A Summer in India

There in the north of India flow two very sacred rivers named Ganga and Yamuna. At the confluence of these two ancient yet alive rivers, lies a city called Allahabad. You could call Allahabad a deep-sea pearl in the waters of the civilization called India. Very beautiful, very rich.

Here, in this city of Allahabad lived a young girl named Prachi। She was beautiful and she was just eighteen with a bustling desire to live. Prachi’s father was a well known physician. Her mother was a homemaker - a bundle of joy and love on the move.

Prachi had a brown complexion, well chiseled face and she carried a thoughtful smile. Her father’s insistence on maintaining good health made her grow into a toned up figure.

This was the month of May. She had just got her twelfth standard results and she was looking forward to enjoying her summers. She had appeared for medicine entrance exams, and if it all went as planned; she would start her studies in a medical college in July this year, though, she was not averse to taking a year off with her aunt in Shimla and learn dance from her.

The sky looked red…a summer storm might be approaching. The months of May and June in Allahabad had this unique feature of north Indian summers. Prachi was sitting in the first-floor balcony of her house. There was a palm tree right in front and the boundary walls of her house had shrubs lined up along them. The summer storm subsided after a while. The temperatures came down and there was a small shower. The earth smelled sweet. Prachi felt like humming – “बरसो रे बादल ... जरा झूम के बरसो ! (Baraso re baadal…jara zhoom ke baraso! - O clouds bring rains…O clouds, dance and rain!).”


The evening became pleasant. For a while Prachi thought what to do. She felt like going to the Yamuna bank. At Yamuna bank there was an old Ghaat (wide stairs leading to the river waters) named Saraswati Ghaat. There was a banyan tree, an old Hanuman (from the story of Lord Rama) temple. Morning and evening prayers were held without fail. Adjacent to Ghaat was an old fort – The Akbar Fort. A wall of the fort had collapsed and leaned over the river waters. It was fun to be sitting at the edge of the leaning wall. Prachi picked her purse and called up her friend Uma to give her company. Uma agreed readily. The girls rode their scooter to the river bank. The breeze passed by…it was feeling great. There was the roar of an aircraft flying over in the skies. The life offered a flight of imagination and the two young hearts were keen to dream...

Uma wanted to sit close to the edge of the leaning wall, however, Prachi desisted from doing so. The waters were deep right below the wall. It was silence spread all aound with the temple bells ringing once in a while. Sun was on the setting course. Uma asked, "Would you come to Lucknow this weekend?" Prachi said, "No."


...To Continue

Kaala Chakra - The Wheel of Time

dinayaaminyau saayam praatah
....shishiravasantau punaraayaatah
kaalah kriidati gachchhatyaayuh
....tadapi na mujncatyaashaavaayuh

________________________

..............Aadi Shankaracharya (Bhaja Govindam)

The time rolls on…how(?).
Day and night, dusk and dawn, winters and springs keep coming again and again – like points on a rolling wheel. As if, while the time plays its game - lo and behold! The life has passed away.
One by one everything ebbs away…but, still…
One does not leave (how strange!) the desire (a breath full of expectations) for more.

Thinker

Summers were peaking. Clothes were turning into a trouble...such was the heat. It was on one such summer evening. The sun was on the setting course, but, there was hardly any relief. A sort of stillness spread all around. It looked as if sun and the wind had conspired.

There was, on the road, a slender looking man; moving slowly. His age seemed eager to over-express itself.

"Ah, let me reach home early today. I really could not achieve anything in my life. I wish I could get good living for my kids at least. But, then I have my limitations. What more I could get in a small job."

This was Rameshwar Lal. He was in deep thoughts. What dreams he had! Everything was over for him, as if. Though, he was a good man. Not much concerned with the complexities of the world. He had three kids at home. His wife was a sweet and charming woman. His two daughters were older than his son. Rameshwar tried his best that he could earn enough to place his son in an English medium school. For middle class in typical Indian cities, an English medium school meant status and good education.

