SonDay

There are some moments which you cherish in your life – the first job, your marriage, moving into a new house, birth of a child. Standing apart from all these crowning glories there are some moments which outwardly appear small and mundane, but have a deep impact on our lives. This Sunday I experienced one such moment. Thanks to Ariel India's sons #ShareTheLoad campaign.

I decided to share the load with my mother. So I undertook the first task of the morning which involved making tea. Every morning my mother would lovingly ask me, 'Beta tea?' and I would reply, 'Yes please. But please remember less sugar and don't forget to add lemon grass as well.' Today I took up the responsibility and asked my mother, 'Mom tea?' My mother smiled and just nodded her head. It was unexpected for her that she would get a ready made tea. She held the cup in her hands for long and had every sip slowly, cherishing the moment.

My task didn't stop just by making the tea. There is another job which follows making the tea. I took the cups to the sink, where the other paraphernalia – tea pan, strainer were waiting. I washed them as well. It was my mother's teaching. 'Every time you have tea immediately wash the cups and pans. So that the next time you have tea, you don't have to scrub the pan first.'

 Another interesting task of the day was washing clothes. I remember telling my mother at times, 'Please brush the cuffs and collar properly. See the stain has not gone.' But today I realized what an herculean task doing the laundry was. Brushing, rinsing, involved lot of effort, perhaps more than the gym. I washed all the clothes and hung them on the clothes line.

I was sweating by now. I am sure I must have burnt at least four hundred calories. When I struggled to rinse the double bed sheet on the clothes line, it was my mother who came to my rescue. I realized how tasking daily household tasks were.

Gandhiji had said every person should undertake some physical activity every day and that physical activity must be productive. I fully agree with him. Household tasks are not best left to the womenfolk. Every member of the family must be actively involved in the household tasks to reap its multiple benefits – good physical health, better relationships and most importantly mutual respect. I have shared the load, have you?

‘I pledge to #ShareTheLoad in household chores in association with Ariel and BlogAdda‘

Aspirations

Disoriented, dejected I am on an unknown strange journey. The winning fire in the pit of my stomach has long been extinguished. I am no longer fiercely competitive and incisive the way I was in my earlier days. I have resigned to my destiny. I have no ambitions left and mind you I am only thirty-six. I am still to earn the badge of renunciate, the one which you get on formal initiation by a Guru.

Begin your story with action, they teach you in creative writing courses. But how can I start my story with an action, when I have dropped all my actions, aspirations and attachments one by one. Who am I? A man with no extraordinary achievements to flaunt of. A banker who was bad at selling the allied products like mutual funds and life insurance. A lover, who walked out of a relationship. Or just a seeker, who is fairly irregular with his spiritual practice. The questions continue to pop-up and the answers as always are evading.

Resting my back against the wall of the twelfth century rock temple, with my blue duffel bag stuffed with all my belongings lying next to me, I view the expanse of river Narmada. Omkareshwar temple is the main attraction for the pilgrims and this Brahma temple is deserted, providing me the much needed solace. The surging water with bluish hue of Narmada is swashing and demonstrating its rebellious in nature. While all other rivers traverse from west to east, Narmada defects the norm and sprints in the opposite direction. Breaking the norm comes for a price, and I have already paid the price.

I close my eyes and start concentrating on my breath. The moment I drop my breath, another one enters my nose with ebullition, akin to my thoughts, no sooner I drop one another crops up. I am supposed to concentrate on the breath and just ignore all the thoughts.

That is when two villagers enter the precincts of the temple through the wrought iron gate. I hear the gong, the clap and the chatter that accompanies pilgrims. They come near me, offer a namaste and ask me whether I read palms. 'No, I don't. I am just an ordinary man like you.' I say. The older of the two bows in reverence and says that it is my humility that I am not acknowledging my own powers. I smile at their innocence and for a moment I am worried about them. These gullible rustics will fall prey to some charlatan, who will fleece them of their hard earned money in exchange of some imitation stone, promising them that it holds miraculous powers. But I put a break to the chain of my thoughts and again concentrate on my breath. I don't wish to get entangled into anything, even if it is for a just cause. Fortunately the villagers leave soon and I am reabsorbed into my sadhana. 

Read the next part here 

The Last Link - Book Review

Manisha Malhotra does a brilliant job of welding spirituality with science fiction in her book The Last Link. The protagonist Ann Fletcher is a physics student. She can discern the aura of any person. The panch mahabhutas or the five basic elements come in the form of human characters and turn Ann's world up side down. She is the Earth in the human form. The conflict, the twists and turns make this book readable.

