In this book called Celestine Prophecy, the author floats the idea that if two people have a chance encounter, it may not just be by chance, it could mean that they have “unfinished business”. If they keep meeting, it means they have not finished off that unfinished business! I find that idea very intriguing.
Have you not had these strong feelings, these déjà vus about people you meet while travelling? In Bombay on local trains I have had the most interesting conversations with random people I met, and connected with, during the span of 45 mins.
A hijra who happened to be Tamilian – we had a deep conversation about society and she shared with me all the hardships she has to face. We were the center of attraction for the whole compartment. Nobody else would even let the hijra sit next to them, that’s why she landed up sitting with me! Many middle aged working women about whom I ended up knowing more than about some of my aunts. Many fellow college goers (well I was younger at one point in time) with whom I have spoken about everything from fashion (!!) to how our respective colleges were. It was fun.
Of late I have not done it that much, simply because I am hardly alone! I am always with someone. Which is also nice, but I sometimes miss travelling alone. It is so great just watching small details about people - and letting your mind take its course and wonder about what gave rise to a particular change in expression, or who was behind a smile soft as a white cloud.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Tick tock, tick tock...
This is the clock I got for my parents for their 25th wedding anniversary. A really rare antique piece, which I thought deserved a write up. I love the finish - the bronzed gear mechanism, roman numerals, the pendulum, the polished wooden base - the whole piece is just so very classy!
Look at the side view – you can see the ‘gong'. The sound it makes is really nice and pleasing to the ear – kind of a chime, not loud at all. Which is really good, because my home is so quiet that the slightest sound can shake my parents awake. Or worse still the dogs, who could create a mayhem!
The way the clock works is interesting. No key (and obviously no battery). You see the chain with a weight dangling at the end, just in front of the pendulum? It’s a one kg weight that starts off with being suspended close to the gears on the face of the clock. The weight takes about a week to descend slowly to near the floor. You ‘rewind’ the clock by pulling the chain up and resuspending the weight in zero position!
Isnt it lovely?
One's home...
... is like a delicious piece of pie you order in a restaurant on a country road one cozy evening - the best piece of pie you have ever eaten in your life - and can never find again.
Lemony Snicket
Lemony Snicket
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Hinduism
I continued reading the book, because (surprisingly) I found it very interesting. Many of us find it convenient to rubbish Hinduism as a whole without knowing enough about it. I think we should equip ourselves with enough knowledge before coming to a conclusion.
Firstly, it was more a way of life than a religion. Secondly, this 'religion' has no name! In early days, it was the only religion here in India. Everyone followed it right? So there was no need for a name. When the first ‘invaders’ came in, they came over the Sind river; so the country became Ind-ia, and the religion Indians followed, ‘Indi-ism’ which became ‘Hinduism’. This was the fact that bowled me over and made me continue reading.
Society at that point consisted of people who could be grouped into (the now famous) four groups – Brahmins who studied the Vedas and Upanishads and conducted pujas; Kshatriyas who went to war, Vaishyas who were traders; and Shudras, who did all kinds of community services. The kind of group a person belonged to was NOT determined by birth - it was determined by their interest. At no point do the Vedas, Upanishads or anything else mention which group was greater; there is no hierarchy mentioned anywhere. In early gurukulas, children learned things according to their liking – the Vedas and Upanishads, or archery, or trading principles – and NOT according to their birth.
But what has happened today? Over the years, the true meaning of Hinduism has been modified to such an extent that what remains is a strife ridden admixture of belief in the wrong ideals and false hierarchies. A sad state indeed.
Because when the concept of this no-name religion took birth, an intrinsic character of the religion was its openness and its malleability. The various principles of Hinduism are always open to debate. In fact, the Upanishads are presented in the form of debates. The idea is that people read extensively, then debate about what they have read, and then are free to believe what they want to believe! So, you can be an agnostic and still be a Hindu! I think this is a great idea. The very same traits have allowed it to be wrongly interpreted. It seems that in Sanskrit, many words have multiple meanings. This has been an important reason for wrong interpretations. But, I still find the idea of Shiva and Parvati canoodling in Mount Kailash a little ridiculous. But why rubbish the religion and its underlying, very flexible principles?
