God Almighty - Part II

Faith has no limits.

To see people, who are physically incapable of walking, climb 3690 steps of sheer mountain to reach a temple on the other side is a humbling experience. To see people applying turmeric & BINDI to each and every step they climb, while you climb panting away, makes you forget the effort that you are putting in. Seeing small children walking along with their parents to see their favourite god kind of puts things in perspective.

I am talking about Lord Venkateshwara who resides at Tirumala, seven mountains away from Tirupati. Tirupati is a small town based at the foothills of the mountain range that provides inspiration to millions of people. Tirupati is where one starts his journey to meet the lord.

The first 2087 steps are the most daunting of them all. Enough to test your faith. It is a climb of almost 60 degrees for almost three kilometers. And this is where you see most of the faith. You see people from all walks of life walking up there for their time with god.

The legend, I am told, goes like this: The Lord had two wives who were constantly bickering at each other. The Lord, one day, got furious at this & left. He took seven steps, which turned into mountains, and on the seventh, he stayed there & turned into stone himself.

The eleven kilometer walk only gets you to Tirumala, the town atop the mountain which is The Lord's resting place. From here, getting to actually see The Lord is another thing. Just to put things in perspective, there are more than a hundred thousand people who come to see The Lord...EVERYDAY! Some wait for more than a day to catch a glimpse of the deity.

We had our "darshan" (literally meaning "sighting" in the local lingo) scheduled for 4am. By the time we waited in the really long queue for our time, it was close to 6.

As I approach the inner sanctum, I can see the deity in His full glory from afar. And my head automatically bows in reverence. I say my quiet prayers while moving toward The Lord. And when I am finally there, inside the sanctum sanctorium, I am completely blank. Not a thought, not anything. No consciousness of the thousands of people joustling for a view, nor the helpers trying to keep people from holding the crowd up, not anything. Just a calm, serene feeling which The Lord inspires.

And after about 30 seconds, my darshan is over. I follow the crowd into the outer sanctum, still in a state of complete calm. And I realise, millions of people go through a lot of struggle for this glimpse at their God. And the deity inspires them to things which would otherwise be considered humanly impossible.

And yet, millions of people come from all over the world for a darshan. And no one complains about the little time that they had with The Lord. Everyone talks about the next time they will go to see The Lord.

Faith has no end, not boundaries. And it is places like there where I realise that my troubles are not as bad as I thought. That there is much more to life. That there is something bigger & brighter than anything you can see. And all this while, you always had it inside of you.

God Almighty

My last blog "Which religion is right for you" prompted me to think about this concept. If you look at it, every single civilization that we know of has had the concept of God (or multiples of them). And these concepts evolved without any exchange of ideas between the other civilizations. And yet, we see so much similarity in what each religion tries to teach us.

Things like be nice, dont go around killing people, the concept of a good place and a bad place where you might end up after you die, possibilities of reincarnation, etc. etc.

But there are always people who take things too far. The people could be your own parents, your neighbours or even your friends. It's, I think, a problem of taking things too literally.

When I say - too literally - I mean the fact that the Almighty will wreak havoc on your life if you .... I don't know, something nasty or something very sensible, but which does not agree with the published blueprint of that particular religion. And that's where I have a problem.

This thinking got triggered after I read the Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. While you all might say "Aah, now we know what you're talking about", I don't think you do.

The book basically talks about the genesis of the Christian religion & how the Church went all out to make it what it is today. Now I am no authority to say whether the facts in the book are indeed facts. All I can say is that the story is quite persuasive. But this blog is not about the book, it's about the central figure in the book.

A friend of mine, after reading the book, said to me, "How can the Christian people continue, after reading all this stuff?". And my simple reasoning was, "Religion is a matter of faith, not facts"

To elaborate on this point, I say the following. I subscribe to the Hindu religion...maybe because I was born a Hindu. In Hinduism, we worship gods of all kinds. My favourite is one with a human body & the head of an elephant (His name is Ganesha) and he is the god who removes all the obstacles from your life. We have goddesses who represent learning, power, anger & money. We have a representation of the creator of the world, a king of the gods & the ideal human. We have a lot more gods than you can count.

Now the point is not whether there actually exists a being with the head of an elephant on a human body. The point is that all these gods are representatives of faith. And you usually recall gods when you're in trouble, when you're faced with the unknown.

There is so much we don't know about us. How we came into being, how the universe works, what actually happened. We have a lot of theories, but we still have a lot to know. And if it's evidence that we are looking for, I guess we don't have any evidence for the presence of a mind, just the presence of a brain. We can look for the heart, but not the driving force for life.

