MARRIAGE

This is an old subject, yet many strings hanging lose. It is quite simple by arrangement, but made very complex in practice. People take this very seriously while they also crack jokes about it endlessly. There are more myths about it than facts. Further, the current generation has tweaked it, turned it and twisted it to suit their lifestyles.

I am married for 10 years now. Being adventurous in nature, I am loving it. But as the word "adventure" goes, it is not a smooth sail. And who says that life is one! When I slice that rough time-period and see- is it my life not a smooth sail or is it my my marriage; is it my marriage not a smooth sail in my life or is it my life not a smooth sail in my marriage? There I am, messed-up already!

Therefore, let's get to basics.

The man is the Purusha and the woman is the Prakriti. The nature in the woman enables her to grow a life inside her. However, Purusha the man should sow the seed of life to sprout inside her. The nature is designed in such a way that the woman cannot create life all by herself. There should be a man to sow the seed. Once the seed is sown it is not in her control of the growth of life inside her. The nature takes care of it. In contrary, Purusha the man has the control whether to sow the seed or not. Though the force of nature inside him keeps pushing him to sow seeds inside Prakriti the woman; it is the consciousness of the man that really chooses when to sow the seed in the woman. Man and the Woman have their unique roles to play here. They are not equal but they are exclusive.

Marriage is a social arrangement where Purusha the man and Prakriti the woman come together to create a new life. Prior to their marriage, it becomes paramount that the man is super clear why he wants to marry. It is the man’s responsibility to be conscious and be aware of his decision. For the man’s consciousness is the one that sows the seed of life, in fact. The woman’s consciousness does not become essentially paramount in being super clear whether or not to be married. For the nature inside her is such. However, it becomes paramount for her to be super clear on whom she is choosing to sow the seed of life inside her. Once chosen, it is not in her conscious limits of when to grow a new life. For it is the man who decides. That's nature.

Essential questions to be answered prior marriage-

Man-      WHY should I marry?

Woman- WHOM should I marry?

"WHY" should be his question. "WHO" should be her question.

This also implies that one need not marry at all if both do not find a reason to do so. It is absolutely fair to stay unmarried, rather that marrying without clarity and create children without clarity. And the classic example of such is the current scenario of the world where there are thousands of us living not knowing what to do with our lives. We will discuss more about the impact later.

Once the man and the woman have their questions sorted, only then they should have them married. For these questions become the corner stones of their forthcoming married life.

Analogy- a piece of land does not have control on which plant to grow. The nature of the land is to sprout life out of the seed sown by the gardener. Regardless of the fertility of the land, it cannot grow life until there is a seed sown. The gardener chooses when to sow the seed. It is the consciousness of the gardener that matters when he wants to sow the seed in the land. Once the seed is sown, the land pours life into the seed and germinates a plant out of it. Land is the Prakriti and the gardener is the Purusha.

The woman’s responsibility

In the married life, the woman bears the man’s child and gives birth to a new life. Therefore, she is wholly entitled to grow the life into an independent being. It is her responsibility to provide the child the necessary physical and emotional inputs for the child’s growth. Nobody has the authority to question her  parenting style. Irrespective of the man’s support, the woman is naturally designed to carry out everything in her capacity to grow the child into an adult. Her man’s support in this is only a bonus, of course would add value as well. Analogous to the gardener pouring manure and water for better growth of the plant.

It is also her responsibility in providing everything in her capacity to ensure that her man is getting what he wanted in that marriage. Be it physical-emotional companionship and his children growing healthy.

The man’s responsibility

In the married life, his responsibility is to ensure that the woman is kept completely satisfied in all respects. This is his paramount responsibility. During his married life, the man shall take all or most actions only in the path to satisfy the needs of his woman. He has no other responsibilities than this one. If he is potential to take-on more responsibilities such as taking care of some more people including his parents, his siblings etc., he could. However, they are all his added responsibilities. There could be situations where the parents or his siblings need additional support. The woman may choose to support and not the man. For the man, it is to take care of his woman only. If these additional responsibilities are so overwhelming that he is pulled into this more than his primary responsibility, then he should review his earlier decision of “why he wanted to marry” while he already has enough and more duties to perform as a son, a brother and so on. Men with such overwhelming responsibilities should choose not to marry and fully focus on taking care of people in their lives. Sailing on two boats unnecessarily breeds stress that further spills into the life of his child.

Therefore, not every man gets to marry, unlike woman. Only those men who are confident on fully satisfying his woman's needs for large periods of time (like 30+ years) should marry. Else you are simply kidding with lives.

Another prime responsibility of the man is to impart sufficient awareness to his child to lead a consciousness life. For the man’s consciousness is the source of the child’s birth, it is he who must forward this consciousness to his child. The mother grew the child physically inside her and then outside of her, and therefore the physical growth of the child is what is expected out of the mother. The mother imparting consciousness is a bonus; however, it is the prime responsibility of the father.

The Impact

The man’s sole responsibility being to satisfy his woman, the woman stays focused at her man’s requirements à there is no irrational expectations from each other. This is an off-shoot from the questions that are sorted before getting into the arrangement of marriage (the WHY and the WHO questions).

When the man’s complete focus is to satisfy all the needs of his woman, the woman turns ecstatic in her relationship. Once the woman is happy and fully satisfied, she doesn’t turn to another man for anything. When women in the society are satisfied inside their marriages, no woman is available for any other man. When the woman focuses on providing everything in her capacity to her man, the man is not seeking anything outside his marriage à no extra-marital affairs in the society.

Such a marriage creates healthy and conscious children. Further, such human beings would only breed a conscious society. It shows-up in how people dress, talk, eat, interact and live their lives.

When the marriage gets older

The social agreement of the Marriage is till the death of either the man or the woman. However, the nature inside the woman and the man gradually over time gets inefficient in creating a new life. The woman reaches menopause earlier than her man. That could be considered as the nature’s mark for the man and woman’s marriage at the physical level. Or the both can reach a mutual agreement about it when all their children reach their adulthood (21 years)

Analogy- when the land in which the gardener was sowing seeds and raising plants has over time lost its fertility completely, their relationship cannot be the same and it must be reviewed and reinvented.

The woman has successfully completed her duty of raising her children physically into adults and the man has successfully imparted all the required consciousness to them. Post that phase, the man and woman could mutually part for a certain predetermined time (if they wish to do so in isolation) to recreate the rest of their lives and plan individually, considering their current physical and emotional conditions. The lives must be considered again as individuals now (like those two man and woman who individually sorted the WHY and the WHO questions before marriage).

Sufficient time must be taken by both to plan the rest of their lives. Their rest of the life unfolds in two phases until death, which are: (1) Dedicating themselves to the society and (2) Self-awareness; both in proportions of their choice. They would go ahead and execute their plans individually or together depending on the overlap in their plans and their willingness to be and do it together.

Using the fundamental design of man and woman as raw materials, it is simpler to decipher the marriage "Institution".

However, there is jinx to use this understanding and operate in a marriage in the current societal structure. This is because of the myths, beliefs and the dogma prevailing in the society and we usually derail from performing the fundamental duties in our marriage. But there is a good news as well, which is- there is only one person who should resonate with this thought along with you in this whole world. And it is your SPOUSE.