The writing is simple and lucid. The author avoids jargons, a relief to the readers for this is a complex story. The characters take time to establish themselves and much time is spent on their back stories. I wish this could have been curtailed. Yet the story manages to keep you glued till the end. Though the first half drags a bit, the second half compensates for it and you get to read an edgy thriller. This book is certainly not to be missed.

Theme Reveal #A2Z2019 - My Spiritual Journey

'Who am I?' This existential question has cropped up in many minds. We all are eager to learn more about the other side of life. The unknown always intrigues us.

'If you search diligently, you will even find God.' A Master had told me, and this is the theme of my A2Z challenge. My Spiritual Journey.

Beginning from 1^st of April 2019, except Sundays, I will be writing every day about my spiritual journey. 

 

We all are spiritual beings in material bodies. But do the Masters always tell us the truth? Or is there anything sinister? To know more keep visiting my blog, and please note that it is a serialized story, so don't miss even a single post.

Killing Time in Delhi - Book Review

Killing Time in Delhi by Ravi Shankar Etteth
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Killing Time in Delhi by Ravi Shankar Etteth lives is set in Lutyens Delhi. The characters are a murky lot, each overloaded with the eccentric characteristics. Charlie Seth's mistress dies of a cocaine overdose and with her death all troubles begin for Charlie.

The trouble with Killing Time in Delhi is that it lives in its own world. It doesn't bother much about finding a connect with the reader. Characters come and go, leaving readers confused. The same is true of the events in the book. Though the reviewers are praising the novel for its pace, I found the pace to be slow. Unnecessary descriptions using complex sentences and words out of vogue have a repelling effect on the reader.

So it is up to you whether to kill your time in reading Killing Time in Delhi or not.

View all my reviews

The Light Catcher - Book Review

The Light Catcher by Sameer Chopra by Sameer Chopra
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sameer Chopra crafts interesting characters in his debut novel The Light Catcher. We have read about the cut throat competition in the corporate world earlier. What makes The Light Catcher different from other books is it brilliant characterization. So we have Purab the protagonist who finds soon that the corporate world is not his cup of tea.

On the contrary his love interest Rati is born for the corporate life, she takes to it like fish takes to water. The attraction between these two is the masterstroke of the writer. It keeps you glued to the story, eager to know what happens next.

The writing is sharp and crisp. The events in the life of the protagonist are easy to relate to. We feel for the protagonist and that I think is the success of the author. There are very few books that succeed in painting realistic picture of the things and The Light Catcher is definitely one of them. Don't miss this one.

View all my reviews

Don't be harsh on yourself

Years come and go. But 2018 was a very important year in my life. My mantra for the year was not to be harsh on myself. I reaped the benefits of this attitude.

Maintaining a daily journal has been a part of many of my new year resolutions. My cupboard is full of diaries, with a few entries for the month of January. All the following months were blank. In latter years I used those diaries, but just as notebooks. I wrote besides the years which were now a part of the past. At the beginning of the 2018 I again resolved to maintain a journal. But this time there was a change in my attitude. Here is an entry from my journal dated 9^th January 2018.

Another year, another diary. Like you all I have many diaries of the years gone by, meticulously written for some days and then the pages were all blank. I utilized those pages after a few years, only as pages of a notebook and not a diary.

But this time around there is change in my outlook. I am relaxed. I am composed. I am not going to be harsh on myself. It is alright if I don’t write for a few days. It is fine if what I write is crap and doesn’t sell. I like the way I am. Believe me this has lifted tonnes off weight (of expectations and self pity) from my chest.

With this attitude I maintained the journal. I didn’t write everyday. There are many pages blank in the diary. But still I wrote far more than what I had written in all these years. I received an acceptance from myself. It sounds so weird but it is true. We don’t accept ourselves the way we are. We keep on finding our own faults and demeaning ourselves.

Here is another entry from my diary

6^th February 2018

So much of protocol, rules of behaviour and etiquettes taught to me by my parents and teachers, some times directly, some times indirectly. I followed them scrupulously. But today I realize the burly pressure and tension that it built within me. In retrospect I feel that I should have been more flexible, for these etiquettes are for us and not the other way round.

You can do your best while staying relaxed. Moreover no matter how much you go by the book, there is no guarantee that the to her person will be pleased by your behaviour. There is no assurance that the outcomes will be as expected by you either. So what’s the point in being steadfast with regard to anything? Why not stay relaxed and do your best.

Hence forth no worrying about manners and etiquettes.

When I stopped exerting unwanted mental pressure on myself a wonderful thing happened. Things started falling place on their own. I became more productive. My relationships, including the one which I have with myself, improved. I became relaxed. Hope that you too stop being harsh on yourself.