Moments of Bliss 3 - "getting connected"

Hi

It was a wonderful day at office today as I was completing a huge project like task that I was handling since yesterday.....and I had left for home at 5 PM itself as I reached office too early in the morning...I had travelled in my bike and I was standing at Nandanam Signal...waiting for the GREEN....

For that matter the crowd was too much that I was so away from the Junction and it is going to take one more Green for me to cross the junction literally !! As usual in chennai, all the waiting vehicles have spread out and the last free left lane was all crowded and lined up with two wheelers completely blocking those who wanted to enjoy the previlege (to take their left!!)

A lean fellow in Khaki uniform was standing leaning against his bicycle which had a LPG cylinder fitted in its carrier (must be a delivery boy rather a delivery man)...He was clearly an affected guy who wanted to take left and I identified / watched him only with his decibel level shouting at the pitch of the voice on the entire world, in general and the lined up two wheeler drivers standing in front of him, in particular....

I dont want to kill the charm of this posting by making it too big as it should be very easy to understand my moment of bliss when his utterances below (all in Tamil) are read in conjuction with my subject above "getting connected".....yes, I in fact watched him so intently and got a picture of the mental state of those hapless creatures of the world - the frustrated lot - who are in complaining mode & on their angle of looking at things and events happening to them....(I think he was drunk .... this could be another clue to appreciate the words and his mental state)

The posting will get over abruptly after the quotes below.....I am just warning again....

"all are P.sons.....no one is having sense...... why would they stop my way....p.sons......!! why dont they understand that I am waiting here helplessly.....p.sons.....!! look at the face of this bastard....he is staring at me as though I am shouting needlessly....all of them are p.sons....!! how can I do my duty when they are stopping me...?? why is that the world is so senseless ?? sons of p.....buggers......when is this world going to understand the problems of poor people....p.sons....."

Thanks....

suchoo

Transcendance - 2::: Swallowing negative feedbacks with a smile !!

Hi

I am going to muse now on a wonderful learning that I had YESTERDAY which was mainly because I had the sanity to sense the gap that exists between words and feelings perhaps for the first time in my life.....in fact, I could smile at a negative feedback which came with lot of anger, received it with lot of reverence as I realised the mistake that I had made & was able to understand the genuineness of the anger and more importantly.....!!! thats written in the long para of this musing....!!

There was a monthly metrics presentation meeting to our MD at office yesterday which was unusally scheduled at 7 PM to 8 PM for our team..!!! The MD was bit red-eyed, perhaps he had a tough / long day and if I had factored this in my presentation, the whole mishap and this musings could have been avoided....(but I would not have got this experience of transcending too....How is that always plusses and minuses are mixed up in life ??)

We have a format of three teams making presentation and I was the last (europe operations) and I think I did a good and effective presentation....!! The curse of tongue and the mindlessness happened when my boss - the manager of the three teams - started his part at the end as he summarised the overall to the MD and our GM..... I dont want to get into details which are normally so important for me but let me try to make this sufficient enough to remind the details to me even if I read this after 50 years from now.....!!

Mr.Saneeswaran came unnanounced and sat in my tongue and I - with a good intention - of chipping in with some extra details - said few things after my boss talked which was in first place was not at all necessary....I dont remember I have made things so absurd earlier in any of my formal meetings (have done too many in personal front.....the whole memory space of the e-world & my rest of life may not be sufficient to write all of them ..). Further to a needless oversmartness, I also told few things that actually damaged the Manager's profile if the sentences are looked with some alertness....The point is that I did not utter the statements in unawareness and I thought I was actually building the image of the team with my details...but I realised the whole nonsense only when my manager blasted me after the meeting was over...

In fact, I was so innocently telling my boss at the end of the meeting that we did a perfect job of time management and complimenting each other (we always have this habit of doing a quick analysis of the meetings...which has really helped us in the past to improvise...). The manager after a blank look at my face literally split acid bottles at my face ripping me apart .... which was so difficult for me to digest....Mind you, I never had a rupture with this man for close to a year of relationship ....

I tried to explain my point and he had the sanity even when he was upset with me, to listen to me and respond me back that my perceptions and intentions were not ok....and was capable of giving shots ...that made me spellbound...While I was searching for more words and justification, I heard a clear inner voice to SHUT UP and SMILE at him.....Having heard it quite rarely, it was difficult to grasp but once I identified it, I just obeyed it quite naturally as I had no other choice.....

While he spoke out and ventillated and I listened, my peers joined me and the blasting continued....and though I felt very odd to have the session continued, I swallowed it again with a smile and allow him to go on rampage.....when he stopped (perhaps for taking breath), I just responded with an apology....nothing more nothing less....and continued smiling.....!!

Then the miracle started....I think this session I explained above was over by 8.30 PM and while my peers settled at their places, my boss and me were in our small board room and he started sharing few things that he never shared with me before....with a foreward to keep every thing confidential which was readily understood by me.....we were together upto 10.30 PM and I learnt too many things from him - more than the details also about him as a complete personality during this 2 hours...I actually had my dinner after that in office canteen and after finishing few priority things set off for home only at 12 AM....

The charging was so much and so deep that today morning I reached office at 7 AM itself to continue few priorities that I missed out on the prior day - which I wanted to complete before my boss reached office at 10 Am....

Some thing tells me I really understood the depth of those golden words spoken at Isha.....which I underwent exactly 10 years back....on being able to respond more than reacting !! its not going to make this as a habit with some conscious practise......I am sure there are countless opportunities to practise on enjoying this gap between words and feelings.....and to respond & not to react.....and to smile & not to speak...

Is this musing too long contrary to the subject written....?? thats ok, I have the liberty to vomit in the washbasin at my home, right ??

Please watch out for the next posting....on moment of bliss that I had today evening, when I travelled back to home from office in my mobike....

suchoo

** Re: Music that Melts... **

This is in response to what was posted by Suchoo under the topic "Moments of Bliss 2 -Music that melts..."

"....I do clearly see that its not music that melts human beings....its just our own receptivity levels which does the magic....!!" -

ABSOLUTELY TRUE. But, when you are not receptive, it is not just the songs - but everything slips by you... right? We remain mute to so many wonderful things happening around/within by remaining unreceptive.

Getting back to the topic, there are occasions when you would enjoy a song immensely and will NOT be able to recapture those magically melted moments when you hear the same song later. Having said that, I am also of the view that there are quite a few songs that would take you to a different level - no matter where you are. For example, the song "Senthazham poovil..", "Keladi Kanmani, Padagan sangadhi", etc. Have you heard the song - "Oru Kunguma Sengamalam" ?? (its not widely heard as the other songs mentioned). The magic of SPB's voice could be SEEN (not just heard!). Everytime I hear this song, it takes me to a different level. If you haven't heard it so far... just let me know, I will have it send it across to you. I have a huge collection of wonderful songs and regularly did hear them when I was staying alone. But these days, I hardly find any time (well, thats the excuse !!).

Suchoo... By the way, that song - "Yengeyum Yeppodhum" is NOT from the film BILLA, it is from the movie "Ninai-thale Innikkum" (do you know the specific importance of this film, Ninaithale Innikum??).

** Singara Chennai **

A friend of mine living in US had asked me on whats happening in Singara Chennai. I sent a reply, which I think is fit enough to be recorded in our blog... Here is what I wrote.

News about Singara Chennai .....????

This may be a myopic view of mine - but, as far as I see, this place is getting more and more crowded and it keeps increasing every day. That doesnt stop people from spending more and more to buy houses in the crowded city and making it more and more unlivable. Let us take the case of Arcot Road, close to which I live and commute every day.

Right at this time of sending out this mail, numerous flats are under construction in and around Arcot road. According to an available estimate, around 7500 houses are going to be added within the next few days (flats already under construction). As per the available trend, a small single bedroom house would cost around 30 lakhs (lowest). And a person who can spend 30 lakhs would be in possession of a car or would be getting one in a few days time. So, add 7500 cars to our narrow and filthy Arcot road.

If one thinks that this is all - I would consider him/her naive - because, I have not added shopping malls and multipliex theatres !! The old National theatre has been demolished and a new multiplex cinema theatre is under construction. So add another atleast 500 more vehicles (lowest estimate). And there is one huge shopping complex coming up at Alwarthirunagar junction. All these things are going to happen within the next two or three years. But not a single effort has been made to widen the awfuly encroached upon, crowded and narrow Arcot roads.

I would say that if you dont have any specific reason to live in Chennai - you should consider quitting the city to go and live in a remote village - far and away from the maddening crowd. That, in fact, is my retirement plan, if I happen to live till that time !!

Pilgrimage......

Hi Gowri

Have a wonderful time... I remember that you told that this is the first time you are going to this shrine..... think you are going with the company of some friends.....I am sure you will enjoy the trip and come back with lot of energy and vitality.....!!