End of the day- this is purely my thought and analysis to bring peace into my life and my marriage. The reader is free to either trash it or embrace it.

A week in Aarohi

It has been close to two years that I have been associated with Aarohi, but never had a chance to live there. Come on a morning of Manthan, jump around the whole day, play with the kids and go back home and nothing more.

Lakshmi kept pushing me to live Aarohi in the O-campus; not simply for a day or two, but a whole work week.

I had procrastinated it sufficiently and ran out of valid reasons. I quickly browsed through my calendar and blocked the whole of Feb 12th to 16th to spend in Aarohi. Applied leave in the office and everyone in office started checking on my vacation plans and surprised to learn that I am going on a vacation to my child’s school! Like… “what kind of a vacation is that??!!”

Now vacation for an outdoor guy starts with dusting the ruck sack. Lakshmi gave me “what-are-carrying-in-such-a-big-sack” looks. Plan changes, I pick the kit bag that Lakshmi takes every week to Aarohi. However, everything else needed for a trek was still a part of the kit- besides a couple of pairs of clothes, head torch, sleeping mat, climbing shoes and running gear. Another thing that Lakshmi carefully advised me is to carry a book and a pen; very important! Without this, it is like walking to cricket crease without a bat.

My car team arrived at Aarohi at 10am along with Avani, Sammedh and Vaibhavi. Realized that I was already tired playing chit-chat games with the kids by the time I reached Aarohi. But soon to realize that once you enter into the green gates of O-campus, there is a new gush of energy awaiting you.

I had already planned three things for the week- Climbing-wall planning, Pasta cooking, one Jatre.

I took a whole day to absorb the Aarohi schedule-

6AM -       Wake-up (love the songs kids play as morning alarm, reminds me of Big-Boss wake-up)
6:30AM -  Sunshine (basically it is my time to give my gyan on how to run better)
7:30AM - Active ME (from not even able to mount to almost walking three full steps on the crazy slack-line)
8:30AM -   Get ready (mostly a finer face wash and combing)
9:15AM -   Planning in Apollo/ Dome (you better do this. Else, I will tell you what happens)
10AM -      Breakfast (the only time in the day you feel a pinch of hunger. Rest of the day you are mostly over-fed)
11AM -      Self time (here comes the bomber. If you have not planned well, you are vulnerable to be challenged for doing something unnecessary. This is when the real stuff happens in Aarohi)
1PM -     Lunch (another delicious meal just after 2 hours of breakfast. But if you delay this, be ready to get harassed from the washing area clean-up team)
3PM -        Jatre (very good sessions, I was a child myself in this time)
4PM -      Campus care (this is when you contribute to the campus. I was given the Biogas work. I totally loved it. A big shout to Chetan and Asavari for getting me onboard on this. This work could get dirty but it is very technical- weigh the waste, dump it in the biogas hopper, ram the waste in, pour an equivalent amount of water, ensure the gas tank gulps the whole of it without spitting on you. Trust me, it’s technical and challenging)
5PM -       Sports (if you do not have a pair of shoes, run to Kelamangalam and pick one)
6PM -       Get ready (this is when you really get ready after a tough day)
6:30PM -  Dinner (so early? NO! it is just you who have practiced dining along with the bats)
7:15PM -  Journal writing (reflect on the whole day and pen it down)
7:30PM -  Thought club (Hurray-Norray-Sorray- I loved it; and next day's announcements)
10PM -      Lights off

Coming to my plans...

Climbing wall

Ratnesh and I had a conversation and I had learnt his plans of building a heavy structure that could have a climbing wall, a squash room and a table-tennis room. So, I had made a mental plan to at least achieve finalizing the location in the campus and complete the marking of the structure layout. To my surprise in the first sitting itself, the children completely squashed the original plan. Basically we reinvented the context of climbing inside the campus. The 20ft climbing wall transformed into a 8ft bouldering wall. So, this could be done on any of the existing walls in the campus. After debating the structural stability of the eco-friendly walls inside the campus, we dramatically moved our eyes on the library bus. Coming to climbing holds, we decided to collect all the junk wood from the resources and transform them into climbing holds. There was a fountain of ideas and concerns erupting inside me considering the excitement of having a real climbing wall by the end of my week’s stay and the real challenges of not completing it. As a blessing we had a guest Shahzad that week who got excited just by the idea of punching climbing holds on the bus. We took close to 8 hours to put up our first climbing hold. Had to setup the wiring for the drill, discover that our government has invested enormous money to slap three sheets of shear metal rake to build a bus with book racks, super long bolts to be newly procured to pierce through three layers, and scout for holds out of virgin scrap.

First prototype hold right above the wheel

By end of Monday, we had a plan on paper. End of Tuesday, we had one prototype climbing hold punched on the bus. End of Wednesday, we had put up about 12 holds but had exactly knew the structure of the bus. End of Thursday, we had a charming 34 holds and our climbing wall ready to get torn by the kids.

Achilesh trying to fix a climbing hold sitting on Shahzad

Completed BBW (Bus Bouldering Wall)

Shahzad, who did all the heavy lifting on Thursday

On Friday, we had a dramatic inauguration arranged by Aparna and Lakshmi with the inaugural speech by Shahzad and a soulful Bharatanatyam performance by Aparna.

Now switching gears to Pasta cooking- cooking in Aarohi is not like cooking in your kitchen; you can’t simply appear in the kitchen and start cooking. Everything must be declared on that day’s planning time. Anything inside the kitchen should have the blessing of the kitchen manager. Pasta cooking is not a big deal if you have diligently watched the 2-minute video on YouTube. However, the video would not show how to cook for 25 people! That’s my challenge. Took help from Lakshmi to gauge the proportions for salt and spice and ended-up with a glamorous Tomato sauce Indian style pasta. I think it was not bad and boosted my confidence in cooking. So, Aarohi is a great training ground not just for kids.

Red sauce (Indian style) paste

In Jatre- I tried introducing myself elaborately of what I do in my office as an engineer. To start with we watched a couple of videos of gas turbine powered automobiles, and ended up almost designing power plant to setup inside Aarohi. In fact, a couple of kids asked for discount on a Rs.16 crore machine. What audacity! And that’s the beauty of Aarohi kids.

A week in Aarohi in a nutshell- You have daily rhythm, you are free to do what you want, you are responsible for the outcomes of what you are doing, your body is well nourished with good food, your brain is tickled at every step reasoning out why you are doing whatever you are doing, your soul is nourished being in a rustic ecosystem and a mindful crowd- be it the akkas, annas, kids or the facilitators. Everyone simply is in raw action.

As Prapulla reiterated once “the spelling of Aarohi is D-O-I-N-G”.

Visiting a school for the blind

Lakshmi was always suggesting visiting a school for the under-privileged along with Avani. There was no calling from my end to do that but since she wanted to do it, I let her take all the required initiative and do all needed work. I simply had to tag along.

Through her father she got an appointment to visit the School for the blind run BGS institutions on Bangelore-Mysore road (NH275), just before Janapada loka near Kamat Lokaruchi, Ramanagara. This is a free residential school for the blind run by BGS. Most of the children are from the villages around Ramanagar, Bangalore, Mandya and Kanakapura. Their parents would visit them once in awhile. Some children are orphans.

