Addiction of the Yellow…

We are not talking about gold here. Nor are we talking about the sun. Today, I want to tell you about my love for Citrus Limon, popularly known as the Indian lemon/limbu/nimbu.

Some of us have eating habits which are more Bohemian than others. I for one, am not ashamed of my lemon lust. I squeeze it over everything that is not sweet- right from the regular vegetables, to stuff like Maggi, omelette, papad. Heck, if I’ve ordered a pizza home, I’ll squeeze lemon on it. There’s no escape for the burger either- it’ll be opened up, and the patty will be bathed with liberal amounts of lemon juice. Now I can feel most of you squirming at the thought of this. Set your teeth on the edge with sourness, did I?

But I don’t mind. For me, no food is good enough with no lemon on it. Mind you, I won’t settle for pre-squeezed lemon juice. I ought to have the satisfaction of having squeezed it myself, with my own hand. I easily consume around four full lemons everyday. Two each for every meal. Three, if the two ain’t juicy enough. And this habit (addiction?) of mine has been there ever since I have. The story goes, that when mom had me in her tummy, she’d feel nauseated if she ate anything except Batatyachya Kachrya (sort of potato fingers, shallow fried, and with red masala on it) and toasted bread- with lemon squeezed on it. That went on for all 9 months, I’m told. So no surprise that the tang caught up, once I saw the light of the day. No limbu? Fine. No food.

This lemon lust of mine forced dad to do something about it. With lemons costing around Rs 2 or at least Re 1 per piece, on an average, I’d consume Rs. 2,190 worth of lemons per year. And that is only a conservative estimate. Poor dad went all about our garden, planting lemon seeds here and there. But none grew into even the smallest of saplings. This went on for many years, and soon it turned into a family joke. Then finally, the Gods smiled on my dad. A lemon tree randomly sprouted in the garden, in a place where dad confessed to have never planted any seeds.

Dad's lemon tree

For that matter, for some months, we didn’t even realize that it was a lemon tree- till the heavenly yellow started shining from its branches. Ok, the lemons in the pic are still green, because the yellow ones have already been plucked.

Sure enough, this strange eating habit of mine is the butt of many jokes, from both family and friends. When I go out to dine with my friends, the lemon bowl is always passed on to me, with much ado. Anyway, by now, I am an expert in lemons. I can tell just by looking at it whether it is good or bad, juicy or dry, or whether it was dropped on its head as a child. Preferences- bright yellow with thin, flawless skin.

All of us have our secrets, and I am glad to have put this on the table. Don’t worry – my enamel is in great shape (because I don’t just  suck on lemons.) And if it wasn’t, they make toothpaste to help that now. If anything, I’m probably warding off kidney stones. I love easy success.

P.S.: The second link is also the reason I SO want to get into Texas A&M. They got a lot of lemons there. BTW, had my exams going on, so couldn’t post for a while. Cheers !

The Diwali that was..

So its Diwali. This post should probably have been up 2 days back, when Diwali started, but anyway. For starters, let me confess – I’m finding this Diwali pretty much drab. Nothing much to do, except EATING sweets, and procrastinating about when to start off with STUDYING for the practical

But it wasn’t always like this. When I think of Diwali, the first image that comes to my mind is of my grandfather- Daddy, as everyone in the house calls him. As a kid, it used to be somewhat of a ritual- going with Daddy to the shop nearby to buy the all important firecracker gun, or the phatakyachi banduk as it is called in Marathi. Which Daddy used to buy with his trademark statement, “Look Sunny, the gun has been bought,” as if to put the act of buying the gun on stone and call upon the shopkeeper to bear witness. He even used to lend me his bottle of ‘Soldier Oil’, for keeping the gun in a working condition. This used to be like a week before the actual start of the festival…

And then my friends and I used to go all over the place, running behind each other with our guns going thak  thak thak. Sounds silly, does it? But it used to be real fun. Then just 2-3 days before Dhantrayodashi, the first day of Diwali, I used to drag Daddy along to buy me firecrackers – Sutali bomb, Chimni bomb, Panpatti, Lavangi- you name it, and I’ve burst it. So during the four days of Diwali, all the neighborhood kids used to gather on the street in the evening, pool up stuff and burst loads of firecrackers. At night, we used to set off rockets from my terrace, my place being one of the tallest.  Sometimes my grandmother, Aaji used to join in. Always the daredevil, her specialty was  to take a incense stick in one hand, a Lavangi Maal (firecrackers on a string) in another, and then she used to light it up and throw the Lavangi far off.

