Mehfil

Ek arse baad fir se mehfil jami
Puraane geet naye doston ke saath chide

Nice to have another warm, friendly set of friends in Umea, which reminds me a lot about the beautiful time experienced in Zurich.

Apne jaise log har sheher main mil jaate hain :)

What makes the world go round

"It is wrong to think that love comes from long companionship and persevering courtship. Love is the offspring of spiritual affinity and unless that affinity is created in a moment, it will not be created for years or even generations."
- Kahlil Gibran

...have always instinctively felt so, and finally found this thought beautifully worded.

'Remember'

Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.
Remember me when no more day by day
You tell me of our future that you plann'd:
Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.
Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.

A poem by
Christina Rossetti

GQs

'How was your day dear?' is one of the best questions to come home to.

Quit Quit (torturing us)

It’s a disgusting habit yes and I am quite vocal about it. Some smoke socially most others are just pitiful addicts. The first time I had to accidentally stand outside for a smoke with my colleagues made me hold my breath half the time and cough the rest of the day. Half of our group smokes, no wait just under half. And when they are back from their group activity they carry the stink all about their clothes, skin and mouths. Apparently whenever they feel stressed they need to smoke. Makes me want to laugh out loud at such a lousy reason.
Anyway to each his/her own way of life, only if it were really that. The damage isn’t just limiting to those who choose it voluntarily. Smokers are potentially harmful to non-smokers around themselves, especially the elderly and kids.
Today the world celebrates No-Tobacco day and this is a hard hitting message from kids themselves!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mE-_zA-ZZI0&feature=related

Dosti

This post is dedicated to friendship. This nostalgia might be triggered because I am missing my friends back home, in Zurich and scattered around different parts of the world. As time passes we all head out in different directions, explore different things and gradually each one of us gets mired in the trappings of a family life and so the connections seem distant and people move apart. But, this really doesn’t happen. I met a very close friend in Stockholm a few days back (yes in the middle of a working week :D), stayed over at the couple’s place and enjoyed the company of their son and their parents. It seemed like nothing had really changed in terms of our closeness and equations. She still has the capacity to draw me out of a shell and get me talking! It was a frenzied 2 day holiday but completely worth it.
Staying so far away from home can get unnerving if one doesn’t meet the right set of people. I have been lucky in that regard, finding friends who have been almost like family to me. The thesis writing phase upto my job hunting time had been especially hard. A very special friend, amongst other friends, has been my support system all through this time, encouraging me and taking pride in all my achievements. We have shared very intimate problems of ours and instinctively understand each other. We both had been going through a difficult phase but have managed now to get over it. Thank you Dost :). In an especially low moment I cannot forget what you said. It really made my day. Apart from telling me that in another time you would have pursued me and probably got me ;), what especially helped me was your encouragement. ‘G I am very proud of you, you are an intelligent woman and have made it on your own in a city far away from home, earned a PhD and this is the most attractive thing about you’. I may not have quoted the exact words here, but I don’t remember anyone ever complimenting me in so many words and making me feel so good :). A happily married man and doing well for himself now, I will always wish for his success and hope that only the best comes his way.
Three cheers to all my friends, in whatever part of the world you are, you will remain a part of mine!

जान - अनजान

कब ना जाने
दो जाने
हुए अनजाने

Mol Bio endorses SK

I have been reading a lot about scientific research done on Sudarshan Kriya elucidating its various health benefits. I do not doubt it, but the following article employing molecular biology tools made the research more comprehensible and thus acceptable to me :-)

http://www.jbtdrc.org/National%20Symposium%20-%202006/Proc%20pages/CMB/CMB1.pdf

GQs

Love and War are not for the weak willed made.

