Untitled

"Strange, is it not? that of the myriads who
Before us pass’d the door of darkness through,
Not one returns to tell us of the road,
Which to discover we must travel too.

The moving finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all your piety nor wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all your tears wash out a word of it. "

#.....The Rubaiyat : Omar Khayyam.....#

Cycle

Simple, cheap, clean
and safe.

Age

"Judge your age by the amount of pain you feel
when you come in contact with a new idea."
-- Pearl S Buck --

Sigh

Pale flowers and a naked tree.
An empty sky above misty drops
and a deep single -
sigh....!!

What?
You must be kidding, I'm not trembling;
(let me pretend)
its a lovely lovely evening.

Over the Phone

A cloudy evening : Westminister Bridge, London

Teachings

" No man can reveal to you aught
but that which already lies half asleep
in the dawning of our knowledge.
The teacher who walks in the shadow of the temple,
among his followers, gives not of his wisdom
but rather of his faith and his lovingness.
If he is indeed wise he does not
bid you enter the house of wisdom,
but rather leads you
to the threshold of your own mind.

For the vision of one man lends
not its wings to another man.
And even as each one of you stands alone
in God's knowledge,
so must each one of you be alone
in his knowledge of God and
in his understanding of the earth."

~Khalil Gibran : Prophet~

Patience

In dutiful remembrance of another October...

"I sit at my window this morning
where the world like a passer-by
stops for a moment, nods to me and goes.
These little thoughts are the rustle of leaves;
they have their whisper of joy in my mind.
This longing is for the one
who is felt in the dark, but not seen in the day.
My wishes are fools,
they shout across thy songs, my Master.
Let me but listen."
--Stray Birds: Tagore---

