Happy 2012!

Alright! The last post of 2011! I would like to end with John Wesley's words:

Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as you ever can

I should probably get them framed and put up where I can see them as the last words I see before going to bed and the first words to set my eyes on when I wake up every morning. :-)

On this happy note, I wish all of you a Happy 2012. :-)

Whisky in Food

I have read all the previous issues of Mint's Indulge - despite the fact that it is meant exclusively for men. This week, however, I picked it up and put it down almost immediately because the latest issue is all about - Whisky! Needless to say that chef Madhu Menon's column 'Whisky in Food' was the only one I went through and liked :-)

Here's a note for the Mint team - you have been very unfair to the fairer sex. Why not have similar series of Indulge meant for us women? I can think of so many subjects for the articles - from the ones traditionally considered as 'feminine' like jewellery, perfumes,Kanjeevarams, skin care to more 21st century ones like food (and not cooking!), offbeat careers, books, hobbies, and so on and so forth...

There is one request though, if you ever get around to actually bringing out this issue, please name is something other than 'Indulge'.

There was a reference to one interesting saying from Sunday School in 'Living History':

Faith is like stepping off a cliff and expecting one of the two outcomes - you will either land on solid ground or you will be taught to fly.

There were a few lines in the letter that one father Trobou wrote to Mrs. Clinton that will stay with me forever:

It is my opinion that on Judgement Day the first question God asks is not about the Ten Commandments (although He gets to them later!). But what he asks each of us is what did you do with the time and the talents I gave you.

The last day of the year and I am done with two of the four books that I had started reading simultaneously. I finished 'Tintin in Tibet' 2 days back and last night turned the last page on Hillary Rodham Clinton's 'Living History'. Not sure if I mentioned this on the blog - I also completed reading the fourth Adhyaya of 'Bhagwad Geeta As It Is'.

21st December 2011

I wasn't exactly expecting people lining up the streets with the signboard saying 'Repent, the end of the world is near'. But I was surprised, and in a way relieved, that there wasn't much fuss about the 'supposed' end of the world a year down the lane on this day. Or if there was any fuss, I didn't notice it on the net. :-)

I came across a song penned by Stevie Wonder in Hillary Rodham Clinton's 'Living History'. A search on the net yielded the following lyrics:

Everybody covets everybody lies
Everybody’s done it some time in their lives
We all slip, we don’t mean to
That don’t mean you can’t make it right

It’s the path you take the steps you make
That make you who you are
It’s the life you live
The gifts you give
The love that’s in your heart
Just try to do the best you can to be a better man
You don’t have to walk on water
It’s how you walk on land

Everybody judges everybody else
Everybody’s done it to everyone but themselves
We know what’s right
But we still go wrong
And life still goes on
Even when we fail

It’s the path you take the steps you make
That make you who you are
It’s the life you live
The gifts you give
The love that’s in your heart
Just try to do the best you can to be a better man
You don’t have to walk on water
It’s how you walk on land

It’s the path you take the steps you make
That make you who you are
It’s the life you live
The gifts you give
The love that’s in your heart
Just try to do the best you can to be a better man
You don’t have to walk on water
Oh it’s how you walk on land

You don’t have to walk on water
It’s how you walk on land

(Source)

100 years of National Anthem

There was a time when I used to listen to the national anthem every day - at the beginning our daily school sessions. Now I get to listen to it only when I go to a theatre. And since that hasn't happened in the past few months, I really cannot recollect the last time I listened to 'Jan Gan Man'.

If you are someone like me, do check out this version on YouTube. The anthem turned 100 on 27th December. But please don't forget to stand up while you listen to it.

A sombering thought....

I am not one of those who jump up and down with glee on the even of the new year. Nor am I one of those who consider the glass half empty and worry about getting older by another year. But an email did check any irrational exuberance that I might have felt, if at alln. I am posting the same mail here.

Can we see this around us?

"AJEEB HAI NA"

Rs.20 Ka NOTE Bahot ZYADA Lagta Hai Jab

GARIB Ko Dena Ho, Magar HOTEL Mein TIP

Dena Ho To Bahot KAM Lagta Hai.
--------------------------------------
3 Minute Ke Liye BHAGWAN Ko YAAD Karna

Kitna MUSHKIL Hai,

Magar 3_Hours Ka FILM Dekhna AASAAN.
--------------------------------------
Pure Din MEHNAT Ke Baad GYM Jaane Se Nehi

THAKTE, Magar Jab MAA-BAAP Ke PAIR

DABANA Ho To HUM THAK Jaate Hain.
---------------------------------------
VALENTINE's DAY Ke Liye HUM Puure SAAL

Intezar Karte Hai, Magar MOTHER's DAY Kab

Hai hume Pata Hi Nahi.


