Knock that frown off your face

I was sleeping peacefully when a dream woke me up. In the dream, I was giving a speech to bunch of people (ambitious much?). A particular line in there woke me up. I said, don’t spend your entire life solving life problems. When you do that, you have very little life actually left to experience. This is something that I have never really realized or felt. So in a way, I was trying to say something to myself through a speech in my dream. So I guess a good beginning sentence for this article would be: don’t spend your entire life solving life problems, so that you have some life left to experience.

Over the past year or so I have been having my own set of problems that have been on my mind pretty much every day. The details of those problems are not really important because all of us have our own set of problems. As an engineer, I have always thought of myself as a problem solver. The approach I have had towards life is that anytime there’s a problem, there’s a unique solution. You just have to work and think enough to find it. The dream I had, puts this approach into question. Is it really necessary to always think about problems? The opposite would be to not think about the problems at all. Is that the right approach to life? Let me give me perspective this. All of us, through various phases of our life have heard the phrase, “easier said than done”. It is very true. We always have solutions to offer, as long as we are not the one seeking the solutions. Although, this might make us look like a smug snob, I believe in always offering solutions to others in trouble. Why is this important? It is interesting to see how easily we can come up with solutions when we don’t have to apply them. When looking at a problem from a third person’s perspective, it gives us the ability to think without constraints, leading to different ideas to solve that problem. Slowly and steadily this develops a certain quality. Eventually we start looking at our own troubles without any constraints. You see, trying to help others has a two way benefit. The person in trouble gets a prospective solution to their problems. We get an incremental ability to solve our own problems. This brings me back to my initial point. We don’t necessarily have to stop thinking about our problems. We experience life by helping others, and eventually the solutions to our own problems come to us. It’s very interesting to think about. How the very idea of being selfless helps us.

It is my perspective that, in life, the metric of success is not really money. I like to think of this metric as the number of people who genuinely would feel a sense of loss when I die. I am not being a sadist here. The very definition of this metric tells us how many lives we have actually caused a positive change in. One person, single handedly cannot change the world. But one person can single handedly make positive influences in several lives. This effect multiplies forward. And in an ideal world, one person is capable of starting a chain of positive influences that would eventually cause a large scale change. All of us should try to come out of the loop of what’s going to happen in a matter of few days or months, and try think of how our current actions will cause a large scale wave of positivity.

We should always seek a lifestyle that chases peace. We often hear the phrase money is not everything, look for happiness. Let me go a step further and say happiness is temporary as well. Happiness is relative. It depends on the history of sadness we have. Don’t be complacent when you are happy and don’t be demotivated when you’re sad. Both these are equally temporary. Instead of chasing ways to be happy, chase ways to be peaceful. Peace is absolute, albeit depends on every individual’s frame of reference. We should try to be in a state of mind where temporary gains and losses won’t change the state of peacefulness we have.

There might be a lot of people saying all these things are “dog shit philosophy”. I swear I am not making this word up. I have heard this exact phrase from a friend. The way anyone interprets any of these ideas is completely subjective. I am content as long as any of these ideas sparked a chain of thought. Lead a life of example. Help others, not just for them, but for yourself as well. Start a chain of positivity. If you don’t believe it, try and offer a perspective to problems that 5 of your friends are going through. Observe the ease with which you’re offering the solution. You’ll observe different ideas coming to you for your own problems.

Chase the state of peace! Stay peaceful!

Happiness..?

The title is somewhat befuddling isn’t it? This particular post can be perceived by some as a rant. Irrespective of how this post is perceived, I’d like to talk about a few things. This morning, I woke up really fresh. While I was having my tea, I heard my mom talking to her friend about some guy who finished his MS in Purdue and is just sitting in his home doing nothing. They were making it sound like the guy is worth nothing and that he’s living an unhappy life. This really got me angry.

What do we know about happiness? Who gives us the right to judge someone who might be internally happy? Just because we don’t someone is not “happy” according to us, does not mean he to she is actually not happy.

Some you might have heard about a man, Alok Sagar. He was a professor at IIT Delhi. To make it sound more “impressive”, he was Raghuram Rajan’s professor. He got a degree in engineering from IITD and an MS and PhD form Houston University. For the past 26 years, he has been living in a remote village somewhere in Madhya Pradesh, helping the local tribes there. He is helping them develop their education and farming. He owns 3 pairs of Kurtas and a cycle. Now, I pose a question, Is he not happy? Few people would say that he’s wasting his life. To those distinguished few, I would like to ask, Are you happy with what you do?