I am getting ready to read your description of the tour and specific experiences....

suchoo

Nov 27, 2007

** Pilgrimage **
I am leaving for Sabarimala tomorrow (Nov/28) and the planned pilgrimage is for 4 days. Would be out of office for the next few days....

Volunteering

Hi

Basically sort of lazy guy and having an added advantage of not knowing too many aspects of practical life, it was quite a huge thing for me to be a volunteer at Isha for a brief period....It all started in 2004 when I joined Ford...I started attending all the 13 days class at Mambalam (which happens once in 4 months)...I have attended practically all classes until this March....around 10 classes excluding one session that happened during my sweden stay......

The indulgence in Green Hands was a huge part of experience and for close to 4 months I enjoyed every moment of our Awareness Camp in various schools and it was wonderful to see that such a social project was not very different from the class volunteering......I still remember lot of tender moments and my own frequency levels while I was in action.
In one particular school - the principal Lady (Gurunanak Hr Secondary school, velachery) observed me waiting to meet her outside her room...after she walked to her room supervising few people she sent for me and I went inside....I told in 3 minutes about our project and wanted to have some time to talk in their assembly...she was watching me quite intently and I could see that she had a very calm and powerful eyes...perhaps she is into some transcendal meditation....after I finished off my crisp introduction, she bluntly told me before any thing else that I carry very positive vibration around me...I literally blushed in front not because I felt underserved for this comment because I COULD FEEL IT MYSELF !!....she was very co-operative for the project too)

During those 13 days, I reach a different frequency and there were many days I cannot sleep more than 2 or 3 hours considering that I had to leave very early for the morning class and sleep would not come before 12 AM midnight as I will be fully charged....Office just passes off effortlessly on those days and I think that whole eternity gets adjusted itself to ensure that I dont take a break in between those 13 days...in Particular, on the Games day and on initiation, I used to be in full flow without any other thoughts on any other aspects of life.....!!

I still remember the March 2007 class which was the last 13 day program - on the initiation day I was crying my heart out...(perhaps I knew that it was my last class !!) It was the last class at chennai in the old format and the new format was without Shoonya meditation....which was like a rude shock for me... Later when I did the class in May, I did enjoy the sunday which was very different experience BUT still it did not have a seperate initation hall arrangement....and some how I never felt like going to the two subsequent classes at Mambalam until now....I just absconded from the class....

I dont want to reason out my sudden change....neither I want to justify my absence these days.....The phone call kept coming for the august class and during october, there was just a courtesy call which was not followed up....there are enough people to take care of the class !!

I some how feel that I have seen the depth of the volunteering within myself and I am bit scared that I could become full of action and bit dry and mechanical if I go on and on in this....Further, it is quite costly in terms of time and allocation of substantial time....I know there are lot of people who go deeper and deeper and their whole personality change over a period of time with volunteering but I am quite contented with getting into a molten stage as an outcome of my volunteering....and would prefer to retain my "expression".....It will be ofcourse quite nice to regulate it but definitely I dont want to throw it away completely....

Who knows, I may reach a stage when I get fed up with my volatile moods and decide to throw away my "expressions" ...then perhaps I have no shame in going back to Isha as a volunteer....Till the time I get ripened to this state, the "moments of bliss" and "transcendance" will keep me enough fit ..... I am sure.....

suchoo

Moments of Bliss 2 - Music that literally melts....

Hi Gowri

Today I have been to a marrriage reception - relatives of Anoo - at Palavanthaangal straight from office....The hall was quite close to Railway station and I could reach it without any hassles where Madhoo and Anoo had come straight from home......!! My dear Gentleman (Sadhguru) stared at me with my monalisa smile just outside the hall main entrance through a poster...

Looks like they have Isha classes in this Marriage hall...I have heard that there is a good band of volunteers at Nanganallur...In fact my last volunteering was in March and I have never volunteered after the New syllabus class which I attended during May.....To be very honest, I am no more a Isha Volunteer as of now though I joined their Dhyana Yatra Tour...and I think I have completed my innings as a volunteer.....!! (thats going to be my next musing !!)

Inspite of this, when I met his eyes, it took some time for me to take my eyes off him and was calmed down inside which I could clearly see....I had already done my Shoonya at office and we could have walked to the Dining Hall straight as it was around 8.30...There was Light Music going on in the finishing stages and I wanted to hear couple of songs as the instruments were well kept and optimally audible (there was a hospital near by and the Lead announced some time after a song that they deliberately are playing cool as the Hospital had requested them)

I belonged to the bride's side and looks like the Groom was born and brought up at Mumbai...a group of 1 dozen uncles from mumbai, all of them in (three piece) coat & suit started dancing holding their hands to a Hindi Classic of 70's....stunning the whole crowd....!! they were all 50 + in age and some of their wives too joined in typical culture they were all brought in...

I was observing them and the shocked Madhoo calmly and really enjoying the wonderful song....once the song is over, the lead of the troupe (a young boy perhaps around 27 - 28) came to the stage and sang a wonderful Hind song understanding the taste of the group that was dancing....(I dont remember the words exactly but I have heard this quite famous song couple of times....."Chupke chupke....magazhzhzh.....!!" - is it Kishore kumar's film ?? not too sure)... The song was simply mesmerising and it got magnfied with that young boy who was singing it with eyes closed and really rendering it from his soul.....

I started feeling the moistness in my eyes and got so involved with this song and did not even feel like getting up for dinner...After a thunderous applause, the Boy started the famous song of "BILLA" - I am not sure if he sang the original one or the remixed one....(engeeyum eppodum...sangeetham....santhosham...). Already in a extra ordinary state, this song moved inside me like a huge eruption and I was also feeling parellelly ashamed why I never heard this song properly earlier....particularly the music at the end of the repeated first two lines...."dan dan dan .....dan dan dandan" resembling the famous punnagavaraali raagam (aadu paambe vilaiyaadu paambe !!"

such a wonderful song got ended after few timeless minutes and I was getting up walking towards the Dining Hall quite mechanically....!! It was like a big meditation session and you are left with absolutely no excitement about any thing if you get dissolved....!! Good that the food was buffet and I just got the freedom to serve very little Bisibela bath and curd rice only without frittering myself away in too many items when they serve the food....

While I scribble down this great moment in our e-diary (is it eternal diary ??), I do clearly see that its not music that melts human beings....its just our own receptivity levels which does the magic....!!

I could have even felt the depth of the music in some other song which I consider ordinary when I get into this mood.....!! For that matter, it was truely a great day today when I discovered the wonder of this Rajni's stylish song that was a mass hit....!! (I also like his Shamboo shiva shamboo....jagamee mandiram...very much...sort of mystical voice of MSV)

suchoo

** Pilgrimage **

I am leaving for Sabarimala tomorrow (Nov/28) and the planned pilgrimage is for 4 days. Would be out of office for the next few days....

** Best Place to Live **

As per latest UN Human development Index - Iceleand tops as the best place to live in the world. US is out of top ten. The top five best places, as per the latest ranking are .... Iceland, Norway, Australia, Canada and Ireland (Where does India stand?? :) )

To know more read the article below.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071127/lf_nm_life/un_development_index_dc

My mental Block....on learning !!

Dear Gowri

Perhaps you guessed it already - with the too many glimpses on my personality showed in front of you....!!

In terms of imagination of a non existing problem, pro-activeness and getting geared up to face an eventuality, using the right words and right approach to take upon the eventuality & to a great extend in engaging the team members, I have a fairly good self image about me.... I had joined in this team during Feb which is considered to be a very stable process.....and there could not be much scope for me to enhance things further to this....

So much of process improvements have been enabled (note - not done by myself - all that I do is to ask simple question to people around...and connect two statements made by them....which seemingly they have never done before...its at times funny but it worked for me, repeatedly...) and there is a long list of things that is yet to be done in addition to improving the metrics in many aspects...so much have been made possible in the past 8 months....Few team members' fortunes have been turnaround by enhancing their profile, some of them seeing lot of self improvements with my constant triggering....all this have been well recognised by the management too.....about which I dont have any doubts.....!! I have a good recognition at Market (Hungary) too which is considered an important yardstick in our industry in addition to creating sufficient visibility at our Management circles too with few of my initiatives.....!!

Now comes the real problem or peril....perhaps I will be the only person in a supervisory position in entire office who is totally ignorant about doing any thing independently....sitting in front of our accounting package...It may appear funny but its truth that in the first 6 months, I was busy revamping the organisation structure and ensuring engagement level of various people, lavishly praising and empowering people....which were making magic with the team....With my eyes set on reaching the next level (where the "little things" like searching for the information myself need not become so important), I even consider skipping the learning of elementary things....which is really slightly odd when there comes a discussion on details....!!

