On Success, death and Steve Jobs

A friend's post on Facebook drew my attention to an article about the posthumous tribute-wave for Steve Jobs. For a quickie without following the conversation elsewhere, the article says 'Steve Jobs wasn't great, he wasn't even close' . Among other things, it draws a comparison in terms of greatness, to Jonas Salk, who invented the polio vaccine and gave it free, deciding not to patent it. In other words, who is greater and, mummy, why is Steve Jobs getting all the attention ? I wouldn't have noticed if Ramnath didn't mention it, but after he did, I noticed that it was a 'sad essay, with weak arguments and too many fallacies'.

Great is a generic adjective that spans many fields. For example, a great musician, a great emperor, a great surgeon and so on. You cannot exactly compare greatness in one field with another and often, greatness in certain times, with other times.

In the field of, say, technology business, and in his times he was greater than many of his contemporaries. He did things differently. Many clicked, some didn't, some clicked later. He was thrown out of his company and staged a comeback and then staged a turnaround and rebuilt the fascination full circle. He might have been heavy-headed, but lot of creative/successful people are that. In the field that he chose as his passion, he manifested that passion into results that satisfied him and those he sought to impact. Such success was also acknowledged by others. That, in itself, is what only a small percentage, get to do.

He chose expensive style for his products, and was convinced there was a market for it. In all possibility he could have flopped, thats what the gurus would have got to say. But he defied tradition, the current market gyaan, and clicked, not once, but time and again. To have an intrinsic sense for a niche market, spot it and pursue it, entails the risk of stepping out of your comfort zone and being ready to sink in the process. You need to be grounded in your security with your own self, to be able to confront and conquer the insecurity in the world. It's the stuff true entrepreneurs are made of, or seek to be. We can't think like them and they can't think like us. They better not.

The article questions people's assumptions, success = greatness. But the article also assumes, charity > commerce. Coming from the charity bastion, I should have jumped to agree with the latter, but, sadly, not yet. Even if it were true, I guess we are too far away from that . Those beautiful times are yet to come. It requires our entire civilization, or huge parts of it, to think differently, on complexly intertwined issues: regarding our motivation, our money, our work ethic and our duty as a human on earth. And it will take lots of births for all of us to get there. Call it the critical mass for compassion or the escape velocity for enlightenment. Like in climate change, we have a reputation for refusing to learn until we get whacked thoroughly by Mamma Earth. Inner climate change is not going to be any simpler and Pappa God is going to have a tough time handling us. Hearts, take a lot more time to melt than glaciers. Questions like these are important to contemplate, but the answers need to be well-written.

Finally, think of the praises that arrived as like people attending a e-funeral. A life gone unnoticed or less noticed (say, Salk) is not any different from a life gone well-noticed, after it has gone, that is. In the former case, lives were impacted, sure, but most people may not have related to the individual, so they didn't write. In Steve's case, he too impacted and, it so happens, many people seem to relate to the individual, because the device was such. Interestingly, I noticed a billboard at the Kundarapalli Gate signal in Bangalore, a huge billboard ad by a real estate developer, saying just 'RIP Steve'. It's still an ad, but it shows people who used the devices fell head over heels for the brand. To connect two obituaries and compare their impact, would be like comparing the tears of two funerals, one with 10 people and another with 1000 people. Sorrow is the same for everyone. Death is a great equalizer in that sense.

Of course, great is different from good. To evaluate goodness is a larger call, you need to be able to evaluate the interplay of motives, constraints, values etc and in the light of the operating environment. Goodness is all-inclusive, includes personal life, relationships and even preservation of monuments :) :) , which Steve Jobs wasn't particular about . Greatness, on the other hand, is more explicit, can be segmented into streams, and therefore gets evaluated quickly and easily. You can't evaluate your goodness, because that'll be biased. Others can't, because they have incomplete information. Only God can, but He doesn't publish the papers. What to do ? :) :)

Yes, there was a good Steve and the bad Steve in the same person. Even in judgement, it's sad that someone with such business acumen, had to fall for a fatal over-belief in alternative medicine. People who praise the good Steve may choose to ignore the bad Steve. But, isn't it true that all of us suffer from the good-bad dichotomy ?

That is why the scriptural prayers say : Lead us from darkness to light, falsehood to truth. Lead us from proprietary software to open source. Trap us not into Apple, but deliver us from Microsoft. Give us our daily bread and butter, Facebook and Twitter. But don't lead us to immortality, it gets boring. Life without an end, will be like watching a terrible movie in a dirty theatre, all the time you are wondering, when will the movie end and the mosquitoes stop, and the lead jodi is still dancing around the trees and rolling on the hills , on the screen. Death, disease and dumping are part of the grand game. Sing a kolaveri song to release your stress, and move on to make your life colorful, cheerful and creative. Like a Mac.

Oops, for fair disclosure, like the author, even I don't own an Apple device or share. :) . And probably, that's why I am like this !

An Ethereal Evening - A R Rahman Live in Concert at Bangalore

I was there for the A R Rahman Live in Concert, in Bengaluru Palace Grounds on 29th May 2011, Sunday. It was a wonderful event. Here are some thoughts from soon after. (Red links go to YouTube).

If you are one of those 'balanced', 'cat-on-the-wall' types, who wants to consider multiple perspectives in any discussion and arrive at a conclusion after many rounds of diplomacy, this post is too early for you. You should read my earlier post on Rahman's Top 10, follow each of those 30 text links to the music pieces, listen to all of them, attend the next Rahman Live event, and then come back and read this post. This is all about unabashed, extremely biased, praise of Rahman's music, so you may need to check if you are a worthy disciple of it. :) :) I have an eccentricity to overdo these things and I have no intention to correct course. :)

There is a generation who grew up with Rahman's music. If you were a teenager or a college-goer when one of the movies were released, Roja , Rangeela, Rhythm, Rang De Basanti or Robot, you can't miss the music's charm. Even though all those were released at different years in the last two decades, if you had listened to one of them, you would want to go back or forth and listen to the others. In the history of Indian filmy music, it is as if, there is a pre-Roja and a post-Roja era. Thank you Mani Ratnam for that path-breaking offer, for the risk you took with a then upcoming composer, it was well worth it and more. May be, it was a time that people were looking for a different kind of music, a type of music that wasn't entirely western and not entirely Carnatic or Hindustani either. May be, there was a segment of youth, who went to the Music Sabhas because their parents went, but, in addition to that taste, were ready to take to a different type of rich music, if it was given to them. And then Rahman came like a fragrant breeze into the musical scene. He took the music world by storm through his charm. Depending on what you were thinking, there was a music for the mood. It can be pleasant or peppy, fast-track or melodious, melancholic or romantic, patriotic, punjabi or pettai rap, you have all kinds in his discography of two decades. Wherever you were, one song looped endlessly, only to be interrupted with another which will then take over.