For almost all my life, I always thought that a couple of cars, a big house, a beautiful wife and some adorable children is all that is needed to make a happy life. But after I joined Amrita for my B-tech, my image of a happy life has started to change. I have seen many professors come to this college and teach, leaving behind a lot of “material” gains. Are they unhappy then? As far as I have seen it in their eyes, they are the happiest people I’ve ever met. It is this sort of happiness that I long for. Of course, money is a need. But we have to understand that it is just a need. Money cannot make us happy. Few people out there might think that these things are cliched and these things are easier said than done. But trust me, once you start loving the world around you and once you start realising what true happiness is, these things will all start to make sense.

I myself want to become a professor one day. The moment I tell this to my relatives, the first thing they say is, “Oh really! What about money then?”. I’m not making this up. This is the response I get from most people when I tell them what I want. I’m not saying the way they look at happiness is wrong. All I am saying is what makes them happy, need not make me happy. That is something we all must try to understand. The way of life that might seem happy for us, might not seem as happy to another person and we have no right to force our way on them.

I would just like to say one last thing, again this is just my opinion about life, never chase money or success. Chase inner satisfaction. That way even if you don’t have money, you’ll be happy.

Hope this reaches a few people. Maybe my language is not all that strong but I tried my best to convey what I feel.

Cheers to everybody, stay happy and keep smiling.

Good things come in small packages…

Most people who know me would guess it right away that I am talking about my Tata Nano. I know that this is not a car people usually go with because of it’s size or safety or other blah blah. But to me, my nano is a very special car, not only because it’s my first car, but also because every time I sit inside it, I get a feeling of completion and satisfaction. It’s like they say, “When you find someone perfect to spend your life with, it’s infatuation, but when you find someone imperfect and still don’t bother about the flaws, it’s called love.” So yeah, by this definition, I do love my car. It’s true that it cannot do more than a 100 Km/hr, it’s true that if I get hit doing that speed, my parts will probably never be found but I know that my nano will not let anything like that happen. It’s like it has this unspoken bond with me. My friends never get a hang of driving it properly, frankly I don’t prefer anybody else driving it (Yes, I am possessive like that), but with me it never has a problem. It’s as smooth as it gets.

Recently I got to discover a whole new dimension of love with my car. I was under a lot of pressure due to some reasons recently. I really needed a break and expensive trips, although soothe the heart, do not go easy on the wallet. So one Monday morning, I decide to go for a long drive. I did not carry any extra luggage because who does that for a long drive. So, I go 30 Km just outside Chennai. I get down for some tea and out of no where a crazy idea hits me. Why not drive to Bangalore? I mean I have a really close aunty down there and she has a cute little 4 year old daughter, who I had not met since her birth. So I decide to do it, “a 400 Km drive in my nano.” Just as I started from that tea stall, a cocktail of negativity started flowing through my system and started confusing me. I mean there was no arm  rest, so was I supposed to keep my arms floating in the air for 7 hours? The suspension was not that great, so was I supposed to have a painful back after the drive? I don’t know, somehow I knew that my love won’t make me suffer. I connected my phone to my nano, put on a Bob Marley play list and just drove on. I knew at that very moment, I did not need any drugs to get high. I had my nano, the road and a bunch of great songs to get high. I couldn’t do more than a 100 Km/hr, so that gave me more time to think about myself.

I don’t know how to exactly portray my feelings with words, but to give an idea, I would give up anything to have an experience like this. It was so fulfilling. I mean even after I reached Bangalore, I wanted more. I have this dream, someday, I don’t know when, but someday, I’ll buy my own Royal Enfield Classic 500 and ride it to the Himalayas. I know it sounds crazy and half the people out there will say that I’ll never make it, but deep in my heart I know that I will. And I sure as hell know that I am crazy enough to do what my heart asks me to.

So once I reached Bangalore, I had this beautiful little cousin of mine and Simba (The Labrador) waiting for me. I admit that I hate the idea of being around kids, but this cute one changed this one thing about me. There was this one afternoon, she comes next to me to read me a story. She holds the book upside down and starts reading. I tried correcting her, she still went back to the same upside down way. This just cracked me up. Life can always get stressful and painful, I mean if it does not, you’re doing it wrong. It is moments like these that we HAVE to go through all the stress and pain. Just believe that moments like these always wash away the stains caused by the pain you’ve been through.

I also was able to meet a very close friend of mine, Mukesh. He was my roommate for almost two years. Had a wonderful time with him. We went to a restaurant called the “Kobe Sizzlers”. We were not ready for their price tags, the bill shocked the living crap out of both of us, but we ate there anyway. I mean how often do we meet old friends?

