To the Japanese people...

I once came upon a great piece of Zen wisdom which was in a book called 'Manase, Relax Please' by Swami Sukhbhogananda. It helped me very much and I think it is very relevant to the Japanese people today when they are facing a natural disaster that may aggravate further. I remember posting this story somewhere before itself.

A village was facing a severe drought and the villagers didn't know what to do. There passed upon a traveling monk and the people told him the situation and asked for any suggestion. The monk asked for a spot in the village to meditate and started meditating. Soon, the clouds formed and rain started pouring. The villagers became happy and asked him how he could do it. The Zen monk replied that as he sat there, he made himself calm and since there is a definite interaction between him and his environment, the atmosphere which had till now been unruly and unpredictable, became calm as well and the rain that was to pour on time poured.

Today, Japan needs people to be calm, collected and rooted in themselves.

The Japanese are a great and generous people who have helped many countries with their wisdom, management techniques, financial aid etc. and the world has to do everything in it's capacity to get them back on their feet. I'm sure they will recover fast.

When nature seems cruel, please remember...

1. Grace is available (for free), all around us, even though it might not be obvious.
2. Grace cannot help someone unless one asks for it (or allows it).
3. It is a joy and responsibility for someone to access (or have) Grace because this will let him or her to extend it to those around as well.

These three are true and useful by themselves separately but when they are understood together, they will bring about a faster, complete and lasting healing.

My dear Muslim bros...

Knowingly or unknowingly, wittingly or unwittingly, intentionally or unintentionally, I have done you a favour. I do not ask for anything in return except to read this post with care. You don't need to do anything good for me, bad...I leave it to your discretion. But I would like you to be nice to my GF. Just like me, my GF is also a true Muslim and so please forgive any trespasses as you would like a good Muslim. My GF always remembers a favour. May Allah be praised.

I repeat it

I'm not aligned with any and neither do I expect any preferential treatment from any. I know that by being like this I make a lot of friends and enemies. And I know that there are those within my own circle who is going to find this inconvenient and will be against me. And frankly it doesn't bother me.

Go back to the source. Not to a hole

I know the value of money. And what can be called the limits of human decency. That is why I turned down a job offer some days back. I was well aware that this is going to make my life pretty difficult, which has already gone overboard.

I never understood the sweat of my father when he paid for my college fees. So I didn't study well. Today, I know the value of a single rupee and that is why I even went on to donate a few thousand rupees to change a single life without telling my mom. And I didn't want some politician today who claims to be a hero or captain going further down in morals. The same one is today in bed with the one, antagonistic just a little bit earlier.

Thanks, but no thanks.

The finality of an action

I understood the power and finality of action (although not in a way that I liked that time), when my girl friend married another.

There are certain things in life which are irreversible (reminds me of the song of the Italian movie by that name) and there are certain things which are reversible (like going back to choose another way while driving).

My setting her free was merely a mock-up since I never in my wildest dreams thought that they she will even think of herself with another man. But I was thinking that she was just not in her right mind and she will soon understand what was happening.

When she told me that she was married, the curtain came down. People have different standards in different cultures when to know that a relationship is over, and even within a culture, it varies depending on the individual and in an individual itself, depending on the time and place. In the west, the same Demi Moore's standards vary in 'The Ghost' and the 'The Indecent Proposal'. For me, when my girl friend married another, it was the end.

Many times it came across my mind if I might go back to her. A few times I even searched for her just out of curiosity in social networks. But I always held that it is gone forever. that is why even when once I did find her on a social network, I didn't contact her. I also understood that she wouldn't really like to remember the old times and maybe she even fears me that I might harm her marriage out of anger. I was irked a little bit when I saw her display of affection to her father online after all we had gone through but then she was his daughter before my girl friend. Also, she is a very strong willed girl who was proud to be a Leo. These things wouldn't have really mattered if only we were right for each other.

The decisive action that she took or forced to take, though final, isn't as simple as could be taken in a moment and forgotten later. She had told me in her letters all along that she was getting pressurized everyday. Even when the problem came, things might have been salvaged if only I had also not blown up the trust she had had on me. But I don't blame myself because we were just not made for each other and she must have felt greatly relieved after having taken the decision to get out of the relationship. But then, it is not easy to forget in a day what was the dream of 3 years. It reminds me of the song in the movie 'Nenjil Oar Aalayam'...'Ninaipadhellaam Nadandhuvittaal...' and I (funnily) have to console myself with 'Engirundhaalum Vaazhga..'

Let me tell you, it was a tragedy (like BeeGees sings).

I don't know if this blog is like that of Anne Frank's diary or the room I stay in is like that of Adolf Hitler's underground bunker. I just don't care as long as infinity.

No offense to you, wouldn't mind if you let the psych in