Shadow

"What you are you do not see,
what you see is your shadow."
--Tagore--

Darjeeling Diary

When the British first arrived in Darjeeling
it was almost completely forested and virtually uninhabited,
though it had once been a sizeable village
before the wars with Bhutan and Nepal.
After 1840 a road was constructed, rapid development followed,
numerous houses were built and by 1857-
Darjeeling had a population of some 10,000.
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Nepali laborours were recruited to toil in the tea gardens
established in the 1840s by British.
Even now, majority of Darjeeling inhabitants speak-
Nepali as the first language and the name Darjeeling
continues to be synonymous with tea.
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The immigration of Nepali-speaking people, mainly Gurkhas,
into the mountainous areas of West Bengal,
eventually led to political problems in the mid-1980s.
Resentment had been growing among the Gurkhas
over what they felt was discrimination against them
by the government of West Bengal.
Their language was not recognised by the Indian Constitution
and government jobs were open only to those who could speak Bengali.
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Since the formation of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council in 1988
the hill areas fall under its jurisdiction.
It has elected Councillors and they have the authority
in managing certain affairs of the hill
like education, tourism, health etc.
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On 29th May 1953 two men set foot on Mount Everest
for the first time in history
and one of them was Tenzing Norgay, from Darjeeling.
Subsequently, this historical event led to the formation of
the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute in Darjeeling.
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A tactically key location in controlling
the entry to Nepal and Bhutan,
Darjeeling served as a British outpost in the Himalayas.
It was base for the defence of the trade route
to Tibet through Sikkim.
And from its imposing altitude, the whole of Sikkim
and the surrounding could be observed and sheltered.
More than any thing else it was a summer-
resort for British officials
to escape the heat of the plains of Bengal.
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The Sakya Monastery in Ghoom takes it start
from the Sakya-pa School.
This school is one of the most famous schools of Buddhism.
The school follows the teachings of
the Buddhist teacher, Sakya Trizin.
The original monastery was started somewhere around 1915.
Sakya Trizin shifted to India in the year 1959 and started this
Sakya Monastery near Darjeeling in the year 1960
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Tiger hills is the highest point in the area which provides
the most exotic view of the Kanchenjunga peaks.
From this place the other peaks of
theEastern Himalayas can be seen.
On a clear day the sight of Mt. Everest is just enthralling.
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“If thou art worn and hard beset
With sorrows, that thou wouldst forget,
If thou wouldst read a lesson, that will keep
Thy heart from fainting and thy soul from sleep,
Go to the woods and hills! No tears
dim the sweet look that Nature wears.
I stood upon the hills, when heaven’s wide arch
was glorious with the sun’s returning march”
(HW Longfellow: Sunrise on the Hills)
–First rays of the rising sun on Mt. Kanchenchunga
A view from Tiger Hills–
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The first day’s sun asked
at the new manifestation of being-
Who are you? No answer came.
Year after year went by, the last sun of the day
the last question utters on the western sea-shore,
in the silent evening
Who are you? he gets no answer.
(Tagore: Rogashajjai)
~Sun peeping from the snow at the eastern valley of Tiger Hills~
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Here lies the ocean of peace,
Helmsman, launch the boat.
You will always be the comrade.
Take, O take him to your heart.
In the path of the Infinitewill shine the “Dhruba-tara”. (North Star)
Giver of freedom, your forgiveness, and your mercy
will be wealth inexhaustible
in the eternal journey.
May the mortal bonds perish,
May the vast universe take him in its arms,
And may he know in his fearless heart
The great unknown.
(Tagore: Sesh Lekha)
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For Buddha, Samsara is a vicious cycle of birth and death.
According to him, beginning and end of world is within Samsara.
As the part and vigor are relative it does not make any sense
to single out anything as the beginning.
Whatever speculation we make regarding the origin of the world,
there is no absolute truth in our notion.
~The revolving prayer rods from a monastry in Darjeeling~
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One day a disciple called Malunkyaputta asked Buddha
to explain the origin of universe.
He threatened to leave Buddha’s principle if he failed to explain.
Buddha calmly explained that it is of no effect
to himif Malunkyaputta followed him or not,
as the truth did not need any one’s testimonial.
Then Buddha said that he would not discuss the origin of universe,
for him gaining knowledge about the past
and the future is a waste of time,
and man’s aim is to liberate himself from the present.
--A snap from outside the Ghoom monastry, Darjeeling.--
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To illustrate this, Buddha related the tale
of a man who was shot by a poisoned arrow.
The idiotic man rejected to have the arrow detached
until he found out all about the person who shot it.
By the time his followers discovered these pointless facts,
the man was dead.
Similarly, our immediate task is to attain Nirvana,
not to worry about our beginnings.
~another snap from Ghoom monastry~
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The ‘worshipping’ at the Buddha image
is quite a different matter.
Buddhists revere the image of the Buddha
as a gesture to the greatest, wisest, most benevolent,
compassionate and holy man who has ever lived in this world.
It is a historical fact that this great man actually lived in this world
and has done a great service to mankind.
The worship of the Buddha really means paying homage,
veneration and devotion to Him and what He represents,
and not to the stone or metal figure.
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Life so striking, a heart so chaste and pious,
a mind so profound and liberal,
a character so moving and noble –
such an ideal life, such a concerned spirit,
such a quiet mind, such a serene personality
is really worthy of reverence, worthy of tribute
and worthy of submission.
Buddha was one of the highest perfections of mankind
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Some answers which the Buddha gave to the queries
had close parallels to the kind responses
which are given in nuclear science.
According to Robert Oppenheimer, ‘If we ask, for instance,
whether the position of the electron remains the same,
we must say ‘no’; if we ask whether it is in motion,
we must say ‘no’.
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Buddha has given such answers when interrogated
as to the conditions of a man’s self after his death;
but they are not familiar answers in accordance with the tradition
of seventeenth and eighteenth century science.’
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Women’s position in Buddhism is unique.
Buddha gave women full freedom
to participate in a religious life.
Buddha was the first religious Teacher who gave
this religious freedom to women.
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Before the Buddha, women’s duties
had been restricted to the kitchen;
women were not even allowed to enter any temple
or to recite any religious scripture.
‘When one’s mind is well concentrated and wisdom never fails,
does the fact of being a woman make any difference?’
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Agra Diary

