Humilty & Respect

It was during Dussehra (2001) , when I was doing my graduation in Puttaparthi. As usual, all of us ,students, go for evening darshan & bhajans in the Sai Kulwant Hall (imagine this as a huge auditorium with no walls on the sides).Being Dussehra, it is customary that some noted musician(s) will come and perform every evening in front of Sai Baba and all of us during these ten days.

One of those days, "Mandolin" Srinivas came and performed and ,needless to say,enthralled us. The performance got over and after the aarthi was given, all of us started to disperse from the hall.Srinivas was being escorted out by the organisers and there were many people trying to speak to him/wish him and ,in turn,he was speaking to everyone there, while being led out.

Now, during these days, usually, after the performance is over, a local nadaswaram group sits in a corner of the hall and plays classical songs for about an hour. This tradition has been there for many years(much before these renowned musicians came to this place) and it was still continued. No one usually pays any attention to them and, i guess, they too go about their performance as a routine.

As Srinivas, was exiting the hall along with the group surrounding him, this nadaswaram group has just started to tune and they were making these sounds while tuning their nadaswarams( short bursts of "pi","pi" - am sure this is a pathetic attempt to describe the situation:-) ))).By chance, I was near him and was observing and he was about fifteen yards away from the nadaswaram group. Amidst all the bedlam,the moment he heard the tuning sounds from the nadaswaram, he stopped in his tracks,started looking around for the source of the sound. He noticed this motley group of musicians and,oblivious to the crowd who are trying to get his attention ,walked towards them. He went near them , gave a radiant smile and said "namaskaram" and went back the same way.

I was just stunned! Here was this guy who is world famous, but still had that respect for his art and his fellowmates ,who practices that art, no matter how low in social stature they might be. Simply put, there was absolutely no need whatsoever for him to even acknowledge the presence of the nadaswaram group, leave alone wishing them(coming to think about it , i do not remember anyone giving any kind of attention to them).But, still, he went all the way to them and wished them. That scene left a long lasting impression in my mind and whenever i hear/read about him or see his picture , this is the first thing which comes to my mind.

That day i learnt a lesson in humility and respect.

Meals & Prayers

I was always fascinated by pattu patti and then my mom , who keeps chanting slogams, stotrams or devotional songs,while they were cooking. The reasoning being that let good thoughts permeate the food ( that is being cooked) so that it also influences the person, who eats, in a positive manner .

Our elders also initiated the practice of doing payers before and after our meal.

Prayers are done by us , pre meals to ensure that nothing should happen to us while eating, and post meals, to thank God for us to be in shape after eating the food - especially my mom's :-)))

Our ancestors are really knowledgeable to have foreseen all this !!

Bunjee Jumping !

I had always been scared of heights. Hence,in a vain attempt to overcome it , I had decided that i had to do stuff which will make me overcome the fear of heights. I had since then done many aerosport adventure activities and been particularly looking forward to do bunjee jumping at the next given opportunity.

Hence, when I got a mail from CARE India that they are organising bunjee jumping on 10-12 April, I had decided that i would attend the same as I was there in Blore for the week anyways.

On 10th, Sumith, Reddy and self drove down to the site and reached there by 11.00 ish. We met RP, Abhijit and two of their friends there; and all of us registered for the event. A doctor was present to check our pressure and weight and then we paid the money to register.We were 68th in line whereas currently at that time 28th was doing the bungee jump.

As per the plan , they are supposed to do 10 jumps an hour , with a 1 hour lunch break. A quick back of the envelope calculation said that our turn will come only at 6.00 ish. As it would be too late and dark , we decided that we would come tommorrow first thing in the morning and finish our turn. RP & friends did their turn at 6.30 ish and called to inform that they had enjoied it.

The next day morning we were there at 8.30 and we were marked for 10th slot.Suddenly, we were asked to go first. As sumith was padding up , an organiser decided to go first and did her jump.Sumith went next and went on smoothly and was smiling and giving me the thumbs up to go next.

There was a crane with a winch, at the end of which a cage was hung. There was Sachin (event organiser) inside the cage and along with the participant , the cage was hoisted at a height of 130 feet. Their was a rudimentary net hoisted on few poles beneath the crane to act as a safety precaution.A harness will be tied around your torso and your ankles will be strapped together. You have to hop into the cage and face the instructor. As the cage slowly goes upwards the instrcutor gives you instructions.

Though I was scared of heights, seeing so many ahead of me, which included girls, I thought this would be a cakewalk. I had decided to jump quickly and get over with it. But , trust me, nothing prepared me for the feeling when the instructer told me to turn and face out. It was scary and I wondered for a second what have i got myself into ! But , luckily, I never looked down and when he told me to lean forward and jump , I did so without hesitating. I had kept my eyes open and I when i saw the ground when i leant forward , I got shit scared. For the first 2 seconds, where it is a freefall, my face was contorted with fear as I could see the ground rushing up to meet me. Nothing had prepared me for this !! When , atlast, i sensed the pull of the cord in my hip, i cried out in excitement and then i recoiled. There would been 4 recoils and i enjoied it thoroughly . I still get goosebumps thinking of the ground rushing up to meet me !!

I was then lowered to the ground and i felt elated as I had successfully completed it.

The adrenalin rush kept me in high spirits till the end of the day !!

However, there was a sad news to keep things in perspective. At 2.30 p.m a chennai person died while attempting "reverse bunjee" or "catapult". In this, a person will be stretched to the ground and then left so that he will be thrown upwards. In this case, the harness gave away and he fell from 100 feet , while coming back to the ground.

Guess, yesterday was not my day yet !!! I pray for the guy's soul to rest in peace .

