Building on Sand

Nice one by Charles Schulz. The dangers of building on/from sand...
So what is the right basis to build on? Self-knowledge.

(click on the image to enlarge & read the text)

Serious Humor

A student of philosophy, eager to display his powers of argument, approached Diogenes, introduced himself and said, "If it pleases you, sir, let me prove to you that there is no such thing as motion." Whereupon Diogenes immediately got up and left.

Diogenes was knee deep in a stream washing vegetables. Coming up to him, Plato said, "My good Diogenes, if you knew how to pay court to kings, you wouldn't have to wash vegetables."
"And," replied Diogenes, "If you knew how to wash vegetables, you wouldn't have to pay court to kings."

A man said to the Universe,
"Sir, I exist!"
"However," replied the Universe, "that fact has not created in me a sense of obligation."
- Stephen Crane

"The other day I saw a cartoon in a magazine," he recounted to the audience. "It's in New York City, at a busy intersection in Times Square. There are two dogs sitting by the curbside, watching the people hurrying by, always busy and in a rush. And one dog says to the other, 'You know, reincarnation gives me the creeps.'" - J.Krishnamurti

“There are three monks, who had been sitting in deep meditation for many years amidst the Himalayan snow peaks, never speaking a word, in utter silence. One morning, one of the three suddenly speaks up and says, ‘What a lovely morning this is.’ And he falls silent again. Five years of silence pass, when all at once the second monk speaks up and says, ‘But we could do with some rain.’ There is silence among them for another five years, when suddenly the third monk says, ‘Why can’t you two stop chattering?” - J.Krishnamurti

A Catholic is standing on a mountain and looks down into the beauty of the valley. Suddenly he slips and falls down the cliff and is barely able to hold on to the branch of a tree that is growing there. Below him is an abyss of a thousand feet. He doesn’t know what to do, so he prays, ‘Please, Lord, help me. Save me from death.’ And a voice comes out of the sky and says, ‘Have faith, let go! And the man looks up and calls out, ‘Is there anybody else up there?”
While we were all laughing, Krishnamurti looked at us with bright eyes, eventually asking, “What is trust? Do you have trust? Not trust in something, some idea or ideal, just trust.” - J.Krishnamurti

You may remember the story of how the devil and a friend of his were walking down the street, when they saw ahead of them a man stoop down and pick up something from the ground, look at it, and put it away in his pocket. The friend said to the devil, "What did that man pick up?" "He picked up a piece of Truth," said the devil. "That is a very bad business for you, then," said his friend. "Oh, not at all," the devil replied, "I am going to let him organize it." - J.Krishnamurti

"It's like the husband whose pregnant wife is about to give birth.
When they arrive at the hospital, the man asks her, are you sure you want to go through with this?"
(Meant to show that choice isn't always relevant.) - J.Krishnamurti

"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us." - Calvin, from the cartoon strip Calvin & Hobbes by Bill Waterson

Story of the Weeping Camel

This one is quite unlike any other documentary that I have seen. Saw it today morning before going off to sleep.

For one thing, the concept itself is unique. It wonderfully blends storytelling, drama, cultural ethnography and nature documentary into one. The documentary is shot in the Gobi desert of Mongolia. The story primarily revolves around a family of camel and sheep herders who face an unexpected crisis when the mother of one of the newborn camel calves rejects it. It simply refuses to give the calf any motherly affection and care. This is probably because the mother, Ingen Temee, has had a particularly difficult first birthing experience, being in labor for about 2 days. In fact, we witness the calf being literally pulled out because the mother does not have any strength left to push it out. The calf, Botok, is an albino Bactrian camel. It was heart-wrenching to see some of the scenes between this calf and the mother. Days pass, and even after the best of efforts to effect a change, the camel remains obdurate as ever. The calf becomes weak and seems to be losing the will to live, often refusing even the tender attention of the family who has been feeding it with milk manually.

Amgaa, an elder in the family, then decides that a Hoos ritual will be required. But for that they need a good violinist. So they dispatch the two young boys to Aimak to fetch a musician. Aimak is a place where the western way of life has already made its presence felt more strongly than in the remote place where the family lives. It was funny as well as troubling to see the behavior of Ugna, the younger of the two boys, as he encounters temptations such as television, bicycles, ice-cream and department stores. We see a consumerist in the making. :)

With the help of some family friends, the boys make contact with a violinist at the cultural center who agrees to help. After the boys reach some, the family waits anxiously for the violinist to arrive as the calf is even more desolate than ever.

We then witness the Hoos ritual which was wonderful and touching. This was the best moment for me. Offering prayers to the spirits, the musician first simply hangs the violin on the hump of the hassled and nervous camel. The violin strings vibrate as Odgoo & Ikhee try to soothe the camel. Odgoo then sings a melodic song to the accompaniment of violin to try and change the camel’s heart. However, it seems to have no effect. The violinist is about to give up but she continues to sing, urging him to accompany with his music. Finally, we see the camel weeping with emotion. Its heart has been stirred and it now accepts the calf as its own.

For me, this documentary was a fine example of magical storytelling and witnessing the way of life of these people who live in the harsh environment of the desert. It also shows how nobody can survive without love – neither the calf, nor us, nor planet earth. The funny way in which the childishness of consumerism has been portrayed was also nice.

