Happy twenty ten...

Another New year knocks at our doorsteps, named twenty ten ...

whats new about new years .

Is it all the same....
boundless time, bound in the boundaries of 12 months ..

Or

As always a time for new aspirations, new hopes, new dreams, new goals...
its time for Change !

New year has begun n it brings in a change for sure....
the change personally has begun on the first day itself .....
and there is more to come ...

Will embrace the change and move ahead ...
as i have some chapters to write, tasks to finish ...dreams to fulfill and make it a happy 2010 !

My first long drive in snow ...

Its winter time with the festivities around the corner and the time for winter break... Last two years were spent in my motherland with my loved ones in the mix of warm and cold weathers of plains and Dhauladhar mountains...

Coming back to this year, warm weather is no where in sight but the warmth of the loved ones is very much there with a special someone who is much much closer than the others.... So it all started with the desire to be with that special someone ....

Weather was checked and a road trip to Indiana was set ... It all went fine with little hiccups while going .. though the real adventure turned out to be on my trip back to stl.

It was my first time driving in snow, i had heard people talk about driving in snow, breaking, accelerating skidding and all that comes along with it...

A drive from west Lafayette to Saint Louis, which takes about five hours take into account the time difference of one hour and the one where i would drive at the speed of 70 on average turned out to be little different in snow. My GPS went out of satellite coverage, car started skidding the speed reduced to 40-45-50... Hands were shaking.. the car chevy aveo was being drifted by winds as much as it possibly could and i saw few cars and small trailors which were upside down... freaked me out more ...at such a time, i felt amma was with me calming me down and letting me focus on driving ...or may be actually taking over the driving..

At such a time, the only thing i could focus on was amma and her bhajans on one CD, which might have played atleast 10 times today was my only source of strength and my only prayer at that moment was to reach home safely...

Once that stretch of bad weather was passed, i was all fine... back on the speed of 70 driving on 70W.. so slowly n steadily with amma's grace i made it and here i am sharing this experience with all of you out there..

Today's incidence reminds me yet again that we are nothing but the puppets at the hand of god and we don't know whats enstored for us at the very next moment and we still hold grudges, hatred and other negative things while we should be surrendering at the feet of almighty and develop love for all...

Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu ...

Fall graduation 2009

19th Dec'09 attended the fall graduation...

One of my very good friend graduated, i was there for her... though i also witnessed the graduation of many other people whom i don't know at all .. some of them i have seen in my classes, been their TA , some with whom i have exchanged smiles or a hi in school ..

Though one man who caught my attention and i would say everyone's attention was a 86 year old Master's in History. It was a moment, chancellor recognized him with a introduction and there was this huge wave of clapping followed by standing ovation..

what a graduation and at this age..

Inspiring really inspiring ...

people follow their dreams .. no body can stop them ..

not even the age in this case ...

Hope i will be able to make my dream come true too ..
got to work hard for it ...

May 2010 is my target !

come away with me --norah jones

Come away with me in the night
Come away with me
And I will write you a song

Come away with me on a bus
Come away where they can't tempt us
With their lies

I want to walk with you
On a cloudy day
In fields where the yellow grass grows knee-high
So won't you try to come

Come away with me and we'll kiss
On a mountaintop
Come away with me
And I'll never stop loving you

And I want to wake up with the rain
Falling on a tin roof
While I'm safe there in your arms
So all I ask is for you
To come away with me in the night
Come away with me

.........

All conditioned things
are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, shadows,
like dew drops and a lightning flash:
contemplate them thus.

---The Buddha---

Give with humility and take with gratitude

I read this article in speaking tree TOI and its well written .. solves most of the fight that people go through while taking...and they keep thinking how will you give back..

I am posting it here also because i remember not so long ago over a dinner , i was talking about the same and one of my Professors had narrated me a story about how he had lost his wallet at a ice hockey game and there was gentleman who called him up and told him about his wallet and met him at some place to return it. At that time this prof of mine thought of rewarding him with some money or do something for him and the man replied. No thanks may be you can remember this help some one else who might need it.

Since then this Prof always remember this man and helps people whenever he can ...

Here is the article by Jyoti Desai

On the verge of crying, I could barely express my gratitude. Saying a simple ‘thank you’ did not seem adequate for the effort taken by a friendin trying to get me a job in a vulnerable phase in my life. And so, thereafter, I must have tried to express my thanks many times over till she simply smiled and said: “It is your time to take.”

Taken aback by the reply I perhaps further complimented her on her goodness, not understanding the full import of the words ‘your time to take’. Life got busy and we lost touch. But somewhere inside me the words ‘a time to take’ sat patiently waiting their turn to play a part in my life. The going was good. I was now in a position to help others. My natural response to all the words of gratitude that were showered on me remained, ‘it is all right, it is just your time to take’.

There is a time to take and there is a time to give. Golden words often quoted, and yet we only want to give, we would rather not take. The puzzled looks I have received when I have gently said ‘it is a time to take’ set me thinking. What is so loaded in the words ‘a time to take’?

Perhaps it is to do with our upbringing. Instilled in us is this value about not taking – it is a favour, about managing alone even in the most difficult of times without seeking support. And yet, taking is one of the most natural acts carried out by each of us since the time we are conceived.

We take life’s sustenance from our mothers, we take love from our siblings, we take knowledge from our teachers, we take companionship from our friends, we take affection from our pets, we take food from the earth, we take warmth from the sun and that is an endless list. And yet we feel no obligation to all these givers, because we are conditioned to view them as normal life situations.

