Not one of my best efforts.. but worth a post i guess

सर्दी की धूप हो, या चाँदनी की नूर
तारों के शहर मे मैं, और हो गयी, तू मशहूर
चुभते तेरे लबज़ सुन, आँखें, क्या बोली मुझसे
धत्त, ये आँसू कहाँ से आए बस ,अपने आप से

अपना रस्ता कब भूली तू, ए नादान
पहचान ना पाई कौन अपना, और कौन मेहमान
उस तरफ देखना कर दिया अब नज़रअंदाज़
जिस तरफ सुनूँ तेरी, ज़रा सी भी आवाज़

The 'holy' Basil - तुलसी

'Tulsi' or Basil ( Ocimum basilicum) has many religious significance according to hinduism, but what seems fascinating is its significance in many other religions. Below is an excerpt from the wikipedia article on Tulsi. Proof once again of the similarity in all religions.

There are many rituals and beliefs associated with basil. The French sometimes call basil "l'herbe royale", while in Welsh it has the synonymous name "brenhinllys".^{[citation needed]} Jewish folklore suggests it adds strength while fasting.^{[citation needed]} In Portugal, dwarf bush basil is traditionally presented in a pot, together with a poem and a pom-pon, to a sweetheart, on the religious holidays of Saint John and Saint Anthony. However, basil represented hatred in ancient Greece, and European lore sometimes claims that basil is a symbol of Satan. African legend claims that basil protects against scorpions, while the English botanist Culpeper cites one "Hilarius, a French physician" as affirming it as common knowledge that smelling basil too much would breed scorpions in the brain.

Holy basil, also called tulsi, is highly revered in Hinduism and also has religious significance in the Greek Orthodox Church, where it is used to prepare holy water. It is said to have been found around Christ's tomb after his resurrection. The Bulgarian Orthodox Church, Serbian Orthodox Church, Macedonian Orthodox Church and Romanian Orthodox Church use basil (Bulgarian and Macedonian: босилек; Romanian: busuioc, Serbian: босиљак) to prepare holy water and pots of basil are often placed below church altars.

In Europe, basil is placed in the hands of the dead to ensure a safe journey. In India, they place it in the mouth of the dying to ensure they reach God. The ancient Egyptians and ancient Greeks believed it would open the gates of heaven for a person passing on.^{[citation needed]}

In Boccaccio's Decameron a memorably morbid tale (novella V) tells of Lisabetta, whose brothers slay her lover. He appears to her in a dream and shows her where he is buried. She secretly disinters the head, and sets it in a pot of basil, which she waters with her daily tears. The pot being taken from her by her brothers, she dies of her grief not long after. Boccaccio's tale is the source of John Keats' poem Isabella or The Pot of Basil - which in turn inspired the paintings Isabella (Millais painting) and Isabella and the Pot of Basil. A similar story is told of the Longobard queen, Rosalind.

Strange are the ways..that are human

Strange are the ways..that are human
Some you possibly cant fathom,
Some you just cant question
yet you always know the right answer
and you always know the true reason

Strange are the ways ... that are human

A Train Ride gone 'good'

There is something very beautiful about a good train ride. It can send you into a world with a lot of possibilities. You can meet your old imaginary childhood friend or maybe a lovely story can come up in your mind and build its way to completion, sometimes you are reminded of times you would never think of in your everyday life or maybe you might just feel the touch of love.

On Such a train ride some days back I experienced the first and the last of the things mentioned above.

The Imaginary friend bit-

Being a kid from an army background, I got my fair share of Bharat Darshan and Trains being the Classical mode of travel then , the army does provide a certain concession to its men. During many of my numerous such trips, some which lasted 2-3 days there would not be a lot of things running in my mind as a child. Like every other kid i had my own imaginary childhood friend who would usually appear during my train rides and would always be riding alongside my train and I would watch in awe and wonder as he would negotiate treacherous terrains in a bid to stay close to the train and make sure i do not get bored.

After a long time, on the said train journey I decided to bring my old friend back and it was great fun thinking of the old days J

The Love bit-

Not a very big music junky that i am i rarely listen to songs while travelling (Whoa! Big revelation ) but when i do the occasional times i get totally immersed and do start dancing and going into a jig, which becomes a rather embarrassing situation later on when i remove my headphones, Hence i prefer going near the door while the train is in full speed, listening to music while the air breezes past. Like i said i am not a music junky and hence obviously do not have an i pod or mp3 player, neither do i have a collection of songs to die for in my mobile, i have a few tracks which i have not changed for about an year now. But since i am an occasional listener the tracks never become boring for me. This time it was a bunch of songs i hadn`t played in a looooong while and hence when you listen to Mundhinam parthene and ,Nenjukul peidhudum while standing next to the door with the train in full speed, you feel the touch of love.