Rahman's music is global material. It's just that world took time to catch up. That's also why I like it when he collaborates with foreign artists. To be honest, I am not too fascinated by those collaborative numbers, I think Just The Rahman has got enough potential to take the entire cake, on his own, but from a different angle, thats the way to go. Rahman is excellent at bringing different types of music together to create a piece, that will keep it attractive to all those respective audiences and yet introduce to them something new. This cross-cultural symphony in music requires him to encounter different kinds of music from the different regions and he would get global, today, tomorrow or some day soon. Let's release him from the small boundaries of this Chennai and this Bollywood and this India, let him conquer the world. :) The world is his next stop and there is no stopping him. Which is one of the reasons I wanted to attend the concert in Bangalore. If he goes to Hollywood, I am not sure whether they will give him back to us. :) :)

At the Palace Grounds in Bangalore that day, the musical evening turned out to be ethereal. I have a sluggish tendency to go slow and take it cool on the show host's buildup intros. 'How are youuuu, Bengalurooo, Are y'all ready to rock the grounds... Put your hands together' and the 'Yaaaa-Hooooo' response from the audience n all, Hmmm. But, Dil Se, one of my favorites, which arrived second, changed all that, made me sit up and warm up to the treat that was to follow. I had loved 'Poraley Ponnuthayee' from Karuthamma and therefore, it's peppy sibling Chanda Sooraj Lakhon Taarey became familiar but equally lovable in due course. 'What are you waiting for, another sign, another call, someway we have to find a new way to peace', were my favorite looping lines from the 'Gurus of Peace' number from Vande Mataram.

Ye Jo Des He Tera can stop the traffic, wherever you hear it. Rahman's rendering was as fantastic and flawless as it was in Swades. When Jaaney Tu Ya Jaaney Na released, it was an instant heart-throb of the youth, so you could see the audience in the Palace Grounds, connect to it so quickly as soon the song started. Rahman's working together with Gautam Menon had to produce a masterpiece, there was no other way and so Hosanna from VTV, kept the entire crowd, gently swaying, right from the beginning to end, as the music filled the air through the loudspeakers. If you didn't sway for it, okay, grow up atleast now.

I also discovered, that I am not as full-fledged a fan of Rahman as I claim to be. There were real, hardcore, extraordinary fans who kept the Rahman's song lists in their fingertips and rolled out at the least hint or hum. I might have failed to keep track some of the recent pieces, and might have been sticking on to the old glory, I thought. I noticed that the Enthiran song threw the crowd to sheer raptures, the reason was the same as, why the Rangeela song had the same effect on me.

Every song had a different digital video backdrop, that was excellent, carefully chosen and of high quality. The songs,Khwaja Mere Khwaja and Maula Maula, had a very soothing rendition with Rahman, in a befitting costume playing the harmonium and a digital backdrop of a richly engraved mosque architecture. It was very thoughtfully and tastefully done.

There are some songs that are the solid defining runaway hits at these concerts. They are the real Oscar or even-higher award winners in the minds of the masses of listeners. The actual flag-hoisters of Rahman's success story. They are so impactful, they are welcomed even if someone else sings it at some other concert, and so much occupy your mindspace that the hum doesn't spare you whether you are in the bathroom or in the bedroom. When these songs began, or even before they began, when there was a buildup to it, the crowd begins to get into a frenzy. You know it is getting into a madness, a craze, (Okay, an Aware Madness, if you are also aware of it). It is as if a spirit has possessed the entire ground and wants to release itself by dancing, shouting and joining in the chorus and singing along. The Humma Song from Bombay, the Muqabla Song from Kadhalan, the Chikku Bukku Rayiley from Gentleman were chartbusters then and they are still the same now, after a decade. Oh, how they clapped and swayed and jumped and danced for those !! For the tamilians in the multicultural, metropolitan Bengaluru, the Pettai Rap song was alone enough to make their day, it sent them into a tizzy. They savoured every one of those words, whether or not the sentences had any meanings, who needed them anyway ? :) :)

We all know that Shivamani unleashed is difficult to contain, and apart from taking the blockbuster songs to their original glory, his musical mischief this time was the drums effect with two rods tapping on the ground combined with foot-tapping. It was good. It was entirely appropriate that they got Lataji to sing 'Lukka Chuppi' over a video recording in a digital background with Rahman chipping in for his part live. Their original partnership for the Rang De Basanti song is irreplaceable and it was an absolutely soulful rendering. The award-winning Jai Ho was there too.

Roobaroo was definitely a wonderful fitting finale for the event. The song that marked Naresh Iyer's hindi debut with Rahman, won him the National Award and shot him to fame. Of course, nowadays, it has become fashionable to mention youth and anti-corruption in the same sentence for every event, like pickle in any meal. So the buildup on 'will you raise your voice against corruption' was a bit ordinary. But, allowing that, what better movie than Rang De Basanti to catch the fervour, patriotism and dynamism of the youth ? Oh, How many times I have watched and re-watched the discussion scenes for the screenplay... The amazing rendition of the song, to the gentle sway of the audience, merged smoothly into a snippet of the Vande Mataram piece, with a tricolour digital background. What a way to end the day !! Ethereal, Enthralling and Extraordinary.