On a spiritual note

Have been trying to follow the Sudarshan Kriya more regularly and am feeling the effects already. Usually it takes a few months of dedicated practice to receive the full range of benefits. But for a start it revitalizes me at the end of the day and I feel stress free and energized. But more on this later, perhaps in another post. During one of the sessions, my mind started to wander towards Karma and what it means to me. Karma can be defined in various ways and very differently by different people. For good Karma, one has to make a conscious effort. In my opinion, to avoid bad Karma one needs to treat nature, animals and fellow human beings with compassion and respect. I also think it is important to treat oneself well, be honest, forgive people, forgive yourself, try to forget and move on. Basically negative energies tend to cling onto you and drag you down into an abyss of gloom and stress, in turn attracting more negativity. The farther one strives to stay from them the better it is for one’s constitution.
I have no idea how my earlier lives have been, the way I have acted and have been treated. But my present life is in my hands and I am thankful to be aware of it and to observe every moment of it. The key I feel, is to be in a conscious state, to stay as much as possible in the present and to continuously observe one’s thoughts and actions.
To be aware of a higher presence, to submit to it, to converse with it, share your feelings, make a connection and to feel the love can free one from the cycle of Karma. It is as simple and as difficult as investing in a meaningful unconditional friendship with another.

Pearl Excess

My love for pearls both fake or real goes back a long time. The obsession though had started after I realized there was a jinx on all my paired possessions. I almost always have lost one of a pair and then lamented for days. For this reason I have started to stock up on them and have at times stopped myself from buying them in duplicates :D.

A beautiful set of Hyderabadi pink pearls gifted by a treasured friend now lay unused (lost), another fake set was lost in the snow last year and I even went to hunt for it the next day when the snow melted. All in vain of course.

This year has been particularly favorable in terms of gifts being bestowed on me. Leaking my love for them has done me very good. My folks gifted me an excellent pink pearl earrings on my Birthday, received a sea pearl pendant and a fake pearl ring from another friend in Zurich. And looking forward to more belated birthday gifts this month :-)

The Pearl indulgence shall continue!

Bummed Bums

Yes, that is what I have earned in the trade-off for sexy legs, toned bums and a good night’s sleep. Wondering what it is? Biking on the roads of Zurich, which is not an easy job considering the uneven terrain. The city is absolutely gorgeous and bike friendly and like any other European city it is best explored by foot. Something I had been doing in the past year and also missed in the subsequent months. I have resumed walking now and in turn experiencing the old innocent joys that come with it. This time round I decided to cast the net a little wider and mix in equal measure the challenge of biking around the city. A friend of mine kindly lent his bike which had been stored unused for over a year in his cellar. Another dear friend accompanied me to collect the bike and restore it to a working condition and also to guide me back on the bike. I have ridden cycles in Delhi and one can never unlearn how to bike. But here in Zurich it means riding amongst traffic, people, valleys and hills (almost!) and getting adjusted to the various gears in the bike (I have been advised not to fiddle with them). This needed some mentoring which was ably provided.

So we took the bike out of the cellar, tried to pump it using two different styled pumps. I broke one in the process and was left in the lurch with one flat tyre. We started then to hunt for the nearest pump/gas station and finally lugged the bike into one. Turns out the station guys had spotted us from afar (two girls carrying around their bikes) and were very willing to help. They were snickering when one of us mentioned about getting a pump (!) there. In the end they did their job well and just in the nick of time or they would have shut shop for the evening. Finally all set and also quite exhausted we headed to our final destinations.

How do I feel after all this? It was an adventurous evening out for the girls. It was exhausting and I slept for almost 10 hours that night. My ass has been hurting as hell and I have been sitting on a soft jacket since, to cushion the pain. My leg and back muscles hurt. And yet the simple thrill while cycling down an empty slope, the breeze sweeping through and singing aloud without a care is all that I want to remember :-)

I welcome you with open arms

This new year entails a fresh new start even though it is a few months late by now. Shedding the old skin and donning a new one meant engaging myself with a new blog. I have been toying with this idea for quite a while and the bursting urge to write has finally found time and an outlet. I hope to honestly vent my ideas, emotions, spirit here. Since the flavor of this would be in contrast to my earlier blog it made sense to start with a new one.

Some lines from an inspiring song should get me going:
Kabhi tujhko gila mujhse
kabhi mujhko shikayat hai
magar phir bhi tujhe meri
mujhe teri zaroorat hai

Main ye iqraar karta hoon, main tujhse pyar karta hoon,
Zindagi aa raha huun main.

A warm welcome 2010. May the grace of God be with us. Amen.