Where is the time to blog?

So, its my fourth milestone in the path of physical life. Yes!! Though there are many small, simple milestones, I would track these as major ones – College, Work, Marriage, Kid J

We were blessed with a baby girl this year - 2015 has become a significant year in my life. Life has become busier with no time to turn back, (intro)retrospect and to pause/stare at beautiful butterflies.

Where is the time to blog??

An encounter with Bill Bryson

Last two weeks, Bill Bryson was in constant chatter with me through his book “The Lost Continent”. The west is being described by a westerner in a hilarious style with anecdotes of American history, places and famous personalities. What made it more beautiful is the display of juvenile reprisal through words to the irking circumstances he faced.

I finished the book yesterday and today there is emptiness as if I had lost a long-time friend. Such is the effect of the book!

Oh!

What keeps me coming back to write here? An urge to express or a vent to pen unspoken thoughts..well whatever it is, the action continues.

This phase of life is brimming with unanswered questions, pointless directions, confused insights and concrete ambiguity! Cos of these nullifying effects, it seems that the hourglass is frozen with the days still passing by.

Anyways, Iam trying to be with the flow of events. May be the “trying” itself is an obstruction. Is this the effect of Saturn’s transit?

The hope is there that this phase shall pass on too!

A game of Tennis

Trudging cautiously with eyes grounded to the floor fearing that a blink may make him fall, an old man dragged himself to the court. He was accompanied by a fairly stout lady who walked even more slowly towards the other side of the court. Yes, they were all set to play Tennis!

I gaped with mouth wide open from the nearby court seriously wondering how they would manage a game. Man did the first serve ensuring that ball hits within the reach of the lady. The lady took a beautiful back stroke and passed the ball back with hidden agility. The ball went few feet away from the old man, who was sure about the walk to pick the ball. It took nearly 5 minutes for him to get the ball to resume game. The lady was profusely shouting “sorry” and that did not deter the game. They played for 15 mins with a maximum of 8-10 shots. Finally, they collected all the balls and retired to the bench nearby for rest without an iota of irritation in their faces.

What is the spark burning in them for this game? Does 15 minutes of play worth enduring the hardships they displayed? And strangely, that spark has gone extinct in me – I had to literally drag myself to the court to catch up a game for half hour. Iam embarrassed and no words…

Skiing at Christy Mountains

It was golf during the last US visit. Now, it is skiing..yet another interesting sport. What made it more exciting is the $2 per hour lesson from an amicable skiing teacher. She generously extended the class for 4 hours heaping on our interest. First, it was balancing on skis and stopping at will. Then, it was the left and right turns which you maneuver through your toes. As one can imagine, walking up the slope for skiing down is the toughest part. Skiing down takes a few seconds, but every ascent takes 5-10 minutes. Thanks to the heavy boots and the long skis.

If you pass these lessons, then she diligently takes you to the bunny hill – a practice hill for amateurs! The ascent too is quick here. You just hold onto a running rope that pulls you forward. So, by catching the rope and balancing your skis.. you are at top of the hill in few seconds!

It was 5 hours of thorough fun with toppling & tumbling! The heaviness of your mind and the ski boots disappears as you start gliding in the snow!!

Pensive mood

• “My” mind convulses with nagging contradictory thoughts and worries
• “My” heart aches for unfulfilled visions and un-manifested thoughts
• “My” body cries in pain and wants to suffer
• Expectations from others are growing
• Being “contented” suddenly seems to be a far dream
• The so called “purpose” of my living in in jeopardy
• Juggling with profusion of “Why(s)”
• Each second is like a trek up and down a mountain
• Reasons for such bouts of expression are unknown

The irony is all this is happening with the intellectual understanding lingering as below

• It’s all a well fabricated illusion and gone to an extent of penning it down here.
• The “I or Me or My” is not it and it encompasses nothing and everything! If it’s the absence then “who” is experiencing the above conditions! If it’s the universal presence, above conditions should be diluted and have no sense

Right now, the question remains..for “whom”?? “WHO????” WHO??????WHO?????

The primordial question alone remains…

A wash to the washbasin

A simple stuff....but a passing thought to pen it here!

Stayed at many places, clean”ing” is part of living and it happened without any hue and cry. The count of basins that I cleaned would be 8+ including the one at in-laws house :-). Of all these years, I did not take the opportunity to wash it at my house - the basin that I saw every morning while brushing my teeth for almost 15 years!!!!

I did it today……..

Not sure if am fortunate or the washbasin?

PG, again..

"Whether this kajal will smudge or not?" This was the discussion that went on for 5-10 mins and then comes the practical stunt. Person who bought it applies it to her eyes and everyone around is kinda validating to pass their comments. Then the topic shifts to a hair gel and how it turns color of the hair to white. I was thoroughly amused and was wondering how such topics can go on and on. Next, it was about a new haircut that one of the inmates donned. Well, this is common when a group of beauty-conscious women get together. What is uncommon is me being from the women clan felt that all these topics are so outlandish! I just could not connect to it at all.