I had my little share of petty disappointments, though. How-many-ever blockbuster songs they sing, and they can't sing all of them at every concert, you always look forward to your personal favorite list and want to hear them being sung. I badly wanted Vellai Pookal from Kannathil Muthamittal to be sung, really. What a calming effect the song has... I totally love the Rahman Live in Los Angeles DVD, so I should admit these observations are strongly influenced by that liking. I know there may be so many parameters involved in the selection, the dates etc, but then, we have our sighs, no ? I missed, Chaiya chaiya, Jiya jaley, Chinna chinna asai and Patchai niramey. I definitely missed Shankar Mahadevan ( for the energy in Kay Sera Sera and the turns in Sandhana Thendralai ) , SPB (for that fantastic delivery of Oruvan oruvan mudhalali ) , Sadhana Sargam, Sujatha and Kavitha Subramaniam. I would have really loved to listen to Maduraikku Pogatheydee, the recent looping favorite I have discovered. I wanted Barso Re by Shreya Ghoshal, only by her and by none else. Okay, let me admit this is too much greed, I can't want all the best of two decades of musical genius together in a 3-hour live programme, thats unfair about me.

Earlier in the afternoon, some of the Rahman fans got together at an orphanage in Bangalore, at Anatha Shishu Sevashrama, for some service activity, which I had joined in, too. Food Distribution was arranged. They had some games for the kids. Agam, a band from Bangalore, sang a few songs for the kids. Yes, they did begin very appropriately with Vellai Pookal, which I was waiting for. The orphanage visit was a very satisfying experience. "We like 'Jai Ho' and 'Kadhal Anukkal' from Rahman Sir's songs very much", they said. Kannada songs sprouted quickly during the Anthakshari. One boy rocked the stage with his dance moves as the band played. Another, rather unassuming boy, went on to win a concentration game that they played. It was nice to see their fascination for the cameras which some of the fans carried and it was so gracious of the fans to share them with the kids and teach them how to take the pictures. After they had had the meal, when they asked, 'When are you coming next again ?', I didn't have an answer. But then they said, 'Some akkas from the Rahman fans group have told us they will come again after few days and spend time with us again'. I am sure there will be some follow-up action.

Now this post has got me all excited, I have to watch Rang De Basanti, one last 976-th time. :)

வீட்டுக்கு வீடு ஒரு கதை உண்டு

A Tamil version of my earlier blog post ... A story from every home...

அவர் நம் ஒவ்வொருவர் வாழ்வையும் தொட்டார் . சின்ன சின்ன விதங்களில். நம் ஒவ்வொருவரிடமும் அவரைப் பற்றிச் சொல்ல ஒரு கதை இருக்கிறது. அவரைப் பற்றி . அவர் அன்பைப் பற்றி. அவர் வாழ்வும் நம் வாழ்வும் இணைந்த வைபவத்தைப் பற்றி, நம் மனங்களில் அவர் நிறைந்து நம்மை வழிகாட்டிய கதைகளைப் பற்றி. இவை சாயி சுயசரிதைக் கதைகள்.

சில கதைகள் எங்கும் எப்போதும் எழுதப்படாத கதைகள். சில கதைகள் நம் இதயத்தில் மட்டும் நிறைத்து வைத்து போற்றப்படும் கதைகள், அவை இனிமேலும் எழுதப் படாது. சில கதைகள், மற்றவர்களிடம் நாம் சொல்ல வேண்டிய கதைகள். நம் வாழ்வில் அவர் அன்பை எப்படி அன்பை நிறைத்தார் என்பதை உலகத்துக்குச் சொல்லி ஆனந்தப்படவேண்டிய கதைகள். சிலவற்றை கதை என்று சொல்ல முடியாது, சின்ன நிகழ்ச்சிகள் , நகைச்சுவையான வாக்கியங்கள், ஏதோ ஒரு நாள் இங்கே இந்த மண்டபத்தில் நாம் அமர்ந்திருந்த போது நடந்த சம்பவங்கள், நம் நினைவில் நிற்கின்றன. நாம் அமைதியாக ஓரிடத்தில் அமர்ந்து யோசிக்கும் போது நம் உள்ளிருந்து அவை நீர்க்குமிழிகள் போல் நம் மன ஏரியிலிருந்து எழும்பி மேலே வருகின்றன.

சில கதைகளில் வசனம் இருக்காது. நாம் அங்கே அமர்ந்திருந்த போது, அவர் நம்மைத் தாண்டி போகும்போது, நம் கண்களில் கூர்ந்து கவனித்த அந்தப் பார்வை. நமக்காக, நாம் மட்டும் புரிந்து கொள்ளுவது போன்ற பார்வை. அவர் பேசவில்லை ஆனால் அர்த்தம் புரிந்துவிடும். நாம் கேட்க வேண்டும் என்று நினைத்தோம், கேட்கவில்லை, ஆனால் அந்த கேள்விக்கு விடை கிடைத்துவிட்டது.

சில கதைகளின் முக்கியத்துவம் நாம் பல நாட்குளுக்குப் பிறகு தான் உணர்ந்தோம். அறிய முடியாத இறை மனதை நம் சிறு மனத்தால் அறிய முயன்று, அது கொடுத்த விடையை வைத்து அவரது விந்தையை கணக்கு போட முயன்றிருப்போம்.

சில சமயங்களில் நமக்கு தோன்றிய ஒரு எண்ணம் , அது அவரிடமிருந்து வந்தது என்பதை நாம் உணர்வோம். அந்த எண்ண அனுபவம் கூட ஒரு கதையே.

இது உங்கள் அனுபவம் , அல்லது என் அனுபவம் மட்டும் அல்ல. வீட்டுக்கு வீடு இந்த சாய் கதைகள் உண்டு. சில கதைகள் பிறருக்கு சின்னதாக இருக்கலாம். ஆனால் , நமக்கு அது இனிமையான கதை, முக்கியமான கதை. ஏனென்றால், அது அவர்கள் வாழ்க்கையில் நடந்த கதை அல்ல, நம் வாழ்வில் நடந்த கதை. 'Dunnapotha' என்று செல்லமாக திட்டி இருப்பார். 'Good Boy' என்று புகழ்ந்திருப்பார். அதுவும் ஒரு இனிமையான கதை தான்.