I started back from Bangalore on Friday, at around 8 in the morning. I took a longer route through Andra Pradesh, intentionally. On the way back, I still had the same high. It was the same Bob Marley play list and the same treatment my nano gave me. People always seem to go through a lot of emotional and physical stress. Often therapy fails to cure it. In my case, this drive worked. You don’t always have to have the costliest car to have the most expensive memories. In the days to come, I may or may not get a better car. But I know one thing for sure that I’ll always love and cherish my nano for the rest of my life. This drive did make me realize a new dimension of love that I had towards my car.

No matter how old you become, how bad your engine becomes, how uncomfortable your ride becomes, no matter if a better car enters my life, remember one thing, I’ll always love you with all of my heart. I will never let you down, no matter how much money it takes. You’ll always be my first love and you’ll always be a part of my life in some way. Thank you for healing me and making me realize what kind of a person I actually am. Thank you.

 

Let go…

The great master Yoda once said, “Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose.” One might not pay a lot of attention to this, because star wars is too “immature” for some people. But on a serious note, this is something we all must deeply think about and try to follow.

Not everything that we want or hope to have will always stay with us. Too much attachment to anything never ends well. When you something you’re very much attached to, it causes a lot of pain. We all have a small part inside us that we are not proud of. Some might refer it to a demon within. We work real hard to suppress that demon inside us. And this pain from loss unravels that demon. I would like to quote star wars again. This exact fear of separation led to the creation of Darth Vader. It is no that Anakin was a bad person as such, his fear of separation and too much attachment to Padme turned him into something horrible and despicable.

Be it a person or an object, too much attachment is never good. This does not in anyway mean that one should stop caring or loving. That would be against the very nature of human beings. It’s just that never get too close to anything that it makes you scared of losing it. Because once you lose it, it will cause a lot of unnecessary pain and sorrow. This quality of not getting attached to anything is something our ancient rishis spent their entire lives to achieve. So it is not fully possible for us to obtain that quality but we can always try. As budha says, “You can only lose what you cling to.”

I know this one was a really boring piece here. But I just had to get some stuff out by writing it out. So I’ll finish by saying, “Accept what is, let go of what was and have faith in what will be.”

Gangtok , A place where silence is the only noise.

First, a little about the place itself. The meaning of the name ‘Ganktok’ although not clear can be loosely translated as, ‘Gang’ – lofty and ‘Tok’ – hill, lofty hill. Few records exist dealing with the early history of Gangtok. The earliest records date from the construction of the hermitic Gangtok monastery in 1716 C.E.. Gangtok remained a small hamlet until the construction of the Enchey Monastery in 1840 made it a pilgrimage center. After the defeat of the Tibetans by the British, Gangtok became a major stopover in the trade between Tibet and British India at the end of the nineteenth century.

In 1894, Thutob Namgyal, the Sikkimese monarch under British rule, shifted the capital from Tumlong to Gangtok, increasing its importance. He built a new grand palace along with other state buildings in the new capital. Following India’s independence in 1947, Sikkim became a nation-state with Gangtok as its capital. Sikkim became a suzerain of India, with the condition that it would retain its independence, by the treaty signed between the Chogyal and the then Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Trade between India and Tibet continued to flourish through the Nathula and Jelepla passes, offshoots of the ancient Silk Road near Gangtok. The warring nations sealed those border passes after the Sino-Indian War in 1962, depriving Gangtok of its trading business. In 1975, the monarchy abrogated, Sikkim becoming India’s twenty-second state, with Gangtok as its capital.

There is this place in Gangtok called the Mahatma Gandhi Marg. People usually take a walk here in the mornings and in the evenings it is one of the busiest shopping complexes in the town. Early in the morning, in the shivering cold once can take a seat here and think in peace. There is no noise anywhere, just the cold winds. It is a kind of redemption that people usually aspire for.

This place offers an opportunity to learn about the buddhist culture and observe it’s similarities with the hindu culture. Let, me give a small example of the similarities between these two cultures,

Does the name of this temple ring a bell? Of course it does. It sounds very similar to ‘Aum Namo Narayanaya Namaha’. Although this particular temple is not located in Gangtok (it is located in Kolkata), it gives a very clear idea of how the buddhist culture is similar to the hindu culture.

First of, I went to this beautiful monastery called the ‘Rumtek monastery’. It is elegantly located a little away from Gangtok. Let us first know a little bit about the history of the place. To know about this history we need to know a little bit about the tbetian buddhism culture. I do not know much about the culture, but I will share what I know as I move forward. In the tibetian Buddhism culture, there is a concept of Karmapa lama. The Karmapa Lama is the head of Karma Kagyu, which is one of the major schools of tibetian buddhism. The historical seat of the Karmapas is Tsurphu Monastery in the Tolung valley of Tibet. The Karmapa’s principal seat in exile is the Dharma Chakra Centre at Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim, India.

