Questions…

Questions...

I too wanted to start and finish the Rajasthan Trip writeups in one shot… So for those who were expecting something on the same lines, am sorry to disappoint… In the last few days-weeks as I have cut down on mails, chats, phone and friends; and much more including job (Unknowingly earlier and later deliberately)… Thinking and thinking on recent and recent-past developments in life and where and how to go ahead with what’s in life as Next… I came across this writeup lyeing in drafts from long time… I know this was a bit too philosophical me…  😉 Anyways, Publishing it-

Sharing something I wrote to a friend long back…

“Bas basics mein problem hai!!!”

Mumbai Pune Volvo Travel…

Volvo

Mumbai… A Friday evening… As usual I was waiting for a bus to Pune at Vashi… Usually I prefer to travel via the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation bus, but looking at most of them completely full by the time they reached Vashi, I moved my attention towards a typical Mumbai-Pune Volvo bus… While I was paying the agreed ticket amount to the co-driver, the bus moved… So I knew the bus is full, and I have to occupy the back seats… As the bus made its move and the lights went dim… Half-blind in the dim light I tried to move fast; holding bag in one hand and managing my laptop on the other shoulder… It was was like walking blind in between the rows in a movie theater to reach your seat… The movies has already started, theater is dark and you can see almost nothing!!! As I neared the last seats, my bag had a hit with the legs of a female, who was sitting somewhat unusual on the second last row… I looked up amazed…

My interaction with Religion and God…

 

Nopes... It isnt a temple of any God... Just a picture from my album at Picasa...

Continuing on last thread and Inspired from a write-up that my friend Prashant Murarka shared with me few days back…

 

All of us some time or other have had some interactions with these words… God, Religion, caste, etc. Trying to share a few of my major interactions from since childhood…

 

—Religion for me started when I was told by my Parents that I was a Jain as I was born in a Jain family… Maybe my rational thoughts even as a child did not make me feel that I should follow Jainism as I was Jain by birth… It was not like my parents were forcing me to follow Jainism… They were in fact very liberal and always said, ‘follow if you feel it is right’… But I guess the whole environment, big joint family, close society, etc. were embossing on me that Jainism was a obvious choice when I was to still understand for myself what is a Religion?, what is Jainism?, Why Religion? Why God? before I started accepting things…

 

—Most of my childhood days I spent at my home town village Vaduj. My Grandma used to offer 24 mangoes to God, before anyone in the house could start relishing the mango season… I still remember those mangoes… Bigger, better quality and TWENTY FOUR of them were offered to God and what we all 4-5 grand children got was one mango in the morning and one in the evening… When God never ate any of those 24 best ‘chosen’ mangoes and I always felt that it is unfair on me and my cousins; when I used to think that I alone could have taken all those 24 at the same time in my small tummy… 🙂

 

The Temple experience…

 

Sri Muneshwara Swamy Temple...

Early morning around 6:25, as usual I was sitting waiting outside this temple for my office cab… Another Software Engineer walked towards the temple… Now somehow I can identify a Software Engineer from distance in Bangalore… 😉 Coming close to the temple he performed the usual actions that people perform while passing by a temple usually in a hurry or otherwise and stood by the side of the temple… We both now wait for our cabs… Our eyes met with a formal smile followed by “Morning…” from both sides… And he walked to join me on the stairs… A pause for few seconds… I don’t know if it was early morning effect or going to school childhood feeling I asked him…

“Hey, you know which temple is this???”

Surprised with a unexpected question… “Ummmm… Well, No!”

“Mate you should have at least got to know something, before you bowed…”

“Well, yeah…” Reluctant to get up… He just turning around, reads the paint… “Sri Muneswara Swamy temple…”

A pause… His reluctance to move that bit reminded me of those people worshiping Dagdusheth Ganapati standing in the middle of the road…

Goa, calangute beach, 9**** *****, 1000 bucks, whole night, above 18!

Be a MAN. Respect women.