Situated 30kms away from the present day city of Agra-
Fatehpur Sikri, was once a small village,
but it holds a captivating tale behind its being
the capital of Mughal Emperor Akbar.
Legend says, Akbar, who had no son,
decided to seek the blessings
of Shaikh Salim Chisti who used to reside in the village, Sikri.
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The saint prophesied that Akbar would have three sons and
soon the saint’s foretelling came true and Akbar was blessed
with his first son Salim, whom he named after the saint.
Akbar was so glad that he decided to build his new capital near Sikri
He renamed it Fatehabad (and ultimately Fatehpur)
meaning ‘city of victory’.
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Water was a scarce item at Sikri
and the short splendor of this city came to an end,
when Akbar had to move to Lahore.
The dumped city then gradually witnessed the signs of
administrative neglect and never recuperated its gone grandeur.
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The Khas Mahal palace, here stands apart
from other Mughal architectures
Its Indian style of finishing and the pleasure
of Persian dignity can be felt.
The handsomely cut bell shaped pedestals and
elephant head columns of the complex
are the features that give it a colossal dignity and royalty.
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Large number of architectural treasures
that ornate the city, with effortlessly-
varied colours of red and pink
are the best treasures of the Mughal creativity.
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Designed with costly stones and marble, Buland Darwaza,
the semi-octagonal shaped massive triumphal arch
,is on the southern wall of the courtyard.
It celebrates Akbar’s conquest of Gujarat.
This 176 feet towering is the most brilliant of its kind
in the complete series of Mughal design in India.
Modest decoration with calligraphy contains a famous line:
’The world is but a bridge: Pass over but build no houses on it’
The Buland Darwaza commands the landscape for miles.
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Akbar was uneducated, how ever he took a keen interest
in literature, architecture, and the arts.
He has the reputation of being a very open-minded ruler,
and the buildings and environ at Fatehpur Sikri
blended both Islamic and Hindu styles.
The whole atmosphere at Sikri reflects the faith founded by Akbar,
Din-e-ilahi, very short-lived religion marred with controversy
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As you take a walk inside the barren palaces and halls,
the great majesty and excellence of the Mughals
slowly unfold in front of you.
Just as the light that creeps into the
interior of this royal window
peeping secretly into the mysteries
of the historic yesterdays
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Saint Chisti’s tomb is built on a marble platform
higher from ground level and the cenotaph
inside the mausoleum is enclosed by white marble screens
adorned with exquisite lattice work.
In the middle of The Emperor’s Courtyard this tomb is crowded
by Childless women, particularly those without a male kid.
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The walls of the verandah are filled with
holy inscriptions from the Koran.
There is also a ritual of knotting a thread
at the windows of this ‘dargah’ to fulfill the wishes.
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Queens and princess on the top terraces enjoyed the cool breeze
and watched splendid view of Sikri fortifications and
the town huddled at the foot of the ridge.
‘Panch Mahal’ the Palace of 5 storeys,
also known as ‘Badgir’, the wind tower,
is an extraordinary structure, entirely columnar;
consisting of four storeys of decreasing size.
The pillars support the whole structure.
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Fatehpur Sikri is a monumental mistake,
it leaves you in a state of wonder
An amazing amount of effort must have gone
into carving these splendid palaces,
every inch carved in painstaking detail,
all that effort and wealth that was spent
was inhabited only for less than 20 years,
as Akbar left to Lahore.
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Back to the city of Agra:
An elegant poetry of coloured stone decorate
set into convoluted prototype of flowers and Arabic prayer
with the faultless rhythmic symmetry on each tower,
composed in a pitch of splendor, poise and peace.
This marble magnum opus, India’s most photographed view,
even when the eyes are closed, an astonishing cherish able moment.
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“My world will light its hundred different lamps with thy flame
and place them before the altar of thy temple.
No, I will never shut the doors of my senses.
The delights of sight and hearing and touch will bear thy delight.
Yes, all my illusions will burn into illumination of joy,
and all my desires ripen into fruits of love”
Tagore : Gitanjali
–Taj, the jewel and pride of India–
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Urban India’s water bodies were always clogged with dirt.
We cleaned our house holds but not our minds
and persistently competed to add our share of rubbish
even to the historic streams and later lament on them.
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Water conservation and environmental agencies are still mocked
by the industrial houses on the northern banks of Yamuna,
who flooded the sacred river with tons of
toxic waste over a period of time,
to leave this great river in shackles, a view from the back side of Taj
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A startling sight, we Indians were not allowed to put on footwear
any where inside the Taj complex,
but surprisingly these foreign nationals
were spotted with a unique display on their feet.
All it was a sack kind of stuff tied at the bottom
to protect from the hard ground!
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Amritsar Dairy

The seeds of Amritsar were laid in 1577
when the fourth Sikh Guru Ram Das took notice of a water pool
in the area that had healing powers.
He instructed his son and descendant Guru Arjan Dev
to erect a temple at the spot,
which would be the hub of the Sikh religion.
Guru Arjan Dev laid the foundations of the city of Ramdaspur in 1588
and the temple complex was completed in 1601.
The Mughal emperor Akbar is said to have donated
the land around the temple after paying off the local Jat farmers.
Arjan Dev, who had compiled the Adi Granth
or holy text of the Sikhs,
placed it in the temple grounds,
which came to be known as the Harmandir (Temple of God).
–The Golden Temple complex, Amritsar–
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Amritsar has witnessed a bloody struggle for survival,
over the centuries.
This city was invariably faced with menaces
from both Muslim and Hindu rulers.
Guru Hargobind is said to have equipped the city and
he accepted only offerings of weapons from disciples.
They were used for defence of the temple town.
When Salim, the younger son of Akbar took over,
Arjan Dev was posed to adapt Islam as sacrament for his goodwill.
The Guru declined, and was tortured and killed by Salim,
who had then become the ruler - Emperor Jahangir.
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The turban is Guru’s gift to Sikhs. It is how they crown themselves
as the Singhs and Kaurs who sit on the throne
of commitment to their own higher consciousness.
For men and women alike, this projective identity conveys
royalty, grace, and uniqueness.
It is a signal to others that they live in the image of Infinity
and are dedicated to serving all.
The turban doesn’t represent anything except complete commitment.
When they choose to stand out by tying their turban,
they stand fearlessly as one single person
standing out from six billion people.
It is a most outstanding act.
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A Sikh (the word means ‘disciple’) is a person who follows
the teachings of the ten Sikh Gurus and the Guru Granth Sahib
(the eternal Guru in the form of Holy Scriptures).
The Sikh Gurus were prophets whom Sikhs believe were sent by God
to deliver his message and to lead people on the true path to God.
Sikhs treat the Gurus with the same respect
as they would treat the one almighty God.
The Golden Temple sits on a rectangular platform,
surrounded by a pool of water called the Amrit Sarovar
from which the City is named.