Originally built under the direction of Changchub Dorje, 12th Karmapa Lama in the mid-1700s, Rumtek served as the main seat of the Karma Kagyu lineage in Sikkim for some time. But when Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, 16th Karmapa, arrived in Sikkim in 1959 after fleeing Tibet, the monastery was in ruins. Despite being offered other sites, the Karmapa decided to rebuild Rumtek. To him, the site possessed many auspicious qualities and was surrounded by the most favorable attributes. For example, flowing streams, mountains behind, a snow range in front, and a river below. With the generosity and help of the Sikkim royal family and the local folks of Sikkim, it was built by the 16th Karmapa as his main seat in exile.After four years, construction of the monastery was completed. The sacred items and relics brought out from Tsurphu Monastery, the Karmapa’s seat in Tibet, were installed. On Losar in 1966, the 16th Karmapa officially inaugurated the new seat, called “The Dharmachakra Centre, a place of erudition and spiritual accomplishment, the seat of the glorious Karmapa.”

The monastery is currently the largest in Sikkim. It is home to the community of monks and where they perform the rituals and practices of the Karma Kagyu lineage. A golden stupa contains the relics of the 16th Karmapa. Opposite that building is a college, Karma Shri Nalanda Institute for Higher Buddhist Studies. Talking about lamas, we all have heard about the great spiritual leader, Dalai lama. Now, the Dalai lama is very different from the Karmapa lama, Dalai lama is the head of the Gelug school of tibetian buddhism. Now, this monastery is guarded by the Indian army, so that there is no disputes in the place regarding the 17^th karmapa lama controversy. The 17^th karmapa lama, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, now resides in Dharmashala with HH Dalai lama.

Now, coming to the monastery itself, it is wonderfully constructed and one might find the view from the top to be soothing. No cameras were allowed inside the chambers, so I could not get any pictures of the inside of the monastery. There were a lot of monks inside performing their usual rituals. Near this monastery is the Karma Shri Nalanda Institute, which contains a golden stupa. Inside the golden stupa, the ashes of the 16^th karmapa lama resides. Surprisingly, his eyes, tongue and heart were not burnt and are preserved inside the stupa as such.

One might really get into the history and enjoy this place very much. For others, it offers a beautiful panaromic view of the foothills and the kanchanjunga range.

Next, was a beautiful museum of tibetology, called the Namgyal Institute for buddhist studies. If anybody is intersted in knowing about the life of buddha and how buddhism became a largelyfollowed relegion, he/she must visit this museum. Again, because I was not allowed to take a camera inside the museum, I was not able to take pictures of the relics that were kept inside. One can find all the relics that were once used in the buddhist tantric rituals to be in fine condotion in this place. The thigh bones of humans were carved and used as trumps during tantric practices to remind one that death is inevitable. The skulls of humans were used as cups to drink tea that represented blood. Different mudra positions of Buddha in form of statues can be found here. The museum also depicts events from the life of Padmasambhava, also known as the second buddha. There is a lot of interesting history behind all these relics, all of which is difficult to share. For anybody who is really interested can go and visit the website ‘namgyal.org’ to know more.

We all know the great epic ‘Ramayana’. When Lakshmana gets critically wounded after the first battle with Ravava, Rama asks Hanuman to go and get the healing herb called Sanjeevani. So, Hanuman goes and brings an entire hill of Sanjeevani. During his visit to the hills in search of Sanjeevani, he rests in a particular place for a night.

That place in near Gangtok and it’s called Hanuman tok. The place is elegantly maintained by the Indian army and the BRO. One can find a Hanuman temple and a small cabin showing the itihasa of Hanuman tok. This place shows the cultural diversity that exists in Gangtok.

Two of the main attractions for anybody who visits Gangtok are ‘Nathu la pass’ and ‘Changu lake’. Unfortunately, I was not able to go to any of these places as all the roads were blocked by the army due to heavy snowfall. Nonetheless, I will share what I know about these places. The nathu la pass is a pass between the himalyas located on the historic silk route. It is on the Indo-Chinese border and is known to be one of the freindliest borders. You can walk upto the border and shake hands with the chinese soldiers. It’s a heavenly place to be and one must definitely visit this if possible. Next is the Changu lake or the Tsomgo lake. During winter, the lake is usually nothing but 60 feet of solid ice. In Bhutia language the name Tsomgo is made of two words ‘Tso’ meaning “lake” and ‘Mgo’ meaning “head” which gives the literal meaning as “source of the lake”. The lake surface reflects different colours with change of seasons and is held in great reverence by the local Sikkimese people. Buddhist monks prognosticated after studying the changing colours of the lake.