Our minds are full of suspicion, and more so when we are at the receiving end. The mind works at a furious pace on the implications of taking. One of the fears is of having to return the favour immediately or at some point of time in the future, and the guilt of ingratitude if we are not able to do so. But does it always have to work in that manner? Perplexing, as it may seem, there is a far more complicated system at play which is difficult to decode. Seers therefore stress on abiding by the fundamental principle of giving with humility and taking with gratitude – a simple way to resolving confusing moments in this endless cycle of take and give.

Every one of us, in our lifetime, experiences moments when we give on impulse. We are stirred to give to causes, beggars, friends, strangers. Do these people give us something in return? Do we expect them to? No, but in doing so we experience a strange calm. And when we as takers are full of sadness and shame, are we forgetting to recognise the moment of calm being experienced by the giver?

In this endless game of take and give we should just play along, taking and giving as life asks us to, enjoying the gifts we take and give, without grudging our ‘misfortune’ for being takers, not feeling lesser for having taken or superior for having given.

amma says

We may do a hundred things right, but for one wrong act people disown us. Yet even after a hundred wrongs, God accepts us for one right action. Therefore, children, be bound only to God.--amma

four time zones for a family !

Something nice strike to me while talking on skype ..

How is life these days ..

Members of the family at four different time zone

Its 1.40 pm here ...

For my sweetheart its 2.40 pm

For my daddy dear its 2.40 am

and its 1.10 am for my sweethearts at home ...

Though the part which is still good is all were talking to each other at the same time ...

Love all ...and pray for love and peace to keep growing ...

Some quotations on Love.....

selected quotations...


To love deeply in one direction makes us more loving in all others.
Anne-Sophie Swetchine

To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides.
David Viscott

He who is in love is wise and is becoming wiser, sees newly every time he looks at the object beloved, drawing from it with his eyes and his mind those virtues which it possesses.

Ralph Waldo

Clarity of mind means clarity of passion, too; this is why a great and clear mind loves ardently and sees distinctly what it loves.
Blaise Pascal

Honesty is the only way with anyone, when you'll be so close as to be living inside each other's skins.
Lois McMaster Bujold

Never pretend to a love which you do not actually feel, for love is not ours to command.
Alan Watts


Such is the inconsistency of real love, that it is always awake to suspicion,
however unreasonable; always requiring new assurances from the object of its interest.
Ann Radcliffe

Perhaps the feelings that we experience when we are in love represent a normal state. Being in love shows a person who he should be.

Anton Chekhov

To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead.
Bertrand Russell


The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.
Carl Jung


There's a lot to be said for self-delusionment when it comes to matters of the heart.


One's first love is always perfect until one meets one's second love.
Elizabeth Aston

All love that has not friendship for its base, is like a mansion built upon sand.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Love is everything it's cracked up to be…It really is worth fighting for, being brave for, risking everything for.
Erica Jong

There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness.
Friedrich Nietzsche

What else is love but understanding and rejoicing in the fact that another person lives, acts, and experiences otherwise than we do…?
Friedrich Nietzsche

Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence.
H. L. Mencken

Sometimes when you look back on a situation, you realize it wasn't all you thought it was. A beautiful girl walked into your life. You fell in love. Or did you? Maybe it was only a childish infatuation, or maybe just a brief moment of vanity.
Henry Bromel

There is no remedy for love but to love more.
Henry David Thoreau

Just because you love someone doesn't mean you have to be involved with them. Love is not a bandage to cover wounds.
Hugh Elliott

Passion makes the world go round. Love just makes it a safer place.
Ice T

Love is the difficult realization that something other than oneself is real.
Iris Murdoch

We can only learn to love by loving.
Iris Murdoch

"Padaravindhangal" -- offering at amma's feet

"Padaravindhangal"

Padaravindhangal panindhen Amma
Adharam ne endru arinthen Amma
Chedaram illamal chezhippai thandhu
Kadhoram inmozhiyal kavalai thirppai

Mother, I bow to Your feet. I have realized that You are the foundation of my life.
Give me the wealth that can never be depleted. Whisper sweetly in my ear
and end my sorrows.

***

Amma endrazhaikkum un kuzhanthaikku inghe
Arulandri verethuvum vendam Amma
Summa ni inimelum irunthu vital
Pazhi yedhum yenakkalla unakke Amma

O Mother, wanting nothing except Your Grace,
this child of Yours is calling O Amma! Amma!
If You still remain silent then remember, Mother, You will be the One to blame, not I
***

Selvangal yeralam irunthalum un
Arul selvam illamal nargathi undo
Inbathil pangerka evarum varuvay
Ennalum thuyar thirka niye varuvay

Though we may have much worldly wealth,
could we ever attain the one true end without the wealth of Your Grace?
There are always many to share in our happiness,
but You are always the One who removes my sorrow.
***

Ellam un vilayadal ena arinthalum
Eno yen manathil innum nimmadhi illai
Thunbam vrumbhothum maravathunnai
Manamara potrum nal ullam vendum

I know that all this is but Your play and yet my mind knows no peace.
Please bestow upon me a mind that remembers and glorifies
You even when suffering comes.
***

The Tamil bhajan "Paatara Vintengal Papinthen Amma" sung by Amma and Her disciples. From the cd "Tamil Bhajans" (2002)