EK ROTI NAHI DE SAKA KOI US MASOOM BACHHE KO LEKIN WHO TASWEER LAKHON ME BIK GAYI JISME ROTI KE LIYE VO BACHHA UDAS BETHA THA…………….

(No one gave any food to the innocent kid but the photograph of him waiting forlornly for something to eat was sold for millions!)

There is a knot in my stomach and it refuses to go away. :-( There is this usual helpless feeling and that too refuses to go away.

Every time I see these children begging at the street lights I feel like giving some money but then a cautious voice tells me not to encourage begging. Some people say that we should carry biscuits and give them to these children instead of money. But there was a news a few years ago that a lady who tried to do so was confronted by the child's mother who accused her of trying to poison her child. Now who would want to cool heels for hours at a local police station for trying to help a hungry child? No one. Does that mean we shouldn't do anything?

I am still searching for a way out of this helplessness and anger. If you know of any reliable NGOs which have programs to feed street children, please let me know.

Silence is Not Spoken Here

I came across a few lines from this poem by Anasuya Sengupta in Hillary Rodham Clinton's 'Living History'. The full poem can be read here.

A little search on the net yielded the following:

“Silence” was, in fact, inspired by “Heritage,” a short poem she wrote when she was 16.

Heritage
I will come when I can walk beside you
And talk of ambitions
With an easy tongue.
I will not look at your feet
And drag my heritage behind me
Through the dust of my grandmother’s silence

I can only say 'Wow'!

A Reading list of Zen books

Note to myself:

Zen Books to read before I kick the bucket :-)

1. Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind - by Shunryu Suzuki
2. Dharma Bums - by Jack Kerouac
3. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - by Robert Pirsig
4. Going to Pieces Without Falling Apart, A Buddhist Perspective on Wholeness: Lessons from Meditation and Psychotherapy (Broadway Books, 1998) - by Mark Epstein, M.D.,

5. Stumbling Towards Enlightenment - by Geri Larkin
6. Wherever You Go, There You Are - by Jon Kabat-Zinn
7. Catastrophe Living - by Jon Kabat-Zinn

I have been reading 4 books these days. That sounds a little crazy, I know. Okay, okay, more than a little crazy. I haven't done this before and wouldn't have advised it for anyone earlier. But all said and done, I don't think it is such a disastrous experience after all. I agree one of the books is pretty light - Tintin in Tibet :-) - which I will finish tonight, in all probability. One of my Business School friends introduced me to this series. And I am glad he did. I am determined to finish the whole series before the next year is out. :-)

The second book (a pdf actually) is 'The Complete Idiot's Guide To Zen Living'. This isn't light reading but given that it is meant for idiots, it isn't any heavy-duty stuff either. The only problem is that it is meant for the westerners and so every time I come across lines such as 'Zen perks are so relevant to the stressed-out,busy, and sometimes isolated lives of typical Westerners' I laugh out aloud. Someone please tell the authors that such a life has become the fate of millions across the world who are not 'westerners'. Anyways, I am almost at the end of part 2 (7 chapters) but haven't found anything substantial as of now - maybe because we Asians in general, and perhaps Indians in particular, are familiar with the concepts of Nirvana etc which have been explained in some detail for the benefit of the westerners. More on this as I make further progress...

The 3rd book is of course the one that I brought home from the library - Hillary Rodham Clinton's 'Living History'. I am more than halfway through this one as well. Whatever my misconceptions before I started reading it, one thing is certain - it has vetted my appetite for reading more such books written by people in world politics. While one can argue that the authors may sugar-coat or gloss over certain negative events to present themselves in better light or to state their side of the story, it cannot be ignored that it gives one some insight into how the game is played out day after day in power corridors across the world. I hope I find similar books written by Indian politicians.

