The First Convocation

 

I remember many many years back, my husband came home after participating in group Upakarma and shared a delightful tale the Vaadhyaar had shared. Long long ago, far far away, in the times of Maharishi Ved Vyasa, who travelled the length and breadth of the region, (mainly travelled along the Ganges) and taught many students in the settlements all along the river. Much like a visiting Professor, he would travel each year, impart the wisdom and meet all his students. Then one year, he decided to have all of them congregate in one location on the Full moon day in the month of Shravan and conducted a grand ceremony for all his students to mark their graduation in Vedic studies. They all performed the Upakarma together, renewed their vow and thus began the tradition of holding an annual  Convocation of sorts, which is practiced to this day.

 

I remember Swamy came home feeling very proud to be following a practice that was established by Maharishi Ved Vyasa Himself.

 

Isnt it amazing that our practices are so ancient and such little stories shared on occasions like these can kindle so much wonder and amazement in our minds, particularly young children who may take to further reading on this subject. The little story per se may have different versions, but does its job of keeping the traditions alive.

Are you Committed? Really? Read on

One of the nicer parts to Lockdown are the Online sessions one can opt for, from the comforts of our home. I am part of a self study group (Swadhyaya) listening to Swami Suryapada talk on the Srimad Bhagwat Gita. A delightful way to begin the day, a 60 minute session, with easy understanding of the complex shlokas. I love his explanations and the manner in which he connects with the Meditation techniques taught by Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. 

So, we were listening to his discourse on meaning of shlokas from Chapter 5 when he came up with an amazing anecdote which is so fantastic that it has got me to blog after one year:-)

He was talking about the importance of 3 things for progress - Shraddha, Commitment & Discipline. Shraddha loosely translates as Faith & Swamiji said the word can best be described as the faith a one year old child has for his/her mother and tweaked it a bit. He explained that the intellect in a one year old is not developed, but having the same faith after the intellect has developed is Shraddha. 

Commitment had the most interesting anecdote. He apparently heard this from a priest in a temple in Tamil Nadu: Commitment is that which transcends Feelings. So, doing something because one feels like it, is not commitment, but doing something because a Master has asked you to do, although you dont feel like doing it is Commitment. He elaborated from the story of Ramayana. When Lord Rama was preparing to leave for the forest, his brothers wanted to join him too. Lakshmana insisted he join him as he was Lord Rama's shadow and no amount of dissuasion from Lord Rama could change Lakshmana's decision. Bharata then pleaded to accompany Lord Rama as well, as he could not dream of leading a life without Lord Rama. Lord Rama however asked him to stay back and rule the kingdom which Bharata did. So, if we need to understand real commitment, its apparently the commitment Bharata had - although he wished to be in Rama's presence, he did Rama's biding by staying back, transcending his feelings!! Such a beautiful explanation of the word and a new dimension to understanding Bharata's personality.

The third quality is Discipline of the five senses which is pretty straightforward. 

Do leave a comment if this story inspired you as much as it did for me.

The brouhaha of Eco friendly Ganesha today and our family tradition

And Ganesh Chaturthi was celebrated today, muted for some perhaps. At our place, it was the usual works, Ganapathi Sthapana, Puja and a liberal dose of prasadam😊, I had to actually skip dinner today. Off late the shrill noises in media on going eco friendly with Ganeshas has gotten so loud, and this year, it reached some maddening crescendo. I just don't get it. In Chennai, we've always been buying or making Ganeshas made of clay, we either immerse it in the beach / open wells, or in a bucket of water and put it in the garden. 

Marketing gimmicks these days include, use of seeds within the Ganesha, use of cow dung in the clay and what not!! And with partial lockdown still around, we have people making the idol with wheat flour, refined wheat flour (maida) and God knows what else!!

All this takes me down the memory lane, as the cliche goes. At our home, its always been an annual tradition with my dad making the clay Ganesha over 2 days, after getting back from work, late evenings. We would sieve, clean and keep the clay ready for him to begin without delay. He would make different postures each year, use his imagination and create a fairly big one, atleast a 2 feet Ganesha. Each year, he would use different style in making the dhothi, ornaments, the orientation of the trunk (valampuri or otherwise). It used to be our little excitement during that week. It was a family event and we all would chip in. 

All this was done without much ado, no social media in those days (he has been making them from 1980s). It brought us all together, we enjoyed and savoured the activity, and since we were in Mumbai, we did the Visarjan as per local practices. Today, the tradition lives on with my sister making the Ganesha, and more recently, my niece and brother have taken to it. Matter of time, before I take the plunge too! 

