The wisecracking guy

"You are just like Mr. Bean, the finest British comedian. Your quick jokes, comical comments and rubber face like Mr. Bean make all of us laugh. Have you ever worked in a theatre or on stage?" Ms. 'F', a young woman asked Mr. 'G' who was the wisecracking guy. 
"No." He uttered and waved his both hands crossing each other indicating a big 'NO'.
"Your experimental and off beat style witticism won the hearts of many! You are lively, energetic and cheerful with impressive comic expressions and an expert in creating amusing situations. You deserves a notable comedy award!" Ms. 'F' praised him.
He smiled and put his right hand on his heart and bowed down.
Ms. 'S', a middle aged woman said to Mr. 'G', "To me, you are like the donkey in Shrek movies. A happy-go-lucky donkey!"
Mr. 'G' replied, "This is the best compliment I have ever received."

I was hearing this whole conversation. Ms. 'S' was right as this compliment suits him the best because he pokes fun at everyday life, observing the unobservable which in general we missed to observe. He pokes fun at others and himself. His tone and style were light hearted. His punch lines were always hard to predict. He kept on cracking wonderful jokes without hurting anybody's feelings which was the toughest job because we all were from different countries and had different cultures. But it was really admiring about Mr. 'G' who instead of feeling offended on being called a 'donkey', he accepted the donkey compliment happily and in a light way. My imaginative mind moved a bit further thinking that donkey's spouse was a dragon! ;)

Festive time

While passing by the road, I saw this statue of Meghnad.
I stopped for a while to look at it and to click it's photo. One woman came from the other side of the road and asked me, "Do you want to buy this?"
"No." I said.
"We made Ravana, Meghnad and Kumbhakaran figures in all sizes. Buy at least one."

"I was just attracted by the vibrant colours. That's all."
"They are of very good quality. Madam, buy one only ONE!"

Afraid of monkeys

Before entering the asana hall to attend the asana class, I saw a notice in front of it. It read as...

Please close the door otherwise flies will do the asanas with you.

In the end of asana class, the hath yoga teacher said, "Dear students, Please keep the door closed whenever you go out or come in the hall. "

One of the students complained, "Ya, the flies and mosquitoes came in."

The naughtiest student of the class said, "Who is afraid of flies? I am afraid of monkeys, they might not come in and bite me."

While I was laughing on the joke, I saw a big monkey passing from the corridor next to the hall.

Hills are heaven

A local man said, "Hills are heaven!"

I looked around and agreed with him. We were waiting for a taxi or a bus to go to Uttarkashi town and just to pass the time he started the conversation.

"Can heaven be better than this? Naah! It can't be!"
"Very true."
"Hills are heaven except three things i.e. medication, transportation and education." 

Book Review : Open-Eyed Meditations by Shubha Vilas

There is one more gem in my collection of books autographed by authors. Open-Eyed Meditations autographed by Shubha Vilas is the top quality jewel. I love to collect books autographed by different authors and I have a huge collection of such books.

Most of the people complained that when they close their eyes for meditation they only see darkness. If they want to see lights in meditation, this book is a boon for them. If one can do meditation with open eyes nicely then the person will surely be successful in doing meditation with closed eyes. Sage Patanjali also emphasised the importance of practicing yamas (observances) and niyamas (restraints) before practicing dhayana (meditation). This book provides insights and observations to think deeper to meditate with open eyes to change life for better. It is a beautiful compilation of stories from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata that provide easy and practicable solutions, inspired from these stories for present day problems. The ancient wisdom provides useful and practical lessons on how to cope with everyday challenges and to enhance the quality of modern day life.

The author dedicated the book beautifully as :-

To the thousands of teachers I have come across in the journey of life that have guided me to meditate on the beauty of life.

The quotes from the book which I like are as follows:-

1.      Yoga of non-intervention implies accepting people as they are and giving them space. This in turn allows us to remain at peace with the way we are.

2.      Complexities outside slowly percolate into complexities inside. Simplicity is about living the present moment with gratitude and satisfaction.

3.      While analysis upgrades us, overanalysis downgrades-unless we can discover what we can learn from it. Thus, analysis of our own faults and overanalysis of others’ faults is a pitfall we should watch out for.

4.      Discover your likes and motivation will discover you.

5.      Discernment is about seeing people as they are and not how you want them to be.

6.      Appreciation of others’ good qualities is not just lip talk, but also a meditation.

7.      Like a snake voluntarily sheds its old skin, similarly appreciation helps one shed layers of negativities to replace it with a new glowing complexion of positivity.