Perhaps, I had tried quite a number of times to learn few basics but due to inconsistency and lack of persevance I could not really get a good confidence levels...In fact, the self imposed goal on learnings are really not so crucial but I thought them to pep up my confidence level....!! In fact, even now, it is not too late, I can get hands on into some playing around for a committed time on day to day basis...to get out of this horrible situation - which I am afraid is one of the reason for my mental depressions....and needless imaginations....!! it is quite funny how after touching so much of milestones, I could afford to be so fragile but it is a fact which I cannot deny....

I only wish that with today's transcendance which happened quite by luck, I learn things in bite size chuncks so that over a period of time I develop a taste for "learning" new things....which are practically useful...!! What to do, some people around us measure us in three dimension...and dont give a discount factor for some enormous strengths that we possess !! Let me measure up to every one around....to some basic level at least.....!!

suchoo

Transcendance - 1

Hi

Today morning was another day of "inertness" for me.....The week end went of quite lazily and I was fearing that today its going to be the same old story which I have experienced quite often in the past.....

In fact on saturday, the whole day was available for me to type out my two poems (the adapter to Modem was faulty and the computer at home was not in action for more than two weeks) but I was in such a shabby mood that the poems conceived during my moments of "high" appeared to be a huge comedy when I looked at it in a depression spell.....I decided not to post them in the web.......as I found the duplicity of the statements of the poem.....!! Unable to stand with the stench of the gap between the words and what practically I was, I felt not to de-sanctify this blog with those words......!!

When I woke up today morning hearing the alarm clock which rang at 5 AM sharp, with the usual sense of fear to face the day, I pushed back the next wake up call at 6.30 AM (Now you understand why Madhoo is late for her 7.30 vehicle !!)....deciding to skip the pranayam practise (which takes a solid 1 hour for me)....When I woke up, I had decided to bunk (yes I mean it) the office which I have done quite a number of times in the past......! I did not tell this to Anoo (fearing an arguement) and after Madhoo left, I casually told it to her.....!!

She was actually preparing my lunch and it was so clear that she got so frustrated that her efforts are going waste more than my mental depression which put up my depression by few notches higher (how selfish ...isn't she ??) ....... Obviously she is fed up with my mood swings and I could clearly feel that I cant get any sympathy from her.....I could have avoided telling her trying to enter the home after she left for her school....but it would mean complicating things......!! There were couple of commitments at office which are dragging and needed an enthusiatic "me" reaching office and with my mood today morning - I was fearing to reach office.....!! Even on normal mood, mondays make my eyes red and I reach back home with head ache ...due to over-resting on sundays.....!! Today is not a day I am eager to see myself at office !!

With Anoo's "familiar" decibel level going high (she was even telling me that I needed a psychriatist advice immediately - which is some thing even I am wondering), I impulsively decided to go to office and face the office situation instead of hearing her "musical" voice & bruding about me and my moods for the whole day sitting at home.....!! within 8 minutes I was out of the home walking towards Railway station....skipping my breakfast and taking the lunch which was ready by then....I missed my usual bus and reached office at half hour late..On the way, at railway station, in the train and at the office bus at guindy, I had been closing my eyes not out of meditativeness but not interested to look at any thing around me.....!!

At the end of the day, I am not going to say it was a great day...and I got charged reaching office and started wondering why I left today in such a depressed state ...while it is also a truth that it was not an out and out "inert" day at office....I was able to cheer myself with some sense of artificialness during today , get started on a long pending work (not myself but just observed my team getting started) and think tomorrow will be much much better than today....I do have some real action plan on few sore points at office and things that I have been putting off due to some psychological blocks......!! (I think the next posting will be on a core block that I do have...its better I vomit it out in three dimension)

There had been fascinating days earlier to this at office where I had felt blissful and really worthy of being born....!! those of my days of "highs" where I oozed out my energy and confidence level on every one around me......!! On those days I was capable of inspiring the people who reach office depressed & had enthused people with low self image.....!! Still, on such days, there used to be a fear in the corner of the mind about the "averaging / balancing factor" that was nicely put forth by you....with some restlessness inside me not to dance too much.....!!

I would personally call TODAY as a day of trancendance that had happened to me during the whole of 2007 !! Because, if only I had not gathered the will to reach the office today, the evening could have become much more worse than the morning, leave alone tomorrow morning...the piled up mails tomorrow morning could make my situation bad to worse...there is a really good possibility that my unplanned absences could have irritated my boss with whom I share excellent rapport until now... & last but the most tragic of all.....there is a possibility that my team members could have taken me as a very wrong example by setting precendence of irresponsible attitude.....

When I walked back to home from Railway station, no doubt, my head was so heavy but eyes are red...but my mind is much better.....

suchoo

Telecom & India

Gowri

Your series on Telecom is quite interesting and I am sure you will elongate it much more than my naive questions.....Honestly I have never heard of Sam Petroda's name earlier and I thought he could be the BIL of our Late PM (I mean Sonia's brother or cousin.... hi hi)

But, with due regards to your praise on Rajeev, I feel that the mushrooming of PCOs is mainly due to our overpopulated scenario which I dont think was envisioned by Rajeev.....I read some thing else some time back in totally different context....The article was about the land pollution due to plastic materials which the western countries got alert in late 80's.....

While lamenting the fate of our country where we have started using Polythene extensively, the article ends with a comfort that we may not affected at the rate at which those developed countries got affected.....Reason ?? we have a huge industry of collecting the garbage for more than two decades who ensure that they dont allow any thing that can be encashed to go waste....even now, I have watched some of them actively "stealing" the wanted things from ONYX Dust Bins before the huge lorry comes for a round for collection....

The overpopulation brings its own ways of plusses and minuses.....Referring back to the Onyx Lorries, I have watched quite surprised that exactly similar type of lorries at Gothburg (sweden) used to be managed by just one person (just one....many of them are ladies also)...they drive the vehicle, park it in a corner close to the Dust bins, use the remote operated fork lifts, place back the dust bin, get into the vehicle to move on to next street.....In our country, we have at least 3 people doing this job not so efficiently...I am not talking about the number of bins cleared here BUT about the productivity....they dont clear it much faster than that 6 feet woman of sweden....

So the upsurge of PCOs, Cell phones and Mobikes are all welcome for this country......which happened to some extend due to paucity of leadership of factoring into such factors....

I am only afraid if the latest 1 lac car of Tata (is it going to be still at the same price) is going to be another huge success.....before the Kathipara Flyover is fully built......!!

suchoo

"Trade Cycles"

Hi Gowri

I liked particularly this piece on the fate of karodpathi.....!! It is too tragic and it is really nice some one thought about tracking the whereabouts of this young boy......!!

Sadhguru writes in AV in his current article "that which you consider amudham becomes visham & that which you consider visham could ultimately be your amudham".....But it is also a fact that there are shrewd people who dont get fallen to fate like this....

The whole web of cause and effect is so complex that we need to become like "Gajini" willing to handle / appreciate / perceive things purely independent of our pattern of thinking.....!!

For that matter, the fate of the person who conducted the program (AB) was a huge turnaround with this program right....I even read some where that he is ultimately become a crorepathy with that program...... after going dire straits for a long time...

suchoo


** Rs 1 Crore winner **
Harshavardhan Navathe was the first person to win Rs. 1 crore in KBC, a popular TV Show. Do you like to know what happened to his person after he won the price money? .... If yes, please do check the link below http://www.india-forums.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=16828
Posted by Gowri at

** Rs 1 Crore winner **

Harshavardhan Navathe was the first person to win Rs. 1 crore in KBC, a popular TV Show. Do you like to know what happened to his person after he won the price money? .... If yes, please do check the link below

http://www.india-forums.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=16828

** VP Singh **

While writing about the growth of Telecommunication in India, I had mentioned that the present growth and development of Telecommunication is truly due to the vision and courage of two individuals - Rajiv Gandhi and Sam Pitorda.

While writing that, I could not help but remember VP Singh, who, in my view, is the worst ever PM that India had ever had. While two individuals helped India on the path of growth, VP Singh single handedly managed to destroy India to a greater extent. What Pakistan could not do was successfully done by this person named VP Singh. He implemented the Mandal Commission that set the nation on fire. To counter that, Advani started the Rath Yatra. Mandal and Rath Yatra are two things that have changed the face of India to a greater extent. We would have been a lot better without those two. But who can win the destiny?

** Pete Sampras **

Pete Sampras defeated Roger Federer in an exhibition match in Macau. While Federer had already won two of the three matches earlier, this victory of Pete over Roger is something that I thought was impossible. Pete having retired a few years before, coming back to win the present world No.1 Federer is something out of the world. Pete later said that he wanted to win atleast one set in the 3 matches. It may be an exhibition match, but credit should be given to Pete Sampras for his talent.

