Should we pay attention?

The passage below appears as an introduction to the 2nd chapter --

"The power of the encounters comes from acknowledging your helplessnes and keeping the whole matter in question, because the deeper the question goes, the more you attempt to come to some kind of resolution. If you keep asking them [the beings] questions, they keep reforming the thing in such a way that the questions get more provocative but can't quite be answered...If you start saying, "Well, they are aliens and they're from this planet," you're lost...I've often been in situations where the question has been impossible to live with. You can't not answer it, and you can't answer it either. And there you have it. You sit in a situation where you can't bear to be -- and you grow."

WHITLEY STRIEBER 

Interview with Dr. J.E. Mack

Wagner, South Dakota

June 16, 1996

Some additional food for thought --

Although abductees cannot be distinguished physiologically from others, when an abduction is relived or remembered, a frontal-lobe hyper-arousal pattern is detected by EEG. This pattern is similar to the one seen only in advanced spiritual meditators.

I'm just amazed at how much more human beings need to learn and how far we need to go to grow. As I said earlier no matter how ridiculous it sounds I am keeping my mind open, far from judgement and fear. Perhaps that might be the only way to free it!

Passport to the Cosmos

Yesterday the beloved New York Library pinged me that a book I had reserved was now available. I normally don’t like reserving books because it leaves you at the mercy of the library and not your mood on what you read. But this one was particularly intriguing so I promptly picked it up.

A few weeks ago, before I went to India, I was reading about Dr. Brian Weiss (Many Lives, Many Masters) on the internet which led me to someone similarly esoteric – Dr. John E. Mack. The late Dr. Mack was a professor of psychiatry at Harvard University and for many years researched into people’s claims of being abducted by E.T.s.

His research was not focused on little green men and whether they are real but on what effect this “abduction” had on the people who claimed to have had these experiences. Interesting, isn’t it?

So far I have read that the West is close-minded about these experiences (yeah, we knew that) and a lot of cultures in the East think this is actually normal. “Sky people” as they are called in the East abduct to impart knowledge, heal mental or physical defects, show you how the world is degrading or sometimes just bring you closer to the realization of truth. Aha!

This communication is done telepathically and involves images shown on television-like monitors, by contact with huge eyes of the beings.

So Dr. Mack took the approach of a clinician and carefully documented his practices and his experiences with his clients to write Passport to the Cosmos. His only aim was to see what such anomalous experiences and phenomena can tell us about ourselves and thereby help us in our evolution.

Now, some people might say what a load of nonsense! Well, not too long ago the concept of meteors falling from the sky was also considered nonsense. I am approaching this book with an open mind; simply because we don’t understand something or it seems beyond our intelligence doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. It only highlights our limitations; the cosmos on the other hand, is not bound by any such thing!

When you can relate to the Gods

Reading Rama complain in the Yoga Vasistha about how meaningless life is, I could draw parallels with how I've been feeling lately. What I understood, that like me, actually like most of us Rama understood the intricacies and the greater philosophy of life. He could go on & on about how everything is transient, how everything is a delusion created by the mind and how we are trapped in this world of Maya (sort of what the movie, the Matrix conveyed). Some people might think drawing parallels to the Matrix is childish, but everytime I watch that movie I learn something new -- it tells me something that I can match back to my search of the absolute. Like the time when Morpheus tells Neo, "I can only show you the path. You have to walk through it." Or when he says, "there is a difference between knowing the path and walking it." I could go on and on, but really that should be another discussion.

Talking to a friend yesterday I realized that a lot of people are asking the same question Rama did all those years ago. Why? Why are we here? The answer to which we sort of know but don't understand perhaps because we are bound by the mind.

The one thing that brings me to what started this is when I read Rama say - "I am puzzled, holy sir, that a man roams here and there seemingly busy throughout the day and is all the time engaged in selfish activity..."

Past few days at work have been keeping me occupied but yesterday I once again went the route of asking why? And what for? Perhaps the biggest question for me is who is this benefitting? It's good that I am busy, but busy doing what? Can I go home and tell myself, yes I was busy helping someone today? By help I don't mean filling the coffers of someone better off than most people, but someone who really needs it.

Krishna said you can realize the absolute simply by doing your job and so he convinced Arjuna to fight the war because as a warrior, Arjuna's duty was to fight. What if my duty isn't what I am doing right now, but helping someone build their life? Or bring a smile on someone's face or just do something that puts someone's aching heart at ease? What if?

Yoga Vasistha

For many days, rather weeks I have shied away from introducing a book. Truth be told, I haven’t been reading anything. My busy vacation didn’t give me any chance to read and since returning, I have been trying to catch up with my life. That’s taking a lot longer than expected!

On Monday, my company’s holiday party took me to charted territory around 28^th and Lex, where lies India town. Earlier that day, when I was bored scanning the wide web I came across some ancient Indian philosophy and was introduced to Yoga Vasistha. Needless to say, I was intrigued and when I visited my old neighborhood I promptly bought the book.  

Now the author recommends we read one chapter a day, go back and meditate on the meaning and then come back the following day to read the next, just like a rosary. Since then I have been reading it and trying to grasp its meaning, understand it and incorporate it into my daily practice.

So what’s the book about?

Yoga Vasistha recounts a discourse of the sage Vasistha to a young Prince Rama, during a period when the latter is in a dejected state. The contents of Vasistha's teaching to Rama is associated with Advaita Vedanta, the illusory nature of the manifest world and the principle of non-duality. The book has been dated between the 5th and 14th Century C.E. and is generally regarded as one of the longest texts in Sanskrit, after the Mahabharata and Ramayana and an important text of Yoga. It is a religious text that is used to help newcomers understand the Hindu philosophy. The book consists of around thirty thousand slokas as well as numerous short stories and anecdotes used to help simplify the content. In terms of Hindu mythology, the conversation in the Yoga Vasishta takes place chronologically before Ramayana.

