Someone sent me an image on Whatsapp. It said:

Sleep doesn't help if it's your soul that's tired

And I say, if you feel that your soul is tired you should pat yourself on the back - for discovering that you do have a soul.

'That woman is crying' said my brother suddenly, slightly alarmed.

'What? Who?' I blurted out. The two of us were going somewhere and as usual I was talking non-stop (he, being the younger one, has no option but to listen!). But what he said made me look up sharply.

'There.....in that car' he said.

Despite myself, I turned to look at the vehicle in the long line of cars waiting for the signal to go green. But all I could see was a woman at the wheels and a kid, probably 6-7 years old next to her. I was pretty far away from the car but realized that it was wrong to stare like this.

We walked on in silence but I kept thinking about the kid instead of his mom. Curious? Well, not really. I was wondering about what the kid must be thinking. I don't think it is fun to see your parent in tears. In India, most of us are more attached to our moms. Hell, most of us think of her as a superwoman. My mind went back to the past. I was in my teens and we had received news that my grandpa, mom's dad, was no more. My grandparents used to live in Belgaum, a city in Karnataka. Back then, air travel wasn't as easy as it is today. Husband of one of my mom's sisters was with Air India and he tried his best to get the tickets but couldn't. It would have been impossible to get the train tickets as well. So finally my parents, aunt and her husband left by a private car late at night. But before all that could be arranged, there was a moment when I saw my mom crying bitterly - she was very fond of grandpa. And though I was no child, her anguish had come as a terrible shock.

As I thought about all this, my heart went out to that little kid in the car. :-(

It's such a sad world. We can find neither the time nor the privacy to cry to our heart's content. Sometimes, hell most of the times these days, I wonder if this is how God meant for us to live :-(

Patanjali Yoga Course - Day 5

A really busy day! The first exercise we learnt was called 'Anulom Vilom' - this one is for boosting your brain power. Needless to say I paid full attention. There are multiple things to be kept track of. First, your right nostril has to be covered with your right hand thumb and you have to breathe in through your left nostril - a deep breath, mind you. Then cover left nostril with ring and little fingers of your right hand (3rd and 4th fingers) and exhale through right nostril. Then breath through right nostril, cover it with your right hand thumb, remove the fingers from left nostril and breathe out through it.Then inhale through left nostril and so on. You have to keep doing it as many times as you can - the ultimate goal being to do it for 10 minutes. Just keep it in mind that you have to finally finish exhaling through left nostril. Two, your eyes need to be closed and your inner gaze focused on the tip of your nose or on the point between your eyebrows. Third, the tips of the last 2 fingers of your left hand should touch the thumb at its tip. And this exercise has to be done either on empty stomach or 2 and quarter hours after eating anything. I am not sure I have got everything down correctly but this is as much as I can remember it. Of course, the instructor has promised to send us relevant material so I need not burden my tiny brain with it all. I like this exercise and have made up my mind to include it in my Yoga regimen along with Kapaalbhati and Bhastrika.

The next exercise was called 'Bhramari' (My guess is it has something to do with the Sanskrit word 'Bhramar' meaning Bumblebee as you end up making a humming sound). This one is for emptying your mind of all thoughts. I have been looking for one since what looks like eons :-) However, the instructions given by the instructor completely unnerved me at first. He asked us to cover both ears tightly using both hands, then close eyes and try to make the Om sound through nose without opening mouth. As if this wasn't enough, next he asked us to reduce the pressure on one ear while chanting 'O' part of it and alternately on the other while chanting 'm'. Next, to keep both ears loosely covered but to chant 'O' while keeping teeth clenched and 'm' while un-clenching them. After everyone tried this, he asked each one what sensation he or she felt in the head. People gave various answers. When he asked me, I told him I was so busy following the instructions that I didn't pay attention to what was going on in my head. He said that he had asked us to do it in these steps to make us feel the 'vibrations' in our heads. The actual way to do it is to cover the small part of both ears (and not the whole ears) with your thumbs (so you cannot hear anything), then keep 2nd finger of each hand above each eyebrow, cover the area between the edge of the eyes and nose with the 3rd finger and keep the last 2 fingers below the eyes - all this while keeping the eyes closed. Then chant Om through nose. I have forgotten how many times you are supposed to do this. But in the end you are supposed to bring both hands above your head and rub them against each other vigorously - while keeping eyes closed. Then cup the hands above your eyes. When you open your eyes inside your cupped palms, you should see total darkness. Now blink your eyes in this darkness. This is basically passing the energy accumulated in your palms to your eyes. When this is done, rub your palms vigorously over your face to transfer remaining energy there. The instructor didn't say this but I hoped this would rejuvenate the facial skin and delay the appearance of wrinkles :-) Must say I didn't feel enthusiastic about chanting Om through nose in the class but I don't mind doing it in privacy of my home.