Puff the Magic Dragon

This is one of my favorite songs - I keep humming it now and then thesedays. :)

It was sung by the folk artists trio Peter, Paul & Mary. It is a beautiful song about the loss of childhood as we grow up. It tells the story of Puff the Magic Dragon and Jackie Paper, a little boy. Together as friends, they share great adventures. However, one day Jackie Paper grows up and loses interest in his playmate Puff. He moves on, leaving the mighty dragon alone and sorrowful at the loss of his friend.

Hearing this bittersweet song almost brings tears to my eyes sometimes. The story of Puff the Magic Dragon and Jackie Paper could well be a story about the loss of our own childhood. How many of us remember the imaginary adventures we used to engage in as children? Ah, how I wish we could set off on imaginary adventures once again - in the way that only children can! Amongst other things, this too is one of the abilities that we lose as we grow up.

I wonder what became of Jackier Paper as he grew up. He probably became like one of us. Are we not cowards who, most of the time, meekly succumb to the demands of this mad world? And we call that becoming "mature" and "growing up." Would it not be brave to escape and indulge in these imaginary adventures? I don't think it would be silly to do so, to whatever extent we can, although not as much and in the same way as children. It is about being imaginative, creative and sane - and not about being escapist, as a so-called "mature" person would say.

Those who love fantasy books and films like Lord of the Rings, would perhaps be able to relate better to the theme of this song. It was also made into a cartoon film in 1978. I found it recently - it is pretty good, an evergreen classic. :)

Puff the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee
Little Jackie Paper loved that rascal Puff,
And brought him strings and sealing wax and other fancy stuff, oh!

Chorus:
Puff the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee
Puff the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee

Together they would travel on a boat with billowed sail
Jackie kept a lookout perched on Puff's gigantic tail
Noble kings and princes would bow whene'er they came
Pirate ships would lower their flag when Puff roared out his name, oh!

(Chorus)

A dragon lives forever but not so little boys
Painted wings and giant rings make way for other toys
One grey night it happened; Jackie Paper came no more
And Puff, that mighty dragon, he ceased his fearless roar

His head was bent in sorrow; green scales fell like rain
Puff no longer went to play along the cherry lane
Without his life-long friend, Puff could not be brave
So Puff that mighty dragon sadly slipped into his cave, oh!

(Chorus)

Links:
Download the Song!! Link 01 Link 02 Link 03
Puff the Magic Dragon - Wikipedia
Song Facts

The Shawshank Redemption

Just finished watching this film.

Hope is a good thing. And a good thing never dies.

The Sweetest Gift

Quietly, while you were asleep
The moon and I were talking
I asked that she'd always keep you protected

She promised you her light
That you so gracefully carry
You bring your light and shine like morning

And then the wind pulls the clouds across the moon
Your light fills the darkest room
And I can see the miracle
That keeps us from falling

She promised all the sweetest gifts
That only the heaven's could bestow
You bring your light and shine like morning


Lyrics from 'The Sweetest Gift' by Sade

al-Ghazali - The Alchemist of Happiness

"God caused my tongue to dry up, so that I was incapable of lecturing. Each day I tried hard to speak so as to please my students, but my tongue would not utter a single word, nor could I accomplish anything at all." This is how al-Ghazali described one of the symptoms of the profound existential and spiritual crisis that he went through at the age of 36. Besides this loss of speech, he also fell sick, and the doctors were baffled. They simply said that the illness lay in his soul and not in his body. Nobody could do anything to help him – not even his brother Ahmed al-Ghazali, a Sufi mystic and poet, who was close to him.

‘al-Ghazali – The Alchemist of Happiness’ is a remarkable documentary, or rather a creative docu-narrative directed by Ovidio Salazar that examines the life of this man who was the leading intellectual of his time and is considered amongst the most influential thinkers of humanity. His name was Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali - aka Algazel to the western world. The title derives from a work by al-Ghazali, ‘The Alchemy of Happiness.’ The reason why I say this documentary is remarkable is because it deals with a subject that is very difficult to deal with – the inner transformation of a human being. And it does so quite well. It does not delve deeply into any intricacies or attempt a biographical account of his life. It portrays him as a human being, his concerns in life, his crisis and how he cured himself by finding himself and experiencing the mystical union with God that the Sufis spoke about. It also brings out very well his relevance for us – because he too lived in times of great confusion, just as our modern times are also confusing in terms of the choices we have to make and the path we have to follow. His was also a time when established religion, becoming increasingly violent, radical and splintered, held no meaning for him as a person seeking the realization of truth or the understanding of things are they really are. Interspersed in the documentary are interviews with contemporary scholars of Islam, al-Ghazali and his era, which are insightful.

Ghazali was born in the city of Tus, Khorasan, and lived from 1058-1111. The Islamic civilization was then the most advanced in the world – the medieval renaissance of the western world was still far away. Even as a child, he was an intellectual prodigy and a seeker of truth. As he says, “From an early age I constantly thirsted for a grasp of things as they really are. For me this was something instinctive, a part of my God given nature, a matter of temperament, and not of my choice or contrivance.” He studied in Tus under a caretaker with whom he was left as a child upon his father’s death & later in Nishapur under a leading scholar and intellectual of his time. He exhausted all the books and intellectual possibilities of his time. He grew up to become the most prominent jurist, theologist, mathematician, philosopher, scholar and intellectual of his times. His stature was such that people called him the “Proof of Islam.” Gaining the patronage of a Vazir called Nizam al-Mulk and the Caliph of Baghdad, he was asked to head the Nizammiyah University in Baghdad. He was a man who could win any debate on any topic under the sun. Yet, it was this very same man who was also deeply aware of the futility of all debate, because it is about the ego and its self-aggrandizement. Two people could speak, and speak sense, only if both were together concerned with finding out what is true. Certain events in his life coupled with his own realization of how his knowledge and his personality were just a mask hiding his ignorance and darkness led to a crisis in his life.

