Dream school...

It's been a persistent thought. It's so inviting that I can even call it a fantasy. To be running a creche a.k.a day-care a.k.a playschool, on my own; of course with efficient staff to do all the work, and I would do nothing other than playing with the kids!!

[Shot during the Chennai Photowalk #31]

Adverts like this, across the city, apart from helping me keep the idea alive, also kindles the curiosity in me to question the naming convention followed so ardently by all the playschools:

Roots to Wings
Blooming Buds
Little Angels
Tiny Tots
Birds' Nest
Apple Tree
Butterflies
Tender Feet

Why stick to the aesthetic & poetic & downright indicative names? How about moving on to the more pragmatic -
Smiles & Wails

Jolly Brats
Crawl and Drool
Funky Monkeys
Prankster's Garden
Brawl & Crawl
Naughty Tykes
Merry & Cranky

Or a little more provoking:
Pay to Play
Pay-Care (Point-blank at working mothers: Pay to care and take care of your pay)
Wean & Dine :D
Bum Chums

Should keep adding to the list, so that I can pick the best name for my school where all I would do is play!

Divine Moments...700..!

Puri. November 2009.

My daily dose of the Holy Gita came from Chapter 5 - Karma Sannyasa Yoga yesterday, May 20 2010. The chapter which talks about Action & Renunciation, with a generous sprinkling of tongue-twisters, is pure honey to chant.

Verse 18 puts forth the qualities of a Pandit - a learned person or a person filled with wisdom - who qualifies to attain Eternity or Moksha. Roughly translated, it means "One who has the equality of vision to see the existence of the Supreme Lord in everything and everyone - in a brahmin who is well versed in the Vedas, in a cow, in an elephant, in a dog and in the animal-eating humans".

This verse took me to Puri instantly. During one of my official trips to Orisssa, I was fortunate to have a day at Puri. The moment I heard the schedule, I was all excited about having a darshan of Lord Jagannath. I also had a grim reminder of my previous visit to the Puri Jagannath temple a few years ago in the peak summer of 2002.

During the 2002 trip, I was not grown up enough to be appreciate the vibes of a holy place, even if it was horribly crowded and as a result noticeably unclean. And, Puri - I remembered - was very unclean, what with the path to the sanctum being slippery because of all the prasadam rice spilled generously. I do not remember anything about the beauty of the idol, but only the tricky walk to the sanctum sanctorum.

So, I programmed myself to fix my mind on the Lord's manifestation this time and not to bother about anything else at the temple. I was also contemplating if I could find enough time and peace to chant the Bhagvad Gita at the temple. Considering that a sampoorna paaraayan of the Gita takes a minimum of 3 and a half hours, if done at a decent pace of chanting, the idea in my head seemed to be a tall order. But I let it linger on.

I reached the temple early in the morning and it made me think if I had gone to a different temple in 2002. The temple is very well-kept and being a lean period of tourism, the crowd was so less. I had a wonderful Darshan, unable to take my eyes off the magnificent idols, with no one to shoo me away from standing right in front of the final steps leading into the innermost part of the sanctum sanctorum. But, I had to attend to office work too. Krishna was looking at me with His BIG eyes: 700 verses...mmmm?

A replica of the idols of Puri, ISKCON - Hyderabad.

I resolved to return back to the temple in the evening. But, by the time I finished all the work with a bit of touring, and made it to the temple, it was 8 pm. The temple closes by 10:30 and I had 2.30 hours for 700 verses. Another 30 minutes went by in finishing the circumambulation of all the deities. Finally, I reached the place (an open patio) outside the main sanctum sanctorum, specially marked for paaraayan, at 8:30 having made up my mind to chant as much as possible and as fast-paced as possible.

Though it was cold, not wanting to bundle up in my woollen scarf which lied on my lap, I had my silky duppatta over my head. There were a few others sitting nearby and doing various chants. A kitten was loitering around. Yes, kitten. I was not even 20 verses into His 700, this kitten found me. Trying to concentrate on chanting, my efforts in shooing the kitten away went in vain. The kitten kept climbing in out of my lap, making me wonder if its claws were ripping threads out of my silk-soft dress.

