Awakening

(Author unknown) - An email forward that came to me from Hussain. A philosophical and inspirational note.

A time comes in your life when you finally get it...when, in the midst of all your fears and insanity, you stop dead in your tracks and somewhere the voice inside your head cries out - ENOUGH! Enough fighting and crying or struggling to hold on. And, like a child quieting down after a tantrum, your sobs begin to subside, you shudder once or twice, you blink back your tears and begin to look at the world through new eyes. This is your awakening.

You come to terms with the fact that you are neither Prince Charming nor Cinderella and that in the real world there aren't always fairy tale endings (or beginnings for that matter) and that any guarantee of "happily ever after" must begin with you and in the process, a sense of serenity is born of acceptance.

You awaken to the fact that you are not perfect and that not everyone will always love, appreciate or approve of who or what you are...and that's OK. They are entitled to their own views and opinions. And you learn the importance of loving and championing yourself...and in the process a sense of newfound confidence is born of self-approval.

You stop complaining and blaming other people for the things they did to you (or didn't do for you) and you learn that people don't always say what they mean or mean what they say and that not everyone will always be there for you.

So, you learn to stand on your own and to take care of yourself and in the process, a sense of safety and security is born of self-reliance. You stop judging and pointing fingers and you begin to accept people as they are and to overlook their shortcomings and human frailties...and in the process a sense of peace and contentment is born of forgiveness.

You realize that much of the way you view yourself, and the world around you, is a result of all the messages and opinions that have been ingrained into your psyche. And you begin to sift through all the junk you've been fed about how you should behave, how you should look, how much you should weigh, what you should wear, what you should do for a living, how much money you should make, what you should drive, how and where you should live, whom you should marry, the importance of who you love, and what you owe your family, and friends. You learn to open up to new worlds and different points of view. And you begin reassessing and redefining who you are and what you really stand for.

You learn the difference between wanting and needing, and you begin to discard the doctrines and values you've outgrown, or should never have bought into to begin with, and in the process, you learn to go with your instincts.

You learn that it is truly in giving that we receive. And that there is power and glory in creating and contributing, and you stop maneuvering through life merely as a "consumer" looking for your next fix. You learn that principles such as honesty and integrity are not the outdated ideals of a bygone era but the mortar that holds together the foundation upon which you must build life.

You learn that you don't know everything, it's not your job to save the world and you can't teach a pig to sing. You learn to distinguish between guilt and responsibility and the importance of setting boundaries and learning to say NO.

Then you learn about love: How to love, how much to give in love, when to stop giving, and when to walk away. You learn to look at relationships as they really are and not as you would have them be. You stop trying to control people, situations and outcomes. And you learn that alone does not mean lonely. You also stop working so hard at putting your feelings aside, smoothing things over and ignoring your needs. You come to the realization that you deserve to be treated with love, kindness, sensitivity and respect and you won't settle for less.

You learn that being tired fuels doubt, fear, and uncertainty and so you take more time to rest. And, just as food fuels the body, laughter fuels our soul. So you take more time to laugh and play. You learn that, for the most part, you get in life what you believe you deserve...and that much of life is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

You learn that anything worth achieving is worth working for and that wishing for something to happen is different than working toward making it happen. More importantly, you learn that in order to achieve success you need direction, discipline and perseverance. You also learn that no one can do it all alone...and that it's OK to risk asking for help.

You learn the only thing you must truly fear is the greatest robber baron of all: FEAR itself. You learn to step right into and through your fears because you know that whatever happens, you can handle it and to give in to fear is to give away the right to live life on your own terms. And you learn to fight for your life and not to squander it living under a cloud of impending doom.

You learn that life isn't always fair, you don't get what you think you deserve and that sometimes bad things happen to unsuspecting, good people. On these occasions you learn not to personalize things. You learn that God isn't punishing you or failing to answer your prayers. It's just life happening.

And you learn to deal with evil in its most primal state - the ego. You learn that negative feelings such as anger, envy and resentment must be understood and redirected or they will suffocate the life out of you.

