Idyllic Thoughts

There is something greater and purer than what the mouth utters. Silence illuminates our souls, whispers to our hearts, and brings them together. Silence separates us from ourselves, makes us sail the firmament of spirit, and brings us closer to Heaven; it makes us feel that bodies are no more than prisons and that this world is only a place of exile.  Every beauty and greatness in this world is created by a single thought or emotion inside a man. Every thing we see today, made by past generation, was, before its appearance, a thought in the mind of a man or an impulse in the heart of a woman. The revolutions that shed so much blood and turned men’s minds toward liberty were the idea of one man who lived in the midst of thousands of men. The devastating wars which destroyed empires were a thought that existed in the mind of an individual. The supreme teachings that changed the course of humanity were the ideas of a man whose genius separated him from his environment. A single th...

There is no power above love, Nor do we know what it is about; It is like a raging fire, O Ghalib; When you want to light it, it refuses to light; When you want to end it, It refuses to be put out. - Asadullah Khan Ghalib

"May you live in interesting times." Believe me. it is not a good wish. It is said to be a Chinese curse, translated into English. But what does it mean? May be you will understand when you read another Chinese proverb "It's better to be a dog in a peaceful time than be a man in a chaotic period". Here 'interesting' does not mean its usual meaning. It means a chaotic period, a period of unrest. Nice. We can curse our enemies in the guise of wishing. Another part of the above curse is still interesting: "May you find what you are looking for." You may be puzzled as to why this good wish is being called a curse. Think a while. You may get the person for whom who were waiting and searching for a long time. In the happiness that you reached your aim, you may forget the path you walked on to reach the person. You may not remember the sweetness of the travel. And when you lose that person for whom you travelled all the way, it seems the end of roa...

ನಿನ್ನೆ ಒಂದು ದೇವಸ್ಥಾನಕ್ಕೆ ಹೋಗಿದ್ದೆ. ಅಲ್ಲಿ ದೇವರ ಎದುರು ನಿಂತಾಗ ಏನನ್ನ ಕೇಳಲಿ ಅನ್ನಿಸಿತು. ಚಿಕ್ಕವಳಿದ್ದಾಗ ದೇವಸ್ಥಾನಕ್ಕೆ ಹೋದಾಗೆಲ್ಲ ಪ್ರಪಂಚದಲ್ಲಿರುವವರಿಗೆಲ್ಲಾ ಒಳ್ಳೇದು ಮಾಡು ಅಂತ ಕೇಳ್ತಾ ಇದ್ದೆ. ಈಗಲೂ ಯಾಕೆ ಹಾಗೆ ಕೇಳಬಾರದು ಅನ್ನಿಸ್ತು. ಆದರೆ ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ different ಆಗಿ. ಒಳ್ಳೆಯವರಿಗೆ ಒಳ್ಳೇದು ಮಾಡು ಅಂದುಕೊಂಡೆ. ಆದರೆ ಕೆಟ್ಟವರಿಗೆ ತಾನೇ ದೇವರ help ಬೇಕಾಗಿರೋದು? ಇನ್ನು ಉಳಿಯೋದು ಒಳ್ಳೆತನ ಕೆಟ್ಟತನ ಎರಡೂ ಇಲ್ಲದವರು. ಅವರಿಬ್ಬರಿಗಿಂತ ಜಾಸ್ತಿ ಇವರಿಗೆ ದೇವರ ಕೃಪೆ ಬೇಕು ಯಾಕೆಂದರೆ they have something missing in them. A vitality that builds our character. Because if you have a strong character, you will turn either towards good, bad or both in small amounts. ಆ vitality ಇಲ್ಲದಿದ್ದರೆ ನಮ್ಮಲ್ಲಿ personality ಇರೋದಿಲ್ಲ. ಅಂತಹ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿಗಳಿಗೆ ಬೇಕಾಗಿರೋದು ದೇವರು. ಯಾಕೆಂದರೆ strong ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿತ್ವ ಇರುವ ಮನುಷ್ಯ, ಅವನು ಕೆಟ್ಟವನೆ ಆಗಿರಲಿ ಒಳ್ಳೆಯವನೇ ಆಗಿರಲಿ, ಅವನ ಜೇವನ ಯಾರ ಸಹಾಯವೂ ಇಲ್ಲದೆ ಅವನೇ ರೂಪಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತಾನೆ. ಆದರೆ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿತ್ವವೇ ಇಲ್ಲದಿರುವ ಮನುಷ್ಯ ಬೆನ್ನುಮೂಳೆ ಇಲ್ಲದ ಅಕಶೇರುಕದ ತರ. ಅಲ್ಲವೇ?

In Kundapur, we went to see a nearby river which was too picturesque to be described. The trees kissed the water as if standing in a mangrove forest. Seeing a temple across, we crossed the river in a boat and reached the temple only to see that it belonged to a daiva, as they call it in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi. The god had come on the body of the priest and he was dancing with a sword. My young cousin, who had never seen such a scene before with a priest dressed in cloth made of gejje, stood gaping at him even when he danced dangerously close to her. I came out only to see a hen with throat cut, jumping up in air writhing in pain, to take its last long breath and fall dead. What do any amount of literacy, education, sophistication, wealth and power amount to? Nothing, when it comes to following such rituals in fear of god, if not true devotion. The hen's jumping in pain is still dancing in front of my eyes. Why are people so desperate to get what they want at the cost of other l...

I have just returned from a short trip; a trip long pending. I went to Kundapur and Hallihole, a tiny village at the end of Udupi District, flanked by forest on three sides and a beautiful river on the other. Travelling to Kundapur, I revisited the place where I studied for six years; the school and college on the serene hill in the middle of nowhere and felt like once again walking down the slope with books in one hand and my close friend's hand in the other. We felt like being in the top of the world with our little secrets and lots of laughter. I wonder where those days went. It was in the middle of the night, around 1 or 2 am, when I passed my school. I remembered the ghost stories that we used to frighten each other with, about the school as it was said to be built on a graveyard. The blooming of a life above the dead. Nice. Isn't it? Coming to ghosts, there was a dilapidated house a few kilometres after the school on the roadside. It had mosses and small plants on its ste...

Today I realised that people always don't mean what they say and say what they mean. It is up to us to understand the meaning behind their words and act accordingly. But what if we understand them wrongly? Then it is our turn to get surprised when we finally realise what they always meant. So how do you understand what somebody actually means? I don't know. I have failed in analysing people and admitting it is a great step towards losing my ego. But the lesson also turned out to be quite hurtful. After all, falling is quite natural for those who walk, right?