The exercises done in the last session of the class didn't appeal to me much. In fact, it was rather awkward trying to do them. The first one was the Lion Position or Sinhasana. You have to sit in Vajrasana with legs slightly apart and put the upturned palms of both hands below the knees. Then you have to stick your tongue out, shift your gaze in between your eyebrows and shout. I mean no disrespect but I found it both funny and awkward at the same time. If I had come to the class last week and chanced upon people doing this Asana I would have turned right on my heels and left. As if on cue, the next exercise was to throw hands in the air, look up and laugh heartily. This I did without any effort because I was anyways close to bursting out laughing. The instructor said that this is to be done to show God that we are happy (so that He doesn't ask us to return home to Him!). Not sure if he was being serious or was joking. The last part was clapping 5 times (2 claps first and then 3 claps in succession) - but with fingers set wide apart. This is supposed to provide acupressure to all pressure points inside palms.

After the class ended I asked the instructor about the back exercises he had shown yesterday. He said that there is a video of it somewhere and promised to look it up for me.

So, all in all today was a very fruitful day. :-)

P.S. Please do not attempt any of the above exercises without consulting a trained Yoga teacher. I cannot guarantee that I have got the details right.

Patanjali Yoga Course - Day 4

Yesterday was Swami Vivekananda jayanti and our instructor told us that on this occasion Patanjali has arranged programs for mass Suryanamaskar and Sheershasan all over India. So we were taught Yogic Jogging - a 12-step exercise. I won't - and can't - detail all the steps here. Personally, I feel that it is not something that you can teach in a day, at least not in the introductory class. And I don't think I will be able to include it in my Yoga regimen. So won't go into more details. The instructor also showed us steps of Suryanamaskar. From the likes of it, I don't think I want to do it and risk injuring my back.

Then we had a great discussion about lifestyle diseases - especially the ones brought about by computers and assorted electronic gadgets that have become part and parcel of our daily lives. The instructor showed (and made us do) a lot of useful exercises for back and other limbs. I asked him if information about these is included in the material that he will be emailing us later. Unfortunately, he said it won't be. So I am going to try and persuade him to show them to me again on the last day and see if I can record them so I will never have to worry about missing any or doing them in a wrong manner.

Getting up before the sunrise isn't getting any easier even after 3 days. But once I am out the door, it really is very peaceful. The streets are not crowded. You only see people going for work or out for getting exercise. There are not many vehicles in sight. So no honking, no fumes plus you don't have to look in all directions before deciding to cross the road. And there is somehow something magical about being out at this hour - I cannot really put it in words. You find yourself completely at your own disposal. It feels like you have all the time in the world and that you are capable of achieving anything if you can just put your mind to it. You also get this feeling that everything is alright with the world.

If only I could make myself get up this early every day and convince myself that the streets are safe for women at this hour, I would love to go for morning walks daily before the sun is up. :-)

