Pongal Bhogi Makara Sankranthi...!

The first day of Makara Sankranthi or Pongal is celebrated as the Bhogi. The theme of these festivals is Thanks giving to nature and gods who blessed people with a good harvest. Bhogi panduga is in honor of Lord Indra who is the God of Clouds and Rains. Lord Indra is worshiped for the abundance of harvest, thereby bringing plenty and prosperity to the land.

Sankranti(A.P,Karnataka),Pongal(Tamil Nadu),Makar Sankranti (Maharastra and Gujarat) and Lohri (Punja and Haryana). Sankranti which is the most important festival for us Telugus and is called 'Pedda Panduga' ( big festival) signifying that it is a time to discard the old and welcome the new and is the harbinger of more light and sunshine in life.Sankranti is celebrated over four days, the first day(14th Jan) is called 'Bhogi', the second day(15th) is 'Sankranti', the third day(16th) is, 'Kanuma' and the fourth day (17th),'Mukkanuma'.

Inspite of the fast changing times with people migrating from villages to bigger cities in search of greener pastures and with cities expanding ,the spirit behind the way we celebrate our festivals has not quite changed.Bhogi,the first day is marked with gaiety and is celebrated on the eve of Sankranti or Pongal in all its entirety with traditional practices and customs which have been followed since our forefathers.

Early in the morning at 4 a.m ,a bonfire (Bhogimantalu) is lit on the occasion of Bhogi symbolizing ringing out the old to ring in the new.Old brooms, baskets,clothes,junk firewood,broken wooden furniture are all thrown into the fire signifying the cleansing of the house and a fresh start to the new year.Life is seen as a continuous renewal.This is the picture of our Bhogimantalu on Bhogi day at 5 a.m

Another great sight in every village during Sankranti is a decorated bull with multi-coloured attire moving from one house to another led by its master who plays the nadaswaram (flute) to the accompaniment of the dol (a drum). The 'gangireddi' is trained to perform a variety of feats like nodding in acceptance, kneeling and bowing down and even dancing!You will find the decorated bull going around each home here in the city too during the festival season.Old clothes, raw rice and money are given away to the gangireddula vadu (bull’s master) in charity on the occasion of Sankranti.Here's a picture of a fully adorned gangireddu with his gangireddi vaallu (masters) performing a feat in front of my ammamma's(grandmother)home.

WHO ARE YOU...!

When Yesterday haunts in the name of truth
and When today becomes history
I'm questioning myself
Shall I ask you too?
WHO ARE YOU?
Just ask your heart, Who you really are!!


You're not a name, not some place, not the face
You're not cash, Then What?
You're not time, not dream, not game either
You're You, Then what?

Are you a Columbus in the search of self?
Are you chorus, who sings with self?
Are you Hercules bearing yourself?
Are you chess, who plays with self?

A game?
A song?
A hunt?
A hunter?

WHO ACTUALLY ARE YOU?

Even before the invention/birth of fire, You've got desire/determination(fire) in your heart
Even before the invention/birth of water, You've got those tears  ( in your eyes)
Even before you've inhaled air, You've got a tornado in your breath
The presence of Land, sky is itself a question infront of you now.

Fire?
Water?
Air?
A question?

WHO ACTUALLY ARE YOU?

Happy Birthday to me...! Happy Birthday...!

DD/MM/YYYY was not an ordinary day.
Early in the morning, before the sunrise, a Baby Girl Fairy was dropped from the Fairy Lands to the Earth.
There were songs of joys and rejoices everywhere.
Cool breeze was playing and running across the meadows.
Dew drops were dancing and floating over the leaves.
Birds were swaying and singing in chorus:
"Happy Birthday Happy Birthday Happy Birthday (Name),
Happy Birthday Happy Birthday Happy Birthday to you.

BECAUSE LIFE BEGINS AT 25

Last year January, I turned 24.

I had friends contacting me on different channels, and some of them making up some plans. But, what did I do? I stayed holed up in my room all day, accompanied by a bottle of Milk, and a pack or more of Peanuts.

And what was the thought that kept me in that morbid state the whole day, detached from everyone I know? The fact that I was only one year away from turning 25!

Here I was, living up my life, in the prime of my life, and the number 25 loomed rather heavily over me. It was meant to be, I told myself. But, I also told myself immediately – it was earlier than I thought! I felt like my life had barely begun, and I was becoming old already. I had not bungee-jumped, I didn't do a skydive yet, I didn't do an open-water dive yet. Hell, I couldn't even thread in water properly! And here I was, just one year away from the dreaded 26.