Ended up rummaging pics from old albums

The public discourse during & after the deluge in Chennai

Being a Chennaiite, the deluge on December 1 & 2, 2015 is going to stay with me for a while. Enough has been written about the life during and after the deluge but I still feel an urge to pen my thoughts on the disaster and the public debate, later.

Just like the rest of Chennai, we went without power for a few days, managed with inverter /DG set for a day or two and when even that got drained, moved into a hotel! It was unthinkable for me - to stay in a hotel in my own city. Soon, I realized I was one of the more fortunate ones, to be able to get a room when I wanted and also experienced zero loss to personal property. Communication remained erratic for a week and more, which added to the general woes. We suddenly found ourselves living like it was a few decades ago - pretty unconnected digitally, our gadgets seemed to be thoroughly useless toys, and we had real, face to face long conversations with people. We met and spoke to our neighbours often, shared resources, food. This was community living as we knew it! People everywhere seemed so warm, and helpful. 

Usually, during such disasters, when the power goes out, most countries have places like the public library where citizens stay, charge their phones and communicate. But here, the local grocer allowed his customers to charge their phones, I found many charging their phones in the local restaurants and so on. Made me realise the resilience that we all have, very heartening and beautiful to see, all around. So much volunteering happened by each and every Chennaiite that warmed every heart, and this would have pretty much been the story in any part of the country.   

After two weeks, people started getting back to their routine and we had plenty of views on 

rebuilding and rehabilitating Chennai. Political mongering and blame game soon took over and the brief romance Chennai had with people communicating from their heart changed, and things were back to 'business as usual'. We had debates on whether Christmas, Marghazhi fest ought to be celebrated. Many Churches announced cancellations of their celebrations, few artists announced that they wont perform during the December season, some said the proceeds of their show would go towards relief and rehabilitation. The discourse veered around, "can Chennai celebrate when there has been such widespread devastation?"

My personal view is that 'the show must go on'. Most often, it is these festivities that serve to soothe our soul, to use a cliche. These help us overcome our loss and helps uplift the mind. I therefore find it strange when the public discourse draws simple equations and conclusions. Just like the movies run in theatres, people bought their alcohol and cigarettes, festivities need to go on. I often see people succumb to such arguments, very easily. For example, I remember when the treasures at Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple was being discussed and debated, there were groups of people saying that the valuables can be sold and money used to build roads! I so disagree with such shallow arguments; the state of roads in the country are not due to lack of money / resources, surely! Similarly, rehabilitation and rebuilding of Chennai is happening and need not be at the cost of Christmas celebrations or Margazhi Festival or any other Festival. 

In a country that is so diverse in every sense of the word, with multitude of problems, there are many things that need to be done simultaneously. Just like the Mars Mission is as important as getting Indians out of hunger and starvation.

And the TGV can also run late

I had one of the most eventful journeys till date, it was my trip back home (Chennai), from Paris. I thought I had it all sorted, was traveling back in Emirates, one of the best airlines, did the web check, the previous day and was all set. Or so I thought... however, something went terribly wrong in my plan.

I was visiting the University of Tours, which is south east of Paris and a TGV takes about 100 minutes from Tours to CDG airport. So, I kept a generous allowance of an extra 120 minutes before I needed to show up at the airport. I was told by my French friends that the TGV is always on time and 120 minutes was way too comfortable. I believed them and was envious of the confidence and pride they had for their railway network.

It was the first train to leave St. Pierre de Corps (near Tours) to CDG, on a cold Friday morning in December, the beginning to the Christmas break. All the passengers seemed to be headed home, to be with family and there was festivity and cheer all around. Just as I was told, my train pulled in to the station, on the dot. We settled in, and I was looking forward to getting back home, just like the rest.

After about 15 minutes, I heard some announcements on the public address and I heard names of stations being listed, that were en route. I kind of patted myself for understanding their accent and was pleased with my progress with this ten day sojourn in France. Soon after, there was a station and most people trooped out. Soon after, I noticed the train was as fast as a slow, local train in India and I was feeling cheated for paying for a high speed train.

Soon, the train came to a complete halt and it seemed to be in no-man's land. Co-passengers seemed unperturbed and I heard another set of announcements in French. I finally decided to ask around and have them translated in English. It was amazing, how young and old alike, didnt know any English. They just stared back at me with an uncomprehending look. There were boys, aged 16/17, girls about the same, women in their 40s and men likewise. All of them looked puzzled when I asked, "Is the train running late?" in plain English. Finally, a Belgian girl came to my rescue, she understood French and a little English and I was finally told that the train was late and complimentary refreshments were being served in the upper deck! I asked "how late" to more blank faces. Finally, a gentleman at the far end of my coach came up to me and said I must speak with the Captain of the train who would hanging around, near the bar on the upper deck!

