Keep Silence

It was a long weekend and I had planned to spend time with self. I was longing for this quite some time and wanted a break from the routine. Initially I thought of going for a trek through an organization but I wasn’t contented with my previous experience. I thought otherwise I will just walk like a nomad with no destination for a couple of days. I dropped it immediately considering the concrete jungle and pollution around the city. I searched for places around Bangalore in net and found an interesting blog about Tiruvannamalai and Ramana Maharshi Ashram. I decided to go there and packed my bag.

I boarded a direct bus from Silk board. All the way I was excited and was in hallucination of having a spiritual experience. Though Journey was tiring from Krishnagiri due to bad roads, the excitement kept me consoling. I reached Tiruvannamalai and walked to the temple. I have been to this temple earlier during festive seasons and it was crowded largely. Unlike those visits, I had a good darshan of the Lord this time. I was energized and got a delusion that whomever I met or spoke with is the form of Lord himself. I was in high spirits.

I left the temple in search of accommodation as it was getting dark. I wouldn’t have bothered to sleep just outside the temple but I was concerned with the office laptop which I was carrying along with me. I carried that as I had to go Chennai from Tiruvannamalai and work from there the next week. I walked to Ramana Maharshi Ashram and vedic chants were going on. It was crowded with people and there were many foreigners in saffron clothes. I couldn’t get accommodation in the ashram as it has to be booked in advance and there was no availability at that time. Later I went around the ashram and I was so attracted to one of Maharshi’s photo hanging in the new hall. I just sat looking at that photo. He was so divine. I couldn’t be there for a long time as I had to find out an accommodation for that night’s stay. So I left ashram in search of accommodation and saw a lodge on the way back to temple. It was close to temple premises and I stayed in it.

I got up early in the morning and planned to visit the temple and Ashram again. I went to temple and felt very much connected with the lord. I roamed around the temple premises and was mesmerized with its architecture and my thoughts were about the kings who built such great architecture. I saw people thronging to take darshan of Lord and there were many sadhus with calm faces sitting queitly in the temple complex. Few of them were foreigners. I wanted to spend some more time in the temple but thoughts were on my laptop which I left in the lodge. Left the temple and I quickly had breakfast and went back to the lodge, collected my back pack and vacated it.

From there, I walked to Ashram and spent some time in both old and new halls. Later I went to the backyard of Ashram and saw a way out and it read as “Way to Skandashram”. I have read about these caves in the blog as well, so I followed that way. Initially there were stairs to climb and I was walking bare foot as I left my sandals at the entrance of the Ashram. An old man coming downhill told me that I should have worn my foot wear. I replied him saying just ‘No problem’. I have read in the blog about few fake guides and that’s the reason I didn’t entertain the old man. I walked few steps ahead and felt the heat. Found difficult to keep a step ahead as it was noon and moreover it was real sunny that day. I didn’t want to go back, so I continued assuming that I would reach the ashram soon.

I walked keeping legs on the shady places but after few feet it was only rock. I was sweating heavily and my backpack seemed heavy now. I didn’t even carry water bottle as I had no plan to go to Skandashram until I saw the signboard. I was walking all alone up hill and occasionally met few people coming downhill. I got some water to quench my thirst from a middle aged man and I enquired him about the distance to reach Ashram, he asked me to take break and walk. After walking few feet, I saw a group of Gray langurs in the middle of the path. I was scared to cross them and waited until they move away. Meanwhile, I was inquiring myself, do I need to fear? I prayed to lord and after sometime I saw a man coming uphill. He also was not ready to go alone seeing the langurs and then we both crossed them together. After that he stayed back under a shade and I went ahead. Though little difficult, It was beautiful and adventurous to walk all alone in the middle of the forest. View of the city from the hill was also looking amazing. After covering some distance, I saw few kids selling water bottle and butter milk. I purchased water and asked the kid to take my snaps. They said that I have almost reached the Ashram.

In short time, I reached the Ashram and it was damn hot inside the cave. I couldn’t sit inside for long time as I was sweating. There were few pictures of Maharishi and books in all languages in the cave. I came out and looked around. I saw a small waterfall from the hill and tasted the water. It was natural. Then I saw the man who stopped by also reaching the cave and smiled at him.

There was a water tap and I filled my water bottle and washed myself. I saw a boy standing next to me waiting for his turn and he was the one who was selling water on the path. I started a conversation with him enquiring about his school. He said that he sells water and eatables during vacations and he is studying in IXth standard. Later I asked him about the water fall and where does this water goes? Do they conserve it? He said that no conservation happens and it goes waste. I kept asking him one or the other question like is there a different route going downhill. As the conversation continued, I became loud unknowingly. Suddenly the kid stopped me and said, “Brother, Please talk slowly and maintain silence. It’s a meditation place”. His words “Maintain silence” went direct to my head. I was dumb struck and kept silent gazing the city view for a long time. My mind was still with no thoughts. I was silent and the atmosphere around me was silent. That’s when I realized that Silence is bliss and soothing.