Ah- I’m getting nostalgic now. Life’s so serious these days. I mean, you can’t even think of such a simple thing as bursting firecrackers without thinking of the pollution it causes in the same breath. And then as a adult you have all these issues- professional, personal and what not, to worry about.

Sometimes, I wish I were a kid….

Astrology- Blame it on the Stars !

There was this article in the Newspapers the other day. Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti- an organization that fights superstitions in society, threw the gauntlet at the astrologers in Pune- predict the results of the assembly elections correctly and win Rs. 21 lakh. Given the beeline that politicians make for visiting astrologers during election time, must say- 21 lakh is no big deal ! And even if the astrologers lose the bet, I’m pretty sure that its not going to reduce their customers or anything.

I have always been intrigued by Astrology- or rather, by people’s belief in it. Nearly all people I know believe it at some level or other. Some perfectly sane people actually visit the astrologer ; while for some others, it may be restricted to reading the daily horoscope.

Human beings have always had an inherent curiosity about the future. For tens of thousands of years man has looked up at the night sky and asked himself, “What does it all mean?” Whenever someone is in difficulty ; he is curious to know when his miseries will end. Many answers have been suggested. One of the oldest is provided by astrology: the belief that the stars and planets have controlling influences on our lives. Sometimes, its not just stars and planets- it may be tarot cards ; or may take the form of palmistry; bone throwing, anyone ?

For me, there is something innately senseless that I find in astrology. For example, if you are talking about predictions based on stars – All astrologers say that there are 3 types of astrological signs for each person-
1) Your Sun Sign: Based on the position of the sun at the time of the year you were born in. Simply, the ‘daily horoscope’ in the newspapers. Astrologers claim that your Sun sign describes your basic ego.
2) Your Moon sign: Based on the phase of the moon at the time of your birth- takes into account the time, date and place you were born in- your Patrika. The Moon supposedly symbolizes your inner self, the part of you that responds from habit, feelings, and instinct. Your emotional inner self, known only to you, and your near- and-dear ones.
3) Your Ascendant/ Rising sign: It is literally the sign that was rising on the Eastern horizon of the sky in the place and at the moment of your birth. Now this one is supposed to describe the facade you show the rest of the world.

Given that all the above are true, how can the ‘Daily Horoscope’ guy tell me how my day is going to be, just looking at my sun sign ? Who is gonna consider my moon and ascendant sign ? When someone looks at my palm, and tells me how long I am going to live, more rational questions jump to my mind. Suppose that *God forbid* an earthquake occurs somewhere, and all people living in that area are killed. Then does it mean that at that instant, Death was written in everybody’s horoscope, or on each one’s palm ? It can’t get more ridiculous and far-fetched than this.

On a personal level, I do believe that certain things, which are not always in your control, influence your life. It may be the stars and planets, who knows ? But for one thing- I firmly believe that no person is smart enough to look at my horoscope or my palm or my signs and accurately tell me what is going to happen in the future. No way! One thing that I particularly dislike about astrology is- if you happen to read your horoscope or something, it starts playing on your mind. You start relating things that were supposed to happen and things that actually happened, and then make imaginary connections between them. A fool’s pursuit, if you ask me. And its rather convenient too- failed to do what you wanted to? Blame it on the Stars

At any rate, the ‘Daily Horoscope’ column is a fun read- but just that !

Hyperlinks not getting saved when you convert word to pdf ?

I had this frustrating experience the other day- I usually use CutePDF writer to convert my word .doc documents to .pdf .

