The Sthitha-Prajna - A Short Story

The sparrow was chirping at his window. With great weariness Vipra opened his eyes.That morning was especially cold. It was earlier than usual, or at least it felt like that for Vipra. He had had a disturbed sleep. He quickly checked his watch. It was 5.30 AM. Indeed the sparrow was earlier by half an hour that morning. He examined his watch with greater attention.It was a shiny gold HMT watch with an India flag engraved in the centre of the dial. It flooded him with memories. Deep emotions engulfed him. He attempted to regain composure by meditating and diverting attention. He was ashamed of himself and this was not appropriate of him. But yes with time he could overcome everything and every day he repeated this to himself. He made a mental note to change the watch that day.

He arose from his straw-mat and did his surya-namaskara. Guruji would begin his morning session in an hour's time. He walked towards the towards the river with his change clothes. The sky was still dark and the River Bhagirathi still was at its glistening silvery best. Vipra took a deep breath of the fresh morning air and paused for a moment to enjoy the soothing gurgling sound of flowing water.

He tried to recall guruji's teachings of the previous day on "Sthitha-Prajna" Lakshanam.(Qualities of an Equanimous Mind).

Yada' sam-harathe chayam
Kurmo-ngaani-va sarvashah
Indriyaani-ndriyaarthebhyah
Tasya Prajna Prathishtithah

"When a person can withdraw his senses from worldly objects and desires just like the tortoise withdraws its limbs and head into it shell, his wisdom is firmly set and he achieves an equanimous mind. "

Practicing what he learnt everyday was proving to be an arduous task for him. "Vipra" his name meant "The Inspired One". It was hardly so now. He realised that he had to gather himself up soon from this rotten state. Reflecting on this he entered the water. It was freezing cold at that time. Deeply engrossed in thought he had hardly noticed the coldness.

Stones thrown into water
Sink fast and settle down at the bottom
But the ripples on the surface last longer.

Ripples extend outward
From the Point of disturbance
But soon there would be no more ripples
Just the stand still calm water once again!

To be continued ...

Glossary

River Bhagirathi - Tributary of River Ganga

Sthitha - Prajna Lakshanam - Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2

Vipra - Sanskrit name for "The Inspired One"

HMT - Hindustan Machine Tools (old Indian watch brand)

Surya - Namaskara - Tribute to the Sun God. A Form of Yoga Exercise.

Sublime Verse

"We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time"

"There will be time to wonder
Do I dare, Do I dare?
Time to turn back and descend the stair...
Do I dare
Disturb the universe? "


--------------- Lines by T.S. Eliot

Pookal Udhirum Saalai Vazhiye Pesi Selgiren
I walk talking to myself on roads sprinkled with flowers

Marangal kooda nadapathu pole ninaithu kolgiren.
I console myself thinking that I am walking with the trees

These lines symbolize loneliness and solitude but in a positive way. It implies that even though one is cruising along in good times there is a need to share their happiness with others. (not just in times of sorrow and misery).

-------------Lines for title song Kadhalikka Neramillai

Strange, is it not? that of the myriads who

Before us pass’d the door of Darkness through,

Not one returns to tell us of the Road,

Which to discover we must travel too.

-------------The Rubaiyat Of Omar Khayyam - By Edward Fitzegrald

Boat of Life - Quotes

Amazing lines from the first few chapters of the book "Three Men In a Boat"

• Let your boat of life be light, packed with only what you need - a homely home and simple pleasures, one or two friends worth the name, someone to love and someone to love you, a cat, a dog, and a pipe or two, enough to eat, enough to wear, and a little more than enough to drink; for thirst is a dangerous thing!

• It is not that I object to work; I like work; it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours.

• Everything has its drawbacks, as the man said when his mother-in-law died, and they came down upon him for funeral expenses.

"Up up and away in IX 661 to Chennai shortly"

Assorted Flavors

Useless Funda No. 1

Relationships and ropes are complements of each other. If the two ends of a rope are pulled too far apart, there is great tension and high chances that the rope might break.If the two entities in a relationship are too far apart, there is too much slack and high chances of a failed relationship.If the two ends of a rope are very close to each other there is too much slack and no harmonic vibrations. If the two entities of a relationship are too close to each other, there is very high tension and no harmony in the relationship. The key is the right distance, right space!