While enough has been said in the print about this incident, notwithstanding the fact that adventure sports in India does not give much importance to the safety precautions, this accident took place due to the greed of the operators. The reverse bungee event was never supposed to be there in the first place ! It was a last minute event that was planned on Friday night and am sure that this has got to do with the shoddy preparations .

Though, in no way, this will curb my interest in my outdoor activites, I do not think I will do any more aero related adventure stuff in India. But, what the hell, if a thing has to go wrong it will, ain't it !!

What is truth ?

Truth is more or less identified as a constant or as an absolute state of things , which does not change. But does truth change or ,rather, can truth change ?

The Church burnt St. Joan as a heretic - Was that the truth?. The Church canonized St. Joan. Is this the truth?.

Sun rises in the east and sets in the west - Is that the truth?. Sun is stationery; it is the earth's rotation which causes it to raise and set - Or is this the truth ? .

Copernicus said the Earth was flat - Was that the truth?. Galileo said that the Earth was round - Is this the truth?.

Well, earth is round - has to be, aint't it !! The point to be noted is that we are aware of this because we have only seen pictures of it or we believe in the word of a few people who has seen the earth from far (space shuttles/satellites ..) or it is the accepted common belief .We have never seen it , still we believe in it.
However,tomorrow if substantive proof is given , which appeals to our reason, we might be willing to believe even otherwise !!

If that be the case, if everything can change, then what is truth ??

The point is we get so convinced by our view of things, most of which was just told to us and some of which are experienced by us, when we are given a new perspective of the same thing, we just simply refuse to believe it. It happens day in and day out in our everyday lives. Sometimes we are the perpetretor or the receipient of this thinking. How many ideas or thoughts would have never seen the light of day due to this . One can just wonder !

Selfless Love - Does it exist ??

Oxford dictionary describes "selfless" as "not interested in one's self". Nowadays, people try to outdo each other by doing so called "selfless" or "charitable" acts. Someone said, "Charity is not giving a bone to a dog; it is giving a bone to a dog when you are as hungry as the dog" ..

The most often quoted example of selfless love is that of a mother's love to her kid(s). Poets,philosophers,artists - you name them - they have used reams of paper and gallons of ink to illustrate this selfless love. But, is mother's love actually a selfless love ?? For the sake of reasoning, let us assume a scenario wherein a mother,who is from a poor family, had given away her share of food to ensure that her child does not go hungry.The question to be asked is , would she have done the same if the child in question did not happen to be "her" child ??

Given this apparent contradiction, one can go to the next level and say that selfless love involves deeds between strangers without any benefit for the doer. I may not be too off the mark by presuming that these kind of acts are driven by the doer's sense of sympathy or empathy.However, if he acts to satisfy "his" sense of sympathy or empathy (or whatever it is), knowingly or unknowingly, can it be termed as "selflessness"?

Hence, does "selfless love" exist in its purest sense or is it just only an oxymoron ??

Kaapatungo !!!!!

For some time till recently, I have been successfully evading the marriage topic. But when one of the management trainee in my office called me "uncle", I decided it is high time to move on with life to the next stage. After all, happiness can't last forever :-))))If not for marriage, guys will not ever get to know what is mistake in life ..

One day we were watching TV in our home, when one of the songs featuring Trisha was playing. I said to my mom,"Look, atleast you need not find me a girl as beautiful as Aishwariya Rai, I will settle atleast for someone who resembles Trisha". Mom - "Ido paaru da, beauty is only skin deep. (I sometimes feel this statement is used unnecessarily. Beauty is ,of course, skin deep !!!)Do not get carried away by physical beauty".
Ok, she is not looking for a beautiful wife for me :(((((

"Thik hai. They say if you are born poor that is your fate. But if your father in law is poor, then it is your foolishness!!"
"Che che ... Money can't buy you happiness. (I know that, but it can buy things which can make me happy. No one sees that !!)So let that not be the criteria for you."
Ok then, no rich father in law for me .(((((

"Sari ma .. You know ***(I told the name of one of my friend's wife who my mom knows very well). She is very cultured, good hearted and a sweet girl.You know it. Alteast find a girl like that "
Letting out a big sigh, she said,"You know da,it is extremely difficult to find a girl like that."

Oh my god , no beauty, no money and no gunam !!! Yakka,Athai,Kaapatungo !!!!

Jackass !!!

In Apr 02, I landed in pune for my first job assignment and I had my own apprehensions at that point of time regarding various things .. My topmost worry was that my knowledge of Hindi was zilch (even now, though i speak Hindi, the expressions on the face of my listener, keep reminding me that I am no way near mastering it !!!) .However, in my first year , I picked some smattering of Hindi/Marathi ... But they say half knowledge is worse than no knowledge.
I had bought a new pair of , a slightly expensive, clothes to be worn on my bday. Normally , I live under the impression that I dress smart, though in reality it might be far from it (I believe in admitting one's weakness, before someone else exaggerates them !!). Since I was wearing new clothes on my bday, I was walking one inch above the ground; cocky that I will be turning heads in my office.
I opened the door to my office;and there is this babe, who is talking to a customer on the telephone.She turned her head , saw me and with a very serious expression , said, "Vishnu, you look jakhass!!", and turned back to her monitor and continued her conversation with the customer.
Now, I was totally embarrassed and dumbstuck !!! I was wondering ,"Out of all days, today, when I think I am looking smashing, and of all people , a girl, looks at me and says that I look like a jackass !@#$*How bad it can ever get???."
For the next half an hour, I could not come to terms with the fact that a girl had told me I look like a jackass and I was totally lost and could not concentrate on my work. Atlast, upon enquiring discreetly, I learned that "jakhass", in Marathi(slang), meant "superb". Upon hearing this I was highly relieved !! I had thought she said "jackass" with an accent , which had caused my half an hour of restlessness.
Indian languages can be funny at times !!!!!