Another mysterious place near the nathu la pass is the Baba Mandir. The reason this place is mysterious because this is not a temple for praying to god, but a temple to pray to a man. The temple is dedicated to a soldier of the Indian army, Baba Harbhajan Singh. He was a soldier of the 18 Rajput regiment. He died in 1968 near the nathu la pass. The reason for so much devotion to him is what he did after his death. Yes, after his death. Any general posted in that region used to get dreams showing him points from where the Chinese troops would infilterate the next day. People, did not believe this at first, but eventually all these dreams came to be true. Baba saved this country from a lot of attacks. To this day, a train ticket is booked in his name every year. His salary reaches his family. He is promoted to a high ranking official of the Indian army. This was all unbelievable to me at first, but believe it or not, this is all true.

This year, the snowing took place very late. I would like to share a message regarding this as a final note to ending this article.

“I am only human, for I weep through the melting ice, as the warmth overwhelms me”

– A Mountain

 

“Virtual” Reality or Virtual “Reality”

‘The Matrix Trilogy’, an intriguing piece of work, is it not? Now, what if I told you we are living in a matrix? Sounds unbelievable right? Let me put forth a few points and then return to the same question.

The nematode is the most thoroughly studied life forms till date. It is nothing but a simple, small worm. Now, if you were thinking of creating a virtual living being, naturally this would be the first choice due to it’s simplicity and detailed studies available. By simulated, I don’t mean a graphic object that looks and moves like a worm, but I mean that each and every building element of the worm, starting from the cells, muscles, even the chemical reactions in it’s body etc are simulated. [For more detail on this project, check out openworm.org ]

When this project is completed and run, there will be a worm simulated inside a computer. Now, we know that the worm is not real. But, does the worm know that it’s not real? To it’s simulated brain, it’s simulated thoughts say that it is indeed alive and has to live. This being said, let’s get back to the first question, do we live in a matrix? Are we simulated organisms living in a simulated universe inside someone else’s computer? Is there any way to know? Something to ponder upon, isn’t it?

Let’s say that we are a part of someone’s simulations. So how do we explain the various things that happen to us everyday in terms of codes? I attempt to answer a few questions.

From ancient times, people have been saying that worldly pleasures are not true. After reading these things, it makes me wonder, are worldly pleasures really false, or to put it in a polished form, ‘virtual’. The critics out there, please spend some minutes pondering upon this with an open mind before saying otherwise. If we look at the world as a huge simulation, it indeed makes it clear that all our feelings are nothing but pieces of code and indeed not real.

Since our childhood days, we all have heard stories about rebirth. Not only in stories, in the greatest epics of our country and others, there are mentions about rebirths. Now, is it really possible? Before you answer this question, listen to what I say? Let’s say the phone you are using is hung. As a first step, what do you do? You try switching it off and then on again. Now answer the question, is rebirth a possibility? In most healthy simulation codes, the object or the list of objects near it should be often refreshed after a given amount of relaxation time. That’s how you get statistically valid results. So, considering the whole universe to be a simulation, it’s objects have to be refreshed. This is nothing but the concept of rebirth. When a person dies [de-allocated], he takes a rebirth [re-allocation]. Makes sense? So, what about the people who remember stuff from their earlier life? A simple answer that I can think of is ‘stray pointers’. Please feel free to correct me, if I am technically wrong.

One may ask, How are people making new inventions, if we are all a part of a simulation and thus a deterministic environment? Let me answer that in a while. All of us use an internet browser right? How does it work? There is a huge number of data packets lost during transfer, so how does it make up for that? The answer is self correcting codes. They fill in this gap ‘intelligently’ so that we have a smooth browsing experience. Now, let’s get back to the question, How does one make inventions? The answer is the same, namely, self correcting codes. These pieces of codes fill in the gaps in our world through some way or other.

Now, a very important question may arise in one’s mind, are the decisions we make, really ours, or a result of a deterministic environment created by codes? To understand this, one must first understand the concept of psuedorandom events. A pseudorandom process is a process that appears to be random but is not. Pseudorandom sequences typically exhibit statistical randomness while being generated by an entirely deterministic causal process. There are pieces of codes called psuedorandom generators that generate random numbers falsely. So, to answer the question, these type of codes may be responsible for our decisions. We may think that we make our choices entirely by our will, but it may be so that our will itself is generated by psuedorandom generators. Think about the simulated worm I mentioned at first, the worm, when simulated, will think that it is making it’s own decisions, but we know that’s not the case.

I would like to end with a note;

We do not know whether the reality we are in, is actually real. So, let us assume that it is a simulated reality and live our life to the fullest, because  there is nothing to lose “really”.

Durga Pujo and it’s scent in Chennai

In this post, I’d like to share some of the things that I know about Durga pujo and I’d also like to share how I spent this year’s pujo.

