Atheists

"Some people say God died during the Partition in 1947. He may have died in 1971 during the war. Or he may have died yesterday here in Pondicherry in an orphanage. That's what some people say, Pi. When I was your age, I lived in bed, racked with polio. I asked myself every day, 'Where is God? Where is God? Where is God?' God never came. It wasn't God who saved me--it was medicine. Reason is my prophet and it tells me that as a watch stops, so we die. It's the end. If the watch doesn't work properly, it must be fixed here and now by us. One day we will take hold of the means of production and there will be justice on earth."

"This was all a bit much for me. The tone was right--loving and brave --but the details seemed bleak. I said nothing. It wasn't for fear of angering Mr. Kumar. I was more afraid that in a few words thrown out he might destroy something that I loved. What if his words had the effect of polio on me? What a terrible disease that must be if it could kill God in a man"

Life of Pi, Yann Martel

Expectation!!!

All excited about my weekend visit to Pondi, plans cancelled, lamest of lame excuses by a friend. Get invited by kids for Christmas, tied shoelaces for Kiran, Elisa and Alex.
Whole of east coast hit by tsunami. Me in Bangalore. Called up Pondi and BBSR.
Started for Sri Sri's campus, took a different turn, landed at some lake in the middle of nowhere. Birds, Blue and Quiet. Peaceful.
Trousers wet and rolled up, finally land at "Art of Living", smile at everyone extracting just one "Jai gurudev" with an affected simper.
Hard work, percentile of 99.18 and not a single call.
Disappointed?
Waiting for the positive to surface...










(Snaps taken with my phone :)

Survived

If you get my drift....: Apposition#comments: "Constricted francophile byways. The barren sea, the sodium winds of its womb, a dilapidated jetty holding on to hope. Walking within. Jaundiced bars of bonhomie - some canopied, some celestial. Apparitions, renegades, saints and the adolescent moon. Long shadows and dark skins.

Pondicherry."

Over a hundred dead.
I survived.
So did Le Cafe, and Qualite Bar.

Yellowing pages of an old book

A thousand years, you said,
as our hearts melted.
I look at the hand you held,
and the ache is hard to bear.
~Lady Heguri
(Translated from Japanese)

Is there anything wrong?

One step closer....

Was able to stand one full Kareina Kapoor song without nausiating.
Have to do it one more time, with my eyes open, and I can write to Vatican.
My application for sainthood.
~Blessed Neel

PS: The world calls her Mother, why bother for sainthood?
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/10/19/1066502068556.html

Old Man and The Fort

Walking through Gingi Fort we stop near a small temple in front of a huge cliff.
A stone in front of the temple has four human heads, A ram (male sheep) and a buffalo.
Klaus points at it with his umbrella to give his interpretation of it.
(Drawing parallels from account given by an early English traveler, some other place some other time)

"Every year one person was selected to be the Human sacrifice. Supposedly for the prosperity of the entire tribe. The chosen one would live the rest of the year like a king. And then on THE day, he would take a bath put on best of jewelry, climb the cliff and calmly jump. On to the stone below. Head first . Crash. Right in front of the whole tribe."

We go "Oh my god!!!" looking at the distance between the top of the cliff and the rock below.

"He is doing it for the god. For the prosperity of his people. He is happy doing it. HE IS HAPPY. One man jumps of the top of a cliff. Another one spends his retired life 5000 miles from home measuring bricks of a fort under hot sun day in day out. HAPPY. Now lets move."