The contents and the style of delivery have captured my total attention but it is a long book and will take time to read. So for the time being, I am putting aside my race of 52 books and sacrificing quantity over quality. Come back for some varied learning from the Advaita Vedanta and reading other twisted things my mind comes up with.

Happy Holidays!

An anonymous 23 year old needs your help!

A few months ago I introduced this website here. Since then I have been regularly following it and reading the stories of women who otherwise don’t have a voice or a say in their own life. As sad as the stories are they are also hopeful because due to the extremely hard work of folks at AWWP, we are getting to hear from these ordinary women who the media isn’t interested in.

Last week I read a story by an anonymous woman – her identity is protected because she fears if her uncles and brothers find out they will kill her and she is not exaggerating. This 23 year old, a brilliant writer, is about to graduate university and  is facing the biggest crisis of her life. Her family has dealt her with 3 options and needless to say she HAS to pick one – “marry my cousin as a second wife, marry a man who is 50 years old, has connections to the government and is a drug dealer, or marry a man who is a widower with seven sons.”

Her story, for several reasons, tugs at my heart strings and I wish I could do something to bring her out of her current situation. I reached out to the AWWP and they told me they are partnering with several organizations and are hopeful.

All I ask of you is to read her story and spread the word about her. Please, please help her!

Who knows her life might have a miracle in store, thanks to you.

Living in harmony

I found this picture on www.mumbaimirror.com. If different kinds of animals can co-exist peacefully, what is our excuse?

P.S.: I know there have been no new book introductions in a while. I shall address that issue separately soon!

Sights, sounds, ahh home!

So I am back, from a 2-week vacation in India where it was hot to say the least. Every time I visit Mumbai, I find it doesn’t cease to amaze me – the noise, pollution, seamless chaos are things we’ve all heard about but what I find truly remarkable is how despite all this people are going about their daily business. Seems as if they are numb to everything around them, just another decibel never hurt anyone, just another car and few more mopeds shouldn’t stop the fun. This in itself teaches me a thing or two about life – regardless of anything happening, you should never lose sight of your goals and strive hard to achieve them, just as the ordinary Mumbaikar battles the heat, the swarm of people, the shortage of buses and trains to get to work. The spirit of the people is indeed commendable.

On the other side, the one thing that enrages me is the lack of patience Mumbaikars have for just about anything! Walking down a narrow passage and God help you if someone is coming from the opposite side. Unlike here, the person won’t stop to let you pass before they venture but create this awkward situation where your butts would grease to go past each other! Even on the streets, the beloved rickshaw drivers or any other driver cannot wait a moment to get past a pedestrian or another vehicle. Soft touch and go accidents are a way of life there. In my 2 weeks I must have seen over 6-7 such “accidents” on the streets.

Say whatever, nothing ever tops the feeling of going home; just the familiarity of the surroundings oozes happiness. The comfort of knowing everyone around, the sights and the sounds (no matter how unnecessary) are something I will always associate with my home. Add to that, the fancy treat of rain we witnessed upon our landing and subsequent days that tore the earth up emitting fragrance better than Chanel No. 5! My only regret perhaps was the missed chance in indulging in my favorite activity – walking on the beach in the rains relishing a corn on the cob.

Perhaps the heavens will hear my plea and rain down the next time I visit Bombay. All in all, an awesome trip and now I’m back to the inescapable reality, blah!

Patience and timing!

My most favorite message from the Masters in Many Lives, Many Masters –

Patience and timing…everything comes when it must come. A life cannot be rushed, cannot be worked on a schedule as so many people want it to be. We must accept what comes to us at a given time, and not ask for more. But life is endless, so we never die; we were never really born. We just pass through different phases. There is no end. Humans have many dimensions. But time is not as we see time, but rather in lessons that are learned. Everything will be clear to you in time.

I would say this message is also the most appropriate for me as it is for most of us.

Soothe my soul

After reading all that woman lambasting by Mr. Chanakya, I had to read something that would soothe my soul and remind me that those attitudes do not matter because the soul is genderless. We are here to fulfill a purpose and our experiences are helping us get to that purpose. The body we take is just an instrument,  a way of getting to where we need to be. Over the years I have read many books that talk about this concept, and coming from India, where reincarnation is a way of life my daily life is fairly imbibed with these beliefs. But all along this is what they were - beliefs. Since there is no tangible proof of what happens to us when we die, we derive all sorts of solace from reading scriptures of the wise written centuries ago. That all changed for me when I stumbled upon Many Lives, Many Masters.

For the record, I have read this book at least 3 times but every time I read I am fascinated and still get goose bumps re-reading the messages from the Masters. The book is about a true story of a woman, Catherine, who was suffering from severe mental trauma – fear of drowning, fear of swallowing pills, troubled relationship with parents, you name it. She lived so petrified of the dark and close spaces that she could barely sleep and often slept in the closet to alleviate her fears. Finally, after much coaxing from colleagues she went to see Dr. Brian Weiss, who used all sorts of traditional therapy on her but nothing worked. As almost a last resort, he tried regression therapy which started her amazing journey to her past lives where she recounted 86 of her past lives with vivid details. Once she started doing that not only her symptoms improved but she started living much more joyously.