Of all the things that I had done that day, I had taken a stock of my life. Not for the pathetic prelude of a dreaded number, but to see how prepared I was for it. And for the first time ever, I tried to make birthday resolutions, and stick to them.

Today, I AM 25!

As the midnight hour approached on the 13th,I was at Room. Alone. I have not replied to all those good friends wishing me a happy birthday. And have been holed up at home, and then at the office.

All I wanted to do, was be alone. Reflect. Recompose. Remonstrate. Reconcile my inner differences.

And having reached that dreaded number of 25, I want to revisit those resolutions I made the last year, and see where I stand. 

1)      Health

I had lived a rather healthy life till the end of my college days. But after Self employment, life made me a different man; a Business spoilt me in the mornings and money spoilt me in the evenings. I was having fun, I was content. Which meant that I was drinking and eating like someone who was prosperous enough to afford it. But I was also out-of-shape. On my 24th birthday, I had weighed in around 71 kilos. 

Resolution: Get healthy. Don’t go into your 26’s with a beer belly like a man of reason would.

Current status: Since the last birthday, I’ve been working out religiously, at least 4 times a week. And it shows. As of today, I stand at 68 KG, a clean 3 kg drop from previous year. I am eating very healthy now, I know what an Atkins diet is, I know what my nutritional requirements are, and what proteins and complex carbs I need for my daily sustenance. My fat % dropped from 24% to 13%, and is further going down. I can backpack Spain for 10 days straight, or bicycle around Jeju for 3 days and not feel tired. I actually feel younger.

Remind me to revisit this resolution after a year.

2)      Travel

I fell in love with travel, and particularly travel photography, about 4 years ago. But then, it was all about official travel. There is nothing better than getting to see different countries, and knowing that you are not paying a penny for a thing!

But then, I never planned for any of those trips. And I was restricted to the countries I could visit, and the places I could go. I was restricted to what I could do during a trip. In effect, I slowly realized the difference between a traveller and business tourist. And until last year, I was mostly the latter.

Resolution: Travel the world. Not on business visa. And travel to places that you have never heard of. Live the budget traveller lifestyle.

Status: I think I trumped this section of my resolution. 4 countries visited in the last 12 months. At least one trip every 2 months. I maybe broke like an old table, but I have memories to show for it. And pictures in thousands.

3)      Career

I have been a very ambitious kid since my early 20’s, climbing up the corporate ladder quickly. I worked hard, put in late hours, managed to sacrifice a lot on my personal life. But I managed to grow. And then came a point a couple of years ago, when my youth started subsiding, and my experience started gaining the higher ground.

Resolution: Give your 100% at work. But stop at 100. Don’t go the extra mile everyday. Don’t put in late hours, or work weekends, or promise unreasonable project timelines. In short, play by the god-damn book, and stop trying to write your own.

Status: Sense of super-accomplishment! Took up projects, whined about short timelines, maintained project budgets. Yeah, its all good.

A good friend once told me – when I was 21 and he was 30 – that life begins at 30. I know our perspectives were different, but I can’t agree more with him at this pivotal junction of my life. I know what I plan to do in my 30’s. The countries that I will visit. The number of times I will hit the gym, working towards that elusive single digit body fat%. The stupid career mistakes that I will make.

The life I will live.

And that life will be good. Because life begins at 2, people.

New Year Eve

Happy New Year To everyone around me


But the Last day of 2014 was filled with tensions and Sadness, the day was not Good with H...!

Bike Ride Is Doing Meditation

Biking Is Doing Meditation

What’s the craze between a guy and his Motorcycle ? 


Now that the simple answer, “Biking is an attitude and a way of life” wouldn't suffice, let’s complicate.

Don't get shocked. This is a democratic land (some are trying to privatize internet though) and we are all entitled to our opinions. Yes, I  believe that biking has the meditating effect. Before I can connect biking with meditation, allow me to break down the meditative state of mind for you. 

The human mind, with all its complexities still retains the beauty of holding just one thought at a time. Let us take an example for clarity. Suppose you are in the middle of a road and all of a sudden you hear the sound of a speeding truck. Now, the following things simultaneously happen.