I left the Ashram and came down to the City and boarded a bus to Chennai. I inquired myself about the whole trip. I realized that my mind was not silent and that’s the reason I went through worry (of loosing things), distrust, fear, excitement and many such feelings and missed the bliss.

Keep silence.

Toll Booth

It was Friday morning and I was rushing to toll booth. I had joined a week before as a toll collector and was still in the learning phase of handling the machine and different drivers. It’s one of the busiest toll stations between two metro cities, so I anticipated a hectic day as it was a long weekend.

I reached the booth and was asked by my supervisor to man a cash lane that day for the first time. I was bit nervous as I heard from my seniors that manning a cash lane on a hectic day would be really hard. I went into the cabin and took charge from Joe. He was tired and was looking feeble after night shift when he handed over the system to me. I made sure there were enough coins in the cash box to give change.

A brand new sedan was in the queue and there was a family of four with a child. People in the car were looking delightful in their attire. Elderly couple was playing with the child and the child was beaming. Guy in the driver seat gave me exact change and said in a courteous tone “Two ways Please”, I gave him the receipt and he had asked me directions for “water world”. It’s a theme park, 10 miles ahead from the booth. I gave him the directions and he thanked me. Kid in the car happily waved his hand and said “bye” to me. My mood turned jubilant with the family’s warmth and my nervousness went away. I thought that it’s going to be a great day ahead.

I kept smiling and wished the drivers a “very good morning” while handing over the receipts. Most of them responded back with a big smile. Though few didn’t respond back, their faces turned cheery. There came a couple in a bright red car but their faces were dull. I could sense that all is not well with them. I wished them a great morning and didn’t get any response. That guy gave me the cash and asked for “one way”. I collected the cash and generated the receipt. I took the green marker and wrote on a card board in big letters “Today is a present. Cheer up!!!” I showed that board to them and made a funny face. I could see a small smile on their faces now and the guy took the receipt and left. I felt that I have mastered my job. I thanked the family that came in the morning as it all started with them.

I was doing well with my job. Supervisor came and appreciated me for handling the job well. I took a break for lunch keeping a temporary staff at the cabin. Post lunch, the queue swelled up in the lane as most of the people started their weekend travel. I tried to be in the same spirit, but in the hurriedness to clear the queue fast, I missed it.

It was around 4 PM in the evening and the queue was never diminishing. I called for a tea and the attendant served it hot in my cabin. I sipped it while generating receipts. I looked outside the cabin window when I heard a continuous honking. It was from an SUV who was behind the 3rd car in the line and he was making some signs to me. I ignored and got back to work. After few minutes, I could hear the honking sound going up. I thought him to be a mad person. I took a sip of tea from the cup and looked at the window. This guy in SUV was looking at me with fierce eyes and said in a loud voice “You stupid, I am in a hurry, open the gate”. I got very angry hearing the word “Stupid”. I asked him to mind his words and said that he is a “stupid”. He got more anger and started blaming me for passing time drinking tea belatedly. I asked him to pay up and leave the place but he showed an ID card and said that he is exempted from toll fees and asked me to open the gate. I checked the ID card and found it to be expired a month back. I asked him to pay the fee as the card has expired. He hesitated to pay saying that he is the relative of a minister and threatened me of facing dire consequences for this act. All of a sudden, his companion sitting next to him came out of the vehicle and pushed me through the cabin window. I lost my control by that time and threw the hot tea over his face. Things went worse with that and my supervisor and other staff had rushed and held both of us. After some ruckus, my supervisor let that guy and his companion go and asked me to get back to Cabin.

I was disturbed, angry and fuming. Vehicles started moving in the Queue and I treated the drivers very harshly. One guy politely asked for one way giving me thousand rupee notes. I had the change to give him but I yelled at him to look for change. He asked his friend in the car to look for change but his friend also didn’t have. I asked him to wait for sometime after crossing the gate and made him wait for around 20 minutes. I felt uneasy for behaving like that but still some sort of irritation was in my mind. I finished my day and handed over the cash box and cabin to Kiran.

I was walking back to my home and remembered the day at work. I thought how we are influenced by the feelings or moods of people around us. We normally take the emotions as well while communicating with people. I felt they are very contagious than a virus. I decided to have a stable mind irresistible to others moods. I made a conscious effort to have that stability. Sometimes I failed and sometimes succeeded, but I never gave up and still make a continuous effort with a gentle smile.

Keep cheering.

