Happy New Year 2020!

Well, it is that time of the year when stationery shops, fitness clubs, pizzerias and fancy pubs do roaring business. It is also that time of the year when the Internet gets choked with people sharing messages and images with one another - part sincere, many mere formality. Yup, I am talking about the 'new year' celebrations. Our lovely little planet has completed one more orbit around the Sun and we are only happy for it.

On this joyous occasion, please allow me to wish you 20 little changes in all sincerity.

1. May you have a year without TV. Trust me. Watching TV with all its 'reality' shows, serials and rabid news anchors is an insult to the common sense that we humans are all blessed with. Shun TV and thank me later for the positive changes you will feel within.

2. May you start focusing on your health. No, I am not asking you to enroll in a gym or bath in gallons of green tea. Just start respecting your body. Monitor the quality of your food intake. Start doing basic exercises. After all we are blessed with just one delicate body to live in.

3. May you start reading books. You need not start reading Nietzsche or Tolstoy right away. You can end up reading just one book in this whole year but please read. In this age of junk forwards, fake news and boring memes, a good book can help you retain sanity.

4. May you stop wasting life on work. Nope. I am not asking you to resign your job and go scuba diving. Just that I am asking you to stop taking in so much stress and pains on your jobs. We work to make a living. Not live to work for some corporate boss to enrich his stock value.

5. May you hug your parents. Kiss your spouse. Hold your children close and play with them. Appreciate your good friends. Life flows lightning fast and things all change rapidly. Appreciate the people when they are around.

6. May you learn a hobby. Pursue a passion. We may not all compose like Mozart. We cannot all paint like Da Vinci. But we can all be better than how we would be if we did not even begin our pursuits. Let loose that creative beast within you. 

7. May you learn about a new religion. In fact, first learn about your own religion to a good extent. Then learn about one more religion apart from yours. What you don't understand always scares you. Understanding about other religions, cultures and races is the only way to stay united in these perverted times. 

8. May you travel. We are all little frogs fond of our own wells - area, culture, food and language. Try visiting a new city, a new state or even a new country. Be a stranger, a foreigner. Spend your time fumbling for words, seeking directions and with a tinge of uncertainty and enthusiasm. Those sort of experiences stay with you forever.

9. May you declutter your homes and decorate them. Buy a nice vase and fill it with flowers. Spread aroma in your rooms. Stock up on comfy cushions. Place works of art around. Richness isn't just about money. It is a way of life. Surprisingly such a lifestyle is easily affordable.

10. May you look up at the night sky more often. All our festivals, calendars, religions depend on the events transpiring up there. On a rational note too, looking up at the night sky fills one's mind with awe and contemplating on the cosmic scale fills one with veneration and humility.

11. May you let go of the fear of 'what others will say'. The others are too busy with their own travails and thoughts to pay you any attention better than they pay to the YouTube commercials. They care either about your grand successes or crippling failures. The rest don't much matter to them. 

12. May you listen to music. All genres of it. Not just the ones composed by your favorite music directors, but also by all those little nondescript names. Listen to Baroque. Listen to Jazz. Listen also to the songs of birds. Nothing else heals and puts you back together like music does. 

13. May you stop postponing your dreams and desires. Sloppy beginnings and slow progress are on any day better than regrets over lost opportunities and bygone times. Start anew now. Start afresh every day.

14. May you take a sabbatical from your smartphones and electronic gadgets every now and then. It helps in detoxifying your mind and in turn your body. Trust me. You need not respond to every cinematic scandal, every stupid political statement and senseless gossip. Sanity is in knowing what to avoid.

15. May you stop trying to save the world. Start doing little acts of kindness. Begin by feeding the animals and birds in your area. Offer a packet of food to the beggar you meet on the road. Plant one tree. Just one in the whole of 365 days. That will do. For now.

16. May you take a sabbatical from the social networks too. Neither are you missing anything great nor are the people there going to miss you big time if you leave. Use it constructively. Use it wisely. And, use it sparingly.

17. May your political party, your religion, your favorite actors all count to nothing. How you behave with your fellow human beings is all that matters in the end of the day. You know nothing about your religion. You don't matter much to your favorite politicians and actors. But how you respond and respect one another is going to make a huge impact on the people you meet in your day-to-day life.  