Try to imagine what it must have been like for him. The most eloquent speaker, the intellectual leader whom to hear hundreds gathered, the advisor to Kings, the social reformer who attempted to lead his society towards sanity and unity, realized that he was ignorant of his own self. What a pitiable condition he must have been reduced to – his tongue could not utter a single word! And that was just an outer symptom of the inner crisis. The documentary then follows his journey briefly as he left Baghdad to become a Sufi and attained self-realization. I say briefly, because it was primarily an inner journey than an outward one, and that inner journey cannot really be followed. In his later years, Ghazali returned to Baghdad and his family and also taught for a while.

Making this documentary and following al-Ghazali’s journey, was like a journey that Ovidio Salazar the director undertook. As he says, “The afterlife approaches and this world passes by. The journey is long but the provisions are scant, and the danger is great. Having set out on this journey to discover more about Ghazali and to dispel some of my own doubts, I have come to realize that the certainty of knowledge lies in the taste of it. And while not achieving Ghazali’s certainty, at least I am beginning to understand what I need for this path.”

I hope that this write-up or review of the documentary interests whoever is reading this to watch it. For me, above everything else, it was a reminder of what needs to be my ultimate concern as a human being.


Some Links:
Information about the documentary on IMDB
Reviews on IMDB
The Heart and Mind of al-Ghazali
al-Ghazali – Wikipedia article
‘The Alchemy of Happiness”

Trek to Sudhagad

Yours truly went on another solo trek on a Saturday (July 7) to Sudhagad. Ascent from Thakurwadi & Descent to Dhondse. I was too eager to do this trek & so did it solo in 1 day as could not spare Sunday. However, I would recommend anyone else to do it as a 2 day trek & preferably in a group. Just a day would not do justice to this beautiful destination. If you have 3 days, then Sarasgad, Khadsamble caves & Thanale caves can also be done. Or you can just stay on the plateau atop Sudhagad - nice place & one can find shelter in the wada or in the Bhoraidevi temple. Only 1 family from Thakurwadi has a hut near the wada - when I went there, just an old woman & her grandson were there. Advisable to carry your own stuff if you want freshly cooked food - don't count on being able to find someone to cook.

Lot of travel involved in reaching base village. Reach Panvel or Pen first. From there take a bus to Pali - confirm that bus is going to 'Sudhagad Pali' 'cos there are other places also called Pali. Buses to & from Pali to Thakurwadi & Dhonse are available approximately every 1 - 1.5 hrs. There is a bus from Dhondse to Thane at 4.00 in evening - good for return, else one would have to change bus 2 times. Lots of transport to Mumbai from Thane, Pen or Panvel.

Don't have time to do a more detailed write-up - might post more details later. Happy trekking!

Trek to Kohoj

I still have to scratch my hands and feet now and then due to the mosquito bites on the trek. The memories of the trek too are still quite fresh and so I thought I’d do a write-up on it right away.

With no one else being willing or able to take leave, I had to cancel my plans of a 3 or 4 day trek this week. I decided to do a solo trek on July 04, which was a holiday for me due to it being the US Independence Day. I decided upon Kohoj as the destination since I could travel to Palghar on the western line easily after work, and also because it affords a bit of shelter at the top. Besides, since I would be trekking without any sleep after work, I thought an easier trek would be ideal.

I left office at 0245 and took the 0310 drop to Vasai. The Sumo dropped me at Vasai station by 0415. After buying the tickets to Virar & Palghar, I stood on the platform for a while not knowing when the first Virar local would arrive. After a while the indicator showed 0519 as the arrival time. Since I had another 35 minutes, I read the Sahyadri Companion again for a description of the route to the top.

The local reached Virar by 0535. I did not enquire immediately about where the shuttle train to Dahanu would be available and missed the first one at 0540. The next one was at 0630. Lesson well learnt. I went out to have some potato bhajia and chai and again killed some time on the station. It was quite crowded even at this hour, with college boys and girls, office goers and tradesmen. I felt a bit funny observing all these people and wondering what they would be doing all day long while I spent the day on some remote fort / mountain that they must’ve never even heard of.

The next shuttle at 0630 was not crowded and I found a place to sit. The scene around changed drastically within a minute or two of leaving Virar behind. There was no smell of human excrement and no ugly buildings visible through the window. I stood by the gate after Vaitarna station. This area has the Vaitarna lake which is one of the sources of water supply for Mumbai. As Saphale approached, Tandulwadi was visible on the right. This is another beautiful and easy trek. It started raining and the doors had to be shut. The overcast sky with layers clouds in various shades of gray seemed to be promising me a very wet day ahead.

