A Day!

Try getting up at 6 without anyone begging you to do so!! Not only it calls for some motivation but also a herculean effort!! I sometimes wonder how the Mothers and Fathers did it for years and years.... and every time I step in their shoes, its a sense of achievement for and in that one moment,  I salute all Parents! It is that one moment when my heart stops, hails em, beats and moves on.....They were really driven by a dream, with a silent urge to keep going !!

For the last month or so i have been trying to get up early, wrap up my chores and make it to school before 9am. It's definitely not easy and is taking its toll. But I think its worth the effort. Getting more work done and have more time to work on a bunch of things.

Early morning events make a huge difference on how the day unfolds. The rising sun sings a victory song. The chirping birds make it all the more pleasant. Smiling faces add more fuel to the waking body. All in all its a positive ambiance. I just hope to continue this for a long long time.  

Recipe from Madurai, Cooked by a Kannadiga, Narrated by a Keralite (on YouTube), Interpreted by a Maharashtrian.. read by ??

Yeah the title is too long to be a title, rather a blog in itself . But it's intriguing no matter what! It was a lazy Saturday morning (all mornings are lazy but this one was a Saturday !!). I made a sumptuous breakfast and turned on Youtube. After some random travel in the video world, i found this video. It was a recipe. The cook in me woke up and tried to figure out the final product. After watching that video multiple times, this is what i think it was.

Summary:: A delicious spiced up egg bhurji (scrambled egg) in an idli (rice dumpling) base.
Ingredients::

1. 2 Mid size idlis
2. 1 Egg
3. Chopped onion (half mid size)
4. Red chilli powder (1tbsp or to taste)
5. Masala (Garam Masala or any other as per choice)
6. Corriander leaves (Cilantro)
7. Couple of small green chillies 
8. Salt (as per taste)
9. Oil

Preparation::

You will need freshly cooked idlis. Let those cool down just enough to harden a bit. Very soft idlis might not give a right texture. Add some oil to a frying pan and saute the chopped onions in it. Add salt, and green chillies. Let it fry for some time. Then add red chilli powder and garam masala to it. 

Once the it is cooked, throw in the idlis. Break 'em into smaller pieces such that it forms a semi-homogeneous mixture with the onion. Now is the time to break open that egg and add it this idli base. Scramble it and plate it nicely. Use cilantro for garnishing. Its a standalone dish and i enjoyed it for a breakfast. 

Heavy and nutritious.

Bon apetit!!

Hen's Dance

Controlled sound frequencies and strokes of pencils, in theory, help humans to communicate. Some fellas are blessed with their speech while some have picture perfect writing. I am glad to be able to speak and feel blessed for this gift. But since childhood parents and i have been complaining to the almighty about my handwriting.

My mom describes it the best way "When i look at paper with your handwriting on it, it feels like a hen with mud on her feet had danced all over it !!!" My childhood has been traumatic u see ;) (Just kidding!!)

Well today was probably the first day when i did not feel bad about my handwriting. It wasnt an epic event, but a very mundane two minute chat. It has had a profound effect on me though... 

I opened my lab doors and just as i kept my backpack away, one of my lab mates (a Chinese) came over and handed me a paper and wanted me to read it out as he could not make head or tail out of it. That paper reminded me of mom and the hens dance!

It was a mess but i could easily read it, without any efforts at all. While sinking into my thinking chair, i felt good about it and realized I HAD A SKILL -- I CAN READ "ILLEGIBLE" WRITING!! 

not a bad start i say!

Spiritual Vacation

Recently, I took Yes+ course offered by Art of Living Foundation. I was fortunate enough to get a student scholarship which waived off the otherwise exorbitant fees. Anyhow, it was a four day workshop distributed as 3.5-7-7-3.5 hours from Fri through Monday.

The course revolved around breathing techniques and few philosophical topics that directly dealt with our day to day lives. The group was small enough to remember everyone’s names and large enough to hide behind someone during Q n A!!

The four days felt like a spiritual/mental vacation although it was in a community center of University Housing. The breathing techniques taught over there included:

1.       Ujjai (victory breath)

2.       Praanaayam

3.       Bhastrika

4.       Sudarshan Kriya

We played games at the start of each session. The games were intended to bring forth behavioral aspects of humans in day to day activities (dealing with people and environment in general). A casual ambience let people interact easily without any inhibition. The instructors were extremely polite and suave. They urged us to question their statements. They were eager to get comments on preceding discussions and were more than happy to answer without putting anyone down. They kept things on time too.