Saturday evening, the 20^th February was the day. Lakshmi, Avani, my mother, my parents-in-law and I were in the school at 4.30PM. Lakshmi planned to give an orange and a biscuit pack for all the children through Avani. I was neutral about that as well. The warden there suggested distributing the stuff at 5PM when the children have their evening coffee.

The moment we parked our car outside the school inside their campus, few children who were playing came running to us and holding our hands asking questions and trying to stare inside our car. I am not fully aware yet what are they peeping in as they are blind. Moreover I was not comfortable they touching me as they were not “clean”. I realized what a jackass I am! They fiddled with my watch. I realize that that they can’t see much. I made them press one of the buttons that made a beep every time pressed. Children were so amused by that sound! They were not ready to leave my hand or the watch. Few children were only partially blind and few fully. Nobody used walking sticks inside the school and the hostel and they were walking as though they could see everything. It was hard for me to make out they could not see and all of a sudden few bump into me as they walk. I realize that they can’t see me and I am not a usual object in their school.

One significant thing that I recognized was that all children were very happy. All were smiling, laughing and playing. And some were being intentional about their chores of the day- washing clothes and so on. No one looked like having a complaint of boredom. On talking to few small ones, they sang film songs, patriotic songs and non-filmy songs, and everything with a smile.

Avani got comfortable with the new children and the surroundings. She started distributing the oranges and she soon realized that they are not taking while she simply having the hand with the orange in front of them. They cannot know unless they were called upon to take the fruit. Every simple activity is different here. It is a different world here. They simply keep walking; I have got to watch my step here.

After this event, all children proceeded to the prayer hall for evening prayer. A blind teacher with her harmonium started the bhajans and all chorused. They sung beautifully. I simply could not control myself. There were bursts of emotions every few minutes. I was simply watching myself through this. I could not figure out the reason for my emotions bursting out. May be I was empathizing with their situation. Very small children of age four years were there without their parents and with minimal support. It was very hard for me to imagine Avani like that, but life is too uncertain. On the other hand, why do I pity them while they were so happy! They have food to eat, safe place to live, education at their doorstep, peaceful sleep. They have everything in their world. Was I feeling something missing in my life that they were having? I don’t know. Some moments I felt like giving off all that I have earned to this place. Then even that felt insufficient. I felt like coming and joining this institution and working there myself. Even that seemed insufficient. May be I can’t ever solve anything as there is no problem at all! May be I simply have to be with them and nothing else is actually needed for them. May be, that’s what I was doing and that could be cause for all those emotional outbursts.

It was a very touching experience of my life. Realizing that those children touching my hands is their way to communicate with me; as some were even deaf and dumb. I would love to keep going back there. I am happy that Avani was with me there. I thank Lakshmi for this initiative.

Rain on Mother earth

I consider rains very divine. It's kind of a bath for mother earth after all the activities that has happened till then. Like we take bath ourselves after going through a day of turmoil and various activities the body is subjected to. Rain on earth is similar to cleaning ourselves.
In this context, there is also a blame the man has put on himself. That is, there is a lot of dirt that man has been generating as a virtue of his activities; as a consequence of which there has been lesser rains in the recent past.
However, I could not completely believe that. On surface level that's what it looks like. Let's look at it like this- When I allow some insects or living organisms to breed on my body and generate dirt on me (for example-lice in the hair or parasitic insects on few animals), isn't it my responsibility to wash and cleanse myself? Likewise while we are a creation from the mother earth herself, and while we create dirt on her, isn't it mother earth's responsibility to cleanse it for keeping herself clean? Probably, the earth is allowing herself to have the dirt on her by not having sufficient rainfall. Probably she's having some other plans to counter it, which we mere humans cannot contemplate or imagine. In that sense I feel the dirt that humans are generating on this earth is a part of the grand plan of creation, maintenance and destruction.
Further, it's superb that some groups of people are also taking actions to reduce the dirt they are generating by being responsible. It's similar to the parasite breeding on my body itself feeling responsible for it's living on my body. But would that make a game-changing difference on me? No! Because I'm still allowing it to breed on my body.
Therefore, in the end whatever is supposed to happen shall happen exactly at the right time and in the right form and that which is defined as right at that moment. And that is not what man created for the earth; rather that's what was destined to happen at that time. And man was simply a pawn in this whole game.

Understanding my Gods

I am born a Vaishnavite and been worshipping Lord Venkateshwara all my life. But since my childhood I have also been fed with stories of Lord Shiva being the original deity in India long before the Aryan race came in propagating Vishnu being the supreme God-head. In fact there are some movies depicting the demon-king (Bhasmasura) who got powerful with the boon given by his deity Shiva, and the former trying to bully Lord Shiva himself. And Shiva fearfully running to seek help from Vishnu, and Vishnu smartly and cunningly killing the demon. Showing that Vishnu is powerful than Shiva. Such stories from Puranas were pointing towards Shiva being side-lined by Vishnu promoters. As a child, I pitied Shiva. In parallel I am also aware from puranas, which say that Shiva’s abode is Mt.Kailash (Himalayas) that is present in real. But there is no such physically identifiable location for Vishnu. For Vishnu who sleeps on Shesha Shayana (the serpent) floating in Ksheerasagara (ocean of milk), which is fictitious. This could be indicating towards Vishnu’s stories are cooked-up and Shiva’s stories are real. As a child I feared this thought as I am used to relating Vishnu as my god! As I grew-up, I started to realize that these are all my interpretations of the stories I had heard. I wanted to understand some facts and find some answers though. Who came first? Who is the ultimate? Why so many created? Why the supreme is a male and not feminine? What is Brahma’s role in between the two stalwarts? Where does Indra fit-in amidst all this drama?

Over years of listening to stories from people, reading, researching and analyzing, I could come to some understanding of my Gods. And these might change as well as time and my analysis progresses.

INDRA:

When the early man started being conscious about his surroundings, the things that he saw were the Pancha Bhootas (the five elements)- Air, Water, Earth, Fire, Ether/ space. So, the man worshiped these five elements and named a character to be the lord of these five elements. He named him Indra. People did worship Lord Indra in ancient India. While time progressed, man started to see that all these five elements are within him; within the boundaries of his own body. His body itself is made up of these five elements. Then who is this inside him who is able to see, feel and experience his physical body. Then man thought that there should be somebody or some higher energy that created this body comprised of the five elements. That’s when Indra was insufficient for the man to manifest him as God.

SHIVA:

Then man started to think that these are the thoughts that are emerging in the mind since the stomach is full. When the man is hungry, he is busy looking for food. Once hunger is taken care, his search for life starts. Whereas in case of animals, once hunger is taken care the life ends till the hunger kicks-in again. Then man thought that there should be some link between hunger and God. Then he created the character Shiva. Lord Shiva is one who has outgrown hunger. He who can generate stillness in his mind while the sensory organs are active and seeking attention! He is the Adi-yogi (first guru) who taught Yoga to mankind. Yoga is the technology that tames and synchronizes the body and mind, which enables man to attain higher knowledge of life. Then the man conceived the idea of Lord Shiva being on the top of the coldest mountain the Kailash in the Himalayas. He is made to sit bare chested, for He could generate sufficient agni (heat) inside Him through dhyana (meditation) without being afraid of having His fingers and toes frostbitten. For He who has outgrown hunger, the same prevails around Him. The snake around His neck is not worried about the peacock, which is Shiva’s son Subramanya’s vehicle. The rat, Ganesha’s vehicle is not bothered about the Shiva’s snake being its predator and the same between Shiva’s vehicle the bull and Parvati’s vehicle lion. Having outgrown hunger, there is no prey-predator act. Lord Shiva hence taught to outgrow hunger and bring in peace and stillness in the mind.

