9th May ' 2010 !!!!
Happy Mother's Day.!!
To mom,
With love..(luv u mom)
U are my protective hand,
U are my best friend..,
Ur my book of knowledge,
Ur my guide to life,
Ur my cook...who makes pretty darn food..!
U R SPECIAL TO ME N I NEED U IN EVERY STEP OF MY LIFE EVEN IF I BECOME INDEPENDENT THOUGH...!!!
U MEAN THE WORLD TO ME..
Your gentle guidance has immeasurably influenced all that i have done, all that i do and all that i will ever do.
Your sweet spirit is explicitly imprinted on all that i have been, all that i am and
n all that i will ever be.!!!
THUS UR A PART OF MY LIFE AND THAT HAS MADE ALL THE DIFFERENCE.
WE FIGHT TOGETHER , WE CRY TOGETHER, WE LAUGH TILL STOMACH ACHES,
WE SING AND DANCE N EVEN WALK TOGETHER.
THESE THINGS MAY BE GENERAL BUT VERY SPECIAL AS, WHEN U RECOLLECT U FIND THESE MOMENTS MORE BETTER THAN THOSE 3..HOUR MOVIES...!!!!!!!!!!!!
THANKS FOR ALWAYS BEING THERE FOR ME.....
yours lovingly
Zeenal.
Monday, May 17, 2010
"The first CRUSH !!! "
The First Connection
Crush, infatuation, attraction!
There are different facets of “Relationships”.Like Liquid, it doesn’t have a specific colour or shape.
It keeps moulding itself into different dimensions depending on the subject vessel.
I personally feel & believe, that the first ever self-realisation of existence of a relationship is - The First Crush.
The unexplained infatuation, the attraction…. towards someone.
Although, as soon as we are born into this world, we by default, establish many relationships –theoretically. Such as that of the son, the daughter, the mother, the father, the brother, the sister… so on & so forth.
But these relationships are there, we believe, because they are made to be.
(In a way, we can say, we are supposed to take them, consider them as granted.)
But, the very first awareness about really getting connected with someone, somehow; is the first real realisation of giving dimension to the phenomena.
This is that phase of our upbringing during which, un-warned, we get ourselves attracted, pulled towards a particular personality.
Just mere a smile or a glance, few words or deeds, intelligent smart outlook & appearance, the talent, the skill, the behaviour………..it can be anything. But the truth is, it's exciting & imbalances the physiological balance within us.
This may be the time, we start understanding,
“what does skipping a heart beat means ?”.
This may be the time that we feel a strong urge of being with that person most of the time, keep thinking about him/her or just keep looking, staring at them.
In any case, we realize that, we are into the process of establishing “a Relationship”.
This facet of relationship, radiates the glow of innocence & sweetness of kind.
It’s a relationship one feels he or she is into, but without being actually bothered or limited by any real time commitment, promises & vows.
It just exists.
It just blossoms.
It just shines.
It makes the heart happy.
It doesn’t seek any endorsement.
It’s just felt.
It’s the only type of relationship in which one feels so much related to the other person, without actually being related at all.
I feel, this experience of life, is the foundation of every other relationships we build during our journey of life.
This is true, as it helps one understand the “why” of a relationship.
It makes us aware about the changes we go through, the different moods we emote, the peculiar kind of acts and the responses we react with.
One interesting thing about this part of a relationship is , that it’s not only the first ever self realisation of a relationship, but it keeps up with the age & gets cornered, stored in the heart and keeps surfacing with the same fresh intensity & urge, at times, irrespective of a person’s biological clock.
Implies, that this facet of relationship never gets old enough to be just stored as “memory”. It remains ever fresh & ever vulnerable.
However strongly we live on or manage our important relationships in life, this face of the relationship remains as innocent & as sweet as ever.
It keeps popping up every now and then, irrespective of however strongly willed a person may be….
Hope this brings smiles to your lips and helps you to remember those lovely first time crushes………!!
By - Sanjay Jogani
Disclaimer
Mention about any person, place, event, picture, image or logo; is just for reference purpose to enhance the essence of writing for better presentation. It's not intended to trespass the rights of the original owners.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Love....???????
“Love……..?????”
Why do people fail to show love?
Why do people fail to see dove?
Why do people crib for love?
What do people get so much from love?
Is this love so much important?
Why do we hear so much about love?
Hey,
if everybody talks so much of love, why do they forget to show their love?
People like you & me reside here; you are you and I am I,
Why you can’t be me and I can’t be you?
I like you the way you are, why can’t I like me too?
It’s easy to laugh at times, and not easy to laugh, a little bit;
It’s easy to cry at times, and not east to cry, a little bit;
Why it becomes so easy to write at times,
and not easy to write, a single bit……….?????
By….Rupa Jogani (January’2010)
Why do people fail to show love?
Why do people fail to see dove?
Why do people crib for love?
What do people get so much from love?
Is this love so much important?
Why do we hear so much about love?
Hey,
if everybody talks so much of love, why do they forget to show their love?
People like you & me reside here; you are you and I am I,
Why you can’t be me and I can’t be you?
I like you the way you are, why can’t I like me too?
It’s easy to laugh at times, and not easy to laugh, a little bit;
It’s easy to cry at times, and not east to cry, a little bit;
Why it becomes so easy to write at times,
and not easy to write, a single bit……….?????
By….Rupa Jogani (January’2010)
Happy Mothers' Day.....
That’s Mom…..!!!!
When I came home in the rain,
Brother asked : why didn’t you take an umbrella ???
Sister scolded : why couldn’t you wait till rain stopped ?
Father said angrily : only after catching a cold, you will realize.
But Mother, while drying my hair, said : stupid rain; couldn’t it wait, till my child came home ???
That is MOM !!!
With this, I salute my MOM , my kids MOM & all other Moms’ in the world for their incessant flow of selfless love & care showered on their children, which makes this world a much better place to breathe in ……
Happy Mother’s day !!!!!!!!!
When I came home in the rain,
Brother asked : why didn’t you take an umbrella ???
Sister scolded : why couldn’t you wait till rain stopped ?
Father said angrily : only after catching a cold, you will realize.
But Mother, while drying my hair, said : stupid rain; couldn’t it wait, till my child came home ???
That is MOM !!!
With this, I salute my MOM , my kids MOM & all other Moms’ in the world for their incessant flow of selfless love & care showered on their children, which makes this world a much better place to breathe in ……
Happy Mother’s day !!!!!!!!!
Friday, May 7, 2010
Relationships.......
6.5.2010
Relationships…….
Few days back , somewhere in mid-April, I had posted a couple of lines on FB on “Relationships”…
Relationships !!...... They are the most simplest to live on with, but are the most complicated to manage with.
Just a few vague thoughts , emerged , converted into words & posted…..but with clear intention of expanding my views on the subject, my way in the days to come…..And here I am, sincerely trying to unfold “relationships” – its extremities ; the most simplest & the most complex character of the word in all its means.
The experience is such a happening, which has a very different and unique receptivity proportion by different people. Say, if I share my specific experiences , they need not necessarily be approved, accepted, understood or followed by others. But with as many point of views as possible & with as many angles, a particular experience, if be covered, may have people looking up with more receptivity.