While we were roaming around on calangute beach in Goa, a stranger walked towards us and handed a small chit with phone number written on it to my friend… 9**** *****… Confused, I was seeing what was happening… He started… ‘All Night… only 1000!!! whole night… No problem Sir…’

My friend denied the offer right away and tried to hand over the chit back… But the stranger insisted on us keeping the chit and take our time to decide… “Nahi sir, aaram se call karana, no tension… above 18 hai…” (Take your time, no hurry… The girls are above 18… so no tension… Please call at leisure)

I was shocked and taken back!!!!!! Had heard of these things happening, but I guess it was 1st time I was experiencing it… I felt very uncomfortable with the very thought of a young girl ready to sleep with any/all of us…

This reminds me of something that I experienced and felt sometime when I used to travel between Mumbai and Pune by train… I think it was Chennai Express, General Boogie… I managed to get in the still halting train ahead of others and promptly grabbed the window seat… Karjat… Khandala-Lonavala ghat starts… It was dark and quite cold outside… The cool breeze coming in, I got up to answer the natures call…As I walked towards the Toilet, I saw a family occupying the toilet area and the exit passage… Feeling irritated of the way the family was sitting-sleeping I made it to the toilet… Flushed, came out… thought of standing by the exit door for some time to enjoy the cool breeze… Again with some more irritation; this time with some muttering, but taking care that I don’t hit anyone in the way, I made it to the door…

As I was trying to see in the darkness, I heard a grumbling noise behind…

Impressed!!!

Re framing something that I wrote for a friend…

Impressed!!! I see that people use this word ‘Impressed’ with me with what I am today… (Though I honestly and strongly believe what I have tried was something I should have at this stage in life and there is NOTHING extra-ordinary that I could do or achieve)…

Well, yes Off course you feel good when someone uses ‘Impressed’ for you but I somehow don’t feel that this really makes any difference to anyone… People get impressed and then… then… thats it!!! nothing much after that… Something like that guys dressing sense is impressive… So what after that??? Maybe thats just a way to take note of something that is toooo short lived… Maybe a fraction of second!!! and then boooom… Its gone!!! Maybe people don’t even think that there can be something after that… and this is where we all fail… We get ‘impressed’ with something (sometimes very easily), i.e. we notice something, it attracts you, you feel that its good and you feel like you should be in those shoes… maybe talk about it to your neighbor… and then… then just let it go??? thats unfair!!! not to the person who has Impressed you but for the person that got impressed! and he then slips of chance to make this Impression lead to Inspiration… Like for in this example, I would also take a cautious effort to improve my dressing sense…

Most of us knowingly or unknowingly use the word inspiration when they want to say Impressed… When we are just Impressed and thats it!!! this is more fatal… and hence maybe we stay where we were… and don’t move an INCH!!!

Every time you convert an Impression to an Inspiration… It works for you!!!

Swapneel*

The end…

Shabd! a movie I saw last night… Was a good one! liked it… was different… The Hero in the movie is a writer who writes true stories… and the movie revolves around a story that he writes and then lives at the same time… And in the end messes up his life as well as the story as he could not decide the end… So I think I should write the end first and then maybe continue with the story… This should help me not mess up the story… 😉 jokes apart… I am seriously thinking what will I generate out of this… loads of thinking and writing… hours spent!!! At the end… end… end… I think that I should be able to justify to the people that my actions were not that cruel or insensitive or materialistic or money-minded or career-minded or just driven by passion to do something… Or I think that they should understand my perspective and don’t take me something like the HEAVY words (that I have used in the previous sentence)… Or give an explanation why I drastically changed so much? Or make them realize that how right I am and how wrong they are or vice-versa… Or set up a discussion forum to discuss and discuss and discuss… Or just keep this as a memory for myself… Or send this write up to people to earn criticism/praise/suggestions/comments… Or just keep this as a memory for myself…Honestly, I am writing this for my friends, people I am associated with and all the people who mean so much for me… So that I am able to share a perspective with them that has given me… life! an identity… self-respect… calmness… confidence to build something… a feeling that I can bridge the gap between dreams and reality… or have dreams that are still bigger, wilder, crazy and real…

Swapneel*