A room messy with clothes around, unwashed plates beneath the bed and a smelly bathroom are the items that invite me with a warm hug when I moved in to this new PG accommodation. Undeterred, I arranged my clothes in the cupboard given, made my bed and settled in with a book oblivion to the surroundings!

Then suddenly power goes off, followed by a shriek that goes like “what the hellll..aaaaan..how do I wash my clothes”? So, someone around checks the fuse and fixes the power supply. After this, you hear a round of applause for the brave job well done! This continues with the discussion on “Maths” for the dinner that was ordered..”who shld pay what?” This goes for some time till one lady realized that food is becoming cold!

Well, all that made me wonder how I got caught up with such a script in the drama of life. Paying guest accommodation is nothing new to me - the surprise was on how many such episodes I need to act :-) , phew!

All said and done, the new place still is like a family. Being together is a common theme – while having dinner, or a chat in the balcony, pulling each other’s legs or watching TV etc. One of them gave me a blanket as it was too cold..it was a very nice gesture! They all helped to make me feel comfortable - the plates were cleaned, clothes were washed and I was offered to join them in the fun!

Anyways, this would be a stint and I would be moving out soon. One of my friends quoted the current scenario as “Iam like a drop of water on a lotus leaf”. Iam fine being that way and appreciating the beauty / fragrance of the lotus. Its evident that I need to tread out of the leaf one day and merge with the ocean!

Paradox

It started with a frisson and the flow followed
Safest is
The hands of a mother

and then it went on like this..
Longest is
The road of friendship

Tallest is
The heart of a giver

Shortest is
The first step to summit

Loudest is
The trumpet of the ego

Deepest is
The ravine of knowledge

Widest is
The wall of jealousy

Slimmest is
The space between fingers of a newborn

Greatest is
The marvel of creation

Fastest is
The race of thoughts

Quietest is
The space between those thoughts

Tiniest is
The twinkle of a distant star

Slowest is
The force to negate greater will

Darkest is
The ignorance of greater self

Shallowest is
The mind with temper

Hardest is
The acquaintance of perceived bondage

Easiest is
The process of forgetting that bondage

Finally, the last 2

Obscurest is
The illusory will to “not seek” any of the above

and

Dumbest is
The belief that “illusory will” will lead to understanding of your nature!

What a match?

He lives to eat,
I eat to live

He is seldom silent,
“Silence” is what I speak

(He) Yoga n mediation – what?
(Me) No yoga n meditation – what?

For him, Books – ok, sometimes..
For me, Books – always!

Car racing is his passion
Thought of driving a car gives me stress

Prefers helicopter landing on mountains’ summit
I like hiking all the way up!

He is hale n healthy and it shows,
Iam under-nourished and it shows as well

Shopping n window-shopping is his need
My need would end up in shopping

He is Cancer (water sign)
Iam a Virgo (earth sign)

Mucky language is his second mother tongue
Too much of courteousness eats my speech

He is sentimental, sensitive and caring
Iam practical and indifferent

Well, who cares and how does it matter? We are all set to cruise the sea of life hand in hand!

AVATAR

As written on 1/06/2010 :

I was totally dumbstruck by the grandiose of the movie. The special effects, animation, story line and interweaving of shots took the movie to zenith of entertainment. I thoroughly enjoyed watching this. The concepts like transmigration of souls across dimensions, bond across all beings and life source as one-energy are portrayed in a simple fashion! Some people may mistake it for fiction!

No wonder it took 10+ years to make this. It’s a must watch and I give full stars (if anyone cares)

Uninvited guest

Sunday slumber was suddenly disturbed by an intrusion of a “guest”...that too in the ear ! Yes, my friend got up shouting that something went into her ear and it was trying to fly there………

As the “thing” was not coming out, intuition forced us to put oil in her ears. I guess she felt a violent shake followed by silence. As something has to be done to remove the dead “thing”, we got a bus at wee hours and ran to a near by hospital. Got registered in the emergency category oblivion to the poor service rendered. The “thing” stayed, so the hunt for hospital continued.

Being Sunday and ENT not considered as an emergency, the next two stops did not help either. Finally, we went to a fourth hospital in which we managed to get an appointment after 2 hours. By this time, my roommate was actually getting used to her guest!

Then came the traumatic part – first doctor could not pull the “thing” out from her ear. She tried pump-piston, water, forceps etc. None of the jazzy instruments worked and the doc got scared. It was easy to see the missing expertise and confidence.

Atleast, she escalated the situation and a “hero” made an entry. The look itself said that the new doctor was indeed experienced. With skilled hands, he pulled the “thing” out. He had to repeat the action to pull the “thing’s” legs as well.