You learn to admit when you are wrong and to build bridges instead of walls. You learn to be thankful and to take comfort in many of the simple things we take for granted, things that millions of people upon the earth can only dream about: a full refrigerator, clean running water, a soft bed, a long hot shower...and real friends.

Slowly, you begin to take responsibility for yourself by yourself and you make yourself a promise to never betray yourself and to never, ever settle for less than your heart's desire. And you hang a wind chime outside your window so you can listen to the wind. Any you make a point to keep smiling, to keep trusting, and to stay open to every wonderful possibility.

Finally, with courage in your heart and faith by your side you take a stand, you take a deep breath, and you begin to design the life you want to live as best you can.

Me - The Traveller

I wish I could travel the world. I would love to visit any and every place, it may be hilly or coastal, city or village. I believe every place has a charm of its own, a good side and a bad side. I dont care for the bad ones and would never want to waste my time on them. Life is anyway too short to explore even the goodies.I had made a promise to myself to write a trvelogue of few selected trips but I haven't fulfilled my promise as yet :( but this an effort to start of on my travel experiences. This is not a travelgue but a listing of all the places I have been to till date. Again I wish to update the list as and when it increases.

So lets start from the very beginning, a very good place to
start..........is the south of India.

Madras/Bangalore -
My father worked with the defence and hence he got an opportunity to travel in India for work purpose.
Unfortunately, we did not go with him everywhere but my early childhood was away from my hometown Pune. We used to stay in Madras. I was a new born then and hence this place does not find a place in the list of the places I travelled because I dont remember a thing. I must have stayed there for a year or so and then shifted to Bangalore. I learnt to walk and talk here and had picked up few Kannada words our bai used to speak. But again I can't remember any of it. Fortunately I got to visit this place later on and hence I have it on my list. We then shifted to Pune and never moved out.

Nandeshwar -
This place has a special mention. This is our native village. A place where my paternal grandfather was born.
This is a small village on the maharashtra-karnataka border. When I mean small, its really small. The place has around 3000 people. My early memories are of the morning 5 'o' clock ST bus, which we had to catch to Pandharpur. The bus reached by 11:30 -12:00. Here we had to catch the second bus to Mangalvedha,
the taluka village. Once in here, you wait for long, to catch a singleton bus to our village. After a hectic day, we used to finally make it to the village at 8:00 at night. The village used to be in complete darkness. (It was later that the village got electricity but not all houses had it.) We have a huge "waada" there. Waada is a traditional maharashtrian house with a middle empty area surrounded by a square building. The middle area sometimes has a water tank. We did not have it. The place was made of wood and stones and plastered with mud. The floors were plastered with cow dung. There used to be a pile of firewood on the left. My grandpa used to cut wood early in the morning everyday (imagine at age 75). The axe used to be too heavy for us to lift. He used to exercise every morning with things that wrestlers used to use. A tall, thin and fit man, I remember him as a person who rose from the ashes and built an empire (well not really an empire) for himself. A shrewd and successful business man. A strict person but very lovable. We used to have goats tied at the entrance and we as kids used to be amazed at the goat shit :D The kitchen with a typical chulha, a copper vessel (bumb as we call it in marathi) used for heating water for a bath. A bathroom without a proper latch to the door used to be very uncomfortable. We were the priviledged people in the village to have our own restroom inside the house, For the others, it was open air. Behind the house was a well, a forbidden area for us kids.
Also behind the house was a 'buruj'. A buruj is a tall stone structure meant as watch towers. There were 4 of them in the village but I think only two remain. The one behind our house had many parrots living in it. God knows who made them. Were they natural or man made, no one knows. I strongly feel that this place has some historic past and someone should look into this. Another example why I think so is quoted ahead. We had acres and acres of farm lands. In there, we had a ShivLing popping out of the ground. The name of the village is Nandeshwar but this place ironically does not have a Shiv Mandir. The district place, Mangalwedha used to be a major trade centre where people from Maharashtra and Karnataka used to gather for trade on certain days. Residents here therefore speak both languages. All this leads me into thinking that this area must have had a glorious past. Today the village has a modern look. No, not in terms of amenities/roads/industrial developement/schools/colleges but in terms of exposure to movies, desi daru. Woman do not wear the traditional nau-vari saree (nine yard saree) anymore. The area is drought prone and once I had seen it get the look of a desert. We could see the sand blow up with the wind.
My grandfather was a respected person in the village lovingly called Appa by members of the family and the villagers. Every saturday, it used to be a day when weekly wages of farm labourers used to be paid. That is also the day when the weekly bazaar is held. Appa used to give us 25 or 50 paise which we used for eating golas and my parents could not object to it in front of him. My uncle used to be called 'Dev'. Basically we being the only brahmin family, some members of my family also engaged in doing puja. My uncle used to be the sarpanch and had done some good deeds like starting a school, building a water tank and so on. We used to love going to the farms and play with the chicken, goats and play in the water pumped out of the well. A bullock cart ride was a must. Its been a long time since I last visited but I still have the nice memories. I miss Appa now.

