Spirituality and Spiritualism

Several years ago I read in " The Celestine Prophecy" that there is a renewed interest in spirituality . At that time I didn't give it much thought though the idea somehow got embedded in my subconscious. Strangely enough, I find that this statement is indeed very true and over the years everyone I know has somehow got hooked onto God.

And this was long before it became fashionable to be aware of God and Spirituality etc etc.

Of course, religion has always been a way of life especially for us in India. We have Gods and Goddesses everywhere. We have temples and mosques everywhere. Each one of us follows a daily routine that is not only culturally determined but one which is religiously fashioned as well. Even the most agnostic person will not be able to escape noticing it , when even morning walkers are known to greet one another with "Jai Ramji " or "Ram Ram" or do the rounds of the park saying out some mantras or stotras. There are people of all faiths using prayer beads, reading scriptures and of course celebrating festivals honouring different Gods/ Saints/Occurances of Religious significance in all generations - and all social strata.

But what surprises me most is how all my close friends are now deeply passionate about spiritualism. Most of them read from their favourite scriptures, some regularly attend prayer meetings, one or two even have their gurus, some make annual pilgrimages to their favourite deity ............... I can go on and on.

And this is not something that has happened to them as middle aged women but something they have been in touch with as young girls. Of their own volition - not imposed on them by their parents or families.

So what is it that has inspired them to go on this path of spiritual awakening?

How do they manage to reconcile their modern and material world with their desire for spiritual awakening?

I am curious and actually going to ask them one by one.

Man does not live by bread alone

Or does he ?

Looking at the picnic hamper I packed this morning it would seem that man only lives by bread. In the basket there were 4 chutney sandwiches, 4 cheese and tomato, 6 boiled egg, 6 omelette and 4 jam . In addition there was a flask of tea, 6 assorted fruit juices in tetrapacks and 2 litres of aqua vita.
Since yesterday morning, the question was floated - what do we take for breakfast?


This was translated as - there had better be enough food for all of us. After all we are travelling 120 miles to have lunch on a farm! So we need to tank up enough to keep us going till mid day and perhaps even later.

This was further translated as - there should be enough variety to suit as many people as are travelling i.e. for 5 people there should be five different things.

Welcome to my world.

I am not running a hotel.

Nor am I running a restaurant.

Nor am I running a fast food service

Nor am I running a take away

But

I am running an "ordinary" household.

With a difference.............................


Our kitchen opens soon enough ( almost at the crack of dawn!) where one cup of wake me up comes out in turns for each person as he awakes. This early morning waker upper is coffee ( with Nescafe whipped up), black coffee ( made with coffee powder in a coffee machine ), black tea ( weak with a dash of lime and sugar), strong ( boiled over and over and with FRESH milk) , normal ( which is for all those who didn't have their special cuppa - boiled, with milk and sugar).

Then come the dribs and drabs of breakfast. Dry toast, buttered toast, cut fruit chilled, cut fruit at room temperature, freshly cut fruit ( i.e. just before eating!!) eggs: one or two - scrambled, semi scrambled, omelette, masala omelette, cheese omelette, fried sunny side up or double ( all either on or with toast) upama : spicy or non sticky or non, dhirda , idlis, dosas ( with or without chutney and sambar with or without ghee). Of course to be fair, the last four items are not all asked for on the same day.

Then of course is lunch which is first served at the first stroke of the twelve mid day gongs. And again half an hour later. And again at 1 on some days. It goes without saying that each person eating will have a different if not varied menu from what the others have/will eat.

In between the breakfast and lunch come the packed lunches which are obviously different because one travels 3 kms down the road in a car while the other is lugged 25 kms away by train!

Then we have a repeat performance of the afternoon wake up ceremony prior to our leisurely evening walks in the park.

Finally we wind down our day with the last meal ( thankfully!) for the day which is our dinner which is again every half hour beginning at the stroke of 7. ( For all those who are unfamiliar with the goings on in a kitchen I would like to inform you that meals do take time to prepare !) . Once again we have different menus and sometimes even different cuisines as diverse as very Haute and rustic Indian!

Some days we are lucky. We have so much left over food that it can be disguised or modified to become something else. After all, one man's meat is the other man's poison!

But I shouldn't crib. I should be grateful that I do have someone to cook for. After all it is no fun eating by yourself . Eating one dish out of one dish.