I feel the reason why some people are ‘religious’ is threefold – one, if they blindly follow their elders; second, if they don’t have enough belief in themselves or if their circumstances are so bad that they need some straw to clutch. Third, if they have reached a stage in their life when there is nothing more that is new, they want to occupy their minds with something that allows them to set goals and work towards them.
My parents belong to the third category. Rather than judging them for being religious, I appreciate the fact that they are engaged in an attempt to improve their minds with the challenge of understanding the fundamentals of their religion after digging deep, instead of taking things at face value. And, I must mention, I appreciate them for not forcing me into any of this, and letting me be. All this I read up of my own accord, not because they asked me to! I asked a question and was given suitable books to read. I really, really appreciate that.
Firstly, it was more a way of life than a religion. Secondly, this 'religion' has no name! In early days, it was the only religion here in India. Everyone followed it right? So there was no need for a name. When the first ‘invaders’ came in, they came over the Sind river; so the country became Ind-ia, and the religion Indians followed, ‘Indi-ism’ which became ‘Hinduism’. This was the fact that bowled me over and made me continue reading.
Society at that point consisted of people who could be grouped into (the now famous) four groups – Brahmins who studied the Vedas and Upanishads and conducted pujas; Kshatriyas who went to war, Vaishyas who were traders; and Shudras, who did all kinds of community services. The kind of group a person belonged to was NOT determined by birth - it was determined by their interest. At no point do the Vedas, Upanishads or anything else mention which group was greater; there is no hierarchy mentioned anywhere. In early gurukulas, children learned things according to their liking – the Vedas and Upanishads, or archery, or trading principles – and NOT according to their birth.
But what has happened today? Over the years, the true meaning of Hinduism has been modified to such an extent that what remains is a strife ridden admixture of belief in the wrong ideals and false hierarchies. A sad state indeed.
Because when the concept of this no-name religion took birth, an intrinsic character of the religion was its openness and its malleability. The various principles of Hinduism are always open to debate. In fact, the Upanishads are presented in the form of debates. The idea is that people read extensively, then debate about what they have read, and then are free to believe what they want to believe! So, you can be an agnostic and still be a Hindu! I think this is a great idea. The very same traits have allowed it to be wrongly interpreted. It seems that in Sanskrit, many words have multiple meanings. This has been an important reason for wrong interpretations. But, I still find the idea of Shiva and Parvati canoodling in Mount Kailash a little ridiculous. But why rubbish the religion and its underlying, very flexible principles?
I feel the reason why some people are ‘religious’ is threefold – one, if they blindly follow their elders; second, if they don’t have enough belief in themselves or if their circumstances are so bad that they need some straw to clutch. Third, if they have reached a stage in their life when there is nothing more that is new, they want to occupy their minds with something that allows them to set goals and work towards them.
My parents belong to the third category. Rather than judging them for being religious, I appreciate the fact that they are engaged in an attempt to improve their minds with the challenge of understanding the fundamentals of their religion after digging deep, instead of taking things at face value. And, I must mention, I appreciate them for not forcing me into any of this, and letting me be. All this I read up of my own accord, not because they asked me to! I asked a question and was given suitable books to read. I really, really appreciate that.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Upanayanam
I went for an upanayanam (sacred thread ceremony) of one of my young second cousins. The boy was about nine years old, and was clueless about what was happening to him! They did a lot of seemingly weird rites there, so I decided to read up about them, just for curiosity’s sake. I unearthed quite a few interesting details, in this book called Engey Brahmananan? (where is a Brahmin?) by Cho.
So during the upanayanam, the boy is adorned with a white thread. Three white threads intertwined, actually. They are supposed to denote strength, ignorance and knowledge. To give the strength to drive away ignorance using knowledge! He stands on a stone after accepting the thread, praying that his heart will be like an immovable rock if any obstacles come up while he is seeking knowledge. The shlokas chanted during the ceremony are prayers for the well being of all life. Yes, not just the boy, but all life, from plants to animals to other people. Not once does a specific god’s name pop up. It’s all about nature! The most important mantra, the Gayathri mantra, is about the sun, who is supposed to purge all evil. The father ‘passing on’ this knowledge to the sun is the most important part of the upanayanam, the Brahmopadesam.