மற்றவர்களின் அனுபவத்தைப் பற்றி நாம் கேள்வி கேட்கலாம், விவாதம் செய்யலாம், மறுக்கலாம். ஆனால் , நம் உள்ளுணர்வை நம்மால் மறுக்க முடியுமா ? நமது உள்ளுணர்வுகளுக்கு நாமே முக்கியத்துவம் கொடுக்கவில்லையெனில் , நாம் எதை ஆதாரமாக வைத்து வாழ்க்கையை வாழ்கிறோம் ? நம் கதை, நம் உள்ளுணர்வுகள் , நமக்கு ஆழமானவை . 'Personal'-ஆக முக்கியமானவை. அதனால் தான், அவர் உலகத்துக்கே போதகராக இருந்திருக்கலாம் , ஆனால் நமக்கு 'Personal God'- ஆக இருந்தார். அந்த நாள், அவரவர்கள் எங்கெங்கோ இருந்தாலும், அங்கிருந்தே, நன்றி உணர்வுடன் , அவருக்காக ஒரு துளி கண்ணீர் சிந்திய , அந்த லக்ஷோபலக்ஷம் மக்கள் அனைவருக்கும் அவர், தனி தனியாக , 'Personal God'- ஆக இருந்தார். அவர் இந்த வீட்டின் தலைவர், ஒவ்வொரு உரையாடலையும் அமைதியாக கேட்பவர், ஒவ்வொரு உணவு வேளையின் போதும் கண்ணுக்குத் தெரியாத விருந்தாளி. ஒவ்வொருவர் வீட்டிலும், இன்று , அவரவர்கள் 'Dinner Table '-இல் , இந்த சாய் கதைகளை தான் , ஒருவருக்கு ஒருவர் பகிர்ந்து கொண்டு இருக்கிறார்கள். இவை எல்லாம் சிறிய, ஆழ்ந்த , 'Personal' கதைகள் , நம் வாழ்வில் அவர் வந்த கதை, நம் உள்ளுணர்வின் கதை, நம்மை அந்த திருச்சிற்றம்பலம் தடுத்தாட்கொண்ட கதை.

கதை இருக்கிறதோ இல்லையோ, அதை சொல்லுகிறோமோ இல்லையோ, நாம் மீண்டும் மீண்டும் இங்கே வந்தோம். ஒவ்வொரு 'New Year'-உம் , சிவராத்திரியும் , நவம்பரிலும் வந்தோம். இங்கே வந்தால் நிம்மதி என்று நாடி வந்தோம். அப்படி வருவோருக்கெல்லாம் அன்பு தரும் ஆல மரமாக அவர் இந்த ஆஸ்ரமத்தை அமைத்தார். இந்த அன்பு நிழலின் குளிர்ச்சியில் நிம்மதியை தேடி வந்தவருக்கெல்லாம் அது கிடைத்தது .

இந்த அன்பு உணர்வுகள், கண்ணுக்கு தெரியாதவை , ஆனால் , 'இது சத்தியம் என்று எனக்கு தெரியும்', என்று அழுத்தமாக எழும் உள்ளுணர்வுகள். இந்த உணர்வுகளை வைத்து தான் , சுவாமியைப் பற்றிய ஒரு வடிவத்தை நாம் நமது மனங்களில் உருவாக்கி இருக்கிறோம். அந்த வடிவம், லோகாயதமான வடிவம் அல்ல. அது உணர்வுகளின் வடிவம். வருடக்கணக்கில் , மிக மெதுவாக, ஒரு எறும்பு தானியம் சேகரிப்பதுபோல , சேர்த்து வைத்த, வடிவம். நாம் அவரிடம் கேட்ட கோரிக்கைகள் , இந்த உலகம் சம்பந்தப்பட்டதாக இருக்கலாம். அவர் நமக்கு கொடுத்த பரிசுகள் காலப்போக்கில் ஒளி குறையலாம். ஆனால் , நாம் அவரது கண்ணோடு கண் நோக்கிய போது , அவரை பிரார்த்தனையில் நினைத்த போது , நம் இதயம் என்னும் 'Camera'வில் , அவரது வடிவத்தை செதுக்கிய , அந்தக் கண நேரம், அது இந்த உலகத்தியது அல்ல. அது காலம் கடந்தது, லோகாயதத்துக்கு அப்பாற்பட்டது. கிருஷ்ணர் , ஆயிரக்கணக்கான கோபிகைகளுக்கு , ஒவ்வொருவருக்கும் ஒரு கிருஷ்ணராக வடிவெடுத்தது போல, நாம் ஒவ்வொருவருக்கும் அவர் நமது இதயங்களில் ஒரு வடிவத்தை வரைந்திருக்கிறார். விதம் விதமாக, வித்தியாசமான அழகுடன், உணர்வுகளின் வடிவம் ஒன்றை அளித்திருக்கிறார்.

கல்வி, மருத்துவ வசதி, குடிதண்ணீர் - இவை மூன்றும் கட்டாயம் இலவசமாக தரப்பட வேண்டும் - என்று அவர் நம்பினார். நமக்கு ஒரு நம்பிக்கை இருந்தால், அந்த நம்பிக்கையை எப்படி செயலாக்க வேண்டும், பல்லோர் போற்றும் உதாரணமாக , ஊக்கமளிக்கும் வகையில் , எப்படி நம் நம்பிக்கையை வெளிப்படுத்த வேண்டும் , என்பதை அவர் உலகத்துக்கு செய்து காட்டினார். எனக்கு 'rights' இருக்கிறது , உரிமை இருக்கிறது என்று போராடுகிறோம். ஆனால், அதுவே , 'responsibility' என்று வரும் போது, பொறுப்பாக நடந்து கொள்ள வேண்டும் என்றால், பயந்து ஓடுகிறோம். அதை, மற்றவர் பெயருக்கு மாற்றி, அவரை எப்படி குறை சொல்லலாம் என்று யோசிக்கிறோம். அப்படிப்பட்ட இந்த உலகத்திலே, சுற்றி இருப்போரின் பிரச்சினைகளுக்கு, சமுதாயத்தில் உள்ள பிரச்சினைகளுக்கு, ஒரு தனி மனிதன் எப்படி பொறுப்பு எடுத்துக்கொண்டு , அந்த பிரச்சினையை தீர்க்க முடியும் என்பதை நிரூபித்தார். அவர்களுடைய கஷ்டத்தை, தனது கஷ்டமாக , அவர் நினைத்தார்.