Today Rameshwar's cycle was under repair. He had to live with a walk to his home. "How do people make so much money...How come my neighbour Vikas has got a land in the name of his wife. Soon he would build a new house. Where has the wind gone, dead, is it so? These guys in the US are ahead of us just because they have cold weather. Really! Look at this truck driver. How does he drive! Wow, what a car! I just cannot have it in my life. I guess I should take up a side business. But how to get initial investments. I hope I were younger. Bad luck."

A tight pocket leads to thinking habits. Whether on his cycle or on foot, he was deep in thoughts. Suddenly his foot hit something on road. It was a purse. Black leather purse. He picked it quickly. He could not afford to not to open it. Alas, it was empty. Empty! "Thank God, no one lost his money. But what do I do now! Did anybody see me picking it?" He looked around.

"But it's a good purse. What will someone think if I am seen throwing it. Now they must be thinking that it is mine. That is why I picked it. Why is that kid looking at me? He must have seen me picking it. There is one big drain ahead. I'll drop it there. That should be fine."

Rameshwar got rid of the purse. Ah, how relieved he looked! He was approaching his house. He wiped his forehead with his shirt sleeves, straightened himself and started climbing the stairs in his building.

Self Acceptance

Accept your own self. And an amazing phenomenon will start unfolding. What all would happen...here's a glimpse in the form of a small story...

"There was a beautiful girl named Asha. She lived in a village at the banks of river Mahi near Anand in Gujarat. This girl had a boon given to her by a sage that whatever she would truly believe in, would happen. Such was the power of the boon that whatever this girl named Asha would truly believe in, would happen.

So the life was passing by.

Asha believed that she had to study and help her mother at home in daily chores and this would go on for years before she would one day get married to a young boy. So her days used to pass like that...slowly.

One day there was a strong storm and the sky was clouded. Then there were rains lashing the ground. Asha looked at the sky and felt charmed by the lightening and the pattern of clouds and she felt within that it would be so wonderful to be like clouds wandering around the world. How free they looked like. And she really believed that such would really be a very good life...She went to bed.

Next morning she suddenly got up and found water below her bed. The utensils were floating and then with a huge sound her house collapsed.
When Asha opened her eyes again she found herself in a train. It was night and she was bewildered. What happened to her family...she looked around and was relieved to see that her mother and father were sleeping beside her. After a few hours there was morning and her parents got up. She asked them what happened. She was told that their house had got destroyed in the rains and now they were travelling to her mother's place in Delhi. She and her mother would be staying there for a month while her father would be going back to Anand to get the house rebuilt...and Asha suddenly thought about her desire to be like a cloud...!"

Accept your own self as it is and you would start to notice that it is you who creates this world...but it all happens so slowly and gradually that it makes you feel that it all got superimposed on you from outside.

You want to enjoy the phenomenon and in turn you forget that you created it. So, first accept what is around you as it is and then you'd see that it all is your own creation...a notional world... and then with a bang you'll see your own Self all around...such is the power of Self Acceptance.

The Little … Small Fights…Challenges and Opportunities

These so called little things in life are important to handle. Remember that there is no way out...though there is a way through!

Going through these worldly fights with attachment OR without joy is not the right thing to do. They will come back time and again.

What life presents to you is because of the pending transactions that you need to clear. Handle it with duty and enjoy the outcome, whatever it is. But be fully involved when doing your job and out of it once through.

It matters a lot how you handle your present. Nature does not allow you to evolve or rise without crossing the current barrier. One must win the fight at hand!

Also, opportunities in life do not come your way out of any fancy of nature. They are your destinies. You need to handle them too. Value them.

Think on your own and decide for your own self.

Think…

Keep looking at your thoughts and separate your original ones from those that come from others or from books. Analyze your motivations and desires. Take care of your desires by fulfilling them through fair means and hard earned fruits of life. Refine your motivations.

Analyze what you like most and when you are happier than rest of the times. Think what situations make you feel better and what make you feel uncomfortable. Never decide under persuasion, greed, pressure or shyness. Be on your own and take your decisions yourself. Never worry on what others would say or how the world would look at you because of your failure or success.

I think if you can reach this level first at least in your worldly life, rest you will know how to handle.

On a Monday afternoon

The Song begins...