Problem: Suppose you write a direct web address in word i.e. starting with http or www, then the address gets automatically hyper-linked in the word document. When you convert this word file into .pdf using CutePDF, these type of hyperlinks get retained. But now suppose you highlight some text in word, then right click on it, and say – ‘hyperlink’, then this hyperlink will be shown in the word document ; but if you convert the .doc to .pdf, then these type of hyperlinks are not gonna be retained – you will just get a blue underlined text in the PDF file, but when you click on it , nothing happens (the cursor doesn’t turn to a pointer). The same thing happened with many other pdf writers that I downloaded.

Solution:  As much as I fear the sort of monopoly that Google has on the web, must say- some things about it are just too cool. Coming back to the solution, use Google Docs. All you need is a gmail account. Just upload your .doc file. Then edit it if you want in the editor (the word processor has some issues- like the line spacing of ’single’ in MS Word is approx. equal to ‘double’ in Google Docs. Then click
—> File —> Download File as —> PDF

Cool na ?

On another note, the Indian cricket coach, Gary Kirsten took a page out of Vatsyayana’s famous book yesterday . Pah, i’m sure his ‘have lots of sex’ advice must have had all the Indian cricketer’s blushing…lol…shhhhh… we are Indians, you know 

Overseas…

Hey there…

Not posted for a while now. Been really busy this week. Doing what ?  For starters, half the times these days i find myself on some US university’s website, checking out the requirements and trying to summarize the application process. Seriously, why don’t all the universities get together and come up with some standard format for their websites ? Lol…. when i finished with my GRE and TOEFL, i thought my job was done . Can’t be farther from the truth.

Well, actually, its not as if i haven’t gotten no time to blog at all. It’s just that my writing quota these days gets filled up after writing Statements of Purpose and related stuff. And if i’m not writing- as in, typing, i am physically writing my assignments. Just get too tired at the end of the day.

Meanwhile, a research paper that i had co-authored got selected for an international conference – out of the blue. Got an invitation to orally present it at Dubai. The registration fees and all are a bit of a pricey proposition, but still will be going. Guess the experience will be worth it.

Moreover, never even been to an international airport . And here i am thinking of applying to universities abroad. For that matter, i’ve never really stayed out of Pune all by myself for more than a week. When i was in the 4th standard or something, i’d once been to a holiday-camp with my friends. Did not shed a tear while at the camp due to home-sickness or some such; on the other hand, while coming back home from the camp, started weeping uncontrollably in the bus . ( I repeat i was in 4th grade) Because i’d probably never meet the friends i’d newly made. And i was right about that too. There was this guy- Krishna i think. We’d exchanged phone numbers and all- he was from Mumbai. But when he called at home, i picked up the phone, and hung up on him- just like that, dunno why !

Hmmm….coming to think of it- i AM a little weird .

Some things to say…

Hmmm… once again I find myself not wanting to write a huge post or anything, but just getting my observations and thoughts down here-

YSR Reddy was a dynamic politician in his own right who had never lost any election that he stood for. I don’t know many details about him, as I was never really directly affected by his governance. Anyway- the fateful day of the helicopter crash, the forecast had indicated bad weather. Apparently Reddy was headed for a surprise visit to a village in Chittoor for direct interaction with people and insisted that the pilots fly him to his destination despite the bad weather conditions. When I think of the tragedy that took place because of that decision, its not just Reddy I feel sorry for, but also the  pilots who died though it was no fault of theirs. In my opinion, it is fine if a particular politician feels like mixing with the common man and all. But he should take care that he are not jeopardizing the lives of those who are assigned to protect him while trying to be gung-ho.

Rahul Gandhi is someone whom I admire a lot. During the elections, there were a couple of instances where he broke through his own security cordon to interact with people. Call it a genuine gesture, or a publicity stunt. The issue is, by doing such things, he puts the commandos who are assigned to him at even a greater risk than usual. What if some suicide bomber is lurking right there in the crowd, waiting for a chance to get close enough ?  That guy won’t blow himself up if he isn’t sure of hitting his target. When a politician breaks the cordon, this bomber gets a better chance of getting close ; thereby increasing the chances of him blowing himself up, and putting everyone at risk.

