying in anxiety.
The recess bell rang and we all looked like a charged team reaching glory.
Paul expertly took the wooden bat from under the desk. He also produced the ball from him bag.
We all teamed up behind the church where a group of nerds where discussing bad things like math’s and science over their lunch boxes.
They didn’t notice us nor did we expect them too. We all reached the back gate. The ground was visible from there. I ushered in Paul to be the first volunteer; he lay flat on his belly and crawled like a worm under the huge gate.
Everyone was happy when he reached the other side of the gate and jumped at his new found freedom.
That was it, everyone was scrambling under the gate and the entire gang was outside school into the open free world during school hours for the first time.
The taboo was broken and how easily. What mattered more was not the game but the sheer idea of being out in the open.
The ground was green but not flat. it had mud puddles, buffalo dung and the ball would always be lost each time a fielder missed it. The whole team would spend time searching it. Motee-Sheem was happy. Adjusting his specs each time he took his wicket keeper stance.
Intikhab was bowling, He was a promising pace bowler, and Rolland was on the crease, ready to take the delivery with the crude bat in his hands half raised.
As Intikhab started his run up the situation was tense. Motee-Sheem with his yellow streak of Phlegm was wide eyed and opened his hands wide to collect the ball incase Rolland missed it.
The ball was way wide and Motee-Sheem dived to collect it, no use; the ball zipped past him and went into the shrubs behind him.
Jus then chaos began. The recess bell rang, our freedom tenure was over. We had to go back and join the assembly.
Motee-Sheem was speeding towards the shrubs to get back the ball. The gang had already started helter-skelter towards the church gate.
I was in a dilemma, should I race back to the gate leaving poor Motee-Sheem lost in the shrubs or whisk him back.
I decided to opt for the latter. I ran towards Motee-Sheem who now seemed to be invisible in the shrubs.
I paced across the shrubs to find Motee-Sheem stuck in a mud puddle.
He had tripped and his specs were in the mud and so was he ankle deep.
He was crying and the yellow balloon was blowing each time he took some oxygen to cry aloud.
I pacified him, took his hand and pulled him out of the mud puddle. His left shoe was stuck in the mud; he wanted to get it back. I had to pull him back. So he felt over-powered and crying left his left shoe back in the mud.
Being dragging Motee-Sheem crying was a sorry thing to do, but I had a greater motive and that was to be back in class. Mrs. Agarwal made late comers take 4 canings and one remark.
I couldn’t afford that as I already had 4 remarks in my calendar.
We reached the gates; I had to push Motee-Sheem underneath. He wriggled like a stuck pig to get past. I followed suit.
We reached the class. Everyone was already in except us; we could not take the main door and risk Mrs. Agarwal noticing us. So we decided to sneak past the back door
As we did that Motee-Sheem who had some mud in his leg touched Pinky Das. Now Ms Pinky Das was a real sissy. She would shout and scream at anything and everything.
Motee-Sheem’s mud laden leg touched Pinky and all hell was loose.
She screamed fearing Anaconda had entered the class.
The next moment Mrs. Agarwal pounced upon us.
I knew we were done.
She pulled the struggling Motee-Sheem by his ears, and asked him, “What are you trying to do, hide from me?”
“No, madam, we were searching for Motee-Sheem’s lost eraser” I said, gathering my wits.
“Ok, you could have told me, now get back to your seat fast” She said convinced.
And left us. I could see it in Motee-Sheem’ eyes full of gratitude and thanking me.
Since that day, Motee-Sheem believed me blindly. He sought his savior in me.
This went on till a year and his father was transferred to Delhi. He cried all day and his yellow streaks were obvious from both his nostrils.
I haven’t heard from him after that. But I remember him and the good days we had together. I have told this awesome story to my kid whose favorite character is Motee-Sheem uncle. Hope Motee-Sheem’s yellow streak kids too would have heard the same story as told by him.
