RAMA RAMA RAMA RAMA RAMA RAMA

Bajeham Bajeham Sada Ramachandram
Twadanyam na manye na manye na manye.

Spring of temples

Shri Ganesha Temple and Marakattai Hanuman Temple will come up within 10 miles of each other. Ten acres of land have been bought in Plano and Frisco respectively costing over a million each. It beats my mind as to why the administrators of both these temples could not consolidate the effort to save on cost and provide a single high quality place of worship for the residents of the metroplex given the proximity of the two sites.
Even in the matters of God, man cannot set aside his ego! While it is heartening to see the sudden spring of temples, the inability of the community to come together is glaring to go unnoticed. With the limited supply of Indians (Hindus), I can only pray that the God(s) take it upon Himself to see these mega-projects complete successfully with abundant funding from generous Hindus.

Not so happy 25 hr Birthday

Thanks to the DST change this year , for the first time I had a 25 hr birthday. I was awake to greet myself at 12:00 midnight as there was no one around. What a sick feeling! I also stayed up to roll the clock back at 1:59 to ensure that I didn't miss the extra hour in sleep. Imagine! Having spent 32 full years in God's green earth, not once intently harming anybody on my way, there is no one around for my birthday. What a sick feeling! Of course there was a call from the mother and then the wife, well before midnight. And a few emotionless orkut messages like WYHBD, which I appreciate in anycase.

Hence I vowed not to come in contact with any human being on that day. A phone call from Vishy modified that resolution from "contact" to "direct contact". I stayed put in my house and turned to the TV for company till I started feeling hungry. It didn't take long for me to realize that the utensils were not washed. I was in no mood to wash them on my birthday. So I googled my refrigerator to find some stale cut-leaf spinach that was left there before my trip to India in September. Nothing else in there for my hunger. Yeah! there was a ketchup bottle squeezed to its limit and a oorgai bottle which was also not looking good.

To up the spirit, I decided to send myself a Birthday greeting. You wouldn't believe; my laptop quit working. (It is functioning properly today)

My mind was hell bent on cutting short the resolution and fleeing to the nearest Indian restaurant. However my will power got the better of my weakness and I denied myself the luxury of a good meal. After searching the kitchen a bit more, I sank into my recliner and resigned to the TV. At around 4:30 I get a call from a NJ cousin. I chatted with them for 20 mins. I must confess that I enjoyed the call for the entire period. After that I went back to the TV to watch the Villain climax scene and all the programs after that. This way my birthday came to a conclusion as Pakistan put up a defensible 239 at Gwalior.

Well I would have traded this fall-back birthday for a spring-forward birthday any day.

Life really sucks when love is absent. After 32 years it dawns on me. I fear the years ahead.

First meeting

For the first time in three months, Babu standing at Pillar bus stop, takes notice of this girl. She has been travelling in the same bus, sitting on the same seat everyday. Dressed in neat school uniform, her distinct, calm and elegant presence in the crowded bus cannot be missed. And Babu's eyes are no exception. She too looks at him talking to his friends for a quick 2 seconds. For the first time their eyes cross each other's. Quickly they shy away as if to suggest that it was an accident. Babu turns towards his friends to continue his conversation as the bus leaves. But his mind has already boarded the bus to Churchpark. However, in a few minutes, Babu recovers from the brief impact and goes about his day as usual without any further thought about the morning meeting.

Babu - Initial days

For the first time in his life, Babu takes a PTC bus to go to school, having studied in a nearby facility for all these years. The first few days are a learning experience. He catches the early bus and reaches school ahead of the bell and strictly adheres to the route he knows. He stands inside the bus and even misses the crowded buses on his return home. This way he spends a couple of months making a few friends and familiarising the alternative routes and buses on his way to the school. By now he gets his Bus Pass issued at the school and he adds a break at Panagal Park to increase his options to reach Royapetta. Gradually he socializes with his co-travellers. Before the mid-term exams he masters the "travel by bus" and forms a gang of friends who take the same bus to reach their respective destinations. He begins to step on to crowded buses and also travels on foot-board. He gets on and off of buses at will, travelling ticketless with no guilt.


Later...

School and God

The very first establishment of learning must have been orgnised to preach the glory of God in the form of religion. The churches in the west and temples in the east served as centres of learning. Philosophy was the subject around which sciences, and mathematics were taught and learnt. Scholars were saints and godmen.
Today the irony is, both in Communist China and democratic USA, God is forbidden from school. A perfect example of union in two extreme positions. Slowly, over decades, both countries will move towards the other and swap positions, causing the earth to be an eternal bipolar planet.

Sashtiabdaboorthi

With a well-defined boundary and a stable federal government, she was reborn to the sacrifices of a million patriots. Her beauty, her vastness in culture, are all matchless.

Many of us born post-independence do not know the essence of freedom. We tend to debate the unfolding of events and the choices of our leaders during the formative years. Today, I put all that aside to say "Thank You Freedom Fighters".


The abundance of the land which was plundered to poverty and sickness is slowly returning after 60 years. Even history was unfair to reset her counter when it is only evident that civilization was sown in her soil. Nevertheless,today we march forward spreading her glory inch by inch in all directions.

Mother! I salute you. Jai Hind.

Fans not statisticians

Dravid's this statement

"Cricket is special in India, I'm sure they'll be celebrating back home in India as well,"

certainly does not reflect my sentiments. First of all, Dravid's decision not to enforce the follow-on was not in the best interest of cricket. Alright, Zaheer pulled an hamstring and his other bowlers were tired on a new day. But to allow England off the hook inspite of a three hundred run lead is inexplicable. Yet Dravid went on to say that he wants to win the series and not particularly the game to defend his strategy at the end of the third day. To my mind India lost there. Let us go back to the first test where India were given a relatively modest total of three hundred and eighty. Given the conditions, India faultered to humility only to be saved by Varuna Bhagavan.

Okay, even if we accept Rahul's "defensive strategy", it is hard to explain the defensive batting that he displayed when the need of the hour was a rapid thirty from all the batsmen. But for Saurav's brilliance India was on the verge of a collapse that would have embarassed a billion fans in front of the monarchy. Imagine a score of 115 all out in the second innings that would have reduced the target to a gettable 435 with an hour for England. How on the world was it a defensive move to bat third when you had the chance of getting England out with an innings to spare or if necessary, score the remainder going in last? I am disappointed, to say the least

Dilemma

Silly as it may sound, I stopped using the alarm clock after reading a Deepak Chopra book. Ever since, my wife has been donning the role of Vishwamitra Munivar, singing Uthishto Uthishta Govinda Uthishta...(I still don't know why he should use Govinda Uthishta albeit the same God in a different Yugam) to wake me up. Nothing is under my control, certainly not the time I rise in the mornings. Tomorrow I want to get up at 4:30ish to watch Tendulkar score a big hundred at Trent-Bridge. The signs are ominous. Yet I may miss out unless I go back to the alarm. What if he misses out? I don't want to watch the master go like how Karthik did today - first ball after tea.

In the evening, Ayaz called to ask if I was available to play for the Tornados, tomorrow. I replied in the negative sighting my allergies. He asked me if I knew anyone and followed up with "I just need a body". Now I realize how insulting it must be for Saurav and Sachin. "No nerves in the Tongue" doesn't mean you can't control it.

Ekta - not Kapoor but Unity

Suraj ek,
Chanda ek ,
Tarey anek.
...
Hind desh ki nivasi sarey ek hai.


">