It had stopped raining by the time I reached Palghar at 0710. The ST stand is opposite the station. Any bus going in the direction of Thane or Kalyan via Hamirapur stops at Nane too since it is located further along the same road. I boarded a bus at 0730. It passed through some hills reaching Manor at 0800. Mastan Naka on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway is just 2 kms from here. In case a bus to Nane is not available soon enough, one can take another bus or a shared rickshaw (a tamtam / vikram) to Manor. From here, a shared rickshaw to Nane, Vaghote or Ambit would be easily available. These are the 3 villages from which the 3 different routes to the top of Kohoj begin. Vaghote & Ambit are on the road to Wada, while Nane is on a different road going via Hamirapur village.

From Mastan Naka the bus took a right on the highway and soon turned left again going off the highway. A prominent mountain became visible on the right now and I wondered if that was Kohoj. I reached Nane by 0830. The spur of a longish hill below Kohoj ends right in the village. Kohoj with its two pinnacles at the top was also visible in full. On the right of the road, at quite a distance, 4 – 5 other mountains were visible. The only one of these that I could identify was Kamandurg with its twin peaks that I had climbed last year. I walked in the direction of the departed bus & asked a villager how further the route to Kohoj began. He said it would be difficult for me to find the route going to the base of the mountain where climb began since there were lots of paths criss-crossing and planted fields in the monsoon. The prominent route beginning on the left after walking away from the village no longer exists. I asked if he knew anyone who would be willing to come with me for a part of the way. He called out to someone and asked him to go with me. Saying thanks, I departed the other villager. We started chatting and he asked me how come I had come all alone, whether I loved going to mountains and forts, where I stayed, what I did for a living etc. He told me of a boy who too had come alone earlier, and how he had a map & a book with photos and did not need any directions. Then, he told me of a doctor from some Vedanta association who loved Kohoj so much that he kept coming there alone often, spending days and weeks at a stretch on the mountain top and the village. He said he came there for ekanta and did tapasya up there. Once he had stayed for 3-4 months, surviving on water at the top, barely eating anything and coming down to the village when he felt very hungry. At another time, he had come with his wife too. It sure made me wonder what she thought of all this. Just before we turned left off the road and into the fields, he pointed out a half-constructed house belonging the doctor who had bought some land in the village.

The hill below Kohoj was on our left now and we were approximately walking in the direction of the col which connects Kohoj and the hill. I learnt from the villager that they mostly did subsistence farming out there. Some industries had come up in the area, and some people worked there. Others worked in Vasai or Palghar. There were many people from the village who had studied up to graduation level. Some had done MA too. Then, he told of how the tribals had usurped many small plots of land that actually belonged to the government. I kept quiet since he was probably telling only his side of the story; there seemed to be some turbulence between the tribals and the non-tribals in the village. We went in different direction once, and had to ask another villager who pointed out the right path through the fields leading to a dam. This was a very small dam, built by the government. The forest department too had done a lot of reforestation, he said. I could see that there were a lot of trees, on the mountain as well as in between the small plots on land on the plains. He was to leave me till the dam, but he walked a bit further ahead since there were more fields and still some criss-crossing paths. He left me at a point where the small climb to the col began. (In stead of walking through the fields, one can also climb the hill from the village itself, and walk along its top, climbing up and down in parts, till one reaches the col. That would, of course, take more time.) I paid him Rs. 30 and he seemed happy with the amount.

I began the climb at 0915. Reaching the col, one has to turn right and keep walking along the spur of the ridge that descends from the top of Kohoj. The 2 pinnacles at the top are always visible on the left. Except in parts, the path is quite prominently visible here even in the monsoon. I stopped at a point along this path to change into my track pants; it was windy here and so the mosquitoes would not bother me much. After climbing over a small hillock, one soon reaches a plateau. Walking straight across this plateau, one finds the path going a little to the right. As per my reading, after about 10 minutes one comes across a path on the right coming from Vaghote. From that point, the 2 paths meet and turning left begin climbing the way to Kohoj. I must not have been attentive ‘cos I missed seeing this path. After a climb of about 15 minutes one reaches the machi or plateau of the fort. There is a small and easy rock patch just before one reaches this smaller plateau from which the top of Kohoj seems very close now. Off the path, on the left, there is a small pond and a renovated Shiva temple further ahead. The temple has just a somewhat broken shivling inside which seems to date back to the times when the fort was constructed. I rested near the pond and had my first drink of water since beginning the trek here; also had some snacks since I was a bit hungry. The pond’s water is not potable. There are also ‘7 interlocked tanks’ as described in the Sahyadri Companion whose water is again not potable.

Near the temple, I met a tribal man and 2 girls who were collecting mollusks. He smiled as I said “Namaskar” but seemed eager to get along with collecting mollusks, so we didn’t talk much.

From the Shiva temple, there is a path that leads straight up to the top in 10-15 minutes. There is another path that goes to the right, encircling the base of the top while gently climbing up. Following this path, one comes across what seems to be a part the wall of the fort dating back to 800 AD which now look like just a heap of rather shapeless stones. After this, on the right one sees a cairn like rock formation about 20-25 feet in height. From here, the nagnath lingi or pinnacle is visible. The path descending steeply down to Ambit village also begins here. I climbed up the rock formation and sat the top for a while to admire the almost 360 degree view from the top. However, I found myself dozing off and half-afraid that I would fall off, I climbed down. I had already decided that I would descend by this route.

