Recently came across this beautiful hindi poem 'Sach hai mahaj sangarsh hi' written by Jagdish. Those who have studied 10th in CBSE board (around 93 batch) and remember Swati (Hindi text book for poems), might be able to recall this. It has been one of my best inspiration ever since.... perfect lyrics, so deep in their meanings that you cann't stop appreciating it.
Here it goes...
Sach hum nahin, sach tum nahin,
Sach hai mahaj sangarsh hi!
Sangarsh se hat kar jiye to kya jiye ki hum ya tum,
Jo nat hua wo mrit hua jyon vrind se jarhkar kusum,
Jo laksya bhool ruka nahin,
Jo haar dekh jhukha nahin,
Jisne pranay path maana hai jeet usi ki hui,
Sach hum nahin, sach tum nahin,
Sach hai mahaj sangarsh hi!
Aisa karon jisse na praanon me kahin jadta rahen,
Jo hai jaha chupchaap apne aap se ladta rahen,
Jo bhi preesthethiya mile,
kaante chube kaliya khile
Haaren na insaan kabhi, hai sandesh jeevan ka yahin,
Sach hum nahin, sach tum nahin,
Sach hai mahaj sangarsh hi!
Humne racha aaon humhi abb tod se iss pyaar ko,
Ye milan bhi kya milan, jo mod de majhdaar ko,
Jo saath phoolon ke chalen,
Jo daal paate hi dale,
Wo jindgi bhi kya jindgi, jo sirf paani si bahin,
Sach hum nahin, sach tum nahin,
Sach hai mahaj sangarsh hi!
Sansaar saara aadmi ki chaal dekh hua chakit,
Par jaakhkar dekhon drigon me sabhi hai pyaase thakit,
Jab tak bandhi hai chetna,
Jab tak hridya dukh se ghana,
Tab tak na maanoonga kabhi iss raah ko mai sahin,
Sach hum nahin, sach tum nahin,
Sach hai mahaj sangarsh hi!
Apne hridya ka satya apne aap humkon khojna,
Apne nayan ka neer apne aap humkon poochhna,
Aakaash sukh denga nahin,
Dharti paseeji hai kahin,
Jisse hridya ko bal milen,
Hai dhyay apna to wohin,
Sach hum nahin, sach tum nahin,
Sach hai mahaj sangarsh hi!!
Here is the link for the hindi version -
http://www.anubhuti-hindi.org/kavitayen/jagadish.htm
Wednesday
Sunday
The Great India
Last saturday our group (snehnidhi) organized a collage competition for the street kids at Herman day care centre at, Shivaji Nagar station. "Mera Bharat Mahaan" was the obvious choice for the target. Ani and Poo organized all the show with Amit being the main logistics person right from scissor to gum. I should say that children were more than enthusiastic. They looked professional in their true sense, picking up the best of the pictures reflecting their interests in various things. Like one guy was after pulsar big time, one wanted all cricket starts to be on the board inluding Steve waugh and I'd to control another who seemed fanatic about the movies :) Girls were more sincere and creative. Poo group came out to be the best because they had selected best of the images covering most of the aspects of our country. Our group was the first to finish but out of sheer enthu had included a bunch of foreigner in depicting the great heritages of India. After a long time, I got to participate in such kind of event. This wasn't all...we got to see one more hidden talent of the girls there. Candle making...The picture says it all.
Overall it was a fun day and the bright one with all the smils on those faces.
Overall it was a fun day and the bright one with all the smils on those faces.
Saturday
Looking beyond the glasses
Thursday evening, all of a sudden I started having stress in front of monitor and the next day I found myself sitting in a clinic waiting for the doctor to come. And then my eyes met with the random alphabets in different sizes placed at a distance from a chair, on which I was supposed to sit and read, in presence of the doctor.
