5 years 2 months and 1 week!

That's how long, or short, that I've been blogging now!

I began at a time when blogging in India was yet to catch up and in very nascent stages! Intended primarily to record happenings and places visited during my treks, I created Oblivion Redefined on Wednesday, July 21, 2004!

My first post, on the same date, wasn't very different to what I continue to echo here!

Titled 'All that is Human', it contained a thought of mine, rather a series of thoughts, that read, "I've always been a simple man, except for the fact of having been robbed of the idea of being simple. It is then that I understood that life is more to do with living and living well. And that is all that matters. The rest follows suit with natural precision and in a timely orchestrated fashion.

Why do we always seem to want another chance? Is it because of our gross inability to coordinate our own actions and their sometimes perilous outcomes, or is it because that we have taken for granted the gazillion human limitations thrust upon us?

Life is once, and once is enough if we can figure out how to go about it."

I'm sure you understand the unparalleled sense of pleasure involved in creating an online journal and even more of it when acknowledged by co-bloggers and other folks!

Today, a little more than 5 years and 4 blogs later, I look back on a wonderful and rewarding journey, one that has helped me see places, far and wide, understand people and communities, communicate within and across borders and realize the true spirit and value of cultural interchange - all at the instance of a technological marvel!

We Blog, Web Blog and therefore the blog!

Republic of rudeness

Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram's comments on the people of New Delhi being rude and ill mannered, comes a little late and certainly very mild in expression!

Utterly poor in manners and etiquettes, I have come to experience this malady in person during my stay there for an extended period of 3 years!

It is a shame, a national one at that, to be known for the manner in which a people collectively behave so offensively, particularly at a time when race, nationalities, international borders and such nuances matter very little!

So, where lies the problem? Lack of education and civility? Faulty upbringing? Boorishness equated to manliness, as a result of a deep rooted sense of inferiority?

Or is it as a result of what most Delhiites are best at being - a recalcitrant hoi polloi?

The Pièce de résistance

Presently reading the acclaimed 'Autobiography of a Yogi' by Paramahansa Yogananda, I find myself in uncharted territory with a drawn feeling of how much more I need to strive in order to attain a level of self-realization which is a quart of what is talked about in this magnificent book!

It is a work of art like never before that I have ever encountered and is constantly helping me understand the deepest nuances of my life better than before with a singular view of how much life is a part of the whole exercise of evolving into a higher state of being and realm, which most of us ardently seek and yet fail to attain owing to focus on intellectual appeal and sensory judgements alone!

What strikes me most, even as I border close to just a half of the book, are the striking similarities that this book elucidates in it, also largely mentioned in the works of Dr. Brian Weiss, with respect to life itself and those of Carl Sagan with respect to his thoughts and deductions of the ever intriguing cosmos!

As if that wasn't already enough to stir my ordinary mind, beyond words and expression, the magical experiences detailed as a result of the author's process of attaining self-realization shook me off, challenging the earthly concepts of time, gravity, instances, all of which are a certainly delightful treat to any reader, food for thought, in the clichéd sense to say!

And as for my new-found realization that I have been toying for quite sometime now, I'd better best describe it with the aide of the famous words of the Greek philosopher Socrates which read that "True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing!"

Footnotes:

The Self Realization Fellowship - The Website

The online version of Yogananda's autobiography and the e-book on Project Gutenberg (under copyright)

Awarded

Fellow bloggers Shravan Raghunath and Rahul Sharma have given me the Awesome Blogger and Blog Buddies awards respectively, for which I express my sincere thanks! As always, I dedicate these awards to all of my fellow-bloggers, in my belief that this world, the virtual world of blogging, is one of instant intellectual connect, bridging gaps of culture, race, religion, borders and time. Therefore in celebration of a togetherness that I experience here in the blog-world, I extend these awards to all of you, the wonderful people who make this world happen!

My Connection

No, this is not about that splendid little icon featured by the predecessors of Windows XP that allowed you and me to connect to the Internet!

Rather, I'm attempting to understand what is it that is each of our most sought connect, the feeling that renders a sense of joy, togetherness, or oneness, that is experienced when the mind engages with that avenue, person or passion!

For instance, I experience a strong yet unspeakable and indescribable connection while looking up at the night sky, something that I can be sure of spending a few hours doing, comfortably away from the maddening chatter of daily chores and the constant hum of cell phones, which I have slowly but steadily and clearly come to detest!

So then, purely for the sake of understanding, what really is your connect? Do write to me about it!

Monday, upcoming, is the festival of Eid and is also the International Day of Peace! I take this opportunity to wish all my Muslim brethren a very happy Eid, one that furthers the common ideology of peace and brotherhood above all else!

Most importantly, for me, it is a day off work! You can imagine my state of bliss already! :)

Have a good weekend all.

Remembering Patrick Swayze

"If I leave this Earth, I want to leave this Earth just knowing I've tried to give something back and tried to do something worthwhile with myself."

-- Patrick Swayze (August 18, 1952 - September 14, 2009)

Now I've had the time of my life
No I never felt like this before
Yes I swear it's the truth
and I owe it all to you

-- Time of my Life (Dirty Dancing), 1987

As a child, I first saw him in the movie Dirty Dancing, which took the world by a storm! Years later, his equally magnificient performance in the movie Ghost, with co-starrer Demi Moore, was among the finest I'd come to see!