I trooped up and found a couple of them, in uniform, enjoying a drink and seeming very pleased about the train being late. I asked them if they spoke English and they nodded. I gathered from them that the train would reach the CDG, 150 minutes late!! Ah, well imagine, I kind of freaked out! I told them I had a flight to take and they coolly informed me that an announcement was made about the train running late and hence passengers travelling to CDG and those who wished, could board another slower train, at a particular station (I chided myself for thinking they were announcing the route the train was taking, much like the Kolkata mini bus conductor:-)). I mumbled something and managed to censure them for making announcements in French and not multi-lingual. The Captains seemed unaffected and agreed that I may not have followed the announcement but there was nothing they could do, except shrug expansively, one even helpfully offered, "Change your flight".

I went back to my seat and was wondering how to handle this unexpected situation. All my passengers showed a little more empathy now and seemed as concerned. With the help of the Belgian, I managed to get a French student to get me the Emirates number on his phone as the Belgian could'nt use hers, just like me (no wifi!!). And I unsuccessfully tried explaining my predicament and the lady on the other line kept repeating that I could show up 90 minutes prior to departure. I gave up. As my last resort, I called my husband back home, in Chennai and asked him to talk to our travel agent who would ask the Emirates staff in Chennai to see reason with their counterparts in CDG. And well, they were helpful and as a special case I was allowed to show up at the Emirates counter latest, by 1.45 pm as the flight was to depart at 2.20 pm. I ran up to the Captains again, and asked the approximate time of arrival in CDG and they said, maybe 1.30 pm and shrugged again!!

I mentally ticked myself off for agreeing to such a close connection and hoped that the train would indeed reach CDG, as promised by the Captains. Soon enough the train started but began moving in the reverse direction!! I pretended to be calm outwards but I was simply turning pulp inside. There was a lady who gestured to me with her palms together and looked up... yes, prayers was all I could do. I ran up to to the Captains again and they said that the train was going back a few stations to take another track, meant for slower trains and will eventually head to CDG.

And yes, the train did pull into CDG at 1.35 pm, I ran out with luggage and back pack, all the way up the escalators, travelators, like in the movies, and reached the Emirates counter, panting and sweating at 46 F, at 1.46 pm, and the counter was closed. Finally, I mentioned the name of the Emirates staff who had spoken to her Indian colleagues and they let me through. It was the huge, Airbus A380 and passengers were still boarding through the multiple entry points and I was the last to board mine. 

Its now six months since that journey but I can remember every emotion that I went through that day.

My take on the movie - Amadeus

Rarely can a dark character be so well portrayed, captured and so compelling! I guess the character of Antonio Salieri is so powerful that he makes Mozart's story filled with intrigue. For those who aren't familiar, Salieri is a contemporary of Mozart and is extremely jealous of Mozart's talent and fame. So intense is his dislike that it consumes him and yet, he simply loves the music composed by Mozart and acknowledges them to be miraculous and sees the hand of God through Mozart. Despite his jealousy, he realises that God had indeed chosen Mozart to compose music who is otherwise imperfect, lewd, vulgar and juvenile.

Unlike other typical characters, his jealousy and animosity of Mozart soon turns to anger with God himself and so his actions and manipulative moves are all aimed at squaring off with God!! I simply loved the way the Director has handled this strong emotion in a person and has so nicely brought out the fact that anger, jealousy clouds and eventually consumes a person and he or she lose their sanity. And so the story goes about how Salieri schemes to kill Mozart and also get him to write his own requiem mass (mass for the dead) and plans to take credit only to have the last laugh with God! But God has his own plans and Mozart dies leaving the Requiem Mass unfinished. The movie ends with Salieri confessing to his deeds to a Priest, as he is confined to an asylum for the insane, for more than 30 years after the death of Mozart.

Salieri is bitter that God chose him to compose mediocre music while he chose to bestow genius on Mozart! Such a brilliant capture of how jealousy, hatred, can simply consume a person to insanity. Extremely compelling

We Indians!

These past few years has exposed the Indian mindset like never before! There is obviously something in us that makes us do what we do! I say this in the background of numerous scams in politics, sports, and industry that seem to make the headlines everyday L And those of us who are not indulging in these, just don’t seem to care, such apathy. Corruption seems very natural in today’s world

This mindset probably comes from complete lack of values. This disease has spread so far and deep into the system today and affects all economic strata of society. It’s not just the deprived and underprivileged who indulge in these activities, there are super rich and moderately rich who seem to be as big a sucker as the poor.

What the reasons could be, I wonder!