During these sessions, she also started transmitting messages from the in-between state. Messages that were being sent by highly evolved beings, called Masters. Yes, this is a true story. And as I said, every time I read it I get goose bumps knowing that this life is not it, we live forever and will always be around our loved ones. Our purpose is to be God like through knowledge. We are here to learn and when we become God like we can choose whether to come back and help others. So helping, loving, kindness is not the stuff of only men like Gandhi and MLK. It is for you and me, indeed a path to redemption. Nirvana is waiting for us. The choice is ours – whether we want to get caught up in this temporary world or chase after ultimate salvation.

Chanakya Niti contd...

Perhaps the best sutra so far-

Flowers have fragrance, oilseeds have oil, wood has fire, milk has butter and cane has sugar. In a similar way, a soul exists in the body and is invisible. It is a mystery that only can be understood through faith and logic.

What I cannot understand though is his constant contradiction to his own thoughts. From the above, we can safely conclude that the man was spiritual and believed in Nirvana (which also he mentions a few times in the book) but at the same times he placed a lot of importance on money, not so much on material things though. His contradiction with money is also interesting – at some places he calls money the "driving force" but at the same time says we shouldn't dwell too much on the material world and be happy with whatever income, food and wife we have.

So is he trying to tell us have a balance of money and spirituality? Perhaps.

The one thing I did like about his sutras is the constant emphasis on education and learning.  I made clear his dislike with morons yesterday but he also goes as far as saying that an uneducated person is a wasted life and people (by people he means men) should always strive for a higher standard of learning and knowledge. Also, knowledge increases when you spread it so consider it your duty to learn and share.

Yes, if he is talking to me, a woman, then I agree with him. But he isn’t! Because he believes women are like cattle who have to be obedient. Another irksome thought – a woman without a husband is a shameful waste.

I’m almost done with his sutras and might pick up another short book to conclude the week with, something I have read at least 3 times so far but every time I read it I learn something new.

Once I finish Chanakya Niti, the suspense shall be divulged!

Chanakya-Niti

For a very long time I have wanted to read Chanakya Niti, so the other day when I saw the book lying around at my friend’s I borrowed it immediately. This week, I decided to give it a shot. Most people don’t know who Chanakya was and what he did so here is a history lesson on him.

Chanakya was an adviser to the Mauryan empire in India and its chief architect around 293 BCE (very, very long time ago). He was extremely brilliant and very knowledgeable not only of the scriptures but also in the socio-sciences, economics, politics, etc. He was called as the Machiavelli of India but later generations in India say that comparison was unfair and he was really much smarter and brilliant.

Rumor has it that he was also very ugly and as a result when presented at court, the King threw him out and laughed at his ugliness. At that time, he vowed to destroy the King and his line which due to his shrewdness he succeeded in doing. Chanakya wrote 2 books -- Arthashastra and Neetishastra which is also known as Chanakya Niti. The Arthashastra discusses monetary and fiscal policies, welfare, international relations, and war strategies in detail. Neetishastra is a treatise on the ideal way of life, and shows Chanakya's in-depth study of the Indian way of life. Chanakya also developed Neeti-Sutras (aphorisms - pithy sentences) that tell people how they should behave. Of these well-known 455 sutras, about 216 refer to raaja-neeti (the do's and don'ts of running a kingdom).

So far the book has failed to impress. There are few aphorisms that sound neat but a lot of them so far have only aggravated me. Chanakya’s attitude on women is Stone Age at best. He writes how women should be obedient to their husband, not be allowed out of the house, not make independent decisions etc, all of which do not apply to the world now. His thoughts on how to raise children can raise some eyebrows. He advocates beating children until the age of 16 if they do not listen to their parents, something that happens in India past the age of 16.

He talks a lot about sons (as in the male child) and how a family is barren without one.

He cannot tolerate morons and makes clear his low threshold for idiots. There, I agree with him.

As I said earlier, most of the sutras are pretty obvious but perhaps for the time period he lived in they weren’t as obvious. And perhaps that explains his attitude towards women, who at that time and sadly even now in many parts of the world, were seen as material objects used to enhance a man’s side and not as humans with feelings, emotions and thoughts. If you keep that idea in mind throughout while reading the book, the aggravation subsides.

Very few sutras stood out so far – here are a couple:

In this world nothing lasts forever. Money comes and then goes. Life goes. Soul goes. Youth goes. The only thing that stays firm is faith.

A human comes into this world alone. Alone does he get the reward or punishment for good deeds or sins respectively. And alone he departs for heavenly abode.

The one thing that did surprise me are his thoughts on religion, how advanced they were. He advocated leaving a religion and not partaking in any activity with that religion if it did not preach kindness and love. These thoughts are pretty revolutionary at any time and anyone preaching these thoughts in 293 BCE or 2010 AD is bound to be a target by fanatics.

Makes me wonder if he was only behind on women’s rights then? Most of his thoughts apply to the masses today so he could be called a man born way ahead of his time. The one thing I cannot get out of my head is, say for instance he was born now, in this era. What would he think about women and their rights? Not that it matters but really it bothers me. If more people like Chanakya, who were considered geniuses, advocated for women’s rights since 293 BCE, India would be at a different place with their women. Maybe the world would be too.

Wishful thinking? I don’t think so.

Festivities today

OK, I finished Our Kind of Traitor and one piece of advice – don’t read this book. There was a slight turn of events in the end, maybe he thought oh oh the book is almost over and I need to do something exciting before its done and added a little something for readers to say, ah I didn’t expect that. Nope, not exciting, actually it is nothing but constant conversations between people and long, gruesome description of people and their backgrounds.