I always had an interesting appetite, a hobby, an inclination to study & understand, the “action/reaction” pattern of various human beings under different conditions, circumstances; whom I usually come in contact with, may it be a casual acquaintance or some business or social association. This keen observation always helped me connect myself to that person in a way, which invariably got established as a unique comfort zone for both the subjects.
During the course of my journey through my life, I consider myself, quite fortunate to come in contact with different kind of people, having distinct & interesting personalities, associating with whom, have added so many important chapters in my life’s pages, as most memorable of the experiences.
The important thing is, how did we all relate to each other ? How could I relate myself , to them; with them; at different stages of my life & vice versa. Every relationships have a beautiful beginning & a very eventful journey. (“eventful implies – both good & bad experiences”). Its important to understand and learn, how relationships survive under adverse situations and unfavorable circumstances. Few survive. Few perish. But in any case, all of them do learn & have their own unique experience. They get wiser.
In the next few weeks, I would like to put in my understandings & evaluated knowledge about different relationships we establish, how we begin & move on with them. I would also like to draw out the different frequencies of emotions we go through in the process of living out that relationship.
It may surely bring smiles to many a lips & frown on many a faces; but shall appreciate, if they r being taken, considered as generalized as possible. There is no intention of directing the facts, but just a plain innocent release from the clutches of the mind & the heart. It surely feels good when we release few of our emotions with a complete freedom without being dominatised & threatened by our heart & mind……
Relationships…….
Few days back , somewhere in mid-April, I had posted a couple of lines on FB on “Relationships”…
Relationships !!...... They are the most simplest to live on with, but are the most complicated to manage with.
Just a few vague thoughts , emerged , converted into words & posted…..but with clear intention of expanding my views on the subject, my way in the days to come…..And here I am, sincerely trying to unfold “relationships” – its extremities ; the most simplest & the most complex character of the word in all its means.
The experience is such a happening, which has a very different and unique receptivity proportion by different people. Say, if I share my specific experiences , they need not necessarily be approved, accepted, understood or followed by others. But with as many point of views as possible & with as many angles, a particular experience, if be covered, may have people looking up with more receptivity.
I always had an interesting appetite, a hobby, an inclination to study & understand, the “action/reaction” pattern of various human beings under different conditions, circumstances; whom I usually come in contact with, may it be a casual acquaintance or some business or social association. This keen observation always helped me connect myself to that person in a way, which invariably got established as a unique comfort zone for both the subjects.
During the course of my journey through my life, I consider myself, quite fortunate to come in contact with different kind of people, having distinct & interesting personalities, associating with whom, have added so many important chapters in my life’s pages, as most memorable of the experiences.
The important thing is, how did we all relate to each other ? How could I relate myself , to them; with them; at different stages of my life & vice versa. Every relationships have a beautiful beginning & a very eventful journey. (“eventful implies – both good & bad experiences”). Its important to understand and learn, how relationships survive under adverse situations and unfavorable circumstances. Few survive. Few perish. But in any case, all of them do learn & have their own unique experience. They get wiser.
In the next few weeks, I would like to put in my understandings & evaluated knowledge about different relationships we establish, how we begin & move on with them. I would also like to draw out the different frequencies of emotions we go through in the process of living out that relationship.
It may surely bring smiles to many a lips & frown on many a faces; but shall appreciate, if they r being taken, considered as generalized as possible. There is no intention of directing the facts, but just a plain innocent release from the clutches of the mind & the heart. It surely feels good when we release few of our emotions with a complete freedom without being dominatised & threatened by our heart & mind……
Sunday, April 18, 2010
"Male na Male"
nadini retma ramtu nagar male na male,
fari aa drayshya smruti pat par male na male.
bhari lo swasma eni sugandhno dariyo,
pachhi a matini bhini asar male na male.
parichitone dharai joi leva do,
aa hasta chahera aa mithi najar male na male.
bhari lo aankhma rastao, bario, bhito,
pachi aa shaher, aa galio, aa ghar male na male.
radi lo aaj sabamdhone vitlai ahi,
pachi koine koini kabar male na male.
vatanni dhulthi mathu bhari lau aa dil,
are aa dhul pachi umrabhar male na male
fari aa drayshya smruti pat par male na male.
bhari lo swasma eni sugandhno dariyo,
pachhi a matini bhini asar male na male.
parichitone dharai joi leva do,
aa hasta chahera aa mithi najar male na male.
bhari lo aankhma rastao, bario, bhito,
pachi aa shaher, aa galio, aa ghar male na male.
radi lo aaj sabamdhone vitlai ahi,
pachi koine koini kabar male na male.
vatanni dhulthi mathu bhari lau aa dil,
are aa dhul pachi umrabhar male na male
Saturday, March 13, 2010
"True Salvation is fulfillment".....
"True salvation is fulfillment".....
Most people pursue physical pleasure or various forms of psychological gratification because they believe that those things will make them happy or free them from a feeling of fear or lack. Happiness may be perceived as a heightened sense of aliveness attained through physical pleasure, or a more secure & more complete sense of self attained through some form of psychological gratification. This is the search for salvation from a state of dissatisfaction or insufficiency. Invariably, any satisfaction that they obtain is short-lived, so the condition of satisfaction or fulfillment is usually projected once again onto an imaginary point away from the here & now. "When I obtain this or am free of that, then I will be okay." This is the unconscious mind-set that creates the illusion of salvation in the future.
True salvation is fulfillment, peace, life in all its fullness. It is to be who you are, to feel within you the good that has no opposite, the joy of Being that depends on nothing outside itself. True salvation is to know yourself as an inseperable part of the timeless & formless One life from which all that exists derives its being.
Trus salvation is a state of freedom from fear, from suffering, from a perceived state of lack & insufficiency & therefore from all wanting, needing, grasping & clinging. It is freedom from compulsive thinking from negativity, and above all from past & future as a psychological need. Your mind is telling you that you can not get there from here. Something needs to happen, or you need to become this or that before you can be free & fulfilled. You see time as the means to salvation. Whereas in truth it is the greatest obstacle to salvation. You think that you cant get there from where & who you are at this moment because you are not yet complete or good enough. But the truth is that here & now is the only point from where you can get there. You "get" there by realizing that you are there already.
You find God the moment you realize that you dont need to seek God.
Most people pursue physical pleasure or various forms of psychological gratification because they believe that those things will make them happy or free them from a feeling of fear or lack. Happiness may be perceived as a heightened sense of aliveness attained through physical pleasure, or a more secure & more complete sense of self attained through some form of psychological gratification. This is the search for salvation from a state of dissatisfaction or insufficiency. Invariably, any satisfaction that they obtain is short-lived, so the condition of satisfaction or fulfillment is usually projected once again onto an imaginary point away from the here & now. "When I obtain this or am free of that, then I will be okay." This is the unconscious mind-set that creates the illusion of salvation in the future.
True salvation is fulfillment, peace, life in all its fullness. It is to be who you are, to feel within you the good that has no opposite, the joy of Being that depends on nothing outside itself. True salvation is to know yourself as an inseperable part of the timeless & formless One life from which all that exists derives its being.