8.      Right attitude means to be grateful for our talent, knowing they are gifts of God, and accepting our shortcomings as a chance to depend on others to access their love.

9.      Charisma is not about what you have but like a bee, what you do with what you have.

10.  You are simply a reflection in the mirror of your environment.

11.  When Yudhishthira went around the kingdom to find at least one person who was worse than him, he too returned back with news of his failure. Every person he inspected happened to have at least one good quality that he himself didn’t possess.

12.  Get offline, grow. Get online, give.

13.  Addiction to change is simply an outcome of not focusing on what you have and seeking an escape into the world of what you don’t have.

14.  Instead of constantly changing things, change your prospective of seeing things.

15.  A person who wants to hurt others is primarily hurting himself.

16.  Forgiveness is the sign of being concerned about the future and hatred is the sign of being stuck to the past.

17.  Good friendship is like an air pillow. If you take care of it by blowing air into it (taking care of its needs) and not pricking it with a pin (asserting your needs), it will, in turn, ensure your comfort and satisfaction thus serving you and taking care of your needs.

18.  The test of marriage is tolerance. The test of parenting is values. The test of leadership is inspiration. And the test of friendship is time.

19.  Friendship can be a touchstone that can transform and beautify every aspect of your life when handled delicately. But when handled egocentrically, it can easily become like a heavy stone of hate tied to your neck that can drown you in a salty ocean of frustrated expectations.

Shubha Vilas is an author, a motivational speaker, lifestyle coach and a story teller. He is the author of best-selling book series ‘Ramayana- The Game of Life’ It’s three parts are published namely ‘Rise of the Sun Prince’, ‘Shattered Dreams’ and ‘Stolen Hope'. His leadership seminars about the crucial needs of top-level management are popular in corporate houses. The author blogs at https://roadtodivinity.wordpress.com/.

I highly recommend this book for your collection, for reading and for meditating on the beautiful thoughts from it because the author uses the handle of stories from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, gently open the window of reader’s minds and transfer the wisdom in readers’ hearts.

Edible red berries in Uttarkashi

Many years back one of my colleagues from army background told me that the army students were given various trainings to survive in the hardest conditions. If during war or in any other situation by chance they were left alone in a forest without food and water, in such a difficult situation what they would eat to survive. And the situation worsened if they were in a forest where the vegetation was unknown to them and they couldn’t differentiate between the edible and non edible fruits and berries. Then, in such a condition they were told to eat green colour berries as the chances of their being poisonous were very less as compared to yellow colored berries. And the red colored berries should be avoided as the chances of their being poisonous were very high as compared to yellow berries.

On seeing a tree full of red berries which was growing close to ashram in Uttarkashi, I recalled this incidence. The red berries were very attractive and tempting. I was looking at the tree admiring the beautiful berries.

Suddenly a tree pie came from nowhere, sat on the top branch and started eating berries. It appeared that the bird loved the taste of those berries.

As it flew away, I gathered my courage to eat unknown berries whose chances of being non edible were very high but my mind said bird was relishing them so at least they were non-poisonous.

I plucked some and ate. I loved the taste which was slightly sour to slightly sweet. Thank God, I didn’t die after that! ;)

Later on from a local villager I came to know that they were used to prepare chutney in which til (sesame) was added. The chutney tasted delicious.

Age Factor

"How old are you?" One of my batch-mates asked me.
"What?" I was surprised if I heard her correctly.
"I am 42 years old. What is your age?" she asked again.
I passed a long smile to say her to leave this stupid question but she was adamant to know.
She repeated, "My age is 42 years. You must be younger to me. What is your age?"
I inquired, "How does it make a difference if you know my age and if you don't know my age?"
She elaborated, "A is ...years old, B is ... years old, C is ... years old and ....."
She knew age of all batch-mates and had prepared a mental chart of it. She conclude ,"Most of the students is this course are either in their late twenties or early thirties except me, Mr. 'Z' who's age is... and Ms. 'Y' who is ... years old. You know, Chandrika they say if your back is flexible then you are young!"
"Ya. True."
"That's why I am keeping my back flexible."
"That's nice!" I said with a smile. "According to this theory. you are the youngest among us."
She was happy like a child and asked one more question popping up in her mind. "What is Mataji's age (Director's age)?"
"WHAT! I do not know."
"Can you guess her age?"
"I have no idea. In general, people who do meditation look younger than their age."
"Then she must be 40 years old."
When I didn't know what to say for a stupid question then I just smiled.
"Or 50 years old."
I broadened my smile.
"Or 60 years old."
I tried to broadened my smile further but couldn't because there is a limit of my facial muscles to expand in contrary to stupidity which can expand limitlessly.