Krishna Janmashtami Wishes!

He was born a Prince but was brought up a herdsman
He was the Eldest of all beings
Yet he grew up as the Younger
He killed many demons and ogres
But salvaged a multitude of souls too
He was one fine Playboy with scores of sweethearts
Yet the one Ultimate Celibate sinless
He was the Righteousness that guided the Pandavas
And, the vicious Sakuni that guided Kauravas to their graves
The Epitome of Extremes, the Divine of Dualities
No wonder He remains rooted in my heart
A heart that is torn between extremes
Whether a god or not, He'll remain my friend
The one Friend that none can replace! <3

Janmashtami wishes to all!

Divine and the Details

Don't always go by the words of the so-called saints and gurus. 

It is not always necessary to shun to senses to attain the Divine. 

If the dawning Sun's golden rays, winter evenings' fluffy grey clouds, the sight of a fertile green field, the sounds of chirping birds, the song of a cuckoo, the smell of neem flowers, the fragrance of incense from a place of worship on the way, the cool sea breeze, a gust of wind on a hot summer afternoon and myriad such other sensations cannot stoke the Divinity within you, you're never going to feel it by dwelling secluded inside a cave.

For, it is not the Devil that sits in the details, but the Divine!

Happy Independence Day - 2014

Good morning, my Countrymen!

It feels nice to see the patriotic spirit flowing around, right from breakfast tables to profile pictures in social networking sites. But, let's realize that all our boastful talks of patriotism and profile picture changing is nothing, if we don't live it in the true spirit - the spirit of fraternity.

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 Just make a vow today to respect your fellow citizen and treat him/her as you'd treat yourself, to not cause hindrance to any life-form in any way, to protect the heritage monuments of this land, to not deprecate the past heroes, to preserve its natural resources and not squander them, to lead a clean, ethical and civilized life, and to be an exemplary beacon of virtues for posterity to follow.

Also realize that such a fraternity need not stop with Kashmir or Gujarat or Assam or Kanyakumari. Let that love spread across the oceans and terrains to envelope the rest of the world too. For, it is not love, if it does not grow and evolve.

If you think that these are all too much to ask for, then kindly change the profile pictures to your own photos, sit in front of the TV set and start watching the 'special programs', thinking this to be just another break from the senseless mundane lives that we are all leading.

Happy Independence Day!

Afraid of Life...

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It is always said that we humans are afraid of Death. But I believe that we should be afraid of Life, fearing it in a positive way. We should be afraid, because as we toil with our mundane existence like hands of a clock with unwavering routine, Life calmly trickles away. We should be afraid, because as we keep making plans for a higher education, bigger house, larger car and wealthier coffers, the real riches of life are simply withering around. As we slog for 16 hours at our workplaces, so many Suns and Moons have come and gone, sea has seen myriad ebbs and tides.

As we bask in the artificial lights and artificial chillness, telling ourselves that all is well, we indirectly spurn the soothing shades of the soulful trees. As we keep craving to go higher up the imaginary ‘ladders’ of life, in the hustles and bustles of the city, the cuckoos of many a wilderness sing their soulful melodies to an empty theatre. As we keep running for the fickle, meaningless recognition and fleeting rewards of the ‘society’, Life’s tiny-but-worthy pleasures are left to atrophy.

May be, it is time that we all arose from our deep, ‘somnambulistic soul’ existence and started laughing more, sharing more and living more. May be, it is time that we all realized that we have buried many dreams and desires of our childhood under the slush of the ‘aspirations’ of adult lives. May be, it is time that we realized that, as we keep making plans for a better tomorrow, reserving words to be spoken for another time, concealing love to be confessed another day, deciding to forgive someone the next time, hesitating to apologize till we find the right moment and trying to conduct ourselves according to the milieu and unwritten etiquette, the real life, the real ‘us’, is simply gagged and thrown deep inside us.

May be, it is time we all realized that dreams we didn’t live, love we didn’t share, and relationships we didn’t care to mend will all be much worse regrets in our final moment, than the promotions that we didn’t get, the wealth we didn’t accumulate and the ‘social ladder’ we didn’t climb.

May be, it is time!

Life's Little Good Deeds

I remember reading in some holy scripture that all our deeds, good or bad, no matter what their size, never go unnoticed. Yesterday, by early morning, I was walking home from the railway station after an early morning arrival at my hometown. Just ahead of me, I saw a little boy walking, returning from the dawn's prayers at the mosque. When he saw a little boulder lying on the footpath, he bent down, lifted the boulder and placed it away from the footpath, clearing the path for those that walk behind him.

In the early dawn's dim light I couldn't see his face, but he reminded me of the lines of my favorite Gibran and reminded me some of these invaluable lessons in life -

1. Do good, irrespective of the size of the deed.

2. Do good even when nobody notices and appreciates you.

3. Do good even when you have nothing to gain from it.

4. Even the tiniest of deeds performed out of consideration for fellow beings speaks immense volume of love.

Feeling abundant gratitude for that unknown little teacher of mine!