Trus salvation is a state of freedom from fear, from suffering, from a perceived state of lack & insufficiency & therefore from all wanting, needing, grasping & clinging. It is freedom from compulsive thinking from negativity, and above all from past & future as a psychological need. Your mind is telling you that you can not get there from here. Something needs to happen, or you need to become this or that before you can be free & fulfilled. You see time as the means to salvation. Whereas in truth it is the greatest obstacle to salvation. You think that you cant get there from where & who you are at this moment because you are not yet complete or good enough. But the truth is that here & now is the only point from where you can get there. You "get" there by realizing that you are there already.
You find God the moment you realize that you dont need to seek God.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Dreamz fulfilled - back to the "present"......
25.1.2010
Dreamz fulfilled – back to the “present”…….
Finally, it’s time to “return”, move on again, to boot up for the race……..…
After an extremely nostalgic experience of past seven daysin Kolkata, its time to climb up again and merge into the stark realities of the present. The stay of a week in Kolkata, brought back wonderful memories of the gone times and I feel fortunate & obliged to be able to claim the share of my space with the “History”.
Its correctly depicted, that,
“If you passionately apply your energy in the pursuit to fulfill your innermost desires & dreams, the entire universe conspires against you, to enable you to reach & attain your destiny”.
This stands & applies so true to my current experience of Kolkata visit. Few months back and may be since very long in my heart & mind, I carried a dream to re-live few moments of my past, in an exact manner, the way it used to be in those times - quarter of a century back. And I have always believed that if you want to flip back “those pages” of your life, its just not going to be enough to date back your watch and try to revise in-within your mind.
If it’s a “re-visit”, it has to be a “re-living” of those moments all over again.
“Sarswati Puja” – worshipping the Goddess of Knowledge & wisdom – was one of those consistent practice during my school & college days in Kolkata. It still is a very important calendar event as well as the event of extreme belief and significance for the people here. The performing of this Puja, holds a special place in the heart of all our friends in Kolkata. And if you ever got a chance to closely study & understand the people from Kolkata, would agree that they are highly sensitive, sentimental & are deeply enrooted by values in their respective cultures and traditions. Myself, being one, connected strongly to these roots, nurtured a dream to again celebrate this festival & perform the puja in all its virtue, holiness & importance. The visit to Kolkata was purely going to be wholly influenced by this reason. But, destiny had some other plans designed for me. For some practical & un-manageable reasons & circumstances, we friends, couldn’t perform the puja & it surely was a griefing realization for me. But as earlier mentioned, the energy which was being imparted and directed towards the pursuit of this dream got transformed into much bigger opportunity and cause.
The official launch of “MITRA” – a concept, a cause, a project; which was being parallely envisioned by few of us school batch mates of the year 1987., got its final shape & meaning and consequently was decided to floor its launch on very much the same day of “Sarswati Puja” ; the 20th of Jan’2010.
The main idea , motto & principle behind its launch, being, providing all important education to the students from the families facing financial constraints. It’s designed to give equal opportunity to those students & enable them to represent the common platform of action, along with other more privileged students.
After a very successful launch, I feel obliged, privileged & proud, being given an opportunity to share & express my vision and thoughts in my words in front of my ex-teachers, ex-students & batch mates. I strongly feel that the energy which I could impart & provide to enhance the momentum of this project would surely work its way into effective output.
We have a wonderful able team which is strongly committed to direct, guide & sustain the vision of this cause in Kolkata. I hope & pray, that together, may we be able to create a miracle out of this small but significant application for a big cause.
I deeply feel that my dream of performing the puja, gave me a real chance, in real sense to worship and share the knowledge & wisdom gathered through, over the years.
I, now feel my presence in Kolkata fully justified and my dream fulfilled.
Dreamz fulfilled – back to the “present”…….
Finally, it’s time to “return”, move on again, to boot up for the race……..…
After an extremely nostalgic experience of past seven daysin Kolkata, its time to climb up again and merge into the stark realities of the present. The stay of a week in Kolkata, brought back wonderful memories of the gone times and I feel fortunate & obliged to be able to claim the share of my space with the “History”.
Its correctly depicted, that,
“If you passionately apply your energy in the pursuit to fulfill your innermost desires & dreams, the entire universe conspires against you, to enable you to reach & attain your destiny”.
This stands & applies so true to my current experience of Kolkata visit. Few months back and may be since very long in my heart & mind, I carried a dream to re-live few moments of my past, in an exact manner, the way it used to be in those times - quarter of a century back. And I have always believed that if you want to flip back “those pages” of your life, its just not going to be enough to date back your watch and try to revise in-within your mind.
If it’s a “re-visit”, it has to be a “re-living” of those moments all over again.
“Sarswati Puja” – worshipping the Goddess of Knowledge & wisdom – was one of those consistent practice during my school & college days in Kolkata. It still is a very important calendar event as well as the event of extreme belief and significance for the people here. The performing of this Puja, holds a special place in the heart of all our friends in Kolkata. And if you ever got a chance to closely study & understand the people from Kolkata, would agree that they are highly sensitive, sentimental & are deeply enrooted by values in their respective cultures and traditions. Myself, being one, connected strongly to these roots, nurtured a dream to again celebrate this festival & perform the puja in all its virtue, holiness & importance. The visit to Kolkata was purely going to be wholly influenced by this reason. But, destiny had some other plans designed for me. For some practical & un-manageable reasons & circumstances, we friends, couldn’t perform the puja & it surely was a griefing realization for me. But as earlier mentioned, the energy which was being imparted and directed towards the pursuit of this dream got transformed into much bigger opportunity and cause.
The official launch of “MITRA” – a concept, a cause, a project; which was being parallely envisioned by few of us school batch mates of the year 1987., got its final shape & meaning and consequently was decided to floor its launch on very much the same day of “Sarswati Puja” ; the 20th of Jan’2010.
The main idea , motto & principle behind its launch, being, providing all important education to the students from the families facing financial constraints. It’s designed to give equal opportunity to those students & enable them to represent the common platform of action, along with other more privileged students.
After a very successful launch, I feel obliged, privileged & proud, being given an opportunity to share & express my vision and thoughts in my words in front of my ex-teachers, ex-students & batch mates. I strongly feel that the energy which I could impart & provide to enhance the momentum of this project would surely work its way into effective output.
We have a wonderful able team which is strongly committed to direct, guide & sustain the vision of this cause in Kolkata. I hope & pray, that together, may we be able to create a miracle out of this small but significant application for a big cause.
I deeply feel that my dream of performing the puja, gave me a real chance, in real sense to worship and share the knowledge & wisdom gathered through, over the years.
I, now feel my presence in Kolkata fully justified and my dream fulfilled.
Journey to Kolkata......16th & 17th January'2010
17.1.2010
This time, purposely, I wanted to take my own time to travel & approach, this city, my original home, close to my heart.
Honestly, when I booked my “Duronto” train tickets, I had all the possible options to travel by air, the fares almost equal to my travel of 27hrs. journey by train.