All I can say, is thankfully we are only 6 people at home!

I can easily cope with half a dozen.


Can you imagine what I'd have done with more?

Republic Day 2006

After years of being a totally Unco-operative Co-op Society, our Society finally woke up to the fact that we should live togetherin peace and harmony. To foster this spirit, we have 10 green benches in the garden where the grannies gather every evening to share the gossip. We also have a few Idli Dosa dinners which are held every once in a while. However, thinking that this interaction was just not good enough, the Manager of our society decided to get us all together to hoist the flag.

So, knowing full well the members' passion for sleeping in late on a holiday, 9.15 was deemed suitable enough for all of us to assemble at the end of the exit slope to hoist the flag.

Well , as usual we started late at almost 9.30 and when the string was tugged, nothing happened. So the string was tugged again.
Yet,

nothing happened.

Finally ,the flag was brought down, the knot loosened and the string was tugged.

Yet,

nothing happened.

This procedure was repeated yet again.

But still nothing happened.


Finally,

The knot was tied so loosely that even a slight breeze would have unfurled the flag. There was no breeze, however, so when the string was tugged, the flag opened rather listlessly.

But still we cheered, sang the National Anthem and ate the Pedas that were distributed.

Next year we hope to hoist the flag in the middle of the garden so that all those lazy members need not even bother to come down to the slope!

Jai Hind!

It is better to live rich than die rich

This is one of the best sayings I have heard in a long time



Of course, not many people will think that I am living poor - but let's put it this way, I spend far too much time thinking of how to spend my money more carefully. Shopping becomes a preliminary round of checking out by telephone and actual visits of finding a good deal. Then comes the hair splitting process of figuring out whether I really need/want the thing in question. And finally, comes the most painful part - spending the money to get it.

Of course the person who told me this was actually spending lots of money which belonged to his company which of course did not belong to him. For anyone who has an unlimited expense account for which he is not responsible, this would be the best way to live. It is always easy to be lavish when someone is picking up the tab .

But.............

I think the point of this statement is to live not extravagantly but to live well. To eat well, dress well and spend well. Most times we put off that extra something because we would rather save for a rainy day. From experience I can say that the rainy day will come when we least expect it and on that day, no amount of preparation can keep you really dry.

We should learn to take life as it comes - living in the moment and for the moment.

And what better way to live than to enjoy the good things of life.

So from today



GOODBYE KANJOOSI

What will it take?

What will it take to improve our city?

A little before midnight, a sharp thud disturbed the stillness of the night. Rushing out to the balconey, we found huge flames reaching out towards us. Scary but true. The top floor of the neighbouring building was burning down right in front of our eyes.

A call to the Fire Brigade remained unanswered for 15 rings and a call to the local Police station was kept on call transfer for another 15 minutes. Luckily someone had managed to contact the elusive fire brigade and the huge , bulky vehicle steamed up the narrow and steep road. There was no way the fire engine could enter the building premises because the little space around the building was filled with the residents' cars. So all it could do was wait outside and spray water as high as the pressure would allow . It was sheer luck that the wind was quiet last night. It was sheer luck that none of the embers fell on the cars below. It was sheer luck that the fire was contained in the building and did not spread to the tinder boxes that seemed dangerously close.



For years the neighbourhood has been clamouring for new buildings to stop coming into existance. But we are told that the politicians want the money that the builders offer them as bribes to allow them to bend the rules. The builders tell us most blatantly that if we can satiate the insatiable appetites of the politicians then the construction will automatically stop.

Why should we pay for a politician who does not care for us? Aren't our taxes enough to protect our interests?

Last year we had a warning in the form of a deluge. This was not the first. We have had tremors, outbreaks of lepto , power shortages and even riots.

But still our politicians seem to think that we people of Mumbai do not deserve better.

What will it take for them to realise that the local MP is supposed to serve the locals who elect him and not work only towards filling his own pocket.http://pps23bmsnspaces

A new beginning

Being a blogger on MSN for almost a year now has made me an avid blogger.

However, I must say that MSN and its staid and boring format/ template made me explore the possibility of getting a better Blog page.

So in keeping with my Hamlet personality, I am going to try this page for a while.

Also, since I think my entries on my MSN Blog were worth keeping, I am going to shift all of them to this page which will mean that my Blog will sound disconnected.

But eventually I will get there and have what I feel a perfect Blog!