Neelkanth ....

I have been reading the Meluha Trilogy by Amish and it tells us of the story of How Shiva became Neelkanth which is very different from the way origin of Neelkanth is described in the Hindu Mythology ...  In part one , there is a speech from Shiva which ends with Supreme Lord is there in Each and Every person.

So today while I was thinking about two of my friends A & B who had a slight disagreement and since I was the common friend A came to me and said some unholy words about B . Next day B comes , talks about the incident. I just nod my head and he proceeds to say some unholy words about A . Even though I had my own opinions about the incident , i decided to keep my thoughts as well as their thoughts to myself. So A and B continued their non-talking business for some 1-2 days and then forgot completely about the incidence and their disagreement and all their fights . All was hunky dory .. All the poison because of their disagreement was buried safely below my tongue in my Kanth .. My kanth didn't become blue and no amrut came out of this effort but this simple act did result in a never-ending friendship which illuminated (and is still illuminating )not only my life but also lives of lot of people who became part of our little universe...

So Neelkanth not only holds the physical poison which can destroy the entire world but also the poisonous thoughts which can result in destruction of the smaller universe made by each and every person for his family & friends  ... Each and every person is a God in himself having the power to create and destroy universe.

Har Har Mahadaev !!!

Quotes galore

I go on reading continuously . I can read all type of books , newspapers pretty much everything .. And while i burrow through them i chance across some good quotes ..

Got this from Dean Koontz book ...

Be to do.Not to be done to....
Seize the moment . Act , Don't React....
Catch the wave, shoot the curl , skeg it , nail it  , don't be nailed,exist to live ,never exist to exist ...
Existance is an entrance , not an exit.
To be or not to be is not the question ...

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A sanskrit sloka ( translated to english )
The Gods bless each one of us with the qualities we need to endure our lives. Its up to us to use how we use these qualities

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This one is by Henry Thoreau

Great God I ask thee for no meaner pelf
Than that I may not disappoint myself,
That in my action I may soar as high,
As I can now discern with my clear eye

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By Frank Herbert
The people I distrust most are those who want to improve our lives but have only one course of action.

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Edward Barnard in "Fall of Edward Barnard"
Beauty you seldom see face to face. Look at it well, for what you see now you will never see again , since the moment is transitory, but it will be an imperishable memory in your heart. You touch eternity
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By Somerset Maughan in The Razor's Edge
The more he learns , the more he wants and the more unhappy he becomes.
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By Somerset Maughan in The Back of Beyond
One mustn’t expect gratitude. It’s a thing that no has right to. After all, you do good because it gives you pleasure. It’s the purest form of happiness there is. To expect thanks for it is really asking too much. If you get it well , well , it’s like a bonus on the shares on which you have already received the dividend; it’s grand, but you mustn’t look upon as your due.

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By Somerset Maughan in The Back of Beyond
Sometimes you seem as hard as nails and then you talk so that one thinks you are almost human, and then, just as one thinks one’s misjudged you and you have heart after all, you come out with something that just shocks one. I suppose that’s what they call a cynic
Moon’s reply : If to look truth in the face and not resent it when it’s unpalatable, and take human nature as you find it, smiling when it’s absurd and grieved without exaggeration when it’s pitiful, is to be cynical then I suppose I am a cynic. Mostly human nature is both absurd and pitiful, but if life has taught you tolerance you find it more to smile at than to weep.
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 By Harper Lee in To Kill A Mocking Bird

People in their right minds never take pride in their talents.
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By Amish in The Secret of the Nagas

It doesn't matter if the people that evil being committed against don't fight back. It doesn't matter if the entire world chooses to look the other way.. Always remember this. You don't live with the consequences of other people's karma. You live with consequences of your own.
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By Paulo Coelho

People may forget what we said, people may forget what we did, but never forget how we made them feel.
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If it happens , God let it happens ,and when we say "I don't understand" , God replies "I don't care"

Stephen king in The Green Mile
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The Best way to clean the system is to own it ..

Nitin K P Jan 3 2012
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If we seek something ,the same thing is seeking us. Nevertheless , be prepared for everything.

Paulo Coelho

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Things you do might not be your passion but that might be the best opportunity that life gave you.
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Freedom is not the absence of commitments , but the ability to choose and commit one to what is best for self.
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The humility of a warrior is not the same humility as that of a servile man. The warrior does not lower his head to anyone, and nor does he allow anyone to bow before him. The servile man, on the other hand, kneels before anyone he believes to be more powerful, and demands that the people under his command behave in a similar fashion before him.