Moving on to exciting things, today is Diwali. If you don’t know what it is, go Google it. I am bursting with way too much joy to explain what it is. But whatever you do, make sure you light a lamp/candle anything tonight to celebrate the festival of lights.

Happy Diwali and a prosperous New Year! May this Diwali bring you light, peace and joy!

Back from the self-imposed exile

Hollow, ungratifying and frustrating are the 3 ways I can best describe my past week. All the reasons why I was away without a conclusion and an intro to the next book.  I haven’t railed off B-52 yet. The Bluest Eye is done and the next book has been started. Our Kind of Traitor by John le Carre.

But first concluding words on The Bluest Eye. I think I know why it didn’t move but only touch the readers. It started off in all directions, doing all things, talking about the different characters and their background, history but the whole time I was waiting on Pecola to ask for blue eyes and blond hair. After all, that’s what the book was about! So finally Pecola’s wish is thrown to the audience but it wasn’t grown. I wasn’t convinced she wanted those eyes so badly, more than anything else. Then, there is the other issue (no, I won’t spoil it for any potential readers). Psst, people who have read it, you know, the one towards the end that the book concludes with? That’s what I am referring to. She barely mentioned it. It was just a blip in the entire book and could have been totally ignored amongst her trance of words. Now, I am not telling Toni Morrison how to write, far from it, but had she expanded on that issue and Pecola’s fascination with blue eyes more it would have been a moving book.

I have to say though, the words are lyrical. She writes so well the prose becomes poetry, simply exuberant!

Alright moving on, Our Kind of Traitor – the only reason I picked up this book is The Constant Gardener. I didn’t read the book but saw the movie with Rachel Weisz and thought it was brilliant; actually I didn’t even know there was such a book. So if the movie was so good, the book had to be better, right? Well, Our Kind of Traitor, 55 pages in, is making me drool. It better pick up or I am looking to abandon it.

So what’s it about? The book is about a young British couple, vacationing in Antigua (tennis vacation) and come across some Russian mafioso-type-honcho, Dima. For some reason, the British service is very interested in this Dima guy so on the way back to Britain the couple (Perry & what’s her name) are extensively being interrogated by the MI-5 or someone who works in those spooky places.

As I said, so far boring very boring. I am forcing myself to read it and it better pick up. It does promise some adventure and politics between Russia, City of London and the British service so I will go on for a wee bit longer. We’ll see how it goes.

The Bluest Eye

I wouldn’t be completely honest if I didn’t say what prompted me to pick up The Bluest Eye. First reason, of course, was the fabulous experience reading Song of Solomon where Toni Morrison took this external search for gold and turned it into something much more valuable and intrinsic, one’s own character, I wanted to experience that level of literature again.

But perhaps the most important reason was its description. The Bluest Eye is about a black girl who prays for beauty every day. She wants blue eyes and blond hair because she is mocked by other children for her dark skin and curly hair. I can relate to that. Growing up I was the darkest child and members of my extended family never missed a chance to tell my mother how dark I was and that I would grow up to be an ugly woman. Obviously, hurt I would ask my mother why I wasn’t pretty and she would tell me give yourself a few more years and you will be the prettiest girl in this family. Whether that came true or not is irrelevant but when my mother told me so, I was definitely excited and looking forward to growing up when I could shed this ugly duckling image and become a beautiful swan where no more could I be mocked but praised instead. Even at that age, I could see the overpowering love society has for light skin and light eyes. The conceitedness of my family was so extensive that they didn’t mind hurting the feelings of a small child simply because she wasn’t as light.

In the preface, the author talks about reasons for writing this book – one of them is her surprise admission of hatred for a young friend when she said she wanted blue eyes (she was black) and Toni Morrison couldn’t get it out of her head how ugly her friend would look with them. The biggest admission she makes in the preface is her disappointment of how the book didn’t do what she set out to do with it. When she started it in 1962, up until 1965, when she was done there was a profound “reclamation of beauty” and it was those thoughts that stirred her to think about the “necessity of this claim.” She set out to move the audience with the central character but was utterly disappointed when the reader was only touched but not moved.

I have to admit, so far I have been neither. The Bluest Eye has started very slowly and though I am not too far into it, so far Pecola has made no indication of wanting blue eyes and blond hair. But Toni Morrison did the same thing in Song of Solomon and half way through the real purpose of the book jumped out. So we’ll see how this shapes up.

Hilarious and educative

Kitchen Confidential is funny, really funny. But really, I expected no less from Tony. What I didn’t expect was for it to be educative. Not only does he give a very good insight in the restaurant business and how they function – the chapter a day in the life shows how chaotic, extremely busy and high on adrenaline, espressos and booze these chefs have to be in order to get through the day but also teaches the reader a thing or two about cooking. Most of his teachings don’t apply to me since I’m a vegetarian (he hates them – “vegetarians, and their Hezbollah-like splinter faction vegans, are a persistent irritation to any chef worth a damn”), but they are informative anyway.

For the first time now, if I look at a restaurant I think of more than the menu. I think of the kitchen, the countless cooks, the chaos, the dishwashing, the sous-chefs and all the effort that goes into preparing a meal for me. I would oh so guilty to return a dish or change an order thinking of the stress I’d put those guys through.

So what are some of things I learnt?

-          Don’t eat sea food at ANY restaurant on Monday. Why? It will not be fresh; 9 out of 10 times they are serving you leftovers from the weekend. Eeks! The best days for seafood are Tuesdays through Thursdays

-          Don’t eat mussels in restaurants. More often than not, mussels are left wallowing in their own piss. Yuck!

