Freedom

This particular quote caught my eye, so I wished to put on my blog "Freedom is the right to live as we wish." It's sweet and short but conveys the feelings of every Tibetan. Majority of the countries in today's world are making giant strides in all aspects which includes our Indian economy too, and it's a shame that we have a neighbour Tibet, with whom we share our boundaries still chained crying for freedom. Fifty years have passed and it's still an unanswerable question which generation of Tibet can say that they are free in their own land. How painful it would have been to see one's own country being annexed as a part of other county and being forcibly occupied. It's the humiliation of the worst sort. We Indians should be the best sympathizers as we too suffered colonial rule.

Tibetans have always been peace loving people having adopted non-violence as a way of life. Causing another being harm or killing or even disrespecting another living being is considered equivalent to a sin in Buddhism and Buddhism is their way of life. Tibetan Buddhism cannot be discussed in isolation without mentioning their spiritual leader Dalai Lama.

He is revered and is believed to be a living incarnate of Buddha. The current fourteenth Dalai Lama is respected the world over for spreading his message of peace and harmony. The Dalai Lama was born as Llamo Thondup on July 6, 1935, to a poor family in Taktser in the province of Amdo. He was spotted at the age of three as the new incarnate and was accepted as the fourteenth Dalai Lama. He was acknowledged as the spiritual head and was educated in the field of Tibetan art and culture, Sanskrit, medicine and Buddhist philosophy. But life has not been a a bed of roses for this small child. When he was fifteen years old, China forcibly occupied Tibet claiming Tibet as its own territory. The Tibetan government appealed to the UN, but since Tibet was not a member, its pleas were ignored. Dalai Lama was forced to become their political head and tried negotiating with Chinese Government, but it bore no fruit. The following years saw continuous negotitations between Dalai Lama and successive Chinese Governments , which failed and one day led to his own residence at Norbulinka monastery being shot down by the Chinese. Dalai Lama decided to leave and requested thethen Indain Government for asylum. He and thousands of Tibetans were granted asylum by Pt. Nehru in Dharmasala in India. The Dalai Lama has set up the Tibetan Government in Exile and has been leading the freedom struggle from there ever since.

The Dalai Lama has consistently striven to open up dialogue and negotiate with the Chinese Government, from Chairman Mao, to Chou-En- Lai, to Deng Xiaoping, and now to the current leadership . The Chinese Government refuses to budge from its stand that Tibet belongs to China. Thought the Dalai Lama has done a lot by maintaining a non-violent method in dealing with Chinese governments, many Tibetans are becoming restless with this method and strongly believe that non-violence practised for so long did not yield any result.

The passing of Olympic flag through many countries sparked off a chain of protests worldwide showing the brewing impatience of every Tibetan who want freedom . Generations of Tibetans have not visited their homeland and long to visit their independent country . China on the other hand is accusing the Dalai Lama to be instigating violence and has even accused Tibetans staying in India of having links with the Al-Qaeda and propagating violence.

The Olympics in Beijing suddenly shifted the focus on Tibet at least for a short span and caught worldwide attention. But I really doubt if the issue will burn as long as the Olympic flame burns. Some people opine Tibetans must seize their right to self determination to save the simmering country, while some feel an open democratic dialogue will help in granting autonomy at least if not complete freedom. But whatever may be the outcome, oppression of Tibet for long is not a sustainable solution.

cricket as never before

The cricket frenzy nation seems to be lapping every IPL match with a passion never seen or imagined before. An idea initially thought by Zee's Subhash Chandra gave birth to ICL. Lalit Modi, the maverick toyed the idea of IPL to give a befitting reply to the ICL and cricket got a new definition. Lalit Modi seems to be the new sensational icon having merged cricket with bollywood entertainment with his concept of IPL thereby opening a new chapter in the history of cricket. Every match is opening to packed audiences and half way through and still the 20/20 mania seems to be spreading like wild fire. It has attracted every segment of the society, the young and the old, working class, housewives, children etc. My nine year old daughter who as far as I know never showed any interest in cricket before corrects if I say, Chennai Kings and not Chennai Super Kings.
The mix of wholesome Bollywood masala along with popcorns and cool drinks in the stadium reminds me of an wholesome Bollywood entertainer laced with fun, excitement, suspense and nail biting finishes. In addition to it the the Shreesanth-Bhajji spat, Shoaib Akhtar's comeback, each action is followed by people like true followers of serials aired on television. Time is at a premium in today's world and IPL with its 20/20 concept seems to have cashed on to this aptly.
The best part seems to be cricketers of different nations playing side by side promoting fraternity, harmony. The flip side could also be each team sharing their dressing room secrets to the other mates, but all is fair in love and cricket. I was never a die hard cricket fan,but then this fever has caught on to me also and the best part is it is keeping me away from the scorching heat outside. I only wish I too like so many other fans could be rich by few thousands if not crores as the cricket stars for watching the matches with such enthusiasm. U guys can have the last laugh at this.

