Religion & God

Religion is a powerful concept; it is certainly more than 'a particular system of faith and worship' as suggested by merriam-webster.

People often confuse Religion with God. God is the supernatural; Religion is supposedly the path to reach the supernatural.

If we understand the difference between God and Religion, we realize that God is something man made and so is religion and neither need to have been created by the same person. Hence these 2 could have had entirely separate principles at the origin. Logic dictates that loving and forgiving fellow human beings is higher than any calling. However, the purpose of religion seems to be more dictating about God and not human beings.

Because of multiple religions, there are multiple Gods. The central idea of the person who created/invented GOD couldn’t have been to create a supernatural per species/caste/geography or culture. God was supposed to be the supernatural for entire universe (yes that includes the aliens too).

But the person, who created religion, certainly had a different idea. This person, let’s call him ‘Rel’ or that group of people (1 for each religion) wanted to be God for their own community. So Rel was not happy with the way God took all the credit for everything and left powerless.

Now to support his theory, he used God to dictate the ‘terms and conditions’ of religion. To add authenticity, he had to surround it with stories, theories, books, incidents and witnesses. If all of above mentioned can be created today with a good fat checkbook for the stupidest of the products ever sold in market, I think it would be fairly easy to create one that time for a smart guy.

But all of that seemed to fail when people of equal or more intellect came along and challenged his concepts. So he added some exclusivity terms to his religion. This helped him create a distribution network with good balance between R and A. Responsibilities and Authorities. So obviously he made sure people got a good balance of these too to attract them to his religion.

Let’s make God exclusive to people who follow religion. This was the best way to establish exclusivity and promote the product using curiosity and fear at the same time.

As time passed, generations of Rel came and kept using the same concept to make fool out of common people.

Now some people say that if religion was not there, people would have lost faith. That’s a good point, but you don’t need to have faith in God. It is something that Religion has told us is mandatory, the guy who created God did not tell us so.

Unplanned Vadhusanshodhan

Jya vicharanni purvi potat goad fulpakhra udaychi tyannich ata potat gola yayla laglay...."Mulgi Cancer var research kartye, mhanje smart asnar," Aai, "Pan aapla tharlay na", Me, "ho, mag nahi sangaycha na kakula", "barobar", (usasa takat) Me, "Pan Sandip, me kay mhanto, Americket, Doctors na solid paisa milto....mhanje ekda tithla kay te additional qualification kela na....IT peksha jast....ani Research kartye mhanje hushar asanarach...., Mala vatta apan ekda sthal baghuya" Baba.......

He ase sagle vishay nighale ki me chehra titkach anabhidnya thevto jitka purvi thevaycho pan purvi tya discussions ani imaginations ni maja yaychi...ata matra bhiti vatate.....

Jar me chukichi mulgi nivadli tar? jar tila maza swabhav aavdlach nahi tar? jar me lagna tharlyavar dusrya mulichya premat padlo tar? jar mazya mitrala tichyapeksha sunder disnari mulgi milali tar? (gee, sorry ha last prashna atyant vahyat vatla tari ek mulgach samju shakto how it works....mhanje this is the criteria we evaluate more than half of the decisions we make using.....this is the most common way of thinking for teenagers....or people in early 20s....OK, I agree I am neither of them....but that's not the point)

Me decide kelela ki I need to be ready on multiple fronts before I start looking for a girl....
1. Financial: I need to have a home/plot/any property registered on my name and a (X) salary amount .....as of date, I have neither of them....

and lot other points which I prefer not to disclose.....it might happen that the girl I might wish to marry is reading this now :)

another thing I wanted to make sure is that I am done falling in love.....but well, it is too difficult to define whether its love or not even while being in it, how can I define it for future?

anyways, so before the stipulated time of 1 year from now (when we were supposed to start the bride hunting) our relatives have already started the work.....

I wish myself good luck with that....will keep you updated, till then...cheers!!

Hyderabadi Panipuri

Drizzle, honking and dim lights….. ”Yogi Restaurant? Thanks”…”Orange Travels? Hyderabad?”….”Avunu” he said with a nod. It dawned on me quickly that this is how it is going to be…..suddenly I felt very gloomy……
I really did not have the faintest idea 15 days back when boss asked me for my resume to be sent to client that they would actually like it and ask me to lead the project. Mom dad being in USA for last 2.5 months didn’t help, nor being single (read as ‘No Ongoing Affairs’) did. But the wheel had been set, I had no option than to accept the project and go to Hyderabad on a 2 days’ notice.