Megalomania
Hi Folks,
I am drenched in my own megalomania..pls excuse if makes u say Ugh !
its been really a boring year till now, none of you have tried to bring out something exciting to think or share abt.
but as ur good friend that i am, i've been constantly trying to improve your petty lives and raise u from your mortal suffering.
one more ancedote from gyani baba..jai bolo !
thought to assign it a title like can i touch u there -dapofied from michael bolt n nuts famous song
wonder did he loose them too, trying to touch her THERE !
Ok now for the Gyanopdesh.....
You can sometimes hide your thoughts and actions from others. Yet you cannot hide them from yourself (and me...many of u know i have telepathy).
The person you are becoming is always watching the person you are right now. The genuine image you have of yourself tomorrow depends on the actions you watch yourself taking today. (so better be good to me from now on)
The person you will be, is always watching the person you are. And what you sincerely think of yourself, based on what you see, will play a major role in the quality of your life. (i told ya improve your life dont just go to the nearest lifestyle outlet)
The confidence with which you live next month will be based on the integrity of the actions you take this week. Think for a moment what a grand opportunity that represents.
You have the ability, with your thoughts and actions in this very moment, to become precisely the person you most truly want to be. With each little step you take, you're building the future character with which you'll live.
The qualities of your life that matter most are not in any way left to chance. They're yours to develop and strengthen every moment, even now, as you watch yourself grow.(or me watching you grow..hehehe)
love and regards (even though u all hate me for the spam i send..lol)
see u all in May if possible, reservations accepted (pls pay by master or visa only) from all my fans, no garlands and no over crowding at the airport please.
Gyani
Nobody travels on the road to success without a puncture or two. - excerpts from The Divine Sidhusims
I am drenched in my own megalomania..pls excuse if makes u say Ugh !
its been really a boring year till now, none of you have tried to bring out something exciting to think or share abt.
but as ur good friend that i am, i've been constantly trying to improve your petty lives and raise u from your mortal suffering.
one more ancedote from gyani baba..jai bolo !
thought to assign it a title like can i touch u there -dapofied from michael bolt n nuts famous song
wonder did he loose them too, trying to touch her THERE !
Ok now for the Gyanopdesh.....
You can sometimes hide your thoughts and actions from others. Yet you cannot hide them from yourself (and me...many of u know i have telepathy).
The person you are becoming is always watching the person you are right now. The genuine image you have of yourself tomorrow depends on the actions you watch yourself taking today. (so better be good to me from now on)
The person you will be, is always watching the person you are. And what you sincerely think of yourself, based on what you see, will play a major role in the quality of your life. (i told ya improve your life dont just go to the nearest lifestyle outlet)
The confidence with which you live next month will be based on the integrity of the actions you take this week. Think for a moment what a grand opportunity that represents.
You have the ability, with your thoughts and actions in this very moment, to become precisely the person you most truly want to be. With each little step you take, you're building the future character with which you'll live.
The qualities of your life that matter most are not in any way left to chance. They're yours to develop and strengthen every moment, even now, as you watch yourself grow.(or me watching you grow..hehehe)
love and regards (even though u all hate me for the spam i send..lol)
see u all in May if possible, reservations accepted (pls pay by master or visa only) from all my fans, no garlands and no over crowding at the airport please.
Gyani
Nobody travels on the road to success without a puncture or two. - excerpts from The Divine Sidhusims
Welcome
Hi Folks,
Thanks for visting my blog.
I have been plunking a lot of thoughts (sometimes crazy) and spamming all my friends for the past decade.
I think i'm getting too lazy nowadays and wanted to group all my previous posts in one place.
And where would i find a better place to pile my sh...oops...thoughts...
yes you got it right (no prizes for guessing)
The posts might not be all contemporary, but they are impressions & experiences of my journey so far.
Hope you enjoy reading and i would really appreciate your comments.
God Bless.
Gyani
Thanks for visting my blog.
I have been plunking a lot of thoughts (sometimes crazy) and spamming all my friends for the past decade.
I think i'm getting too lazy nowadays and wanted to group all my previous posts in one place.
And where would i find a better place to pile my sh...oops...thoughts...
yes you got it right (no prizes for guessing)
The posts might not be all contemporary, but they are impressions & experiences of my journey so far.
Hope you enjoy reading and i would really appreciate your comments.
God Bless.
Gyani
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