Truth

The truth

What is the truth?

To hell with truth! As the history of the world proves, the truth has bearing on anything. It’s irrelevant and immaterial as the lawyers say. The life of a pipe dream is what gives life to the world misbegotten madslot  of us drunk or sober—Eugene O’Neill says in the Iceman comet.

“If you shut up truth and bury it under the ground, it will but grow and gather to itself such explosive power that the day it bursts through it will blow up everything in its way” counter Emile Zole.

We glorify the Dharma raja and his refusal to tell Drona and Ashwatama was dead, then there is Krishna’s promise of excluding 100 misdeeds of the false Vasudeva.

Truth is relative. Why do we have to speak the truth at all, even here we are talking about evidence based truth.  For being caught telling a lie comes with a huge price tag. Called the loss of credibility.

When there is evidence based truth and an intangible truth with dilemma. I would recommend go with your gut instinct. For if you can tell the truth to yourself it is easier to tell the truth to others. Truth hurts is a favourite idiom, truth is harsh is another pearl of wisdom, but the truth can be told with lot of kindness. One way to achieve it is take a minute to respond, so that you can frame your words properly.

But there are some things that we really need to take care of that we don’t land up being or using covers remember the Asterix story where they go to meet the Roman officer who is in a meeting. When asterisx and Obelix in their own polite way barge into his office they find him snoozing.  These are real falsehood.

Falsehood, lies, untruth are not acceptable. But not really saying the truth is debatable. The shade is very subtle.

Let’s try this exercise for the month of June.

• We do not lie, not even an itsy-bitsy white lie
• When we flatter in our commitment we pull out a currency bill and get inspired by Gandhi.
• We take that frame-up time before we actually vocalize our thoughts.

Tell all the Truth but tell it slant–Success in Circuit liesToo bright for our infirm DelightThe Truth’s superb surprise.

EMILY DICKINSON, Tell all the Truth but tell it slant-

Round the world

Round the world.

At the toastmaster we are very fond of the story of bill burrows of massachusets’s, well , the story goes that he put a note into a bottle and threw into the high sea. The note was a request that the finder should send him a message.

Forty-five years later he heard from a town that was only few hundred yards away. In the meanwhile he had imagined the bottle traversing the high seas, and against the currents and being tossed to exotic lands,

Now this is often co-related to the midlife assessment and the futile effort we expand in following and trying to fulfil great expectations. It is considered a moment of reckoning, beg your pardon it is a moment of beckoning too.

Addressing the moment of reckoning it goes

• A dream – launch of the dream
• Realization that the bottle didn’t go far
• After the all that time,

Yup, we do assume that the current does rise to act two and maybe , when we find that the bottle landed only couple of 100 yards awaywe fall in our own expectations, there is frustration, fluttering, and we label it a lovely midlife crisis.

What i think we miss out, is that the phrase as the crow flies would not really be applicable here, for the bottle would not really follow the flight of the birds, southwards, perching on signposts handed down by genetic memory . the bottle would have tossed with the waves, floated with the current, risen with the tide, maybe even a jaunt inside a whale but it never got smashed by the rock,  or busted by the tip of the iceberg, it might have made its journey now think of the journey of the bottle, the bottle being our career now what do how would we map the landmarks?

• How many storms have I withered?
• How many times have I re-charted the  course when we went off the course’
• How many lessons did I learn from my mistakes,
• How many times have I called port in distress.
• How many times have I shared the laurel?
• How many times have I gracefully given up?

One major factor that holds most of us back is our anger. We react to criticism, or refusal by counter criticism or allowing in pity but very rarely do we take it on face value.

Here’s a lesson I refused to learn from my mother but I did learn else where,

Usually when someone criticises our filter gets turned on, “Oh! He’s like that he always finds fault.” Our stories begin to play, and our rackets feed the justification. Lets try to analyse on face value.

Criticism à is it relevant? That is am I guilty of that behavior. If relevant and valid, thank the person who criticised and evaluate ways to minimize the damage, and prevent it. FORGIVE YOURSELF

If not applicable, forget it.

Our journey need’s to be measured through the parameters of courage,compassion and humility. Our highs are our joys and our lows are now that we withered the storm, just look at the map, we have come a full circle, its our journey and it has definitely been around, and not only 100 yards away.

Oh! If you have not gone round the world just take a second look, you might have walked the ocean bed.

Grilled?

Whats my favourite food to throw on the grill.?

Throw on The Grill ?  The restaurant where food is grilled and we eat? Well rotten eggs,  their ambience is so yak the place stinks of stale food.

Now don’t grill me too much about. You might just land up with Bheja fry.