But, in fact, I wanted to relish the experience of traveling, through this newly launched, #Duronto, for its own valid reasons. The fastest non-stop train between Kolkata & Mumbai.
The journey is being relayed from the train itself, while it just passed Kharagpur station at 5.1.5 pm on Sunday(17th Jan). It’s a further 100 minutes journey to Howrah station from here.
From the very first hour of boarding Duronto on 16th-Jan at 5.15 pm. from Mumbai CST, I was impressed by the look, the cleanliness & the service all throughout.
Timely meals, polite & prompt services and fantastic ear pleasing instrumentals varying in different degrees from classical to Hindi oldies…
One of the other, in fact more pronounced reason of travelling by road, is that, my interaction with Kolkata was going to be after a long gap of almost 25 months; more than two years.
I wanted to take my own sweet time to get myself soaked into the process of getting merged with my city, before I actually, physically step on to its roads.
The journey, in its entirety, gave me complete feel of what’s in store for me for the next 8 days of my stay in Kolkata (Calcutta of my times).
Made good acquaintances with a couple of co-travellers within the train, with whom I relished few of my past memories of Kolkata; talked about schooling, friends, small simple experiences, as if the clock was back-set for me by almost 20 years.
This is the beauty of a train journey piercing through the distance between two cities on the land.
The journey gave me enough time for myself, to be with a couple of my favourite books allowing me to do complete justice to the author’s intentions.
I, always felt that, when we travel from one place to another by the fastest means, by air, its like watching a film on fast-forward track. Its like you have a time bound job to complete a movie and nothing better than but to watch it under fast-forward to save as much as the time as possible.
The journey of plus 2000kms by train, allowed me to absorb and & savour the glimpses, the feel of every passing small village, towns/cities, green fields, barren lands, and most importantly, the people living in these places.
Actually, few of the visual passing instances gave me the sweet opportunity to live in those few moments of their lives with them, by merely getting into aware-ful staring, the way they went about with their day, their work.
Saw young boys playing cricket on the fields, could see them diving into the small village side pond for their afternoon bath, few elders gathered under a tree for their Sunday afternoon meetings, few of the women busy taking care of their daily chores of washing clothes close to the ponds, carrying vessels, chatting through from one place to other, and so on....
Besides above, the thoughts of few important events which I was supposed to catch up with, in the next 8 days, kept me occupied.
I could re-wined the biological & historical clock in me and could count the steps climbed at different stages to reach to this height (which I personally feel is one of the most convenient times of my life).
It’s been a good volume of “receiving” from all, be it from the family, the school, the friends, the teachers, the colleagues.
Its certainly, I felt, was a time to “give back” and “contribute” my bit for the well beings of the people, the community and the society in general, which touched my life at every step by some means or the other and played a major role in my journey of life, all through out.
“Sarswati Puja”, in Kolkata was, and is still is, one of the events of great importance in my life.
We, friends, did organized Maa Saraswati Puja for almost 7 to 8 years in the 1980's.
I owe my ability with words, speech & communication solely to the heartfelt prayers done during this Puja.
The super excitement is, that on 20th of January, Wednesday, during my current stay in Kolkata, we friends are trying our best to re-organize & conduct this Holy Puja, at very much the same place and in very much the same way. Though we have some technical hindrances, but I am hopefully looking forward to pull this through.
This being one of my most important reasons for being in Kolkata this time.
Secondly, and in fact quite fortunately, our “Gyan Prabodhini” project.
Initiated by us – “Class of 1987 batch – J J Ajmera High School” is being launched on the same auspicious day of Sarswati Puja.
Under this scheme of things we are going to support few students/families, who are financially not competent enough to carry the studies and education within their existing income slabs. These students would be supported and allowed complete education with equal opportunities along with the rest.
At the same time under this project, we are also looking for the few promising students at High School levels and to create space for themselves to pursue higher technical studies. They would be given extra coaching and training (if having financial constraints) and allowed to get merged into main stream of competitive environment with equal opportunities.
Now, as fortunate as I could get, we have a project launching on 20th which would give me full chance and opportunity to be in the thick of the things. Wow!! Couldn’t have asked for more.
Besides above, meeting old friends at your own old base, is like a fresh feeling of coming back home to the roots. Thanks to my all friends here at Kol, who boosted me up to anyhow plan this trip and have lined up a good meet-up in the form of an overnight outing. I can hardly wait to get submerged into the warmth of my earlier days.
The first twenty two years of my life in Kolkata surely helped & prepared me to face the best and worst of the life to come.
Though few of such things always came in unintentional, unplanned, surprised packages; but could unravel its importance in my scheme of things with each passing year of my life, away from Kolkata.
I can't help to resist myself, thanking and acknowledging each of the stepping stones which came across me during my earlier days of Kolkata. And undoubtedly, these stepping stones were highly instrumental in helping me to convert them into mile stones in my personal & professional life of the next 18 years in Mumbai, till date.
The only regret of the trip till now is the absence of “Rupa”. I would have felt a sense of completeness, if she could have had managed to join this trip with me, which is more of a journey full of nostalgia for me. Unfortunately for me & her too, she had her own valid reasons, preferences and prior commitments to be not able to join this trip. She too, certainly has a deep regret for not being able to make up. But she is going to be around (in my thoughts) in all my moments of great experience in Kolkata.
Journey to Kolkata….
16th & 17th January’2010….
Kolkata, the name, the place, the people, the living, the reveries has always been and remains an integral part of my world., my life., my existence.This time, purposely, I wanted to take my own time to travel & approach, this city, my original home, close to my heart.
Honestly, when I booked my “Duronto” train tickets, I had all the possible options to travel by air, the fares almost equal to my travel of 27hrs. journey by train.
But, in fact, I wanted to relish the experience of traveling, through this newly launched, #Duronto, for its own valid reasons. The fastest non-stop train between Kolkata & Mumbai.
The journey is being relayed from the train itself, while it just passed Kharagpur station at 5.1.5 pm on Sunday(17th Jan). It’s a further 100 minutes journey to Howrah station from here.
From the very first hour of boarding Duronto on 16th-Jan at 5.15 pm. from Mumbai CST, I was impressed by the look, the cleanliness & the service all throughout.
Timely meals, polite & prompt services and fantastic ear pleasing instrumentals varying in different degrees from classical to Hindi oldies…
One of the other, in fact more pronounced reason of travelling by road, is that, my interaction with Kolkata was going to be after a long gap of almost 25 months; more than two years.
I wanted to take my own sweet time to get myself soaked into the process of getting merged with my city, before I actually, physically step on to its roads.
The journey, in its entirety, gave me complete feel of what’s in store for me for the next 8 days of my stay in Kolkata (Calcutta of my times).
Made good acquaintances with a couple of co-travellers within the train, with whom I relished few of my past memories of Kolkata; talked about schooling, friends, small simple experiences, as if the clock was back-set for me by almost 20 years.
This is the beauty of a train journey piercing through the distance between two cities on the land.
The journey gave me enough time for myself, to be with a couple of my favourite books allowing me to do complete justice to the author’s intentions.