On one of those days we had to decide on and go for a community service project. We were given one hour to decide a project and two hours to execute it on the following day. I will write about the service project in a dedicated blog.

Facebook and I

Mark Mark ... O Mark!!! What have you created??? It's a sinister beauty waiting to devour my time!! Your creation, lures me into staring at that blue n white screen aimlessly until the hard realization hits and I get back to meaningful work. You created a so-called Noble product.... You earned billions, throwing many a bright minds on the verge of poverty!!

Hmm some say "Where was 5discretion ?" to that I say.. "I gave way to addiction !!!". Still the question lingers why why Facebook? why ? I know 500+ on FB but very frequently meet 5 of those, frequently meet 10 of remaining, sometimes meet about 20 of others, rarely meet about 30 others. There are another 20 or so who i meet (chat n exchange messages via FB/GMAIL/Phone), and I have no channel of communication with the remaining (which is about 500)!!!!!!!

Who cares... I got 500+ contacts and that proves either one of these:

1. I am social animal
2. I am so lonely in personal life that i need a helluva attention for my digital identity 

in either case FB is simply devouring my time and am letting it .... 

well for now lets keep it that way. At the very least i have unlimited media storage on FB drives.... 

who cares... 

Lets "Like" our way to glory!!!

My Mother, SSC Pass...!

Mumbai never ceases to surprise and Nasik never ceases to please me…. Nasik, once a pilgrimage town, is shedding its skin and venturing into the new era. It is lined up to be the next metro of Maharashtra. As promised an eon ago, the Govt. of Maharashtra has finally delivered two sides of the golden triangle by connecting Mumbai-Pune and Mumbai-Nasik with beautiful “Express-Ways”. Not sure of the Pune-Nasik arm of it.

This time around I had a chance to visit Pune, on the very next day of my touchdown at Mumbai airport. Within a week of riding the AC-Coach, Shivneri (Mum-Pune luxury travel of Govt. of Maharashtra) here I am…. in Gangapur, a rustic suburb of Nasik, that is pristine and yet, has hints of urbanization.

Well, the paragraph above has nothing to do with that is yet to unfold but nevertheless it was a passing thought when I started to write.

Mom, dad and I were chilling out with a cup of tea on our porch. The weather was nice and cool with a slightly eastward wind. The radiant ball of fire was looking to hide behind the distant, serene, mountains. With every step downwards, it displayed its vibrancy of colors. I was about to gulp down the picture-perfect-sunset with a sip of tea and mom threw a cannon at me, “Vikram, sooner or later you will have your Ph.D.  certificate. I have lost the only one I had… SSC Pass. Will my lack of education pull you down? Rather are you ashamed of my education? ”

I was shell shocked. Not even once had this thought touched my mind… so far. But it was different now. She had asked me a question and I needed an answer. I had to explain my stand if such a situation would ever arise. Within that fraction of second, which sort of lasted for a few minutes, these were the thoughts and opinions I could gather and speak out coherently.

“Mom.. I do not know the context of this question. I do not know why you ask this and neither do I know the right/wrong answer to this question. But there is one thing I know…. You were there to guide me, to support me and to boost my confidence whenever I need it.. Your documented lack of education hasn’t affected me in anyways I can perceive or know of. Infact, it’s kinda weird that an SSC Pass could have the vision of sending her son to a distant land, to fetch a degree that only a fraction of the world population can boast of.

Mom, at this age both of you (addressing to dad), are capable of handling internet with ease. I feel confident of handing over a netbook to you. You can use Word, Excel, Power-Point for official and personal tasks. You can use google and gmail, can read news online, deal with stock market online. You can write short poems, you have excellence in 3 regional languages and are comfortable with English. You can easily mingle with people and handle a crowd on demand. You are capable of comparing at events. You have excellent handwriting and can sketch very well. Prior to your throat operation you could sing and even today you choreograph dances. You are an excellent cook.

