Akhiyoan ke Jharokoan se and some more ! :)

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My quest and interest for Ravindra Jain began when I heard this song. I was so touched by the sheer beauty in the song, that I went on to find out more about its music director, Ravindra Jain. I got very very intrigued about Ravindra Jain when I heard that he is blind.

I went on to do some research on his life and his music. And heres what I found out about his life - He was born blind in Aligarh on 28 February, 1944 to Late Pt.Indramani Jain (Vaidya Shastri) and Late Smt. Kiran Devi Jain. He is married to Smt. Deevya Jain (Daughter of Shri R.S.Jain & Poetess-Writer Smt.Nirmala Jain) . Qualifications wise, he has a degree 'Sangeet Prabhakar' - Degree from Prayag Sangeet Samiti (Allahabad).

But I think what speaks most about him, is his music. There is some kind of purity and innocence in his compositions that do not fail to touch your heart.

Here are some more beautiful pieces of his music.

Do Jasoos - Karen Mehsoos( Movie - Do Jasoos )
I had heard this song when I was a child. And I never ever forgot it. When I was writing this post, I was more than thrilled to figure out that the song has been composed by Ravindra Jain.

This is just the kind of song that would delight a child and adult alike.

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Dariya Cha Raaja - Do Jasoos( Movie - Do Jasoos )

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tera mera saath rahe ( Movie -Saudagar )

Thanks to my friend Roli for introducing this song to me.

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Other than the ones that I have posted above(i.e. the ones that I absolutely love ), Ravindra Jain has also composed some the greatest hits of bollywood like - Jab Deep Jale Aana ( Chitchor ), Geet Gaata Chal ( Geet Gaata Chal ), Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge ( Chor Machaye Shor ). Go ahead - go to UTube and have a listen :)

For those of you who are at office, dont forget to put your headphones on, before you put the music on in this post :)

Here's wishing you a fun filled and musical week ! :)

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Mom in law and her boyfriendssss !!!!!!

Mom in law and boyfriends ? I can almost imagine all of you , twitching your eyebrows and asking me - You must be out of your mind - Are you sure?

Yup ! I am !!

Mom in law of mine is a super efficient, lovable, friendly lady ( Remember Chachi 420 ) . Every time I look at my MIL, I am reminded of the ever lovable Chachi 420. She has an answer to every question you have - whether it is marriage, poojas, relationships, study, cooking, books, music, language, spirituality - anything! - anything at all!

For all of us who know her well, she is our guide, philosopher and friend. Since she is very modern in her outlook, a lot of times she is my guide on what kind of clothes or make up I should wear and constantly encourages me to try out the new fashion.

Now when one is so very efficient, it is but natural, that one will have to manage a lot of boyfriends too . Raising my shoulders helplessly !

Yup ! my mom in law , as far as i know, manages two boyfriends other than the permanent one - Yup ! you guessed right - the one she cant escape from - my Father in law. Are you sure? - I can hear you all asking again .

Ya ! Every once in two days, she would want to badly meet one or both of her boyfriends- she would then summon one of us(na! bug us !! ) to summon them to our home or take her to meet them. Now, whenever she needs to go out , she dresses herself up with a lot of care. Make up, lipstick and powder - the look is complete!

Ever since I have been teaaaaasssssing her about her boyfriends, my Father in law has become very very curious. He has started taking more interest in her and her friends. Hmm. He refuses to let her go and meet her boyfriends alone. He insists on taking her with him.

Raising my shoulders helplessly again ! Yup !

Now ! Now ! Patience ! For all of 'exasperated you' who are dying to know who her boyfriends are -- They are Narayan, our Ironing Guy and James Bond , our friendly neighbourhood dryclean wala !!

Oh yes - reason to meet them of course -is to get the dirty clothes washed and ironed - be clear of that !! And dressing ? -one should ALWAYS dress well - One should DRESS FOR ONESELF and no one else.. BE CLEAR OF THAT TOO !!

Raising my shoulders helplessly again ! :)

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Everything-Nothing( Fountainhead )

Here is a very beautiful excerpt from Ayn Rand's Fountainhead. An architect, Prescott, is giving a lecture to the nascent Council of American Builders, founded by Ellsworth Toohey.

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“And thus the intrinsic significance of our craft lies in the philosophical fact that we deal in nothing. We create emptiness through which certain physical bodies are to move—we shall designate them for convenience as human. By emptiness I mean that which is commonly known as rooms. Thus it is only the crass layman who thinks that we put up some walls. We do nothing of the kind. We put up emptiness, as I have proved. This leads to a corollary of astronomical importance: to the unconditional acceptance of the premise the ‘absence’ is superior to ‘presence.’ I shall state this in simpler terms—for the sake of clarity: ‘nothing’ is superior to ‘something.’ "

And he goes on to say -

"Should you wish to make the inevitable deductions from this basic conception, you may come to conclusions of vast sociological importance. You may see that a beautiful woman is inferior to a non-beautiful one, that the literate is inferior to the illiterate, that the rich is inferior to the poor, and the able to the incompetent. The architect is the concrete illustration of a cosmic paradox. ”

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Wonderful words , aren't they! We spend our whole life trying to mold ourselves to be someone or something . And that someone who we become, shapes us.

Think about the above paragraph - how do you think is a non beautiful, illiterate, poor, incompetent person superior to a beautiful, literate, rich, able person ?