We are too busy to see him

Siddhartha is busy capturing few screenshots for a document which has to be sent to the user today. He did it hurriedly, as he saw his colleague Ganesh waiting for him to leave.

He looks at the watch it’s already 10 minutes past 6 PM. They both travel to office together by an auto rickshaw to avoid driving during peak hours. Ganesh yelled “Come on Sid, Manohar has already arrived and is waiting for us”.

Siddhartha finished his work and left office along with Ganesh. They see the clouds dark grey in colour and anticipated heavy rain today same as last evening.

Manohar sarcastically asked, did you guys sleep in the office? Ganesh replied that Sid was ‘Hardly working….. … I mean working hard… ’. It started raining and as they reached half way, it turned into a heavy downpour with strong winds. Huge traffic piled up as roads got flooded and vehicles moved at snail pace.

All three got little drenched though Manohar has kept plastic tarpaulin in the sides of rickshaw. Water logging increased significantly as it was pouring. Manohar drove slowly dodging the potholes on the road. After sometime the vehicle comes to a standstill. Siddhartha sees a guy on the bike completely drenched and standing in the traffic. He thinks of the biker’s plight in these rains and the dangers due to open drains. He expressed this to Ganesh and they started conversing about the bad civic amenities.

Manohar looks around and sees a kid falling into drain along with his grandmother. He says it loudly that a kid has fallen, Ganesh and Siddhartha is shocked but they couldn’t see due to side tarpaulin. Suddenly they hear a loud scream. They hear a woman grieving and howling for help. Siddhartha jumps out of the rickshaw to see what is happening and he sees a kid and an old lady getting washed away in the drain. He ran towards the drain shouting for help and tried to hold the lady but he couldn’t due to the force of water and fell down. He didn’t know what to do as the water flow is so intense and they went ahead of him. He got up and started running shouting for help. His heart is pounding and he is screaming like hell when he sees a stone which lay on the drain ahead. Suddenly a man came from opposite direction and got into the drain holding the sides of walls strongly. Another man got into the drain and stood behind the first man in a few meters distance. On seeing this Siddhartha ran fast and held the first man, so that he doesn’t loosen the grip. More crowds joined and the man lifted the kid from the drain and gave to the people. People in the crowd patted on kid’s back, everybody felt relieved to see the kid alive. Then they got hold of the old lady and lifted her up from the drain. All this while the old lady was screaming and her daughter was also screaming running back. Now when the crowd said everything is fine and not to worry, the old lady looked for another kid. The crowd became tensed and Siddhartha went running to see if the kid is there in the drain. At that moment Manohar came saying that he kept other kid safely in the nearby restaurant. Actually, the whole family fell in the drain but the old lady’s daughter was able to hold the current and come out. That’s when she gave the kid to Manohar and he kept him safe.

Siddhartha went running to the restaurant to see the other kid handed over to her grandmother. He sees the family together and tells them to be careful. He felt good that no one lost their life but screaming of old lady was still echoing in his ears. He is still in shock and stood still in the road completely drenched. Manohar asks him to get into the rickshaw and they leave the place as the traffic started moving. All three of them were very silent. Siddhartha was emotionally hurt seeing the plight of that family and he tells that if that man wouldn’t have jumped into drain, the kid would have died. He feels painful emotionally and cries. Ganesh says that it’s God’s will they are saved.

Siddhartha listens to him and in his mind he says thanks to God. He feels to hug him tight and cry. He asks a question within himself wiping his teary eyes where are you? After few minutes, once he comes out of that shock, he hears an inner voice in him saying that “I was just around. You came and held me”. Siddhartha smiles and says “We are too busy to notice him and he is always just around us”.

Wishing to see a peaceful India...after the ayodhya verdict

When I heard that there have been a high alert issued all over the country on account of Ayodhya verdict and many mail/media highlights regarding our safety… My memory went back to 2002…My PG College days….where I did a play named ‘India – Yesterday Today and Tomorrow’.

I have done that play with so much pain, responsibility and passion for the nation after watching the Hindu main paper which published the picture of a person affected in Godhra riots. I have described the act of yesterday in the play with few scenes from British regime and Unity showed in fighting independence. Today’s act with the riots that hurt me worst at that point of time and Tomorrow’s act by building an University named Indian University at Ayodhya. Ended with Students from that University bringing up the Indian economy (showed $ sign going down and Rupee coming up with all ManiRatnam movie’s background score). I don’t have the video of that play to share with you guys, but that play remained in my memory forever for the reason that I felt so relieved from the pain and felt a sense a responsibility shown in a small way.