Book Review – Inferno, Dan Brown

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Think of Indiana Jones without his whip and scintillating daredevilry and that is Robert Langdon for you. This middle-aged art professor – yes, middle-aged – makes up for what he lacks in adventures with his extreme intellect and ability to remember and interpret art and history at will. Considered to be the author Dan Brown’s alter ego, Robert Langdon is appearing for the fourth time in Dan Brown’s works – the other novels being the most widely read ‘Da Vinci Code’, ‘Angels & Demons’ and, the less popular work, ‘The Lost Symbol’.

The novel begins with one of the lead characters jumping to his death from one of the important landmarks in Florence, Italy. The next chapter begins with Langdon waking up with amnesia in one of the hospitals in Florence, with an assassin arriving to kill him. Langdon barely manages to escape with the help of the young doctor Sienna Brooks. Taking Langdon to the relative safety of her apartment, she informs Langdon about a strange object, a steel tube with biohazard symbol found inside his jacket pocket, and enquires about it. What follows then forms the rest of the novel.

In all his previous works Langdon was focused on saving individuals and groups, but this time he is launched on a journey to save the world from the evil machinations of a mad scientist. If I say anything more, it could spoil the plot for you. Better pick the book and read it for yourself.

You ought to give it to Dan Brown for his unmatched ability to weave a vivid tapestry of fictional works that include more than mere thrill and rush of adrenalin. Every book of Dan Brown, once you are done reading it, makes you feel wiser in terms of history, art, geography, science and architecture. Inferno is no different. Adding to the wonder of the plot is his genius of bringing one of the classics of world literature, 'Divine Comedy' of Dante Alighieri into play and constructing a brilliant plot around it.

If you are a bookworm that loves reading meaningful works of fiction and perfect thrillers, Inferno is the one for you. This is a book that begins as racy as it can, contains as many twists and turns in the plot as that of a Grand Prix race track and ends in a way that you cannot even imagine. Even Dante must be smiling from his grave at the way his magnum opus has been brought to life by Dan Brown and used to create mystery in the minds of the readers. Read it people. You won’t be disappointed.

Ashok Kumar

Love isn’t dead yet!

Yesterday, having had a rough time since the moment I woke up, and having been haunted by some of the memories from the past, I ended up concluding that there is no genuine love on this earth to be felt. But, it was like a hard slap across my face, when I came across an elderly gentleman this morning. And, a worthy and pleasant slap it was, indeed! :-)

This morning, once I reached one of my outlets, I started the day by playing a piece of music in my laptop, Raha Alihya Bhilawal Khayal by Kala Ramnath to be precise. There was an elderly gentleman sitting at the outlet. The moment he listened to this music, he enquired me as to which FM station is playing this tune. I told him that this is from my personal collection. He hesitated for a moment and kept silent. As I carried on with my work, he spoke to me again and asked me whether I could give this tune to him. I told him that I have no data-cable through which I could transfer the songs to his phone. He fell silent again. Then he asked me will it be OK if he could give me a pen-drive and whether I would give him the tune. I felt so moved and told him that it will simply be my pleasure to share something as soulful as music. I told him to bring me a pen-drive during his next visit.

He simply enquired one of my team-members about the availability of a pen-drive and the moment he learnt about it being available, he bought an 8 GB pen-drive and asked me to share all my collection. I felt my ego about my love for music being shattered at his enthusiasm. Here is someone who is even more enthusiastic about music. This is what I thought, without being aware of what was about to follow.

While I got about copying some of the best performances from my collections to that pen-drive, he spoke to me about his wife. Himself a retired pensioner, about 76 years of age, he has a wife who is 72 now. And, she is a cancer patient!

Afflicted with bone-marrow cancer, she is undergoing a huge torment every day with that pain and the certainty of counting her last days on this planet. She met with an accident during her 30s which resulted in the removal of uterus along with an 8-month old fetus.

Now, our pensioner has sold his house for her treatment and has spent almost more than half of his savings. He is afraid of not being able to support her treatment, which is running to more than Rs.20000 per month. He is more worried about not being able to see her suffer that badly on a daily basis, sleeping for almost 18 hours per day, being unable to do anything in the remaining 6 hours that she is awake. But he derives a sad comfort from the fact that the doctors have confirmed of her not having many days to live.

He said that he is getting this music collection for the sake of his wife, since she loves music, especially Carnatic and Hindustani. He wants to keep this playing near her bed, so that she can find some solace amidst her pain. And, till her death!

He also says that after she leaves, he will also spend his time listening to music, and when it is his time to leave, he will leave a note to play music near his deathbed for an hour or so!

After listening to his moving story, all that I could do for him was open the door when he left, accompany his elderly frail figure reach his vehicle parked outside and assure him of whatever help I can.

In this age of free sex, fickle relationships, drop-of-the-hat divorces and illicit relationships that are fast becoming legitimate, there are some people like this, who stand as beacons of love, spreading love and light around by their mere presence.

Wish God, if there is ever one, relieves them both of their sufferings soon, and cares for this special couple as long as they are around!

Ashok Krishna