The 12th century philosopher from northern Karnataka Sri Basaveshwara, who is the staunch follower of Shiva promoted the philosophy of “work is worship”. Simply do your karma and the life takes care of you.

However, there was still something missing for the man. Man was still struggling with other factors creeping in as family, society, good-bad, right-wrong etc. The concept of Lord Shiva also was getting insufficient to him. Living like a hermit and hermit being a householder was not fitting in all circumstances of life and hence to attain higher knowledge of life or attain Moksha (salvation). And these were way beyond the hunger.

VISHNU:

That’s when man created the character of Lord Vishnu. Vishnu is a householder, but thinks like a hermit! He is always draped in silk and bedecked in gold. He is always in peace at the same time fully conscious. Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth sits at His feet. He does not seek her, but she follows Him. He does not resist her. He keeps Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge (or peace) in His head, indicating that while peace is in the mind, wealth at His feet. The vice-versa is not true. Through Vishnu, man realized the importance of balancing the duality that prevails; divine-evil, good-bad, right-wrong, light-darkness, freedom-responsibility etc. The man created Lord Vishnu to realize his current state of evolution of both his body and mind, through Vishnu’s Dashavataara (ten incarnations). Starting from the life in water (Matsyavataara), life being amphibious (Kurmavataara), life outside water with least intelligence (Varaahavataara), life as half human-half animal (Narasimhavataara), life as human but not fully grown (Vaamanavatara), life as full grown man with a beastly mind (Parashurama), life with a matured mind but struggles with dharma (Ramavataara), life who defined Dharma for mankind (Krishnavataara), then the present day man (Buddha/ Kalki).

With these, man finally realized the laws of karma, the complexities of dharma and ultimately attained higher knowledge of life across various eras of mankind.

Indra is the primary form of God within the boundaries of earth, Shiva conquers the bodily senses and Vishnu teaches how to balance duality while practicing dharma.

Neither Vishnu is powerful, as he comes after the realization of Shiva. Nor Shiva is greater as Vishnu is the evolved version. Since there is an evolution of human consciousness, all these characters helped man to stand on ground and play life.

Be it cars, be it computers or be it Gods; Evolution taught man the same theory. Newer one came from the older one. The latter is not better than the former. All played their roles. Space and time is limited.

Auroville belongs to humanity

And that’s what the Mother had declared in the August of 1954. The “City of the Dawn” which was the idea conceived by both the Mother and Sri.Aurobindo of a place where a group of men and women could freely live where the sky is the limit for their creation and expansion. Although numerous attempts were made in the past to create one such habitat by people around the world, it was never successful until the advent of Auroville.

I had longed to stay there, experience and discover the life in Auroville when I ran the Auroville marathon for the first time last year February. Auroville marathon 2015 appeared not more than a reason for me to visit Auroville this year. Along with Lakshmi and Avani, twelve of my friends decided to have a vacation in Auroville after the marathon this February.

Auroville marathon “Runners Adda”

Though the neighborhood I live in Bangalore is pretty much of the same age of Auroville, although our family house in my native has seen more generations growing up, Auroville has a charm that no other mundane township has. I was mistaken initially for the Europeans living there who might have brought about that charm or charisma amidst the rustic muddy roads and greenery, but I was wrong. It is simply the intention behind the creation of Auroville. Mirra Iffassa who is dearly called the Mother had defined the intention:

“Auroville belongs to nobody in particular. Auroville belongs to humanity as a whole. But to live in Auroville one must be the willing servitor of the divine Consciousness.”

This gave way for a barren land about 20kms north of Pondicherry that had nothing but a big banyan tree and a few palm trees to grow into 25sq.kms of thick forest. It is a self sustained township that produces various kinds of fashion accessories, incense sticks, herbal/ organic products, home decors, toys, handicrafts etc. It is a city where humanity takes over currency. For the Aurovillians, there is a currency card (Auro-Card) that is provided, which works like a debit card for all their transactions in the Auroville city. An outsider should pay currency to avail the same.

The Auroville is characterized by the lush green man-made forest, muddy roads, artistic earthen buildings and Matri Mandir. Aurovillians have planted close to 4 million saplings over the past 6 decades that houses numerous species of birds now. Peacocks are no special birds in Auroville.

the muddy roads

Auroville city is designed for 50,000 people, however only about 2,000 currently live. There is an organization created and people employed to manage all the financial transactions, tax payments, registrations of people as newcomers or as citizens of Auroville etc.

I have heard that no Aurovillian fully owns any piece of land inside Auroville. It is all a part of the Auroville trust and the citizens use them to generate revenue for their sustenance. There are guesthouses, homestays, apartments, boutiques, restaurants, bakeries and art galleries. Most of them are focused to cater the European people’s needs as you could hardly see Indian dwellers inside Auroville.

Except for Matri Mandir and an audio-visual show about Auroville and Matri Mandir, there are no other tourist attractions. Since the common philosophy of a common Indian tourist is to watch lot of places during a holiday, a large chunk does not consider visiting Auroville. However, there is a world of its own to discover being in Auroville.

Matri Mandir

We stayed in Auroville for six nights and enjoyed every moment living there. It’s like living in a forest and yet in a civilization. The big banyan tree that is about a kilometer away from Matri Mandir is the geographical center of Auroville, and the Matri Mandir is believed as the soul of Auroville. Designed by a French architect, Matri Mandir has in its center a crystal ball mounted on a lotus made of white marble with twelve petals in a pond of water. Aurovillians strongly believe that all the energy of Auroville is focused in there and is constantly radiating. Though Matri Mandir is free to view from a distance by anyone, one has to take an appointment to visit Matri Mandir. Only 75 visitors are permitted in a day for an hour in two slots where one may choose to sit and meditate.

A host of events, workshops, different forms of art performances and film shows keep happening in various parts of Auroville. Men and women and their families from all over the world come and live in Auroville both on temporary and permanent basis. Life is as laid back as it is in any of our villages yet as forwardly thought as in any of the metropolitan cities in the world.

While busily engaged in the mundane routine of life in the dusty streets of Bangalore, a week’s stay in solitude inside Auroville; woken by peacocks, morning walks in the dense forest trails, our children running through them without being scared of traffic, is an enchanting experience for a blissful holiday.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auroville

http://www.auroville.org/

http://www.aurovilleguesthouses.org/

Purpose of Life

It’s been about nine years since I started practicing rock climbing. Sooner, I was sucked in to climbing, and there was a time when I also started to realize that rock climbing is my Dharma and I climbing is my Karma. Similar to a Kshatriya’s Karma is to protect the society, in-line with his Dharma. In the meantime, I introduced numerous people into climbing and few took it forward but most simply discontinued. However, I’ve the satisfaction that I made something available for a few, when they didn’t even knew that such a thing existed.