If that wasn`t enough later on continuing on the tamil tracks listening to uravugal thodarkathai and Sundari Neeyum by the maestro Illayaraja while watching a wife sitting in the side berth serving food to her husband and exchanging sweet nothing suddenly sent me back in time 20 years(at least).It was as if my directorial frames were in position and a montage of such sequences all over the coach were being played to the tune of the said 2 songs.

Music has divine powers – it sent me back in time and gave me a 10 minute 1 shot video idea J

कशमकश

नींद में हैं सब यहाँ
सब दिखे पर बेज़ुबान
क्या कशमकश भरा है ये मैदान
ना तू शैतान ना मैं इंसान

जीने की चाह में हैं ज़िंदगियाँ दाँव पर
झूठ के इस धूप तेरा सच खड़ा है पाँव पर
सर झुका के जो खड़ा वो सर कटा तो क्या फ़िक्र
ज़मीर से जो सर फिरा वो सर तेरा है क्यों मगर
क्या कशमकश भरा है ये मैदान
ना तू शैतान ना मैं इंसान

Being Thankful

2 of my friends recently started the process of listing things that they feel grateful for. This is something that in Yoga classes my instructor used to continuously ask us to do as part of a daily exercise. According to her In Yoga there are 4 different 'Bhavas' as listed by the guruji who started this particular Yoga institute . They are

1. Dharma- sense of Duty
2.Jnana - sense of Awareness
3.Vairagya- sense of Detachement/Renunciation
4.Aisvarya- sense of Achievement

The process of expressing gratitude is a 'kriya' according to Yoga which is supposed to be followed on a daily basis by an individual just like the Yogic exercises one needs to do everyday. All the Yogic exercises come under any one of the 4 Bhavas mentioned. The Kriyas all come under the Aisvarya Bhava. This Bhava also means self reliance.

In a nutshell whether Yoga or some other form , this is essentially another practice by the Positive thinking school of thought by looking at the positives rather than the negatives and discarding all negative energy.Easier Said than done though- hence the need of practices like these.

I shall try and emulate my friends but not on a regular basis. Also this is an excellent method to make sure that the blog does not get dysfunctional again :)

In the classroom

Some time ago at a class that i was attending there was this student i met who had a trait I had long back. After the class as we all were having a discussion the said person kept saying the following words " I already know all this". Now my immediate reaction then is to look back at his progress in the class and i realized that he does not apply anything that he claims he knows. And that is when I realized he is under the same type of misconception that I used to be under.
Now let me make it a little clearer- this does not mean that he knew the concept theoretically and not practically- in fact he is far from it. He most probably has heard/read about it once or twice somewhere and hence when it is reiterated in the class he is under the misconception that he knows the topic.
This basically means that the concept never became a part of his system of working. Essentially it never became a tool he might use in case a situation arose where he has to use the said concept. Unless and until it becomes a part of your system it might be something you know but it is not something you have learnt yet. Knowing and learning are 2 different things, and using the word 'know' to imply 'learn' is a common problem. It is as simple as saying i know that the meaning of the word ,say for eg, "quixotic" but its not part of your vocabulary and most probably you wouldn't use the word till the day you die.
The reason i brought this up is because in a class or any other place of learning when this misconception arises the student most probably will not put the effort to learn the concept further and make it a part of his system, hence in the final scheme of things he would not have any progress unless you have a good teacher who can recognize this problem make the student aware of it. This is one of the reasons why a lot of potentially good students don`t perform up to their full potential.

Finally the reasons behind this misconception- based on my experience (there could be more)

1. the simplicity of the concept being explained - usually as a good student we expect concepts related to our field to be complex. its a general human tendency to give complexity 'importance'

2.Stubbornness- Another one of the reasons being stubbornness as an inborn trait in the students personality

3. Desire to learn quickly - which stems from the urgency to achieve your goals

4. Laziness- the flip side of being talented/intelligent.

5. Self obsession- Speaks for itself

The above said reasons need not all be present in an individual. one of them is enough.

How to tackle this problem
Very simple- Read the above post and have the ability to look at yourself objectively. :D

Take care now
bye bye then