18. These may be the fast-changing modern times, but certain quaint concepts still hold high value - chivalry, politeness, respect to elders, courteous behavior are all still appreciated by everyone. And, they cost almost nothing. May you be a beacon of all these qualities and more.

19. Aspiring to be richer is basic human tendency. Nothing wrong about it. But practise being content with what you have. May you appreciate all that you have which most others can't even afford. Once in a while, learn to live with the least possible possessions and see how you start feeling richer already, without even buying anything new. Aspire to be poorer every now and then. For a change. 

20. Last but not the least, may you invest in yourself. Your mental health. Your physical health. Your wants. Your needs. Your desires. You may love your family and friends to the moon and back, but let the beginning be the love for your own self. After all, you can't give others what you yourself don't have. Take care.

Stretching ahead are 52 weeks holding 52 new opportunities to become a new, better you. Here is wishing you well to succeed in at least half of those.

Happy New Year 2020!

Life without a Girlfriend (or, a Smartphone)!

Living without a smartphone is like living without a girlfriend after a breakup:

1. For the first few days you think that all is lost and life will not be the same anymore. All that you see are only happy people gleefully using their phones.

2. After a few days, you start getting used to a life without a smartphone. You miss your smartphone often, but you are slowly learning to live without one.

3. After a while, you learn to live life freely, without relying on a smart phone. Of course, you depend on so many other gadgets to do the work that a single smartphone did - alarm, calculator, post-its, sketchpads, etc., - but at least you no more feel tied up with a single choice.

4. And, once you have crossed that point of no return, you feel amused about about how crazily you were once addicted to the phone and thought that you couldn't live with one!

P.S., Of course, and then you get a new one!!!😛

Book Review - Outgrowing God - A Beginner's Guide, Richard Dawkins

I believe I was a little too eager to grab this new work by Richard Dawkins to have read the reviews first. This 'new' book doesn't exactly feel new if you have read Mr. Dawkins' other books already. This seems to be sort of a summary of all his previous books.

As usual,  Mr. Dawkins generously bashes the religions - Christianity and Islam in particular - denouncing the evils and superstitions found in them. Then he argues as to why scientific thinking, and not religions, should be guiding our mind and life. Then he goes on to wrap it all up by highlighting how science has helped us so far, both in improving our lives and our knowledge of the world around us. Feeling a sense of deja vu!

The God Delusion + The Greatest Show on Earth + The Magic of Reality = Outgrowing God. Can't give this book anything more than 3/5!

Book Review – Live and Let Others Live: Life Lessons from Mahavira

There are so many books that we enjoy reading. Then, there are many books that leave within us a deep impact and stay within us for a long time. There are very few books that, once you finish reading, stir up an urge to buy a lot of copies and distribute to every one you know. If only I have the wherewithal, I would definitely buy as many copies of this book as possible and distribute to every other person I know and meet. Such a gem!

Bhagwan Mahavira does not need any introduction. Known widely as someone who revived the Jain religion, he was supposedly the contemporary of another noble soul, Gautama Buddha. Born 2500 years ago, his thoughts and ideals have stood the test of Time, shining all along. From inspiring the kings of early days to inspiring one of the greatest personas of the modern time, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, the teachings of Bhagwan Mahavira have shone light on the path of righteousness and proper living to saints and simple householders alike.

His teachings of non-violence, tolerance for contrary viewpoints, equanimity in behaviour and equal treatment of all beings, along with his views on caring for the environment around us all set him apart from other religious founders / leaders. Reading this work, millennia after Mahavira first thought these thoughts, I find them as relevant today as they were then and they will be after even many more millennia.

For a long time I had been searching for a good work to begin learning about Jainism and Mahavira. In this book I have found the ideal beginning. Beautifully chosen thoughts and cohesively compiled chapters make this an authentic read. This is a book that you should read, read again and again and again. Worthy words of wisdom!

Book Review – Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, Neil DeGrasse Tyson

In the unimaginably vast, inhospitable territory of the universe, even the pebble-sized asteroids are said to hurtle faster than the fastest vehicles that we human have here on earth. It is needless then to elaborate on the impact they can create upon collision with any object on their way. This little book by Neil DeGrasse Tyson is one such impactful work that will leave a deep impact on our minds, shattering away our ignorance and ego.