The “thing” was a mid sized cockroach!

I salute my friend’s strong will to sustain the entire drama for 5 hours. The highlight is we got her registration plus ID card done for 6 months and 5 years in two famous hospitals respectively.

Thanks to M & B!

Another birthday, this time the bang was from M and B. So, here Iam dedicating this blog to them!

Thanks to M &B for making my day! The cake, flowers and gifts added to the garland of joys!

M was at her best asusual – getting up at 11:50 and opening up cakes/flowers from hideous spots. She was trying hard to make less noise as possible…I promptly got up though!
It was a quiet celebration and both of us were elated!

B came all the way to wish me and that was a sweet gesture! Iam sure he got up early than usual for this! Thanks for the thoughtful gift.. it will be used when I plan my trek to Sahyadris!

Next on the agenda is treat on one of the coming weekends. That will add another memorable page in the book of my life..:-) Thanks guys!

He

It was such a surprise one morning to see Him seated outside our house. It seems that this was the first time He is here. Though He was not staring at me directly, I could feel his pervading presence. He was looking at a tangential direction from our house and Iam not sure if that was intentional.

His calm and composed nature was very attractive and it hit me with lot of intensity! He was such a crowd puller that I was jealous to see his huge number of fans coming from distant places to meet Him. They were taking my space and his undivided attention!!

Day 1 had lot of salutations and offerings. The place was fully decorated to celebrate his presence. He did not bother and I liked that!
Day 2 was almost a disco night with English pop songs blaring the speakers. This did not affect Him either
Day 3 had a movie screening allowing people to squat on the roads. They were whistling to the whims and fancies of the scenes. Movie did not budge him too!
Day 4 was sad as He left. He changed a sober street to such a happening place for 4 days. For the first time, I saw my neighbors and other people who live in the same lane. He moved with the crowd up and down the road to bid farewell. He vanished with a bang deserting the place and hearts of ardent fans like me.

Suddenly, I was feeling empty and hollow! I started missing him and so did my friend M.

Iam hoping that He would visit us next year as my wait has already started!

Open secret

“You are not traveling, you are being traveled!” that’s from the book “Open Secret” by Wei Wu Wei. That kept me thinking or should I say it stopped the thinking? If I try to describe the book, or discuss or do anything about it at all.. it would mean Iam just expanding the objectivism forgetting to remember the source. It will just be an addition to existing phenomenal world.

The conceptual “I” in me also want to add that this book has lot of contradictions because that’s the way “it” is. Does that mean truth is contradictory? The author is trying hard to make “it” simple by saying that “it” cannot be comprehended by mere abstract expression, logic or words.

“Seeker is the source and is noumenon” is the statement closer to truth conceptually.

I stop it here to save from the embarrassment of proving that “Iam” stuck in this dream.Catch the book and it may close “your” concepts forever!

Loooooooong Drive

Yes, it was indeed a very long drive from Greenville, South Carolina to San Diego, CA covering close to 2236 Miles rather 3598 Kms and 10+ states. No doubt that this is one of the best year-end vacations I had!

We were at Houston on Christmas Eve, traveled and chilled at San Diego beach, walked on Rodeo Drive at Los Angeles, gained/lost a few dollars in MGM Casino at Las Vegas, saw the last Sunset of 2008 at Grand Canyon. It’s quite exhilarating just to recap it now! We did watch the beautiful sunrise of 2009 at Grand Canyon too.

The other exciting feature of this trip is I got an opportunity rather privilege to join an amiable Chinese group. I may have missed some instant jokes, as I did not follow Mandarin/Chinese. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed each and every moment..its jus that it would have been more if I had known Chinese.
Two things you gain on a drive like this
- Budget, it was far less from what I had planned/expected!
- Countryside views are breathtaking and they slurp you without any mercy!

Other highlight of this trip is the perfect planning by my Chinese friends! Every hotel, show and tickets were booked in advance.

Not a minute was wasted on deciding what to see! Infact, the plan was more sophisticated than a multiphase project plan with percentages of fun, travel and hotel stay marked for entire trip! The photos were consolidated at the end, written into DVDs ad were distributed.

Phew..they are simply superb! One of my friends cautioned and asked me to think twice before I go for this!
The reason being that the group is new and I need to get engaged with them for almost 2 weeks.


On quick retrospection, guess I would have missed a lovely expedition by not joining them !!

US Visit

Recollection of places I have been...