Going back to the path, it then turns left, and soon joins the path that comes straight up from the Shiva temple. The cairn like rock formation near which the path descending to Ambit begins is actually on a small hillock to the right of the Kohoj top (visible on the left from the top). Passing through the remnants of the bastion reconstructed by the Portuguese, one reaches the top very soon.

I reached the top at 1145 – in 3 hours and at a very relaxed pace with stops in between. At a fast pace, it is easily doable in 75-90 minutes even in the monsoons. It started raining heavily now, and so I took shelter inside the Hanuman temple that has barely enough space for 1 person to sit comfortably. I finished the remaining theplas, biscuits & til chikki while it rained. The rain stopped after a while but it was still a bit foggy – I was in the clouds that I had seen from the village below.


There are 2 pinnacles at the top, of which the one on the right is shaped like a human or a rather stout scarecrow. I dumped my bag at the base of this one and tried climbing up it from the left side. The initial part is easy but one needs to be a bit careful at the end. I reached the top soon, and sat on the head of the scarecrow. But it started raining immediately and I had to climb down to the shoulder. It suddenly got very windy too and the rain was lashing strongly. I hid behind the head on the other side since the wind was coming from the opposite direction. There was just enough space for one person to sit and I held the head for support hoping that it would not fall on me, or that the scarecrow would not get decapitated by a bolt of lightning. Since the wind and rain did not stop for 5 minutes, I felt worried about my climbing down. Presently, it stopped and so I immediately decided not to wait or sit further at the top of the pinnacle and in stead climb down. It was a bit more tricky to climb down but I managed by finding 1-2 good footholds. As soon as I finished this, it started raining again, but the rest of the climbing down was easy. I found my bag all soaked and taking it went into the hanuman temple again. The rain stopped again in a few minutes and so leaving my bag in the temple I went out to explore the fort.

There absolutely nothing left of the original fort as such, except perhaps the 3 water tanks and the somewhat broken shivling in the mandir on the plateau below. The fort was originally constructed sometime in 800 AD, probably by Bhojraja of the Shilahar dynasty, and around the same time as Kamandurg was constructed. Nothing is known of its history since then till the time the Portuguese renovated it. A small part of the bastion and a few steps leading to the top are the only remnants of it. It was controlled by the Marathas for while till the British finally captured it. There are no canons visible at the top. All of them have probably been buried in the sand by nature. The villager I met below said that one of the canons has been installed on a kind of pedestal in the village. They had simply rolled it off the top of Kohoj, 2-3 times, in parts, ‘cos it is not a straight fall. Then 30-35 men carried it into the village.

It does not take long to explore the top of the fort – perhaps 15-20 minutes at the most. There is a temple dedicated to Krishna at one end. Kohoj is said to be the only fort with a Krishna temple on top. The idols inside didn’t seem too old for they were quite crude as compared to the delicate, although broken, shivling. Same with the rock-carving of Hanuman which was again quite crude.

I encircled the other pinnacle and found that it was easily climbable from one side. I climbed up this one too since it had more space to sit at the top – 2-3 people can sit easily. I sat there for almost an hour and a half with the wind blowing strongly and the rain lashing me strongly as it came and went in spurts. The rain was coming from the clouds far above. I was witnessing a curious spectacle. The string wind was blowing the lower clouds in which I was sitting in the direction of the central or main Sahyadris. Every now and then, after a big cloud as blown away, the visibility became clear and the entire region in the front, on the right and down below right up to fields and the road was visible. When it was less windy, the sound of vehicles miles below was clearly audible – the horns, the sound made by the tires of heavy vehicles. No human voices, of course. The vehicles looked like a few ants crawling in a line. As the wind blew the grass, in some patches it looked like a river of green flowing upwards. As another groups of clouds was blown in, the visibility reduced again to about 25 – 35 feet. These were very light, fluffy clouds with not much moisture in them. Sitting at the top on the pinnacle on the left, the other human shaped pinnacle looked a bit eerie in the reduced visibility. It would have made a good photograph – but I was not carrying any camera.

It felt very peaceful sitting all alone at the top, with not a single other person visible anywhere on the mountain. Sitting there in the midst of nature, although a lot of thoughts passed through my mind, it was still very calm. I felt I did need not any other thing at all. I could have sat there for hours if I did not have to climb down – in spite of the strong wind and the lashing rains.

I climbed down at about 1430. The largest water tank at the top has potable water. I drank some water here and refilled the empty bottles. Began the descent as 1445 after spending a great 3 hours at the top. I climbed down in 5 minutes to the Shiva temple and then climbed to the cairn like formation from where the path descending to Ambit began. Soon after it begins, it forks into 2 paths. The one on the right leads to the small col connecting the nagnath lingi and kohoj. From below, it looks as though the lingi is part of the contiguous structure of Kohoj. This path can be used by rock-climbers wanting to climb the pinnacle. I took the path on the left that descends steeply through quite a thick jungle. I sure felt better knowing that there was no wildlife in this jungle. The path is overgrown and strewn with leaves in some parts and there are boulders and rocks in parts which make it seems as though the path ends suddenly. After a steep and quick descent of about 30 - 40 minutes, during which a stream flowing down the mountain was always on my left, I reached a point where I had to cross over the stream. Crossing over, I dropped by sack on some rocks and decided to take a bath and some rest. As I removed my shoes and dipped my feet in the flowing water, it seemed to take away half of the tiredness in them in 1 or 2 minutes. Finding a point where the stream flowing down made a small waterfall, I stripped and had a bath in the buff. It felt very refreshing. After changing into a pair of dry clothes, I continued the descent with the stream now on my right. Another descent of 15 minutes brought me to a point where the descending path met a broad path coming from the right and descending gently to the left. This is where the jungle to almost ended. Turning left, I followed the broader path with a village visible further on the right. I guessed this was Ambit. I ought to have found some path turning right and leading to Ambit, but I guess I missed this as I kept following the broad path that looked prominent. It ended abruptly in some fields that were fenced. Stepping over the fence, I walked along the bunds of the fields and reached a hut. An old woman here told me I had left Ambit behind. I saw another path from the hut which seemed to lead towards the road and confirming this I followed that path to reach the road in another 10 minutes.

