I was watching the Rodeo festival on TV the other day and before
long, I drifted into nostalgia. Whenever I see the Texan Rodeo, I
feel a chill down my spine, thinking about the good times I had in
the wild wild east. I spent a significant portion of my childhood in
a remote village located in southern tip of India. The village, duly
named Naaraikinaru, for its rustic charm, had all the trappings: lush
paddy fields, never-ending meadowlands, sugarcane and turmeric fields
with coconut, neem and palm trees adorning the borders, hardworking
peasants, village belles draped in colorful sarees, temples reaching
out to the sun.
The farm workers who maintain these fields are among the hardest
working people I have ever seen. It is not an easy task to command
respect from the farm workers and I had a tough time doing the same.
My pop owned a farm and I had serious trouble to get the villagers to
work on our farm.
For they were very diligent, and as it goes with all the merry men,
they partied hard. One of the games they play, that caught my
attention, is the spine-tingling JALLI KATTU (BULL FIGHT) that was
held after harvest festival every year. The important thing about
this bullfight is that the bulls come out unscathed after every fight
and only the bullfighters suffer the wounds. I have watched it for
years, tried but in vain to participate in it.
The day of bullfight is the day of deliverance for the farm workers,
the day they look forward to, after a yearlong toil. My childhood
dream was to raise a bull that would be indefatigable and a nightmare
to all the gladiators who seek the thrill of jumping into the
bullfight arena. I did realize my dream when I bought a red bull in
1985. With long horns, reddish skin dotted with golden spots, he was
not just a bull. Sevalakalai, his name, reflecting the redskin, was
majestic and sinewy would participate in the bullfight to bring me
the honor of winning.
In 1988, my bull participated in the fight and I remember the days of
preparation very well. The harvest day was coming close and the
pressure was building up. It is a matter of honor to win the
bullfight. I fed him concentrates and roughages, sharpened his horns
like a dagger, padded his hooves, and trained him to fight in the
fields to loose his innocence and learn the lessons. On the day of
the fight, the bulls were adorned with garlands, glittering jewels,
and expensive ornaments to lure the fighters. The bull carries its
head and horns high, walks with arrogance, threatening every human on
its road towards the arena. The gladiators who jump in the arena
against the bull have to stop the bull, untie the intricate knots of
towel tied around their horns and take away the riches hidden inside
the towel. If they cannot stop the bull and take off the towel before
the bull crosses the circular arena's perimeter, the bull is the
winner. The towel may contain expensive golden lockets and chains. My
bull carried a gold chain on his horns as the reward for his
conqueror. We had about five long ropes to lead him to the
armageddon.
Wild music, thronging crowds, loud war cries, menacing bulls, coy
women, enthusiastic children, victuals bar, chafing men- all added to
the frenzy. Every bull would get a specific time slot and separate
area on the arena. A brief introduction will be given about each bull
and the intro contains some serious info about the bull's previous
year record. Only the bravest will face the bulls with an unfaltering
record. My bull was very sensitive to the noise and tried to takeoff
at every chance he got. So when the ropes were let go, he started
racing with the wind. Wounds and gore abound, fighters vied for the
prize and honor. The bullfighters who were brave enough to stand on
his way, some with the help of alcohol, were thrown away. There was
some blood spill, to say the least, but no serious harm to lives.
Sevalakalai steamed through the fighters like a hurtling loco. He was
hard to control, gallant men trying to grapple his horns, some for
the gold and others for the honor. Past the finish line, he ran,
through the paddy farms, mango trees and farmhouses. I was beaming
with pride and a bit of fear for my bull. But I found him waiting for
me in the yard where I had trained him, snorting and stamping, trying
to convey me that he is, after all, the strongest. The villagers were
looking at me, the city boy, with a newfound respect. The next day,
strolling on the road, I could not help but gloat in pride when the
villagers greeted me respectfully and I owe that to my dear friend,
the red bull.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
The Cocoon
Kuppusamy is an average Indian guy aspiring to come to America to
realize the American dream. Let's pick up his story from his senior
year in college. Kuppu had envisioned a simple future for himself
with a clerical job, vanilla wife and typical kids in a remote part
of town. All his role models were doing great with the exact same
assets. Kuppu never dreamt, even in his wildest dreams, that the lord
almighty would alter his life to the magnitude that was beyond his
comprehension.