Loneliness

How does someone define loneliness? A state of mind when a person experiences a sense of emptiness and isolation. It’s more than a feeling of being with someone, because one can be lonely even amidst people. Modern man might be jostling for space amidst the chaotic traffic but the inner loneliness seems to be getting louder and louder within him. Loneliness creates such hollowness that nothing seems or feels right.
Couples sometimes experience loneliness even when they are with their partners or spouses. Even after years of being together one partner may feel sheer emptiness or hollowness. People can be lonely even when they are in love and even when they are out of love. When in love sometimes the feeling of loneliness instead of being the reason for bonding tends to be the reason for arguments. And when out of love loneliness can be frustrating. One then needs to put special effort to get rid of past emotional baggage and decide what one really wants in life to move on.
Why is loneliness such a powerful feeling? Because loneliness once creeps suddenly changes an individual’s perception of everything around. A walk on the beach, walk in the woods, gazing at the star-lit sky no longer seem appealing. Loneliness then becomes a curse and then during those moments of loneliness we realize who we are and then our egos, our weaknesses and all such emotions suddenly start revealing themselves and create an unknown fear in us.
And to avoid our own company we take recourse to music, books, television, internet etc. Do all these means really help in escaping from ourselves? On the contrary they equip us with such knowledge that we create a world for ourselves in which self identity and constant comparison seem the only means of survival. We constantly compare ourselves as being tall, short, rich, poor, educated, uneducated, beautiful, handsome etc and our whole life revolves in our struggle to become what we are not. A mediocre aims to be an intelligent person; a poor guy looks for means to amass wealth.

But when we are alone, we do not have anyone to compare ourselves with as there are no standards to judge ourselves. Therein lies the real beauty, as there are no masks, no make ups. We have nothing to hide from ourselves. Each one of us has a beautiful world within ourselves waiting to be explored. But how many of us have the courage to traverse the path of self discovery all alone.

Age of Gods

Reading a mythological story at bedtime yesterday my daughter provided me a query at night, 'What's the age of each God and who is the youngest God' ? I was for a moment speechless. Well the thought never occured to me. I knew for sure that we have certain days when birthdays of Gods are celebrated, but I for sure did not know the age of any God. I answered telling that we human beings started celebrating God's birthdays on certain days and those days are celebrated as festivals.

Her reaction was mixed. She said that she was sad for Gods could never celebrate their birthdays during their lifetime and that they were so unlucky. But she felt very happy for herself. She realized that she is more lucky than the Gods above as she can celebrate her birthday. She also has the freedom to choose her birthday cake, decide the venue of her birthday, decide return gifts etc and she knows her correct age too.

She gave me a goodnight hug and told " Mom, I am so lucky I am not a God and I still have so many birthdays to celebrate' and drifted off to sleep maybe imagining how she would celebrate her remaining birthdays. Next day she woke up and was in a mad rush to get ready to school. I was surprised to see her getting ready before time. When asked she replied that she wants to share with her friends that how happy they all are to have been born as simple people and not as Gods.

How I wished, then listening to her innocent response, does every person born in this universe also feel the same happiness as my daughter in being born just as a normal human being.........

Wish I was

Wish I was the Sun to give light to everyone
Wish I was the Moon to guide the lonely traveller
Wish I was a tree to give shade to everyone
Wish I was a fruit to feed a hungry mouth
Wish I was a flower to give fragrance to everyone
Wish I was the river to quench everyone's thirst
Wish I was the cool air to give breeze to everyone
But alas I am a human, who doesnot give anything to anyone!!!!!

