lots to write about

Jaigurudev!

I wonder if the blog sees any visitors at all .. I havent been writing much as well .. hopefully the latter is going to change .. But about people reading the blog; I havent told anyone ive been writing coz i think i write more honestly and dont pander when very few people are reading .. lame ; i know . So I am committed to being more courageous and invite people to read and also write more consistently. So there!

here are a few things that have been on my mind recently, each of these thinigs are going to turn into future posts.

- my ladakh trip last year (april 2008)
- my bali trip this year (april 2009)
- JD and devang's singapore trip (april 2009) and some snippets of knowledge that they shared
- some ( hold your breath ) recipes!!!! ( yes, they are tried and tested. no, i wasnt hospitalised after eating them)
- movie reviews for a couple of really awesome jap movies i saw recently ( kabei our mother , gake no ue no ponyo and Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (spirited away )..

thats all for now :)

lots of love
tanu

A Happy Year it shall be .. :)

jai gurudev :) :)

season's greetings to all :) .. how this year flew by ..like guruji says look back and see how everything seems like a dream.. it really does ..like a dream ... and knowing that whatever is happening now, pleasant or unpleasant will also be nothing more than a dream later.. :)

ive been in singapore for a year and a half already and it just doesnt feel like it ... so much happened .. courses .. lab work .. new friends.. a few old ones going away .. two apartments.. meeting guruji four times .. navratri ..bnd in singapore .. an unforgettable trip to ladakh .. some questions unanswered ... chotu doing the yes .. an advance course ...meeting tanu ma... an awesome week at leela aunty's home ...my home .. diwali .. poona :)

And 24 such years have come and gone delivering me to the next one .. with lessons learnt ..with fond memories .. and my guru walks me now .. closer to myself .. on a path as blessed as my life .. with gifts given before they were asked for ..or even wished for .. all abundant .. full of gratitude ..

as this new year beckons .. i step in with a prayer for more oppurtunities to do seva , to make the right decisions, to make new mistakes , and learn from them, to be in the present moment, to accept more, to analyze and judge less , to go deeper , to fly higher , and to keep looking at everything as it really is ; a dream .

love

the three days of bliss :) :)

jaigurudev :)

i had the most beeeyawesome ( for all those who havent seen 'bolt' this means beeeyond awesome) three days ever .. bau and dinesh bhaiya were in singapore :) :) since this was bau's first trip to the island ; i like to think it was my sankalpa that played a part in wanting them to come ..lol

just to see them glide down the lounge at the airport .. aah .. there are no words to describe seeing dinesh bhaiya ..its like viewing a sunrise over the ocean .. you re excited and peaceful at the same time and want to tell someone how you're feeling but find every word completely inadequate :):) so mostly i just drop everything and smile ..

they reached on saturday night , bau cooked for us :) then everyone was asking him questions ranging from combating terrorism to veganism to maths... and bau with his sparkling wit and chuckle had everyone not wanting to either leave or let him sleep .. .

Sunday; a few of us went for sahaj with bhanu didi .. it was fabulous ..
Sadly on monday had to go to lab .. as soon as i was there i realized i just couldnt stay knowing bawa and dinesh bhaiya were just two kms away ..so quickly finished my experiments and left for prof's home where they were staying .. in the evening we went to the night safari .. it was my first trip there ..realized i should really see more of singapore before i leave :) :)

I can see that im doing a fairly pathetic job of describing what fun i had .. that is probably because it cant be described ..it was just general stuff like doing chores around the house, helping bau in the kitchen ; just chores basically ; but i have never felt more satisfied doing stuff .. maybe satisfaction is not in what we do but how we do it .. if work is an expression of love then i truly worked for the first time in my life ... fetching a glass of water or a bowl seemed like the most fantastic thing to do.. is this sounding whacked out ?
all the lucky souls who have enjoyed their company and the one's who have just tasted a bit of what it is to be with them ( like me) will know and the rest should just start packing their bags for winter break ..

love

Jack Johnson 1

jai gurudev :)

This is one of my favourite jack johnson songs .. its called "Gone " .. Ill be writing more bout him and his music soon :)


Well look at all those fancy clothes
But these could keep us warm
Just like those.
And what about your soul
Is it cold
Is it straight from the mould
And ready to be sold.