As I hit this road which went to Wada, Ambit was further down on the right and Mastan Naka was on the left. Within 2 minutes I got a tamtam that took me to Mastan Naka. I thought of having some chai and nashta here but I saw a bus to Palghar coming and stretched my hand asking it to stop. I was lucky again. One can also take a tamtam right up to Manor from Ambit, and then find many buses, jeeps or rickshaws to Palghar. The bus took me to Palghar in 30 minutes, from where I took the 1840 shuttle to Virar after a wait of 40 minutes. The shuttle was quite crowded since the passenger trains plying between Mumbai & Valsad, Surat etc were irregular.

At Virar, I incidentally met some colleagues returning from a picnic and we together a local to Andheri. Reaching Andheri by 2000, I was home by 2030.

Trek Expenses:
Vasai – Virar local Train – 4
Virar – Palghar Return ticket – 20
Chai & Nashta at Palghar – 12.50
Palghar – Nane ST bus – 23
Villager at Nane – 30
Tamtam from Ambit - Mastan Naka – 5
Mastan Naka – Palghar ST bus – 15
Virar – Andheri local – 10
Andheri – Vijaynagar, Marol rickshaw – 43

Total – Rs. 162.50/-

Calvin and Hobbes

Out of Body Experience

For those who have not heard of this before, an Out of Body Experience (OBE) is just that – an experience of going out of one’s body. This is not as uncommon as it may seem. It is said that one in ten people have this experience at some point in their lives. The phenomenon is often experienced in conjunction with Lucid Dreaming or Near Death Experiences (NDE).

I had an OBE when I was about 14. I am going to try & recollect it and describe it as correctly as I can. My intention is not to explain it – that is beyond my competence! I have read about such experiences but am nowhere close to explaining them. I shall just narrate what happened. I remember it quite clearly although it was very brief.

Our family of four used to live in a small room then. It was like a living room, bedroom, kitchen, dressing room, bathroom and a loft – all packed into a space of about 150 sq. ft. No kidding. On this particular day, I was sleeping on the bed. I think it was an exceptionally good sleep that I had. Towards the end of the sleep, I slipped into a Lucid Dream. Simply put, a lucid dream is one in which you are aware that you are dreaming. I read that some people are even able to control the content of the dream. I cannot put a number to it, but I have experienced some lucid dreams. There was one whose content I don’t remember, but in that particular lucid dream I was dreaming another lucid dream within that lucid dream. That is, after I slipped into a dream and became aware that I was dreaming, I slipped into another dream within that dream and became aware of that too as a dream. Unfortunately, I do not remember the content of any of these dreams. There is something very special and unexplained about sleep and dreams as anybody who has pondered about these would know. Also, is it not peculiar that although we dream everyday, we are not able to remember the content of these dreams? We remember the content of just a handful of exceptional dreams we may have had, or the ‘themes’ of some dreams, such as flying which is a fairly recurring occurrence in some of my dreams.

Anyways, let me get back. So, I was in a lucid dream. I don’t remember whether it was a very pleasant dream, but it was certainly an interesting one, perhaps because it might have been my first lucid dream. I cannot be sure of that though since one generally has a poor recollection of one’s dreams. It was early morning. My mother was busy cooking lunch – all of us used to carry a tiffin to school/office. Just a while after the lucid dream had started, I heard my mother’s voice saying, “Apurva, wake up! Do you know what time it is?” I was disturbed by this. Here I was, quite aware, conscious and experiencing an interesting dream, and my mother not only wanted me to wake up but was also asking me what the time was. There was a kind of insistence in her voice – she was obviously not going to have her as well as the others schedules thrown out of order because of my oversleeping. I thought, maybe if I told her what the time was then she would not bother me. So, I went out of my body to have a look at the clock. It was not a ‘choice’ that I made to go out of my body – it just happened. I am sure it was not a dream or a hallucination – I would not have been able to look at the clock while I was dreaming. My eyelids were shut. Also, the position in which I was sleeping was such that my head was close to the wall on which the clock hung. The bed was located below the loft, and my head was close to the wall and approximately below the entrance to the loft above. The clock hung on the section of the wall close to the entrance of the loft. Even if my eyes were open, there was no way I could have had a look at the clock without sitting upright in bed and turning my head upwards towards the wall.