'1980 'இல் , ஒரு இலவச பல்கலைக் கழகம் வரும் என்றும், அதில் மனித குண மேம்பாடுகளையும், 'Character Building ' -உம் இணைந்ந்து போதிப்போம் என்று அவர் சொன்ன போது, அவர்கள் எல்லாம் கை கொட்டிச் சிரித்தார்கள். இன்றைக்கெல்லாம் அந்த பல்கலைக்கழகம் 30 ஆண்டுகள் முடித்துவிட்டு இன்னும் வெற்றி நடை போடுகிறது. அதன் மூலம் பல ஆயிரம் பேர் வாழ்க்கையைத் தொட்டார். '1990'-இல் , ஒரு உயர்தர மருத்துவ மனை உருவாக்கி , ஏழை மக்களுக்கு அறுவை சிகிச்சைகள் முற்றிலும் இலவசமாக செய்வோம் என்று அவர் சொன்ன போது, அவர்கள், எள்ளி நகையாடினார்கள். இன்றைக்கு அந்த மருத்துவ மனை 20 வருடங்கள் முடித்தாகி விட்டது. பற்றாக்குறைக்கு , அந்த மருத்துவ மனை 10 வருடங்கள் முடித்த போது, அதே அளவில் , இரண்டாவது மருத்துவ மனையையும், கட்டினார். இன்னும் பல ஆயிரம் பேர் வாழ்க்கையைத் தொட்டார். '1995'-இல் , வறண்ட பூமியாக இருந்த, ஒரு மாவட்டம் முழுவதற்கும் , பல நூறு மைல் தொலைவிலிருந்து தண்ணீர் கொண்டு வருவேன் என்றார். அதற்காக அவர் கடன் வாங்க நேரிட்டது. அப்போது அவர் சொன்னார் : ' நல்ல எண்ணத்தோடு நல்ல காரியம் செய். உதவி தானாக வரும். ' அதற்கு பிறகு, இன்னும் 4 மாவட்டங்களுக்கு குடிதண்ணீர் திட்டத்தை அமுல்படுத்தும் அளவுக்கு அது விரிந்தது. அதோ, இன்னும் பல ஆயிரம் பேர் வாழ்க்கையைத் தொட்டார்.

அவரை எல்லாரும் 'Personal God ' என்று நம்பாமல் இருக்கலாம், பரவாயில்லை. ஆனால், சேவை காரியங்கள் மூலம், கண்காணாத அந்த பல ஆயிரம் அந்நிய மனிதர்களின் வாழ்க்கையில் அவர் விளக்கேற்றி வைத்தார். அந்த பல்லாயிரம் மக்களுக்கு அவர் அன்னியர் அல்லர். அவர்களுக்கு , அவர், வீட்டை வாழ வைத்த வள்ளல். எங்கிருந்தோ, பல ஆயிரம் மைல் தூரத்திலிருந்து வந்த நோயாளியைப் பொறுத்தவரை, அவர் ஒரு வள்ளல். ஒரு average middle class வர்க்கத்தைச் சேர்ந்த இளைஞன் , டிகிரி படிப்பு படிக்க கஷ்டப்பட்ட இளைஞனுக்கு , அவர் ஒரு வள்ளல். ஒரு மலை நாட்டு கிராமத்தின் வறண்ட தொண்டையைப் பொறுத்த வரை , அவர் ஒரு வள்ளல். இவை எல்லாவற்றிலும் , அவரிடம் வாங்கி கொண்டவர்கள் , கல்வி, வைத்தியம், குடிதண்ணீர் ஆகியவற்றை வாங்கி கொண்டு, நன்றியை செலுத்தினார்கள். ஆனால், அவர் கொடுத்தது, அதுவல்ல. அவர் கொடுத்தது அன்பு மட்டும் தான். அவர் எப்போதும், எல்லோருக்கும், அன்பை மட்டும் தான் கொடுத்தார், மற்றவை எல்லாம் அன்பை வெளிப்படுத்த , ஒரு கருவி தான். இந்த சேவைக் காரியங்களை செய்த சேவகர்களுக்கும், பக்தர்களுக்கும், அவர் அதோடு நிறுத்தவில்லை, அவர்கள் சேவையின் தரத்தை உயர்த்த விரும்பினார் . வெறுமனே வேலை செய்தால் போதாது, அதில் அன்பும் , சரியான மனோபாவமும் இருந்தால் தான் பிரயோஜனம் என்று போதித்தார். உன்னுடைய, உண்மையான தெய்வீக இயல்பை உணர்வாயாக , பிறகு நீ எது செய்தாலும், நன்மையாக தான் இருக்கும், என்றார்.

நாம் சொல்கிறோம் : அவர் ஒரு ஹிந்துவை 'Better' ஹிந்துவாக மாற்ற வந்தார் என்றும், ஒரு முஸ்லிமை 'Better' முஸ்லிமாக மாற்ற வந்தார் என்றும், ஒரு கிறித்தவனை 'Better' கிறித்தவனாக மாற்ற வந்தார் என்றும் சொல்கிறோம். ஆனால், எல்லாவற்றுக்கும் மேலாக , அவர் ஒவ்வொரு மனிதனையும், 'Better' மனிதனாக , மாற்ற வந்தார் என்று சொல்லலாம். மனிதனுக்கு, அன்பு என்றால் என்னவென்று தெரிய வேண்டும், அது மற்றவர் மனதை எப்படி மாற்றும் என்பது புரிய வேண்டும். நம்மை சுற்றி உள்ளவர்களின், சமுதாயத்தின் கஷ்டங்களை புரிந்து கொண்டு, அதை தீர்க்கும் பொறுப்பை நாம் ஏற்றுக்கொண்டு , மனிதனோடு மனிதன் நேசமாக வாழ வேண்டும். ஒருவர் கேட்பதற்கு முன்பே அவர்களுக்கு, நாம் நன்மையை பகிர்ந்து அளித்து, அவர் என்றாவது ஒரு நாள், வேறு ஒருவருக்கு நன்மை செய்வார் என்று நம்பி , நன்மையை சுற்றி வரச் செய்ய வேண்டும். அன்பின் மூலமும், சேவையின் மூலமும், தனக்கு உள்ளிருக்கும் தெய்வத் தன்மையை அவன் உணர வேண்டும். பிறகு, அதே தெய்வத்வம் தான் அங்கிங்கெனாதபடி , எங்கும் நிறைந்திருக்கிறது என்பதை உணர வேண்டும். இதை சொல்லத்தான், இதை செய்து காட்டத்தான் இந்த தெய்வம் வந்தது.