A 'non beautiful' woman is not attached to her beauty, a illiterate human is not bound by his knowledge, a poor man is free from the attachments of money, a incompetent man is free from the pride of his skills.

For most of us, our "identity"(of being beautiful, knowledgeable or rich) binds us and restrains us - a knowledgeable person in the arrogance of his knowledge might underestimate an uneducated. An highly accomplished person might hesitate doing trivial tasks- A beautiful woman, might deprive herself the companionship of a lesser looking man.

Most of us, end up letting our identity restrict us. We deal with 'walls' not 'spaces'. Creating our identity as a 'space' instead of a 'wall', gives us tremendous openness and hence freedom.

The space of a 'knowledgeable' man can be to expand on the knowledge in the universe. The space of a accomplished person can be to make a difference to the world. The space of a beautiful woman can be to spread beauty and wonder.

Creating our identity as a space, creates an emptiness - An emptiness that can take any shape.

Or in other words "Emptiness" creates "Wholeness".
And "Nothing" gives rise to "Everything".

In the state of being 'everything'-'nothing', we have the world.

For a human who is free from all boundaries, who is in the state of "everything"-"nothing" - I am reminded of the very famous Shloka(peace invocation) from the Isa Upanishad -

Poornamadah

Poornanidam

Poornath Poornamudhachyathe

Poornasaya Poornamaadaya

Poornamevaavashishyathe


This is Whole,

That is Whole,

From Wholeness Emerges Wholeness

And If You Take Away Wholeness From Wholeness,

Wholeness Still Remains.

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The Elusive Maricha ( and a few other pictures on the photoblog )

On our way back( R and mine ), from Nagarhole, in the month of August, as we were enjoying the sights of the dense green forest on both the sides of the road, something that moved in the forest, caught our eye. We spotted a 'Maricha' ( The Maricha is a mythological character in the hindu epic - Ramayana.) luring and beckoning us to follow it. We couldn't resist capturing it on our camera. Check it out -




In Ramayana, after being lured by the enchanting deer, Sita is abducted by the demon kind Ravana. Lord Rama, then, rescues her from Lanka where she had been hidden by Ravana, after a hard fought battle.

Dassera is celebrated as a festival by the 'Hindus' to mark this triumph of the good over the evil.

In Mysore, Dassera is celebrated to mark the victory of Hindu Goddess Chamundeshwari over the demon kind Mahisasura. 'Mysore Dassera' is well known for an age-old tradition of celebrating the Dassera festival by having a long procession on the streets of Mysore city.

This year, on the second day of this ten day long festival, we happened to visit Mysore and we had the profound privilege of watching the rehearsals of this procession being conducted.

Check out the pictures of 'Mysore Dassera' celebrations at 'Mysore Dassera and Mareecha on the photoblog '.

(The complete set of the pictures on my photoblog, can be viewed at 'My Photoblog'. )

I hope that you enjoyed the pictures as much as we enjoyed taking them.

With this month being a month of festivals - Dassera has just passed by, and the festival of lights is round the corner - Heres my wish for all of us-

May the lights of Diwali enlighten each and everyone's soul :)

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Elementary, my dear Watson !

I have been devouring Sherlock Holmes again after a long long time ! :) The last time I read it was when I must have been in my 7-8th Std. I remember though, that, at that time, I had skipped the big stories like 'A Study in Scarlet' and ' A sign of four'. I intend to read those now.

What keeps one hooked to this book, is the way in which Sherlock Holmes sees through the obvious and is able to conjure up events and situations through his keen observation that a common man would not be able to see through, imagine or deduce.

On the same note, have there been times, when you have been able to deduce from a situation easily? I have been ! much to the consternation and bewilderment of the people around ! There have been times, when, in some situations, some inference would be sooo very obvious to me ! And it would always leave me amused at people's surprises to the conclusion :)

I remember I must have been in my 10th std or so. We were in Baroda at that time. And I was traveling alone in the Rajdhani to Mumbai. The arrival time of this train is 7 am or so, early morning. The train came in to the station at around 6.55 am. I boarded the train and settled down in my seat -when a neatly dressed, confident, middle aged lady with a playful look on her face comes and sits besides me.

I start talking to her. She discovers that I am going to meet my relatives in Mumbai and tells me that she is going for her son's college admission in Mumbai. She tells me that she is coming from Delhi and informs me about the education structure there. She says "In a few colleges/schools in Delhi, students have the option of joining the attached degree college directly after their higher secondary education. xyz college has Commerce in their degree course, abc has science. The sad part is we do not have it ". I nodded my head in empathy, and full of innocent curiosity, I ask her "Which class do you teach to ? "

The lady was baffled ! Turning a full 90 degrees to the left , with big wide eyes, she asks me- "how on the earth do you know ?"

I am confused now! What could I possibly know that has made this lady sit up like this !

When the lady says - "How did you know I was a teacher ?"

:))))) I am amused :) and am giggling in my mind :) I tell her - " Your demeanor is stern, confident, smart but child like- the kind you would expect a teacher to be. So I was wondering if you were a teacher as soon as you came in. And you confirmed it when you said - "xyz college has Commerce in their degree course, abc has science. The sad part is we dont have it" . Obviously, you were referring to the college where you teach" :)

She heaves a sigh of relief ! She then sits back, avoiding any conversation with me for the rest of the journey ..!

I can almost hear her thinking in her mind - "Phew ! That was straightforward enough .."

Smiling to myself, I say in my mind - "Elementary , my dear Watson! ".

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