There were 2 movies they made us watch (well you don’t have much of an option if you are travelling in a semi sleeper bus and they play 2 movies with Dolby like surround sound, do you?) some biscuits and water was offered along the way.

Woke up with aching back, shoulders and neck to discover that next stop is the only place close to my destination. So I got down at ‘Allwyn Colony X Road, Miyapur’ which the auto driver told me to be 25 KMs from Banjara Hills (which I later learned is little more than 15 KMs) and offered a drive there at Rs. 200 (almost at a loss of Rs. 50 he said) which I most certainly could not refuse.

Banjara Hills unlike its name is like a top notch area of Hyderabad with at least 2 Taj Hotels in half a kilometer radius and another Taj and Marriott in 1 KM radius. Which can be simply converted as high standard of leaving and hence more chance for Auto Drivers, roadside vendors and servants to loot me. All of them made sure I spent huge chunks of money to reach places I didn’t even wish to go to and then listen to some lecture in Telugu on …….well I never really got their point J…

The caretaker seemed to be a bit sensible and the service apartment was up to the mark. I tried various food items and the topping the list of mentionable is Pani-Puri.

You can find a Anna (Bhaiyyas, you need to work on this) behind a very congested cart with intricate designs on the sides making it very difficult for the customers to get a good view of what exactly is going on inside. I understood the reason of this arrangement once I got a glance inside(the anna was not very happy with my intruding his cart). There was a large flat pan (exact same that we see on PavBhaji Stalls in Mumbai) on which there were some small portion of the Ragdaa(Gravy) left. It was around 7 in the evening and I thought whether this is the closing time for the stalls or he had more than expected sales today. To my dismay, the Ragdaa was not all that he had, he after completing the previous order dipped his hand in what looked like a ChiniMatti ka Pot (similar to ones our ancestors used to keep Achaar into) and produced some heap full of Ragdaa and mashed it on the Pan with his hands. I could see the water dripping from the hair on his hands go sizzle sizzle on the Pan and he carefully utilizing last few drops to retain the moisture in the Ragdaa.  Then he poured some salt, chili powder and something that looked like Sambar masala and mixed the ragda into a paste till he was satisfied with the physical state of it.

Next he handed me a plate and voluntarily put some chopped onion in it (Chopped Onion is the most common accompaniment you can get on road eateries along with chutneys) and while I was contemplating about how to tell ‘Mitha/Teekha or Medium’ to him he had already started to make the panipuris for me. He first took a puri, half crushed it to create an aperture (up to this it was same as we do in Mumbai) and then dragged it on the platter to fill it with Ragda (given the dynamics of the Platter and Puri it was pretty difficult to fill it with enough ragda without burning your hands a little bit. Then he dipped the puri in the same pot (Chini Matti) from which he had magically produced the heap of ragda before and before I could realize anything, my first pani puri in Hyderabad was served to me on my plate while second was on the way in assembly line.

The taste was a cross between salty and ‘too hot to taste like anything’.

That was my first introduction with Hyderabad…..will keep writing more…

A Cuppa or A Mug

Sometimes you show a happy face....Enjoy the moments with everyone and make people feel happy about themselves......But there is some intense pricking sensation inside you.....Something is bothering you...or everything is.....you have suppressed it for long enough now....can't take it any more.

And then you end up taking an impulsive decision. It can be as simple as going for a walk or reading a book you had bought but abandoned long back or having a cuppa coffee with an old friend (who you secretly have a crush upon), or just going to the bar with some office folks and gulp down a beer or two.

Does the beer solve the problem? Actually it can create a few for you, if you drink too much and hook up with a wrong girl or even worse, pick fight with a guy double your size....may it be the beer or a cuppa, what actually solves your problem is the change in mindset. It gives you a break, a much needed one. Many a times the solution is so simple that your overworked brain is not ready to accept it. You think things through and you are very good at planning ahead and all that project management jargon, but a plain simple fact is that you are overworked. It can be your professional life or personal or a combination of these. You haven't taken a break in a long time and by a break does not necessarily mean a vacation (think about the wrinkles on your face seeing your bank statement the EMIs you pay to Club Mahindra for those lavish holidays which are supposed to relax you ). Break means a pause for the mind, a time when you cleanse your soul, squeeze all the garbage out of your brains and start afresh. Much like a flush of a toilet. However stupid or simple it may sound but it is required.