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The turban of a Sikh is his or her primary identifying feature.
It is a statement of belonging to the Guru,
and it is a statement of the inner commitment
of the one who wears it.
The uncut hair and the turban are
a declaration to live in accordance with,
and if necessary die in support of, the Teachings of the Sikh Gurus
and the Siri Guru Granth Sahib.
Regardless of the circumstances or
the type of employment or activity,
a Sikh keeps his or her form and identity as a Sikh.
Clothes are modest, and exemplary of the identity
and character of a soldier-saint.
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Every Sikh baptized as Khalsa vows to wear the Five “K’s”:
‘Kesh’, ‘Kangha’, ‘Katchera’, ‘Kara’ and ‘Kirpan’.
Kesh is the uncut hair and beard, as given by God,
to sustain him or her in higher consciousness;
and the turban is the crown of spirituality.
Kangha is a A wooden comb to properly groom the hair
as a symbol of cleanliness.
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Katchera is a specially made cotton wear
as a reminder of the commitment to purity.
Kara is a steel circle, worn on the wrist, signifying bondage
to Truth and freedom from every other entanglement.
Kirpan is the sword, with which the Khalsa is committed
to righteously defend the fine line of the Truth.
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The passage of terror – the only entrance to the Jallianwala Bagh,
the seat of one of the nastiest carnages
perpetrated by the British Raj.
People gathered to protest against the
‘Rowlatt Act’ were tried suppress
by the Governor of the Punjab Province - O’Dwyer.
He imposed a ban on public assemblies and
The ferocious Panjabis known for their valour,
in defiance of this order met in a rectangular piece of land,
called Jallianwala Bagh to mark the anniversary
of the birth of the ‘Khalsa panth’
General Dyer,
who was charged to enforce law and order in the region,
marched up to the ground with his troops
and jammed this narrow entrance and opened fire on the gathering
without any warning on thousands of
innocent men, women and children.
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Here it goes…..
The writings on the wall, the writings of the past,
the writings of the human rage over his fellow beings.
Here history try not to suffocate, the generations to come
with their inward act of submissive foolishness.
This wall speaks a lot…
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“Replica of life
created by life and form will go,
Leaving behind
an illusion of light and shade”
–Tagore–
(the Amar Jyothi at Jallianwala Bagh)
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Even today, the walls of the Jallianwala Bagh bear
the bullet holes where people were mercilessly butchered.
Some people even tried to escape the firing
by jumping into a well in the complex, but drowned and died.
The British tried to suppress this incident,
but it created a furore in the entire nation.
As a result, Mahatma Gandhi gave a call for Civil disobedience,
which escalated to a mass movement
and forced the British out of India.
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Around the 14th or 15th Century,
Punjabi wheat farmers danced and sang
songs about village life to help pass the time
while working in the fields.
With time, ’Bhangra’ became part of
harvest celebrations at Baisakhi festivals,
as the sight of their crops growing invigorated the farmers.
From there the dance quickly moved through
all divisions of class and education,
eventually becoming a part of weddings,
and other important occasions.
–A shop for music instruments,
a view from a narrow bylane of Amritsar town-
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In 1984 there was a bloody combat,
between the Indian administration
and Sikh combative groups in Amritsar.
Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, a militant Sikh leader
gave a call for separate nationhood,
which spread like wildfire throughout the state.
In June 1984, hounded by the army and police,
a heavily armed Bhindranwale
and his followers holed up in the Golden Temple complex.
An iron willed Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India
asked the army to roll tanks into the complex
and open fire on the militants.
A state of panic was followed and many were mowed down by bullets.
It is believed that the army, in a state of high adrenalin confusion
fired on the Akal Takht, the seat of Sikh religious authority.
Bhindranwale was killed,
and so were thousands of his men and soldiers.
Though the temple was rebuilt back to its original glory,
the scars in the minds of the wounded Sikh people remained.
As a result of this operation, the Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi,
who had ordered the army action,
was assassinated by her own bodyguards.
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