Castaneda
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I stopped using drugs, my dreams are frightening or rather confusing enough.

Today I had a strange dream not exactly strange but a dream which left me wondering for sometime whether it really had some significance and trying to convey some things or just a timepass similar to all crazy things that I go on doing. I had read somewhere that dreams are triggered by some incident which happened during the past few days or some hidden emotions. Most probably the incident which triggered the dream was my chat with Gy aunty in which I told her bout my plans to coming back to india and she responded back with the “Apna des to apna des hota hai” and I responded back with the dialogue from Swades ”apni chaukkat ka diya giving light to neighbor’s house” . let me get the swades song in the background to build up the ambience which might help in a better flow of the creative juices ..

Ok so with the swades song in the background and confirming the exact dialogue let me get back to the sequence of events yesterday morning … Yesterday morning well not exactly morning as in 9 am or so but morning as in after getting up from bed after sleeping in the night .. well it was not exactly night as in 11 pm or so but it was more of like 4 am on saturday morning.. so coming back to yesterday morning , I called up my house and cracked the regular jokes to let them get the idea that everything is normal in this part of the world and then I called up my moohboli sister and while talking to her she informed that her mom is with her and so I talked to Gy aunty where the above mentioned dialogues took place…after the call I took JC to library.. btw I have been reading some books on Indian political system and happening since independence in the past few days.. and I was discussing about them with JC .. while coming back from library , I noticed that JC had also picked up a book on India..

In evening, in the famed sabji mandi of Bensalem ,at the payment counter I observed somebody peeping at me and in courtesy I also peeped back and while this peeping business was going on i realized that the person used to be with me in my college… and we exchanged notes on our other college friends , While coming back from Sabji Mandi I sat pondering about the life in India , the way we used to have effortless fun with friends and colleagues . My Sunday walk for the newspapers ( indian express , Times of india & midday ) , the small moments spent in tapari drinking special chai or walk down to the nearby sweet shop for a plate of samosa followed by combination of dosa and then boondi sev .. or the group outings to smoking joe’s pizza or china everest followed by a visit to the monginis , midnight visit to bade miyan for chicken curry and roti followed up with a visit to haji ali juice centre for lychi shake , the fruit juice dinner which we used to have once in a month ,the movie theatre visits which used to be mostly an excuse to sleep peacefully in air conditioned hall..The life was so simple yet so blissful with so much time in hand not only to relax on weekend but to have fun too.

I realized that *something* was missing in my life … With that thought in mind I went to bed and woke up with that dream.

p.s : I started writing on this piece close to 2 months back but had forgotten about it in the rumble and tumble of the life .. Don’t expect me to remember the dream but yes I remember the confusion with which I got up in the morning


Blogspot ps - This was posted on yahoo 360 on May 8 2008 when JC had still not metamorphosed into his current avatar of JD

The Selfish Samaritan

It was one of those normal Saturdays in January when you get up at normal weekday time and realize that it is a weekend and desperately try to go back to sleep and then you wake up at about 9:00 am and decide to sleep for 20 more minutes and then wake up at about 12:00 noon and realize that one has completely wasted one day of the weekend. So Saturday was proceeding in this normal manner when at about 9:15 I remembered that  I need to take my car to jiffy lube for the oil change. So with a sense of purpose I got up and as I was winding up my chores, I remembered that library book was also due. One of the Somerset Maugham’s book was still pending. Almost 40 pages were remaining for that one. It was supposed to be a long day with lot of small-small commitments so I thot of returning the half read book.  On reaching JL, the attendant over there told me that there is going to be bit of wait time and I decided to spend the wait-time finishing of the Maugham story .

