Happy Losar

www.tibetlink.com: "Happy Losar (Tibetan New Year). Tibetans all over the world celebrated Tibetan New Year Which falls on February 9th 2005, The Year of the Wood Hen. The word Losar is a Tibetan word for New Year. LO means year and SAR means new. "

Made it to Bylakuppe right in time to celebrate Losar. Stayed inside Sera Jey monastery.
Two days, 525 Kms on bike, 4 Tibetan monasteries, 10 Km of walk on starriest of nights I have seen.

Crash course in Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

All Pictures
Truck Load of Monks and Monkeys (Female monks are actually called just Nuns) headed for the big new year bash

BLACK

Was discussing the other day about three "Black" movies releasing back to back (Black Friday might never come to theatres) when I suddenly realise that every single thing that I bought through the past one year is black (or gray or dark blue that Mom refuses to recognize as anything but BLACK). Two black Sweatshirts, One black trouser, One Black Kurta, another almost black kurta, Two black T-Shirts (One saying "Life Sucks, Suck it back"), one black backpack saying "Shit happens"
Is there a pattern?

Intelligent Design

A theory I always believed but had trouble puting into words, without dragging "God" or "Super-Natural" into it.

An Introduction to Intelligent Design: "What is Intelligent Design?
Something has been intelligently designed when it is the end product of a thoughtful process that had that product in mind. In other words, intelligent design originates in a mind.
"

The Theory:
The theory of intelligent design holds that certain features of the universe and living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, and are not the result of an undirected, chance-based process such as Darwinian evolution.

Bhor

Bhor— a Sufi journey, is about the bird's flight in the perspective of its abode on the shady branch below, the sky above and lurking threat of the bird catcher around, again drawing a simile with life.

bhor:

"katal bhi aisa hua ke panchhi mar ke maala-maal
allah mere chidibaaz ne aisa phenka jaal
katra katra aasman hai
boojhi asal udaan.................."

Went for the Unity Concert on Friday.
(Thanks, Cristabel for the passes and Usha for "VIP" seats)
Indian Ocean were absolute "God level"
Sounds as Indian as they get and Lyric divine.
Bhor is a song from their second (I think) album Jhini after Kandisa.
(Just saw Kandisa on number 5 on Indi Pop top 10 rack at Music World. Over 10 years after the album was recorded. No video, No radio performance, Not a single TV appearance. How's that for Ageless Music)

Made Asha buy Black Friday (That's a movie based on Mumbai blasts).
Now, playing "Aray ruk jaa re banday" for 5th time in one hour.

PS: Strings were there too. That's all there's to say about their performance.

Life and Death

To Aditi, who messaged me this the night before her final semister MBA paper.

Penguin Books India > Free Chapter > Life of Pi: "When you've suffered a great deal in life, each additional pain is both unbearable and trifling. My life is like a memento mori painting from European art: there is always a grinning skull at my side to remind me of the folly of human ambition. I mock this skull. I look at it and I say, You've got the wrong fellow. You may not believe in life, but I don't believe in death. Move on! The skull snickers and moves ever closer, but that doesn't surprise me. The reason death sticks so closely to life isn't biological necessity. It's envy. Life is so beautiful that death has fallen in love with it, a jealous, possessive love that grabs at what it can. But life leaps over oblivion lightly, losing only a thing or two of no importance, and gloom is but the passing shadow of a cloud."
~Life of Pi: by Yann Martel

My Other Blog

Let's Stop Hatching Eggs!:
...and Seize the Day!
Actually OUR new blog.
Read the Mission Statement

Feeling blue? It's January 24th!

Feeling blue? It's January 24th!- The Times of India: "experts have announced that January 24, Monday, would be the most depressing day of the year. "

I have decided to celebrate "The most depressing day"
Will leave "The most depressing card" on Asha's desk.
Thought of "Most depressing lunch" and then thought of cafeteria food.

Have a Happy Most Depressing Day :)