Nagpur -
My early memories are of Nagpur. My mom is basically from there and we used to visit our mama during holidays. It used to fun travelling by train with a steam engine. Me and my bro used to try and put our heads out of the window. The coal from the steam used to get into our eyes. Extremely hot summers (Pune used to be much cooler then. We did not have fans in the house, I remember when they were put) was the reason we used to be confined indoors. We used to sit in front of a giant cooler while mami made good (teekha) food for us. I had made some friends as well. Best thing I used to like there was sleeping in the yard on the lawn. It used to be nice and cool and also very secure. Even in those days Nagpur had good, wide roads unlike Pune. We went to the local park Ambazari.


Kolhapur, Pandharpur -
Our family deity is the Mahalaxmi from Kolhapur, the reason why I have visited this place multiple times. Goddess Mahalaxmi is the wife of God Balaji from Tirupati. We generally visit the Rankala lake when in Kolhapur. I have also visited the museum which has many things of the ruler Shahu Maharaj. The iron armour kept there hints that the ruler must be a huge strong guy. Pandharpur has the temple of Vithoba. We used to visit this temple on our way to the village.

Bombay -
I generally like any new place but Bombay was different. I liked it when I was outdoors but indoors used to be different. There was something which made me uncomfortable. I cannot pin point. I used to visit my aunt in Bombay. Shopping in Bombay is a boon and I loved linking road for that but overall I was not fascinated by this place. The huge crowds on the streets, buses and local trains was not a good sight. I did not find travelling in local trains difficult. The local trains track are lined up with a lot of garbage especially the harbour line route. The fast pace can be admired but the indifferent attitude strikes you. The warmth in the smile is missing. People are helpful only if it doesn't take more than 3 minutes of their time. The sultry weather and the lifestyle has turned a man into machine and hats off to the people who inspite of the hectic lifestyle still manage to have a family life.

Alibaug, Pen -
I visited the place as part of my college picnic with my friends. The Murud fort was the biggest highlight.
Standing atop at the higest point and watching the sea all around was an humbling experience. You feel like a tiny spec in front of mother nature. We had stopped at Pen for a visit to the Ganesh temple. This temple is one of the Ashtavinayak temples. College picnics are always associated with the fun we have as a group rather than the charm of the place we visit. Its the group spirit which can turn even the un-interesting
places interesting. The rounds of antakshari, picnic songs (Oh my God I heard so many Marathi songs. I never knew these songs existed), dumb charades et all. One word describes it all - FUN.

Narayangaon, Lenyadri -
We had visited the GMRT station at Narayangaon as part of a study tour. This station has giant radio antennas which capture signals from deep space. Scientists attempt to decode these signals. On the way we visited two places. While going we went to Lenyadri. These are caves situated on a steep hill inside which you find a Ganesh temple. You can find a fresh water well on the top. The other place we visited was on our way back, which was Ozhar. Fortunately, it was the night before Ganesh janma. It was past 12:00 at night and the temple was fully illuminated. It was such a coincidence that we could take darshan on that day and without much hassles.

Bhimashanker -
Well I did not know, I have had multiple college picnics. We went trekking, climbed and climbed to reach a spot where oops there was huge valley. The view from here was amazing. On the way back we visited the Shanker temple.