It took me in the memory lanes years back when I was in my 10th standard, and I found myself sitting with my dad waiting for my turn to come for an eyes checkup. I was having severe watering problem and I knew seeing my condition, a recommendation for specs were inevitable. But in no case I was going to accept it. I just culdn't imagine what will my friends say after seeing me with specs. Typical problem with teenage. I obviously cudn't bribe the doctor, and he definitely couldn't understand my problem, even if I had dared to explain it in presence of my dad. And in this helpless situation, those small, big alphabets flashed in my eyes and I knew what am I going to do. Next 5-10 minutes I spent in remembering them by heart in those particular orders. When my turn came, I was so confident in reading them, that doctor found himself with no option but to perscribe just some medicines. This is how I got my first escape from the glasses. Just the reverse happened in my 11th standard. I had a chapter in my English curriculum 'Looking beyond the glasses' where the author narrates his first time experience of wearing the spectacles in the most beautiful manner, portraying it like best ever happened thing in life, and soon I realized I was dying for it. But my eyes won't betray me this time and I never got the chance.
So thinking, this is my chance to see the world thru specs, I was all excited. But doctor just advised me to use anti-glare screen and some eyes exercise for a couple of weeks. Today morning I went for the first exercise. It was sort of funny. I was shown a boy and a girl with a tree in between and asked to rotate some screw till I can see two trees. I rotated it till the end, yet there was a single tree. Dr. insisted, it should be two. I was about to suggest her, there are other ways to make a thing look two or three;), if that's the hardcore requirement. Anyway I 'njoyed it. But in the evening also it happened like that and she told me that I have a vision better than normal people, so no exercise for me :( Seems like I'll have to wait for some more time. But I've managed to order for the antiglare glasses in this whole episode. Happy Seeing!
It took me in the memory lanes years back when I was in my 10th standard, and I found myself sitting with my dad waiting for my turn to come for an eyes checkup. I was having severe watering problem and I knew seeing my condition, a recommendation for specs were inevitable. But in no case I was going to accept it. I just culdn't imagine what will my friends say after seeing me with specs. Typical problem with teenage. I obviously cudn't bribe the doctor, and he definitely couldn't understand my problem, even if I had dared to explain it in presence of my dad. And in this helpless situation, those small, big alphabets flashed in my eyes and I knew what am I going to do. Next 5-10 minutes I spent in remembering them by heart in those particular orders. When my turn came, I was so confident in reading them, that doctor found himself with no option but to perscribe just some medicines. This is how I got my first escape from the glasses. Just the reverse happened in my 11th standard. I had a chapter in my English curriculum 'Looking beyond the glasses' where the author narrates his first time experience of wearing the spectacles in the most beautiful manner, portraying it like best ever happened thing in life, and soon I realized I was dying for it. But my eyes won't betray me this time and I never got the chance.
So thinking, this is my chance to see the world thru specs, I was all excited. But doctor just advised me to use anti-glare screen and some eyes exercise for a couple of weeks. Today morning I went for the first exercise. It was sort of funny. I was shown a boy and a girl with a tree in between and asked to rotate some screw till I can see two trees. I rotated it till the end, yet there was a single tree. Dr. insisted, it should be two. I was about to suggest her, there are other ways to make a thing look two or three;), if that's the hardcore requirement. Anyway I 'njoyed it. But in the evening also it happened like that and she told me that I have a vision better than normal people, so no exercise for me :( Seems like I'll have to wait for some more time. But I've managed to order for the antiglare glasses in this whole episode. Happy Seeing!
Story of money
When I was in 5th, 6th standard, my class teacher used to get a salary of 300 Rs per month. I remember once him flashing 3 new 100 rupees note in front of me with a proud mentioning of his salary. The senior most teacher was getting paid 550. You can guess about the rest. I knew from my civics book that President of India is the top most authority of the country and he gets paid 15 k per month. My neigbourhood barber used to get paid 1 rupee 50 paise for my haircut, that too after a lot of scolding from my m'om that he hasn't done it right. The icecream with cocunut was 10 paise and w/o coconut 5 paise. The guy who used to sell it could make 7 to 10 rupees a day in the peak season. Yet they were all happy. So I never felt that money is too important a factor in life.