என்றாவது ஒரு நாள், பல ஜன்மங்கள் கழித்து, நமது பிறவி பயணத்தில், நாம் ஒரு நாள், இந்த உண்மையை உணரத் தான் போகிறோம். நமது 'Personal God '-க்கும் , நமக்கும், அதிகம் வித்தியாசம் இல்லை, நாமும் தெய்வம் தான், என்பதை உணரத் தான் போகிறோம். அதைத் தானே அவர் முதலிலேயே சொன்னார், நமக்குத் தான் , இது புரிபடுவதற்கு நிறைய 'time' ஆகிவிட்டது, என்று நினைப்போம்.

நம் உடம்பு, நம் மனம், நம் வினை, நம் விதி, நமது வாழ்வின் குறிக்கோள் , நம் வாழ்வின் கம்யம் , நம் உண்மை இயல்பு, - இதெல்லாமே நமக்கு புரியவில்லை. இந்த லக்ஷணத்தில், நாம் , அவரையும், அவர் உடம்பையும், அவர் அவதார நோக்கத்தையும் , புரிந்து கொள்ள முடியுமா என்ன ?

அவரை ஏன் நாம் நேசிக்கிறோம் தெரியுமா ? அவருடைய புகழை அளவிட முடியாது, அவரை புரிந்து கொள்ள முடியாது. அவரை புரிந்து கொண்டு அப்புறமாக அவரை நேசிக்க முடியுமா என்ன ?

அவர் முன்னிலையில், நாம் யார் , என்பதை அவர் நமக்கு காட்டுகிறார். அவருடைய திருவுருவப் படத்தின் தீபத்தின் முன்பு, நமது மனம் என்ற ஏரியில் தோன்றும் பிம்பத்தில், நம்மை நாம் காண்கிறோம். வேறு எங்கெங்கோ தேடி கிடைக்காத, நம்மை பற்றி, நாமே அறிந்து கொள்ள வேண்டிய உண்மைகளை , அவர் முன்னால் நாம் உணர்கிறோம். அந்த உள்ளுனர்வுகளுக்காக தான் நாம் அவரை நேசிக்கிறோம். நீங்கள் இந்த நிலையை அடைந்திருந்தால் , இந்த பிரசாந்தி நிலையத்தை, அடைந்திருந்தால், இது உண்மை என்பதை நீங்கள் உணர்வீர்கள்.

A story from every home

HE touched each one of our lives in little little ways at different points in time. Each one of us has a story to tell, about His Love, about how our lives have mingled with His, about His impact on us, our minds.

Sometimes they are stories told never before. Some are stories that are cherished deeply in the heart and might never be told. Some are stories that we enjoy telling, because the Love that we received, we want to share with the entire world. Some may be just little quips, short incidents, quotable quotes that happened some sunny morning in the Mandir here, but have been etched in our memories and bubble up from time to time, during our moments of reflection.

Some may be just silent moments, when He passed by us, He had this customized twinkle in His eye, apparently no word was spoken, but we got the message nevertheless. Some may be moments whose importance we realized only later, for, at that time, we let our narrow mind interpret the million mysterious ways of God. Sometimes it might have been as small as a thought that occurred to us, which we knew came from Him.

It's not just the story of you and me, it's ghar ghar kee kahani, a story from each home. Some may be stories that for others may be trivial, but for us, so sweet and so important, because they happened in our lives, not theirs. Even a light chiding as 'Dunnapotha' or a pleasant reference as 'Good Boy'. We can deny, question or argue somone else's experience, but can we deny a feeling when it occurs within us ? After all, if we aren't true to our feelings, what else would life be worth living for ? Our feelings and our stories are always deep, important and very personal to us. That is why, even though He was a Universal Teacher, He was a 'Personal' God. A personal God individually to all those millions, who shed a tear or two today in fond gratitude from wherever they are. He was the Head of this House, a silent listener in every conversation, an unseen guest at every meal. Every home must be narrating these stories at their dinner table today to others in the family and friends, and they are all little, but deeply personal stories of how He came into "my life" and what we felt about Him.

Whether story or not, whether told or not, each one of us was here, flocking here from time to time, for every Christmas, every Shivarathri and every November, because it was so wonderful to be here. He had made it so wonderful for us to be here, it’s so cool to bask in the shadow of this large banyan tree of Love.

It's these little but sure acts of love, invisible but 'I-know-it-is-true' kind of feelings, that have built our picture of how we relate to him. That picture is not of the material kind. It's a picture of feelings, built slowly like an ant builds its granary. The wishes we asked Him, might have been of this world and gifts that we received may fade with time. But the feeling we cherished when we prayed to him, that Moment of capture in the camera of our heart, it is not of this world and is timeless. Like Krishna who made a copy of Himself to each of the thousand Gopikas, the Master has made a picture of Himself in each of our hearts, each picture unique in its streaks and differently beautiful.

Education, Healthcare and Drinking water SHOULD be given free, He believed. And He set out to show the world how to manifest your belief into an example and an inspiration for others. In an age, where people are particularly insistent about their rights and cleverly transfer the responsibility to others at the quickest possible opportunity, He showed how an individual can take a personal sense of responsbility for the problems of the community. He felt for their problems, as really and as strongly as if it was His own problem.

When He said, in 1980, that a University would be completely free, and would combine modern education with character-building and human values, they mocked at him. It just completed 30 years and a few thousand lives were touched. When He said, in 1990, that a world class hospital would do surgeries for free for the poor, they jeered at him. That one just completed 20 years. Even better, 10 years into the first, for a bonus, He added one more hospital of the same scale and a few more thousand lives were touched, literally. When He announced in 1995, to supply drinking water to an entire arid district drawing water from hundreds of kilometers away, and He had to borrow to finish it, He said, 'Do good work with a good intention. Help will come.' And then He went on to add 4 more districts to the list and few thousand hearts.