There are so many unexplained things that we live with in our lives. And that is where faith comes into play. Putting your trust into a higher order when it comes to the unknown.

Everything is just derivative of the concept of faith. Rituals, traditions, beliefs are things that someone interpreted from the base concept & which got passed on through generations.

Which brings me back to the original point (I am not sure whether there was an original point, but then, I would like to think there was, instead of a useless ramble). Which religion is right for you...the one you were born into, the one most universal, the one which you most agree with. What?

But then again, if it is all about faith, you don't need to change religions. Just keep your faith, whatever it is. All religions have the same base concepts, just the interpretations differ. And remember, these interpretations were made by people. So you can have your own interpretations. I believe, that if you keep your faith & keep your mind open, life is a lot better.

Something I dont understand is the concept of forcing religion onto other people. I agree with people believing in their religion, but I do not agree with forcing that faith & that value system on someone else. So I cannot understand the holy wars. But like I said before, there are so many things that I dont know about.

All that matters is that I keep my faith.

Which religion is right for you

This is the outcome of a quiz I took, just for the heck of it. Funny, huh? So the religion that's right for me is......

Buddhism 100% Paganism 83% Islam 67% Hinduism 67% Satanism 67% agnosticism 50% atheism 33% Judaism 17% Christianity 8% Which religion is the right one for you? (new version) created with QuizFarm.com

Monogamy is good!

Now I know what you're going to say, but stay with me. My story gets better!

I fell madly in love with a girl in my school when I was 12. She was in the same class as I & she represented the cutest the world had to offer.

I guess this was the same time when hormones decided to ensure I had no idea what was happening in my life. Everything I had come to know & understand no longer worked. I was getting attracted to a person from the opposite sex for the first time in my life. And sure as hell, I had no idea how to attract her attention.

And so I did all the things that I now know are Standard Male Operating Procedure For Attracting Females. And that too without the instruction manual. I guess the Almighty hardcoded that in the male genes cause He knows how often & how easily we men tend to forget things.

I started excelling in academics, just so I could get up in front of the class & get noticed. And that was the time when I realised I did not have to put in a lot of effort to get ahead of the class. I just needed the right motivation. And, boy, was this motivation!

I started putting a lot of effort into sports. To an extent where I went from being a sissy who was made to practise with the juniors team to being the star of the school basketball team. I spent close to 7 hours everyday shooting hoops and practising every aggressive move I could find. That way I could get my personal cheerleader when I was playing in front of the home crowd.

And I started paying attention to song lyrics rather than just rock to the beats. This opened up a whole new world of expression for me. To hear other people express their love, their sorrow, their triumphs & their falls so eloquently made me, I think, a lot more sensitive than I would have been at that age.

I finally managed to get from a "good friend" to "going around" with this dream woman of mine. At that time, we were just 14. Not that the age mattered to us at all.

She happens to come from a very traditional family. And the meaning of traditional in India is not so great. It means that going around is frowned upon. Having too many male friends is not encouraged. There is very little exposure to other aspects of life other than God, family & academics. And this is what I had to work with & around.

I had to change my image in their eyes: from a worthless happy-go-lucky idiot to someone who knows where he is going. I had to show them that I could take care of their daughter for the rest of her life, that I would love her & care for her for my entire lifetime.

And that changed my life completely. I actually went from someone who didn't try too hard at anything to actually thinking about what I want to be in life & how I can get our (her & my) life into some semblance of order.

And that's when I realised something: I was desperately in love with this woman, I wanted to marry her as soon as I possibly could & that this is the woman who would make me the happiest that I could be. And that I was still 14 when I was thinking this.

So there began the long journey of convincing her folks (I was pretty confident of my folks, they've always been very supportive & open), of getting my life on track for achieving what I want.

We finally got married after a 10 year courtship. Today, we are happily married for the last 6 years, with our relationship standing at 16 years. And still going strong.

The reason I thought of writing this blog is because of an interesting conversation I had with a friend of mine. I will not go into the details of the conversation. Suffice to say, at the end of the conversation, I realised that I have been with ONE woman for all my life. And that I am very happy about it!

After 16 years, I think we have come to a point where my wife & I understand each other completely (well, almost), we trust each other implicitly & we understand that honesty is the cornerstone to a healthy & happy relationship.

And another thing I realised which I should put in black & white. I am what I am today largely thanks to her. She has always been the inspiration, the motivation to go higher & do better. I believe she makes me a better person & makes up for all my shortcomings. She makes me complete.

Why would I want to try to find the missing things in my life when I am already complete? She give me no reason to look elsewhere. Sure, there are a lot of places where both of us can improve, but the basics are sound, the foundations are strong.