I went out of my body and had a look at the clock. Then, I had a quick look at my mother who was busy cooking. Then, I saw my own body below, about 4-5 feet away, on the bed. My purpose of getting out of my body was complete; I had seen what the time was. I went back into my body again. I said to my mother, with my eyes still shut and still dreaming lucidly, “It is 6.05.” My mom said, “How do you know what the time is?” I did not answer that. I continued dreaming – still quite aware of the fact that I was dreaming. I do not exactly remember what happened after that; particularly, whether I completed the dream or whether I was woken up by my mother pushing me by the knee. What I do remember is that that after I woke and sat upright on the bed, I looked at the clock and it was just a few minutes past 6.05 AM. Slowly, I got a recollection that I had been dreaming and had gone out of my body to look at the clock and answer my mom’s question.

Although I may have felt it to be longer, I don’t think I must have been out of my body for more than 1.5 - 2 seconds. 3 at the most. Also, as I stated earlier, it was not a volitional act. It was just something that happened. I think I recollect being a bit surprised at seeing my own body from outside. However, I was eager to resume the dream that had been interrupted by this, so I had quickly re-entered. I do not recall feeling scared while being out of my body.

A valid question that may be asked is, how could I see the clock when my eyes, the organs of sight, were in my body, and my eyelids were shut too? Frankly, I do not know. It is beyond my capacity to explain this unusual phenomenon.

Also, who was this ‘I’ that went out of my body? Again, I do not know for sure. I can only guess based on limited knowledge and what I have read about such phenomena. It is impossible that it was just my physical body that was lying below without a consciousness. I would not generalize and say that it was my ‘mind’ or ‘soul’ that went out of the body. Those terms are too vague! One’s entire being is very complex and is composed of a multiplicity of beings and sub-beings, each with a life of its own, and interactions/relationships between these beings. This is what I am gradually realizing after reading the works of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo. They are a bit difficult to read and understand and cannot be approached easily, especially because of the unique language and vocabulary that they used. I read that The Mother said it is the Vital Being that is usually the one which goes out of the body. I am yet to come to a fuller understanding of what the vital being means, and so will not comment further.

It was the reading of a very brief introduction to the parts of our being that made me recollect this experience. Such an experience, I presume, would fall into the realm of occult experiences. However, considering how widely it is reported by people, it has become the subject of scientific studies as well along with other phenomena such as NDE, Lucid Dreaming et cetera. Personally, I think that unless a person is able to volitionally go out of his/her body, such a phenomenon would not have an occult significance in that person’s life. Besides, I don’t see any spiritual significance in such occult phenomena at all. Some people may have occult abilities such as being able to read another person’s thoughts, see auras, recollect past lives (if reincarnation is not just a theory), move objects remotely, et cetera. However, I can’t see how any of these would aid in inner progress. On the contrary, they would become hindrances to and distractions from inner progress for most people. I think it is fortunate that ordinary persons like me don’t have any occult abilities. Any occult experiences that do occur in one’s life however can be taken as interesting episodes and their origin pondered upon to whatever extent possible. It is the inner spiritual progress and evolution to a higher plane of being that one must not lose sight of.

A Man Said to the Universe

I love the humor in this short poem.

A man said to the Universe:
'Sir, I exist!'
'However,' replied the Universe,
'The fact has not created in me
A sense of obligation.'

- Stephen Crane

Tagore's Birth Anniversary

May 09 was Rabindranath Tagore's birth anniversary. I read of celebrations with great zeal and enthusiasm on this occasion, especially in Bengal, mainly through cultural programs. People paid tribute to Gurudev Rabindranath. They talked of his works as being deathless and with a profound spiritual content. He was a "... multifaceted talent who enriched all genres of Bengali literature and arts... first Asian to be awarded the prestigious Nobel Prize."

Reading all this, I could not help but recollect what another great Bengali, Nirad Chaudhuri, wrote about Tagore in the introduction to his book 'To Live or Not to Live.' I am reading this book currently, so I will reproduce verbatim what Niradbabu has written rather than paraphrase it.

"From Ram Mohun Roy to Tagore there was not one great Bengali who spared either his people or their hidebound traditions. Of course, national vanity was also refurbished, and it led the conservatives of the day to attck the reformers not only unjustly but also malevolently. Tagore was driven by these attacks to a bitterness whose tragedy has not been understood even now. His resentment at the malevolence began to be expressed quite early, but its most agonizing expression was given towards the end of his life, when he had already become the symbol of Bengali vanity. In a letter to Hemanta Bala Devi, dated Ashadh 20, 1341 (1934), he gave expression to it.

I give below an English translation of the passage in the letter:
"I have nearly bought to an end my life as a Bengali. The prayer that goes up today from my weary lifespan is this - if there be rebirth, may I not be born in Bengal again. Let only holy persons flourish from birth to birth in this land of holiness. I am an outcaste, may my fate be cast in such a country where conduct does not conform to the sastras, but judgement is in conformity with righteousness."

I always say that before we can yoke Tagore to the bandwagon of Bengali self-advertisement, we have to explain that cry of agony, if not atone for it. "



I need not say anything. Niradbabu's words speak for themselves.

'To Live or Not to Live' is a slim but remarkable book. I will try and reproduce some more passages from it if time permits.

Buddhi Rakshas

D came up with this. D is an eloquent, sincere and slow-talking colleague. He is also in the habit of elaborating more than what is necessary. For example, if you were to ask him whether he has a watch, he will never simply say "Yes." Not only will he tell you the time, but also what brand the watch is, it's features, how much he bought it for, when, where, et cetera. If he's in the mood, he might also venture into a discourse on the nature of time. Or, perhaps, the history of clocks - from sundials of the past to today's digital and atomic clocks.

