Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Randomly random

Years ago I read a book where the author shares a wonderful tip to de-stress. Close your eyes and imagine yourself in a place with something/someone you feel protected with and breathe deeply for 10 minutes. The author in that book always imagines herself in a huge cake because she is a baker. I close my eyes and imagine being surrounded by the beautiful people I love so much and imagine us all vacationing on a fabulous, pristine beach. Wow.

Festivals have this effect on me. I turn nostalgic and with such intensity that nothing in the present holds any charm. I don’t know when/how I will learn the bliss of living in the moment. The word “bliss” reminds me of this book I happened to read on my trip to Pune last month. The book “Krishna- the god who lived like a man”, it came with strong recommendation from my mom and K3. I knew it would be an interesting read looking at the preface and the translator’s note. The book is based on the unusual concept of what would have transpired in Lord Krishna’s mind while he was breathing his last in this mortal world. Because I did not want to spoil my vacation by getting too involved in a book, I read this book with a strange detachment. Still, the book made its presence felt. If you are patient enough to clean out the fluff, the book has precious little gems in unlikely places. Since the post was not meant to be a book review and since K2 and A are yet to read the book, I will restrain myself. I know K2 will like the book, but I am not so sure about A. Out of curiosity I googled for this book and came to know that film stars had come for the book launch. I know the translator has written filmi stuff before, but she could have sure sought someone better than film stars!

A and I have diametrically opposite taste in books and movies. That said I am glad to observe that we have recently started to like similar movies with a success rate of 25%. Great compatibility, I know.

I digressed- apologies. One thing that the book emphasizes was that Krishna accepts everything that we offer to him- be it good or bad or whatever. One particular moment in the book which I felt was very poignant is when the queen Gandhari curses Krishna that he would witness the downfall of his entire Yadava clan- his children, grandchildren and all and then suffer before dying alone- Krishna simply raises his hand and says “Tathastu”- so be it. The entire paragraph has this strange calm feel about it. It is so simple- he is the Lord because he accepts everything. I know I will think about this piece for some time.

ps: I have used the word "book" so many times-rusty blogging skills. And the title looks so utterly random. I have to start asking people for suggestions I guess.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Warm up

One thing I really wish I should have learned from my mom is her steely resolve and gritty determination. If I had inherited even an ounce of what she has I would have reached the moon by now. Similarly, I should have learned how to love your job from my father. To see the daily grind he goes through without expecting much from his bosses is eye opening for the forever cribber in me. This sudden introspection is because of my infrequent blogging.

All the promises I made about blogging every month no matter what lay broken. All this because of the usual lame excuse- work takes so much time that it’s tiring to type out the post. Aargh! Such things no longer make me angry at myself- which is bad news.

August was..well…I strain to remember.
A lovely weekend trip to Secunderapur.
Gosh! I got my promotion at work. Totally unexpected and absolutely flattering. And a lot of work my way.

September- Ganpati!! Yay! Gauri- again yay!
And a lot of sulking and moping over A’s absence.
A week’s trip home to mom and dad to recharge my batteries- which did not improve my feelings about going to office on Mondays.

This post is my way of testing how well I can type with one finger. The right hand oh so hurts. The left hand knows “the squeaking wheel gets the oil” and has promptly stared hurting.
I have no sympathies for these lazy bones-not when they have so much work to do.