During his final days in college, one of Kuppu's friends brought him
an American university brochure and the pretty damsels on the cover
of the brochure stunned him. That was the life altering moment in the
otherwise passive Kuppu history. Kuppu was oblivious about the
degrees offered, research facilities, job possibilities and all that
jazz. He wanted to be the classmate of the dames he saw on the
brochure or at least be associated with them in some way. Kuppu
started plodding like a juggernaut and collected all the details
regarding the American university admission. After long and hard days
of toil, he got the admission, visa and air ticket confirmed. He
praised the man upstairs, offered him prayers, and visited his kith
and kin before packing his bags.
Kuppu's flight flew across the Atlantic carrying the naive dreamer to
his new abode. Kuppu was petrified to relinquish his seat, even for
nature's call, as it was his maiden flight. His only comfort was the
angelic beauties serving him aboard the plane. Kuppu managed to win
mysterious looks from them when he chose milk, over wine, for supper.
Kuppu landed in Austin, Texas and waited for hours before his
fraternity brothers came to pick him up. Before he could realize it,
Kuppu was going to school and had moved into a new home with 2
roomies. Kuppu's roomies Goindasamy and Palanisamy had inimitable
personalities quite different from that of Kuppu. Goinda's full time
mission was to ogle at the breath-taking beauties in his college and
Palani did that part-time along with his school assignments.
Goinda tried to gain the attention of the fairer sex by teaching
them about Hindu mythology in his broken English, offering them free
rides in his antiquated Mazda to the nearest H.E.B or Wal-Mart for
groceries and so on. Kuppu and Palani were comfortably resting in
their conservative culture cocoon and didn't make the slightest
attempt to follow suit with Goinda. Goinda enjoyed being a narcissist
and was competing confidently for the broads, way out of his league.
Days rolled by and the three musketeers graduated from college to
take up real jobs. On his job trips, Kuppu met many different
personalities - artful men, enchanting women and young prodigies.
When the dames offered to go on a date with him, Kuppu recoiled back
into his shell like a turtle. Kuppu felt commodious in the
conservative Indian way of life where arranged marriage was the
traditional path.
Goinda, on the other hand, was trying to concoct such chances.
Knowing him fully well, Goinda's parents were very anxious to get him
married. They charted out his horoscope and visited every great
astrologer on the southern face of the earth to find a suitable bride
for Goinda. Thus, while Goinda was romancing in America, some strange
planet reader was sealing his fate in India across the ocean and the
worst part was that he wasn't even aware of it. By this time, Kuppu
and Palani started pestering their parents to find suitable brides
for themselves. After several futile attempts to date alluring
international beauties, Goinda compassed that his potential fell
short of taking a liberal dame's hand in marriage and he too lined up
with his friends in requesting his parents to help him attain marital
bliss.
This was boom time for the American economy partly due to the jillion
phone calls to India by Kuppu, and his peers, requesting their
parents find matches for them. There was this one dialogue being
transmitted across the continents in all the 18 different Indian
languages and it was, "Ladiki mili?", "Did you find a bride?" "Ponnu
kidaichadha?". The Telecom giants AT&T, SWBell and others reported
more than expected earnings during that quarter, thanks to Kuppu and
company.
After lots of pandemonium and perseverance, all three friends got
married and settled in the same city. Their post marriage days turned
out to be strange. Goinda treated the junta as total strangers
because the junta knew his chequered history. If Goinda happened to
meet his friends on the road, he did a U-turn and took an alternate
route to avoid direct contact. Goinda moved to a new apartment, well
outside the city limits, got new phone number and erased all other
records of clubbing. Many phone calls made to Goinda's old phone
number went haywire. Goinda visited temple on weekends and watched
cartoons at home. Meanwhile, Kuppu got chided by his wife for having
an innocent chitchat with the Wal-Mart check out gal. So much for the
guy who refused to leave the cocoon.
Note: Although this story is based on facts, it is fiction, and in no
way reflects the real life incidents that happened in the author's
life.
realize the American dream. Let's pick up his story from his senior
year in college. Kuppu had envisioned a simple future for himself
with a clerical job, vanilla wife and typical kids in a remote part
of town. All his role models were doing great with the exact same
assets. Kuppu never dreamt, even in his wildest dreams, that the lord
almighty would alter his life to the magnitude that was beyond his
comprehension.
During his final days in college, one of Kuppu's friends brought him
an American university brochure and the pretty damsels on the cover
of the brochure stunned him. That was the life altering moment in the
otherwise passive Kuppu history. Kuppu was oblivious about the
degrees offered, research facilities, job possibilities and all that
jazz. He wanted to be the classmate of the dames he saw on the
brochure or at least be associated with them in some way. Kuppu
started plodding like a juggernaut and collected all the details
regarding the American university admission. After long and hard days
of toil, he got the admission, visa and air ticket confirmed. He
praised the man upstairs, offered him prayers, and visited his kith
and kin before packing his bags.