-          Cooks HATE brunch LOL!

-          Eating bread is fine in restaurants, although chances are during busy times you are eating untouched bread from someone else’s table

-          Don’t eat in restaurants with filthy bathrooms. Tony says you can’t see their kitchen but you can see the bathrooms and those usually are a pretty good indicator of how clean the kitchen is

-         Discount Sushi is usually made from fish sitting out in the open for hours, un-iced, leaking in crates. Oh no!

-          A decent chef knife is a must have! Global makes some good and cheap knives so one knife that cuts everything from shallots to watermelon is a must in any kitchen

-          Another must have object – plastic squeeze bottle, you know to squirt things like mayo, sauces, etc

-         Pots and pans, of course! Best place to buy them? In the classifieds section look for restaurants going out of business and then swoop down and collect your loot from them for dirt cheap. Ikea and other places are no good because the best pots and pans should be heavyweight

-         Never use anything other than a wooden/ceramic/nonmetallic spatula for your nonstick sauté pan. If you want to preserve your non-stick never let it make contact with any washing liquids. Simply wipe it clean after each use

-         Other food essentials – shallots, butter, garlic, parsley, stock, basil, mint, chives, you get the point

Surya Namaskar -- Part 2

Past few days I've been obsessing over the Surya Namaskar. This morning I went hunting for the other article I talked about yesterday (massaging the liver) and found it. So here is some more info on how beneficial this simple exercise is. This is probably the last on Surya Namaskars for a while (I promise!) but in the mean time, pay heed!

Internal massage
The benefits of doing the Surya Namaskar are deeper, compared to other forms of exercises. It aids overall well-being.  It massages the important glands -- the liver (in the ashtanga namaskar pose), stress glands and kidneys.

In the forward bend, it encourages blood flow to the brain, and therefore makes hair lush and keeps the face looking fresh and young, while tweaking master glands in the brain so that the body's thermostat is set at its healthy best.

Practice makes perfect
It is important to learn the technique well before you start pushing yourself to do more rounds. If wrongly done, it can cause cramps or pain in the back or spine. The number of namaskaras that should be done depends on an individual's current fitness level and flexibility.

Surya Namaskar is a great energy booster, and is therefore best done in the morning. Though, if one is pressed for time, it can be done any time of day. It is advisable not to do the Surya Namaskar close to bedtime, as it could interfere with one's sleep.

The Ideal workout
According to some hot-shot yoga instructors in India, the ideal routine (even when you're pressed for time) should include --

n  Six Surya Namaskars set (five minutes). Ideal set would be 12, covering right and left leg in one set so total of 24 rounds

n  Six asanas (including inversions, twists and arm balancers, which would take another five to ten minutes)

n  Pranayama practice (like anulom vilom, a few rounds of which would take ten minutes)

n  Final relaxation/meditation (five minutes with breath awareness) is best

OK, so how to do Surya Namaskar

1.       Stand erect feet together and palms joined in the centre of the chest in a namaskar and inhale. Next, exhale and push hands down straightening and lowering the arms until the elbows touch the sides.

2. Breathe in deeply and raise the arms above the head and extend the spine backwards arching the back from the waist. Let the eyes follow the hands while relaxing your neck and keeping hands straight.

3.       Exhale, bend forward from the waist and place the hands on the floor besides each foot.  Knees should remain straight. Relax with your head and neck in a bending pose. Breathe out completely. If you cannot touch the ground, then let your hands go only as far as they can.

4.       Inhale and put your weight on the hands, stretch the right leg behind and rest it on toes. Bend the knee and place it on the floor with your weight on the left foot and arch the spine backward. Lift the head and neck first up and then back. Roll the eyes up. The left foot does not move.

5.       Inhale and put your weight on the hands, stretch the right leg behind and rest it on toes. Bend the knee and place it on the floor with your weight on the left foot and arch the spine backward. Lift the head and neck first up and then back. Roll the eyes up. The left foot does not move.

6.       Exhale and bring the left foot back in line with the right. Lift the hips up high like a mountain (downward facing dog). Push the heels and head down and look at the toes with the head down between the arms.

7.       Put the knees down first and then bring the chest down. See that eight parts of the body are touching the floor including two feet, two knees, two hands, the chest and the chin or forehead. Make sure the hips are slightly raised above the ground. Inhale and exhale in this position. Keep the feet together.

8.       Lower the abdomen and pelvis to the floor. Inhale and stretch the toes on the floor. Raise your head slowly up, arch the spine and neck and look up. Keep your legs together and the elbows alongside the body slightly bent and keep the shoulders down.

9.       Exhale and wiggle your toes forward allowing your feet to rest on the soles while you raise the hips as you did in number 5.

10.   Inhale and bring the right foot forward and come into pose number 4 as earlier, but with the leg positions reversed.

11.   Exhale and bring the right foot forward (same as pose 3).

12.   Inhale and stretch up in a standing pose with your arms up and bend backwards (same as pose 2).

Exhale and stand erect bringing the hands back to the centre of the chest with palms together.

My salutations to you, oh Sun!

Yoga is a huge fad right now. Some of us understand what yoga is and how it can change your entire psyche. Others do it because it's so cool to say I'm doing yoga. Well, I 'm not really judging anyone. I'm sure the gods of yoga won't take offends that you serve them only because you think they're cool. To be honest, they should kinda like that since in the past the only people who cared enough to pay attention were sadhus with giant Amy Winehouse type bee-hives.