It was getting colder and the crowd inside the temple grew thinner. So, I decided to go inside and sit right in front of Him to continue the chants, free from the distraction offered by the kitten. There were about 50-60 people scattered inside and I sat near a huge pillar. Within a few minutes, the kitten found me among all those people, and continued to play around as before.

No, the kitten wouldnt settle for the woollen scarf I laid out for its sake, on the floor beside me. The smart kitten and me thus reached the 18th verse of the 5th Chapter. The moment I chanted verse 18, divinity dawned on me to appreciate His presence. I stopped chanting for a good long minute. The kitten is His manifestation too and will I be shooing Him away? By the time I finished Chapter 5, the kitten having done its alloted job of teaching me a lesson, pulled my scarf to the floor and settled down into a nap, nuzzling in my feet. Throughout Chapters 6 - 18, it kept shifting its position floor-lap-knee-lap-floor-lap..., but never moved away. The kitten was not distracting anymore but aided my concentration.

The temple doors started closing. It was 10.40pm when I finished Chapter 18. By the time I started my final prayers thanking Him for the day and for the 700 verses, THE KITTEN stretched its luxurious stretch in all glory, and moved away when I finished thanking my Teacher - Shree Gurubhyo Namaha. Harih OM !

No doubt that am going to remember THE KITTEN through out my life, for revealing the profoundness of Verse 5.18. And also the moment of revelation !

Divine Moments #2.

Divine Moments...

Mumbai. Tuesday.

Long day at work and epic traffic of evening rush-hours. Wrong time to expect a peaceful drive and added to it are the numerous phone calls from office,office,offices, friends and home - some pleasant and some not so pleasant. Made it to THE Siddhi Vinayak Temple, somehow.

Had to park the car a good furlong away from the temple, after making the good driver that he would not move too far away from the car. Top security arrangement at the entrance wouldnt allow my handbag (which is more a backpack than a handbag) inside. No - no cameras. Hafta run back to the car and again to the temple so that I would not be blocked out of the queue at the time of the evening aarthi.

Was pushed into the jam-packed crowd of devotees and finally found a place to stand. Bang on front of a big pillar completely hiding the beautiful diety of Lord Vinayak which I was seeing on all the three 42 inches LCD Screens around.

Work, traffic, security, sprint to car & back, messy queue and a big crowd. After all that, I dont get to stand in front of the Holy Idol? Disappointment must have been written in capital letters all over my face, even I was clapping my hands to the mighty tune of the aarthi song. A child on the shoulders of its father, looked at me for a minute or two unblinkingly and smiled its angelic smile. And touched my cheeks. And my held my clapping hands with its two cherubic palms.

There....I had the Lord's Darshan, up-close and absolutely personal.

Divine Moments #1.

Trying out writing a book review...

Everything Has A Purpose, by Sudhamshu Hebbar.
(Suggested) Tagline: ...even a misfired cracker!

Been a fan of Sudhamshu's creations, as long as I can remember. Photographs, blog-posts and poems, especially haikus. The reason is simple - I relate to his works easily, and totally. And most his works had made me feel that I would have executed the same idea in the same way, if only it had occurred to me! :) When I have managed to compose a few photographs exactly as he would, I can only dream about writing as good as he does.

Sudhamshu's novel is novel; especially, the efforts he has put in. It's an e-book, but now available in print too. Novel again! And, Sudhamshu is the only person I know personally, who has written a novel. That's again novel !

Considering the fact that this is his first book, the author deserves a lot of praise. The way he introduces the characters, takes the cake. The description of the locality and the building-plans of the apartment blocks are so lucid that I feel like I've been to the apartment complex, more than once. And, there is no dearth of cliches, albeit enjoyable, when he explains the geographical diversity to which the residents belong. (Sudhamshu, tell me if you are a Northie or a Madraasi?)