Scott Adams Advise for Atheists (modified version)

In his books Scott adams postulates an interesting theory as to why atheists should reconsider their position.

• Assume atheists believe that God does not exist with a 99.9999999999 % confidence level.
• Probability that Christianity is "THE TRUE" religion of the world = 1/6 (Set : Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Paganism, Hinduism and offshoots, Rest of religions)
• Calculating expectations of atheists spending eternity in hell (since non-believers go to hell for eternity):
  1/6 * (1 - 99.9999999999%) * Eternity = Eternity = Infinity

Mathematically atheists are in a losing position.

At work

Rapunzel: You know "Adams Apple" is getting married on 07/07/07 (7/7/2007)

Thumbelina: Ah! Nice. It is the Jackpot day of this millenium!

Peter Pan: It is quite funny isn't it. In gambling you spend money on the Slot machine. When you win a Jackpot 777 you get a hell a lot of more money. Whereas when you spend a lot of money and get married on a 777 date, you are eventually going to blow even more money.I would rather gamble.
Wendy: You are so mean!!

sulk sulk! I am going out with Hulk!

Little Red Riding Hood: Jokes apart, are you superstitious?

Jack on the Bean-Stalk: I don't believe in superstitions because I believe they bring bad luck to me ;)

Pinnochio: You are a twisted man. Paradoxtor we should call you!

Taking off to Jakarta

Itz one of the flight blogs again. Flying to Jakarta for the weekend today. Just had my breakfast at Kaveri in Terminal 2 Changi. "3 Mini onion and tomato Oothapams with Strong coffee". Impressive food, though a bit expensive.

Everytime I fly Changi re-asserts itself as a "Kick-Ass" airport. They now have a High Definition Lounge with a number of HD-TVs showing different channels. It has a mammoth high definition tv screen (approx 4m X 3m). They also have provided couches to rest and enjoy. To add to this, each of the couches are fitted with personal speakers to listen to the audio.

Just adjoining this is the gaming area where one can play FIFA 2007 on XBox. Adjacent to this is the Free Internet area with "Panasonic Toughbook" laptops from where I am posting this blog.

Time to board.

Rain in my Room

Summers in Pilani are extremely and unbearably hot. It is pretty much dry and you don't sweat. Hence the heat really gets to your head. Post-lunch sessions and afternoon classes have considerably low attendance. The Redi-Wallah's (Small mobile shops) make good profits in their sales of "Shikhanjis" (Lemon Juice).

In the hostels, people who had rooms on the ground floors were quite lucky and they didn't experience that much heat. But the students in the first floor, who had the terrace above their rooms, had to bear the extreme heat.

The old stained fans in the rooms used to run 24x7 circulating hot air. But people did have ways of improving situations. There were people who sprinkled water and slept on the floor while it was cool.

I did have my own ways to cool off. I had a clothes line going across inside my room. I used to hang a porous wet dripping towel on it and tie it to the wall.
The hot air from the fan used to pass through this curtain of wet cloth and be cooled before it reached me.

Given my luck, I got a really ancient good-for-nothing fan in my room. The poor fan too used to feel the heat too, and used to stop when it got over-heated. One could make nice omlettes or dosas if the fan had rotated upside-down.
(you dont even have to spread the dough as they will automatically take shape due to the rotation of the fan).

To cope with this situation, I tried the "Sama" (Mild way) approach first.
I registered a complaint with the hostel chowki (watchman) to no avail.
When it did not help I devised my own way to cool myself and the fan. When the fan used to stop, I had a bucket of water ready. I used to splash water on the ceiling fan with a mug. The fan would slowly start rotating again, and I would enjoy the sensation of "Rain within my own room".

Pouring my 'Art Out

Taare Zameen Par

Painted it the day after watching the movie. Hence the name

Raktha-akshi - Bloody Eyes

Rabbit Dreams

I seldom have dreams and am quite a deep sleeper. Last night however I had a weird dream which I have narrated below. This being the first dream of the year (probably after a long long time) definitely deserves a blog entry.