While corruption and gambling may have always been there in our society, the systemic rot that has happened in recent times is something we probably cannot ignore. Not anymore! While a Anna Hazare or Arvind Kejriwal kind of Utopian solutions are highly impractical, there needs to be some kind of transformation of Indian mindset. We need to get back to learning from our leaders and heroes of past. A strong dose of our ancient wisdom is the order of the day. Gandhiji put it so well when he said, “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed." Very clearly, our problem is that of greed! Perhaps, this is because of lack of faith in some way. At the risk of appearing to over simplify the cause, and being as utopian as some, in my view, if we can kindle this faith for the Supreme, we may be able reverse the decadence we say in society, today.

Being an eternal optimist I think the time has come for people, other than politicians, perhaps spiritual leaders, to bring about this transformational change in society. As Sri Sri Ravi Shankar often says “Faith is realizing that you always get what you need.” I would like to see this change happening very soonJ

Brains vs Grains!

Was fortunate to listen to an intellectual, Prof C. Rangarajan, recently. I was fascinated at the insights and humorous manner in which he dealt such a dry subject as “Indian Economy – the way forward”, till he started to speak on Agriculture! I was amazed how little the so-called experts know about the challenges in Agriculture and the complete lack of understanding the dynamics of Food Security in a populous country such as ours, which also happens to be an agrarian economy.

While he could rattle off figures and rates of growth in different sectors and also talk on how we can improve our present state of affairs, his total corporate style approach blended with a theoretical /academic knowledge of agriculture left me appalled. The rest of the audience, largely Corporate, being an IIM-A alumni meet, seemed to lap up every word he said and gave him a standing ovation too! He categorically mentioned that growth and development at any cost are important, and if that meant building a road in the middle of the forest, we must do it! I was shocked and totally dismayed. Every economist worth his money ought to know that growth needs to be inclusive and sustainable. Here was a policy maker talking like we can print a forest, just as we print currency notes! God help our country! Does he even understand that forests give us our oxygen and rain without which there is no purpose in having any growth! While I am no green activist, far from that category actually, I do think a balance and a sustainable growth is of paramount importance, and is being considered by every other country.

What finally irked me was the utter contempt with which he dealt with the subject. He said things like the actual number of farmers coming down was fine and that we can import foodgrains. He said we can move to increasing  the growth in the manufacturing and services sectors and forget about growing food. Being in this field and working with the likes of Prof. M. S. Swaminathan, I am sure there is no country with enough land to produce food for us! So, even if we do achieve 10% growth rate and all is well with Corporate India, fact remains that food cannot be imported to feed the entire population.

I seriously wish these decision / policy makers take some lessons from Professor Swaminathan. While, we need to improve the productivity, infrastructure, logistics and modernise agriculture, it is important for these intellectuals to realise that money cannot buy us food, anymore. As professor succinctly puts it, “Future belongs to countries with grains, not guns”. In other words, the wealth of a country needs to be measured by the food it produces. 

I came away home thinking how limiting our intellectual capabilities can be! I also realised how fortunate I was to have the opportunity to understand Agriculture from none other than Prof Swaminathan.

Lesson learnt: Its absolutely of no use to be an intellectual or be professorial in thinking, if its at the cost of common sense!

What ails Team Anna in 2012??

Anna Hazare and his team have started their agitation again! I am surprised by the lack lustre response by the media, this time. India’s channel, as claimed by Arnab G has decided to skip their 24/7 live reporting of the fast and even the print media are not interested.  Funny, how the headlines read this time, one paper even calls it as Anna Hazare’s circus in Jantar Mantar!! This same paper went gaga over his earlier fasts and agitations.

So, what’s the reason for the low turnout to Team Anna this time round??

Here is my take:

Anna Hazare is a very nice and well intentioned man but the movement per se lacks the collective focus and intelligence to carry it through to the logical conclusion of an effective Lokpal. Besides, his team members seem to be having divergent agenda and methodology, right from campaigning for state elections, taking an anti- congress stance, transparency within the Team Anna committee meetings and focus. Besides, formulation of Lokpal bill needs some wisdom, maturity and balance, mere sloganeering and social networking skills aren’t obviously enough.

The media did their bit in whipping up passions and emotions ran high with 24/7 reporting on TV in 2011. This helped them grab TRPs and the media barons were happy with Anna and his team. But Team Anna, instead of consolidating the gains and the ‘free’ support from media and youth, frittered away their chances. Many of the members became as brash and annoying as the congress leaders they were fighting! Thus began the beginning of the end. Today, media is quite apathetic to Team Anna as there is probably something better for them, to grab TRPs. They have realised that Indians like armchair activism and the likes of Satyameva Jayate programmes generate more revenue for the media houses and are easier to support (I mean politically correctJ).