Which part of this reflects your lack of education? I really don’t see it. Yeah, you do not have a paper that endorses formal education. But don’t forget, the degree certificate guarantees that person has completed the requirements of program as laid down by an institution or the governing body. Nowhere does it mention the ability of a person to solve real world problems. It is a mere assumption that the person might be able to solve some problems after having achieved a formal degree. It is an ASSUMPTION. Look at yourself. You were without a child for fours and at receiving end of the society. You fought it and saw your child grow and achieve that you dreamt of. You lost your husband but did not give up. You married again to a man of whom I am proud of. He is more of friend than a “Father” to me. Your body wants to give up but there is something in you that want’s to keep going. Now tell me do you still feel the lack of education? I don’t think so. You are a fighter, a problem solver and above all you are my Mom! Rest doesn’t matter. 

So stop thinking about it and take a sip. Dad makes good tea. Enjoy it…”  

Mom, dad and I glanced at each other for a moment and then were back to staring at the mountains searching for the sun. I could see the moistness in mom n dad's eyes!

******************************************************

A note on the blog: 

I do not intend to offend any "degree holder" out there. But it is indeed worth mentioning to folks who think that they are underachievers because they do not have a degree. If you know of someone like this around you, please let em know that it's not completely true. I hope we can spread this message and see the best inside everyone! cheers

101 of Sanatana Dharma, also otherwise improperly called Hindu Dharma or Hinduism by the occident

·        Caste System: Segregation of people into groups

o   The caste system was meant to divide work based on expertise and inclination. Obvious corollary was that if a child is grown in an environment conducive to a particular trade then its best suited for the child and the society that he/she follow the same trade.

o   The modern day analogy would be that of the different disciplines: Engineering, Medicine, Arts, Commerce etc. Even today parents believe that engineering is best suited for a child’s future and growth and the faculties of arts and philosophy are of mere academic importance. So does that mean engineering students are better than anyone else and that it’s an exclusive trade that can be learnt only with kids who are born in a family with engineering lineage? No and so is the case with the caste system. It’s high time people realize that a Kshatriya is one who is educated in art of war, a Shudra is one who does the tertiary works required by the society, Brahman is one who learns and teaches and a Vaishya is one who is interested in business. Anyone can get into any of these faculties depending on their abilities and willingness pretty much like getting into a college with certain prereqs. Just because MIT admits people with certain mental inclinations doesn’t mean that they are biased or they discriminate against the ones who cannot stand MIT’s rigor!

·        The Ritual of Sati: Sati or Johar, where a wife would jump into her husband’s pyre.

o   For god’s sake this was not the “tradition”. It was forced onto the natives by the aggressors, the truly uncivilized barbaric tribes, who would rape them after killing their husbands. These women would rather die alongside their husband with honor than be dishonored at the hands of uncivilized men. Manu Smriti, one of the most criticized Hindu book-of-law, does not support Sati! It would be worth to noted that the during the rule of  Shivaji Maharaj, and "certain" Moghul rulers and British Viceroys this system was fiercely attacked and efforts were made to curb it. But there are a few good people as compared to the evil ones!

·        Idol worship: Worshipping a material form to reach the diving god.

o   For lord’s sake the human race wants variety even in the potato chips and the salt they use. Everything has to be customized. God who we revere and wish to be one with cannot be customized and is forced unto us. Why? What if I see god in my books? my volunteering? my guest?

o   Sanatana dharma gives options to purify of one’s sins and reach to oneness with god. There is only God. Sanantan dharma cannot and does not endorse multiple gods. But it suggests ways and prescribes methods to reach God. What is wrong with it? I am more comfortable with worshipping Lord Ganesha and personalizing my worship than wondering that there is someone out there.

  

·        Indian Education System:

o   The current version is the most abominable version gifted to us by the departing British. They destroyed an amazing education system, installed their inferior version to train people in English thoughts so that they could be used for the company.

o   It’s time that we go back to the scriptures, take a leaf out of it and get the basics straightened.

These are some of the things I could think of. Please question and comment or bring up a topic and I would like to share my thoughts on it. I accept that there are some shortcomings in the way this religion has been interpreted and presented to the common people. This is an effort to clarify that Sanatana Dharma does not prescribe or suggest such atrocities but it is the mis-interpreation of some who hole power to ensure their rule over the masses. This has happened all over the world. It is but human!

My study is limited to resources available online and may be biased to a lot. Please bear with it and lets help each other understand the basis of these facts. Thanks for reading.