Alongside I started long-distance running too. It’s been about six years since I’m doing performance-running. That is- training for the run, timing my runs and keeping track of my personal best runs and improving on them. Over years my training rigor was also increasing, consult experts advise for my training and read literature too.

I used to balance my various physical activities- rock climbing, running, working out in the gym and all other outdoor activities like trail biking, hiking etc. However, everything was still circling around the central core being rock-climbing; until it took a drastic turn somewhere during the mid of last year.

In July 2013, I and my running partner (Abhilash Reddy) took on training about nine of our friends for a 10kms long-run. This is when our running schedules took a definitive program. I started running more and more, and coach more and more. There was also a definitive structure for me to train myself and coach others. That’s when I came cross a point when I preferred running and coaching over rock-climbing. When it repeated a couple of times, I had a genuine concern over my preferences. Just a few months back I strongly believed that climbing is the most exciting activity, which had the potential to engage me for my whole life; it was “then” my expression of life; my Purpose of Life. This entire theory began to shake when I chose to run, over climb! I felt uncomfortable making that choice, as I was seeing that my purpose of life is shaking because of my running. My purpose of life was starting to change from climbing to running and from running to coaching. That was not a comfortable-few-weeks of my life.

When I inquired more into it; something opened-up for me. I engaging in rock climbing or running or coaching people in running were all simply different mediums for me to be in action to recognize the real purpose of my life. When I recognized it, I experienced complete freedom and excitement. Excitement to be in action. Excitement to live. The purpose of my life that I identified was that of “people being healthy around me”. This very statement connected all the dots over years of my climbing and running. In both these activities what I identified was that I was consistently introducing more and more people into the sport, putting them into action and making them physically active and physical fit. Irrespective of the sport I was engaged in, what I was doing was the same; putting people into action and positively impacting their physical health.

What was surprising in this inquiry was, I observed that my purpose of life kept changing or evolving over time- first it was rock climbing, then it was running and then people being healthy around me. While the former was in play, the latter was still non-existent.

It was still itching for me to validate my theory of evolving purpose of life. To find peace in this theory, I took on to observe the life history of Mahatma Gandhi. I was not comparing here but wanted to get settled with the evolving purposes of ones life.

For Gandhi, when he founded the Indian Congress or Pheonix settlement in South Africa, the purpose of life for him could have been merely bringingforth equality for colored citizens in the Victorian Empire. When he returned to India and Gokhale asked him to go around the country, his purpose of life might have got evolved to Freedom for India then. By the latter part of his life, the freedom for India might have got evolved to spreading the message of non-violence to the humanity! Probably if the great man had lived for some more time, something else might have got evolved as his purpose of life and something bigger might have got caused in the world.

In all this inquiry inside me, the one thing that struck me was the fancy-worded Purpose of Life did not get defined clearly unless the service to the other human being or contribution to the community began. Now, I stay excited for the next-bigger purpose of my life to crystallize. However, the key for this is simply to be in action fulfilling my current purpose of my life.

So, come, let’s run. :)

ರಂಗವಿಲಾಸ್ ಬಂಗಲೆಯ ಕೊಲೆಗಳು- Book Review

1940 ಹಾಗು 50ರ ದಶಕಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಹೆಸರಾಂತ ವಕಿಲರಾದವರು ಶ್ರೀ ಬೇಲೂರು ಶ್ರೀನಿವಾಸ ಅಯ್ಯೆಂಗಾರ್. 1956ರಲ್ಲಿ ಬಹಳ ಧಾರುಣವಾಗಿ ಅವರ ಇಡೀ ಕುಟುಂಬವು ಒಂದೇ ರಾತ್ರಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ನಾಶವಾಗಿ ಹೋಯಿತು. ಅವರ ಕುಟುಂಬವು ಕೋಲೆಯಾದ ರೀತಿ ಎಷ್ಟು ನಿಗೂಢವಾಗಿತ್ತೋ, ಅವರನ್ನು ಕೊಲೆ ಮಾಡಿದ ಪಾತಕರನ್ನು ಹಿಡಿದು ಹಾಕಿದ ರೀತಿಯೂ ಅಷ್ಟೇ ನಿಗೂಢ. ಆ ಪ್ರಸಂಗ ಅಂದು ಬರೀ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನಲ್ಲಲ್ಲದೆ ಇಡೀ ರಾಜ್ಯದಲ್ಲೇ ಒಂದು ಸ್ಪೋಟಕ ಸುದ್ದಿ ಮಾಡಿತ್ತು. ಅಂದಿನ ಆ ಹತ್ಯಾಕಾಂಡದ ಇಡೀ ತನಿಖೆಯನ್ನು ಇಂದು ಮೇಲೆತ್ತಿ, analyze ಮಾಡಿ, ಅವರದೇ ಆದ ಒಂದು parallel investigation ಮಾಡಿ ಬರೆದ ಪುಸ್ತಕವೇ  ರವಿ ಬೆಳಗೆರೆಯವರ "ರಂಗವಿಲಾಸ್ ಬಂಗಲೆಯ ಕೊಲೆಗಳು".

 



ಒಂದು ವರ್ಷದ ಹಿಂದೆ ಬಸವನಗುಡಿಯ ಗಾಂಧಿ ಬಜಾರಿನ ಅವರದೇ  ಪುಸ್ತಕ ಮಳಿಗೆಯಾದ "Belegere Books and Coffee" ಎದುರು, ಒಂದು ಲಘು ಸಮಾರಂಭದಲ್ಲಿ ಶ್ರೀ ಮಾಸ್ಟರ್ ಹಿರಣ್ಣಯ್ಯನವರು ಬಿಡುಗಡೆ ಮಾಡಿದ ಪುಸ್ತಕ ಇದು.

ಕೇವಲ ನೂರೇ ಪುಟಗಳ ಪುಸ್ತಕವಾಗಿದ್ದೂ, ಪುಟಕ್ಕೊಂದು ರೂಪಾಯೆಂಬಂತೆ Rs.100/- ಮೌಲ್ಯದ ಈ ಹತ್ಯಾಖಾಂಡದ ಪುಸ್ತಕ ಇಷ್ಟೊಂದು ರೋಮಾಂಚಕಾರಿಯಾಗಿರುತ್ತದೆ ಎಂದು ನಾನು ಊಹಿಸಲೇ ಇರಲಿಲ್ಲ!

ಬೆಳಗೆರೆಯವರೇ ಪುಸ್ತಕದ ಹಿಂದಿನ ಟಿಪ್ಪಣಿಯಲ್ಲಿ "ಇದು ಕಾದಂಬರಿಯಲ್ಲ" ಎಂದು ದಿಟ್ತಿಸಿದ್ದರೂ, ನನಗೆ ಇದು ನಾನು ಹಿಂದೆ ಓದಿದ ಯಾವ ಕಾದಂಬರಿಗೂ, ಕಥೆಯ ನಿರೂಪಣೆಯಲ್ಲಾಗಲೀ, ಸನ್ನಿವೇಶಗಳನ್ನು ಕಣ್ಣೆದುರು ರೂಪಿಸುವುದರಲ್ಲಾಗಲೀ ಹಾಗೂ ರೋಮಾಂಚನಗೊಳಿಸುವುದರಲ್ಲಗಲೀ ಕಡಿಮೆಯಂತೆಣಿಸಲಾಗಲಿಲ್ಲ.