It’s almost 8 years now since those riots and my play ...In these years, we have grown tremendously and evolved globally … I wish our people’s thought towards religion and community has also broadened…

Whenever I see people with communal difference… I believe they haven’t really understood God or religion; even I tried to figure out who actually God is? I got so puzzled.. But one thing I understood is that God is infinite (a Super energy…Nature in my terms) to figure out to our small minds… and that energy is not only in Temple or mosque... It's Everywhere…

I wish that our people respect tomorrow’s verdict and whole country is peaceful, to make our future generations feel proud of us…

Jaihind.

India is Diverse with many languages – Respect all of them

Last November, When Mumbai was attacked by terrorists; it was Mumbai Cops and then the NSG Commandos belonging to various states who speaks Non-Marathi languages, has battled and rescued the people. 17 Policemen and 2 NSG commandos had sacrificed their lives too. At that moment, I thought that at least thereafter, MNS Party would have learnt that India is a diverse country with many languages and stop its heinous acts and Hooliganism against the people belonging to different region or different languages.

I really felt bad, when I watched this incident of MNS activists attacking a Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) school in Satpur suburb of the city, where a cultural programme of North Indians was being held and a session of Bhojpuri song was going on. I agree the language of the land to be prioritised but I don’t understand and gets puzzled thinking - why should they hurt other fellow Indians celebrating their language and cultural programme, is it all for a political milage?
There were few incidents in Tamilnadu last before year, few parties like PMK and others forcing the sign boards of shops to be only in Tamil. All for some political benefits

Even during my college days, I myself had seen hostility among students from Andhra and Tamilnadu. Those stray incidents still hurt me sometimes and I felt bad for even younger and well educated generation getting into it. I always beleived India as diverse country with multiple languages and respect them all since my childhood as my mother tongue is Tamil, born and brought up in Andhra studying Telugu and married to a Malayali living in Karnataka.

These political people are using it just for their gains and to get publicity. But the government shouldn’t be a mute spectator watching these people creating nuisance to Public. I hope the government takes stringent action against these people who creates disunity and attack the innocent people of India. Such organizations should be banned and people involved in such hooligan act should be punished under law.

If these leaders want to be so proud about their regionalism or nationalism, let them first eradicate Poverty, Illiteracy, Corruption and so many other developments in their states instead of doing all these non-sense.

I wish that the Modern India and Its young generation don’t restrict themselves into smaller Identity circles like Language/Religion instead respect all languages and states equally with acceptance towards all beings.

We all are Indians first and more than that humans. We are a miniscule in this grand universe.

Chandra.

You must be the Change you want to See in the World

The Mumbai Gateway Peace March was like a giant wave of people condemning the terror acts of the cowardice which took away the lives of 185 innocents and anger against the Government/Politicians who were incapable to protect the nation from these terrorist who had hit the common people cowardly.

I watched it on the television as I am in Bangalore. Not only me, the whole nation watched it and everyone of them would have wished to be there in the March to pray for the souls of those who lost their lives to rest in peace and for those heroes who laid their lives bravely reserving a place for themselves in heaven.

The placards and chants were loud & clear displaying the anger against the Politicians. One read ‘No Tax & No Vote’ and another ‘Enough is enough’. Yeah truly enough is enough and the time has come to change. To change what or whom?? Ours is a democratic country where the Government is by the/for the/ and of the people. It’s we who have elected these politicians…So we all are equally responsible for all these things happening.

I have a strong belief in this quote said by Bob Procter:

You are the only problem you will ever have and you are the only solution.

So instead of stop voting and stop paying taxes or blaming on these corrupted politicians what constructive measures can help us from facing these issue in the future?

For any government position, right from a Peon to higher official, there are certain qualifications they look for. If such is the case for a peon, what it should be for the person who is going to be the first person in your constituency. If you see the Organization structure of the company you work for, definitely the top executive would be recruited considering their professional experience and the institution they came from and several other things. But why don’t we look all these qualities and reputation from our constituent electoral candidate. Why should not all the electoral candidates undergo a course and get qualified to contest in the elections. So that they know the basic etiquettes of administration, duties and common sense to address the people when there is a situation like this.

Every citizen should contribute and is responsible in making the government and the leaders. Leaders are made by us. Do please utilize your vote to choose the right candidate going through his profile. Even you can contribute by joining mainstream politics. That would be a fantastic contribution you can ever make to our country.

I would appreciate the thought of Mani Ratnam in his movie Yuva, encouraging the youth to join mainstream Politics. Let’s hope to see many young leaders coming up and taking the nation ahead selflessly. Lok Paritran, a party formed by youngsters passed out from IIT-K is a live example of the movie Yuva. Our nation needs more youngsters in mainstream politics with lot of determination to make our nation ‘The Most Powerful & Developed’.

On my part, I am going to exercise my right of vote in choosing the right candidate for my constituency.

Jai Hind

Proud to be an Indian.

Chandra vangoor.

You must be the change you want to see in the world. – Mahatma Gandhi.