Patanjali Yoga Course - Day 3

Yesterday was a disappointing day. :-( I found both breathing exercises a shade too difficult to do. The first one is called 'Bahya Pranayama'. It's a multi-step process that begins when you take a deep breath and then put your chin on your throat to lock it inside from the above. This is called 'Jalandhar Bandh'. So far so good. But then you are supposed to lock the breath from down below by pushing up your ass and genital muscles. I think it is called 'Mulabandha'. I was completely confused about how this is to be done. On top of it, the instructor is a male so I wasn't sure how to ask him to explain it further. Of course, keeping quiet would have meant doing the exercise half-heartedly or wrong. So I skirted the real issue by asking him what harm can come if this second part of locking is not done right. He said not much so that's a relief. The 3rd part of the exercise is to contract your stomach - the goal being to make your navel touch your spine. I am pretty sure I won't be able to achieve this in this life. And then finally your are supposed to close your right nostril with your right hand thumb and exhale through left nostril only. We tried this thrice in today's class. I like the fact that it puts pressure on the stomach. Though the purpose of this exercise is to distribute the energy in the breath locked in the stomach to all parts of the body, I hope it also does its bit to tone down the stomach muscles. BTW, women are not supposed to do this exercise while menstruating, for obvious reasons. Our instructor also told us that pregnant ladies are forbidden from doing Kapaalbhaati.

There was general discussion about diabetes, high BP, the twin problems faced by ladies - loss of control over passing of urine in old age and prolapsed uterus, the prostrate problem in gents and which asanas or breathing exercises can help prevent these. We were told that since the saliva has medicinal properties we should drink water before brushing teeth first thing in the morning. I am not sure I want to do that. I knew that chewing food for a longer time aids its digestion but when our instructor told us that we should chew each morsel 32 times, I wondered how much of my lunch will I be able to finish during 30-45 minutes of lunch time at this speed. Drinking hot water is beneficial for those wanting to lose weight so I guess I will end up doing it for the rest of my life as the battle of the bulge is always a work in progress :-)

I almost made a fool of myself today when the instructor, I forget in connection to what, asked who flies. I think he was trying to explain the meaning of the word 'Uddayan'. I was about to say 'Superman' when the guy sitting next to me said 'Hanuman'. Of course, he had the right answer. I couldn't help but think of Christopher Reeves. I am sure I must have missed a good 5 minutes of the following discussion as I daydreamed about Superman ;-)

The second breathing exercise stumped me totally. It is meant to exercise your vocal chords. I forget what it is called. You are supposed to inhale and pass the breath through the throat right upto your vocal chords. It made a very funny noise and I, for the life of me, couldn't manage it. It seems that if you end up coughing while doing it, you are doing it right. This exercise is supposed to provide protection against throat cancer and diseases connected with vocal chords. Given the fact that I was unable to do it right, I guess I will have to take my chances with both of these.

There was another curious fact that the instructor told us. He said that our eyes are a major source of leaking our energy so it is better to keep eyes closed while doing these exercises - once you are sure you are doing them right that is. I don't know how to verify this claim. I am rather doubtful that Google will turn up anything about this. The other reason he gave about keeping eyes closed while doing exercises sounded more reasonable - closing eyes shuts out the external distractions and helps you concentrate on your inner self.

Speaking of verifying what is told in the class, I remember our instructor mentioning that he prefers dealing with humble vegetable vendors when it comes to teaching yoga because he is capable of accepting a lot on faith while the educated lot doubt everything. To be fair, he explains the reasoning behind everything but I find a lot of it difficult to verify e.g. the thing about eyes leaking energy. And I have never been great about taking anything on faith. I know, faith can move mountains and all that. But here it would be a case of 'blind faith', isn't it?

Anyways, so far it seems like "Kapaalbhaati' and 'Bhastrika' are the two exercises that I can keep up with. Not bad for 3 days' worth of work.

P.S. Please do not attempt any of the above exercises without consulting a trained Yoga teacher. I cannot guarantee that I have got the details right.

There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in.

-- Leonard Cohen

५. किल्ला - दिवाळी अंक २०१६

२०१५ च्या दिवाळीतला 'किल्ला'चा अंक इतका माहितीपूर्ण आणि देखणा होता की तो रद्दीत द्यायला माझा जीव होईना. आणि खरं सांगायचं तर तो वाचून निदान जमतील तेव्हढे आणि जमतील तसे किल्ले पाहायचे अशीही एक इच्छा झाली होती. त्यामुळे माहिती हाताशी असावी म्हणून अंक जपून ठेवला आणि २०१६ मध्येही दिवाळीत हा अंक घ्यायचं ठरवलं होतं. मागच्या वर्षी एकाही किल्ला पाहून झाला नाही ते सोडून दया. उम्मीदपे दुनिया कायम है.