ಶ್ರೀ ಬೇಲೂರು ಶ್ರೀನಿವಾಸ ಅಯ್ಯೆಂಗಾರ್ರರ ಬಂಗಲೆಯ layout ಹಾಗು ಅದರ ನಿರೂಪಣೆ, ಅವರ ಮನೆಯಲ್ಲಿದ್ದ ಅಷ್ಟೂ ಜನರ ಸುದೀರ್ಘ ವಿವರಣೆ, ಮನಯಲ್ಲಿ ಆಚಾರದಲ್ಲಿದ್ದ ಅಂದಿನ ಒಂದು orthodox ಹಾಗು ಸಿರಿವಂತ ಅಯ್ಯೆಂಗಾರ್ರರ ಮನೆತನದ ಸಂಪ್ರದಾಯಗಳು, ಐವತ್ತಾರರ ಜೂನ್ ನಲ್ಲಿ ಒಂದೇ ರಾತ್ರಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ನಡೆದ ಏಳು ಭೀಕರ ಸಾವುಗಳ ಮುಂಚೆ ಮನೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ನಡೆದ ಇತರ ಘಟನೆಗಳ ವಿವರಗಳಷ್ಟೇ ಅಲ್ಲದೆ, ಕೊಲೆಗಾರರ ವಿವರಗಳು, ಅವರ ಕ್ರಿಮಿನಲ್ ಇತಿಹಾಸ, ಶ್ರೀನಿವಾಸ ಅಯ್ಯೆಂಗಾರ್ರ ಜೊತೆಗಿನ ಅವರ ನಿಗೂಢ ಸಂಬಂಧಗಳ analysis, ಈ ಎಲ್ಲಾ ವಿಷಯಗಳನ್ನು ಚಾಚೂ ತಪ್ಪದೆ ಬೆಳಗೆರೆಯವರು ಈ ಪುಸ್ತಕದಲ್ಲಿ ವಿವರಿಸಿದ್ದಾರೆ.

ಅಷ್ಟಲ್ಲದೆ, ಅಕಸ್ಮಾತಾಗಿ ಅ ಪೊಲೀಸ್ ಪೇದೆ ಅದೊಂದು ರಾತ್ರಿ ಕೊಲೆಗಾರರ ಮೊದಲ ಸುಳಿವು ಹಿಡಿದ ರೀತಿ, ಅಲ್ಲಿಂದ ಆ ಕೊಲೆಯ ತನಿಖೆ ಹಿಡಿದ ಹೊಸ ದಿಕ್ಕೇ, ಈ ಕೊಲೆ ಪ್ರಕರಣದ highlight.

ಅದಲ್ಲದೇ ಬೆಳಗೆರೆಯವರು ಶ್ರೀನಿವಾಸ ಅಯ್ಯೆಂಗಾರ್ರ ಕುಟುಂಬದಲ್ಲಿ ಉಳಿದವರ ಇಂದಿನ ಪರಿಸ್ಠಿತಿಯನ್ನಲ್ಲದೇ, ಸ್ವತಃ ಆ ಕೊಲೆಗಾರರ ಕುಟುಂಬಗಳು ಇರುವ ಹಳ್ಳಿಗೆ ಕೂಡಾ ಹೋಗಿ, ಅವರ ಇಂದಿನ ಪರಿಸ್ಥಿತಿಯನ್ನು ಪರಿಶೀಲಿಸಿ ವಿವರಿಸಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಅದು ಈ ಕಥೆಗೆ ಒಂದು ರೀತಿಯ completeness ಓದುಗರಿಗೆ ತಂದುಕೊಡುತ್ತದೆ.

ಒಟ್ಟಿನಲ್ಲಿ, ಈ ಪುಸ್ತಕವನ್ನೋದಿದ ಮೇಲೆ, ಗಾಂಧೀನಗರದ Syndicate Bank ನೋಡಿದಾಗಲೆಲ್ಲಾ ನನ್ನ ಮನಸ್ಸಿನಲ್ಲಿ  ಹೊಳೆಯುವುದೆಂದರೆ "Yes! ಈ bankನ ಹಿಂದೆಯೇ ಇದ್ದದ್ದು ಆ ರಂಗವಿಲಾಸ್ ಬಂಗಲೆ. ಅಲ್ಲೇ ನಡೆದದ್ದು ಆ ಭೀಬತ್ಸ  ಹತ್ಯಾಕಾಂಡ".

Wayanad! We owe you

The two green coloured Willys 4X4 rattled down the trail in Muthanga wildlife sanctuary. The twelve of us were bouncing in them in all directions. It was a wake-up call for our dozing eyes after a tiring game that Maggi made we play almost the whole night, while we travelled from Bangalore to Wayanad. Yes, we were on the way to Wayanad, the land of I don’t know what but for us simply a get-away with our buddies from the Introduction leaders program. Jerry, Bhavana, Archana, Revathi, Maggi, Rashmi, Ganesh, Prashanth, Sudha, Khussaal, Vivek and I were on an escape.

The optimistic but exhaustive forty minutes trail-drive into the sanctuary that bordered Bandipur and Wayanad with no animal sighting warmed us up for the next two days of action. The sanctuary had given us no more than a cold weather experience of Wayanad summer, however the ILs of Oct batch were unaffected by the breakdown. We reached Sulthan Bathery in Wayanad, where we had a quick breakfast and reached Crescent Residency (CR) and already ready for a new game. CR is a decent retreat with cottage accommodation each cottage named after names of jewelry stones. I would have loved to name it “Necklace” instead of “Crescent”.

All of us settled in three luxurious cottages. The light dust deposit on the furniture and gush of whistling air in the toilet faucet indicated that the cottages were unused in recent times. Hardly mattered for us! All of us battled our turn to fresh-up and literally ran into the covered swimming pool amidst the valleys of Western Ghats. That’s when the reality struck to the boys’ gang. Half the ladies were in no mood for the pool experience. The boys had tired themselves in their swimming gear playing funny games in the pool, while the ladies paraded fully dressed-up. The optimistic boys were in no mood to dissect the situation. The pool games continued while myself, Prashant, Archana & Reva drifted to the swing area for more deeper talks. The swings were tied in varied heights to test the aptitude of the guests to use them. Maggi, Khussal and later the whole gang joined the party by the emus.

Post lunch, the herd decided not to kill time moving ourselves all over Wayanad, but to stay back in CR or nearby and spend quality time with each other. This was one of the wisest decisions made by the gang, probably in the whole of their IL life. It drastically reduced the integrity conversations time for all twelve being somewhere at a certain time!

A short stroll for spices shopping and the desperate photography sessions with the spices was only a start to the glamour virus to bloom. Sooner, all were in focus and on candid frames. We had no idea at that point that, this trip would impact our FB profiles this hugely!