He may not have been a personal God to everyone, but for those few thousand stranger lives that He touched by His Service, He was no more a stranger. For an unknown patient coming from a distant land, He was a giver. For that average, middle class young lad in his teens looking for a degree and can't afford it, He was a giver. For a parched throat in a uphill tribal village, He was a giver. In all these, the ones who received, got their cure, education and water and are grateful. But He was a giver of Love, above all, that was what He always gave, the rest were just the specifics. And for volunteers and the followers who participated in these works, He raised the bar for them further, beyond the work they did. Work wasn't an end in itself, He said, it was Love and the Attitude that accompanied it. Know your own reality, and every work that you do will be good.

It is said that He came to make a Hindu a better Hindu, a Muslim into a better Muslim, a Christian into a better Christian. But, above all, He came to make every Man, a better Man. So that Man may believe in Love and its cascading power of transformation. That Man may believe in Selfless Service and the proactive responsibility to care and share with fellowmen, to pay it forward with goodness. That Man may, one day, by the power of Love and Service, inquire into His own true nature and find Divinity within. And then find it pervading all over the place, in everyone. Some day, in a journey across lives, we may discover that we weren't any less godly than our personal God. Which is what He always said in the first place. We just took our time to get the point.

We are not able to figure out our own body, our mind, our destiny, our Gamyam and our real nature. What would we know of Him, His body and His Mission ?

As some famous quote goes, we love him, perhaps not for what He is, for we know not His Glory in its entirety. We love him, for what we are, when we are in His presence. For what we reflect in the light of His altar. For what we find out about ourselves that we didn't find otherwise. If you've been there, you'll know it to be true.

And you thought you had your backup...

A guest post of mine at Hari's techstuff blog :

http://hnsws.blogspot.com/2011/04/adventures-with-ping.html

See how much jargon I have had to suppress in my other "normal" writings :) :)

21 Brahmachari Eccentricities

I have an untested, home-grown, humorous hypothesis : That is, Brahmacharis develop eccentricities over a long period of time. They exhibit some or other kind of eccentric behaviour or mannerism. This is not true, of course, it’s just a story. This blog post itself is eccentric. Still, I went on to collect some data. I had to use my phone to record notes over a few weeks at all times, because when the Brahmacharis pass by and eccentricities appear, you have to note them down when you spot them. I compiled a few Brahmachari eccentricities that I observed in the Brahmachari world around me, then imagined a few more, mixed some of this and that, so that people don’t make out which is which. Arundhati Roy style.

Before I get into the light-hearted list, here is some serious gyaan.

Why does this happen ? Why might Brahmacharis develop eccentricities ?

See, simply put, this is what happens if you are not steadfast in your Sadhana and not regular at your midnight meditation.

However, the main reason it happens is a misleading interpretation of the word “independence”. When you are unmarried and staying alone, you are free to do whatever you wish and you indeed go about doing just that. If you are married, Ah, this possibility shrinks quite a bit. On every decision, you might have to consult at least one more person, who has equal veto-power and can bring in additional voting candidates like your parents or in-laws. You want to buy Sony or Samsung ? You want to paint Blue or Brown ? You want to wear White or Black and you want me to wear Blue or Green ? It so happens that God puts the opposites together, so that one may complement the other and learn from the other, so every decision is a parliamentary procedure. You can’t do strange eccentric things, you may get whacked, chided or advised by your spouse, depending on what is your acceptable form of instruction. You will be gently requested to live according to the world around you and if you don’t listen, first ‘gently’ will go and then ‘requested’ will go. A person, more cool-headed, balanced and smarter than you, is walking with you and you have to be aware of the presence.You will constantly be called upon to rise up to expectations.

Neways, what do I know of the married world, except for those surmises ? Don’t ask a monk how he knows the things he knows. If you are not married, you think you have none of these boundaries. So you take your independence to the extreme and end up doing all eccentric things, because there is nobody at the peer level to ask.

Then, there is this conviction called : ‘I will do whatever I feel is right’. While this is a good thing, you take it to the very extreme, and you end up doing things that feels good only for you. You think you are following your conscience, which is a very serious matter and a wonderful thing. May be you are. But you may refuse to consider the possibility, that other people around you may be following their respective consciences with as much earnest. May be, two consciences can be in conflict. If that’s not possible, one of you may not be following the conscience after all, you may be following some other buffalo (like your mind). Whatever, taking this to the extreme, causes you to disregard what others think as an acceptable behaviour. It creates a self-centered approach to choices, partly calling it joy of independence, partly calling it conscience and what turns out is an eccentricity that I can blog about.

As the 7 habits book says, interdependence is a greater value than independence. We loosely talk of terms like financial independence, professional independence, creative independence and so on. But, at the end of the day, we are Prema Pipasis, we hanker for love, both of the mundane human kind and of the higher spiritual kind. If everyone were to be independent, there would be no one at the dinner table to share stories. Interdependence creates a better environment of togetherness and promotes love rather than independence.

Oh oh, enough of the analysis paralysis. This post was intended to be an attempt at humour. Let’s get into some lively worldview.

So here, in one of the largest ever research on Brahmachari eccentricities… 21 of them, in no particular order.

1. You put a “STAFF” board on your bicycle, in huge saffron letters. As if it is proactive compliance with RTO and thieves will check out the informative board and then keep away. You know the cycle repair guy tells some story every time and robs you of a lot of money, but you think you are helping the local economic ecosystem by providing him business opportunities and the cascading effect will benefit the whole town. You call it Gullibility with Full Awareness. What a concept !

2. You are stationary, but your parts are mobile. You keep twiddling, turning, clasping your fingers, biting your lips, scratching your head, shaking your legs (horizontally and vertically, alternatively). As if all the wood-boring Beetles in the Mummy movie have entered your body through all the holes. Drawing your tongue deep inside as if you are sipping a cool drink and releasing it as if it wasn’t tasty enough. Rubbing the chair’s handle so much that after a while, you have reached the wood after wearing out the cushion. You do all of this at the same time, so seamlessly that you don’t know where one process ends and the next one begins. Your motor nerves have a tough time handling data. You generate so much kinetic energy enough to power a household. When someone mentions this, you give the analogy of the ocean : waves on the surface, but deeep calm within, you say. Aha!