** Mobile Technology growth in India **

The following link gives a detailed description and analysis on mobile communication spread and its implications in India. (But the page is poorly presented and you should have little bit of patience to read through the article).

http://www.acadjournal.com/2007/V21/part6/p7/

** Telecommunication in India - Part II **

I had mentioned in my previous series that both Rajiv Gandhi, the then PM of India, and Sam Pitorda were the two central figures for the Telecom revolution in India. In the early 80s, in India, telephones were considered a sign of luxury and it existed only in the residence of higher income group people. Sam Pitorda stepped in to change the whole scenario. He formed the C-Dot, which brought in the "yellow board"-ed PCOs across the nation. C-Dot gave to India the local telephone meters that generated bills for every local call (earlier it was centralised and only Telephone exchanges generated bills.)

It was in the late 80s that PCOs became too famous in India. It spread across India like a wildfire. It, in my view, served two distinct benefits. The much wanted communication network - the prime purpose and also was a source of livelihood to a lot of many people. (Importantly, it helped a lot of handicapped people who were seen maintaining PCOs which gave them a source of livelihood).

If India could boast of its IT today, it is solely because of the initiatives of Rajiv & Sam. Rajiv was the one who sowed the seeds of our today's growth. Digitalisation and Satellite communication helped the faster growth of Telecommunication in India.

The next big change came in the early 90s. It was during PV Narasimha Rao's regime that the Telecommunication sector was set free from the Govt monopoly. Private operators were allowed to try out their hands. This led to the growth of Mobile communication in India and it also helped India get some well needed foreign investment. Initially, it was started in just four metros and even in metros, the number of operators were restricted to just two. During the initial stages the call charges were exhorbitant. Every minute of local call cost around Rs.24/- for outgoing and Rs.18/- for incoming (I could be completely wrong with this figures - however, they are just figurative!).

The Local demand in market picked up as the cost of handsets and call charges slowly came down. And, as the costs came down, the demand went up and higher. It was a wonderful economic cycle that helped the uptrend of the Mobile technology in India. Today, the Mobile Telephone market in India is too big with more than 100 million subscribers. The total number of people who earn their bread through this Industry is huge (the Service providers, handset manufacturers, field installation folks, etc. Add to that the shopkeepers who do sell the recharge cards and the roadside vendors who sell those covers, key pads and all such simple things).

The Telecom revolution in India is true for all of us to witness. It had happened just because of the vision that Rajiv Gandhi and Sam Pitorda had.

** Chennai MRTS **

The second phase of the "Flying Train" from Thirumailai to Velachery was opened to public on 19 Nov 2007. See some of the interesting facts below...

Conceived way back in 1984, the first phase of the project (between Beach Station and Mylapore) was completed in 1997 at a cost of Rs 269 crore (fully met by Railways with the State Govt just giving the land free of cost).

The second phase from Tirumailai to Velachery, a distance of 10.8 Kms has incurred an exp of over Rs.777 crores. (State Govt and Railways shared the cost at 2:1 ratio)

It took nearly 36 years for the railways to complete the first two phases of the elevated project.

Three more phases — Velachery to St. Thomas Mount, St.Thomas Mount to Villivakkam and Villivakkam to Enoore — are to be completed.

** Telecommunication in India - Part I **

The first question....

(1) Was the mobile launched in India 20 years back...OR you were making a mention of the Telecom Policy of India - in general ?? I dont remember having seen any mobile before 90 and thought it could be relevant to ask you this question.....

The discussion is not about the "Mobile" phone alone. I looked to its root. It was Rajiv Gandhi who made Sam Pitorda to give up his job in USA and made him the Minister of Telecommunication in the late 80s. Rajiv Gandhi was the first PM of India who spoke about Computers and taking India towards 21st century, when most of us were worried about our day-to-day problems. There was NO foresight and vision given to the growth aspect, even at higher level of the organisation. Rajiv Gandhi was a gift to our Nation. He had a vision and that helped. IT and Telecommunication got its impetus and push during his period. Today, we are just reaping the fruits. (...Aana.. "Vidha".. naan pottadhu - remember the way Sivaji delivers this dialogue in "Thevar Magan"?).

Today, we in India, can boast of an excellent Telecommunication network - even better than Russia. My friend had been to Russia last year and said that he had to go to airport or to a far off place just to make an ISD call !! Can you believe that? I remember one of my uncles going to airport to make ISD calls - but that was in the 70s and early 80s !! The growth of IT and Telecommunication in India did not happen overnight. There was some well laid out plan and preparations done by people with vision. Rajiv Gandhi and Sam Pitorda were the chief architects of this growth and development. How?... lets see that in my next series.

** Replies **

The backlog is piling up and I thought to clear a few....

While, as per the 'policy' of our blog, eventhough we dont have to respond to each and every post, I make it a point to convey my thoughts that flashes across my mind on reading posts. Here goes a few.....

On Telecommunication in India... "viraivil veli varum".....

Madhoo & Bus Driver

Her laughter, with all innocence, made your day. Point well taken and understood. But let me put across on what went through my mind.... "Why cant this bugger prepare his kid for school well in time? Why should he be late? Why cant he put the clock faster by 15 minutes without informing both Anoo & Madhoo (a secret operation)? ". YES, these are all theoretical aspects... practically... may be, I too would have done what you did !!! But, you cant stop my theoretical calculations... right??? :o)

Audience

What is the big deal if we happen to have unknown audience? Yes, 90% of them would have tripped on to this blog quite accidentally. What matters? Well, just to keep you informed, a lot of hits were through Isha-blog and I am sure, atleast a few must have gone through your article (atleast a part of it!). And also, one will understand the " www search" operation better only when it is done. For eg, Google helps us to trip on to so many sites, which includes a few good one where you tend to get a wealth of information.

Innocence

I looked at the (Shoaib Akthar) incident from a different angle....."the impact made by Sachin on a mentally retarded child" ! Neither the game cricket - nor the win/lose aspect crossed my mind. Just the innocence of the kid and his idol Sachin.

Innocence "made serious"

It was a very nice news that I liked in our blog......

The positive thing about this piece is that Akthar, who seem to be a ruffian is capable of finer feelings also.....I would not be surprised if he had slapped the mentally retarted boy !!

While the purpose of posting well understood particularly when read in conjunction with the Title (Innocence), almost every one of the audience are in some degree of mental retardation only....

It is really unfair to expect always favourable result in any game and all the audience are unconsciously (& not really labelled as "retarted") gets identified with one of the team in the play and get into bouts of emotions based on twists and turns of the game.....either way.....!! I am getting reminded of the article which I posted long time back at Vanagiri Group (ofcourse by Sadhguru) on enjoying the game in the truest sense without getting identified into the result....The drop in efficiency and level of enjoyment was explained with great wisdom but it appeared to be impractical by the Vanagiri members including the Moderator himself.....!!

Now, what gets connected in my mind is the seemingly "innocence" of the audience !!

As Sadhguru says there is always a big gap between understanding and experience.....which I can see it myself....Now the question is to bridge the gap between the understanding of majority of the people with my understanding......!!

I think I can't keep leaking out in every possible opportunity !! After all, its my own diary, isn't it ??

suchoo


Nov 14, 2007

** Innocence **
Saw a clipping in a news channel in which, Pakistan bowler, Shoaib Akthar, was on a charity mission visiting a school for mentally retarded. One of the kids, with all innocence writ all over his face said to Shoaib Akthar..."aap Sachin ko out muth karo" (dont take Sachin's wicket). For which, Shoaib, with all laughter said - "sirf Sachin ko out muth karoonga bakhee sub ko out karoonga" (barring Saching I will get everyone out!).

Audience.....For every thing !!

Hi

This does not sound much interesting for me....We have audience or on lookers for any thing and every thing......We have a new creed of population using computers only for internet surfing which is much futile than channel surfing of Television.....

Is every thing done by all with a purpose ?? Is every word uttered with some conviction and when there is a real need ?? Is every food / snack eaten only when there is hunger ?? Does every thought ripple of human mind has some purpose....??

The mere fact that you did not (did you) get any comments posted by any one comforts me that this blog is not too interesting for them and they bumped into our Diary quite by accident....It will be much better statistics how long the hits lasted ??

By the by, I went and verified Ishablog and found that they have heeded to your request.....It will be quite interesting to know if some one from our 150 member crew reads my article and is wondering who this suchoo is !! I am quite sure if one of my Salem & Pondy Bus mate reads it, he can very easily identify me....the black sheep in the bus who adamantly did not socialise or participate in their fun games....

suchoo

** Audience **
I find it quite interesting and amusing when I see the list of Nations from which this Blog had had 'hits'. The list is quite impressive with Nations like US, UK Germany, Canada, Chile, Romania, Greece, Botswana, Switzerland, Spain and ofcourse India. What they came looking for and what they got ....