I, always felt that, when we travel from one place to another by the fastest means, by air, its like watching a film on fast-forward track. Its like you have a time bound job to complete a movie and nothing better than but to watch it under fast-forward to save as much as the time as possible.
The journey of plus 2000kms by train, allowed me to absorb and & savour the glimpses, the feel of every passing small village, towns/cities, green fields, barren lands, and most importantly, the people living in these places.
Actually, few of the visual passing instances gave me the sweet opportunity to live in those few moments of their lives with them, by merely getting into aware-ful staring, the way they went about with their day, their work.
Saw young boys playing cricket on the fields, could see them diving into the small village side pond for their afternoon bath, few elders gathered under a tree for their Sunday afternoon meetings, few of the women busy taking care of their daily chores of washing clothes close to the ponds, carrying vessels, chatting through from one place to other, and so on....
Besides above, the thoughts of few important events which I was supposed to catch up with, in the next 8 days, kept me occupied.
I could re-wined the biological & historical clock in me and could count the steps climbed at different stages to reach to this height (which I personally feel is one of the most convenient times of my life).
It’s been a good volume of “receiving” from all, be it from the family, the school, the friends, the teachers, the colleagues.
Its certainly, I felt, was a time to “give back” and “contribute” my bit for the well beings of the people, the community and the society in general, which touched my life at every step by some means or the other and played a major role in my journey of life, all through out.
“Sarswati Puja”, in Kolkata was, and is still is, one of the events of great importance in my life.
We, friends, did organized Maa Saraswati Puja for almost 7 to 8 years in the 1980's.
I owe my ability with words, speech & communication solely to the heartfelt prayers done during this Puja.
The super excitement is, that on 20th of January, Wednesday, during my current stay in Kolkata, we friends are trying our best to re-organize & conduct this Holy Puja, at very much the same place and in very much the same way. Though we have some technical hindrances, but I am hopefully looking forward to pull this through.
This being one of my most important reasons for being in Kolkata this time.
Secondly, and in fact quite fortunately, our “Gyan Prabodhini” project.
Initiated by us – “Class of 1987 batch – J J Ajmera High School” is being launched on the same auspicious day of Sarswati Puja.
Under this scheme of things we are going to support few students/families, who are financially not competent enough to carry the studies and education within their existing income slabs. These students would be supported and allowed complete education with equal opportunities along with the rest.
At the same time under this project, we are also looking for the few promising students at High School levels and to create space for themselves to pursue higher technical studies. They would be given extra coaching and training (if having financial constraints) and allowed to get merged into main stream of competitive environment with equal opportunities.
Now, as fortunate as I could get, we have a project launching on 20th which would give me full chance and opportunity to be in the thick of the things. Wow!! Couldn’t have asked for more.
Besides above, meeting old friends at your own old base, is like a fresh feeling of coming back home to the roots. Thanks to my all friends here at Kol, who boosted me up to anyhow plan this trip and have lined up a good meet-up in the form of an overnight outing. I can hardly wait to get submerged into the warmth of my earlier days.
The first twenty two years of my life in Kolkata surely helped & prepared me to face the best and worst of the life to come.
Though few of such things always came in unintentional, unplanned, surprised packages; but could unravel its importance in my scheme of things with each passing year of my life, away from Kolkata.
I can't help to resist myself, thanking and acknowledging each of the stepping stones which came across me during my earlier days of Kolkata. And undoubtedly, these stepping stones were highly instrumental in helping me to convert them into mile stones in my personal & professional life of the next 18 years in Mumbai, till date.
The only regret of the trip till now is the absence of “Rupa”. I would have felt a sense of completeness, if she could have had managed to join this trip with me, which is more of a journey full of nostalgia for me. Unfortunately for me & her too, she had her own valid reasons, preferences and prior commitments to be not able to join this trip. She too, certainly has a deep regret for not being able to make up. But she is going to be around (in my thoughts) in all my moments of great experience in Kolkata.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Switzerland...........the follow through...............
In the following text , I would cover my experience spreaded over 10 nights in the God’s own creation; Switzerland.
There were frankly too many choices we had, of planning these summer holidays. We did browse over the idea of either visiting Egypt or Far East or New Zealand. It was around the last week of March, when we had a trip to Palitana with Apoorva & family, and those were the three days which catalysed our thinking and action process to plan this vacation together. Eventually one day Apoorva came up with the idea to visit Switzerland exclusively, which did sound quite interesting and seem to suit our pockets too.
In the following week, with few evenings together, we worked out the dates, visas, air line and apartment bookings. Apartment booking was an interesting feature which took almost a good one whole week of browsing through as many as 40 choices. With good help from a friend (Ms Monali of Ria tours), we could finally agree & decide on a beautiful 4 bed rooms apartment at Grindelwald; a chalet called Alpenrose.
Though a bit expensive, Alpenrose had promising clean interior as well as good location rich in picturesque beauty. From whatever we could see and define from the internet presence of this premise, it seemed like a good choice & kept our fingers crossed, hoping to match the real experience in line with our expectations. Eventually got Emirates tickets at good promotional rates at the expense of spending a night at Dubai airport…good bargain anyways !!!
The visas took a bit long and stretched its suspense almost till the day before the flying day. But the worry, frustration and wait was worth every minute, once the nod of approval came.
Last but not the least, Jain food was our top priority as almost all in the group maintained the same preference, eventually had almost 100 kgs of food articles with us between 8 tickets. No wonder , for Gujaratis , the availability & accessibility of good tasty food over powers the actual excitement & feel of the destination, the place of visit. For me at least, as far as I know & remember, could see & dream of nothing; but the sheer idea of stepping in Switzerland, kept the pulse throbbing in me.
We flew Emirates on 29th April’2009 evening & after almost 10 hours of night stay at Dubai Airport, reached Zurich at around 3 in the afternoon, the following day. We had train connection as Zurich – Bern – Interlaken – Grindelwald; stretched over three hours, our first stepping experience in Switzerland. No sooner, we had our first step on Zurich airport, could feel the difference. We landed at comfortable 12 degrees and could not wait for much cooler invitation by the time we touch Grindelwald; our new home for the next 7 days.
The three hours in train, and three change overs till Grindelwald, I could not resist myself & started capturing every single moment of my experience & existence; in my cam, as if, a moment missed would be lost forever. Every passing station, every passing sight, was an unbelievable experience of shaking hands with the nature God Himself. This actually elevated the level of expectations and the demands from within, about what would be in the offing for the next few days., for all of us.
Oh! Look here, the mere temptation to pour out my experiences and serve them to you all, missed the mention of my daughter, Zeenal. Since the night we landed at Dubai airport, she was suffering from severe cold, cough , high temperature and was quite at discomfort all through the journey. Surely posed some worry; as, to explore the Switzerland in its entireity, needed all of us to be fully fit to keep moving tirelessly for the next 10 days. Arriving at Alpenrose, on 30th evening , fortunately allowed us to have an access to the medical facility for her and it took, a bit disappointingly, almost 48 hours for her to fully recover & bounce back to sink herself in the ocean of immense joy , that was Switzerland. In fact, this actually proved to be a small blessing in disguise too , as due to her not being fully fit, allowed us to have a complete day at leisure , within & around our apartment, creating an experience of complete relaxation, stillness and away from the usual deadlines & target based routine, which we are all so very used to. This day would be covered later as that was our 2nd day at the apartment.
