One fine day, lots of sunsets earlier, when the sun had gone down and the rest of the world was busy sleeping peacefully, I was finding it very difficult to sleep. I had no plans to go on vigilante business the way Spidy used to do since it was horribly cold outside so I indulged in some online debate on religions. There was quite a good participation from all three religions and I was able to blast lot of people who were trying to put Hinduism in bad light with lot of help from Google , Wikipedia. As I was leaving the debate, I realized that even though I can confidently bullshit a lot about Hinduism, I myself don’t know much about the Hinduism. I never did any Hindu act with my heart, brain and mind all together. I had attended lot of prayer sessions but never gave any attention to the words. I waited & celebrated all the hindu festivals with the ultimate aim of gorging on all the delicacies that are made. I had joined congregations in praying but everything has been mechanical. Probably the only Hindu act that I have been doing religiously was folding the hands in front of the God while praying. I had read a lot about other religions too starting from Bible to the Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code.I had read lots of books, articles and painfully realized how bereft were we Hindus of any big empire or civilization in the past 1000 years. How we have been ruled and plundered by other civilizations in the guise of religion or vice-versa. How while others were advancing towards the industrialization, we were more worried about burning Satis. And how inspite of all the perceived weakness of Hinduism , I never felt any attraction towards the other *powerful* religions. I went to sleep with the Swades song of Pal Pal hai Bhari and next morning I forgot about everything …..
Lot of sunsets passed since that sleepless night. I was gorging in Olive Gardens with the good and evil company of RC, KS , JC , SS , SB etc. The discussion was trundling on somewhat meaninglessly when KS put across the question to everybody about any unfulfilled dream not related to career. As everybody talked about buying house and other silly materialistic pursuits, I said I would like to have a bathroom the way Tony had in the movie Scarface , one which is having a big bathtub , a fully equipped bar and a giant screen television. And as KS asked me to take his question bit more seriously, I replied, I want to go to some of the Hindu holy places. As he stared at me, I said I don’t have any specific place in mind. It is just that I am curious why 1 billion people including myself is following this religion.
It was close to 6 months since I landed in India.. We had physically tortured Gafoor enough for him to reveal his marriage date and extend the invitation to us. Since we people were anyway going to Agra , we thought why not extend this trip and make a wholesome tour of the North India .. And with that in mind , we made plans for going to Amritsar , Delhi etc . As the planning was in progress, I wondered why can’t I squeeze in a visit to one of the holy places in between. And as I checked out the options, I realized Hardwar might the only option that might be feasible considering the time and distance to be travelled. And so all tickets were booked. And we began the preparations in the right earnest. I called up and informed my parents about all the plans and they refused to believe that I am planning such a big trip with my leg.
Close to 1 month before the travel date, after a long day spent standing/walking/running my leg started troubling me again. In fact the pain became so bad that I had to take SG’s support on walking back to the house. Next day I skipped the gym hoping that the pain would lessen. I did the same again but the pain refused to go down. I once again started on my regimen of daily oil massage, reduced treadmill in gym and increased cycling but the pain persisted. And I started contemplating about cancelling my trip.
So 1 week before the trip, I was still contemplating. At that time, I saw a Paulo Coelho book lying on the shelf. As I wondered cynically it is very easy to right motivational stories but when it comes to implement the ideas, it is very very difficult. Even if the physical aspect is easier, the mental block that needs to be overcome is the hardest. I realized this hesitation was very much unlike what I thought was the real me , always ready for the fight.
And then my brother called. The conversation went something like this “I heard you have been planning to go somewhere”. I said “yes, I have been planning to go somewhere”. He asked “why are you planning”. I said, “I wanted to do it for a long time, so I am planning”. He asked “What about your leg?”. I said “I don’t think it is good idea to always take that leg as an excuse and stop doing things which I always wanted to do”. He hmmed at this and said he should have also done some traveling when he was in India but got immersed into other things to plan out anything. As he disconnected, the things fell into right perspective and the decision was made.
Lot of sunsets passed since that sleepless night. I was gorging in Olive Gardens with the good and evil company of RC, KS , JC , SS , SB etc. The discussion was trundling on somewhat meaninglessly when KS put across the question to everybody about any unfulfilled dream not related to career. As everybody talked about buying house and other silly materialistic pursuits, I said I would like to have a bathroom the way Tony had in the movie Scarface , one which is having a big bathtub , a fully equipped bar and a giant screen television. And as KS asked me to take his question bit more seriously, I replied, I want to go to some of the Hindu holy places. As he stared at me, I said I don’t have any specific place in mind. It is just that I am curious why 1 billion people including myself is following this religion.
It was close to 6 months since I landed in India.. We had physically tortured Gafoor enough for him to reveal his marriage date and extend the invitation to us. Since we people were anyway going to Agra , we thought why not extend this trip and make a wholesome tour of the North India .. And with that in mind , we made plans for going to Amritsar , Delhi etc . As the planning was in progress, I wondered why can’t I squeeze in a visit to one of the holy places in between. And as I checked out the options, I realized Hardwar might the only option that might be feasible considering the time and distance to be travelled. And so all tickets were booked. And we began the preparations in the right earnest. I called up and informed my parents about all the plans and they refused to believe that I am planning such a big trip with my leg.
Close to 1 month before the travel date, after a long day spent standing/walking/running my leg started troubling me again. In fact the pain became so bad that I had to take SG’s support on walking back to the house. Next day I skipped the gym hoping that the pain would lessen. I did the same again but the pain refused to go down. I once again started on my regimen of daily oil massage, reduced treadmill in gym and increased cycling but the pain persisted. And I started contemplating about cancelling my trip.
So 1 week before the trip, I was still contemplating. At that time, I saw a Paulo Coelho book lying on the shelf. As I wondered cynically it is very easy to right motivational stories but when it comes to implement the ideas, it is very very difficult. Even if the physical aspect is easier, the mental block that needs to be overcome is the hardest. I realized this hesitation was very much unlike what I thought was the real me , always ready for the fight.
And then my brother called. The conversation went something like this “I heard you have been planning to go somewhere”. I said “yes, I have been planning to go somewhere”. He asked “why are you planning”. I said, “I wanted to do it for a long time, so I am planning”. He asked “What about your leg?”. I said “I don’t think it is good idea to always take that leg as an excuse and stop doing things which I always wanted to do”. He hmmed at this and said he should have also done some traveling when he was in India but got immersed into other things to plan out anything. As he disconnected, the things fell into right perspective and the decision was made.