So yesterday I read some article on one of the countless Indian websites I visit during my busy day of work about the benefits of sun salutations. There was also some mention on how doing 50 of those a day would profoundly change your life. So when I got home, I pushed my dear hubby to cooking dinner and attempted as many salutations as possible within 15 minutes. Why 15 minutes? That's all the time I had before the pizza would be ready. I did 10.

The plan tonight is to do 50 but its past 6 pm and poor me is still sitting at my desk.

I found another article on the benefits of sun salutations today and figured two days in a row stumbling on the same info is a universe conspiracy that I must share with people who take time to read my crap. So here it goes-- (Btw, sun salutation's Hindi name is Surya Namaskar. Surya=Sun, Namaskar=saluation. Know Namaste? Namaskar is derived from that).

- You don't need to be doing yoga regularly in order to practice the Surya Namaskar. If performed correctly, this exercise does not strain or cause injury. If performed in the morning, it relieves stiffness, revitalises your body and refreshes the mind. Do it during the day and it will instantly boost you up, practice it after sundown and it helps you unwind.

- Not only does the Surya Namaskar give you a great stretch and keep you fit physically (it is extremely beneficial for your joints, ligaments and improves flexibility and posture), but is also does wonders for your mental and emotional health.

- Surya Namaskar stimulates almost every system in your body - the cardiovascular system because it keeps the heart strong and, the digestive system as well as the nervous system.

- It also makes endocrinal glands like the thyroid, parathyroid and pituitary glands, function normally.

- Practising the Surya Namaskar regularly is also known to ease stress and give you peace of mind besides increasing your levels of concentration.

One additional benefit I read yesterday was Surya Namaskar also massages the liver.

Bow and salute to the Sun and all shall be well!

Festivals galore

I don’t know how many of you are watching the new series “Outsourced” on NBC but if you are not, try and catch it. It’s actually quite funny. Set in India it’s a comedy about an all American white boy managing a call center and his experiences as he struggles to understand the language, food and culture. In the last episode, few of Todd’s employees convince him to take a half day for “Vindaloo day”, a concocted holiday. While I don’t intend to go into why they did this it did lead me to a different direction. Before I saw the episode, (I had DVR-ed it, which is a boon to my family! I don’t know how we survived without it) on the way to our hike I wished my husband a Happy Dasshera and he jokingly remarked (smart ass had already seen the “Happy Vindaloo day” episode), is this another one of your ridiculous holidays? Yes I do admit we have 864313132 holidays but really, why so mean? Anyway, I explained with a calm face what Dasshera was about, but afterward I could understand why he had a fit of laughter on knowing what Dasshera was about.

Dasshera is celebrated after 9 nights of dancing – and trust me it’s a LOT of fun! Young, old, big, small all sorts of people leave their homes to dance– in building courtyards, outdoor gyms converted into fancy mandaps – which can last until the wee hours of the morning. I too had participated in this madness for 9 nights leaving at 11 pm and sometimes not coming back home until 5 am the following morning. This 9 day dancing mania is called Navratri, which consists of garba (clapping hands and moving in a circle and dandiya, playing with sticks in a circle). “Nav” meaning 9 and “ratri” meaning nights. So the literal translation – 9 nights.

Durga Puja

On Dasshera, Ravana's effigy is burnt

During these 9 nights, the goddess Shakti/Durga is worshipped. Extremely elaborate statues of the Goddess are erected and her different forms are worshipped with intense fervor and devotion. At the end, on the 10^th day (called Dasshera) an effigy of Ravana – the ten headed monster who kidnapped Ram’s wife is burnt to celebrate the victory of good over evil. Now I know how ten headed monsters, elaborate Goddess statues, etc. can seem silly almost at the edge of ridiculous, but we must remember that whether or not these events actually took place the only intention was to tell a story using elaborate (yes extremely elaborate) imagination. The main purpose of these stories was to convey a message, prove a point and convince us that no matter what if we did the right thing, the right thing would happen to us. Satyamev Jayate in Sanskrit meaning the truth always wins wasn’t just a punch line in these stories but a motto, an abiding principle to live by.

It’s sad then how these stories are twisted and turned nowadays to serve a few people’s selfish ends. No wonder they sound ridiculous and funny!



Confidentiality et al

About 2 weeks ago my husband comes home very excited. Rupee I got you your next book! Turns out, someone he knows loaned him Kitchen Confidential and he thought I might be excited to read it. Honestly, I am not a big cook book reader but seriously, who can pass up Tony Bourdain? Still, I was hesitant. While KC sat on my bookshelf for a few weeks I finished Feast of the Goat (which is a definite read) and Adam & Eve (eh) the whole time pondering if I wanted to pick up Tony. I love Tony Bourdain but did I really want to read his book?

This past Friday I was searching for my next book but as fate had it nothing was appealing. Saturday was a beautiful day and so we took off hiking at Minnewaska state park. The leaves have all turned and the view from 1000 feet was simply awe-inspiring. Sunday rolled around and I still didn’t know what I wanted to read. By yesterday evening I knew I had to pick something up and KC seemed the only choice. So I waved the book at my husband who gave me 2 thumbs up! Alright, Kitchen Confidential it is.



View from Minnewaska state park



The preface was funny. Its started off in typical Tony Bourdain style. So there is a lot of obscenity already but as he said that’s the world of the cooks! He promises the book to be an honest representation of the life of his colleagues, nothing more nothing less. According to him it wasn’t a book he thought would propel him to stardom or enable him to have dinner with Eric Ripert. So imagine his surprise when both and many more of those things happened. Free food at the best restaurants was perhaps the biggest perk, in my opinion, he started enjoying. The best wine, cheese, gourmet meals, ahhh!! The stuff of heavens!