As I grow up and we shifted to Delhi, I saw that people have more money than what I thought is required. They even have washing machine, car and vcer. It took me a while to realize that they actually need it to live comfortably. Moreover my school fee there was almost double the monthly sal of my class teacher, and milk was costly too. So I had to revise my view on importance of money a little bit accordingly.
When I joined college and stayed in hostel, my monthly expense was between 1500 to 2000. An extra 200 or 300 bucks were luxary as I could buy a jeans or t-shirt from tank road. That time I thought 5k should be a decent amount for a person to live a comfortable life.
Whatever way it'll go in future, one thing I've seen that mind has the amazing capability to stretch and shrink itself to give you the same level of comfort and joy, irrespective of how fat or thin is your pay cheque. The only thing that matters and vary with individuals is the duration in which it's able to adopt. Signing off with these thoughts....
As I grow up and we shifted to Delhi, I saw that people have more money than what I thought is required. They even have washing machine, car and vcer. It took me a while to realize that they actually need it to live comfortably. Moreover my school fee there was almost double the monthly sal of my class teacher, and milk was costly too. So I had to revise my view on importance of money a little bit accordingly.
When I joined college and stayed in hostel, my monthly expense was between 1500 to 2000. An extra 200 or 300 bucks were luxary as I could buy a jeans or t-shirt from tank road. That time I thought 5k should be a decent amount for a person to live a comfortable life.
I heard people saying that Govt. jobs are best paying and most secured. Moreover you don't have to worry about work. But whenever I had a chance to interact with such people in different offices, I developed a sort of disliking for their profession and a pity for them because they had lost their relatedness to others, in order to keep themselves in the rat race just to get few extra bucks in bribe.
I started my career with a pay of 8k, out of which I was getting only 5 in hand; but I was able to save substaintial amount. An extra 3k, and a subsequent hike was a sweet dream going to be true after 6 months. Life was beautiful even then with the same level of comfort feeling. 25 k was the max I could think that I should earn after years in order to have a sense of fulfillment in my career and to do everything I want to do in life.
Now when I have excelled in my field and getting paid much more than what I really can spend, I am still poised with the same problem. To what extent I should run after money. Now I understand the question is not how much I do need, but more like how much am I worth for, and the striving always has been to increase the worth for self.
Whatever way it'll go in future, one thing I've seen that mind has the amazing capability to stretch and shrink itself to give you the same level of comfort and joy, irrespective of how fat or thin is your pay cheque. The only thing that matters and vary with individuals is the duration in which it's able to adopt. Signing off with these thoughts....
Monday
A World of Silence
After a long wishful thinking and considerable efforts, finally I was able to time myself for vipasana. When I heard about it for the first time, I was simply fascinated by the idea of spending 10 full days in a perfect silence and the experience of something beyond mind by keeping aside the language. The manifestation of the fact that the world around us is nothing but a creation of our own language and that it exists nowhere but only in our minds. It's like for a fish, getting an experience of water outside the water.
Anyway, I better tell you how it went. After an initial struggle I became in harmony with the daily routine there. The place was perfect. Nature was at its best. I even saw a brown rabbit in the vicinity of campus playing fearlessly. There were people from all over the places but non-existing for me. I even couldn't ask my roommate whether he wanted the lights on at night or not. When on the 10th day we broke our silence, there're hardly words coming out of everyone's mouth and we literally stood there laughing at each other. We laughed like mad remembering all the occasions when we wanted desparately to tell something to each other but had to avoid. One thing more I thoroughly enjoyed was the simplest of the food served to us, may be because it was served in limited amount and more 'coz there was nothing else to do while eating.
Coming to learnings, there were a lot. Its like getting a glimpse of the balance while learning to ride a bicycle for the first time. You cann't communicate it except reflecting it through your confidence of having a control and experiencing something you didn't know exist for you earlier. Those who wants a sincere break in life and believe in a world beyond mind, definitely a place to go...