I would now like to list places I visited after I had grown up. I travelled a lot after I came out of college and started working.

Bangalore/Mysore/Ooty -
After my graduation, this was the first long trip anywhere after many years. I was very excited about it. My father was again posted in Bangalore. Me and brother were visiting him. Sad that mom could not join us. This is the time I really saw Bangalore. The best thing and the first thing I noticed as soon as I touched Bengluru City station is the nice cool weather, just amazing. Roads are pretty decent. We were put up in a guest house. The backyard had many sandalwood trees. The Bangalore darshan bus took us through its various gardens, a palace etc. I like shopping for sandalwood and sarees in Bangalore. Hmmmmm....well I like shopping anywhere.
Next we went to mysore and what we saw was a sight full of grandeur - the Mysore palace. I fall short of words when I want to describe it. Every inch of it speaks wealth, the creativity of the artisans who made it and the love of the family who have nurtured their house. The current maharaja of mysore still occupies part of the palace while the other part is a heritage building preserved by the government. Next on cards were the
Vrindavan gardens, situated across the KrishnaRaj Sagara dam built on river Kaveri. The garden has multiple water fountains well illuminated with coloured lights. One fountain is being used for a light and music show. Did you know that the architect of this garden, Krishna DevRaya is also the architect of the Khadakwasla dam. We also visited the St. Philomena Church.
Ooty - I was too excited to go here. The drive to Ooty was very scenic. It had rained. The sides of the road were lush green and the clouds had come down on earth to visit us. By the time we reached the botanical garden, the rains had increased and so did the cold. One striking thing I remember is the lush green lawns. The grass is from Switzerland and is very soft. The lake had closed down due to the stormy weather. Locals said that the trees start falling in such weather and hence... We did witness road blocks on our way back due to trees that had fallen. Else a boat ride in the lake was on my list.As a child I had visited these places and it was good to see what we had always seen in the photographs. We also saw the house we stayed in Bangalore when I was a baby.

Hyderabad -
I have very fond memories of Hyderabad. I visited Hyderabad in year 1997. This was the year, I got my first job. My father was posted in a small place near Hyderabad called Medak. Fortunately, I had to travel to Hyderabad for a training. So it was work combined with pleasure. I spent time with my parents in Medak before joining my duty. With them I visited the Salarjung museum - highly recommended - a must see.
Everything is 5 star. Paintings and sculptures - oh I can spend an entire day watching only these. Hats off to the painters and sculptors. The paintings and sculptures speak of happiness and agony. The eyes express the emotions. Worth seeing is the statue of a veiled woman and a statue with man in front and womans body as the posterior part. The face of the veiled woman is in no way distorted and the transparent veil is clearly evident inspite of the entire thing being made of just stone. Raja Ravi Verma's paintings speak. The world can see the affection of a mother towards her child. As a deep contrast is MF Hussains painting. Sorry but personally I fail to appreciate his art. I think his painting made me a much bigger fan of Verma. So do you see, I forgot to write about other things in the museum ;) Also a must visit is the Birla Mandir and the lake. The cool breeze in the evening by the lake side is a welcome respite after the days heat.Hyderabad is a non veggies delight. Biryani...yummmm, just unforgetttable. Eat to your hearts content. This place is also a shoppers paradise. You can buy pearls, pickles and cotton materials at a very low cost. BTW, you also get a variety of non veg pickles. In the training, I met people from 15 cities. My institute had 15 centres being opened in the span of few months. This was the first time I ever visited a five star hotel. I went to Grand Kakatiya for the inaugaration of the Hyderabad franchisee centre, the first one to open. Later IBM threw a party for us on completion of the training in Holiday Inn. I stayed in Hyderabad for more than a month for the training.
I also happened to visit this place in year 2001 with my friends. This time I saw the Ramoji film city. Once there, you will suddenly find that you are familiar with this place. Well the reason is that every Govinda movie was shot here. The London street also stands in here with just a face and no back. The place is well maintained with lush green lawns and a variety of trees, flowers in its various gardens. And If you think you will spot loads of movie stars, then sadly you are mistaken. The area where a shooting is on, is generally out of bounds but that should not stop you from putting this in your list of must watch places.