So for the week, I’m donning my chef hat and adventuring in the world of the culinary underbelly! Stick around for more on Kitchen Confidential.

Suprise

This book just took one of the biggest unanticipated turns! From the beginning I was wondering what was Uranita's (one of the main characters) problem with her father. So what if he supported a dictator? His income and position as President of the Senate did assure her a luxurios life. So why such abomination where she wants him to suffer a slow death? Well, now I know. And dare I say, she is justified. What an ass! Wow!

Like I said earlier, the book is about Trujillo and his dictatorship of Dominican Republic. As much as he was a tyrant after he was killed, things did fall apart for DR. So not sure if his governing was a good thing or bad. But yes, he did kill scores of people both Dominicans and Haitians.

The prose is simply beautiful -- one chapter in the past, the next in the present. Kinda like Russian Winter but this is about politics, ruling, killing and a daughter's hatred so its much more edge of the seat.

Seriously, read Feast of the Goat. (Goat is the code word the assasins had for Trujillo). Exemplary!

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilivolcanoniosis. Huh? What?

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilivolcanoniosis – believe it or not is a word. No, I’m not making this up. The longest word recognized by the Oxford English Dictionary, it is a lung disease caused by inhaling volcanic silicon dust.

I came across this and some other interesting facts about language in the trivia section the Discover magazine throws in towards the end. I also learnt that due to the placement of our voice box we cannot breathe and swallow at the same time, but you already knew that. Babies however, can because the voice box doesn’t drop to wherever it needs to be until 9 months after we are born. Bet you don’t remember breathing and swallowing. Also because of where the voice box sits, we humans have a uniquely large resonating system.

Modern technology and no doubt our lack of time for everything has spilled into our language world too. We turned “bits of eight” into “bytes”, “modulate/demodulate” became “modem”. And guess what blog’s full name is? Web log. So correct English would be, I’m web logging not blogging. But I don’t have time to say web logging! Don’t you know about the oodles and oodles of work I have to do?

Anyway let’s not get sidetracked. Moving on, Mandarin has the most native speakers on the planet. This one, I was shocked.  Wouldn’t you think it would be English? There are 2.5 times more native Mandarin speakers than English. But 70% of the web is in English and the language most spoken online is also English. Spanish Silbo is a language, composed of whistling sounds! It has only 4 vowel and four consonant sounds! It’s audible for miles and resembles bird calls! No, really I’m not making this up.

Those of you who live in New York, have you seen the bird man? Maybe he speaks Spanish Silbo!

You remember those science words back in school? Algebra, Alkaline and the one I hated the most – algorithm. Those were all loaned to English by Arabic, in which the prefix al means “the”. So thegebra, thekaline and thegorithm? Senseless but none of that made sense anyway, especially thegorithm.

There are about 6,800 spoken languages in the world and more than 1/3^rd of them (i.e. 2,266.666667) are in danger of becoming silent. We humans are a piece of work; because of us even languages are endangered! UNESCO says about 200 tongues now have fewer than 10 surviving speakers.  (If you don't have anything to do and want to sound smarter to your friends, there is more trivia here.)

Pleas from a night past

Think of all that time being wasted when I could utilize it doing wonderful things like reading feasts of goats and years of solitude. Alas! I must endure another test the universe throws at me. In a usual cycle of a slight accumulation of frustration I took to venting to my mother-in-law who said something philosophically beautiful and profoundly simple. “Be patient. Perhaps you need to develop patience for the task you are to be given.” At some level I think I knew that but hearing it from someone else jolted me to reality.

But then I also started thinking, what if my purpose is what is going on right now? I know I’ve talked about this before but what if in this life time my purpose was simply this? This meaning, to learn patience. So should I simply resign myself to my fate and live life without any ambition or should I still try to get to where I would like to be?

Krishna, an incarnation of Vishnu, part of the Holy Trinity of Indian culture said don’t worry about what should be. You can attain nirvana in what you are; no matter what life throws at you it is possible to reach salvation. Preaching to Arjun on the battlefield while reciting the Bhagavad Gita he said do your duty and don’t worry about the outcome. As a warrior it’s your duty to fight and kill. You will be held in the wrong if you don’t. If you do your duty promptly you will attain me. This, the practice of karma yoga, states to reach salvation by performing your duty in the highest regard. So if I were to apply Krishna’s teaching to my present situation, it would mean I keep doing what I am and regardless of whether I’m able to find something more fulfilling I have a shot at the glory of the soul.

Easier said than done, right? I wrote some verses correctly reflecting my state of mind. If I am to be stuck in this, yes, I need the universe to fill my reservoir with courage and of course patience.

Pleas from a night past

Oct 13, 2010

10.03 am

Last night I sat atop my bed

With my legs folded

And eyes closed

A mantram reverberating

Within my soul

Beginning a search for the

Path to the obscure land

Last night I sat atop my bed

With my hands in prayer position

And soul seeking redemption

Beseeching the might

That resides in us all

To show me the way

There are two possible paths

I argued with my self

Either grant me prosperity

And fulfillment of a better position

Or show me realization

Within my existing obligations

If my purpose is to serve

Why am I trapped within

Attitudes of profit

If my purpose is to learn

Endow me with strength

To climb that gargantuan mountain

Feeling resigned to emptiness

I opened my eyes

And hoped in the vastness of things

My pleas from a night past

Were loud enough

Feasts galore

To honor Mario Vargas Llosa I decided to read one of his books. The Feast of the Goat was highly recommended and so I started that off. When I first heard of the name, I thought of the movie men who stare at goats, which was a funny movie with the hottie Clooney. But nope, its not a comedy book. Then I thought perhaps its about a wedding where they right, feasted on a goat. But I was wrong again.