Most of us think that Durga puja is only for the people from Bengal, Assam, Bihar, Orissa and a few other nearby states. Although, the celebration of this event in these states is magnificent, it is also celebrated in many other states with different names and rituals.

1. West Bengal: I’ll talk about Kolkata here because it’s the only place in West Bengal that I have been to. Durga pujo is more of an emotion buried in the hearts of the people here, than a conventional puja. It’s the one time of the year all bangalis eagerly wait for. It’s like for these five days the city shuts down it’s normal functioning and dresses itself up in bright lights and jewellery. You can find all the men in their fines dhooti’s and panjabi’s; and all the women in their beautiful sarees. The streets are filled with people. There is the smell of dhoop and dhuno all over the place. There are 100’s of pandals (canopy) through out the city. It’s as though suddenly the city’s heart is filled with euphoria. It really does not matter whether you are a bengali or not, at least once in your lifetime you have to experience durga puja in kolkata. It’s something that can’t be explained with words. I literally have millions of emotions flowing through me that I can’t pass on through my keyboard.
2. Assam: In Assam, Silchar is the place where the celebration of Durga puja is worth attaining. The traditional Assam crafts along with other regional art forms are explored in over 300 canopies dispersed in various parts of Silchar. Though Bihu is a prime festival of Assam, Durga Puja is celebrated with almost equal enthusiasm in the state. The renowned historian Late Benudhar Sarma confirms that it was during the supremacy of Ahom King Susenghphaaor Pratap Singha that the worship of Durga in the form of earthen idol started taking place. The historian also reveals that King Pratap Singha first heard from one of his captives named Sondar Gohain, how King Naranarayan of Koch Bihar celebrated the Durga Puja festival, before he started following the same in his own kingdom. King Naranarayan of Koch Bihar then sent his craftsmen to Koch Bihar to fine-tune the idol making skills after which the king organized the first Durga Puja in Bhatiapara near Sibsagar. After this occasion, the celebrations of Durga Puja with earthen idols began taking place. Prior to this, the worship us to take place only in Durga temples like Kamakhya, Digheswari Temple, Maha Bhairabi Temple, Ugrotara, Tamreswari Mandir, etc. In the present age, Durga Puja is mostly a community festival celebrated in cities, towns and villages of Assam with great festivity and religious fervor for five days.
3. Bihar: Durga Puja in Bihar is feted in hundreds of different pandals and carnivals all across the state and is considered a major festival in Bihar. Hundreds of pandals are set up with carnivals. Major Durga Puja celebrations in Patna take place in the areas of Bari and Chhoti Patan Devi, Maa Shitla Mandir, Agamkuan etc. A huge gathering takes place at the canopies of Shri Krishna Puri, Shiv Mandir Khajpura, New Dak Bunglow Road, and Durga Ashram.
4. Gujrat: Although, it does not have the same name in Gujrat, it still has the same kind of enthusiasm. The festival is Navaratri. I had been to a few places in Chennai where bengalis and gujratis together celebrate this event. There was a place where they had Dandiya dance along side some classic bengali dance.
5. Kerela and Tamil Nadu: Vidyarambham or Sraswati Puja is also celebrated during this time of the year. Although, the rituals followed are quite different.

Legends related to this time of the year:

Lord Rama went to Lanka to rescue his wife Sita who was earlier abducted by the demon king Ravana. A fierce battle ensued between the two sides. But, Ravana was a blessed Brahmin who could not be defeated at any cost. Hence, Lord Ram decided to seek the blessings of Shakti (goddess Durga) in order to defeat the demon. It is said that Lord Rama had performed a ‘Chandi Sacrifice’ to invoke goddess Durga during Navaratri and because of her blessings Rama won the war against Ravana.

As per the legend, 108 blue lotuses were needed for Chandi Sacrifice but Lord Rama could manage only 107.In order to complete the puja, Rama was on the verge of laying his blue-colored lotus shaped eye at the goddess’s feet. Extremely pleased with his devotion, goddess Durga appeared and conferred upon him her blessings and eventually he won the battle against Ravana. In commemoration of this event, Durga Puja began to get celebrated from then on.

Another legend, linked to the celebration of Durga Puja, is the tale of the defeat of the demon Mahishasura over goddess Durga, the incarnation of Shakti (the power). Mahishasura, the Buffalo Demon, through years of praying, received blessing from Lord Brahma, that no man could ever defeat him. But once receiving the boon he started devastating the whole world and killing people. And finally he wanted to uproot the gods and goddesses too. The gods and goddesses, in dismay, united   their powers and created a gorgeous maiden, and each of them located his or her most effective weapon in one of her ten hands. She killed the demon king and thus began to be called Mahishasuramardini. The holy battle represents the victory of good over evil. However, according to another legend about Durga, she is a manifestation of Parvati, Shiva’s wife.