Kuppu's flight flew across the Atlantic carrying the naive dreamer to
his new abode. Kuppu was petrified to relinquish his seat, even for
nature's call, as it was his maiden flight. His only comfort was the
angelic beauties serving him aboard the plane. Kuppu managed to win
mysterious looks from them when he chose milk, over wine, for supper.
Kuppu landed in Austin, Texas and waited for hours before his
fraternity brothers came to pick him up. Before he could realize it,
Kuppu was going to school and had moved into a new home with 2
roomies. Kuppu's roomies Goindasamy and Palanisamy had inimitable
personalities quite different from that of Kuppu. Goinda's full time
mission was to ogle at the breath-taking beauties in his college and
Palani did that part-time along with his school assignments.
Goinda tried to gain the attention of the fairer sex by teaching
them about Hindu mythology in his broken English, offering them free
rides in his antiquated Mazda to the nearest H.E.B or Wal-Mart for
groceries and so on. Kuppu and Palani were comfortably resting in
their conservative culture cocoon and didn't make the slightest
attempt to follow suit with Goinda. Goinda enjoyed being a narcissist
and was competing confidently for the broads, way out of his league.
Days rolled by and the three musketeers graduated from college to
take up real jobs. On his job trips, Kuppu met many different
personalities - artful men, enchanting women and young prodigies.
When the dames offered to go on a date with him, Kuppu recoiled back
into his shell like a turtle. Kuppu felt commodious in the
conservative Indian way of life where arranged marriage was the
traditional path.
Goinda, on the other hand, was trying to concoct such chances.
Knowing him fully well, Goinda's parents were very anxious to get him
married. They charted out his horoscope and visited every great
astrologer on the southern face of the earth to find a suitable bride
for Goinda. Thus, while Goinda was romancing in America, some strange
planet reader was sealing his fate in India across the ocean and the
worst part was that he wasn't even aware of it. By this time, Kuppu
and Palani started pestering their parents to find suitable brides
for themselves. After several futile attempts to date alluring
international beauties, Goinda compassed that his potential fell
short of taking a liberal dame's hand in marriage and he too lined up
with his friends in requesting his parents to help him attain marital
bliss.
This was boom time for the American economy partly due to the jillion
phone calls to India by Kuppu, and his peers, requesting their
parents find matches for them. There was this one dialogue being
transmitted across the continents in all the 18 different Indian
languages and it was, "Ladiki mili?", "Did you find a bride?" "Ponnu
kidaichadha?". The Telecom giants AT&T, SWBell and others reported
more than expected earnings during that quarter, thanks to Kuppu and
company.
After lots of pandemonium and perseverance, all three friends got
married and settled in the same city. Their post marriage days turned
out to be strange. Goinda treated the junta as total strangers
because the junta knew his chequered history. If Goinda happened to
meet his friends on the road, he did a U-turn and took an alternate
route to avoid direct contact. Goinda moved to a new apartment, well
outside the city limits, got new phone number and erased all other
records of clubbing. Many phone calls made to Goinda's old phone
number went haywire. Goinda visited temple on weekends and watched
cartoons at home. Meanwhile, Kuppu got chided by his wife for having
an innocent chitchat with the Wal-Mart check out gal. So much for the
guy who refused to leave the cocoon.
Note: Although this story is based on facts, it is fiction, and in no
way reflects the real life incidents that happened in the author's
life.
THOUGHT THEOLOGY
"All that we are is the result of what we have thought: If a man
speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain pursues him, as the wheel
of the wagon follows the hoof of the ox that draws it. If a man
speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness pursues him like his
own shadow that never leaves him " - so go the Dhammapada verses.
Every act starts with a thought. Millions of authors wrote about it,
for eons people talked about it, and yet the thought power is
unrealized and under-utilized. The enigmatic process of a thought
metamorphisizing into an act is the science of god realization. If
this process can be mastered, it will rank among the greatest man-
made discoveries. True meaning of religions, cultures, societies and
civilizations will be understood, wars will vanish and peace will
prevail.
Visionaries, scientists, philosophers, poets and great leaders have
one thing in common - cloudless, coherent thoughts. Their mind
wrestles for a solution just like a drowned man hustling for a
breather. Rarely do great men win by lady luck's favor. Their vision
is planted as a thought and is gingerly nurtured by deep cerebration
over the same vision. A vigilantly tended acorn will sprout its shoot
for sure when the ambience is right and so does the action from a
reinforced thought, be it an evil or a noble one. Potent thoughts
form the habit, habit yields the character and character paves the
footing for future.