Halfway through the book, I was asking Sudhamshu whether he used some formula of presentation when he wrote it. A formula which prescribes the timings or plot-positions for introduction of characters, description of locations, bringing in the crux of the story, etc. etc....writing techniques and blah blah. The answer from him was negative, but he mentioned discussing the progress and getting encouragement from the participants of the NaNoWriMo. Whatever formula he applied or not applied, the presentation is perfect.

The short and crisp poems which prelude each chapter are very interesting and appropriate. And, there are so much of analytical descriptions about the psychological effects of each event on each character and their reactions. I so loved the part on Prashant's reactions to seeing the full moon. The next best favorites are all those lengthy paragraphs about how quickly kids think before they react equally quickly, and their pranks.

The core plot of the story is so "in". And I am not writing anything on it, as it should be read straight from the book and enjoyed.

Not to be too favourably partial and to show that I can write a good (not judgemental) review, I should point out some points in the book which I did not like much. Number one, there are a few portions of the book which I found to be too prosaic - the football match and the data on the endangered animal. But am sure there is a different set of audience who would be eager for the same stuff. And I should ask the author whether the little-too-large elaborations were written to achieve the target number of words. Number two, its an e-book after all and doesnt the layout contribute a lot to the readability? Why are all the pages left-aligned and the paragraphs are not evenly-spaced?

On the whole, the book is a good, interesting read. I would have finished it in one go, if I had started reading it during an evening. It was late in the night and so I completed it the next day, after work.

Sudhamshu was saying that the best thing out of this book was its proof-print. I can only imagine the pleasure of the author holding it in his hands...Sudhamshu, got it yet, from the US of A?

Here is the book: Everything Has A Purpose

Rahmanesque? Naah....Nooo...

Finally, I heard Rahman's latest. Vinnaithaandi Varuvaya. Why would Rahman pick up a few choicest notes n beats from a typical reggae and get them sprinkled with tamizh lyrics? And then make some more potpourri of all western genres. Oscar influence? Even the lyrics sound disjointed. But the album's a big hit and that is all the makers would want.

The music definitely sounds good. Groovy. Aaromale sounds exactly like how Bryan Adams would render a malayalam number. And yes, Omana penne & Hosanna refuse to stop playing in my cranial jukebox.But, that's about it. If I manage to stop it playing, am sure it wouldn't start again. Unlike the original Rahman scores which tingle the senses, years after you've actually heard them play. To name a very few albums - Roja, Iruvar, Tiruda tiruda, Kadalar Dinam, Kadalan, Mudalvan, Bombay, Uyire/Dil Se, Rhythm, Kandu Kondein, Jodha Akbar...

Hoping that Rahman will recover from the Oscar-induced-western-stupor and give us more of his original compositions, which will satiate the cerebral-jukeboxes and linger on for decades...

Board exams, virtue of crows and More...

With most of the states in India pushing their 10th & 12th standard students to the ultimate torture called Board Exams beginning this week and with my own little Kishore drudging for his Class X Board, I could not escape thinking about my exams...

My Board exams happened quite a while ago and I was fortunate enough not to be tortured like the kids these days. But I remember how uneasy, troubled and tortured I was, the last time I sat for an exam - for my Diploma in Sanskrit. I did score a decent 89%. But whatever prose, poetry and grammar were so difficult at that time, are so relishable and easy to understand now, three years later.

Even the toung-twisting subhashitam (proverbial verse) like the one below, flows on in my mind with absolutely no stutters, every time I go to the terrace to feed the crows before food-time...
काक आहव्यतॆ काकान् याचकस्तु ना याचकान्
काक याचकयॊर् मध्यॆ वरम् काकॊ न याचकान्
Kaaka aahavyate kaakaan Yaachakastu na yaachakaan
Kaaka yaachakayor madhye Varam kaako na yaachakaan
Meaning - a crow beckons other crows [to share whatever little food it found], whereas a beggar does not beckon other beggars; in a comparison between crows and beggars(humans), crows are the better and not beggars!