We have already changed a lot living with each other. We have learned that we have to adapt to one another & I think we have done a great job. Cause I am more in love with her today than I ever was. And that's a good thing, right?

Monogamy is good! Very good!

Damn!!! Amsterdam!

Fabulous! That is how I would describe the quint city of Amsterdam. The capital city of The Netherlands hosted the most wonderful & relaxed vacation I have ever taken. Let me tell you why.

Despite landing into Schipol Airport with temperatures at 4 degrees below zero & snow over the entire landscape, we (a friend & I) began our journey to our hotel in a Mercedes S350 driven by a Hollander with the quirkiest sense of humor. He had us in splits all the way to the hotel. By the time we got to the Renaissance Hotel, I had a stich in my side.

My first impression of Amsterdam: a city that has a wonderful mix of the old & the new. Amsterdam has more canals than Venice & is a lot cleaner! Houses line both sides of the canals. All the houses look the same, with steep roofs & gables to hide their steepness, a hoisting arm at the top to help if you are moving houses. Quaint is the only word that comes to mind. And there is a lot of quintness all around.

Trivia: Amterdam is named after the dam on the Amstel river. Amstel - Dam! Amsterdam! :-)

By sheer coincidence (and no prior planning, as usual), we had chosen a hotel which was a short walk away from Central Station (pronounced "Centraal Sta-choon"). Here, we figured out that we could get a 72 hour pass which allowed us to hop on & off any tram, bus or train that we wanted & to whatever points within the city. For 13 euros, we thought this was a steal & so this was now the mode of transport that we had chosen.

Then we figured out that the trams go almost everywhere! Which was a big bonus. Cause we could look at the various places on the way & just hop off if we notice anything interesting. Plus the tram stops were a lot better to spot than bus or train stops & so we decided to stick with the tram network.

Taking the No. 2 tram, we experienced very funny (to Indian ears) sounding names like Dam (pronounced as "The Daam", which is the same dam which assists in the nomenclature of Amsterdam), Konningsplein, Kaisersgracht (which is the Emperor's Canal ... so gracht is canal in Dutch), Princengracht (by the previous explanation, is the Prince's canal) and finally Leidseplein (which we fondly called Led Zepplin, dont ask me why...I'll hit you!). Leidseplein hosts the most number of pubs, restaurants & shops that we could see. It very quickly became our favourite place to go to in case we were stuck for a decision. There's a Hard Rock Cafe, a British cafe which shows a lot of soccer games live, a lot of coffee shops.

Let me clarify. A coffee shop in Amsterdam is unlike any coffee shop that you will see in any other part of the world. A coffee shop in Amsterdam is the place where you go to get stoned! That's right. This is the place where you get grass (for those who are wondering why cow fodder is being sold at a coffee shop, you should not be reading this blog!). And I think Amsterdam is the only place in the world where you have to show an ID to enter a coffee shop.

One thing that has been on my list of must-do things in Amsterdam was a visit to the Van Gogh Museum. I am a huge fan of his & always wanted to see the Master's work in person. I should have been ready to have mixed emotions & more realistic expections. On the positive side, the Master is simply great. No picture, photograph or imitation will give you the sense of what this genius was capable of. No print in the world can come close. The thick oil waves still visible, the awesome mixing of colours, the fantastic sense of space in the paintings. Simply amazing. It was one of the most gratifying experience to see the Master's work up close. On the flip side, though, was the nag that there were not enough of his masterpieces in the museum. There were very few of them on display. Some of his most famous ones, like Starry Night, weren't there. There was only one of the famed "Sunflowers". I guess I had too many expectations from the museum. The artist came good, the museum didn't.

Having spent so much time on the Van Gogh museum, I should warn you that there more than a hundred museums in Amsterdam & I would take forever to describe my experience with each of them. Suffice to say that you should budget some time in Amsterdam to see a lot of this (if you are intersted in the arts).

Heineken! The word sums up the flagship beer of The Netherlands. And boy, did we have a lot of it. And to top it all, we went for "The Heineken Experience" which is a guided tour of the old Heineken brewery. This was a great experience...knowing the process of making beer, peering into the huge brewing chambers, multimedia shows and of course, more beer... all for 10 euros. A definate must-go for people in Amsterdam for the first time.

Amsterdam is also one of the centers for the diamond industry. I was told, before I went there (obviously, by my wife), that diamonds are available quite cheap and that I should get some. Let me clear that piece of rumour right away. India is far, far cheaper for buying diamonds than Amsterdam will ever be. I dont want to go on a trip on the India diamond market as this is a blog on Amsterdam, but believe me when I say this: Amsterdam is NOT cheap for diamonds!