The second theory of mine is that Anna Hazare movement was a media creation, in the first place. Media decided to back him and his team, and got the urban youth to rally around them and when the media didn’t back them this time, the same urban youth have gone missingJ

Prahlad's story - my eternal favourite

Even as a child, I always was fascinated and inspired by the story of Prahlad. I rarely attend discourses but I somehow seem to manage to listen many people speak on Prahlad! Just listening to his short life story of 4/5 years, somehow has an indelible impact on me.

Although, I grew up listening to the story of Prahlad from parents, Shri. Santhana Gopalachariar, mythological movies and Amar Chitra Katha, my understanding of Bhakti and Prahlad’s exalted status among other devotees of the Lord, has matured or rather evolved (or so I would like to think!). Recently, within a span of 10 days, I found myself listening to the story of Prahlad from two people, Smt. Vishaka Hari and Shri. Nochur Venkataraman. Listening to both of them gave me so many new insights about the ways of the CreationJ and quality of Bhakti that Prahlad had. Apparently in the Bhagawatham, Prahlad’s Bhakti is likened to how a fish gasps and pulsates when removed from water, similarly, Prahlad could not be removed from feeling the presence of the Lord, even for a moment! Such was his devotion and unshakeable faith in the Lord that he never experienced fear, even at the ferocious sight of Narsimha emerging from a pillar that brought alarm to the rest, including the mighty Hiranyakashipu. I have heard Guruji, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar ji say, fear is absence of bhakti or faith in the Lord. Prahlad is probably therefore the best example of Bhakti.

I realised that I really love listening to his story time and again! In lighter vein, I remember coaxing my brother and sister to name their sons Prahlad, with no successJ. I guess none wanted to be the Hiranyakashipu in the family!

Can we recreate the magic of the 70s?

As I watched the TV last night, I was surprised by the play of emotion on me, watching the most memorable dialogues and scenes from Rajesh Khanna’s films. I guess that kind of sums up the feelings of Indians who grew up in the 70s, an era of innocence, idealism and romance that Rajesh Khanna carried with great élan. I can hardly be described as a movie buff and yet news on Rajesh Khanna’s passing away took me to those yesteryears.

I certainly have no idea on what kind of person he was, off screen, but he simply was the best we had on screen. He belonged to an era when films did well if people went and watched them in theatres and spoke about it to their friends. There was no promotion of the stars, nor the movie, there was no news programme on “making of the film” by the lead actors, gushing inanities like they do, today. At most, we got to watch the songs on “Chayageeth” for those of us who were lucky to own a televisionJ. The only other exposure was on Vivid Bharathi on AIR where these songs became immortal.

Listening to people who worked with Rajesh Khanna, sharing their interesting tidbits and anecdotes got me thinking about life in the 70s. for these movie stars. I guess if you were successful in the 70s, with very little media at your disposal and not much of brand building and hype, it must be cakewalk for them, in today’s world. I mean, these people, be it the actors, the lyricists, the music composers, directors, had awesome talent and were so original. There were movies that were grossers by the sheer strength of the songs it had. Or a superstar like Rajesh Khanna could carry a movie on his shoulders and deliver a hit.

If only we could get them all back, they can easily push the current stars into oblivion, permanentlyJ

The great Indian Olympian Dream

The recent controversy surrounding Leander and Mahesh is a classic case of tardy and shoddy behaviour of officials heading the various sporting bodies. All of them have one unique common thing, irrespective of the sport they represent - all of them don't give a damn for the sportsmen and/or their careers. The officials’ only concern seems to be to continue being office bearers of various sporting associations. Little do they realise that without the sportsmen, they have no job!

Given that the Olympic medal, the ultimate dream for every sportsman, requires some training and preparedness, however accomplished he/she maybe, it is therefore natural for teams or individuals to be formed at least six months in advance, if not earlier. It is therefore shocking that AITA chose to announce the team of their choice, not player's choice, with just a month left for the Games to begin.

I am certainly not privy to the internal squabbles between Mahesh and Leander and/ or the officials at AITA, but anyone with common sense will know that for a team to succeed there needs to be a good understanding and camaraderie between them. Granted that Leander and Mahesh were a great team in the past, but it’s obviously not the case now. From reports in the media, it is clear that Mahesh and Bopanna have communicated to AITA on their plans to team up for the Olympics as early as last year and they were encouraged by the AITA to play together. Therefore, it is extremely baffling to suddenly pull out teams from the hat and shock the players and public. What makes it extremely pathetic is to split the successful mixed doubles team of Mahesh and Sania who recently won a Grand Slam, only to pacify and mollify Leander’s egoJ If I were Leander Paes, I would have retired gracefully than wait for the wild card decision of Sania Mirza!!