Thursday
Joe Satriani live @ mumbai
Joe Satriani was in amchi mumbai last friday and he rocked it in style with a capital R!! I was the last minute pile up with Krishna and Mak. Thx to Ruzan for opting out. We stood in queue almost an hour before and managed to get in the 4th row. Actually after the front row, every place was same. He came on stage in the black shades around at 7.00 with his guitaar and only stopped at 10.00 pm after 3 hours of continuous rock, blues and whatever the hell he does with his guitar. It felt like the guy makes love to his guitar. This is what Mak has to say about the show:
It was a nite to remember ... to cherish ...
The GOD himself had come down to the MMRDA grnds Bandra mumbai ... to enthrall His mortal audience with a music which the blind could see ... the deaf could hear ... music which could pump life into a corpse ... The 8000 strong crowd waited patiently for 2 hours before the schedule just not to miss a single "see", a single "hear" from the cool goggle clad, shaved head GOD.
The show started with "Up In the Sky". The ticket money that we paid ... got over on this very song ... and O' boy who knew that there were 19 more tracks to come .... Then came the cooolest song .... my favourite ... cool as a breeze, COOL # 9. By the time He played "Flying in a blue dream", we were already out of this world ... in the GOD's durbar ... "the heaven" :)
This is the divine creature who has professionally taught "Metallica", "GnR", Steve Vai ... and the like ... who themselves are considered to be the Gods of music !!! The other songs that we had the extereme privilege to listen were - "Is there love in space", "Starry night", "The Mountain song".
And last but not the least ... the penultimate one - "morrocan sunset" followed by the laaast "Psycho monkey" !!! What a show it waaaas !!! killing performance ... No wonder they had scores of ambulances lined up outside the stage ... :D
But was that the End ???????????? NOOOOOOOO WAAAY !!!!!!!!!! the worshippers wouldnt just let the GOD leave like that !!! The worshippers kept chanting "more" "more" .... Their penance was answered ... and the GOD reappeard !!!
So, finally ... last but not the least .... the penultimate one ... again my fav - "Surfing with an alien". Phew !!!!!!!!!! what energy ... equivalent to a 1000 atom bombs exploding inside of u !!! And the last song ... "Friends" left us gasping for more !!! That brought to an end, a show which I would rate the best till now ... A show the memoirs of which would last for 7 of my lives ... A show for which I have already sinned by putting it into words ...
Mak did recording of almost all his songs with his friend's camera. I also managed to take some cool pictures heading my camera over the dancing shoulders. Mak was rocking like someone in true love with Joe, and so was the girl standing adjacent to him. She got so impressed with Mak or may be with his camera that she gave her phone number and asked him to be in touch. So if mak is not in office during weekends, you a reason to doubt. And if someone needs the phone number, Mak stored it in my cell phone :)
After the concert we went to Mocha...a nice joint with some cool sitting arrangement. The best part was the flavoured tobbacco less hukka which we enjoyed with a competition of who makes the perfect smoke rings.
It was a nite to remember ... to cherish ...
The GOD himself had come down to the MMRDA grnds Bandra mumbai ... to enthrall His mortal audience with a music which the blind could see ... the deaf could hear ... music which could pump life into a corpse ... The 8000 strong crowd waited patiently for 2 hours before the schedule just not to miss a single "see", a single "hear" from the cool goggle clad, shaved head GOD.
The show started with "Up In the Sky". The ticket money that we paid ... got over on this very song ... and O' boy who knew that there were 19 more tracks to come .... Then came the cooolest song .... my favourite ... cool as a breeze, COOL # 9. By the time He played "Flying in a blue dream", we were already out of this world ... in the GOD's durbar ... "the heaven" :)
This is the divine creature who has professionally taught "Metallica", "GnR", Steve Vai ... and the like ... who themselves are considered to be the Gods of music !!! The other songs that we had the extereme privilege to listen were - "Is there love in space", "Starry night", "The Mountain song".
