Finding Nemo

In my previous post – "Main or May" , I started a thought on the pride. Pride can come to a person in many forms – overconfidence being one of them and probably the most destructive too. Pride is a great feeling to have and is a great asset if in moderated quantity. Being a necessary evil, it helps one to move forward and overcome the inherent fear of failure, and at the same time, creates a path for self-destruction through complacency and too much of confidence on self or other. Pride comes with the sense of belonging and ownership. However, the nature makes no such claim. This is a human mind construct and creates boundaries. We have all seen both the benefits and the destruction caused by pride. Let's see the symbolism of the same as seen in our scriptures! Who better to kill pride or tame the feeling than Lord Shiva. Shiva took the form of "Bhairava" as a young child devoid of all the emotions of ownership and pride. Bhairava is always accompanied with

I took a little time thinking on what do I want and what do I need. While doing so, I thought whether am I looking for "Main" (myself in hindi) or "May" (pride in hindi). Though a very glib pun on the sounds, yet a very profound meaning that changes the character of a person. Below is my attempt in penning my thoughts. कुछ ढूँढ रहा था मैं , कुछ पाना चाहता था मैं, श्रम से बीज बोता मैं, सोचता था फल खाऊँगा मैं।                                        कभी मन को समझाता मैं ,                                        कभी खूब मचल जाता मैं ,                                        दूर भी जाना चाहता था मैं ,                                        और अमर भी होना चाहता था मैं। मन को शांत करता मैं , सब कुछ शांत करना चाहता था मैं , चाँद को चूना चाहता था मैं, सूर्य से भी ज्यादा तेज चाहता था मैं।                                          थोडा कुछ तो पाया भी मैं,                                          और साथ ले आया मय।                                          जिस मय

I am sure that all of us have been stirred by the Devyani Khobragade arrest incident that has shaken the diplomatic ties between India and US for now. I spent much time yesterday reading through the news reports and talking to people with experiences into diplomatic scenarios. We spoke at lengths on the measures being taken by the various authorities and the excessiveness being exercised in matters deemed necessary. We all concluded that there were some gaps in the manner the situation was handled. This article today is dedicated towards the lamentation of these gaps. In the Devyani case, the US officials have reported to have acted as per their rules and regulations. Their reports said that since the Indian Diplomat failed to align with their rules and regulations, they were supposed to take a corrective action and force the punishment on the accused. What were these rules? Putting appropriate salary to the domestic help (which is allowed as per US rules and regulations) in the visa a

Last night we were watching the movie "Dashavtaram" for the umpteenth time. We love the movie and also have many good memories attached with the song – "Mukunda Mukunda". My wife taught dance to this number and the kids performed beautifully on the stage. Now that we watched it again and again, we tried to make sense of the name – "Dashavtaram" which undoubtedly refers to the 10 incarnations of Lord Vishnu. Interestingly enough, Lord Vishnu is known to have descended upon the earth many a times to uphold the dharma or the laws of nature. Though our scriptures and wise learned people have often differed on the number of times Vishnu took different forms, there is no difference in understanding the common themes and the principles in each of these avatars. My attempt shall be to just have a look at those and understand the same. As per the most well-read purana scripture – Bhagwat Purana describes 22 avatars of Sri Vishnu. While the most commonly known 10 av

Now that you got me started, I will croon out another one from my pocket. This may not be a fantastic piece of work, but is definitely close to my heart and in a way quite true to its meaning! The best part is when it was composed? Almost 20 years ago!                       आज जीवन का अर्थ कहो तुम ?                       किसी कि हंसी छीनना ही क्या जीवन है?                       किसी को दुःख देना ही क्या जीवन है?                       अत्याचार करना ही क्या जीवन है? जीवन तो एक अमूल्य धन है, मानवता के निर्माण का साधन है।  जीवन का तुम लाभ उठाओ, संसार के मार्गदर्शक बन जाओ।।                         सच्ची राह बतलाना तुम,                        हृदयसेतु बन जाना तुम,                        जीवन का अर्थ प्रेम बतलाना,                        नहीं किसी को द्वेष सीखना।।

Blame it on my wife! She started it a few weeks ago right from the day I was born a few years ago. She coaxed me to introspect and start squeezing out the thoughts on what I wanted to do in my life, realize what I couldn't and what I could. I know she wanted to make worthwhile of a day that meant special to us. However, no introspection is complete without the trip down the memory lane. In my case I call those as the dark ages. I am positive everyone goes through the dark ages at least once in the life. And yes, not everything in memory is worth remembering, but I am glad I found a few pieces that I would want to share here. All these works are my own. However, please do not try to read much into the lines. I assure you that "Dark Ages" should be considered as dark. Remember, coal is dark but there are diamonds hidden somewhere along. So these are my diamonds – One day I won't be there I don't know how we would fare But certainly I tell you I won't ever

Still full of the joy of our anniversary and pondering over the bliss of togetherness, I want to take another deeper dive into some of the well-known couples to all of us. This time, I just want to touch upon the ideas that brought them together and how they complemented each oher. May be if we are able to imbibe some qualities, we can rise to some heights as described. Ram and Sita The Sita-Ram couple is definitely the most revered and most worthy candidate of an idealist couple. Sita is the most obedient wife and offers every comfort to Rama. Rama in turn, loves her the most and performs every duty as needed for a husband. Sita follows her husband, when he goes to the forest as exile to keep up with the laws / principles of the Raghu clan. Sita leads her life in simplicity though being a princess, just because her husband chooses to do so. Ram vows to take care of his wife and fulfills all her needs. Sita observes the chaste of her husband when he shooes away the deautiful form of Su