Defying all of my common sense, the book is actually a political novel set in the Dominican Republic. It's about assassination of Dominican dictator Rafael Leónidas Trujillo, and its aftermath, from two distinct standpoints a generation apart: during and immediately after the assassination itself, in May 1961; and thirty years later, in 1996.

The first chapter, about a woman who comes back to the DR to see her ailing father, totally hooked me. I can tell with all certainty this is going to be a highly engrossing, keep me up at night sort of book. Will let you know how it goes.

Until then enjoy the gorgeous weather. I hear it starts raining tomorrow, yuck!

Prison peace

The continued assertion and propounded growth of the Chinese economy is nothing short of a marvel. But when China warns other countries if they do something the government doesn’t like there will be back lash you are forced to ask, who do the Chinese exactly think they are? Granted, they are making huge strides in economic development but when we talk about human rights, Beijing’s record is abysmal. Tibet is their catastrophic failure and their unwillingness to resolve it by peaceful means is a whole another matter.

This morning my heart gave a little woohoo on reading the news. As you know, its Nobel season and yesterday the Literature prize was announced to the Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa. Today was the turn of the Peace prize, which last year went to President Obama. Before the prize was announced today there was a lot of speculation on who would win it, because the favorite was Liu Xiaobo. Of course, in the past few weeks the Chinese government had warned the Norwegian government they would oppose the move should the prize be awarded to Mr. Lui because he is a “criminal.” Yes, for the past 20+ years Mr. Lui has been rotting in a Chinese prison for his efforts to promote democracy in the communist nation.

So I went woohoo, because defying China’s status as a rising power and the second largest economy in the world and all those other great, big tags the Nobel committee today announced the Peace prize to Mr. Lui. In their words, "The Norwegian Nobel Committee has long believed that there is a close connection between human rights and peace. Such rights are a prerequisite for the fraternity between nations of which Alfred Nobel wrote in his will."

So guess what China’s government did? Besides opposing the move, they blocked the live telecast of the announcement with all international channels temporarily blacked out and called it a “blasphemy to the prize.”   

As I said earlier, China’s spectacular growth in the past few decades is a testament to her people’s hard work and the smarts of the government to implement policies that work. But when a nation no matter how powerful starts dictating terms, bullying other nations and interfering in all decisions they don’t agree with there can be a problem. I am proud that the Norwegian government stood up to the Chinese government and sent a message that no matter how powerful you are, peace cannot be sold.

Even if your own people do not recognize you, the world commends your efforts. Congratulations Mr. Lui!

Going back in time or ahead?

For a while, I didn’t know what to expect from this book. It started off talking about life outside our planet and about a brilliant scientist who claimed to his wife to have found life outside in the universe. Then in a sort of going back to the beginning, Lucy ends up in a garden in the middle of nowhere, which is conveniently self-sufficient. Add to that Adam who is already there, thinks Lucy (whom he calls Eve – yes he is partly delusional) ended up there because he asked God to send him a mate. I know, hard to stomach but let’s go with the flow for now.

So there is this going back to Genesis track but on the other hand Lucy also has some scrolls that would apparently challenge the traditional “God created Earth” theory too. So Lucy, according to Adam, is living Genesis but she knows she holds clues to defy Genesis.

And then she has that flash drive around her neck.

I’m really not sure what’s keeping me going with this book but I feel a certain pull for it. Will definitely say that if you’re not a science buff, don’t like your imagination running all over the place and don’t want to know anything about the Nag Hammadi scrolls, Genesis and anything ancient stay away from Adam & Eve.

Religious? No. Scientific? Umm, maybe.

This weekend was phenomenal. The weather decided to be cooperative (until Sunday night) and bestowed us with abundant sunshine and the perfect temperatures. Taking advantage of the sunlight that very soon will become scarce I went hiking with some friends to Bear Mountain. 40 miles away from the city, I did not know there could be so much peace and serenity to be found! What a marvelous day to enjoy the scenery and get the heart rate thumping. Seriously, at one point in the hike, I thought my heart was going to explode and blow me to smithereens. Knowing my accident prone behavior, on the way down, I was sure to fall on my face and break a bone or two. Fortunately, nothing like that happened and I finished the hike without a scratch.



On the way to the top



View from Bear Mountain

Coming back to reading, I started Adam & Eve by Sena Jeter Naslund. I’m about 60 pages in and have mixed feelings so far. Needless to say, she is trying to draw parallels to the Bible by setting Adam in the middle of nowhere (which he thinks is the Garden of Eden) and is craving for Eve. Her prose sometimes is lyrical but also a bit foolish as she describes Adam’s attempts to name things around him. (I think he is suffering from amnesia). Somehow he ends up naming a peach as a peach and an airplane an airplane. Viola!



Eve’s name is Lucy – and she is so called because of the oldest fossil that was discovered a year or so ago. So someone who entrusts her with a codex threatening to destroy the origins of the 3 major religions says, Lucy is the evolutionist’s Eve. OK, good attempt at reconciling recent discoveries in the book.

Now Lucy has set off from Egypt en route to Europe with this codex that obviously fundamentalists will kill her for. And to add to it, she has a flash driver from her brilliant late-husband that contains proof of extraterrestrial life. Being a huge science buff I’m willing to explore this book without any judgments a bit more. Stay tuned for the final verdict.