Human mind is endless generator of thoughts and thoughts of no
direction or purpose. When people walk by each other, even before
they strike a conversation, thoughts are exchanged. Each thought
consumes a specific amount of energy and this has been proved
scientifically. The glucose level in brain was observed to fall
significantly when patients were made to think intensively.
Generating thoughts with adequate power to affect the reality is the
subject of research in many universities. A dexterous observer can
feel the pinch in a hostile atmosphere because negative thoughts have
significant amount of energy.
Converged thoughts form a juggernaut; muddled ones are feeble and
powerless. Sunrays focused by a lens can light up a paper. Likewise,
thoughts focused by willpower can accomplish gargantuan tasks.
Thought power is great yet simple. Unfortunately, commons condone
simple things and recitation is the only way to spread the message.
Excellence is achieved when an individual's thoughts are in
synchronization with similar thoughts in cosmic space. If all goes
well, the university researchers may come up with an elixir for the
miseries of the world in the name of "Thought Theology". Lets all
hope for it to happen.
speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain pursues him, as the wheel
of the wagon follows the hoof of the ox that draws it. If a man
speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness pursues him like his
own shadow that never leaves him " - so go the Dhammapada verses.
Every act starts with a thought. Millions of authors wrote about it,
for eons people talked about it, and yet the thought power is
unrealized and under-utilized. The enigmatic process of a thought
metamorphisizing into an act is the science of god realization. If
this process can be mastered, it will rank among the greatest man-
made discoveries. True meaning of religions, cultures, societies and
civilizations will be understood, wars will vanish and peace will
prevail.
Visionaries, scientists, philosophers, poets and great leaders have
one thing in common - cloudless, coherent thoughts. Their mind
wrestles for a solution just like a drowned man hustling for a
breather. Rarely do great men win by lady luck's favor. Their vision
is planted as a thought and is gingerly nurtured by deep cerebration
over the same vision. A vigilantly tended acorn will sprout its shoot
for sure when the ambience is right and so does the action from a
reinforced thought, be it an evil or a noble one. Potent thoughts
form the habit, habit yields the character and character paves the
footing for future.
Human mind is endless generator of thoughts and thoughts of no
direction or purpose. When people walk by each other, even before
they strike a conversation, thoughts are exchanged. Each thought
consumes a specific amount of energy and this has been proved
scientifically. The glucose level in brain was observed to fall
significantly when patients were made to think intensively.
Generating thoughts with adequate power to affect the reality is the
subject of research in many universities. A dexterous observer can
feel the pinch in a hostile atmosphere because negative thoughts have
significant amount of energy.
Converged thoughts form a juggernaut; muddled ones are feeble and
powerless. Sunrays focused by a lens can light up a paper. Likewise,
thoughts focused by willpower can accomplish gargantuan tasks.
Thought power is great yet simple. Unfortunately, commons condone
simple things and recitation is the only way to spread the message.
Excellence is achieved when an individual's thoughts are in
synchronization with similar thoughts in cosmic space. If all goes
well, the university researchers may come up with an elixir for the
miseries of the world in the name of "Thought Theology". Lets all
hope for it to happen.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
How to beat Depression
The weather is getting cold outside and light is fading out gradually. Winter season is just weeks away and leather jackets have become the norm. People tend to get slow and gloomy when winter sets in. This is one of the classic settings to trigger depression. Depression is a mental state where pessimism is the dominant attitude. Negative feelings control the mind and lead it into a chain reaction or avalanche of more negative thoughts. Just like the way we prepare our car for bitter cold weather, we need to prepare our mind for the environments that trigger depression. Many factors can trigger depression and it helps to develop an awareness to these triggers. This will help in avoiding the triggers and handling depression in case you were not able to avoid it. Some of the triggers are weather, negative surroundings - could be friends, life partner, family, boss, office team, health issues, financial issues, some sort of failure or loss.
To be prepared for depression, one needs to analyze his or her own self. This can be done by maintaining a diary or log of state of one's mind. The diary should capture salient points of your life like how you felt on a day, what made you feel happy or sad, did you get depressed about
something or someone, why did you get depressed and how soon you recovered from it, how did you recover from it etc. If you worry about privacy issues, you can always obfuscate your writings using some technique that only you know. This may sound like a long and tedious process but it is well worth the effort. Mind controls your life. If depression controls your mind, you cannot succeed. Understanding the state of mind is like hunting for the treasure. If you persist with this exercise, you will reap huge rewards.