And then there's the shopping. We did a lot of it. But mostly souvenier shopping for a lot of friends back home.

What we did the most was walk around the city & just experience the culture. Go into places that looked interesting. Talk to people about the history & the culture of the place. We even had ideas of going to Rotterdam, which is the port city of The Netherlands, but we decided against it.

Now for the bad things. The Dutch don't like to smile. That is one things I noticed of all of them. They all walk around with a scowl on their face. Maybe it's the weather which makes them frigid, maybe not. But they just dont smile.

Another thing. They will not offer you water to drink. It's almost a crime if they do. Even if you ask for a glass of tap water, they will refuse. Instead, they will sell you a bottle of water for 3 euro. We even asked one of the waitresses in a bar about this & she said that her manager had reprimanded her once for giving a guest some water. In my culture, it's a sin to deny anyone water, even your own enemy. So this was extremely strange for me.

And the place was bloody cold! Freezing! For people belonging to the temperate climates of India, Amsterdam was a completely different ball game. Maybe we went at the wrong time of the year, maybe it's always like this. The only saving grace was that the temperature a couple of days before we landed was 27 degrees below zero. And that changed to over zero temperatures for the entire duration of our stay. So I guess we were better off than we could have been.

And last but not least, I hate Schipol airport! It is the lousiest international airports I have ever been to & don't intend to ever go to that airport unless I am going back to Amsterdam (which I will most probably go again). There are no places where people can catch a nap. The airport closes between midnight & 4am. They dont admit people until 3 hrs from the flight time. The food is bloody expensive & the staff is bloody apathetic to any problem you might have.

But despite all of this, I still think this was the most relaxing, enjoyable, stress free and most leasurely vacation I have had in a long, long time. If you want to take a vacation, I would most definately recommend Amsterdam!

Phew! After reading this, I'm sure you need a break. I sure need one. So see you at the next blog! Maybe I'll have pictures of the trip posted on the blog by then (if I forget I am a lazy bum for a few hours).

Making friends

I am amazed how we make friends! How we seem to click with some people in seconds & how you cannot get along with some people even though you know them for years.

To substantiate my point, let me tell you about my last week. I have been in the San Francisco Bay area for the last few days (read the blog before this for more on that). The reason I have been here is for a training & a technology conference hosted by the company that I work for.

During my training, I met Kris from Brussels, Belgium. And we incidentally happened to meet during a break in the training. And we got talking & we hit on like we've been friends for years. And so we followed that up with a visit to a pub close by. And we realised that we share a common passion...BEER!!! Kris mentioned that there are close to 350 breweries with more than 450 types of beer in Belgium (how can you not like this country...no wonder the EU is based out of Brussels!)

And so we followed that up with some more pubs & a lot more beer. And a lot of chatting. And now I have a friend in Brussels, just like that! Strange how things work, huh?

Let me give you another example. Shesh works with me in the same company. Shesh moved back to India from the US a year back. And we met at Singapore for a training. And we both realised that we shared the same interests. Music, movies, beer! And we hit off like a house on fire! Just like that... in a day! And tho he is moving back to the US, I think we will remain friends for a long, long time.

Funny how we meet people & make friends! This is the Hindu view of creation! Creation from nothing, emptiness, void! Thank God for small mercies!

Frisco

Am in San Francisco. And I should tell you this...This is not the time of year when you can call it "Sunny California". It's bloody freezing down here!

As the plane was about to land, I was thinking "Wow, that's a great day I am looking at from the sky. Sunny California, here I come". And boy, was I wrong! About 15 minutes later, the flight went through about a kilometer of cloud and when we finally landed, there was no direct sunlight. And it was cold as hell.

But just because it's cold does not mean we cannot go out for beer! And so we did. SF has a great brewery on The Embarcadero called Gordon Biersch. This a German brewery which brews some awesome beer. And it's located just so that you can sip your beer looking at the gorgeous Bay bridge. Getting drunk here is definately recommended.

I was told that Broadway was a great place to look at women in not so many clothes. But I have to tell you, I was really disappointed. Let me assure you that I am not gay, but these women were just too horrible to look at. Now I dont want to cause an uproar, so let me make it clear. This is just my opinion, you are free to sample the wares & make up your own mind.

Since the climate is freezing, there is this built in feature in my system which makes me really unwilling to go out much. With the exception of going out for beer. So that's what I have been doing for all of my stay here.

All said, this has probably been my most boring trip to the Bay area for a long, long time.