And last but not the least ... the penultimate one - "morrocan sunset" followed by the laaast "Psycho monkey" !!! What a show it waaaas !!! killing performance ... No wonder they had scores of ambulances lined up outside the stage ... :D
But was that the End ???????????? NOOOOOOOO WAAAY !!!!!!!!!! the worshippers wouldnt just let the GOD leave like that !!! The worshippers kept chanting "more" "more" .... Their penance was answered ... and the GOD reappeard !!!
So, finally ... last but not the least .... the penultimate one ... again my fav - "Surfing with an alien". Phew !!!!!!!!!! what energy ... equivalent to a 1000 atom bombs exploding inside of u !!! And the last song ... "Friends" left us gasping for more !!! That brought to an end, a show which I would rate the best till now ... A show the memoirs of which would last for 7 of my lives ... A show for which I have already sinned by putting it into words ...
Mak did recording of almost all his songs with his friend's camera. I also managed to take some cool pictures heading my camera over the dancing shoulders. Mak was rocking like someone in true love with Joe, and so was the girl standing adjacent to him. She got so impressed with Mak or may be with his camera that she gave her phone number and asked him to be in touch. So if mak is not in office during weekends, you a reason to doubt. And if someone needs the phone number, Mak stored it in my cell phone :)
After the concert we went to Mocha...a nice joint with some cool sitting arrangement. The best part was the flavoured tobbacco less hukka which we enjoyed with a competition of who makes the perfect smoke rings.
Sunday
Something to Cherish...
It was a pleasant surprise to do a search of my name in google when I encountered this link...
http://www.freshpatents.com/Mangal-Sain-NewDelhi-invdirs.php
Atleast now I have an identity on world wide web. Cheers!!!
Now or Never
"Life is what happens to you, when you are busy making plans for your future"
What a profound statement! So simple yet captures the whole intricate fact of life. This is how my life is going on. So I started wondering exactly how much time in my day to day routine I actually live in now, and do I cherish those moments.
The later part was easy to answer. Absolutely!! Former is hard to recall... May be a little bit in the morning hours, when I stand at my patio to greet the sun and smell the air, before the mind catches up with what all things to worry about for today. May be when the fragrance of ginger comes out of the morning tea and passes through my nostril admist of rain droplets. May be when someone on the way greets me with a smile, or when in our mill creek I see ducks stretching out their wings under sun and jumping in water at a gentle noise. Or after an exhausting workout, when i simply lie down and catches up with my breath. At work, when I am actually working instead of thinking or discussing about working. On my way home, when its dark pitch and I am driving on an empty road and humming a song not bothering about who is listening to it. A couple of similar times here and there.
Except for these moments I see my mind constantly working like a cluster of hyperthreaded servers with much advanced page ranking algo than google and fastest cache retrieval and memory storage system..Even while i am writing this, I can see my mind searching for right words, rephrasing the contents to make it more presentable for someones reading in future.
And then I wonder...."What is life full of cares, if we have no time to stand and stare"
What a profound statement! So simple yet captures the whole intricate fact of life. This is how my life is going on. So I started wondering exactly how much time in my day to day routine I actually live in now, and do I cherish those moments.
The later part was easy to answer. Absolutely!! Former is hard to recall... May be a little bit in the morning hours, when I stand at my patio to greet the sun and smell the air, before the mind catches up with what all things to worry about for today. May be when the fragrance of ginger comes out of the morning tea and passes through my nostril admist of rain droplets. May be when someone on the way greets me with a smile, or when in our mill creek I see ducks stretching out their wings under sun and jumping in water at a gentle noise. Or after an exhausting workout, when i simply lie down and catches up with my breath. At work, when I am actually working instead of thinking or discussing about working. On my way home, when its dark pitch and I am driving on an empty road and humming a song not bothering about who is listening to it. A couple of similar times here and there.