What is extremely painful is that such games by officials are being played ever so often and in almost every sport. Often we lament on the reasons for not scoring medals in spite of being a one billion plus nation. The reasons for the poor show are certainly not the sportsmen but the brainless officials controlling the hapless sportsmen! 

NGOs and TRPs

I suddenly had this terrible thought of the possibility of activist NGOs being measured by an equivalent of TRPs that are currently being used for TV channels and programmes. This thought was triggered by the headline hogging news from the Delhi based NGO about the harm caused by fast foods and other brands, today.

If we are discussing paid news and biased media houses today, imagine how the scenario will be like with NGOs joining in too?? Being 1/04/12 tomorrow, lets consider a few likely scenarios to start with! 

These are some of the headlines at this hour / today, says Arnab Goswami with utmost seriousness and outrage, all at the same time!!

CSE and ABC, two environment based NGOs have come out with startling findings of the commonly consumed  milk, from state run dairies. Findings from CSE mention alarming levels of fertilizer derived nitrates, phosphates in milk. Staff at ABC also confirm similar findings but the levels of these salts vary between them. The spokespersons from both these NGOs claimed that they used very exacting standards and followed standard and established protocols. The biggest violators were Mother Dairy, New Delhi, Nandhinee, Bangalore, Aavin, Chennai. Consumers are confused and are left wondering if they must remove dairy products from their menu. NGOs that root for organic farming are seen preening themselves on TV, till Arnab dada dropped his bomb. The maximum levels of these pollutants are from buffaloes that grazed on organic farms, said he with a straight face!! This stumped every guest on his show - from the consumer to the different NGOs and certain omnipresent experts on his show like Suhel Seth, Lord Meghnad Desai, Vinod Mehta, etc., except of course, himself!

Another day....

Team India has offlate, decided to target proponents of organic farming. Arvind K has videos of Ms. Vandana Shiva shopping in Wal-Mart for apples from USA and grapes from Australia. Vandana Shiva, on her part, vehemently denies consuming these tasty fruits but bought them to entertain her guests at her home! Her foes were quick to point out her double standards. Realizing that attack is the best form of defense, Vandana Shiva launched a tirade against Team Anna and Arving K, in particular. She said that Arvind K was a plant set up by Monsanto to malign her and her movement and further blasted him for getting funded by them for his anti-corruption movement!

The joy and adventures in NH 4

Many many years ago, way back 1983, 29 years ago, our family undertook our first long distance drive, Bombay to Madras. At that time, it was unheard of, to do road journeys across states. One of the reasons was the quite sorry state of roads (only the heavy duty vehicles needed them was the justification:-)), another was also the lack of options in cars - there was the Ambassador or a Fiat Padmini, the only two cars people owned and drove around. But my dad was always ahead of the times, in every aspect. He very ambitiously chalked out the route we would take and decided the stopover places along the way. Mom was apprehensive, at first and then kind of reconciled when she learnt that the cost would be the same if we took the train:-)

And so we set off, my parents and we 3 siblings, armed with a road map and loads of food in an Ambassador. In those days, mineral water was unheard of and we carried water in a Surai:-). Our route was to be National Highway 4, NH4. We also carried a number of audio cassettes, sounds like a dream now:-)

We criss-crossed the countryside and took bypass roads of major towns en route. I learnt a lot about traffic symbols, icons for Ghat section, dangerous curves, river bridge, rumblers, petrol bunks etc., as these were non existent within city limits and I was only in class 9. It was a lot of fun, we would stop anytime, just to enjoy a scene at the Ghats or by a river,  or for nature's call:-). And we would stop just to catch up with some short eats... Often, we would buy the local, seasonal fruits as pass the town, like jackfruit, and gorge on them:-). We stopped at Poona, Kolhapur and halted at Belgaum for the night. All I remember is we had dinner and slept like a log.

As with large families, there are always family functions every summer, either a wedding or 60th /80th birthday, or a thread ceremony! And 1983 was no exception, a cousin had her son's thread ceremony in Sringeri. It meant a detour but we were all game... it was fun, I still remember the awesome coffee we had in a small town called Harihar. We took the State highway and I noticed that the roads in Karnataka were slightly better than Maharashtra. Also, I found all the trees marked around their barks, neatly painted with white and red stripes, maybe aided visibility.