The last book that I have been reading is 'Bhagwad Gita - As It Is'. Yeah, yeah, the same book that is being banned in some part of Russia. Of course, I had started reading it before the controversy erupted. I must confess though that I wouldn't have been surprised if the demand to ban the book had been made on the grounds that it might encourage people to convert to Hinduism. Even then it would have been a silly accusation. I am almost halfway through the 4th Adhyaya and till now I am yet to come across any such suggestion. But I can understand how a non-Hindu reading about yagnas, chaturwarnya vyavastha, brahman etc might mistakenly conclude so.

What took me aback was the fact that people are demanding that the book be banned because they think it promotes terrorism. I am not quite sure what has caused this reaction. Maybe someone misunderstood some passage and the rest of them could have just taken up the war cry without bothering to verify the allegations. This underscores the importance of having a global platform for the interpretation of holy scriptures of the major religions.

To take an example closer to home, many (Hindus) claim that the Holy Koran calls anyone who doesn't believe in Allah a 'Kafir' and urges a true Muslim to either convert such people or to destroy them. But some Muslim scholars are quick to refute this. And the rest of us are left wondering about who is speaking the truth. If Muslim scholars the world over could come together to interpret and share the message of the Koran (without any calls for conversion, of course!), that could go a long way in combating Muslim fundamentalism. A similar interpretation of the Gita can nip any Hindu extremism right in the bud.

Sadly though, the question is 'Who will bell the cat'? :-(

आता आयुष्याचा उल्लेख झाला आहेच तर ह्या काही ओळी:

तू भेटशी नव्याने बाकी जुनेच आहे
आयुष्य तेच आहे अन हाच पेच आहे

The Voyage Of Life

A friend has forwarded a Dummy's guide to Zen. It's a pdf file. And I have been going through it on a chapter by chapter basis when I find some time daily. I came across a reference to Thomas Cole's 4 paintings called "The Voyage Of Life" in it. Curious, I searched on the net and here is the link to the paintings and a description of what they represent.

Something worth checking out and pondering on.

A friend forwarded this rather grim, but very thought-provoking sher:

एक शमशानके बाहर लिखा हुआ शेर:

मंझिल तो तेरी यही थी
बस जिंदगी गुजर गयी तेरी आते आते
क्या मिला तुझे इस दुनियासे
अपनोनेही जला दिया तुझे जाते जाते

The Lost Symbol (Spoiler!)

I finally managed to read Dan Brown's 'The Lost Symbol'. Awesome! It was hard to put it down every night. Though it wasn't difficult to guess Malakh's real identity, the book kept me spellbound right till the end. Speaking of which, the end slightly disappointed me. I would have preferred a staircase spiraling down into the bowels of the earth in some far-away ancient cave rather than at the base of some Washington monument. :-(

Living History - by Hillary Rodham Clinton

I was in two minds when I saw Hillary Rodham Clinton's "Living History" on the library shelf. Politics is not one of my favorite subjects. Plus, such books, more often than not, present a lop-sided view of the events. So I was a bit reluctant to commit my time to reading it. Finally, I decided that I will read a few pages and return it if I don't find it interesting enough.

I must confess that though I found the first few pages interesting enough, I was hopelessly lost by the time Hillary started describing the health care reform initiatives. It felt as if all the related chapters were written only for American people. I didn't want to know about the various committees and organizations involved but it was impossible to understand the successive pages without a basic familiarity with things. I seriously thought about returning the book.

Then I stole a glance at the pages ahead. They appeared worth reading and so I decided to run through the chapters covering the Clintons' failed attempt at improving the health care facilities. Almost halfway through the book now, I am glad I did that.

A couple of things surprised me though. Hillary mentions how there was quite an uproar in the country because she kept her maiden name of 'Rodham' after marriage. This would have been an expected reaction in India a couple of years ago though now-a-days married Indian women prefer to keep their maiden names. Of course, she is talking about the 70s. But somehow I had assumed that things would have been different even then in the US.

Then there is reference to how people were surprised that she could hold on her own despite being a woman - the Talking Dog Syndrome. She mentions a quote by Samuel Johnson that is both, amusing and very much annoying:

Sir, a woman's preaching is like a dog's walking on his hinder legs. It is not done well; but you are surprized to find it done at all.

I could only roll my eyes at this :-)

So far, my favorite has been the quote by Eleanor Roosevelt:

A woman is like a tea bag; you never know how strong it is until it's in hot water.