But coming to think of James Beard (1974) says in Beard of food–“Grilling, broiling, barbecuing – whatever you want to call it – is an art, not just a matter of building a pyre and throwing on a piece of meat as a sacrifice to the gods of the stomach

On the grill the metal that I use on my stove I love grilled bread, that has been coated with ghee on the to be grilled side and a mixture of grated cheese garlic and pickle on the other.

Grilled boiled potato seasoned with salt and pepper another favourite, possible because they conjure the nostalgia of my Gran grilling bread as a treat on a rainy evening. The grill she used being the old-fashioned open stove with firewood, for fuel I can smell the aroma of the grilling bread,

view from the roof top

view from the hospital ward

Roof top to me meant a place on top of the pile, The best view would have been people who were trying to reach there,
Rock-a-bye baby
craddle’s on tree top,
watch it my baby if the craddle drops
its hell of a fall
seemed a familiar lullaby. and guess what I didn’t want to second Ashley Cole’s rue when he said”My worst fears were confirmed as Theiory and I sat in the center of the circle after the final whistle his name was sung from the roof tops, while my contribution was recognized by deafening silence. It was like I was the invisible man.”
It was one accident an year ago, that brought me from the land of probable visual to reality the windom from my hospital bed, it was on par with the tree tops.March through febraury the leaves were green with red pods, the tender twigs that protected the pods were red, early morning birds sat on it green with their red beaks it was difficult to seperate one from the other. April heralded the brown pods, that popped and wafts of cotton fluffs drifted around the place now the brown pods still hosted the birds, but the birds were brown with russet beaks.
If mother nature could talk probably she like Aishwarya Rai would say”I am not the type who’ll yell about my achievements from roof tops.”:)

view from GMC wards

Eternal mystery

No Law or ordinance is mightier than Understanding — Platohow do you solve a problem called Maria,
asked the nuns of the Lord, when Maria landed at the convent. They seem to be talking of me too.
three things that I will never understand is I_ME_MYSELF it is a single-minded obsession.
When I write about the hero’s journey, his quest and adventure, I feel it is a journey parallel to understanding the self.
Lao Tse says the power of intuitive understanding protects us until the end of my days, but where does one summon this power of intuitive understanding?
It isn’t until you come to a spiritual understanding of who you are not necessarily a religious, but a deep down spirit one– that you can begin to take control.
Ah! this means I am absolved from being a control freak, I am only training to be one,

Did I celebrate earth day?

There would be very little point in my exhausting myself and other conservationist themselves in trying to protect animals and habitats if we weren’t at the same time raising young people to be better stewards. 

- Dr. Jane Goodall Primatologist, ethologists and anthropologist 

April 22^nd is the earth day.

The day observes the need to protect the environment… it was instated in 1970 to to promote ideas of ecology, encourage respect for life on earth and highlight growing concern over pollution of the soil and water.

From 1962 – to 1970 almost an eight year gestation period for the movement.

The 1962  bestseller by Rachel Garson called Silent spring triggered the movement, the Vietnam war, the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill, the beetles the hippies all added momentum to this.

But did I do anything yesterday to commemorate this?

Well yes and no,

I sincerely believe like Fredrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) that “the earth has a skin, the skin has diseases and one of them is man.”

I attended no rally or seminar; I did not update my status or put in a blog.

Let’s look at it this way, there is no point in just quoting the Cree Indian and saying ~

When the last tree dies and the

Last river been poisoned and the last fish been

Caught will we realize we cannot eat money.

We need to talk alternates, and children don’t listen they observe, see and follow. I created the compost bin one at our building garden and one for my balcony garden.

We worked an earn while you learn program for young gardeners, it’s just that one bit.

Sir Francis Bacon got it right when he figured “Nature to commanded must be obeyed.” 

Money matters

Relating to money

Pablo Picasso said he wanted to live like a poor man with lots of money not a bad idea.

I have had a traditional upbringing with standard norms and values.

Our relationships with success, money and prosperity are kept under wraps hence are warped.

The Atharva Veda is very clear that poverty and ignorance are sins ,using ones talent to beget income then develop wealth from that income, eventually manage the wealth is the duty of every human being.

A definite demarcation is done between being greedy and being wealthy but over the generations this line has blended. Prosperity is ultimately about living in a balance. Yet it means a different thing to different people. Even the bible does not really glorify poverty. Read the story of the prodigal son you will understand what I am saying. What is all this really about?

The dictionary says. To put it down income is the payment received for goods, service rendered or on an investment. Wealth is abundance of valuable material possessions or resources, riches, the state of being rich or affluent, somewhere along the way maybe we are talking about purchase capacity.