· Atlanta GA (This was done very often even if one in the group needs to get groceries). Visited the Aquarium, Coca cola factory, Indian groceries, Hindu Temples (Balaji and Swaminarayana) "n" number of times
· Greensboro NC. One of my colleagues’ friend stayed here. This also had many weekend visits with "Cherry picking" as the highlight!
· Grandfather Mountain NC
· Smoky Mountain, Gatlinburg TN. The visit during falls here was amazing!
· Drive to west coast trip from Greenville, SC. This covered many states inbetween with "stop-visits" at Houston, Galveston TX, San Diego CA, Los Angeles CA, Las Vegas NV and Grand Canyon AZ More at http://trudgingthoughts.blogspot.com/2009/07/loooooooong-drive-yes-it-was-indeed.html
· Erie PA.This had amazing beaches!
· Niagara Falls, both from US and Canada sides
· Charleston SC
· Cincinnati OH
· Myrtle Beach SC
· Disney World at Florida
· Near by places from Greenville SC like Ashville, Ceaser's head, Table Rock, Chimney Rock and Cherokee hills

I met 'S'

It has been almost a year and then 3 weekends of “planning to meet”. Finally, it happened this weekend! Along with M, I went to meet S. The word “Shradha” led to confusion and we landed up in a wrong apartment. S came out and was having fun to see us carrying a big gift* and roaming down the street to find her apartment.

After quick call and clarification we went to her apartment. Guess, who was on the TV - it was none other than daily visitor named “Rakhi Sawant”. Iam not a big fan of reality shows and usually watch these to get a few laughs. On the contrary, my friends were dissecting each and every dialogue of Rakhi and her episodes. S and I agreed that M is almost making her way to get fame like Rakhi!!

S was the same except for her change in hairstyle!, that actually gave her a fresh look! After 3 rounds of Chai and one round of beer, the mood was highly elated! Crappy discussion made us to laugh out whole-heartedly. “Set up of a mini bar” in our kitchen and “Toyun” switch to tune FM in mp3 player were a few of them! There were lots of “LOL” and “ROFL”

Of course, the dinner menu - Pasta, Roti and Baingan Bharta topped all this! S’s Pasta was tasty and she did it with an expert touch! The taste is still lingering in my mouth! Chit-chat was on till 3:00AM with a quick touch of all common friends, treks, PGs, PG mates and PG aunties!

Though we hit the bed, none of us could catch sound sleep and morning was waiting with another round of Chai! This get together would stay green for quite some time! Thanks to M and S!!

M felt that I looked happy – guess that’s true for all of us. And it happens when friends get together!! It’s just that we need to do more of this to break the mundane work!
* Big gift is not for S though she did get other gifts!

Wild Dogs' Attack!

Darchen is a place in Tibet that you visit enroute to Mt.Kailash from Nepal side. When we landed there on a cold evening - the Tibetan temples, its structures and village setllement prompted me and my friend to explore the place by walk . This happened as soon as we reached the camp site.

We looked at the villagers subjecting themselves to idle-chats with their partners. Took snaps of inquisitive kids who fixed their eyes on us! I was merrily talking to my friend and next instant I was pulled down to the ground by a wild dog. Thanks to the layers of cold clothings I had! There were 3 dogs heavily enagaged in attacking us. Next thing I knew was the drooling tongue hanging out on a background of canine teeth right next to my face. I could feel the dog’s hot breath. For one second, it was like the world coming to to an end!

Suddenly, out of nowhere the villagers came with strong sticks and chased away those dogs! My friend was still standing unlike me and for a second, I was happy that no harm was done to her. The thought was shattered when she quickly informed that she did get a bite on her ankle. I could see the canine mark that went through tough layer of her “trek” shoes onto her skin. We just finished four days of the trip and were yet to start the main trek. Our guide strongly recommended her to go back for rabies shots.

The intentions , preparations and expectations of the trip made us to ignore guide’s suggestion and proceed with the trek. Need to take a moment here to appreciate the courage that my friend donned to make the trip successful!!She did take the shots after a week when we returned to Nepal and continued the doses even after reaching India.

KUDOS TO HER STRONG WILL!! S, U ROCK!

Still Iam wondering what caused the dogs to attack us and why the whole scene is fresh in my memory even after two years!

Art of Diplomacy

Is being diplomatic an art? If you don the role of an arbitrator in a conversation, diplomacy comes very handy. Even otherwise as well, it saves you from being in the “bad” books!!

On the other hand, it strains you from speaking up your mind. You may just start lying and cover with the blanket of diplomacy. Being diplomatic means to say what others do not want to hear, you still say it and after you said it – they don’t mind it at all. Given that, it’s an art of what not to speak.

Someone said that being diplomatic is not a good thing cos at one point in time you will forget what you really want to say and try to just say things that you think others don’t mind. And another thing is you jus don’t take sides loosing your true thoughts.

So, do you need to be diplomatic?

If I say “yes” or “no”, Iam not being diplomatic. If I give a paragraph like above and say things like “ its really up to you” or “it depends on situation” then diplomacy is in my dictionary. Ha..That’s again a diplomatic answer.

Its all about pricking the needle without pain and also definitely about when to use that needle!