Back to nature

It was during my stay in Northeast when I casually mentioned to my friend that I would love to plan a trip of a different nature, may be a jungle trek, a night out in jungle. She said ‘Visit Nameri, an eco-camp’ and all my dreams would turn true. I couldn’t believe my ears, but then she gave me all the details and we left with another couple in tow. We reached Tezpur in Assam on a cold March afternoon and the driver of our van told that Nameri is just a twenty minute drive from there.
I was so excited and so was everybody at the thought of entering a jungle, spending a night there. After all my dream of visiting an offbeat place was about to turn into a reality.
Suddenly we saw a rustic signboard’ Way to eco-camp’ and our vehicle hit a muddy track. The path was full of huge flowering trees and the only vehicles accompanying us were a few army convoys. There were mud hutments, the temperatures suddenly dropped down and air was full of cool breeze. All of us were so engrossed enjoying the beauty of the nature that we didn’t realize that we reached our destination. We got down of our van to be welcomed by a six-foot Assamese chap who was beckoning us in his flawless English with an American accent and explaining about the camp.
We were awestruck with the serene ambience. It was so beautiful. We were provided accommodation in ethnic cottages and tents which had all modern amenities inside. The cottages were so colorfully decorated with bamboo furniture. The absence of television, telephone network made us feel one with nature. The eco camp is adjacent to the Nameri National Park. With the river Jaibhoroli bifurcating the park, it is the most scenic of all the national parks of Assam. In the evening we were invited to a camp fire to enjoy the traditional Bihu folk dance of Assam.
The next day saw us rise early and we crossed the river to start our 10 km jungle trek accompanied by a forest guide. Nameri is home to some of the endangered species like, Sambar, Gaur, varieties of Hornbill and many other winged species. A jungle walk spotting hornbills, watching fresh footprints of elephants, hearing the roar of wild animals, sound of bison’s drinking water from the river, listening to chirping of various birds were few of the best moments I could enjoy on this thick tropical jungle terrain. But there were still lots the camp had to offer. Rafting is a major activity in this river full of rapids. We did rafting for 17 kms on the icy river and ate a freshly cooked lunch in a small river island out in the open enjoying the scenic beauty.
How refreshed I felt being in the lap of nature providing fresh air to my lungs and away from the hustle and bustle of maddening city life with its pollution, choking traffic. A nostalgic trip which will always remain etched in my memory.

Change

Any change is always hard to digest. Man gets so comfortably settled at one place, that any change is met with resistance. Why is change not welcomed? Is it because man is afraid of taking risks or it that the anticipation of something new and unknown that creates a lurking fear in him. He adheres to the maxim ‘A known devil is better than an unknown God’.
I am writing all of this because change is there in store for me; it could be a change of my place or could be a taking up a new activity in a new place. So the one thing that’s playing in my mind constantly is my hesitation in accepting that change if it happens inevitably in my near future. I really do not know what the remaining year of 2008 has in store for me. I do not have an iota of knowledge about the new place where I would be moving to. So I keep imagining will I have friends there, will I miss my folks, my near and dear ones a lot once I am uprooted. Will I have a shoulder to lean on , will I have a friend to speak out my heart once I go to the new place. Once I move, will I pine for familiar sounds and familiar sights? All questions remain unanswered and time itself will unravel what’s in store for me. Till then I need to brace myself to enjoy the present, to store in my heart every familiar sound and familiar sight so that I can cherish later. I need to cash in every moment, spend more time with my close ones because change will take me away from them.
I know change should be welcomed with open arms because its change which lets us appreciates both the present and what’s in store. Sometimes change also has its drawbacks, but how does one appreciate the goodness if one doesn’t see the drawbacks. But things are easier said than done and that holds true for me too.

Helen Keller rightly said ‘When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us’. How I wish I could adhere and practice it in my daily life. I believe I need to first accept a change in myself so that I can gear up face any physical change in my life.

I wish to share this post so that anyone who has undergone recent changes in job, place are free to offer their suggestions and advice.

Ennui

'I am feeling bored, what do I do now' is the oft-quoted question running through every human mind when he gets a little of leisure time. Has boredom crept into our mundane lives so much that we fail to enjoy our leisure or is it that we are so occupied with work that when we get spare time, we feel our life has come to a standstill. Why is there a continuous desire to keep doing something always, maybe its an identity crisis, maybe it's an urge to keep doing something to prove to oneself and everybody around. Are we afraid to face ourselves the few minutes we get? I am sure boredom did not even exist in our forefather's dictionaries, but it is a common phrase of every person today.
I myself have never heard of such nomenclature in my childhood. Where was the time to get bored ? My parents had taught me to enjoy my moments of sheer emptiness. Hence I view boredom not as a prolonged, agonizing nothingness, but as an attempt to find beauty in the non-space of work. What a joy it feels when we are just waiting for absolutely nothing to happen. It is pleasure to just sit back and enjoy the beautiful ideas floating by or maybe just bask in the glory of chirping birds, the setting sun, and the rustling leaves or maybe just listen to my inner soul which lost it serene voice in the frantic pace of modern life. No wonder ennui has its own moments of unraveled beauty........