The dream was as follows:
It was quite late in the night. Someone (I think my uncle) was trying to close the door of the loft. It did not close in spite of repeated trials.We decided that it must be a rat. (Don't ask me how.) A rat-trap adorned with some food item is summoned and placed in the gap between the wall and the loft-door.We hear the trap shutting almost immediately, and a big squeal. When we open the door, we see a huge grey - rabbit stuck in the trap with half its body outside the trap.The rabbit resembles a huge rat or a bandicoot (grey fur color)and is quite ugly. I have never seen a rabbit of such size and color in real life. Hiding behind the rear of the huge rabbit is its small frightened child.We planned to get rid of the rabbits from the house. I suggested quite rashly that we just throw the rabbits down from the balcony.This is immediately executed. Later I get this huge pang of guilt and am quite concerned about the child rabbit. I stare at the dark expanse below. The rabbits seem to have disappeared into thin air.I have a sleepless night in my dream, with a prolonged sense of guilt.


There my dream ended as I woke up to drink some water and made a mental note to follow up on this later. I subsequently did some research on Rabbits in dreams this morning. Apparently they appearing in your dreams are meant to signify something.(source:http://www.dierinbeeld.nl/animal_files/mammals/rabbit/index.html)



Rabbits in dreams

Rabbits in dreams can be symbols of luck, quickness, fertility or pregnancy. Fertility can, in dreams, also be seen as personal growth. Some say that to dream of a rabbit means you will experience faithfulness in love and a great friendship, or good business ventures. Rabbits can also symbolize the dreamer's lack of consciousness orawareness. Seeing a rabbit in your dream may signify that you sometimesreact too quickly to life's situations. More thought and planning may be needed.

Hmm.. tried interepreting the above with respect to myself.

• Luck (maybe itz time after all to buy that one winning toto ticket meant for me at Singapore Pools)
• Quickness (N.A.): Interesting that a Hare (rabbit all the same) should signify quickness when it lost the race to the tortoise.
• Fertility or Pregnancy (reserved for later use ;)

I sort of agree with the last part with respect to reacting quickly to life's situations. I had been thinking all this while that reacting quickly would be a positive thing. But sometimes taking such rash and hasty decisions as throwing rabbits out of balconies in the middle of the night, could give you sleepless nights. Hence more thought and planning is definitely required.

Anyways Happy New Year to All and blogging days are back!!!!

An Awaited Moment - The Rajni Story

YAY! Going to see today one of the most awaited movies of this year! "Shivaji-The Boss" . This is supposedly one of Rajnikanth's best movies ever and the costliest movie : costing around 60 Crore Indian Rs.

Rajni movies always bring back really nice childhood memories. I watched "Pannakaran" in Nagesh theatre TNagar with a big gang of family and cousins.

Then watched "Dhalapadhi" in a preview (special screening) , with my dad (my sis was an infant (3-4 months) then, so mom and she stayed back).

We watched "Arunachalam" while touring Chidambaram and Pichavaram. "Aandavan Solraan Arunachalam Mudikaran ("God Proposes and Arunachalam Finishes"), was the major talk in school and was used to in all our conversations.

Watched "Baasha" with my cousin in Jawaharnagar Chennai (both the movie and the place are quite close to my heart).

Was really lucky to catch "Padayappa" in Ooty (Udhagamandalam).It was just after my Standard XII board exams and a series of entrance exams and was one hell of a break for me!

I love the following lines from Rajni's one of the best movies ever "Annamalai":
Vetri Nitchayam Idhu Vedha Sathiyam
Victory is Certain , and that is an eternal Vow!
koLgai velvadhae, naan koNda latchiyam
Attaining my goals is my mission in life!

imayamalai agaamal enadhu uyir pOgaadhu
I wont perish until I become tantamount to the Himalayas
sooriyan thoongalaam enadhu vizhi thoongaadhu
The Sun may take rest, but my eyes wont rest
vaervai mazhai sindhaamal vetri malar thoovaadhu
Without toiling, the garland of success doesnt come
ellaiyai thodum varai enadhu kattai vaegaadhu
I shall strive until I reach my limit

C-Racy Talk

The whistle blew at exactly 6 PM. It was like watching a spoilt video tape on VCR with the whole frame of my vision bouncing up and down. All I could see was bobbing heads in front of me. Soon it was my time to bounce and transfer the energy to particles (people) behind me. We got moving at a pretty good pace. The 5.6 Km Coporate run had begun. All of us were adorned in colorful company T-Shirts, colors of most of which cannot be worn on normal days (bright yellow, bright blue, bright red = All Typical Ramarajan Colors http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramarajan. What did you think Ramarajan is on the Wiki too! :D )

I think the people who conduct the marathons should make it a mandatory rule that all runners should wear T-shirts with sleeves. Come on, people run so close to each other in these races that it really gets smelly at times (urrgh!).