तर आता २०१६ च्या अंकाविषयी. मुखपृष्ठ मागच्या वर्षीच्या अंकासारखंच देखणं. 'गडपुरुष' हा पहिलाच लेख वाचून आपण गोनीदा वाचले नाहीयेत ह्याची भयानक लाज वाटली. लायब्ररी पुन्हा जॉईन केल्यावर त्यांची किल्ले, दुर्गभ्रमणगाथा, दुर्गदर्शन, शिवतीर्थ रायगड ही पुस्तकं आणि पवनाकाठचा धोंडी, जैत रे जैत, माचीवरला बुधा, वाघरू, गडदेचा बहिरी ह्या कादंबर्या ह्यातलं जे जे मिळेल ते ते सारं वाचून काढायचं असं ठरवलंय. पाठोपाठचा 'दुर्गांचे GPS' हा लेखही माहितीपूर्ण पण थोडा क्लिष्ट वाटला.

२०१५ पासून ह्या अंकात महाराष्ट्रातला एक किल्ला, महाराष्ट्राबाहेरचा पण भारतातला एक किल्ला आणि विदेशातला एक किल्ला ह्यावर एकेक लेख असतात. त्यावरून किल्ले जतन करण्यात आपण कुठे आहोत आणि काय काय करायला हवंय ते वाचकांना लक्षात यावं म्हणून हा उपक्रम. २०१६ च्या दिवाळी अंकात हरिश्र्चंद्रगड, चितोडगड आणि इंग्लंडमधला वॉरविक अश्या तीन किल्ल्यांबद्दल लेख आहेत. समुद्रात स्मारकं बांधायला निघालेल्या नेत्यांनी एकदा हे लेख वाचावेत म्हणजे शिवाजीमहाराजांचं खरं स्मारक काय ठरेल ह्याबद्दल त्यांचं जरा ज्ञानप्रबोधन होईल.

'वाव संस्कृती' हा लेख खूप आवडला. दोनेक वर्षांपूर्वी अहमदाबादच्या ट्रीपमध्ये 'अदलज वाव' पाहिली होती त्याची आठवण झाली. अर्थात सुलतान महमूद बेगडाच्या हाती लागू नये म्हणून राणी रुदाबाईने ह्यात उडी मारून आपलं आयुष्य संपवलं आणि दरबारातल्या पुरोहित आणि संतांनी त्यात नंतर आंघोळ करून वावेला पुन्हा पवित्र करावं असं तिने आधीच सांगून ठेवलं होतं वगैरे इतिहास मला ठाऊक नव्हता. लोकांनी, मग ते साधू वगैरे का असेनात, आंघोळ केल्यावर ते पाणी इतरांनी प्यायला वापरणं मला तरी काहीतरीच वाटलं. पण असतात एकेकाच्या श्रद्धा. तो काळ वेगळा होता. असो. जमलं तर पाटणमधली 'राणी की वाव' आणि मोढेरा एकदा बघायचं आहे. देवा रे! हजारो ख्वाहिशे ऐसी के हर ख्वाहिशपे दम निकले हे शब्दश: खरं आहे. एव्हढंसं आयुष्य आणि करायचंय किती.

'दुर्गप्रतिमा' आणि 'तिकोना' वाचून सुधागड आणि तिकोना 'एकदा बघून यायचे किल्ले' ह्या यादीत समाविष्ट झाले. 'शिवराई आणि मराठेकालीन चलन' हा शिवकाळातील नाण्यांविषयीचा लेख माहितीपूर्ण. 'गगनचुंबी साल्हेर' वाचून 'शोध' कादंबरीची आठवण झाली.