And cars and phones and diamond rings
Bling, bling
Those are only removable things
And what about your mind
Does it shine or
Are there things that concern you more
Than your time

Gone going
Gone everything
Gone give a damn
Gone be the birds when they don’t want to sing
Gone people
All awkward with their things
Gone

Look at you out to make a deal
You try to be appealing but you lose your appeal
And what about those shoes you’re in today
They’ll do no good
On the bridges you burnt along the way

You’re willing to sell anything
Gone with your herd
Leave your footprints
And we’ll shame them with our words

Gone people
All careless and consumed
Gone
Gone going
Gone everything
Gone give a damn
Gone be the birds if they don’t want to sing
Gone people
All awkward with their things

love

Where are the gentlemen ??

jaigurudev:)

im quite amazed that i am unable to identify a single gentleman in my age group amongst all the guys i ve come across .. now this is not about just opening doors , pulling back the chair and stuff.. its an attitude thing ..
i think it stems primarily from a respect for women and manifests as genuine gestures and refined language .. (oyie this is sounding like a research paper ..lol too much time in the lab) .. its definitely not about the guy paying the bill everytime ..

Chivalry for lack of a more contemporary word has been in a coma for about two decades i think .. since all the gentlemen i know are friends of my father's or bau and dinesh bhaiya :) :) They are a different league altogether .. These people are a pleasure to have a conversation with as they possess the art of relaxed and stimulating speech .. words are chosen with the ease and care of a mother picking ingredients for a dish she's made a million times .. they also listen with the same composure and interest ; and you can see that they are there a 100%.

As far as gestures are concerned ; i have seen quite a few people fake it and you can make out in a blink.

I remember very clearly how my dad would listen to me even when I was a gawky teenager with a look that made me feel like a really important person and i remember how awesome it was to have a grown up treat me not like a kid but like a lady :) It was how he spoke to me and the respect and genuine interest that i could see in his eyes. This was apart from the roaring fun we had ; laughing on the silliest jokes and watching repeats of tom and jerry.. so please do not confuse chivalry with boring snootiness ..

I think true chivalry can not be taught in etiquette classes and cant even be bred in by your upbringing entirely .. it is just love and respect ; unconditional; you can be chivalrous to the lady working in the grocery store the same way you are chivalrous to your mom or your girlfriend :)

I wish guys would spend more time brushing up their manners than lint off their shoulders..

love
tanu

Bau and Dinesh Bhaiya 1:):)

Jai Gurudev:)

This post has been in my mind since before i started blogging .. to make an attempt to put in words the experience that it is to have met bau and dinesh bhaiya :):) i know its futile before i even start and that makes it more free and without any doership ..lol

So this was in early 2006.. (just before the silver jubilee ) .. i was just rolling along my college life(bangalore) ..had done the course and was doing kriya everyday(the only saving grace) .. no seva n'all coz was wrapped up in the bullshit of everything being bout me, me , me ..

Was in the middle of prep for univ exams and then got a call from guru anna saying there was this concert called Sumeru Sandhya and bau was going to be there ( i had met him once in one of his science of breath talks ; thought he was super cool)
so i went .

Asked a few friends to come along also.

Got there ..the place felt very happy :) ( got used to that very soon :):)) was wonderfully decorated ..so went in helped the volunteers a bit , grabbed a seat and waited ..

Then three guys came on stage - bawa ,dinesh bhaiya and vikram bhaiya. As I watched Dinesh Bhaiya and Bau glide in with a lightness and effervescence i thought was the way of angels alone; I knew I was seeing the people i wanted to be like .. I think for me the way they were rather than what they said made more of an impression . The ease and grace in each movement, the love and acceptance in every glance and the beautiful silence in each word that they uttered ... Just looking at Dinesh Bhaiya is like meditating ..his silence manifests around him as a light that glows with only love and grace.

I just kept looking at him . (And my friend saw me and told me to stop gawking ..) vikram bhaiya sang like an angel , bau answered questions with his razor sharp wit and had us all falling off our seats with laughter and then dinesh bhaiya took us into ourselves with a meditation.. thats when i first heard his voice .. :):)

Afterwards when everyone was talking to them .. I somehow didnt want to budge from a five metre distance ;my vantage point ;) and thats something that hasnt changed in these three years .. Im happiest looking at them from a close distance ; its fantastic how i feel soo much belongingness to them and absolutely no need for any words at all .. just a glance is enough :)

everyday i wake up with a gratefulness for having guruji in my life and for him having blessed me with these treasures that are bau and dinesh ..

love you more than words can ever express

yeah :)

jaigurudev :)

he he ..i changed the look ..thanks to bau's blogsutra posts :) and i think im also going to be more regular (?!!) ..lol ..

and in case you havent noticed ; i also quite painstakingly designed a new header :) not completely satisfied yet and will be changing it soon but its a start ..:) yep lab's not been too busy today ..

love