** Audience **

I find it quite interesting and amusing when I see the list of Nations from which this Blog had had 'hits'. The list is quite impressive with Nations like US, UK Germany, Canada, Chile, Romania, Greece, Botswana, Switzerland, Spain and ofcourse India. What they came looking for and what they got ....

Moments of Bliss 1 -Madhoo @ School Bus - today

Hi All

I have had many moments of bliss when I watch the emotions of my sweet little daughter Madhoo...Her face is much more radiant and energising these days with the fallen front teeth (yes, I mean it....both the front teeth have fallen now) reminding that she is getting into a girl hood from being a tiny daughter...

As we normally have a mini project daily to wake her up at 7 AM (her school bus comes sharp at 7.30 AM quite close to our home, at the street junction), both me and Anoo used to be quite hyper active for that crucial 30 minutes.....Many days we end up doing the To Do list couple of minutes late hurrying up to the junction where the Bus Driver keep honking restlessly.

Looks like he has scolded Madhoo couple of times and last week it appears that she had virtually cried in the bus needing the Driver to stop the bus and reach to her seat to cajole her.....We got this news through some teacher who travels in the bus but Madhoo never shares such embarassing moments with us (maanasthi !!)

Today morning, it was again a LATE day and I could watch that she was very tense and nervous as we walked towards the bus...The Driver was looking back from his seat and when I met his eye, I smiled at him and watched for his mood....When his assistant hurriedly picked up her from me & took over her bag also, Madhoo had started crying anticipating the inevitable..

Getting reminded of the last week episode, I was standing there in the other side of the road watching the sobbing madhoo hiding from my view as she approached the bus - I could see her face once again only when she went into the stairs of the bus. The Driver was telling her some thing with a smile and it was fascinating to see her face with glowing smile...and the mental depression vanished completely....She was looking at me now cheerfully and fully relieved with the driver's reception.....communicating without a word that "all is well"..... It was truely a great moment & made my day.....!!

I turned back silently towards my flat wondering the intricacies of human relationships and the magic of moods with external stimulii....In fact, I also got into some serious thoughts on how most of our happiness /cheer is due to negation of bad incidents that we imagine / fear could happen...!!

Am I stretching myself too much.....?? Is the connection of the incident with my practical question not so clear ??

suchoo

** INTROs **

Suchoo... you are becoming a master of giving "Introductions" and "Preludes to Introductions" !! Your last three mails were all Intros and Preludes ! Keep it rocking boss....

Well, after quite sometime, I logged into the blog from my Desktop (it was always on the laptop till date) and I literally went aghast with the "Govinda Yellow" background (It was not at all a "Govinda shade" when I see the same in a Laptop). So, the first thing I did was to change the background. Not satisfied with any of the available colours, I finally have settled down (have I?) for a light grey shade.

*** Best Q & As ***

Cho is always at his best in his Q&A session in Thuglak. The first thing I read every week in Thuglak are his editorial and the Q&A Session. The below are his latest gems ....

My two poems !!

Hi

I have been toying an idea for a poem in the title "Kapadam Vikatam" during last week and could successfully sit on thursday night to put in black and white...

Very similar to what happened to Kamal (he wanted to explore for his lifetime movie "marudhanayakam" - accidentally bumped on another real life story in some TN village and made "devar maghan"), I found myself reeling toward another poem which I wrote down quite effortlessly - it is titled "Anniayan Avadharithaan"...!!

I had strong temptation to merge these two, but resisted my temptation and ensured that I completed the second one fearing it could become too long ..... Then when I sat down for my original thought, I ended up with a long skeleton with around 10 paras but was not feeling happy ....It was too much of words and really diluting the message ......I decided to try it subsequently as I was tired after a long day.....!!

On Friday, suddenly I got a strong urge to make the poem as little as possible really wanting to try out some degree of abstraction.....!! All these days, my poems - as I had expressed in my earlier mail - have been a tool of outpouring only and I had allowed them the way it was flowing.....It was only an emotional affair all these days but here for the first time, I am trying to apply my head trying to structure it properly instead of a hasty written one...

Even as of now, I have not yet completed it...I wish to write it during next two / three days and post both the poems in the blog....!! It is really a nice feeling to resist my expression as it is and holding the same for its improvisation....particularly when I am not used to using intelligence in writing poem until now.....!!

I am sure this is too much of a prelude but I thought of putting this in record...

suchoo

"Express Yourself"

Hi Gowri

I still remember the blissful moments when I stared at a wonderful ad of AIRTEL in one of their showroom when I went to pay the bill....This happened approx 4 years back but I still remember how involved I was staring at the Black words written against the White background in the wall .... listing out various letters in English in alphabetic order depicting various expressions.....("argue", "reconcile", "plead"..... & so on) and on the top of that, the caption of AIRTEL "Express Yourself"...

I was impulsively asking for a pamplet showing this in miniature but the girl in the show room told she did not have any ..... It took me many occassions and moments later on to discover that I got so involved with that wall poster because of my basic craving towards it....I have been passionately improvising ng on this skill...observing people who talk nicely with lot of admiration & trying to analyse the structure of presentations and public speaking more than the content part, the spillage of humour sense, doing experiments on my own on few opportunities......!!

I have been writing diary for quite a long time - if not daily, quite regularly - used the written form of expressions more than the verbal ones as I found I tend to become silly and getting casual when I spoke....In fact the participation in the contests of Vanagiri have really put me in the next gear and I am immensily enjoying my poems more than getting them written for the sake of audience....I also observed that I got out of my depression spell just by MUSING
in this e-diary couple of times...

Yesterday, I was on a long walk at Marina Beach all alone (from Santhome to Anna Square - to and fro) and was thinking if I can use my craving for expression as a self development tool....I got some simple idea of synergising my YOGA inclinations with this ebook and would be shortly starting two new series that may never end......!!

One will be titled "Moments of Bliss" and another one as "Transcendance" ......Both may start with some introduction, may have some musings towards the end, may describe me in action or the experience of others which I observed hands on..., may be daily posting or once a fortnight - As such I dont have any plan on HOW they should be....My only wish is to record my present in a systematic manner in our blog....to vent out and move forward in life....

I feel two seperate series are required as in the former one I wish to capture some thing that happened which is not necessarily happening based on my own volition.....while the latter one will be some conscious attempt / effort on my side.....like the yesterday's - nearly 1 & half hour - walk which really was a very satisfactory experience.....!!

Let me post my experiences in the past two three days in next session...

suchoo

On my Non Musings on Issues of National & importance

It is quite nice to read such postings on National importance. To put it bit poetically (I deserve these days for using such an expression, right ??), considering that reading Newspaper OR watching TV is not in my routine, these postings serve as a window to me which allows me to peep into what is happening outside.....

As we have unanimously agreed, this is a Diary and the name of the blogspot was well chosen to remind ourselves ...and I have no intention to write any thing in the nature of comment on your posting......(I dont remember the past so easily !!). This posting is just a prelude for my next two postings which are going to be quite historic (at least for me and my future postings in this blog).

So, while it is a fact that I read every single posting that you make with great interest, it is also a fact that at the end of the posting, my mind is blank....and does not yield to forming any opinion on the subject...Some times (like the posting on Mobile portability) I do get some doubts but thats different...I am talking about ISSUES.....a very classic example is Nandigram which I have pasted below....

It will be really nice if the Government is sportive enough to relook the decisions made and do the corrections needed (if it feels it is necessary based on representations.....I am not explicity stating that a decision- in the first place- needs to be based on a professional assessment). The Governed too - in turn - learns to accept the decision and work towards the execution of the same (if we have a part to play) & give our total support for the decisions without any qualms....( I am talking about a mental state reading in following lines...."I wish things will be better if decision Y is taken.....but ok, since Government has decided to proceed X, its time to wash the face and ensure if X is implemented without any loopholes"...

It is very easy to muse on such generalised thoughts and the tons and tons of details on every single decision may make me off balance....but, I think it is better if the fundamentals are well understood and internalised before starting to act....either as a Government or a responsible person governed....

At the outset on the last line written, I too have a feeling that the decisions made in various spheres are not scoped for future (I think of the annual road contracts given & the investment made in the Metro Lorries to take water quite often).....In cricket terms, it will be really nice if every single shot is played with lot of clarity on the asking run rate & a clear assessment of all the factors at the time of play.....!!

suchoo

Nov 12, 2007

** Nandigram **

Nandigram - a rural area 150 Km away from Kolkatta is the hot spot of the nation. West Bengal (WB) Govt had proposed (on paper) to bring a few areas under Special Economic Zone (SEZ). The problem started when people of Nandigram came to know that a few areas of Nandigram too is in the proposed SEZ list. A pitched battle is on till this moment with no resolution in sight. A lot of people have died and a fierce battle is on. Political parties are hell bent upon utilising this opportunity to garner the votes. It is a common knowledge that it is the CPI-M that were against all such attempts of industrialisation throughout the Nation. Now, they are tasting the bitterness of their own medicine.