The iconic Swayze attained his heavenly abode yesterday, after a long drawn, painful battle with pancreatic cancer! This post pays tribute to a wonderful soul, who immortalized himself in the minds of millions by his performances and charm!

Rest in peace sailor!

Footnotes:

Image Courtesy - Google

Time and I

I'm waiting for the starlight, seeking solace in the warm depths of the evening sky, while glossing over the bygones of the day. My mind is overwhelmed with voluminous memories that have been!

A silent breeze swishes the leaves of a peach tree parting them to reveal the fruits that are now intensely yellow. Birds begin their roosting call, chirping in plentiful monotones, while moths seek the last vestiges of light, unknown to themselves, if they'd last another day!

The cold melancholic air has a certain charm and brings forth dusk with its golden hued twilight. With it comes a sense of calm that has to be savoured in all its elements, slow and steady - pretty much a feeling that has to be invited to slowly sink in.

The elegance of nature is truly unparalleled and the mind is racing in exuberant bliss while the body is composed and still. Some contradictions, it seems can never be comprehended.

Gone too soon, I'm left with the feeling that dusky twilights are akin to eclipses, arriving in much fanfare and departing in obscured quiet - unannounced! Dotted twinkles of a few stars in the horizon assure more scenic demonstrations in the offing. Pleasant aromas of freshly brewed tea fill the air, in random staccato bouts, leaving the mind to decide upon the wanton cravings of the tongue.

But silence is even more addictive and impresses upon me to stand by, and relish the proceeding of time to savour some of the finest moments in life - those, if once lost, would never heed a call to turn back in time!

Some of the most blissful things in life, I've realized, are elementary!

Turning 30 today!

Tintin, Campco, Rock Shock, Caran D'Ache, Calvin & Hobbes, Dollops, Shinkows, Misha, Superman, National Panasonic, Asterix, Big Fun, Milk Bikis, Leo, Glo Friends, Fusen, GW Basic, Kites, Macmillan, Hercule Poirot, Crazy Balls, Great Expectations, Marbles, Soccer, Ludo, Marshmallows, Carrom, MTV, Nimmy, Danny & Tinku (RIP), Kipling, 5 1/4" floppies, Tennyson, Duckback, Frost, Peppermint, Blake, Phantom Sweet Cigarettes, O'Henry ..................

All of this in 10950 days!

I feel I've lived over a hundred years now! Exciting, eventful and exhilarating! I'd like to thank my family, the most wonderful people I've ever known, for the unconditional support that they have given me, at all times, along with my friends and associates for being the magnificent people that they are!

And heres a lil tid-bit from the birthday boi! Remember my post titled What will you do? Yes, the same write-up that sought to understand what ticks us to go forward in life? Now, here's something that will perhaps be an answer to some of us! Do check out Kickstarter and be sure to read its blog!

Thank you folks! I love you all!

Composed upon Westminster Bridge

Earth has not anything to show more fair:
Dull would he be of soul who could pass by

A sight so touching in its majesty:
This city now doth, like a garment wear

The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,
Ships, towers, domes, theatres and temples lie
Open unto the fields and to the sky,
All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.

Never did the sun more beautifully steep
In his first splendor, valley, rock or hill;

Ne'er saw I, never felt a calm so deep!
The river glideth at his own sweet will:

Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;
And all that mighty heart is lying still!

William Wordsworth's sonnet, "Composed upon Westminster Bridge" was written, a little over two hundred years ago, on this day!

Footnotes:

Image Courtesy - Wikipedia

Image Description - A view of the River Thames drawn by Augustus Pugin and Thomas Rowlandson for Ackermann's Microcosm of London (1808-11). Somerset House, St. Paul's Cathedral and London Bridge are shown.

Onam wishes

Satjugi tai manio chalio bali bavan bhaio
(In Satyayuga, you sported the incarnation of the dwarf, and fooled Bali)

-- Excerpts from the Guru Granth Sahib wherein Vamana is mentioned as the "enticer" of Mahabali

I received a dinner invite from a very unexpected quarter last week! When the matriarch of a very poor family, that stays in my landlord's property and watches over it, asked me if I would honour them by having dinner with their family, I readily and wholeheartedly agreed with an immense sense of happiness, a kind that had not prevailed on me even while wining and dining in the finest of bistros.

Amidst hot and sumptuous Bhakris, Subji and Modak, I made efforts to understand the suffering these wonderful people endured in their daily lives, while yet remaining resolute and cheerful in carrying themselves forward in the battle to win another day!

Their gesture to invite me to dinner touched me a great deal, and also served as a crude reminder, once again, of how fortunate I have been, being me! Humane gestures know no human divisions, don't you agree?

It is Onam now, the festival of harvest, in Kerala, a time of the year when the golden era of prosperity during the reign of King Mahabali is fondly remembered and celebrated in awe, happiness and oneness!

I'd like to wish my country-cousins, folks and all my friends a very happy and prosperous Onam and more importantly, urge every one of you to envision a sense of prosperity in your lives, in all that you do and reaffirm your commitment towards the spirit of solidarity and oneness, which is all that matters in the end!