Orchids at CR

The evening went past with non-stop PJ sessions and dumb-C in CR. The bon-fire was guarded by two obedient CR boys while Rashmi and Ganesh enchanted the gang narrating their love-story. That was a picture-perfect chill evening with friends. Reminded me of a typical setting of an intro scene of a Ramsay movie!

The next morning was that of trek to Chembra. I was excited as it was my event. I was responsible for the thinnest to the thickest to get back to CR on their legs after the trek. CR packed for us fruit salad, bread and butter that morning.

At the wake of sun, we were all in the TT pacing thru Kalpetta towards Chembra amidst the tea plantations. The forest check-post issued the permit for the dozen to hike-up the Chembra till the heart-shaped lake and back. The permit also entitled a forest guide. We reached the foot-hill of Chembra and started the hike up. Prashant declared a breakdown with his knee post his recent injury and chose to quit the trek after a short stint of walk down the trail. That was indeed his wise decision, given his knee condition and the uncertainty of the geography up the 2-hour trek.

Morning in Chambra

 

Chembra had gotten ready herself to welcome the glitterati of Bangalore. The ladies led the wolf pack trekkers while I swept at the end. We pushed through the thick typical sholas of Western Ghats. Dark forest ambience, dense-humid air, soft soil, chirping of crickets- and that’s a typical shola of Western Ghats. The alternating sholas and the grassy bald mountain was a feast for us. Sooner the feast turned into a struggle as the gang started to puff and gasp by mid-way. At the end of about 2.25hours of possibility generation and action resulted in the gang reaching the heart-shaped lake of Chembra. That was our summit. We were ecstatic at our accomplishment. Khussaal declared that he got the confidence to climb the Himalayas next now having clinched Chembra! The crowd forgot that it even struggled to climb the mountain for 2+ hours. The achievement of the summit put them into immediate action of documenting the same, the photographs! The gang posed in varied possible combinations while the digital-cams experienced its peak performance. The gang wanted to shout-out to the world that “they” did it, again after May 9^th!

The lake on Chembra

 We then slid down the mountain with lesser effort compared to that of the ascent in less than 1.5 hours. At the foot-hill, we warmed-down ourselves with some stretching exercises before we headed to CR. Walnut cakes in Kalpetta did add a flavour to our fresh summit success. We then rushed to CR and emptied our cottages, ready to check-out. We were all ready to head back to Bangalore, but we were not ready to end the trip. The journey had just begun.

A juice of special relatedness had gelled within us in the past forty hours of our lives. We were no more simply a pack of ILs who had together completed a rigorous six and half month training. At that moment and beyond, we were friends forever, friends for life.

the gang:)

 Wayanad, we owe it to you.

   

Journey to the past

This happened in 2011. I got hold of a Kannada photocopied book of about 30 pages, neatly spiral bound with a blue shaded transparent cover page. Surprisingly, it was my Grandfather’s autobiography, Sri. T.Thimmaiah. He had written this in 1996 just before he departed this world.

He had actually written it in an executive diary, which my father had made copies of it and distributed them among his 6 siblings. This was one of them.

It was a little hard for me to gain momentum and speed while I started reading it, due to the shaky writing of a 75 years old man and limited photocopy quality. However, I was surprised by the standard of the vocabulary and smooth-flow of events depicted.

He had started off with his childhood then drifted to his schooling, marriage, later career as a government primary school teacher and retiring as a Headmaster. He was generous enough to draw the family tree with three generations above him, because he was the last in our family’s bloodline to have known that. While the first part comprised of his physical life and family, the second part was dedicated for his spiritual journey, the genesis, initiation and his sadhana.

There were precisely two things that struck me while I was reading this book. It is the respect that he had for his word and community service. The entire book was inside of the celebration of these two aspects.

There was no doubt, of me getting inspired by the essence of this book. Anybody had authored this book; I would not have been spared being impacted. However, that being my own grandfather, I was more proud than anything else. This brought about a profound relatedness with my grandpa and my family.

But something was still biting me inside after I read this book. This was the story of a mere farmer of a small town Vijayapura (near Devanahalli), who became a school teacher, then turned into a HariKatha reciter alongside spirituality. The question was, “how come I’m reading my own grandpa’s autobiography after about 15 years of having written!” I realized that this book is not easily accessible for our own family members. I took on to digitize this book and make it easily available.

I shared this idea with one of my uncles Sri. Mukunda, and he said that he has already started that work and he was more than happy to share his work in as-is condition. I was so happy at that moment, that I was not the only one in the family who was craving for this to happen. I got a partner now. I took over his work and I started typing the entire text. It was not an easy task since I had to type in Kannada. Over time I picked-up speed. Over time, this work went down in my priority list. Then there was a time when it was simply not moving. That’s when I sought support of one of my cousins Yashaswini (Yashu). She jumped to partner me in this. Her quick actions brought the digitizing work to completion within a week.

There were numerous references of locations in his episodes. Be it the schools where he served, the farm he worked in, nearby villages where he was transferred in his job, the temples where he used to recite Harikathas and so on. I’m not too proud to say this, but I was unable to completely relate to his story since I was not aware of my own grandpa’s village and its geography!

I wanted to visit all these places. I ganged-up with my father and uncle Mukunda and set-forth on a journey on Jan 14th this year. I called it “The journey to the past”. This journey was more an exploration into my family for me than a mere tour. My knowledge had nothing to imagine when I started off. But, what I experienced was beyond my expectations.

My father had made a list of places to be visited around the vicinity of my native in the order of the visit. The locations included my grandfather’s first appointment as a primary school teacher in Channarayapatna (about 6kms from Vijayapura), the tomb of the my grandpa’s spiritual guru who had initiated him into spirituality, my grandpa’s peers in the mythological plays that he used to enact in the village, a village named Mandibele (about 3kms from Vijayapura where he served as a school teacher for 3 years), the farming land about a kilometer or two from my native which was donated by my great-grandfather in order to maintain the operational cost of the Sri Venkateswara temple founded by my great-great-grandfather, few temples in our native where my grandpa with his friends had initiated few bhajans and satsang and so on.

We started-off early in the morning and headed as per the tour map. We first visited Channarayapatna. We could not believe that we witnessed the mantapa (covered by walls now to make it room-like) where my grandpa actually started his teaching career about 60 years back in this place. In front of that there has been another small building with tiled roof that my grandpa initiated to expand the school. Later we were informed by villagers that there the government has shifted the school to another 10acre land where primary and secondary school is running now. I could relate that the school that has grown from a room to a vast establishment was started by my grandfather.

My grandpa used to enact in mythological plays in the village. We set-off to a village where few of his co-actors from the drama were staying. We could find only one of them who is in his nineties now, still working in his farm. He was shocked to see us when we introduced ourselves to him. He would not have definitely woken-up that morning thinking of meeting us! At that senior age, he started off reciting those historical Kannada lines of the plays. I could not resist myself from recording his whole recital. And it has become a treasure now.

Then we moved on to visit the village Mandibele, where my grandparents lived for about 3 years while my grandpa was serving as a school teacher in that village. This was from about 1953 to 1955. My father was very excited to visit this village as he did his schooling there during the stay and was visiting this village after 55 years. He had hand-sketched a map of the village as he remembered from his childhood. And also was keen and curious to witness the house where they lived then. He started-off speculating that something else would have come up there by now and we would be able to only locate the geographical coordinates of the house. But what we saw was beyond our expression.

