25th Aug 2010 - Gandhi Jayanthi

                       For long i was aghast at the state of indian politics,like many others.But the reason was a bit different - i was upset that the native / common people were subject to all kinds of harrassment in the name of development.Be it the big dam, mining or any other dream project(for the select few), it is the native people who is relocated w/o any consideration.All in the name of good for the country - damn it!
                       Consider this - a big dam to serve a few thousands to irrigate better at the cost of lakhs who loose their livelihood and horror of horrors their home.In addition, environment is never cared for.I dunno how this can be justified.To top it all, no proper rehabilation for them as well - consider narmada bacho andolan and tonnes of other big projects.Knowing our largely second rate politicians, bureaucrats, govt. officials, this is no surprise.
                       But 26th Aug was a red letter day in the history of indian politics.Resisting huge pressures from the orissa govt, Environment minister Jairam ramesh had the courage and conviction to stop the mining of Niyamgiri hills for bauxite ore.
                       To add honey, Rahul gandhi has publicly backed the ban and had lent his voice for the tribals of Niyamgiri(even though it could be for votebank politics, it is still a laudable stance).Atlast, there is hope for India...Truly Gandhi would have been satisfied at these developments - this is real gandhi jayanthi.

http://www.governancenow.com/news/regular-story/ramesh-champions-environmental-laws-corks-niyamgiri-mining

http://beta.thehindu.com/news/article103761.ece - amnesty international's news on Niyamgiri

http://www.survivalinternational.org/about/niyamgiri - for more about the tribals, their life & plight.

    
P.S: Orissa govt will not backup so fast, already the chief minister has started cribbing publicly.Let us hope this one is a real victory.

Silent Revolution

"You know what! We can now buy isha's food products near our home - right in Ramapuram". I was surprised & happy upon hearing this from my wife. We decided to visit it in the weekend. Actually my wife got this news when she participated in Isha's "Run for water" campaign.

Weekend came, off we went in my new Honda Shine with our gundu. To our surprise, we could not locate it and so went back. After few days, my wife told "Got the exact address and landmark, please buy kanji, verkadalai on your way back to home from office".

Located the stores, entered it little bit tired from my office work. Met a tall well-built man in early 40s', wearing rudrakash.

"Ramki, came to buy isha products."

"Saleem,Isha meditator".

Oh, i could not believe, Saleem or sanjay. Did i hear properly. Of course it was saleem.

I was amazed and openly told him

"Cannot believe being a muslim that u r wearing rudrakash".

He smiled and i continued

" Didn't they object in ur family?".

"I don't wear it when i go to mosque.".

I totally forgot why i came there and started chatting with him. My eyes fell upon sadhguru's photo at a corner of the shop. He continued...

"You see, i'm a electrical enginneer into real estate. Suffered a huge loss of 15L during this recent recession. I was restless and was totally shattered. Someone suggested to me to try isha yoga. That's how i ended up being a meditator. I'm now more happy and contented.I have now started this garments business, hope i can break even soon".

I was once again remainded about isha's silent revolution in people's lives which includes urs truly. My heart ebbed with gratitude for my master:-)

Note:

Saleem is still a practising muslim, he is very proud of his own religion.

In fact he explained to me the link between science and islam.

Life as it is

Woke up very early by my standards - 6.30A.M.Weather was tender, Sun not yet in it's full fury.Thought will go upstairs, atleast in a weekend, to enjoy fresh breeze.The next 15 mins:

A squirrel, hanging like an acrobat, munching away the seeds of what looks like tamarind.Another one does the same but in a less risky way:-)

I was interrupted by the movement of our never-say-die bird - the crow.It perched itself comfortably on the adjoining tree, probably wiating for it's breakfast.

I saw a sparrow eating the seeds in a nearby flower tree.

Can our friend bee be far off if flowers are near-by?

When i gazed on the roadside, saw 3 puppies playing with each other, unmindful of the passing vehicles.

I heard a noise nearby and saw 2 crows sitting in our rooftop close-by.

What is that - is it dust? A watched it closely - it was white in color.Not sure, i tried to catch it could not catch any of them. Hmm. finally managed to catch one of them - wow, it is a tiny little white fly!

If these many of our beloved partners can live just near my home, which is definitely not green by any standards, how many could live in the planet?