So coming back to the race,the most challenging part was overtaking the people in front of you. Unlike cars you cant honk, wave or show hand gestures to overtake. The best way that worked for me was to go threateningly close to the person whom you want to overtake, taking care that you dont stamp on their feet and then maybe do a strech or an excercise on the go. Sneezing or coughing could also work in case the person is not on his head phones. Soon he/she will acknowledge your eagerness and let you pass.

Thanks to some decent training and some really hot women in front of me (define hot as: women who were hot from running) I was able to complete the race in satisfactory time. I shall hold on to 32:27 (min,sec) for sometime :)

Disappointment

5 A.M in the morning, waste of time, waste of sleep, waste of money ....:(
India out of the World Cup, what a disgrace. Maybe itz time to bury cricket for sometime.

Art Dabble

A vase or a pot?

Bhagat Singh? or someone like him

Macho!

Seigniorage Explained

Seigniorage is the mechanism of raising funds by printing of currency for Government spending.

For e.g. if the Reserve Bank of India mints 1 Crore - 5 Rs currency notes (i.e. 5 Crore Rs. worth) and assume the cost of manufacturing each note is 1Rs. So the Reserve Bank raises 4 Crore Rs in this Seigniorage process. This money can be used for all Government Fiscal spending. The catch here, what is the effect of unregulated Seigniorage? Can the government just keep on minting notes to counter the fiscal deficit and to fund government related spending?

You may recall from Indian History one of the blunders commited by Mohammad Bin Tughlaq! He was extremely interested in Coinage and minted numerous Brass and Copper coins. Being commonly available metals, every house in India started minting their own coins (i.e forged coins). The supply of currency increased so much that it threatened economic collapse through increased inflation. The Sultan had to buy back all the currency from the public (including the forged ones) by paying in bullion/gold.

Therefore the main consequence of expansion of money supply is Inflation. Inflation as we know means that all our money deposits and funds that we possess become lesser in value.

Thus we can see the need for controlling monetary expansion and ensuring the value of currency. This regulation is done by Central banks and regulatory bodies such as Reserve Bank of India and MAS (Monetary Authority of Singapore) etc.

Wow economics is damn interesting aint it!

Faith and Science

http://www.wellingtongrey.net/miscellanea/archive/2007-01-15%20--%20science%20vs%20faith.png

Bad Day

You wake up in the morning and something seems wrong and you know it is your bad day.

You have run out of toothpaste.
The water inlet pipe breaks leaking water all over.
The coffee boils over making a mess of your stove.
There is a button missing in the shirt you had pressed with care.
You rush to the bus stop to realise that you missed the bus and next one is 30 min later.
You hurry to office in a cab hoping that no one noticed that you are late.
You realise your whole team is awaiting your arrival to solve some critical problem.
Your inbox is full of mails with critical status that have to be replied to.
You are served burnt and yucky tasting food at lunch.
With severe headache you have to attend a really long and boring afternoon meeting.
You sweat it out to get the applications running on the server and realise that someone has pulled the plug off!
Just when you are about to leave someone requests you to solve a problem for him.
Finally after braving all these you go home And you thank god that the day is over!!!

And thatz the best time to hear the following song by Daniel Powter titled "Bad Day".
It is like rubbing salt on your wounds, yet it is damn good!

---------------------------------------

Where is the moment we needed the most
You kick up the leaves and the magic is lost
They tell me your blue skies fade to gray
They tell me your passion's gone away
And I don't need no carryin' on

You stand in the line just to hit a new low
You're faking a smile with the coffee you go
You tell me your life's been way off line
You're falling to pieces every time
And I don't need no carryin' on

Because you had a bad day
You're taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around
You say you don't know
You tell me don't lie
You work at a smile and you go for a ride
You had a bad day
The camera don't lie
You're coming back down and you really don't mind
You had a bad day
You had a bad day

Will you need a blue sky holiday?
The point is they laugh at what you say
And I don't need no carryin' on
You had a bad day
You're taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around
You say you don't know
You tell me don't lie
You work at a smile and you go for a ride
You had a bad day
The camera don't lie
You're coming back down and you really don't mind
You had a bad day(Oooh.. a holiday..)