Kanpur , Lucknow -
Shortly after Hyderabad, another training was organised at IIT Kanpur. Well, I had the priviledge of being in IIT for 15 days. The campus is huge but we used to rarely come across students in the hostel area. Brainy chaps they must be either indoors or in their respective labs. On the contrary, the playground was quite lively. It is used by everyone from students to staff members and their family members. The campus is quite far from the city. Shop for leather in Kanpur. We did not get much time for it though. One funny thing I noticed was that all vehicles are parked in the middle of the road. That acts as a road divider....weird. On our way back, we decided to go to Lucknow.
It was a short day trip before we boarded the train to Pune. We had a centre in Lucknow as well and true to their culture we got a Nawabi mehmaan nawaazi. One girl Pooja, who worked in the centre came with us as a guide and took us to Bade Imam and BhulBhulaiya. BhulBhulaiya should be put in the list of wonders of the world. Oh what a structure. The entire place is a tunnel like structure. The tunnels are not so high. A six footer may have to bend. One entrance and three exits. Of the three only one is correct. You end up going round and round. I wonder how the inhabitants of that place remembered their way and how the guides do it now. Dont miss it. Its fun. This is also the place, where I did a lot of shopping. Till now I used tobe scarce on money and this was the first time, I had some money on hand. Well now I was a working woman ;) I bought so many lucknow chikankari dresses. Being a thursday, the main market was closed. Again the local people helped us. The owner of the institute called up his cousin who owned a shop and we the exclusive customers for the day. Our host treated us to a superb lassi woh bhi malai marke. I regret not being able to eat 'Tunde ke kabab'. Tunda means 'langda'. This is a famous eating joint owned by a person who was lame. The masala used to make kababs is only known to his family members and is passed on as a tradition. We were pressed for time and the place was quite far off. We did have some yummy kababs though at a nearby place. A friend from the
institute came to see us off at the station. Lucknow ki mehmaaan nawaazi apna asar chod gayi.

Goa -
The land of beaches. I visited Goa to attend a friends wedding. So it was a double treat. Goa is just fantastic. Nice beaches and good food especially fish. Goan catholic weddings are fun. A short ceremony followed by a grand party. There was a live band playing English, KOnkani and also Portuguese songs. Everyone enjoyed jiving with it. Apart from the wedding, I liked the carnival on the boat. The entire group wanted to dance. Finally the manager obliged and allowed us to dance along for a song or two. The ride on the Mandawi river was exciting. Goa is a relaxed place, which also means that your order for food in a restaurant comes at leisure. Another thing I noticed was that water is not served along with the food. Later someone told me that it was because it was not good and most people preferred mineral water or rather drinks and soft drinks over water.

Mahabaleshwar -
This place is quite near to Pune but I visited it only after I started working. This was a project party converted to a trip. It was dhamaal. One thing about the friends I had in Ruksun is that all of them were fun loving. We believed in making most of everything. We went on a boat ride in the lake. There was a huge fountain inside the lake and we took our boat through the falling water. Wow. I've heard that fountain is disfunctional now. Sad na. Mahableshwar is a typical hill station. As per my definition, hill station has many points like sunrise point, sunset point, echo point and a lake in the middle. It should also have a central road which is the shopping area. Ooty meets the criteria and I've heard so does Mount Abu. Once all of us went by foot from one point to another. The next direction arrow was Ludwick point. We walked and walked. Everyone got tired following the trail. Finally when we reached, there was a small monument of Ludwick. I still remember how Rahul was upset. He joked around saying that someone must have pushed Ludwick from that point. I also remember Farah bargaining and buying a Rs 150 wala whip at Rs30. It was meant for all project team members to work correctly.

What makes these places so important to me. I guess the answer lies in the beautiful memories I have of the places, the time I spent with my family or friends, time we laughed together, shared the stupid jokes and the zest of living the moments. These can't be explained in words, it can only be experienced. Only a famous writer can make these trivial jokes sound funny but even today as I remember the situational jokes I am in splits.

More destinations to come soon in Traveller II. Watch out this space for more...