We reached Sringeri and spent 3 days there. Its a beautiful little temple town that is the Seat of the Southern Pontiff of the Shakaracharya lineage. Its such a calm and quiet place, with the clearest river (the Tungabhadra) that the bed  was so clear and visible.

And soon, we set off from Sringeri and reached Bangalore and stayed with a family friend of ours in Ulsoor Road. And the next day, we set off for Madras and reached the city by evening! It was my first road trip and the memories are so clear like it happened a year back!

We then learnt the joy of such road trips and we did 3 Bombay - Madras - Bombay trips and innumerable trips within Maharashtra. We explored the state in our car and also did a fair bit of travel in Karnataka. Having moved to Chennai now, I now do a lot of travel by road within the state and also to Bangalore. Its a completely different experience today, with many conveniences but my first road trip is simply the most memorable!

Kahaani, an outstanding film

Doing a movie review after a real long time. Saw the movie, Kahaani, 12 hours ago and I am still mulling over it and piecing some of the scenes together! A real thriller of a movie. I never thought Indian cinema was interested in any other genre other than the tried and tested commerical formula of action, romance and usual masala (read it as 'crap')

Kahaani is simply amazing in that it manages to keep the movie gripping, all of the 2 hours. And Vidya Balan has come up with a fantastic performance and kudos to her, for she has carried the entire film on her shoulders. Can't think of any of the current actresses who could have done this role. Speaking of the rest of heroines of today, I realised that they are all very similar in the way they dress, look, talk and act and very little differentiators between them. However, Vidya Balan is different in the way she looks, dresses and the roles she chooses to play in her films. Also, I like the way, she carries herself with a certain dignity, in her interviews and promo events. The same can't be said of the rest, the Kareenas, Kaifs, Kapoors, Padukones of the world!

There is a certain depth in Vidya Balan which sets her apart. The only other heroine who has this is Kajol. And Aamir Khan is the only other actor who protrays depth in his roles.

Infact, there was very little pre movie publicity for Kahaani, unlike there is for Agent Vinod, Ek tha Tiger or Dabbang 2! And these movies are still getting ready for release or have just started shooting!!

Nett nett, this is one movie that every cinema buff will enjoy and ask for more!

Reforms in BCCI, atlast

Well, there has been a lot of brainstorming among officials in the cricketing fraternity and there is now a white paper that appears to be leaked which has some amazing changes to the way the game and statistics would be recorded, henceforth. Very surprisingly, Arnab and his team seem quite stumped and do not seem to have access to this paper, judging by the Newshour programme this week. Election results and nation's politics seem top on the agenda on all news/entertainment channels!

According to reliable sources, this white paper is likely to be taken seriously and many of the recommendations are likely to get approved which maybe bad news for many of the present and past cricketers, says an insider on condition of anonymity!!

Rotation policy at all levels, players, selectors, tour schedules, & BCCI spokespersons! 
Apparently, the who's who in BCCI and players approve this policy. It is felt that selectors can also be 'rested' to infuse new thinking and ideas into the team composition (what it actually aims at, is to remove individual and personal bias of selectors). All stakeholders, players, BCCI officials, advertisers, sponsors, commentators, audience representatives feel that schedules must be such that India gets to alternate between 'strong and weak' teams (this is to boost morale and statistics, obviously). The official explanation given is that such schedules are in the larger interest of the game, to get more non cricketing countries to join the game and make cricket the world sport and displace Soccer's supremacy:-)

GenX reforms are to include how statistics are to be recorded. If a player is near a milestone, plus or minus 10, he would be given a super over, much like the penalty shot in Soccer:-). This will allow players to reach their milestone and also save the game from players who are overstaying their presence in the team.

Official sponsors and sponsors of events and companies that own telecast rights are also to be rotated. This is to ensure nobody takes the game for a ride (insiders know the real reason - more money can be made via rotation)

BCCI has requested the Home Ministry to allow citizenship of foreign players on an annual basis to India. This will keep the Indian team on the toes and infuse fresh blood, yet the annual citizenship is to ensure that complacency, the hallmark of every player of Team India, does not creep into foreign origin Indian players (if we can have politicians of foreign origin, why not in cricket is the argument:-))

Lastly but not the least, players will be given a retainership fee to the extent of 50% and the remaining 50% will be variable pay, linked to performance, much like it is in the corporate world. Performance includes team building efforts, off and on the field, leadership qualities and attendance at training camps, apart from match winning performances:-)

Hindu Service & Spiritual Fair - 2012

It was an interesting Republic day for me. I spent most of the day at the 4th edition of the Hindu Service & Spiritual Fair in Chennai. I have always visited the fair each year and always notice that with each year, there are many amazing changes and improvements and an extremely sincere effort by the organizers to bring as many Hindu organizations together.