And so I started reading the book, it was a normal Maugham story about a person A, a good fellow who takes pleasure in helping fellow human beings. This A goes and helps his friend B come up in life and then this B goes and gets into an affair with A’s wife and while everything is going hunky-dory with A completely unaware ,   B dies in a accident, and when A’s wife tells A about her affair with B , A beats her up and goes to a senior fellow C and ask for C’s opinion on how to deal with his wife , his condition and how can people be so self-centered while dealing with somebody who has always helped them. And C says what all times are u online ? .. well no …this was one of the message which I had sent to one of my friends on yahoo messenger and this is a copy pasting mistake .. more of a slip of hand/fingers .. So coming back to A & C, what C says is One mustn’t expect gratitude. It’s a thing that no one has right to. After all, you do good because it gives you pleasure. It’s the purest form of happiness there is. To expect thanks for it is really asking too much. If you get it well , well , it’s like a bonus on the shares on which you have already received the dividend; it’s grand, but you mustn’t look upon as your due
And I was shocked. Infact I would say the impact of the words bowled me out completely. The blow was so hard that I had to let go the book. I kept the book on the chair on which I was sitting. I observed other people looking at me with an odd eye. Probably they had observed the incredulity on my face. I knew I had to get away. And so I went out. Stood in the winter cold and absorbed the significance of the sentence I had just read. And as the winter chill took hold of me I remembered all the times when somebody with whom I had been good, I had felt that my goodliness was not reciprocated. Yes ! I had felt the pain and I had resolved to correct myself, by not allowing SUCH people a chance to inflict such pain on me again. It was selfish of me and might have alienated some of my friends. But then that impulsive, selfish reaction was what that defined the real me.
The rest of the day went about me being a Samaritan, helping out people , giving out advices and in general bringing sunshine into days made bleary by the January winter. Then in the evening, while I was walking toward my house completely determined not to expect any good out of all the good things I had done throughout the day  , one fellow helloed me . He was balancing a pizza-box on his hand. He wanted to enter one of the blocks of the apartment complex and he being a new delivery boy was not aware of the default code for the number based locking system. And so I went ahead and typed in the default code. And the default code also didn’t work. And now that fellow’s face hung up in despair. As he started cribbing about other customers complaining about delay and blah and blah, I suggested in case he is having the customer’s phone number, he can use my cell to call up his customer. And as he ringed his customer with my cell with a big beam of smile on his face, I understood the meaning of purest happiness.

p.s -- This one was written long back in Jan-2009. Date should be 31st of Jan. Had copied it when yahoo closed the yahoo360

Des Mera Rangrez Hai Babu

Things were all going on fine. I had reached the Vikroli Station. The auto fare was 32 Rs. I gave him the 32 Rs and checked my purse. There were a couple of 100 Rs notes and a 50 ps coin. I checked out the crowd on the trains and decided that going by second class will be a safe option and so I stood in the queue. In my front there was a stout lady, behind me a frail lady came and stood. I reached the ticket window and pulled out a 100 Rs note. The lady on the counter asked for 1 Rs coin saying that the fare was 11 Rs. I replied back that i was not having any 1 Rs coin ... So she said that she cannot give me ticket without a 1 Rs coin and asked me to go and get one .As I tried to reason with her, I realized that an unreasonable person was manning the counter and there was no way I will be able to get any ticket from the counter, I went in search for the elusive 1 Rs coin. As I reached the door, there was a hesitant tap on my back. I turned around and saw the frail lady standing with a 2 Rs coin in her hand and a kind loving smile on her face. She said "Go and give this to that lady and get your ticket". I was too shocked to react, accepted the coin and as my wits and brains gathered together I mumbled together a thanks but the lady had vanished into the crowd. I looked to both sides of the platform , that lady was nowhere to be seen ..

I got my ticket, caught the next train towards my destination. That lady's smile was still there in my eyes and the song that was resonating in my head was the Peepli Live song – Des Mera Rangrez Hai  Babu .

Of PC , Ithaca-The Poem and the Big Fight with Zahir

I had heard a lot about Paulo Coelho and how his novel The Alchemist never fails to inspire the readers to do new things. And somehow I had always avoided this book . I very frequently came across this book in most unimaginable places and I always left it like that . And so when I landed in kerala this time and went about all the books in the house , i saw two of PC's book lying around . One was Alchemist and other was Zahir. And with nothing much to do , i started reading both of them together. I was very much impressed by the poem Ithaca with which he began the Zahir..

As you set out for Ithaka
hope the voyage is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
angry Poseidon- don't be afraid of them:
you'll never find things like that on your way
as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare excitement
stirs your spirit and your body.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
wild Poseidon- you won't encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul,
unless your soul sets them up in front of you.

Hope the voyage is a long one.
May there be many a summer morning when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you come into harbors seen for the first time;
may you stop at Phoenician trading stations
to buy fine things,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
sensual perfume of every kind-
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
and may you visit many Egyptian cities
to gather stores of knowledge from their scholars.

Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you are destined for.
But do not hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you are old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.

Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her you would not have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.

And if you find her poor, Ithaka won't have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you will have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.