 In contemporary society it is measured in terms owning real estate, paying your mortgage, having your own business, and the turnover of the business. When we sit back and look at the lessons we learnt about money it would probably shock us. It could also be the reason the financial security is a challenge for many of us.

Here are some money beliefs

 • Money is the root of all evil = if you have money you are neither good nor spiritual.

 • Money does not grow on trees = having money is struggle it only comes from hard work.

• A penny saved is a penny earned = you need to hoard your money.

• Easy come easy go = saving is difficult. • We can’t afford it = we are broke.

• No matter what you earn it is never enough = you will never get ahead; you are doomed to remain poor.

 • The taxman cometh = the government takes all your earnings.

• Money makes the world go round. = people with money are powerful, and if you are poor you are weak.

• Money talks. = to get your way you have to be rich.

 A little boy asked a millionaire how do I become rich, “why are you not rich already?” the boy was perplexed, the millionaire told him, write it down, see how many are blocks, you can overcome them. It’s the excuse that’s difficult.

May be it is time to sit down and have a good look at our relationship with money. As long as we understand that money is an energy that allows exchange we should be fine. 

Deja Brew– a feeling that you drunk this brew before.

inDeja Brew the feeling that you have had this brew before. Is essential for my life it helps me connect with myself. I have no problem at all with caffeine, my tussle is with the decaf-fine.

Where is my favorite place to grab a cup of coffee?

My kitchen.  For I need my coffee black as devil, hot as hell, pure as an angel,sweet as love for me love is a subtle fragrance and not a loud stink.

I do agree with Mark Helprin who in his Memoir from Antproof case 1995 says—the voodoo priest and all his powders were nothing compared to the espresso, cappuccino, and mocha which are stronger than all religions of the world combined and probably stronger than human soul itself.

When the coffee hits the stomach .. ideas begin to move things remembered arrive at full gallop.. the shafts of wit like sharp-shooters, similes arise, the paper is covered with ink says Honore de Balzac and I second her.

 

about change

About Watson, in the words of Holmes himself, “I am bound to say that in all the accounts which you have been so good as to give of my own small achievements you have habitually underrated your own abilities. It may be that you are not yourself luminous, but you are a conductor of light. Some people without possessing genius have a remarkable power of stimulating it. I confess, my dear fellow that I am very much in your debt.”
Suddenly I empathise with Holmes, in the shadow of a more beautiful friend, a brilliant sister a perfect brother; I did come across as a scatterbrained, frump! Of course there was no way I can underrate the ability stimulate the genius in whatever they achieved, unfortunately unlike Holmes none of them ever turned round to thank me for being less than mediocre.
I have been stuck here for so long, simply because I do not know the direction in which to go. A time like this may be the right time to declare to the universe, after the entire universe is like a helpful friend after all the universe is like a friend to whom I ask for assistance to move to the next level in my life. If the time is right the universe will respond with opportunities and offers designed to help me create the change I wish to see.
When the universe does not respond then I wonder if the universe like the science teacher needs things very clear. May be the universe appreciates clarity.
I decided to make my declaration very clear and post it at my altar. And guess what buddy I have no altar! I need to make one. That is my DIY project.
Or maybe I can write about it and place it under my pillow a good way dream of something is to sleep over it – Thus spake swamisingaramma. Instead of muttering when the neighbours horn disturbs my morning snuggle it might be a good idea to mutter that I intend to change hopefully for the better though it might be fun otherwise.
Wisecracks apart, since I want the change, I need to take responsibility, I need to recognise the signs I need to keep my chin up and in the case of no sign being visible, I need to take comfort that the bigger picture has something better.
I do love re-inventing myself. I love both the process of change and being the change.
Now don’t short change that.

Where flights land.

this article is dedicated to brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright without whom air sickness would still be a dream~Dave Barry.

 

Thai airways B777 rudder

Like Honor Blackman. I hate everything about airports from getting there to taking off. 
I have seen very few airports, the Mangalore one it’s a pits on a hilltop.The goa one, is all set to drop you into the sea, the pune one well I was too groggy to note anything. the Delhi ones are scary. 
That makes me conclude that the Swarnabhoomi airport in Thailand is the coolest. 
I enjoy popping in to World Duty Free at the airport and trying out perfumes – I can never resist a new scent.~Lisa Snowdon, she isn’t doing anything new every airport loungers does it. That’s the fun part of swarnabhoomi they provide you great choice in this. sport of window shopping. 
I get pretty much all the exercise I need walking down airport concourses carrying bags,adds Guy Clark another valid point. 
But it is the airport parking that scares, me particularly after my then 5yrs.old daughter’s diagnosis of the twin tower tragedy”bad boy went to park aiplane, and big building go toot”