'वारूळ: एक अभेद्य किल्ला' हा लेख माहितीपूर्ण असूनही थोडा विस्कळीत वाटला.'गिरीदुर्ग जैसे चालते' थोडा आध्यात्मिक लेख असल्याने वरवर चाळला. हे असे लेख वाचण्याइतकी आध्यात्मिक प्रगती अजून झालेली नाही आणि होईल की नाही तेही ठाऊक नाही. खोटं कशाला बोला? 'दुर्गरंग' वाचून (आणि पाहून!) देव एकेकाच्या बोटात कशी कला ठेवतो ह्याचं आश्चर्य वाटलं.

'किल्ला' चा हाही अंक रद्दीत न जाता पुस्तकांच्या कपाटात जाऊन बसलाय हे वेगळं सांगायला नको. :-)

Patanjali Yoga Course - Day 2

'We typically use only 25-30% of our lung capacity' said the instructor. Now, I cannot be sure but I have a strong suspicion that I might be using even lesser capacity than this. No argument here.

'God has designed our body to last for 300 years but since we use only a quarter of our lung capacity, we live to be only 75' he continued. I found it hard to digest this one but let it go. I was in no mood to argue this early in the morning.

The instructor was explaining why he had taught us the Kapaalbhaati breathing exercise (which is the 2nd one in the course) on the very first day. That is because it apparently cures 80% of physical problems. Speaking of Kapaalbhaati, my bubble of happiness at being able to do it correctly yesterday burst first thing today morning when the instructor, after observing me doing it for a couple of minutes, commented that I shouldn't move my body so much. Oh well, it was too good to be true anyways.

Then he showed us how to say Om. Om consists of three sounds - a, u and m. I remember from an old Marathi devotional song that 'a' stands for Brahma who is the Creator, 'u' for Vishnu who is the Sustainer and 'm' for Mahesh i.e. Shiva, who is the Destroyer. As per our instructor, the middle 'u', when written in Devnagari, looks like letter 3 and indicates that the 'o' in Om should go on for 3/4th of the time - the 'm' part occupying the rest i.e. the quarter. So we practiced saying it a couple of times. This was followed by chanting of Gayatri Mantra and MahaMrutyunjay Mantra.

Coming to MahaMrutyunjay Mantra, the instructor told us about the time a powerful political personality in Maharashtra was on his deathbed. His followers arranged for the chanting of this Mantra at different places in the state and the leader miraculously recovered. But a few years later he was sick again and the mass chanting of the Mantra couldn't save him. The instructor also commented that when you are done breathing your allocated quota, even the Mantra cannot save you. That set me thinking. Does that mean that on the first occasion it was not the leader's time to go? Then it wasn't the chanting that did the trick, was it?

And then there is the tortoise. Apparently it breathes very few times and that's the secret of its longevity. So if we want a good long life we should do the same. Of course, our brain needs oxygen and so we need to make sure that we take long deep breaths so we don't deprive the brain and rest of the body of oxygen even if we breathe a few times. That's the logic behind the breathing exercise of Bhastrika. 2.5 seconds of long deep inhale and 2.5 seconds of exhale - all the while chanting Om in your mind. 5 seconds per breath so 12 breaths a minute. Totally doable. Plus I like to think (or rather wish!) that when the stomach is pulled in on every inhale, it is doing all that it can to become flatter :-)

But for the record, I don't want to live as long as the tortoise. No fun being the oldest gal in the room :-)

P.S. Please do not attempt any of the above exercises without consulting a trained Yoga teacher. I cannot guarantee that I have got the details right.

Unsafe At Any Speed - Ralph Nader

Patanjali Yoga course - Day 1

Today was the first day of the 6-day Patanjali Yoga course that I am attending. I had thought that it would be difficult to get up before the sun is up in the morning but frankly my internal body clock made sure that I was up well before the needed hour. There was a brief 5-minute internal struggle, not totally unexpected, on whether it was REALLY necessary to leave the warmth of the bed to venture out in the cold (by Mumbai's standards!) to learn new ways of breathing. But this is January, a bit too early to part with the resolutions. So I dragged myself out and was soon on my way.