It is not only about the 1411 Tigers of india that matters.The world is full of beautiful lives full of activity, can never ever be created by mortal men like us even in our wildest dreams.A great remainder, early in the morning!

True love

India is a fascinating country.It has never ceased to amaze me.I'm now convinced more than ever that this country really has the secret of happy life.But one thing is sure, it is definitely not in it's pure form in the urban(take it as chennai but should be true for rest as well).Well,what is such a secret, if at all it existed? It's very simple - pure love, real love.I have no words to express it - but i get a glimpse of it some way or the other from the people i interact with.Simple pure people, unlike most of the rest.They simply ooze joy, they have real concern for the other people's well-being.They don't have any principle, no "I'll correct the world" syndrome - it is just a way of life.They are simply made like that(stealing my guru's words:-)).

Why suddenly this gyan? Hmmm,i just was watching "Aparajito" by Satyajit ray- .There was a scene where the father is unwell and talks to his kid on the eve of diwali.Mother asks the son(10yrs old) to sit near his father and the son dutifully obeys(this is set in probably early 60's in Kashi.Modern day kid will probably never do this).Father lovingly asks him whether he bought crackers, what type.The kid answers.After few conversations, father realises that the kid really wants to go out and have fun, not sit near him.He lovingly sends him out, even though in his heart he knows he is not going to live long and possibly the last conversation with his son.Needless to say, he dies the next day.This whole scene moved me and made me realise the real love expressed by our rural folks(tremendous acting by the father and the whole cast).

From reel to real, i was recently to pollachi with my wife & kid.I was surprised and shocked to see how even a stranger would show his genuine concern for others.It was all so natural, it has to be felt not expressed in words.

Stereotype

What?

Most of us stereotype a person, country, people ... the list is quite long.

Is it bad? Hmm...i think so.Consider an example,we watch couple of hollywood films, read about american culture a bit from the media.Then guess what - we brand them that they have no culture, no family values, individualistic society etc.Some of this could be true - but definitely there are lot of americans who don't fit in to this description.

The same applies when foreigners(again some, no stereotyping) still see india as a land of cows, million gods, poor etc.Again some of this are true(quite a huge chunk of our society are below the poverty line) but does not do justice to the development that has happened in last decade or so.Ok, to go at a micro-level, what about the stereotyping we do to our friends & family."I know this guy, he/she is like this, will not change" - this statement could be about a friend, based on the perception we have.Even after many years, it still does not change - the friend could very well have changed.

Why?

So why the heck do we do this? Well, i really dunno but one possible answer is a term called "mental laziness"(i read about this in an article in "The Hindu" by ???, i forgot due to mental laziness:-)). We all surely know laziness but this one is roughly "refusal to give work to the neurons as it is inconvenient". It really is difficult not to label a person / people based on his/her/their action.

So what?

What do we loose? We loose many things, especially the chance to keep our mind open.In turn, we loose the oppurtunity to learn, create new relationship and finally you know what - we accumulate karma(i don't have a better word).To be more simple, we create a slow poison in our mind which is sure to hamper our progress.

Consider, that you are meeting an old friend of yours after a long time.Your experience / stereotyping says he/she was a selfish person.You still see them thru' the same tinted glasses.But what happens if that person realised their mistake and probably now contributes to the society more than you ever did in your life! Just imagine the possibilities!

Remedy

I'm no "I know it all" guy.But personal experience suggests yoga and reading talks given by great yogic masters like Sadhguru, Nithyananda... But i do know that you need to keep flexing the brain of yours all the time.Happy neuron firing!

Empathy

Need to renew(passport office calls it reissue!) passport.

Started around 7.30 in the morning and reached the office maybe around 8-8.15A.M.

Biq queue as usual, i enquired with the parking attendant(one thing i take for granted is that i can ask any office staff for details.I know our people will definitely oblige, even though it may look emotionless).He told me that those with online appointment(i booked one) can go to 1st floor directly.

I was now at the second floor, seated and reading "New Earth" by western spiritual master Eckhart Tolle.I was reading about the different manifestations of ego and the caution to be aware of them.He said how the ego always takes a morally correct position and looks down upon others as if it is always correct.