I have always been fascinated by whom I consider the trinity of scientific, rational writing – Christopher Hitchens, Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Richard Dawkins. And, this is the first proper work of Mr. Tyson I had laid my hands upon. I must admit that I was thrilled throughout. Easy to understand, interesting to read and intriguing enough to leave you wanting for more, this is a brilliant read.

The author commences the book right at the time our Universe was born and narrates the timeline of its evolution, its constituents, the current state and its probable future. Scattered along the pages are lessons on quantum physics to cosmic black-holes. The author ends the book in a deeply contemplative mode, pondering over our place in the universe, our pitiably petty quarrels and possible changes in attitude that could stem from inculcating a cosmic perspective in our minds and lives.

Must read for every astronomy aficionado!

Book Review - Nine Lives, William Dalrymple

We humans love stories and are fascinated by story-tellers who can weave some fascinating tales. Right from our childhood, when even the noblest of morals was taught using fables, to filling ourselves with news telecast on a daily basis to learn the happenings around, we learn more in the form of stories than through mere stating of facts. Authors like William Dalrymple are fascinating raconteurs that bring history before our eyes with their lucid prose. This book is a testimony to that.

This ancient land of India has seen the rise and fall of various civilizations and cultures. Along the way, it has also seen the birth and decline of various religious paths. Though many of them, like Buddhism, Jainism and Tantric worship, have not caught up with the larger masses, they have held on to their own and flourished in the shadow of that all-encompassing ocean called Hinduism. With their own holy scriptures, rituals and routes to seek the Eternal Truth, they are still in vogue among many parts of this country. In this book, Mr. Dalrymple brings to fore nine such people, who have all, in their varied ways, been searching for that one single Divinity.

A Jain nun explains her struggle to let go of her attachment towards her friend who undertook ritualistic fasting unto death. One of the members from the ‘lowest’ levels of the society gets worshipped by even the higher castes for a quarter of an year, when he dons the garb of a God and becomes ‘occupied’ by the Divine. Then told the tale of ‘Devadasis’, so-called ‘Slaves of the Lord’, a pure tradition that got tarnished and truncated into mere flesh trade. The waning art of Rajasthani Bhopas who use their ‘Ektara’ (a musical instrument) and a ‘Phad’ (a fabric painting) to invoke the Lord and sing His glories, wandering across the land. There are Sufi dervishes caught in the whirlwind between their pure love for the God and the puritanical, rabid form of Islam that threatens the very existence of humanity. Then there is a Tibetan monk who tried unsuccessfully to fight the invasion of his country by the Chinese, but who now spends his time in the hope of atoning for his acts of violence and returning to his motherland someday. Thanjavur’s bronze idol makers who have kept alive the traditions of their ancestors for nearly a millennia, casting bronze images that turn into vessels of Divinity, have been lent voice in the next chapter. The final two chapters are devoted to talking with people that chose to seek the Divine in the profane and the mundane – through Tantra.

Every character in this book is different and unique. Yet, what binds them all together is their seeking to connect with their God through art forms and austerities. Also, the understanding they share about there being one God who gets worshipped in many names is a common trait that needed to be told to the whole world.

Each of these nine chapters brims with history, tradition and emotions. Traveling across the vast expanse of India, Mr. Dalrymple has put in a lot of efforts to capture the characters in their truest, most vulnerable selves, laying bare their lives, emotions, ideals and ambitions. As each chapter comes to an end you can’t help feeling a tinge of emotion – sorrow, anger, awe, anguish and, above all, hope – surging through your hearts. Riveting. Realistic. Wonderful recounting.

These ‘Nine Lives’ will really live upon your heart!

Mrityor Ma Amrutam Gamaya! ❤

Mrityor ma Amrutam gamaya! ❤

Early in my life I had realised that we humans need not protect Nature but only respect it. I sometimes laugh at efforts to 'protect and conserve' Nature. Nature isn't our pet animal, but this whole vast Universe. She can get hurt and heal herself on her own. It is us, the fragile humans that need to protect ourselves from her whims.

My thought was reasserted today when I saw this -

In the pit dug for rain-water harvesting, there were some roots of the old curry leaves tree. The workers had cut those roots and continued with their work. Now, a month or so after, I am seeing a lot of fresh growth in that root, that had remained buried for more than a decade!

Nature, thy name is Life! ❤