The 1st day , 1st of May’2009 ; we decided to begin our first face off with the country by choosing to cover a town called Luzern ( the lake city) and Mt. Pilatus (at 7000 ft above the sea level). The movement was Grindelwald – Interlaken – Luzern. As expected and in full excitement we set off to explore the place, its beautiful unparalleled sight. We were greeted with a very bright day and certainly the perfect day to soak ourselves in the nature’s incessant offering. We arrived at Luzern and immediately moved on to scale the Pilatus height. The two levels of cable car journey gave us a wonderful coverage of the entire city of Luzern. Could find some snow at Pilatus which was very inviting and had our hands experiencing the first snow in Switzerland.
The 2nd day at Grindelwald; the 2nd of May; as mentioned earlier, we decided to stay on at the apartment and enjoy the day fully relaxed and seizing the opportunity to explore the place where we were staying. Again a day of bright clear sky allowed us to enjoy the lunch session on the terrace looking over the snow filled mountain in front of us. We planned an in house game for the kids, dance sessions and then decided to go for a stroll in the afternoon. A lovely walk in the main street, a kids park, few roadside restaurants with people enjoying the afternoon tea, ultimately brought us to an amazing huge open green field surrounded by distant mountains, molten snow falls and small beautiful wooden houses all around. Our legs would not move an inch further and just decided to get immersed in the flowing beauty of the surrounding. A couple of hours later, and a few kitchen purchases from the “COOP” , hit the apartment again to have the fun for the next 3 hours watching a Hindi movie clubbed with popcorns and the coke., followed by delicious dinner.
Wow !! that was some evening of actual liberty. Real freedom. Freedom from the slavery of time, from the Blackberrys, from the to do’s & don’t’s. The day like that was obviously well appreciated by one & all, as I personally could not remember actually experiencing few such hours in my long distant past.
The next four days; 3rd May – 6th May; we covered up Trummelbach falls , Zarmatt, Luzern, Jungfrau peak and Mt. Titlis.
Referring to Trummelbach falls, its one of those places which is generally not covered in any regular tour itinerary. It was on insistence from our apartment owners, Mr Alex Mann & Mrs Ross mann, seeking their advise and suggestion we decided to visit the place and all thanks to them for the wonderful experience we had there.
“Zarmatt” is one of those small towns in Switzerland, which deserves a special mention. A town, specializing in Ski activities. We could see many of the visitors from all over the Europe & the world, coming there to stay over for weeks and enjoy the skiing experience. A town, which is devoid of fuel based cars ( only few electric cars) and which boasts to be one of those places of choice & preference for the makers of Indian Hindi movies ( includes the legend; D D L J ). A beautiful church , a museum , chain of restaurants flashing all types of global delicacies, souvenier shops, extra ordinarily designed houses and all blessed with the pure pearl white beauty of nature.
As it was planned, after a good fill of breakfast every morning, we used to carry one hot item of general choice with us to fill up for the lunch on the move. On the 4th day / 4th May; It was a hot steaming biryani on the Luzern cruise which made our face lit up and infused energy in us to keep moving strongly with long walks.
We had a cruise excursion of almost an hour and a half and a good walk around the same lake later to have the real feel of the Luzern city. The feel and the smell of breeze, the people , the houses, all felt so wonderfully in unison with eternal gorgeousness of the nature. Every step we took, every breathe we took , helped us to relieve and de-stress ourselves. We kept gazing all around in awe and hardly could believe our actual physical presence on the land of God.
The ride to Mt. Jungfrau & the Mt. Titlis, is one of those experiences, where we could not move our eyes beyond the snow bed. It could well be compared with the vast deserts of Rajasthan in India, where you can see sand & the dunes for miles and miles, almost till the horizon. Similarly, the vast spread of snow was what our eyes could see till the extremes. The whiteness of the snow was so sparkling that it was difficult to keep eyes open for long time. Again one of those first experiences of huge spread of snow. We had some fantastic moments of getting into few snow activities, the slides, creating a snow-man statue and could feel the basics of our childhood with all those happiness in the heart, the pure pleasure and non constricted laughs.
Meanwhile , all this fun was added up with the pleasure of having delicious home cooked food everywhere, the excitement of exploring, finding & choosing a place to sit four lunch, may it was in the train compartments, the green fields or on the peak of the mountains.
The day never ended till we used to return to the apartment and prepare hot dinner for all, sometimes even around mid-night. It was fun to help the women to clean up the choirs and heart warming to see kids coming up with their share of extending helping hands.
The next 3 days at Interlaken; 7th May – 10th May; was a switch over. From the height and crude natural surrounding of Grindelwald to the plains of Interlaken. A wonderful town, well connected and offered us a complete different experience of Switzerland. I would put it as an experience which was more grounded with actual life of Switzerland. Here we could actually feel the pulse of the country, its city life, the touch of the culture & the tradition it carried.
The people of Switzerland deserves a special mention. It felt so good to be actually being one of them, with them for this short time of ten days. People were from all over Europe, the French, the Germans, the Spanish, the British…..and we never missed an opportunity to communicate with them, wherever we could. The people were peace loving, caring and so gentle.
One thing which I could clearly noticed, was the “time” in hand, they all carried. They all had. The major areas of occupation in Switzerland being the cattle breeding , the milk and milk products industry , Swiss watches & Swiss chocolates. The people here seemed to be so very well planned and clear about what they wanted from their lives.
We talked to the owners of our Grindelwald apartment, over a breakfast one morning and could not resist asking them - They being originally British, how did they feel being in this country? What was the motivating factor for them to carry through their living in Switzerland, Grindelwald? A plain , straight , simple answer, that’s what we got. Mr & Mrs Mann said : We both love nature. We rent this apartment for around 28 to 30 weks a year and most of our time & focus is devoted to keep the apartment in fully updated condition ( involves cleaning and setting things right). And we have a son in his teens. I (Alex), being a professional paraglider myself, love to take my son for the occasional parachute gliding experience, which is so satisfying & exciting.
The clear focus of three things –
1. love of nature, being there to enjoy its non-restricted beauty
2. to maintain the apartment, which is their means of earning
3. the sheer enjoyment & satisfaction of being with his son and being with the family.
Amazing, isn’t it ?
We too, do have our love for few things. We carry few hobbies since the childhood & few ambitions too. We do have our work, job, business. We do have our family with us.
But as always seen,
We keep all the love for our self-fulfillment aside for the tomorrows to come. We have work , but in the greed to cover more & gather more for our ever increasing needs, lose focus to stay strong with what we have. We have our kids at home, family of parents and Grand parents, waiting to have that slice of small time to share their thoughts with us, their small observations which they would like to point at, their small needs or small discomforts which they would like to discuss & eventually get solved or at least those 20 minutes of our presence on the dinner table. But pity us …we are so engrossed , occupied and troubled over small things which actually does not make any real sense or relevance to our lives compare to what is genuinely more important.