Now let’s come to what I did this Pujo;

I came to Chennai on the day of Saptami. On that day, I went to this beautiful pujo in Adyar organised by this group called the SMCA (South Madras Cultural Association). It was like a small Kolkata in Chennai. The moment I entered the pandal, all I could hear was bengali. It was like I entered some sort of portal leading me right to Kolkata. The best part was the food stalls. You name any typical bangali snack or food item, you could find it there. Right from the biriyani, to the sweets, to rolls, fish fries, fish orly’s, it was all there.

It makes me very happy to see that even this far from Kolkata, people have managed to maintain a community and are celebrating Durga pujo at this scale.

So, this was the one in Adyar. The other pandal that I went to was on OMR in this place called “Gem Inn”. Although, this was not as magnificent as the one in Adyar, I still found it interesting to be there. The food here was not of a very wide variety but still, it was nice to have a good bengali meal.

There were other pujas too, in T-Nagar and Anna Nagar that I wanted to attend, but I could not due to some unavoidable reasons.

I would like to end by stating a sloka that shows the beginning of every Durga puja and it’s meaning.

Ya Devi sarvabhuteshu Matrirupenasamsthita
Ya Devi sarvabhuteshu Shakti rupenasamsthita
Ya Devi sarvabhutesu Shanti rupenasamsthita
Namestasyai Namestasyai Namestasyai NamohNamah

The goddess who is omnipresent as the personification of universal mother
The goddess who is omnipresent as the embodiment of power
The goddess who is omnipresent as the symbol of peace
I bow to her, I bow to her, I bow to her

A 300Km nostalgic drive

Frankly speaking I never grew up in a posh and fancy city environment. But the place I grew up in, is far far better than any city on the face of earth. Many of you might not be knowing this place. When you travel from Chennai to Bangalore by road, after crossing Kancheepuram, you’ll find this place just off the national highway. Ranipet, or Ranipettai to be precise. It’s a wonderful place to grow up in. Away from all the city noise, a peaceful place, Ranipet.

Starting off with a little history about the place. I am sure many people living there may not be aware of this small but beautiful tale behind the name of the place. This place was build by a sultan, Sadut-ulla-khan in 1771. There is this place at a little distance from Ranipettai called Gingee. There was a king there, Raja Desingh. He died due to some cause which I am not sure of. Out of her love towards her husband, Raja Desingh’s wife committed sati. This incident gave rise to lot of respect towards this queen in the mind of Saut-ulla-khan. And it is out of this respect that he built the beautiful village of Ranipettai. Even the name of this place reflects this point. “Rani” means queen and “pettai” means place or area or something similar. The very name of this place has a lot of meaning in it.

I stayed in Ranipettai for a very very long time, for about 15 years. And, these 15 years were the most  important part of my life. To put it in a fancy way, from the first time I lost a tooth to the time I first had feelings for a girl, I was in Ranipet. So, lately I felt like I had to go to Ranipet at least for a day.

I had a long weekend this week and so I decided, why not go to Ranipet now. So, I call up one of my chuddy buddies, Kishore. We had been to the same school and the same high school. I have known him for almost 17 years now. Maybe one day minstrels will write songs about our legendary friendship. For the record, he hesitated a lot when I told him I was going to write about our drive. (sorry machan, naan ezhuthiye thiruven…..)

So, after a good amount of planning, Kishore and I took my nano for this drive. P.S We had to fill the tank twice for this trip… lol…. We took off at around 6.30 in the morning. I swear to god, if anbody has an ego problem, he/she should take the tata nano for a drive on the highway, I mean the entire way we could not overtake a single vehicle. So, anyways after a solid 3 hour drive we reached Ranipettai. The entire way, I was filled with nostalgia. When I was in highschool, I used to go to Ranipet every weekend by the same road. First stop, Kishore’s house. His mom made us these epic masala dosais with coconut chutney. After this delicious breakfast, we headed out to our old school, “DAV BHEL School”.

 

If my mind is the earth, then memories from DAV is the ocean. We went there and met all the teachers who at some point of time or other had been our mentors some way. I have always wanted to build my career in the academic world and I think a major chunk of this inspiration is because of the teachers from DAV. It was exhilarating to know that almost all of my teachers remember me as the chubby little Mukherjee I was. It was such an amazing experience for us to look at the world that once was massive to us as kids.

 

These types of things sometimes makes you wonder how life has taken off onto the fast lane. It makes you feel that sometimes here and there you should take an exit from the fast lane to take a break.

After this, I went to visit my old house in Bharti Nagar. This name, “Bharti Nagar”, gives me nostalgic chills (don’t know if that is even a phrase). The new guys there were kind enough to let me take a couple of pictures of the house. That is a house with a lot of memories in it’s walls. I got Jinga (my pet), when I was in that house. I first started bulding stuff when I was there. I still remember the hardware shop next to that place I used to go to.