So stop rubbing your forehead for the 'n'th time and stop spreading the negativity around. Take a break, have a cuppa or a mug (a pitcher if you can handle :) ) and get back in life......

Life is small, enjoy every moment...nothing is more important than your happiness. :)

तर्र्र्रर्र टक टक टक टक

निमित्त  होतं  आदित्यच्या  (माझ्या  ४  वर्षांच्या  पुतण्याच्या ) वाढदिवसाबद्दल  त्याला  खेळणं  घेण्याचं ....परवा  मी  असाच  काहीतरी  Ben Ten चं  खेळणं  आणलं  होतं  आणि  मला  काही  कळायच्या  आत  त्यानी  ते  उघडून  assemble करून  खेळायला  सुरुवात  केली  सुद्धा .....मला  2 गोड  पापे  मिळाले , एक  मी  खेळणं  दिल्या  दिल्या  आणि  दुसरा  त्याची  assembly   करून  ते  खेळायला  घेतल्यावर ....

दुपारची  जेवणं  झाल्यावर  आई  आणि  बाबा  वज्रासनात  बसले  होते  आणि  आम्ही  उद्या  त्याच्या  Birthday च्या  तयारी  बद्दल  बोलत  होतो . अचानक  खेळण्याचा  विषय  निघाला  आणि  आम्हाला  आमचे  लहानपणीचे  दिवस  आठवले ....

"काय  खेळणी  असायची  तेव्हाची ....ते  तारेवरच  माकड - एक  cycle  चं  स्पोक , स्प्रिंग  आणि  एक  प्लास्टिक  चं  माकड,  एवढेच  raw material आणि  ते  माकड  टक  टक  आवाज  करत  त्या  तारेवरून  खाली  उतरायचं  हा  खेळ .....साधा  simple  तरी  खूप  मजा  देणारा "....आई  सांगत  होती ....."आणि  ते  चक्र , ते  नुसतं  हातात  घेऊन  इकडून  तिकडे  धावत  सुटायचो  आम्ही , त्याच्यानी  खेळण्यापेक्षा  तेच  आम्हाला  खेळवायचं " मी  म्हटलं ......"आम्ही  त्याला  भिरभिरं म्हणत  असू , आणि  आम्ही  ते  बनवायचो. एक  कागद , एक  काटा - बाभळीचा , बोरीचा  किंवा  मग  जो  मिळेल  तो - नगर  जिल्ह्यात  काट्यांची  कधी  कमतरता  भासली  नाही  आम्हाला , एक  काठी  - कधी  बांबूची , कधी  शिस्वाची  नाहीतर  आंब्याची  नक्कीच  मिळत  असे ....सरळ  काठी  शोधण्यात  जास्त  वेळ  जायचा , पण  बऱ्याच  वेळा  आम्ही  तिरक्या  काठ्या  चालवायचो , आणि  एक  लेंडी  - ती  शोधण्यासाठी  आम्ही  बोरीच्या  झाडाखाली  जायचो , तिकडे  शेळ्या  असायच्या  आणि  लेंड्याहि  ...खूप  सुकलेली  लेंडी  आणली  तर  ती  काट्यात  खोचल्यावर   फुटायची  आणि  खूप  ओली  असेल  तर  हाताला  चिकटायची  म्हणून  साधारण  मध्यम  सुकलेली  अशी  लेंडी  शोधायची , ती  शोधण्याचं प्रमाण  म्हणजे  बोरीच्या  झाडाखाली  जाऊन  मध्यम   दिसेल  अशी  लेंडी  उचलून  थोडी  दाबून  बघायची, ह्याच दरम्यान जर एखाद दोन बोरं मिळाली तर ती पण त्याच हातांनी बिनधास्त तोंडात टाकायचो " माझी  इथे  हसून  हसून  पुरेवाट  झालेली ....मी  नगर  च्या  राहुरी  गावात  तापलेल्या  एका  दुपारी  बोरीच्या  झाडाखाली  परकर  पोलकं  नेसून  शेळीच्या  लेंड्या  वेचणारी  माझी  आई  आणि  काल  आदित्य  साठी  bisleri  च्या  पाण्यात  ताक  घुसळणारी  माझी  आई  compare  करत  होतो .....आणि  मग  तीच  आई  मला  उकिरड्यावर  खेळताना  बघून  २२ -२३  वर्षापूर्वी  ओरडलेली  सुद्धा .....