Though Mumbai has the reputation of being the city that never sleeps, I had no idea that people would be up and about at what undoubtedly is an unearthly hour by my standards. There were delivery guys and vendors selling a hot cup of tea by the roadside but then there were ladies returning from their morning walks. I wondered for a moment if they were sleep-walking because I couldn't imagine when they must have started their walks to be able to return by the time I managed to stumble on the road, trying to rub the sleep off my eyes.

When I reached the training center I was relieved to find another woman waiting there. Soon the teacher arrived and one by one other students started dropping in. We are a class of 8. The teacher is an elderly gentleman who talks in a mix of Marathi, Hindi and English. The jumble was a trial to sort through, especially so early in the morning but I guess I have got the hang of it now. After the experience of the Art Of Living, I was very afraid that we would be folding hands in front of the photo of Baba Ramdev before we began but there was none of that. Thank Universe for small mercies!

Our instructor took us through the benefits of breathing and how the five fingers of our hands are related to the 5 elemental forces in the universe - Fire, Air, Space, Earth and Water. To be very frank, I have decided to join this class with a very healthy dose of skepticism. I mean I know the benefits of breathing and believe that many times natural medicines are way more effective in curing certain elements than modern medicines - common cold being the case in point. But when the instructor had talked about yoga being able to cure cancer as well I realized that it was well outside the boundary of my belief system.

Anyways, so after being introduced to the 7-8 breathing techniques that we would be taught during the course of the 6 days, we started with the 2nd one - Kapaalbhaati. The trick is to exhale forcefully - one exhale per second - so that the tummy is jolted each time you do that. We did it for 3 minutes to begin with but the target is to do it for 15 minutes eventually. A tall order! Of course we could do it in 5 sets of 3 minute each and later 3 sets of 5 minutes each but we have to keep in mind that the first minute in every set would be spent in bringing the body into the rhythm so we would be reaping the benefit of the breathing technique only for 10 and 12 minutes respectively. Another important thing to remember is to do this on an empty stomach. That's another hurdle I need to figure out how to cross.

After the 3 minutes of Kapaalbhaati, the instructor asked me if I had done this before. I told him about the AOL course that I had attended twice. He nodded saying that it was probably because of that that I was able to do it correctly. So I offered a silent thanks to both the AOL teachers.

A few more minutes of discussion later today's session was over. It was only then that I realized that though I had missed my morning cuppa tea, I hadn't really missed it at all :-)

Getting up before the sunrise is something that I haven't done much in my life but there is no denying the fact that I am already looking forward to tomorrow's session :-)

P.S. Please do not attempt any of the above exercises without consulting a trained Yoga teacher. I cannot guarantee that I have got the details right.

As mentioned earlier on this blog, these days I have become an ardent fan of the BBC History Hour podcasts. Each episode is a virtual treasure trove of historical events which I otherwise would never have read or heard about.

In the past few days I have heard about the assassination attempt on Bob Marley, the assassination of Rafael Trujillo, the Mirabal sisters and the Silk Letter Conspiracy. Then there was the incident in which a group of British tourists who had gone to Greece in November 2001 on a plane spotting trip (apparently it is a hobby!) were arrested on espionage charges. But what stole my heart was the story of how a British woman, Dr. Dame Daphne Sheldrick - who was born and brought up in Kenya - set up a shelter for elephants orphaned because of the rampant poaching in Kenya's national parks. She said that an elephant can read your heart and unless the animal knows that you care for him, it is difficult to look after the baby. The podcast went on to talk about how the elephants never forget those who took care of them when they were young - in one particular case an elephant recognized the voice of his caretaker even after the passage of 28 years - and how they bring other injured elephants as well as their own young ones to the shelter so that the caretakers can look after them.

My hats off to all those who are doing all that they can to make sure that these truly majestic animals continue to roam the planet!

I think I have lost count of how many times, in the past few days, I have seen 2 movies intermittently - Fantastic Four and Captain America. Yet, I will be hard-pressed to tell you the plot of either one of them even if my life depends on it. That's because I have watched only the scenes having Chris Evans in the frame. And though I hear what he says, the meaning of the dialogues doesn't really sink in. Because I have eyes only for his eyes. And for his smile.

And now I will stop lest I drool all over my laptop and ruin it ;-)