Sometimes the system goes on the blink
And the whole thing turns out wrong
You might not make it back and you know
That you could be well oh that strong
And I'm not wrong(yeah...)

So where is the passion when you need it the most
Oh you and I
You kick up the leaves and the magic is lost
Cause you had a bad day
You're taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around
You say you don't knowYou tell me don't lie
You work at a smile and you go for a ride
You had a bad day
You've seen what you like
And how does it feel for one more time
You had a bad day
You had a bad day

Life 70 mm

Akayla (1991)

Dil To Paagal Hai (1997)

Unnal Mudiyum Thambi [you can do it brother!] (1988)

Talaash (2002)

Koi Mil Gaya (2003)

Tum Se Milke (2003)

Kyun? Ho Gaya Naa (2004)

Jillendru Oru Kaadhal [A cool Love] (2006)

MujhSe Shaadi Karoge (2004)

Shaadi Se Pehle (2006)

Vivaah (2006)

Shaadi Karke Phas Gaya Yaar (2004)

Snapshot

Books of the Month:
Five Little Pigs - Agatha Christie
Four Clocks - Agatha Christie
Warren Buffet Illustrated Cartoon

Songs of the Month:
I'm glad : Jenifer Lopez
Would You: (Touch and go)
Chup Gaya - Hum Aap Ke Dil Mein Rehte Hain
Dole Dole - Pokiri (Telugu)
New York Nagaram - SOK

Faces of the Month
Anoushka - from movie Rendu in Tamil
Anonymous face that I saw in Jurong East MRT

Stock Picks of the Month
CNN - IBN
Mindtree

Discussions of the Month
Real Estate Investments
Mutual Funds Investments
Ethical issues regarding ppl who have been thru break ups and past commitments

Targets of the Month
Enjoy as much as possible :)
Target 2 more kilos loss
Trek up Mt. Guilin
Jog around Bukit Batok Nature Reserve

TV Programs of the Month:
Seinfeld
Fashion House (just saw one episode, itz hot)
Jodi No 1
Kalakka Povathu yaaru

Movies of the Month:
None Till now

Biting Philosophy - Thathuvam Solren Kettuko

I had recently gone to these comedy dramas in Chennai. One of them was titled "Thandramukhi" by Y.Gee Mahendran's troupe. It was one laughing riot. The following are excerpts from the drama:

Thathuvan Solren Kettuko:

1. Ticket Vaangi Ulla Ponaa adhu Cinema Theatre
Ulla Poi Ticket Vanginaaa adhu Operation Theatre!

2. Daily Calendar'la thedhi (date) kizhikkarom, adhu namakku theriyum
Anaaa andha thedhi-laa naama ennaa kizhikarom-nu andha calendar-ku theriyumaaa!

3. Kaasu irundha Call-Taxi. Kaasu illena Kaale Taxi!

This is a latest addition damn good:

bus un mela aerunaalum nee bus-la aerunaalum ticket edukka poradhu nee thaan. :D

The Kolkata Experience

I had really fond childhood memories of Kolkata. I again visited Kolkata this December 2006 after a gap of around 14 years. Though I dint see any major changes / developments compared to high growth cities like Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai I was still glad that Kolkata has maintained its unique cultural flavor.

KOLKATALOGY

Radha Pallavi
(Radha = Poori like Kachoris with Pallavi = Aloo Dum like Subzi)

Singhada
(~ equivalent of a Samosa but not quite the same)

Misthi Doi (Dahi)
(Sweet Curd)

Puchka / Fuchka
(~ Paani Poori)

Rosho-gulla
Rasagullas

Mouchak
(A Sweet and Savories Shop in Gol Park)

Park Street
( A famous street in Kolkata with lots of restaurants and brightly lit)
~ MG Road in Bangalore, Orchard Road in Singapore)

Peter Cat
(a famous Restaurant on Park Street)

Bhalo Aa-chi ?
Doing good?

Teek Aache
Am good!

Ami Thumi-ko Bhalo Baashi
I like you very much (~ I Love U)

Air Post

It has quite become a tradition for me to blog from the airport before boarding the flight. Going home after a year! Have been really looking forward to this trip.

This probably would be one of the last posts in this year. I am quite satisified with myself (for once) with the way it has turned out. Achieved some personal targets, travelled around a bit, made some decisions, postponed some decisions and overall had decent fun.

So Merry Christmas All!!


Signing off