The point of reflection here is not the crows, beggars or exams but the cause of unease before an exam or in a similar situation? Dawns on me - if I can recite the verses now, I must have known it three years ago also. Then why was I cracking up before the exams? And this applies to the daily exam of life.

What is the invisible pressure that makes life so difficult? IGNORANCE (will I pass, how much I'd score)? FEAR ABOUT THE UNKNOWN (what if I score poorly and fail)?

Ignorance and fear are inseparable and hence happen to be the precise reasons for ANY trouble. Now I understand what this means.."Only the fearless achieve freedom." After all, Swami Viv would not bluff.

Let me remember this at the next "exam" time...

Saluting Sachin...

As a sixth standard student, I used all the available tactics to make my dad agree to buy a subscription for The Sportstar.

"I dont think you would read any of the write-ups or articles".
"But, Appa, if it is about sports, I WILL read and improve my language skills"
"Reading about sports? That's got nothing to do with your studies".
"But, Appa, I need it for imporving my general knowledge. I need to be thorough with stats. There are so many quiz programmes I've to compete in".
What I actually meant was that I HAVE to brag about the photos, posters and, of course about the statistics that could flow from the so-called finger-tips.

This spar went on, even when I had started reading all the articles or whatever remained intact after I had clipped all my favorite pix! The subscription continued for another 8-9 years. I retained all those clippings of innumberable sizes and shapes, till a few months ago, when I finally decided to discard most of them.

A handful of posters and clippings still remain in my Madurai residence, out of which one is of Sachin Tendulkar as a 15 year old, raising his bat with his trademark smile. I remember showing The Sportstar issue which wrote about Sachin's century on his debut first-class match, to ammi and discussing about how soon he'd be playing for India.

My addiction to sports-pix and statistics, has long disappeared. But the admiration for Sachin Tendulkar is another different story. We've all heard him dedicate his 100s and bigger scores to his teacher, his father and so on. But it was so touching that he dedicated his 200 to all of us, the people of India.

When he crossed his own record-score yesterday, I was wondering what could keep Sachin going... after all his innumberable achievements in the game, and the wealth & fame his game has brought in, what more could motivate him...It must be just his amazing spirit that keeps him going.

Proud to salute Sachin, not just for his 200, but for being Sachin ! Take a bow...!!

Yet another starting point...

To get myself out of a terribly dour work-routine and to break a long spell of being unbeatably non-creative, thought of organising all those photographs lying uncared-for after I had dumped them into the hard-disk from my cam.

All I did was browse through the umpteen folders again and again, without any progress towards the objective of organising them. Not just browsing absent-mindedly, but reliving those moments - happy, funny, interesting, relaxed, inspiring, relaxed, tired, boring - which I lived during the past six and odd months. Above all, I remember all those hurry-up-with-your-shoot moments created by my frenemy, just too well, and the combats and battles that followed up... :)

Apart from the moments reminded by the photographs, there has been interesting happenings at home too - like getting a call from a friend after 17 years. Thats a long story which I should write a separate post about.

My imaginary time-machine flew back 17 years to when I was 17...some details I could recall clearly and some were vague...some memories seemed to be etched and some just floating on air....some I tried to recall but could not, some I tried to forget but could not....

The famous quote goes - present moment is like a thin sword's edge, wedged between the past and the future. As tiny as they may be, such moments happen to define life...what we learn from those moments define a person. To be aware of each moment, to contemplate on it and to grow.....

And along flowed so many other thoughts...the high point being the realisation of the distressing fact that I dont spend enough time reliving, reflecting and contemplating on any part of my life or any part of the universe. Not even during all those thousands of miles I cross by trains.

This took me to thinking if I would remember any of the moments that define me. Not that remembering them would help me grow; but reflecting upon them would....Thats when I decided that I should keep filling up this blog, like mad, so that I can remember some moments to reflect upon, later.