One fine evening, in Interlaken, I was sitting in the balcony of our apartment. The climate was so soothing and atmosphere so divine that it inspired me to sit with a book to get myself fully soaked in that. It was about 8 in the evening , could see the darkness slowly trying to take over as much as possible from the clutches of the daylight and spread herself as evenly and silently as possible. There were few evening bulbs already on at few of the houses nearby. Though engrossed in reading , I was tempted to have a look around the beautiful sight of the evening around me. My eyes stopped at the 2nd floor balcony of an apartment opposite to our house. A couple, may be in their early fifties, were sitting and enjoying their evening supper under a candle lit rays. I could sense their stillness, the smiles, the talks , the sense of fulfillment. The sight was so satisfying to see that they had loads of quality time in the world to spend their little cozy moments together and share their day’s activities and achievements with each other.
That moment jolted me. I could feel the shivering sensation through my spine. I could just keep wondering, not being able to believe the way my own life or should I say our lives are being handled.
Friends, we get just one life to live. By “live”, I actually mean to live life, not counting the breathes we take; but how many such wonderful moments we experience during the journey of our lives, which take our breathes away.
There were frankly too many choices we had, of planning these summer holidays. We did browse over the idea of either visiting Egypt or Far East or New Zealand. It was around the last week of March, when we had a trip to Palitana with Apoorva & family, and those were the three days which catalysed our thinking and action process to plan this vacation together. Eventually one day Apoorva came up with the idea to visit Switzerland exclusively, which did sound quite interesting and seem to suit our pockets too.
In the following week, with few evenings together, we worked out the dates, visas, air line and apartment bookings. Apartment booking was an interesting feature which took almost a good one whole week of browsing through as many as 40 choices. With good help from a friend (Ms Monali of Ria tours), we could finally agree & decide on a beautiful 4 bed rooms apartment at Grindelwald; a chalet called Alpenrose.
Though a bit expensive, Alpenrose had promising clean interior as well as good location rich in picturesque beauty. From whatever we could see and define from the internet presence of this premise, it seemed like a good choice & kept our fingers crossed, hoping to match the real experience in line with our expectations. Eventually got Emirates tickets at good promotional rates at the expense of spending a night at Dubai airport…good bargain anyways !!!
The visas took a bit long and stretched its suspense almost till the day before the flying day. But the worry, frustration and wait was worth every minute, once the nod of approval came.
Last but not the least, Jain food was our top priority as almost all in the group maintained the same preference, eventually had almost 100 kgs of food articles with us between 8 tickets. No wonder , for Gujaratis , the availability & accessibility of good tasty food over powers the actual excitement & feel of the destination, the place of visit. For me at least, as far as I know & remember, could see & dream of nothing; but the sheer idea of stepping in Switzerland, kept the pulse throbbing in me.
We flew Emirates on 29th April’2009 evening & after almost 10 hours of night stay at Dubai Airport, reached Zurich at around 3 in the afternoon, the following day. We had train connection as Zurich – Bern – Interlaken – Grindelwald; stretched over three hours, our first stepping experience in Switzerland. No sooner, we had our first step on Zurich airport, could feel the difference. We landed at comfortable 12 degrees and could not wait for much cooler invitation by the time we touch Grindelwald; our new home for the next 7 days.
The three hours in train, and three change overs till Grindelwald, I could not resist myself & started capturing every single moment of my experience & existence; in my cam, as if, a moment missed would be lost forever. Every passing station, every passing sight, was an unbelievable experience of shaking hands with the nature God Himself. This actually elevated the level of expectations and the demands from within, about what would be in the offing for the next few days., for all of us.
Oh! Look here, the mere temptation to pour out my experiences and serve them to you all, missed the mention of my daughter, Zeenal. Since the night we landed at Dubai airport, she was suffering from severe cold, cough , high temperature and was quite at discomfort all through the journey. Surely posed some worry; as, to explore the Switzerland in its entireity, needed all of us to be fully fit to keep moving tirelessly for the next 10 days. Arriving at Alpenrose, on 30th evening , fortunately allowed us to have an access to the medical facility for her and it took, a bit disappointingly, almost 48 hours for her to fully recover & bounce back to sink herself in the ocean of immense joy , that was Switzerland. In fact, this actually proved to be a small blessing in disguise too , as due to her not being fully fit, allowed us to have a complete day at leisure , within & around our apartment, creating an experience of complete relaxation, stillness and away from the usual deadlines & target based routine, which we are all so very used to. This day would be covered later as that was our 2nd day at the apartment.
The 1st day , 1st of May’2009 ; we decided to begin our first face off with the country by choosing to cover a town called Luzern ( the lake city) and Mt. Pilatus (at 7000 ft above the sea level). The movement was Grindelwald – Interlaken – Luzern. As expected and in full excitement we set off to explore the place, its beautiful unparalleled sight. We were greeted with a very bright day and certainly the perfect day to soak ourselves in the nature’s incessant offering. We arrived at Luzern and immediately moved on to scale the Pilatus height. The two levels of cable car journey gave us a wonderful coverage of the entire city of Luzern. Could find some snow at Pilatus which was very inviting and had our hands experiencing the first snow in Switzerland.
The 2nd day at Grindelwald; the 2nd of May; as mentioned earlier, we decided to stay on at the apartment and enjoy the day fully relaxed and seizing the opportunity to explore the place where we were staying. Again a day of bright clear sky allowed us to enjoy the lunch session on the terrace looking over the snow filled mountain in front of us. We planned an in house game for the kids, dance sessions and then decided to go for a stroll in the afternoon. A lovely walk in the main street, a kids park, few roadside restaurants with people enjoying the afternoon tea, ultimately brought us to an amazing huge open green field surrounded by distant mountains, molten snow falls and small beautiful wooden houses all around. Our legs would not move an inch further and just decided to get immersed in the flowing beauty of the surrounding. A couple of hours later, and a few kitchen purchases from the “COOP” , hit the apartment again to have the fun for the next 3 hours watching a Hindi movie clubbed with popcorns and the coke., followed by delicious dinner.
Wow !! that was some evening of actual liberty. Real freedom. Freedom from the slavery of time, from the Blackberrys, from the to do’s & don’t’s. The day like that was obviously well appreciated by one & all, as I personally could not remember actually experiencing few such hours in my long distant past.
The next four days; 3rd May – 6th May; we covered up Trummelbach falls , Zarmatt, Luzern, Jungfrau peak and Mt. Titlis.
Referring to Trummelbach falls, its one of those places which is generally not covered in any regular tour itinerary. It was on insistence from our apartment owners, Mr Alex Mann & Mrs Ross mann, seeking their advise and suggestion we decided to visit the place and all thanks to them for the wonderful experience we had there.
“Zarmatt” is one of those small towns in Switzerland, which deserves a special mention. A town, specializing in Ski activities. We could see many of the visitors from all over the Europe & the world, coming there to stay over for weeks and enjoy the skiing experience. A town, which is devoid of fuel based cars ( only few electric cars) and which boasts to be one of those places of choice & preference for the makers of Indian Hindi movies ( includes the legend; D D L J ). A beautiful church , a museum , chain of restaurants flashing all types of global delicacies, souvenier shops, extra ordinarily designed houses and all blessed with the pure pearl white beauty of nature.