These days, the function has become a formality. A lot of purohits are called in for conducting the function. They sit there with the money they are making in mind. The father does not know anything about Sanskrit, and approximately repeats what the purohit says, all the time wondering what his guests are doing and what they are thinking about him. The son, knows even lesser Sanskrit, is superbly irritated by the smoke and all that he is made to do (no food in between mind you) and finally, he could not care less about the thread! It will probably come off in about a week.
It is given a miss in some families, which I think is better than a farcical rendering of the same. If the family is bent on it, they should explain the whole thing to the kid and ask him for what he wishes to do, rather than stuff it down his throat this way! This function started at five in the morning and went on till nine, and I can tell you, the poor boy was not happy.
So during the upanayanam, the boy is adorned with a white thread. Three white threads intertwined, actually. They are supposed to denote strength, ignorance and knowledge. To give the strength to drive away ignorance using knowledge! He stands on a stone after accepting the thread, praying that his heart will be like an immovable rock if any obstacles come up while he is seeking knowledge. The shlokas chanted during the ceremony are prayers for the well being of all life. Yes, not just the boy, but all life, from plants to animals to other people. Not once does a specific god’s name pop up. It’s all about nature! The most important mantra, the Gayathri mantra, is about the sun, who is supposed to purge all evil. The father ‘passing on’ this knowledge to the sun is the most important part of the upanayanam, the Brahmopadesam.
These days, the function has become a formality. A lot of purohits are called in for conducting the function. They sit there with the money they are making in mind. The father does not know anything about Sanskrit, and approximately repeats what the purohit says, all the time wondering what his guests are doing and what they are thinking about him. The son, knows even lesser Sanskrit, is superbly irritated by the smoke and all that he is made to do (no food in between mind you) and finally, he could not care less about the thread! It will probably come off in about a week.
It is given a miss in some families, which I think is better than a farcical rendering of the same. If the family is bent on it, they should explain the whole thing to the kid and ask him for what he wishes to do, rather than stuff it down his throat this way! This function started at five in the morning and went on till nine, and I can tell you, the poor boy was not happy.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Troubled..
I do live in a small little world, and things outside it (frankly) don’t bother me too much. But there are times when certain events strike deep, even when I am not directly involved.
There was a murder recently, in the nearest town. Sadly, that is not the most disheartening thing I am going to talk about. But firstly, the facts so that you get the whole picture. The man who was murdered was a doctor with a very profitable tobacco business on the side. His wife does a lot of socially relevant activities. Basically, a very prominent, well known family. This man was on his way to the club for his routine tennis game when he was kidnapped. The kidnappers demanded a huge ransom to the family. Three days later, his body, weighted down, was found in a dam 200 km away. The dam had luckily run dry, and the partly decomposed body was recovered and identified.
The post mortem revealed that the murder was done the same day as the kidnapping. The family meanwhile was living in the anticipation that he would return, because the ransom threats implied he was still alive. I met a friend of the murdered man today. Apparently someone in his office was a gambler and to pay back some huge debt swindled a lot of money from the office. The murdered man is supposed to have caught him and asked him to return the money. The swindler, unable to do so, plotted this murder, and carried out; the ransom was to increase his profit.
These are the facts. And sigh… have not even gotten to the worst part.
Rumors.
A prominent political leader was jealous of him because he wanted to establish a tobacco factory in the same area, and hence knocked him off. This is the least harmful rumor.
This man has an only son, who is 34 and as yet unmarried. So the next rumor is, he had an affair with some girl, who got pregnant, and she arranged for the murder. It does not stop with that. The girl is supposedly an erstwhile cine star’s daughter.
The wife of the murdered man, a very refined lady, did not shed one tear in public. So she was branded as ‘unfeeling’. Not just that. She is supposedly having an affair with a younger man; so she wanted her (72 year old) husband out of the way.
All these rumors to a family not even a week into their mourning? The worst is, EVERYONE talks. Servants, office staff, the local vegetable vendor to the club members. Everyone. On their face, with complete disregard to their feelings. Appalling, to say the least. This man’s wife has done a lot for female upliftment in the area – education, employment, everything. The doctor has practiced for a long time, with free medical camps, lesser fee to poor patients, the works. He started the first poly clinic in the town and was instrumental in training the current generation of doctors. And society as a whole is waiting. For an opportunity to bring the family down.