To our surprise the village has hardly changed its demographics over time! The street plan, the locations of the temple and school remained untouched since then. We could witness the school where my grandpa taught, which is about to be brought down since there is a new school constructed beside it. And we were lucky to get its final glimpse and click a few photographs.

Then we moved-on to look at the house location. We were shocked by the innocence of the village that had left it untouched. My father finally located the house coordinates as in the map passing through a 4 feet wide passage between the rustic village houses. The house location was intact. It’s an 8 feet by 15 feet plot. There were only 6 stone pillars standing at the corners and at the mid-walls. Walls and roof has fallen off. The place is now a residence of goats and cattle of neighboring houses.

I was enthralled to witness the ruins of the house where my grandparents lived. Along with them were their first two sons (including my father being the eldest), another boy of their distant relation who was staying in their house at that time while his schooling, and a cattle and a calf- all residing in that 8X15feet house. I could picture the financial situation of my family 55 years back. I was overwhelmed by the developments that have happened in our family since then till now. Now our family has multiple properties in different parts of India and also on different continent! I was spellbound by the expansion that my family has brought into reality in the past 55 years.

Till then, I had my own unsaid complaints about my childhood comparing mine in my peer groups, that it was not “as luxurious as theirs”. While standing there in front of those six pillars of the house, one thing got really settled for me. My childhood was the way it was, inside of the grand plan of my family’s expansion. We all 37 family members had to bring forth something or the other at different time-points. And we have all played our roles knowingly or unknowingly to make this a reality. Of course, the expansion I’m referring to could be termed materialistic, however to bring about this materialistic transformation, there is leadership that’s glaring out and all family members have demonstrated that.

Later we proceeded to our native town. Visited the farming land, temples and the school where my grandpa retired. Captured them on my camera, wrapped-up our journey and got back to the present world.

Later I processed the snaps to affix them on relevant locations in the autobiography book. Finally the copy of the book was out. My father, my uncle Mukunda, my cousin Yashu and my wife Lakshmi worked relentlessly editing and proof-reading till it was printed on a hardcopy. It was a fulfilling experience having that in my hand.

We called for a simple family gathering where we formally released the book in the family. It was joyous for me to hand-over the simple but glorious and accomplished life-history of my grandfather on paper to his own decedents. We also had arranged for projection of the photographs that we had taken on the tour while the whole family watched curiously with comments from my father and my uncle.

Somewhere, we all got connected to our ancestors on that day. There is a whole new relatedness to our family now. The past has paved the path for the family’s future. The path is “Respect for one’s word” and “Service to community”.

Let’s CLIMB!

Saturday the 15^th Sep’12 was the day and it was 10AM when I reported in XLR8 indoor stadium. It was the Corporate Indoor Olympics 2012. There were total 12 games in the championship. I had registered for the Wall Climbing tournament.

The climbing fraternity is pretty limited in Bangalore and most of them would be known to each other. I was very eager and anxious to meet the fellow climbers from other companies. I was the first one to report at the reporting time, which left me a bit disappointed to start with. Then the organizers announced the start of registration and people gradually started reporting.

The climbing wall installed in that stadium was setup by one Mr.KeerthiPias from Outback India, who is a good friend of mine and a veteran climbing coach. Another surprise was that the climbing wall instructors also happened to be my climbing friends from climbing wall at Sri.Kanteerava stadium where I practice climbing during weekends. It was a good to meet them and I started practicing some Bouldering moves along with them till the event start. The organizers had instructed that the climbing participants could not practice on the competition walls.

The wall setup there for the competition had three climbing routes, each of about 30ft high. First one was a straight-up with repeating holds pattern making it an easy one. The second one was made a little tricky with non-repetitive holds pattern. Both these walls were perpendicular to the ground. The third one was continuously inclined subtending an angle of about 75^o to the ground, making it an overhanging wall. The holds pattern was again non-repetitive in this one too. The Bouldering wall was to the right of these bigger walls with few interesting overhangs.

View of the third (inclined green) wall and Bouldering section

The competition finally started at around 12.30PM. By then a total of 9 male climbers and 3 female climbers had registered. The organizers elaborated the rules. All the climbers had to climb all three walls on a top-rope. All were made to climb the first and the second walls. I was chosen to climb first just because I had reported first. Incidentally I was the only climber who was climbing with a pair of climbing shoes and a chalk bag.

I climbed the first wall in about 26 seconds. It was an easy climb and I took it easy too. And to my surprise all the other climbers climbed this wall. Few of them struggled a bit, but climbed. Some of them were climbing for the first time in their lives. It was overwhelming to see them still topping the wall! They were rejoicing the victory and amused by their own performance.

Myself after topping the first wall. The red wall adjacent to it is the second wall.

The third one is to the right of the second one.

When all were done with the first wall, I climbed the 2^nd one too in about 19 secs. Again to my surprise, everyone climbed this one too, and some after having the experience of the first one climbed this one much faster than me. The crux of the tournament is- on the third wall, if two climbers top it, then the winner would be declared considering the fastest of the timing from first two climbs. I started to become anxious at this point of time. My only chance was to top the third wall and hoping nobody else tops it. I know it’s like being selfish, but let’s face it, it’s a competition. Later I got confirmed that there would be super-finals with a tougher route on the 3^rd wall to declare the winner.

For the third wall, the climbing order was changed. The slowest climber was made to climb first and the fastest the last. I was fourth in the row. This was a tricky wall due to the inclination. There were holds of different colors. The route was set by the instructors. We had to use only “Yellow” and “Green” colored holds to reach the top. Even touching of any other colored holds would be considered to be a “Disqualification”.

Some amount of practice is required to climb an inclined wall, unlike the other straight ones. Every move upwards would also make the climber move horizontally, with his back facing down. The toe to heel posture on the foot hold, elbow lock, abdomen position, plan for the next move, everything matters. The first 3 climbers could make it only till 1/3^rd of the height. The crowd and the other climbers by then had got the criticality of this wall. Though I was confident about the climb, I had to mostly focus not to touch the invalid holds. The route was indeed not as simple as I had thought; given the irregular practice I had in the recent times. However, my long-distance running still kept me in a competitive shape. I topped it in about two to three minute’s time. I was the first climber till then to have topped the third wall. Topping the wall is holding a specified top-most hold of the wall in both hands before letting it go & swing down. I was obviously in lead till then. There were few more climbers after me.

In other climbing competitions, actually the climbers who are yet to climb would not be watching their earlier contestants climb. This would actually help them to connect the moves and make it easier for them. However, in this competition this was not followed so strictly. So, I was also anxious if anyone else after me could also top it watching me climb. It was also blessing-in-disguise for me in a way, because I get to climb once more in the super-finals! Incidentally none could top it, except the last-but-one climber who went up till the top-hold and fell without holding it.

That made me the winner having topped all three walls. And thus makingGE, the winner of Wall climbing tournament in Corporate Indoor Olympics, 2012.

It was great experience for me, representing GE on a sports platformfor the first time.

Now, looking forward for more. Bring-it-on... Let’s CLIMB!