Without going into who is right and who is wrong - I feel that Special Economic Zones (SEZs) are very much important for any State for faster growth. Reliability on Agriculture needs to be brought down and Industrial growth must be resorted to - to meet the population growth rate. The Govts of various states have no other way than to resort to faster Industrial growth. It is inevitable. So is the protest of the people from those areas whose land would come under threat. People like Karunanidhi would readily give away such growth plans for the sake of remaining in power and for the sake of few hundred votes (as they readily did in the recent past). Giving away such ambitious projects would only be doing justice to the present generation at the cost of future generation. No doubt, it is a choice between devil and deep-sea. But what is Governance that does not think about the future?

Posted by Gowri at 8:53 PM 0 comments

Myopic view on Mobiles....!!

Hi

It was quite interesting to read your posting about the Mobile Number Portability......Thought I could understand the importance and the advantages of this, I cannot definitely fully agree with your last line.....until and unless I understand who is Sam Pitroda......!! Hope you will clarify the same in your next posting for the benefits of lesser mortals like me....(Use the same technology.....cut and paste these two base postings so that it could be an interesting reading to any passer by of our blog)

Also please clarify the following doubts I get when I read this piece......

(1) Was the mobile launched in India 20 years back...OR you were making a mention of the Telecom Policy of India - in general ?? I dont remember having seen any mobile before 90 and thought it could be relevant to ask you this question.....

(2) Please give a brief sketch of the history of Mobile Phone if you think it could add some value to our blog - you can make it as a interesting series....as I am going to propose some thing in next postings...thought a sort of "commitment" in expressions can make our Musings an excellent tool to support ourselves when we undergo a depression spell (this is particularly true for me.....as you know very well)

(3) coming to the specific information that you wrote I get few doubts......some of them could be silly......but the fact is that they are genuine.....I am sure you will respond (as you have been doing - atleast - in my case)

(a) Is this a decision taken by Government or the Business (Service Providers) ?? Is it existing right now in Europe and in US....I guess this is just a natural evolution to the next stage, right ??

(b) Why the hell it takes so long to implement such things which are appealing to common sense....Like how ATM centres are shared by all banks (of course at a cost), such a thing should be a natural way to get things started.....("Begin with the end in the mind")

(c) Does this mean that the numbers will continued to be provided by respective service providers in future (for easier identification) OR there will be a centralised number providing agency / set up (I dont think second one is likely)

(d) I am sure this is going to be done by all service providers....without exceptions (reliance ??)....I remember the complexities and anomolies in VAT implementation..and in a way this is an offshoot of (a) above....

suchoo

Nov 14, 2007

** Mobile Number Portability **

Very soon, its going to be possible in India !! Mobile number Portability (retaining the current mobile number, even when we wish to change the operator). It would, very shortly be implemented in the four metros and later would be implemented pan India. If it is going to happen for real, I tell you, its really a nice and wonderful feature. Every time you wish to change operators (for n number of reasons) - you can do so without the fear of losing contacts. Service providers cannot take their customer base for guarantee. People getting frequent transfers need not worry any longer.

Telecommunication is one thing in India that we all can really be proud of. Thanks to Rajiv Gandhi and Sam Pitroda for their vision and courage that they had before 20 years !!

Posted by Gowri at 9:22 PM

** Innocence **

Saw a clipping in a news channel in which, Pakistan bowler, Shoaib Akthar, was on a charity mission visiting a school for mentally retarded. One of the kids, with all innocence writ all over his face said to Shoaib Akthar..."aap Sachin ko out muth karo" (dont take Sachin's wicket). For which, Shoaib, with all laughter said - "sirf Sachin ko out muth karoonga bakhee sub ko out karoonga" (barring Saching I will get everyone out!).

** Mobile Number Portability **

Very soon, its going to be possible in India !! Mobile number Portability (retaining the current mobile number, even when we wish to change the operator). It would, very shortly be implemented in the four metros and later would be implemented pan India. If it is going to happen for real, I tell you, its really a nice and wonderful feature. Every time you wish to change operators (for n number of reasons) - you can do so without the fear of losing contacts. Service providers cannot take their customer base for guarantee. People getting frequent transfers need not worry any longer.

Telecommunication is one thing in India that we all can really be proud of. Thanks to Rajiv Gandhi and Sam Pitroda for their vision and courage that they had before 20 years !!

** Fun with words **

- I have just Cntrl-V & Cntrl-C-ed the below info... if you have time, you can please check whether every sentence is true.... good luck... :o)

******

DORMITORY: When you rearrange the letters:-> DIRTY ROOM

PRESBYTERIAN: When you rearrange the letters:-> BEST IN PRAYER

ASTRONOMER: When you rearrange the letters: -> MOON STARER

DESPERATION:When you rearrange the letters: -> A ROPE ENDS IT

THE EYES: When you rearrange the letters: -> THEY SEE

GEORGE BUSH: When you rearrange the letters: -> HE BUGS GORE

THE MORSE CODE: When you rearrange the letters:-> HERE COME DOTS

SLOT MACHINES: When you rearrange the letters: -> CASH LOST IN ME

ANIMOSITY: When you rearrange the letters: -> IS NO AMITY

ELECTION RESULTS: When you rearrange the letters: -> LIES - LET'S RECOUNT

SNOOZE ALARMS: When you rearrange the letters: -> ALAS! NO MORE Z 'S

A DECIMAL POINT: When you rearrange the letters: -> IM A DOT IN PLACE

THE EARTHQUAKES: When you rearrange the letters:-> THAT QUEER SHAKE

ELEVEN PLUS TWO: When you rearrange the letters: -> TWELVE PLUS ONE


AND FOR THE GRAND FINALE:

MOTHER-IN-LAW: When you rearrange the letters: -> WOMAN HITLER

** Nandigram **

Nandigram - a rural area 150 Km away from Kolkatta is the hot spot of the nation. West Bengal (WB) Govt had proposed (on paper) to bring a few areas under Special Economic Zone (SEZ). The problem started when people of Nandigram came to know that a few areas of Nandigram too is in the proposed SEZ list. A pitched battle is on till this moment with no resolution in sight. A lot of people have died and a fierce battle is on. Political parties are hell bent upon utilising this opportunity to garner the votes. It is a common knowledge that it is the CPI-M that were against all such attempts of industrialisation throughout the Nation. Now, they are tasting the bitterness of their own medicine.

Without going into who is right and who is wrong - I feel that Special Economic Zones (SEZs) are very much important for any State for faster growth. Reliability on Agriculture needs to be brought down and Industrial growth must be resorted to - to meet the population growth rate. The Govts of various states have no other way than to resort to faster Industrial growth. It is inevitable. So is the protest of the people from those areas whose land would come under threat. People like Karunanidhi would readily give away such growth plans for the sake of remaining in power and for the sake of few hundred votes (as they readily did in the recent past). Giving away such ambitious projects would only be doing justice to the present generation at the cost of future generation. No doubt, it is a choice between devil and deep-sea. But what is Governance that does not think about the future?

** Dollar **

Dont know whether this happened just today or a few days before, but I just took notice of it today .... US Dollar value has fallen below Rs.40. Whether US economy is in the declining phase or the Indian economy is in the upswing is not the question - but how the Indians and India are going to be affected by this trend is foremost in my mind.

India is an import oriented country - so, that way, we should be benefitted. But IT - the present day backbone of India, will take a sever beating if this trend continues. The declining dollar value has already had its effect on Indian IT industry. A lot of companies are already talking about cost cutting measures, lower wages, lower incentives, effective man-power utilisation and all that. This when China is yet to come up in the IT horizon. I am a bit worried about our next generation !! But, what is life without challenges ?? (Ada, pongappa !! Ippadi cholli cholli-ye udamabu rana-galam aagi-p-pochu!!)

** The Sixth Sense **

Happened to see the late 90s movie - "The Sixth Sense". In fact, I enjoyed watching it the second time even more than the first time. "How could have such a great script be conceived at all", is a wonder to me. The story revolves around a kid ( Haley Joel Osment), who sees dead people. I am not a big fan of "Ghost" movies. But this movie is totally different - in its genre, concept and presentation. Dialogues, "I see dead people" followed by "all the time" presented in a hush-hush voice of Haley were truly wonderful and well picturised !! Every character has done justification to their role but Haley, who has acted with great professional perfection, steals the show. I was surprised to learn that Haley had acted in "Forest Gump" too, another favorite movie of mine.