Anyone slightly in the public eye gets the brunt of tongues wagging. Someone we know had a staff member who got pregnant out of wedlock, and he went to see her and help her out financially. So people put all this together, and here is the rumor – this person had an affair with his own staff and had a girl baby! And you know who the rumor reached? His wife, the very next day. I don’t even want to imagine that lady’s reaction.
I don’t understand this at all. Why? Jealousy? Or just plain joblessness? Man, give me some of your free time! Why does it hurt everyone if a person is doing well? If a person is happy with their lot?
These days, finding people mindful of society and wanting to do good is rare. Even if people have the capacity (financially), they don’t have the heart to part with their money or their time. In such a milieu, the way society as a whole treats families in public view is plain deplorable. Doing some good has become, in my opinion, damn difficult. People, who go out of their way to help others, end up in the receiving end of wagging, forked tongues. We can say, why should we care about society? We should do good to others for our satisfaction. But hey, we live in this society, and we are all human. At least I don’t have the strength to put up with such a flood of public opinion. I can’t be completely immune. However hard I try, I am affected, somewhere in a corner of my mind.
There was a murder recently, in the nearest town. Sadly, that is not the most disheartening thing I am going to talk about. But firstly, the facts so that you get the whole picture. The man who was murdered was a doctor with a very profitable tobacco business on the side. His wife does a lot of socially relevant activities. Basically, a very prominent, well known family. This man was on his way to the club for his routine tennis game when he was kidnapped. The kidnappers demanded a huge ransom to the family. Three days later, his body, weighted down, was found in a dam 200 km away. The dam had luckily run dry, and the partly decomposed body was recovered and identified.
The post mortem revealed that the murder was done the same day as the kidnapping. The family meanwhile was living in the anticipation that he would return, because the ransom threats implied he was still alive. I met a friend of the murdered man today. Apparently someone in his office was a gambler and to pay back some huge debt swindled a lot of money from the office. The murdered man is supposed to have caught him and asked him to return the money. The swindler, unable to do so, plotted this murder, and carried out; the ransom was to increase his profit.
These are the facts. And sigh… have not even gotten to the worst part.
Rumors.
A prominent political leader was jealous of him because he wanted to establish a tobacco factory in the same area, and hence knocked him off. This is the least harmful rumor.
This man has an only son, who is 34 and as yet unmarried. So the next rumor is, he had an affair with some girl, who got pregnant, and she arranged for the murder. It does not stop with that. The girl is supposedly an erstwhile cine star’s daughter.
The wife of the murdered man, a very refined lady, did not shed one tear in public. So she was branded as ‘unfeeling’. Not just that. She is supposedly having an affair with a younger man; so she wanted her (72 year old) husband out of the way.
All these rumors to a family not even a week into their mourning? The worst is, EVERYONE talks. Servants, office staff, the local vegetable vendor to the club members. Everyone. On their face, with complete disregard to their feelings. Appalling, to say the least. This man’s wife has done a lot for female upliftment in the area – education, employment, everything. The doctor has practiced for a long time, with free medical camps, lesser fee to poor patients, the works. He started the first poly clinic in the town and was instrumental in training the current generation of doctors. And society as a whole is waiting. For an opportunity to bring the family down.
Anyone slightly in the public eye gets the brunt of tongues wagging. Someone we know had a staff member who got pregnant out of wedlock, and he went to see her and help her out financially. So people put all this together, and here is the rumor – this person had an affair with his own staff and had a girl baby! And you know who the rumor reached? His wife, the very next day. I don’t even want to imagine that lady’s reaction.
I don’t understand this at all. Why? Jealousy? Or just plain joblessness? Man, give me some of your free time! Why does it hurt everyone if a person is doing well? If a person is happy with their lot?
These days, finding people mindful of society and wanting to do good is rare. Even if people have the capacity (financially), they don’t have the heart to part with their money or their time. In such a milieu, the way society as a whole treats families in public view is plain deplorable. Doing some good has become, in my opinion, damn difficult. People, who go out of their way to help others, end up in the receiving end of wagging, forked tongues. We can say, why should we care about society? We should do good to others for our satisfaction. But hey, we live in this society, and we are all human. At least I don’t have the strength to put up with such a flood of public opinion. I can’t be completely immune. However hard I try, I am affected, somewhere in a corner of my mind.
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