• You feel a shock wave running down your spine alerting all your senses
• Your eyes tries to confirm the if the truck will indeed hit you or miss you
• Your ears complement your eyes in ascertaining the time to collision

In the end it is left to the brain to assess the situation, revisit previous such encounters, evaluate options and take a decision. The drill is pretty much the same for most circumstances. It really doesn't take a speeding train or a truck to experience this. The falling glass of water, stumbling over a stone, catching a ball or even something as subtle a beautiful girl walking past you.

If you carefully observe, there are always three distinct forces at work determining our actions; our senses, sub-conscious self and the conscious mind. It would do good to draw comparison with the computing world to understand the role of each one of the forces. 

Your 5 senses are like the peripheral data gathering I/O devices. They are in the business of sensing the external environment. Every waking mill-second of our lives, the senses are seeing things, capturing noises, smelling the surrounding and feeling the air. They are constantly capturing raw data and passing it on to the next stage. Raw data includes everything from the sound of the truck to unpleasant odour to sighting of a beautiful girl.

The mind is your the ultra complex and turbo cooled processor (unfortunately single-core). It reads the information from the peripheral devices, evaluates possibilities and takes all decision. In the laymen lingo, mind is the king who collects intelligence from the pawns (read senses), gets counseled by the ministers (read sub-conscious self) and eventually takes a decision on what needs to be done. If it's bad odour, try not to breathe for a while. And if it's the hot chick in the red dress, forget everything and thou' shalt stare (Yea, this brain is definitely male).

Now to the question big question. Are the meditating and dreaming states very different from each other ?

Lets see. The eyes are usually closed in both cases. The heartbeat is steady. The subject (saint/dreamer) is relaxed and is in deep thinking mode. On a serious note, both the states demand suspension of senses and sub conscious self. Take a minute to mull over it.

In deep sleep, you don't feel your surroundings so you can dream for long durations. The moment there is a loud noise (alarm) or somebody alerts your senses (mom trying to wake you), dream is gone. Same goes with meditation, you will either have to suppress your senses or find a quiet place so that you can concentrate on one thing only.

As in dreaming so with meditation; the senses distract your concentration and the sub-conscious tends to bias the direction of thought. More you control the two forces, better can you meditate; delve into a singular thought. You know why day-dreaming was not as effective at the college. Your senses were constantly looking out for that possible chalk-piece thrown at your face.

Silence and a serene environment will reduce distractions and help dream/meditate better. That explains why the saints prefer to sit down at ashramas or mountain tops for meditation.

So, the point I am stressing on is that the deep meditative state is characterized by two things - lack of distraction from senses and interference into the thought process by the sub-conscious. Now munch over it for some time.

What happens with biking

Please note that commuting between work and home on a two wheeler does not qualify as biking. More so, if you are in Bangalore. Our senses are most active when navigating within heavy traffic. When I say biking here, I mean riding on a two wheeler for long distances.

Long distance riding is like playing a cricket test match. You can afford to forget for a long time where you are, how many runs to score and just play for beauty of the game. The first 25 kms of a bike ride is most painful. All your senses are strained, with constant interruptions to the brain. After about 50 kms, the traffic is sparse and you pick up speed. Your senses still has to be at their peak (making up for the speed), but the number of interruptions are less and far between. After 75 kms, your sub-conscious and and the five senses find an equilibrium. Even though there are no interruptions, your five senses are fully alert and transfixed on the road as you are cruising at high speeds. 

Voila! Your mind is now in the test match mode.

There are hardly any interruptions on the road; so senses aren't alarmed and hence your thought train goes on uninterrupted. It is as though your mind is detached from your body; inert to interruptions and prejudices (sub-conscious self throwing its weight around).

Now, lets compare the state of mind while biking and meditating

State of Mind: Senses do not interrupt/interfere the mind

Meditation: Saints either suppress their senses or find a calm place wherein senses do not get alarmed.

Biking: All senses are too busy monitoring the road and hence do not interfere in the thoughts in the brain

When I ride my Royal Enfield Thunderbird for few hundred kilometres without much interruptions; I find myself in this meditative state. I am sure most riders feel this way too. While others believe in rolling out their yoga mats in the morning, I prefer to taking out my blackbird (RE TBTS) on a long ride. Long distance riding has often helped me delve deep into a thought without interruptions. Given the time in this state, mind has almost always found its answers and resolved the conflicts.

In the end, but for a sore ass; long distance biking is a rejuvenating experience for both the mind and the body.

Jaggu Garu You Opened My Eyes...!