Whenever I had questioned as to why we dont have such good movies produced in India, I have often met with the most repeated excuse, "budget"!! But this movie, "Sixth Sense", which has just 4 main characters, could be completed in a fraction of what is being spent on low budget Tamil movies these days!! Come on, lets think of a different excuse !! ;o)

** Dhyana Yatra Trip **

The following is what Suchoo wrote about his "Dhyana Yatra Trip" experience. I thought it worth to sequence the last four of his narrations, in which he talks about his "experience" ('reverence' is what that came to my mind first). I was not a part of this "Trip" - but, on reading the series that Suchoo wrote in this blog, I somehow started feeling that I too should make this trip, if not now, atleast sometime in future. The way Suchoo has recorded the experience is worth a lot of appreciation as he did not attempt to make it look like a travel guide. With such a wonderful recording, I feel the creation of this blog is well served.

Go on and read the sequence, I am sure, it is worth a few minutes of your time....

-Gowri

Silence by Choice (Walk towards the peak - 8)

It is time to record few subtle moments that I enjoyed during the Dhyana Yatra Trip during Oct 2007.....I am in a way relieved as I had already penned down the fundamentals and the non-essentials (I really mean it !!) before touching this area.....as I can get down to the business in this posting & also the next one which is dedicated on Kedarmath...

One wonderful aspect of the tour was the lectures of Sadhguru played with a help of a projector and a Laptop....at least on 3 / 4 occasions during the trip... I never had any idea that his physical absence could be substituted so wonderfully with such powerful lectures videographed during the earlier Visits (in fact he spoke to us for couple of minutes after one of the lectures - over phone - from US....I think it was at Hrishikesh when his voice was heard by all of us wishing us all a safe and wonderful journey!!)...as I never had the curiosity to understand things before things get unveiled at Isha.....be it their yoga classes OR during my volunteering experiences...

The first lecture was played at Hrishikesh at early morning before getting started towards the hills.....He spoke few things that I clearly understood but could not appreciate too much at that point of time....He was telling the importance of being in the space of the majestic Himalalyas & how it can melt down a person & make him feel little....I was so absorbed with that wonderful lecture....which was so deep and abstract in few places and there was a second part of the lecture giving us some basic instructions on taking care of ourselves.....(He was specifically addressing the US people like this....."No helicopters will come for our rescue...& it is important that our US meditators clearly understand that we dont have any external emergency support mechanism except our own Doctors Crew in the tour.....")

I absorbed his every word and his sweet demeanour as usual.....but did not expect myself to be in full tears till the time we reached Badrinath....!!

I was in a bus which contained Salem and Pondy People and just one in the bus known to me already before this tour...The whole group had been coming from Chennai together and were enjoying themselves, playing and few of them busy in shooting snaps outside windows...

I did not have the urge to speak to any one and was cuddling in the last corner seat (so that no one will come to challenge me or my seat !!) just looking up the huge mountains and measuring it steadily from the bottom of the crust....where I could see the River Alakananda flowing bit greenish..silently....The scenic beauty did some thing more than visual taste....!! I got into a very fluid state....wiping my tears which was continuous and found it very difficult not to get into a huge cry annoying every one around.....

I really felt the meaning of Sadhguru's lectures in the deepest possible manner.....which infact was clearly a post mortem analysis after the tears started...I was wondering about the stillness and depth of my perception for a while and it took me at least few hours to start realising the connection of what He spoke and my mental state....I was so sharp even to watch and entertain a small sense of pride of being able to be "fit" in the terms required by his prescription.....!!

I had not prepared my body sufficiently for the tour...inspite of warning that we need to walk for atleast 6 to 8 KM for atleast 2 months....I always had this mental block on physical exercises and remember walking just 2 /3 days in total....promising myself to get started on the next day....During the trekking, I suffered the pain like hell because of this physical shape of mine....but thats later....!!

Here, in the bus, I was silently crying trying to be as soundless as possible....feel like crying louder when few in the bus were busy to take snaps crawling themselves outside the windows....I was sure some of them would have noticed me but I really did not mind.....!! The mountains, the high speed river flowing underneath, the healthy and rugged cattle which obstrused the way here and there..., the innocence in the boy who stood along with his cattle looking at the speeding buses, the formations & reformations of the clouds....there was nothing else to see but it was simply too much for me....!!

Honestly, I would not have felt bad even if the tour had ended after that bus journey which shook me to my spine....!! It was so sensible to remain so senseless.....it was so wonderful to just helplessly watch and cry at the hugeness of the mountains....I had been to Tirupathy, Ooty, Kodai and climbing up the hill is not some thing new to me.....Definitely the great moments at the bus is due to the combination of the wonderful words spoken before the bus journey, my receptivity levels towards the lecture, my identification with the group that travelled, the nice co-travellers who were magnanimous enough not to disturb me....more than Himalayas....

But still, it is so nice that all of them happened as a wondeful cocktail....and here I was enjoying myself.....The deep impact lasted even after we reached the Hotel at Badrinath some time in the evening......!! I was there walking all alone in a busy street leading towards the Badrinath temple....and reached the room by 7 PM in the night only to find my room mate (every where, we shared the room...some time it was 4 people, some time it was 2 /3 people...depending on the room size)....had not reached back.....

I had no sense of complaining and was waiting in the chill air outside the room without sufficient warm clothing upon me.....I was sitting in the floor near the door mat waiting for the room mate who had the keys with him....!!

I did not mind to wait for him.....I needed the aloofness in the chill air outside much more than courteous talks inside the warm room.....For that matter, I could have walked to some other room and had stayed inside with them until our room opened up....I had no urge to do it.....

suchoo
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Imposed Silence @ Kedar (Walk towards the Peak - 9)

While I was trying to express my lack of urge to speak on my first day at Badri, now I would like to write about my silence for the next three days - forcefully imposed on me after that mind blowing lecture on the subsequent day morning at Badri...

A lecture of Sadhguru was played in the morning in a hall arranged for this purpose at Badri where he spoke about few extra ordinay things about spirituality with special reference to Kedarnath.....!! It wont be too irrelevant to write down the exact statements, but honestly I feel now as if I dont remember many of the things spoken by him.....though I can vividly recall how those words exploded on me....He spoke the speciality about Kedarnath and towards the end of the lecture, he suggested it would be better to remain silent till the time we reach this holy place and as long as we are there.....!! (which I was doing al ready!!)

I had my second innings of hot tears flowing while he was lecturing and realised that it was a great opportunity for me to have joined this tour.....!! I reached back to the room and pulled my diary from the suitcase and wrote down with shivering hands...that I am not going to speak a word from that moment till we reach Kedar (Time was 11.50 AM when I wrote this sitting in my cot with tears in my eyes)......I was not aware that my silence is going to last for 3 full days as our buses got held up on the way due to a landslide...and we were staying in our hotel - enroute - for close to 36 hours.....I did not mind it and remained absolutely silent gesturing to people IF it became unavoidable....

At Kedar, we were adviced to start trekking by around 8.30 AM from the base (which is called as Gowri Kund) and it is very foolish on my part to start walking with just 200 Rs in my pocket....not picking up some more money just in case I needed to hire a horse on the way.....I was walking all alone with the chanting in the mouth (that was adviced by Him......) and there was drizzling thrice during the long 14 kilometre trek....Wearing the rain coat, I was steadily walking towards the Holy Shrine in a steady climbing mountain....though some caution was needed to get away from the horses that was quite a huge traffic....I managed quite well in this first trekking reaching up by around 2.30 PM - late by 1 & half hours ......than the standard time...

After reaching up and getting into a hotel with primitive condition, I started crying partly aloud sitting in my cot...partly due to leg pain and balance due my mental state....After gathering some balance, I walked towards the place where hot hot bondas were served to us with tea....with the usual reverence for the cooking crew, it was quite rare in my experience to eat some thing quite mechanically not really enjoying it too much....!! I asked some one standing there by gestures on the direction to temple.....and was guided by him clearly....

I went to the temple and the first thing that struck me when I reached close to the temple was the size of it....it was too small and deceptively simple to what had been spoken about it by Sadhguru....Not much crowd and I was able to walk to the main shrine within couple of minutes....then started the peak cry......!! I was holding my hands in reverence and the whole rib cage seemed to have become spongy with my drooping shoulders...and I was crying my heart out ...... with my eyes closed.....FOR NO REASON......

Reaching closer to the Lingam, I was still crying, now with decibel level slightly higher without minding the eyes of the head man there...who did not mind me staying there for few seconds extra than others...I could hear an old lady whispering to her husband (seemingly from some rural area) pointing at me and telling him that I am crying (all in Hindi....I was hearing her but was not paying attention to them).....I could see the lady's voice started breaking as she kept telling about me to her hubby and she too started crying.....When I turned back towards the door, a temple guy was literally embracing me asking me to put some money in hundi with my prayer...(he was telling me ..."sab teek ho jayegaa baisaab....chintaa math karnaa!!"...while I obeyed him, I wanted to cry back "sab badiyaaah..hai...baisaab.....!!"....)

when I was out of the shrine, I felt ok.....and really felt the lightness of the body.....Looks like my imposed silence helped me to get a wonderful experience.....Crying is quite a common thing for me but never in front of a deity....!!