On a point that is indirectly related to this- there is often a debate as to whether the politicians should be provided security in the first place. I think they should be. If they aren’t, then they will undoubtedly be targeted more often by terrorists and other miscreants. It is not as if the politician is particularly precious – its just that, when the Prime Minister, Chief Minister or some other minister is killed, it is not just one person who dies – it is the pride of a nation that gets kicked. It is the office that is hit, and not the person. And then common people like me can only watch on the T.V. – like the ridiculousness of ” Chief Minister Lost, 16 hours 17 min. counting ! US asked for help !”

Cya for now…

Ganesh Atharvashirsha

Hey there…

Today is Ganesh Chaturthi; the first day of Ganesh Festival. Ganpati- the elephant God, needs no introduction. I shall try to explain to you the Ganpati Atharvashirsha. Shri Ganpati Atharvashirsha was written by Atharva Rishi, who is said to have had Ganpati Darshan. It is a late Upanishad, which celebrates Ganesha as the embodiment of the entire Brahman, or the universe. As it is originally in Sanskrit, and most people reading my blog can’t read Sanskrit, I shall be typing the words in English.

|| Shri Ganeshaya Namaha ||
Om bhadramkarne bishnunayama devaha
Bhadram pashyemak-shyabhirya jatrah
Sthirai rangai stuvasa stanumbihi
Vyashema devahitam yadayuh
Svastina indro vruddhashravah
Svastina pusha vishvavedaha
Svastinastakshyo arishta nemih
Svastino brihaspatir-dadhatu
Om shanti shanti shantihi |

Atha Ganesh Atharvashirsham vyakhya syamaha ||

Om Namste Ganpataye
Tvameva Pratyaksham Tatvamasi
Tvamev Kevalam Kartasi
Tvamev Kevalam Dhartasi
Tvamev Kevlam Hartasi
Tvamev Sarvam Khalvidam Bramhasi
Tvam Sakshadatmasi Nityam ||1||

Hritam Vachmi
Satyam Vachmi || 2 ||

Ava tvam Mam
Ava Vaktaram
Ava Shrotaram
Ava Dataram
Ava Dhataram
Avanuchanamava Shishyam
Ava Paschatat
Ava Purastat
Avo Uttaratat
Ava Dakshinatat
Ava Chordhvatat
Ava Dharatat
Sarvatomam Pahi Pahi Samantat || 3 ||

Tvam Vangmayastvam Chinmaya
Tvam Anandmayastvam Bramhamaya
Tvam Sachitananda Dvitiyosi
Tvam Pratyaksham Bramhasi
Tvam Jynanmayo Vijyanamayosi || 4 ||

Sarvam Jagadidam Tatvo Jayate
Sarvam Jagadidam Tatvastishtati
Sarvam Jagadidam Tvay Layameshyati
Sarvam Jagadidam Tvayi Pratyeti
Tvam Bhumi Rapo Nalo Nilo Nabha
Tvam Chatvarim Vak Padani || 5 ||

Tvam Gunatraya Atitaha
Tvam Dehatraya Atitaha
Tvam Kalatraya Atitaha
Tvam Muladharastitiyosi Nityam
Tvam Shaktitrayaat akaha
Tvam Yogino Dhayayanti Nityam
Tvam Bramhastvan, Vishnustvam,
Rudrastvam, Indrastvam Agnistvam,
Vayustvam, Suryastvam, Chandramastvam,
Bramhabhur Bhuvasvorom || 6 ||

Ganadim Purvamuccharaya Varnadim Tadanantaram
Anusvaaara Parataraha
Ardhendu Lasitam
Taaaren Hruddam
Etatva Manusva Rupam
Gakarah Purva Rupam
Akaro Madhyama Rupam
Anusvaras Chantya Rupam
Binduruttara Rupam
Nadah Sandhanam
Saishitaa Sandihi
Saisha Ganeshvidhya
Ganak Rishi;
Nichrud Gayatri chandah
Ganpatir devata
Om ‘GANG’ Ganpataye Namah || 7 ||