Except for these moments I see my mind constantly working like a cluster of hyperthreaded servers with much advanced page ranking algo than google and fastest cache retrieval and memory storage system..Even while i am writing this, I can see my mind searching for right words, rephrasing the contents to make it more presentable for someones reading in future.
And then I wonder...."What is life full of cares, if we have no time to stand and stare"
Tuesday
Atlast...
Back to my college days, I still remember my friends who were envious of seeing me in a relaxed mood during exams, making an earnest wish to God for granting me atleast one supply (backlog). As there is an old saying in Hindi 'Bhagwan ke ghar me der hai, andher nahin', finally it came true for me also. And not only once. It happened when I went here in US for 'behind-the-wheel' test for my driving license.
First time when I went there, I had no clue of what was expected out of me. It was sheer enthusiasm that drove me there along with Sumi. The system here is very organized and within minutes I was in queue sitting alone in car waiting for my turn to come. It was the same kind of experience as someone must have felt while going to the consulate for the visa stamping. Like, 'Oh God, let me get a liberal examiner who hasn't started the day with a quarrel at home' ! I was greeted by a fat lady, who didn't bother to acknowledge my pretended smile. It was clear that I am not going to get any bonus for a P.R, so I straightened my curves. No wonder, I ended up with a mistake in an attempt to impress her with my overcautious drive ( I slowed down and did a shoulder lookup for right turn while the signal was green.)
This is how I got my first supply of my life. I consoled myself that atleast its going to make some people happy and will reaffirm their faith in God. May be kar or schn might throw a party too. And much to their delight, I repeated the same story in my 2nd attempt too with the only difference that this time I did the reverse mistake at the same right turn.(I didn't make a full stop at red signal for the right turn).
And finally, I made my last attempt with little hopes. This time atleast I was confident not to repeat the same mistakes. The time since the examiner entered the car till she asked me to park it, I was kinda robot just following her instructions. When she started counting the circles on my evaluation sheet, my heart beats were loud and clear. 12, 13, 14..and so I am not gonna make it this time also. But like a good hindi movie end the counting stopped at the last savior point...and here I was finally with a P on my sheet and big curve back on my face.
Guys, system in India is definitely much more advanced and sophisticated for these things. I got my licence at home without need to do anything :) Anyway for those of who are unlucky like me in their earlier attempts, here are my 2 cents - 'Go for the next attempt' .
First time when I went there, I had no clue of what was expected out of me. It was sheer enthusiasm that drove me there along with Sumi. The system here is very organized and within minutes I was in queue sitting alone in car waiting for my turn to come. It was the same kind of experience as someone must have felt while going to the consulate for the visa stamping. Like, 'Oh God, let me get a liberal examiner who hasn't started the day with a quarrel at home' ! I was greeted by a fat lady, who didn't bother to acknowledge my pretended smile. It was clear that I am not going to get any bonus for a P.R, so I straightened my curves. No wonder, I ended up with a mistake in an attempt to impress her with my overcautious drive ( I slowed down and did a shoulder lookup for right turn while the signal was green.)
This is how I got my first supply of my life. I consoled myself that atleast its going to make some people happy and will reaffirm their faith in God. May be kar or schn might throw a party too. And much to their delight, I repeated the same story in my 2nd attempt too with the only difference that this time I did the reverse mistake at the same right turn.(I didn't make a full stop at red signal for the right turn).
And finally, I made my last attempt with little hopes. This time atleast I was confident not to repeat the same mistakes. The time since the examiner entered the car till she asked me to park it, I was kinda robot just following her instructions. When she started counting the circles on my evaluation sheet, my heart beats were loud and clear. 12, 13, 14..and so I am not gonna make it this time also. But like a good hindi movie end the counting stopped at the last savior point...and here I was finally with a P on my sheet and big curve back on my face.
Guys, system in India is definitely much more advanced and sophisticated for these things. I got my licence at home without need to do anything :) Anyway for those of who are unlucky like me in their earlier attempts, here are my 2 cents - 'Go for the next attempt' .