I am eager to visit Kedar once again....preferably all alone...without even the comfort of being in a group.....!! Its worth it...I mean, a visit from chennai to North just to visit this temple...and returning back home without trying to dilute the experience with numerous other visits.....!! I am sure to make it....rather, make it available for me once again......!!

suchoo
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Walking & Peaking (Walk towards the peak-10)

Before writing about my specific trekking experiences of Dhyana Yatra Tour - Oct 2007, I have to re-emphasise once again on my bad shaped body & the mental blocks I always had for physical exercises.....!! I have recorded on this laziness quite frequently in this series but this needs a special mention in this particular posting as I am going to cover the cramps and leg pains, the mental calculations & physical exhaustion - in this piece....!!

I had walked on 4 days....to and fro Kedar on consecutive days and to and fro Gomuk on another set of two days.....!! Without adequate practise, I fully realise my experience of this tour had become slightly dominant with pains and suffering more than pleasant memories but I dont regret it.....(this is a realy problem, right ??...I mean, the justification mode!!)

We were adviced to have a small backpack holding the warm clothes and rain coat & I started quite briskly holding the bamboo stick that was available aplenty in the lined up shops....which was extremely important for trekking - particularly the novices like me....I still remember that I was slightly amused at the end of the first kilometre at Kedar that it "seemed" to be quite easy & realised the utility of the bamboo stick....though I had started gasping for Oxygen by the time I sighted the sign board showing that I had completed the first kilometre...

The mind started working from that moment and was pushing the eyes to search for the signboards and I started realising the state of my body from 5th kilometre onwards...I could clearly see that the legs get stiffened if I sit / take rest and decided to stand still in a corner of the path ....whenever I was exhausted....!!

After touching the seventh Kilometre, the kind hearted authorities had placed the signboard at the end of 500 metries but it seemed quite longer than the 1 kilometre space that I travelled in the first half....I could see many of my co-passengers overtaking me and few of them deciding to hire a horse but I was not the one to budge and to compromise (I just had 200 rs with me.....that never struck me as I can always borrow from some one of our group....!!)....The right leg, starting from the hip joint to ankle became heavier and heavier and I was limping the last two kilometre just with the energy of the other leg.....

During the initial phase, so much of thoughts were running in the mind and I started wondering if my creativity was taking away huge chunk of the energy levels. So many sentences were coined in the head trying to verbalise the pain & lamenting about the lack of fitness.... (the title to this piece "walking & peaking" was infact conceived during this walk.....which is quite ironical....I was actually drowning but the mind is coining great words to describe it !!)....

I infact remember that when I touched the end of some curve in the path - hoping that I could sight the top from there, I felt like crying to only see that it only lead to another huge streatch making the mind more tired than the body.....I also remember that I had a childish satisfaction to turn back and see once a while to see "how much I had covered"....from the earlier resting point.....It was clearly more a mind game and all my efforts to make it appear "smaller and easier" failed miserably....and I was looking quite jealously at few humble souls who were "just walking" without any ripple of thoughts and without calculating too much....as I was doing....!!

Gradually I started settling down with the pace and the rhythm of the chanting that was going on inside my lips (as adviced by Sadhguru - I was chanting "Shiva Shambo" continuously during the walk) , I could find few of the stretches passing by quite effortlessly as I forgot every thing else except the body movements associated with the walk...It would be a lie if I said that I just melted with the Mantra...(like few people told with lot of sincerity...I had it only in patches) and the distance of 14 km appeared to be extremely long in my experience....shattering all my convictions & persuasions to lift my spirits...

The experience of the second trekking was much more painful as it was quite longer than Kedar and the big difference is that it was quite scenic to look at the mountains on the way to Gomuk than the Kedar visit which was more like a tourist spot....!!

I was amused at the fitness levels of some of the volunteers and the teacher who travelled with us - walking quite effortlessly and who were able to be normal even after reaching the final destination..they needed no rest or relaxation.....Theoretically I can convince that "its all practise" but in the corner of the mind, I do long to reach that physical fitness levels....!!

When I look back on those long four days during the tour when we were trekking, I can distinctly remember the groaning and moaning more than the few moments when I felt walking like a machine without sensing the pain.....!! To summarise this posting on trekking, I realise that I have to go a long way- though some how I reached the prescribed destinations....!!

suchoo
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The endless journey (Walk towards the peak - 11)

I look at the various points that I had scribbled down during the journey to be covered in this series....and can see that I have covered just 50 % of what I intended to write...but still I feel fully satisfied and feel like closing this series of postings.....

Specifically, I have dropped out the points that I had noted down about the co-travellers - on their appetite for talking and the helpless temptations that they had to make a "yatra" into a "excursion"....Inspite of Sadhguru's appeal to remain silent, many of them were not able to keep quiet during the onward journey to Kedar...Some of them were so involved in silly jokes and expressing their dissatifaction about the food that was served....!! Inspite of keeping out of such entanglements, my mind was corrupt enough to keep recording them silently and I had scribbled them in my diary during the night before going to sleep....

When I read these points made about "others", I feel bit fed up with my own perversion on making a point of such trivial things... & sincerely feel it would be quite mean & disgusting to prolong this series trying to write about them.....particularly after writing the wonderful moments at Kedar and the view of mountains....!!

This Yatra had been of profound importance to me and I had longed to be a part of this tour for more than a year which got materialised all of a sudden....I wish to thank my circumstances which allowed me a two week long leave from office.....which was considered by me impossible until now...

The whole journey was a process of self discovery - how much I need to go farther in life...!! The process is still continuing once a while - when I get reminded about the majesty of mountains once a while & the memory of the little Kedar Temple comes to me once a while - even after so many days.... !! Even the pains during those long walks appear to be quite bearable now with the space of time....!!

I am approximately half way through the journey of life & when I watch the couple of grey hairs in the head while combing the hair - these days, I have a wry smile in my lips reminding myself to "step up" !! This innings of life is not going to be endless journey & its important that I learn the art of closing the gap between the things that I want to do and what I am doing.....!! Either I learn to close it by "stepping up" on few things OR learn to accept few things that is impossible for me to do by "being graceful enough" on me....It will be nice to die without the face becoming long and serious.....without cursing and complaining the world around.....

I wish the whole of the balance living years become a "dhyana yatra" for me and wish I am humble enough to learn from pains and sufferings also - if they are destined to happen....!!

suchoo

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The endless journey (Walk towards the peak - 11)

Dear All

I look at the various points that I had scribbled down during the journey to be covered in this series....and can see that I have covered just 50 % of what I intended to write...but still I feel fully satisfied and feel like closing this series of postings.....

Specifically, I have dropped out the points that I had noted down about the co-travellers - on their appetite for talking and the helpless temptations that they had to make a "yatra" into a "excursion"....Inspite of Sadhguru's appeal to remain silent, many of them were not able to keep quiet during the onward journey to Kedar...Some of them were so involved in silly jokes and expressing their dissatifaction about the food that was served....!! Inspite of keeping out of such entanglements, my mind was corrupt enough to keep recording them silently and I had scribbled them in my diary during the night before going to sleep....

When I read these points made about "others", I feel bit fed up with my own perversion on making a point of such trivial things... & sincerely feel it would be quite mean & disgusting to prolong this series trying to write about them.....particularly after writing the wonderful moments at Kedar and the view of mountains....!!

This Yatra had been of profound importance to me and I had longed to be a part of this tour for more than a year which got materialised all of a sudden....I wish to thank my circumstances which allowed me a two week long leave from office.....which was considered by me impossible until now...

The whole journey was a process of self discovery - how much I need to go farther in life...!! The process is still continuing once a while - when I get reminded about the majesty of mountains once a while & the memory of the little Kedar Temple comes to me once a while - even after so many days.... !! Even the pains during those long walks appear to be quite bearable now with the space of time....!!

I am approximately half way through the journey of life & when I watch the couple of grey hairs in the head while combing the hair - these days, I have a wry smile in my lips reminding myself to "step up" !! This innings of life is not going to be endless journey & its important that I learn the art of closing the gap between the things that I want to do and what I am doing.....!! Either I learn to close it by "stepping up" on few things OR learn to accept few things that is impossible for me to do by "being graceful enough" on me....It will be nice to die without the face becoming long and serious.....without cursing and complaining the world around.....

I wish the whole of the balance living years become a "dhyana yatra" for me and wish I am humble enough to learn from pains and sufferings also - if they are destined to happen....!!

suchoo