Ek Dantaya Vid Mahe
Vakratundaya Dhimahi
Tanno Danti Prachodayat || 8 ||

Ek Dantam Chatur Hastam
Pashmam Kusha Dharinam
Radanch Vardam Hastair
Bhibhraanum mushaka-dhvajam
Raktam Lambodaram Shoorpakarnakam
Rakta Vasasamam
Rakta Gandhanu Liptangam
Rakta Pushpaihi supujitam
Bhaktanu Kampinam Devam
Jagat Kaaarana machutam
Avir Bhutamcha Shrustyado,
Prakrute Purushatparam
Evam Dhayayati Yo Nityam,
Sa Yogi Yoginam Varah || 9 ||

Namo Vrat Pataye, Namo Ganapataye
Namah Pramatha patye,
Namste astulambodaraya Ekdantaaya
Vighna Nashine Shiv Sutaya
Shri Varad Murtiye Namah || 10 ||

Let us hear only good with our ears,
See only good with our eyes,
And with the help of these senses,
Spend our whole life serving you;
Lord Indra is our protector,
Lord Pusha (Sun) is our benefactor,
May Garuda be auspicious for us,
And may Devguru grant us success,
Let there be peace everywhere

Now I shall utter the Ganesh Atharvashirshya

Ganesha, the Lord of the Devaganas,
You are the first form of the Bramhatatva to arise
You have alone created this entire universe
You alone can sustain this universe
You alone can destroy this universe
You are the all conquering supreme Lord
Indeed, you are the “ATMA” || 1 ||

I take oath upon the three worlds,
That I speak only the Truth

Protect me
Protect the one who describes you
Protect all who hear about you
Protect the giver of this knowledge
Protect the one who receives it
Protect me & my disciples
Protect me from the obstacles
From the east
From the west,
From the north
From the south
Protect me from above & below
Protect me from all directions

You are the constituent of speech
You are Joy & Immortal Consciousness
You are Truth, Mind & Bliss, incomparable
You are none other than divinity
You are knowledge of all types || 4 ||

All the Universes manifest due to you
All the Universes are sustained by you
All the Universes get destroyed in you
All the Universes gets merged into you
You are Earth, Water, Fire, Air & Sky
You are the 4 types of speech & the root source of sound || 5 ||

You are beyond the 3 gunas;
Beyond the 3 bodies;
Beyond the 3 times
Beyond the 3 states of being
You always reside in the “Muladhara” Chakra
You are the trinity of Power
Sages always Meditate for you
You are the Creator, Sustainer, Destroyer,
The Lord of the 3 worlds, Fire, Air, Sun,
Moon, You are all inclusive & all Pervading

Atharva Rishi then gives us the sacred
Ganesh Vidya. The Letter “GA” is to be enunciated, followed by “NA”. This one word Mantra is then given power by saying “OM”. Knowledge in those days was transmitted orally, so to make it simpler, Atharva Rishi presents a simpler form : “GA” is the first part, “Na” is the middle one and “UM” with a ‘bindu’ is at the end. It is said that this Mantra if pronounced properly,
has the power of revealing Lord Ganesh. The sage who receives the Mantra is Ganaka & the Master is “NICHRUD GAYATRI”. The deity is Ganapati. Om ‘GANG’ Ganapati. ” My salutation to you.”

Pray to the single Tusked Lord,
with a bent Trunk
May He grant knowledge to us || 8 ||

The Lord with 1 tusk and 4 hands ;
Upper right hand carrying a binding rope;
Upper left hand holding goad;
Lower left one carrying a broken tusk
The lower right one to bless us,
The mouse on his banner is also his vehicle.
He is blood red in colour; Pot-Bellied;
He has elephant ears & wears red robes
He is smeared with red sandalwood
And is decorated with red flowers
He is eternally blessing his devotees
And has been existing before the Cosmos
He is beyond “PRAKRITI” & “PURUSHA”
One who prays to him, is a Supreme Yogi

Salutations to you Lord of all Deities, Ganas & all beings,the Post-Bellied one with one tusk who destroys all obstacles, son if Shiva, the divine Lord who grants boons, we bow to you, taking your name ||10||

This is the Atharvashirsha. Actually, the above one is not complete, and the complete ‘Sartha’ Atharvashirsha goes on to describe why you should recite the mantra in the first place. Anyway, you can listen to it here or download it from here.

Have a happy and a safe Ganesh festival, cheers !