So impressed was I with this poem that i searched for it over the internet , read some of the treatise of it and then sent it across to some of my friends who are studying at Ithaca .. I started reading Zahir during my idle times , during my commute time to physio therapist , during my physiotherapy sessions and so on. I had informed SK and some other friends about my India trip. As people called me up to inquire about accommodation and other mumbai arrangements for me even before I reached Mumbai , I marveled at the concept of favor bank and realized how my deposits in this bank had smoothed my path most of the time , got me new friends who opened up much faster  . And while everything was going on pretty ,suddenly I realized that the Zahir has become a Zahir for me.. I was continuously thinking about how the story will progress. How and when the author will meet his lost wife. Wondering about the reaction of the author , wondering about how I will react in case I am in a similar situation. As the author went through many selfish/spiritual/mind opening experiences which changed his outlook , I also traveled in a parallel world of my own taking a peep on my past wondering whether I did the right thing or not whenever it mattered. And then since all things good or bad are supposed to end , Zahir novel also ended some 1 week before i left my home for Mumbai .I got busy with my packing and farewells and my Zahir didn't resurface. I came to mumbai , got in touch with old friends , made fresh deposits in the favor bank and as i fitted into a daily routine , I again met my Zahir. And this time it seemed more persistent. I tried other books but my Zahir on Zahir refused to go .
A long weekend came and I used it to go to kerala to pick up some of my stuffs. I picked up the copy of Zahir too and started rereading it. My dad observed that I had already read that book once . I replied back I am not having any other book to read.. So he gifted a recent english novel . I finished it off in 3 hrs and went back to Zahir ..
In Mumbai, with the life becoming a pattern , Zahir became my steady companion for a few days .And then the unthinkable happened. I misplaced the Zahir somewhere in the office. And now with Zahir gone , I started trying to get a replacement for the Zahir. As i searched the bookstores for Zahir, Gafoor suggested to check internet. And I saw a collection of 14 PC books for sale.
And so  now instead of one PC book to deal with , I was having 14 PC books to finish off.

The Chillo Effect

So Once Upon A Time in Mumbai at about 11:00 pm me , SG and AS were having our dinner along with the regular meaningful discussion on challenges in life and it was decided to eat some ice creams so as to ease out on the sufferings coming because of the challenges in life( as well as the hot humid weather of mumbai) .. And so we trooped towards Naturals outlet nearby .. But due to some reasons the natural's ice cream was not upto it's natural mark .. so we decided to seek refuge at the Baskin Robbins outlet to overcome the disappointment at Naturals ( not to forget the challenges in life ) .. as we reached the shop , we observed that the baskin robbins vendor was closing off the shop since it was midnight.. The Thane SME suggested that there is a Mocha near the hiranndani complex and it was suggested by the honorable SME that we walk over to Mocha @ Thane and beat the challenges in life ( as well as the midnight blues ).. I had some doubts about Mocha being present in thane but knowing the stature of the SME, was afraid of speaking out my thoughts ..

And so we reached the Hiranandani complex and discovered that there is no Mocha over there . And so we took this opportunity to curse the no longer honorable SME to our heart's content .. A brain storming session was held outside CCD @ midnight to discuss on the plan of action for overcoming the challenges in life and it was decided that we will all be going to the CCD.

We entered CCD to What the glare from the attendants who were about to begin their winding up business for the day ... We made ourselves comfortable on the couches provided as the attendant came to take our order , i asked for some ice cream shake. I heard mr SG asking for Cappuccino whereas Mr AS went for some ice cream. I wondered out loud how come SG can have a capuchinno @ midnight to beat the mumbai heat-humidity combo to which SG responded back in his customary unprintable words .

And so our order was delivered.I sipped on my ice cream shake ,AS nibbled on his ice cream and SG stared at his cappuccino with wonder. And then he looked at us .. AS quipped you got what you ordered ( in a tone similar to as u sow so shall u reap ) . SG said this was not what he ordered and proudly called up attendant and asked him what he had bought.. The attendant in full innocence said capuchinno .. Mr SG says it was lo and not no, it was chillo and not chino , it was cappuchillo and not cappuchino.

As all present in CCD realized the implications of the lo and no, Me and AS exploded laughing , the attendant pushed the menu on the SG and said we don't serve any cappuchillo , only cappuchino is mentioned on the menu.

It is rumored that next day mr SG was asking for cuttin chillo at the office tapri ..