This year, its happening at the D. G. Vaishnav College, Arumbakkam campus. As I strolled along, I reached an interesting corner that had an artificial banyan tree named as Sanathana Dharma tree! And from its branches, dangled little cards that bore the names of all participating organizations!! It was a lovely idea. And against the backdrop of this tree, were about 10 kids from class V and VI, from SDRF Vivekananda School, Chrompet, that were cutely dressed up as various heroes of India. And as one neared any of them, they would stand and talk like the hero they were dressed up as, with a fervour and enthusiasm that was so cute and infectious! I enjoyed my time with the kids there, speaking like Bhagat Singh, Subhash Chandra Bose, Katta Bomman, Jhansi ki Rani, M.S. Golwalkar, to name a few.

I realised how as children, we grow up reading about inspiring heroes with such lovely ideals and values, only to be lost as we exit our teens and start out on our professional courses. And such fairs bring us back our old school memories and idealism back. Hats off to the organizers for doing a fabulous job. I only wish I could take time out as many of them, and spend more time.

2012 and Earth Axis tilt - part II

Aren't we a lttle bored of the happenings around us? Right through 2011, we saw Arab Spring, US autumn, Occupy Wall Street style protests across the world. Back home in India, we had anti-graft campaigns by Anna Hazare that made news headlines 60% of the year. We did have many other campaigns, the perpetual Telangana stir, anti-nuclear protest, anti- genetic modification protest etc etc.

To add some entertainment, we had shoes hurled at leaders, ink thrown at people, people being man-handled, slapped too:-). No wonder, the song kolaveri (means murderous rage in tamil) went on to become the song of the year, as it kind of captured the mood of the people.

But friends, 2012 promises to be a different entertainer. I think we can brace ourselves for unexpected surprises from Nature! As we near the solar cycle - maximum in the 11 year cycle, we can expect many solar flares and storms. While, NASA has assured all of us that its pretty normal to experience these sun storms, as the sun approaches its "solar maximum" in May 2013, we are seeing very high and intense activity, already. This makes way for many theories to get re-floated and I am doing the same by re-posting the link to one of my earlier posts on the Earth Axis tilt that is doing the rounds.

While, I am a firm believer in the continuity of life, and never will fall for any doomsday predictions, I do think there's going to be some interesting events happenning in the next 12 - 15 months. There seem to be many pointers to this possibility. I would like readers of this post to check out the following stories.

http://www.polereversal.com/

http://www.crawford2000.co.uk/mag.htm

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/2012-guest.html

So, lets brace ourselves to an adventurous 2012:-)

Arunachaleshwar finally beckoned

Its been more than 10 years since I have had this deep longing to go to Thiruvannamalai, a celebrated abode of Lord Shiva, representing the fire element. Its just a day journey from Chennai, where I live, but it never happened. Finally, HE organized it all for me, and in grand style!

It was all like perfect timing, right from the start. We entered the temple and the deities were being led in a procession, a regular ritual, but it felt as if the Lord came out to give HIS darshan. We took our time to enter the main sanctum sanctorum and before we knew it, a priest led us toward the Lord and took us right there, just within a foot of the Lord. Whew!! We spent precious time at HIS feet and left with our hearts feeling full. Later, I gathered he was the Chief Priest of the temple and had been serving the Lord for the past 60 years! He then took us around and gave us a similar darshan of the Goddess too. It was such an unbelievable darshan, we all felt so special, it was like it was all planned and organized for us. There were hardly any crowds and the temple appeared to have just us:)

Ramana Maharishi spent most of his life meditating in this temple and so we ended our trip by going to Ramanashramam. There too, we were just on time, for lunch was being served and we had prasad. We rested and meditated  at the meditation hall and were thoroughly refreshed with just a few hours we spent there. Such was the calm inside.

The Lord does know how to make us feel special and chosen. What a perfect day it turned out!

Reminded me of what H. H. Sri Sri RaviShankar ji says, "Faith is giving the Divine a chance to Act". Experienced that in abundance.

Profound Truth

Amazing, how casual conversations between 2 kids can turn out completely philosophical and profound. I will share this conversation my niece (6 years) and nephew (9 years) had the other day. The discussion was whether time or money was important.

Boy: Time

Girl: Why?

Boy: Because if you lose or spend money, you can always earn it. On the other hand, if you spend time, you can't earn it!

(if you thought this was a gem of an answer, hold on, there's more!!)

Girl: One can't spend time, times spends itself. You can choose to spend it or not!

Whew!! Such understanding and experiences kids of today have. Wonder if they realised the depth their conversation had.