As it was planned, after a good fill of breakfast every morning, we used to carry one hot item of general choice with us to fill up for the lunch on the move. On the 4th day / 4th May; It was a hot steaming biryani on the Luzern cruise which made our face lit up and infused energy in us to keep moving strongly with long walks.
We had a cruise excursion of almost an hour and a half and a good walk around the same lake later to have the real feel of the Luzern city. The feel and the smell of breeze, the people , the houses, all felt so wonderfully in unison with eternal gorgeousness of the nature. Every step we took, every breathe we took , helped us to relieve and de-stress ourselves. We kept gazing all around in awe and hardly could believe our actual physical presence on the land of God.
The ride to Mt. Jungfrau & the Mt. Titlis, is one of those experiences, where we could not move our eyes beyond the snow bed. It could well be compared with the vast deserts of Rajasthan in India, where you can see sand & the dunes for miles and miles, almost till the horizon. Similarly, the vast spread of snow was what our eyes could see till the extremes. The whiteness of the snow was so sparkling that it was difficult to keep eyes open for long time. Again one of those first experiences of huge spread of snow. We had some fantastic moments of getting into few snow activities, the slides, creating a snow-man statue and could feel the basics of our childhood with all those happiness in the heart, the pure pleasure and non constricted laughs.
Meanwhile , all this fun was added up with the pleasure of having delicious home cooked food everywhere, the excitement of exploring, finding & choosing a place to sit four lunch, may it was in the train compartments, the green fields or on the peak of the mountains.
The day never ended till we used to return to the apartment and prepare hot dinner for all, sometimes even around mid-night. It was fun to help the women to clean up the choirs and heart warming to see kids coming up with their share of extending helping hands.
The next 3 days at Interlaken; 7th May – 10th May; was a switch over. From the height and crude natural surrounding of Grindelwald to the plains of Interlaken. A wonderful town, well connected and offered us a complete different experience of Switzerland. I would put it as an experience which was more grounded with actual life of Switzerland. Here we could actually feel the pulse of the country, its city life, the touch of the culture & the tradition it carried.
The people of Switzerland deserves a special mention. It felt so good to be actually being one of them, with them for this short time of ten days. People were from all over Europe, the French, the Germans, the Spanish, the British…..and we never missed an opportunity to communicate with them, wherever we could. The people were peace loving, caring and so gentle.
One thing which I could clearly noticed, was the “time” in hand, they all carried. They all had. The major areas of occupation in Switzerland being the cattle breeding , the milk and milk products industry , Swiss watches & Swiss chocolates. The people here seemed to be so very well planned and clear about what they wanted from their lives.
We talked to the owners of our Grindelwald apartment, over a breakfast one morning and could not resist asking them - They being originally British, how did they feel being in this country? What was the motivating factor for them to carry through their living in Switzerland, Grindelwald? A plain , straight , simple answer, that’s what we got. Mr & Mrs Mann said : We both love nature. We rent this apartment for around 28 to 30 weks a year and most of our time & focus is devoted to keep the apartment in fully updated condition ( involves cleaning and setting things right). And we have a son in his teens. I (Alex), being a professional paraglider myself, love to take my son for the occasional parachute gliding experience, which is so satisfying & exciting.
The clear focus of three things –
1. love of nature, being there to enjoy its non-restricted beauty
2. to maintain the apartment, which is their means of earning
3. the sheer enjoyment & satisfaction of being with his son and being with the family.
Amazing, isn’t it ?
We too, do have our love for few things. We carry few hobbies since the childhood & few ambitions too. We do have our work, job, business. We do have our family with us.
But as always seen,
We keep all the love for our self-fulfillment aside for the tomorrows to come. We have work , but in the greed to cover more & gather more for our ever increasing needs, lose focus to stay strong with what we have. We have our kids at home, family of parents and Grand parents, waiting to have that slice of small time to share their thoughts with us, their small observations which they would like to point at, their small needs or small discomforts which they would like to discuss & eventually get solved or at least those 20 minutes of our presence on the dinner table. But pity us …we are so engrossed , occupied and troubled over small things which actually does not make any real sense or relevance to our lives compare to what is genuinely more important.
One fine evening, in Interlaken, I was sitting in the balcony of our apartment. The climate was so soothing and atmosphere so divine that it inspired me to sit with a book to get myself fully soaked in that. It was about 8 in the evening , could see the darkness slowly trying to take over as much as possible from the clutches of the daylight and spread herself as evenly and silently as possible. There were few evening bulbs already on at few of the houses nearby. Though engrossed in reading , I was tempted to have a look around the beautiful sight of the evening around me. My eyes stopped at the 2nd floor balcony of an apartment opposite to our house. A couple, may be in their early fifties, were sitting and enjoying their evening supper under a candle lit rays. I could sense their stillness, the smiles, the talks , the sense of fulfillment. The sight was so satisfying to see that they had loads of quality time in the world to spend their little cozy moments together and share their day’s activities and achievements with each other.
That moment jolted me. I could feel the shivering sensation through my spine. I could just keep wondering, not being able to believe the way my own life or should I say our lives are being handled.
Friends, we get just one life to live. By “live”, I actually mean to live life, not counting the breathes we take; but how many such wonderful moments we experience during the journey of our lives, which take our breathes away.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Why go to the temple ???
If you're spiritually alive, you're going to love this!
If you're spiritually dead, you won't want to read it.
If you're spiritually curious, there is still hope!
Why Go To The Temple ?
A 'devotee' goer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and
complained that it made no sense to go to the Temple .
'I've gone for 30 years now, he wrote, and in that time I have heard
something like 3,000 mantras.
But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them. So, I
think I'm wasting my time and the Gurus are wasting theirs by giving
services at all.
This started a real controversy in the 'Letters to the Editor' column,
much to the delight of the editor.. It went on for weeks until someone
wrote this clincher: I've been married for 30 years now. In that time my
wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot
recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know
this... They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my
work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically
dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to the Temple for nourishment, I
would be spiritually dead today!
When you are DOWN to nothing.... God is UP to something! Faith sees the
invisible, believes the incredible and receives the impossible!
Thank God for our physical AND our spiritual nourishment!
If you're spiritually dead, you won't want to read it.
If you're spiritually curious, there is still hope!
Why Go To The Temple ?
A 'devotee' goer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and
complained that it made no sense to go to the Temple .
'I've gone for 30 years now, he wrote, and in that time I have heard
something like 3,000 mantras.
But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them. So, I
think I'm wasting my time and the Gurus are wasting theirs by giving
services at all.
This started a real controversy in the 'Letters to the Editor' column,
much to the delight of the editor.. It went on for weeks until someone
wrote this clincher: I've been married for 30 years now. In that time my
wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot
recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know
this... They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my
work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically
dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to the Temple for nourishment, I
would be spiritually dead today!
When you are DOWN to nothing.... God is UP to something! Faith sees the
invisible, believes the incredible and receives the impossible!
Thank God for our physical AND our spiritual nourishment!
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