After you capture daily entries in the mind journal for about an year or so, you can start seeing trends, patterns, solutions more clearly. Your behavioural pattern, personality type, dreams, goals will show up more conspicously when you examine this log carefully. There will be footprints of survival, struggle, needless negativity, reptition of mistakes in the pages of mind journal. From this treasure chest of information about your mind, you can deduce the mistakes in your thinking patterns and correct them by applying medicinal thoughts, nurturing winning habits and building a diehard personality.
For the impatient readers, there is a short term approach to beat depression. The steps start on a physical plane at the tangible level. First step, would be to freshen up your physical body and feel the fresh energy flowing through every cell of body. A quick workout, warm shower,
short jog or even fast beat dance to music can do the trick. It will get the blood flowing fast and call the immediate attention of mind. Mind then needs clear direction otherwise it will wander like a mad horse. So chart out a plan for the next 1 hour with couple of minutes break after every 10 minutes. Assign yourself small tasks that can be accomplished in 10 minutes. Now start racing with time. you need to literally race with time. If you have a stopwatch that is great. If not use a cellphone or wallclock. Just race with time in finishing the task cleanly, comprehensively and well ahead of time. It is a game now. Your task could be mail your friends, pay bills, feed the dog, find some info for office work/school, read an assignment - anything that can be done in 10 minutes. you would have completed 5 units of work at the end of the hour. Now evaluate your work and jot down points to improvise it. Take the next 20 mintes off as a treat for your accomplishment. you are officially out of depression. Continue the steps above till get bored out of your mind or run out of things to do. Then take rest if you are tired or go for a ride with the music on. The important step is to understand that depression is being attacked from the physical plane in this approach. You are starting with a workout or a shower and changing the feeling experienced by the body. Body then kick starts mind into positive gear which gets employed in small, calculated tasks that are well within the realms of accomplishment.
The sense of accomplishment further triggers more positive waves in the brain and the chain reaction starts on the positive side. If these activities are repeated for an extended period of time, this becomes a habit and registers into personality thereby changing the depressed person into an active, time challenging, positive person.
To be prepared for depression, one needs to analyze his or her own self. This can be done by maintaining a diary or log of state of one's mind. The diary should capture salient points of your life like how you felt on a day, what made you feel happy or sad, did you get depressed about
something or someone, why did you get depressed and how soon you recovered from it, how did you recover from it etc. If you worry about privacy issues, you can always obfuscate your writings using some technique that only you know. This may sound like a long and tedious process but it is well worth the effort. Mind controls your life. If depression controls your mind, you cannot succeed. Understanding the state of mind is like hunting for the treasure. If you persist with this exercise, you will reap huge rewards.
After you capture daily entries in the mind journal for about an year or so, you can start seeing trends, patterns, solutions more clearly. Your behavioural pattern, personality type, dreams, goals will show up more conspicously when you examine this log carefully. There will be footprints of survival, struggle, needless negativity, reptition of mistakes in the pages of mind journal. From this treasure chest of information about your mind, you can deduce the mistakes in your thinking patterns and correct them by applying medicinal thoughts, nurturing winning habits and building a diehard personality.
For the impatient readers, there is a short term approach to beat depression. The steps start on a physical plane at the tangible level. First step, would be to freshen up your physical body and feel the fresh energy flowing through every cell of body. A quick workout, warm shower,
short jog or even fast beat dance to music can do the trick. It will get the blood flowing fast and call the immediate attention of mind. Mind then needs clear direction otherwise it will wander like a mad horse. So chart out a plan for the next 1 hour with couple of minutes break after every 10 minutes. Assign yourself small tasks that can be accomplished in 10 minutes. Now start racing with time. you need to literally race with time. If you have a stopwatch that is great. If not use a cellphone or wallclock. Just race with time in finishing the task cleanly, comprehensively and well ahead of time. It is a game now. Your task could be mail your friends, pay bills, feed the dog, find some info for office work/school, read an assignment - anything that can be done in 10 minutes. you would have completed 5 units of work at the end of the hour. Now evaluate your work and jot down points to improvise it. Take the next 20 mintes off as a treat for your accomplishment. you are officially out of depression. Continue the steps above till get bored out of your mind or run out of things to do. Then take rest if you are tired or go for a ride with the music on. The important step is to understand that depression is being attacked from the physical plane in this approach. You are starting with a workout or a shower and changing the feeling experienced by the body. Body then kick starts mind into positive gear which gets employed in small, calculated tasks that are well within the realms of accomplishment.
The sense of accomplishment further triggers more positive waves in the brain and the chain reaction starts on the positive side. If these activities are repeated for an extended period of time, this becomes a habit and registers into personality thereby changing the depressed person into an active, time challenging, positive person.
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