   I was very tired for i did not sleep much and also did not do my asanas & yoga.But i was somehow determined to be aware for atleast some duration.This reading helped me alongwith  others that i had read earlier.Around 9.15A.M, a security person came and told us that all those seated, applying for new/reissue of pp, need to move down to the 1st floor.A commotion occured, people started to move down fast.I was unhurried and moved at a comfortable pace downstairs.

We were asked to stand in a spiral queue.

Sure enough, there were a group of people who would not obey this queue and wanted to sneak in first.The poor security got irritated and started raising his voice. The poor unruly group would have none of it and tested his patience:-)

Meanwhile. a sardar near me started taking a high moral position,usually done by most of us including yours truly.He said to his wife -"These unpad(uneducated) people will never learn, why can't they stand in a queue?" He went on and started making some sarcastic remarks.I was listening and was determined not to get involved in this(BTW,i 've played this moral game many times over & over.I do it even now even though to a lesser extent).

Somehow all of us went upstairs and broke into different "Q" for each counter.

The sardar was in my queue, just ahead of me.He was tense, making numerous corrections to his forms and enquiring about the supporting docs, order of supporting docs etc.He asked me - "what should be the order of forms?". I told "I dunno, should not matter" with a smile.

Then in the adjoining queue, someone tried to goto to the beginning of the "Q" from a nearby "Q".Reason - he is coming back to the office more than once since his form got rejected and he was told that he should stand in the same counter and meet the same passport officer.The poor guy was desperate and hence tried to do this.As expected, a person started objecting(i've done this countless times from time immemorial) and shouted at him to go back.

     I told - "It's ok, seems a genuine case, why not allow him?".

The person was not interested and started arguing back, i stopped with a smile.

To my surprise, the sardar came to the defence of that guy and said -"It is ok, please let him be in the line.He should have come back many times, He is unaware of the procedures.If at all some one has to be blamed, it has to be the PP office for not putting out clear instructions" in good tamil!Of course the other person was in no mood to listen and started arguinbg back.After the argument, i saw that the sardar was very cheerful and became very generous with people around.In fact, he was sent back to fill the form correctly and went back w/o a murmur to get it filled.

       By now, my tiredness had banished and many thoughts occured to me, but one thing was clear - "the need of the hour is clear understanding of the situation and treating people genuinely with real empathy not clouded by our own conditioned mind.If one does that it will definitely create a positive atmosphere and people will automatically respond accordingly".I really thank all the spiritual masters right from my guru(Sadhguru).It is they who show the path and it is for us to follow to make this a better life.

Crappy software can't replace manual efficiency

Well, i owe this entire post to David Platt(http://www.whysoftwaresucks.com/) . I just got inspired after listening to his interview on Arcast TV->http://channel9.msdn.com/shows/ARCast.TV/ARCastTV-Why-Software-Still-Sucks/

****************************************************************

Rewind to early 2008, i just came back from U.S with my family after 7 months.

Still getting used to chennai(no kidding, it's my place for sure but still 7 months was a bit too long),

i was chatting with my dad on a weekend.

Me -"where r u going?"

Appa - "To the telephone dept, to get a copy of the directory".

The software geek in me peeps out.

"Well, don't they have a soft copy, i mean a CD".

Appa - "They do, but i have opted for hard copy".

"C'mon appa, CD will be easy to use, just a click".

Realising my appa is not comfortable with PC, i added - "I can teach you, it should be simple".

Appa is not convinced, he is very reluctant.

I push  further - "Can't we buy both - hard & soft?".

"No, only one".

"Hmmm...Ok we will go for the CD.I will definitely teach you."

Appa is  still not convinced, but you see i'm a bit of hard-headed guy, kept pushing.

Finally, reluctantly he relents.

Appa comes back with the CD, i say -"Wow, see how compact it is compared to those bulky books!". I go up to my laptop, plugin the CD, install the software.

Ok time to play around, all numbers listed alphabetically by name, not bad...

I wanted to check the search  functionality.I searched for the list of keywords to search.

Horrors of Horrors - you can search either by number or address.No way to search by name.

What the heck!Phew, i was beginning to sweat as my appa came near me.

"Ok, let us see how  this works. Can we search for mama's telephone no. using his name?".

Game over....

After 2 days.....

Appa was happily searching for a telephone no using the same old bulky hard copy(he got it by handing over the user-friendly CD)