We got our annual increment letters recently. As expected, it was one of the common topics of discussion, cribbing and gossip for a few days. So, D says "Our increments are decided by the CFO yaar. I don't know on what basis they do it, but they are like these buddhi rakshas people." Needless to say, we were highly amused to hear this term. Apparently, it is used to refer to a person with a gigantic intellect in Malayalee. We, however, had a good laugh and gave it a different twist altogether. We now use it to refer to anyone who has limited buddhi and behaves like a destructive or trouble causing rakshas. In other words, a satyanasi buddhu.

In a typically Dilbertian fashion, we cubiclewallahs immediately went about attributing buddhi rakshas qualities to the various cabinwallahs. Long live Dilbert!

More Light

There's something that I can write about why the URL for my blog is http://morelightplease.blogspot.com/, so I might as well do it.

I wanted the URL http://morelight.blogspot.com/, but someone who has not put a single post as yet is squatting on it. So, I had no option but to add a 'please' at the end - not out of politeness, but out of necessity!

"More light!" were apparently the famous last words of the German poet Goethe. Frankly, I don't know much about Goethe except that he is the author of Faust, which I have never read. However, I probably must have read of this in some article/feature about the last words of famous people. It has remained in my head, because I would always think what a luminous life this person must have strived to live - he was imploring God to give him more light even at the moment of his death! It turns out now that I have been a bit mistaken. He was merely asking some disciple or a servant to open the second shutter of his window so that more light would come in. :-) You can read a short account of Goethe's death here.

But seriously, I do believe that it behoves each thoughtful human being to keep striving to lead an illumined life. The prime concern of all genuine philosophers has always been self-knowledge, and one can quote them endlessly regarding this. What separtes an attentive person from the common herd is this constant endeavor to reach something higher. It is certainly not something easy; it demands a lot of energy and is arduous.

I think of individuals, past and present, who were/are enlightened, not as 'great people' but as the true friends of humanity. By considering them 'great' one is attempting to put them at a distance and/or install them upon a pedestal - as though they were so great that they were not human beings at all, and that we cannot even hope to reach the heights that they did. And thus we fall into the trap of being satisfied with a more or less petty and average humanity. Like most, I too am guilty of this to an extent.

Enough gyan. Go find yourself now. :-)

Ode to Joy

I'm not much into classical music, but I love this piece. 'Ode to Joy' by Beethoven. It is the fourth and final movement of his Ninth Symphony. (Don't ask me what this means!)

A very short sample (205kb) in .ogg format can be found here -

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f0/Ode_to_Joy_violin.ogg

A longer sample (1.8mb) in .mp3 format can be found here -
http://www.nhn.ou.edu/~boyd/files/ode_to_joy.mp3


(bruddas 'n sistas, if da links don't werk, drop me a line!)

Dust in the Wind

This is my first post. So I guess I'd rather begin with an explanation of why this blog is titled 'Dust in the Wind'.

Well, it's because I find it a bit catchy, that's all. :-)

'Dust in the Wind' (1977) is a song by the band Kansas, with lyrics by the lead singer Kerry Livgren. He is said to have written them after reading a book of Native American poetry, of which one line that caught his attention was 'All we are is dust in the wind'. His previous hits had bought him success, but also taught him the true value of material things. Kerry was also a spiritual seeker and that line got him thinking about how he too would one day die just like everybody else.

It's a slow rock song to the accompaniment of acoustic guitar, with what may seem to be a haunting and melancholy tune. Awesome song, though. I find it a very philosophic rock classic - one of my all-time favorites. The version by the Scorpions is good too.

I close my eyes, only for a moment, and the moment's gone.
All my dreams, pass before my eyes, a curiosity.
Dust in the wind, all they are is dust in the wind.
Same old song, just a drop of water in an endless sea.
All we do, crumbles to the ground, though we refuse to see.

Dust in the wind, All we are is dust in the wind.

Don't hang on, nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky.
It slips away, all your money won't another minute buy.

Dust in the wind, All we are is dust in the wind.

Personally, I don't find the song depressing at all. It is honest and truthful. One of the funny things about us human beings is how we usually refuse to accept the reality of death. It is only by doing so that we can realise the true value of our all too brief human life. This is a fact that I try to remind myself of.

The song teaches us to be humble. We are mere specks of dust being blown about by the winds of time - here today, gone tommorow. Dust is what we are made of, and unto dust we shall return. And all that we do, like blogging, for instance :-), is like dust in the wind too. Let us not take ourselves too seriously!

Consider this - how unimaginably vast the universe is! Earth, Sun and the Solar sytem too are like mere specks of dust. Unlike what the song says, even the Earth & Sky won't last forever. Time consumes everything. As Ruskin Bond (well known as an author of children's books) said, "It's not time that's passing by my friend, it's you and I."

A perspective like this is not meant to devalue human life, but rather to celebrate it. It is so remarkable that we have the potential to live fully and be happy in the brief lifespan that we have. And people like you and me are the fortunate ones. Look around; if you truly have the eyes to see, you would feel anger at why so many people are unfortunate in life. Learn to value what you have and the life that has been given unto you by a higher intelligence.