"आणि  हे  सगळं  साहित्य  जमा  करण्याचं  काम  आमच्याकडे  असायचं म्हणजे माझ्याकडे आणि किशोर कडे(माझा मामा - आईचा सगळ्यात धाकटा भाऊ )  , मग त्याची  assembly काही  आम्हाला  जमायची  नाही , म्हणून  ती  अण्णा , जयंता वगरे  करून  दयायचे . त्यात  सुद्धा  काठी  जर  आंब्याची  मिळाली  किंवा  जास्त  सुकलेली  मिळाली  तर  काटा  जाताना  तो  तुटायचा  म्हणून  सगळ्या  वस्तू  दोन  दोन  आणायला  आम्हाला  आधीच  सांगून  ठेवलेलं  असायचं " पटकन  मला  १२ -१५  वर्षांपूर्वी शालेय वर्षाच्या सुरुवातीलाच साधारण  जून   महिन्याचा  पहिल्या  आठवड्यात  २  पेन्सिल चे  बॉक्स , २  खोडरबरांचे  बॉक्स  आणि  १  शार्पनर चं  बॉक्स  घेणारी  आई आठवली .........backup plans.......

आमची  बालपणं पण अशीच  गेली - भोवरा , गोटया , लगोरी  आणि  डब्बा  ऐसपैस  खेळण्यात .......अजूनही बऱ्याच  वेळा  मी  जत्रेतून  पिपाण्या  आणि  भोंगे , भिरभिरं किंवा  तो  जोकेरसारखा माणूस  ज्याचे  हात  आणि  पाय  joints मधून  वर  खाली  व्हायचे  , किंवा  ते  गोल  गोल  फिरवण्याच अत्यंत  irritating तर्रर्र्र  टक   तर्रर्र  टक  टक  टक .....आवाज  असणारं  खेळणं  वगरे  सर्रास  घरी  घेऊन  येतो ......ते  घेताना , ते  घेऊन  येताना  ट्रेन  मध्ये , रिक्षात  आणि  अगदी  बिल्डिंग  मध्ये  आणि  लिफ्ट  मध्ये  मी  असा  दाखवतो  कि  जणू  ते  माझ्या  घरी  असणाऱ्या  एखाद्या  लहान  बाळासाठीच  आणलं  आहे .....पण  घरी  येऊन  त्या  खेळण्याशी  मनसोक्त  खेळण्याची मजा  काही  औरच  आहे ......

करून  बघा  कधी  तुम्हीही ......तर्र्र्रर्र  टक  टक  टक  टक

Stringlets

Bracelets made up of tennis strings.......life is swirling around in an atmosphere I am very new to, obtuse......words give me a miss at times when I need them the most, words......wordsmith, that's what they used to call me once.....Zapped, what they call me now......

Balance between personal and work life is crucial......if you misjudge the workload as growth (rightly mislead by your manager to believe such crap).....wake up dude/dudette

as yourself is it really worth the juice?

Enjoy life! work is a means to get money, everything else has to be earned to spend the money and live happily.

Thinking Spot

Which place do you feel is best suited for thinking?
A place which will provide the perfect ambiance required for the grey cells in your brain to activate and carry the right amount of electrons from a place to another (dear science geeks, please forgive me for this blasphemy), or just a place where you can feel at peace. A place outside which you can park all your worries and enter relaxed.

For me such place is the Washroom. If you are done doing all that 'ewww, yuck, gross' etc. let me also state that this is the best place in a house where you can do everything except Food related stuff. You can virtually do anything inside a washroom, may it be reading, writing, chatting, texting, office work, con-call, snoozing, playing a musical instrument or net banking, day dreaming, retirement planning, crying, and thinking.

If Newton would've been reading in the washroom with a book in his hand then he might have discovered the gravity there as well. Some people find it just a place to dump a few things, but I feel you can actually dump much more than that (folks, I am talking about mental stress and worries).

The theory of 'Place for everything and everything in its place' somehow contradicts this theory of doing anything inside washroom, but then who says that you can only eat on the dining table? you can eat in living room, bedroom, terrace, stairs, veranda or patio anywhere you please.

I can say, this theory has reasoning scientifically as well. Since you are getting relieved inside this particular place there is a certain amount of calm and comfort which can help your mind relax.

Give it a try, if it doesn't work for you, just flush the idea :)