All in all, it was a very good trip and felt amazing to meet the people responsible for what I am today, or what I will be tomorrow.

On our way back, we had one of the deepest conversations that we’ve ever had.

One must never forget one’s origins, for that is the only thing that becomes one’s identity when one is stripped of all worldly possessions.

Salute mi familia

One of the things we all miss in everyday life, probed with our busy schedules, is that we don’t spend enough time with our friends and family. Sometimes, it’s nice to know what is happening in the lives of our loved ones. We also get to share our side of the story.

So, today being a sunny Sunday, I thought, why not take a long drive with my family, you know, with some good music and  maybe have a good lunch, have a long chat with my old man. And I definitely do not regret the decision.

So, this is how the day goes. First thing, I own a Tata Nano. And god knows the car is not suitable for long drives. So, I go with my dad to Zoomcars, a car rental service, we rent a merc GLA, after all you got to enjoy the drive too. I bring back the car home, to pickup mom and sis. Then we are off to OMR. Took a long soothing drive with lots of chatting and music.

 

The priorities of man goes like this; roti, kapda, ghar; means food, clothing and shelter. What I want to say is, our next stop was for lunch. We went to this place on OMR called, Novotel, a nice and fancy restaurant. They had the most amazing variety of cuisines. I mean you name it a sits there. There was Italian, Japanese, Indian, continental, Chinese, etc. So, you had an epic lunch and had some laughs. I got to see a lot of couples, which made me realise that I am just going to stay alone for the rest of my life (lol… Wink… Wink).

Then back on the road. Drove for another hour or so. Had an amazing drive. Then, I dropped everybody at home and returned the car back.

 

Then, as all good things have an end, the Sunday drive was over. But, to top it all, I come back to the most amazing pet ever, wagging his tail. I mean, there was no mess anywhere. He patiently waited for us to come back. So, I gave him a nice and tasty treat.

The smallest things in life teach you very deep lessons. Today, I got to understand how important it is to spend some quality time with family. After all, at the end of the day, they are the ones who’ll be always there for you no matter what.

Salute mi familia.

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Oblivious near the Ocean

Traveling is a drug by itself. It soothes the soul. Definitely, you need an open mind to experience the euphoria.

At first, I was a little skeptical about taking an all alone trip. I will be frank, it was a little scary. But, my dad talked me out of it. He was the one to actually seed this idea of taking solo trips into my thoughts. When he was young, he used to take these “solo trips” and he always enjoyed them. Very often, he tells me the story of his first ever solo trip to Bangkok. This made me think actually, I want to have a couple of stories to narrate to my children and their children. So, you know one of the reasons that I took the decision of taking a solo trip is my dad. There are a couple of other reasons also, I mean when you take a trip with your friends or family, you don’t get the kind of freedom that you get when you are alone. And I am not talking about freedom to go to late night parties and stuff like that, I am talking about a mental barrier to do things. When you are with friends and family, whether you agree or not, you have a mental barrier that prevents you from talking to new people and just exploring the place, you know just walking around talking to people. But when you are alone, you don’t have to satisfy your ego, you are free.

Now after all this, you people must be wondering, where was the trip to? I went to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It’s an amazing place to go to. There are a lot of things  to do for people of all ages and tastes. You can go ahead and take up a few adventure trips or you can sit back, relax and have a soothing drink by the beach.

 

So, I stayed in a place that was not very posh. It was just by the airport. The place was called “AR Residency”. The food was not very good though. I mean, most of the time I was outside and ate outside. I only came back to the hotel to sleep an occasionally had dinner there. It’s close to the main market “Aberdeen Bazaar”. Close to the central bus stand. All in all, if you want a reasonably priced stay, this a pretty good option.

 

There are a lot of places to go and enjoy the natural beauty. The place that I liked the most was Wandoor beach. It’s a beautiful place to go to. It doesn’t matter if you are there for your honeymoon or with your family or whatever, you’ll definitely enjoy the place. I actually went into the water, you know to take small swim. It was nice, but after I came out, I saw a sign that said “Beware Salt water alligators”. I was totally mindfucked. But definitely was a good experience.

 

The other first time experience that I had was a dive. I mean it’s a whole new world down there. Away from the noises of this world. There is a song by Eddie Vedder, “Society”. The whole time down there, this song was playing in my mind. The feeling after I came out, sheer euphoria. One of the best feelings I’ve ever experienced.

All in all, a place worth a visit.

Please do read and post your reviews. I am actually new to blogging and I know my language is a little colloquial. I am hoping to improve, so please feel free to comment.