3. You think, the ladies mess up things. Always. Everything. You also think, they are emotional, they are difficult to deal with, they have more politics than the men. And loads of other such MCP opinions. You don’t know what that abbreviation means, You think they are all Maturely Considered Perspectives. You had to click on that link and look it up to know it is Male Chauvinistic Dot-dot-dot. You direct your ire particularly at nuns and spinsters.

4. You are more comfortable working with machines than with men. That’s because machines don’t have perspectives. You don’t have to be courteous to them. They are glad to get booted by you and they don’t complain ‘I got booted by my boss today’. They don’t lie and tell different answers to different people. They don’t mask hypocrisy with diplomacy. Those blue screen error messages are better than some confusing expressions put up by real people. Of course, there may be such things as Windows perspective and Linux perspective, but you can always keep them under dual boot or virtual machines, providing private space differently. A space that people hardly provide for you.

5. Apart from talking to real people, you do other kinds of talking. You talk to yourself. Sometimes, without a mirror. Pouring out, accusing people, that you can’t do for real. You talk in dreams and chase away Greek warriors in battle. You talk to your dog more than you talk to your friends. You even speak to the dog about your bank accounts and mutual fund investments. You blog as a therapy. You say the same thing again and again in conversation.'Did I tell you about my musician aunt in Thanjavur who fell from a tractor ?', you begin, not realizing that the poor listener has gone through the torture already. Some jobless listeners, they hear you out completely and even ask newer questions to elicit additional information. And then, they drop a last line, ‘Yeah, you mentioned this last week’. Huh !!

6. You never get angry. You are Sant No.1. In fact, you spend considerable amount of time sublimating your anger instincts, but you are not sure whether you are sublimating or suppressing. One fine morning, when you do get angry, the ceiling comes down, and even the sublimated impressions re-crystallize, liquefy in the heat and pour out as lava. This is a split personality disorder that manifests once in six months.

7. Nothing is useless to you. You keep collecting every single nut and bolt, pin and paper. Pamphlets and empty diaries are your favorites. You take pride that archaeologists 2000 years down the line will be able to reconstruct lost history of an entire civilization by excavating just the room where you lived. They are going to connect the dots in cuneiform script by matching the pictures in the pamphlets to the dates in the dairies. You have empty diaries, that SBI had gifted to Dadabhai Naoroji , which he passed on to your great grand mother’s servant maid. Every year, you think you will use the diary for “time management”, to keep a log of, when you got up, when you had noodles etc. Personal Growth, you think. You haven’t used the rotting, rusting stuff in years, but you always want to use all of them tomorrow. ‘Just in case I require’, you know. The only good thing out of this unlimited inventory is the polythene bags you keep. At least, they save the environment. Although you are incapable of such a noble intention, it’s just an incidental benefit to mankind, apart from the archaeological ones.

8. When you see a boy and a girl talking to each other in the post office, you think, they are upto something. Upto what ? You wish in all the world, that they broke all the societal shackles and told you what they are upto, but sadly, that doesn’t happen. You don’t want to consider the straightforward naive possibility that a girl might just be borrowing a pen from the boy. Things can’t be that simple, a pen can lead to anything, you know. Curious, you come to post office the next day at the same time, because you watched a Maniratnam movie and you are expecting something to happen. Oh sad, it’s some other boy, some other girl and some other pen this time. You deliberately left your pen at home and came, but you feel shy to ask. You are hoping someone will come and ask you, ‘Do you need a pen ?’ and then compliment you by saying ‘Nice T-shirt there’. But, it doesn’t happen, you buy a new pen and write the address and go home. You spend entire lifetimes in such misplaced wishful thinking and unanswered curiosity at every post office, ATM and bus stand. Phew.

9. You are so desperate for good food that you go to the canteen with ghee (or Amul butter cubes), 2 types of pickle in bottles, Podi(2 types again) and Chips, all of them as side-dishes to your meal. You ask for more chutney and sambar than the total mass of the idlis, maximizing value for money. The board ‘Outside food not allowed’ seems so intimidating to your kind of eating habits. The good part is you share it with everyone around. This food urge can take other forms. You are waiting for your indirect aunty, three levels away in the family tree (or any aunty for that matter) to invite you for a home lunch. As they say in Dil Chahta Hai, ‘we go anywhere for a piece of cake’. On festival days like Deepavali, you even schedule your lunch/dinner offers and space them out at regular intervals, getting choosy at which item is best at which home, putting up a reasonable performance at each location.

10. Someone sends a wedding invitation over email, and you are thinking whether to wish him or not. Where does the question arise? Even for wishing over email, you go through three levels of complicated algorithms to arrive at that dilemma. Finally, you go to the reception. You are talking to people, but you are feeling lonely. You wanted to go for the wedding, but after reaching you wonder why you came. You have been collecting sayings like :

• Marriage is like a besieged fortress where people who are inside, want to get out and people are outside, want to get in.
• Married people have one set of problems and the unmarried ones, well, have another set. Problems still.

You are waiting for the every little opportunity to use these sayings. You want to make married people feel guilty and unmarried people feel confused. You finish your food before the couple arrive on stage. Got to save on time, you see.. Food is good, but you when you reach the couple to wish them, you finally say, Happy Birthday. Hmm. You are uncomfortable being photographed, and more uncomfortable standing on the bride’s side, even though you are standing three people away outside the camera’s range.

11. You carry a great feeling of brotherly oneness, but only when you are using things that belong to someone else. ‘Ah, our brother only na, he wont mind ya’ is your local delivery of Vasudaiva Kudumbakam. Someone has given chocolates to your room-mate for safekeeping in the fridge and you have already nationalized it without the slightest hesitation or ethical dilemma. The thumb rule is : If it can be used by you, it can be used by me.

12. In the school, in the Indian Pledge, they taught you ‘All Indians are my brothers and sisters’. You believed it, took it seriously and now you don’t know how to provide for exceptions. You haven’t grown up since. In fact, you don’t want to grow up, because, there is this sweet feeling of not growing up. After all, grown-ups have problems, don’t they ? You don’t realize that modern young women working in multinational banks hate to be called ‘Akka’ by their male colleagues, because it makes them sound so old. It looks outrageous to you that you can call them by their name and they would prefer that indeed. You still want to add a ‘ji’ to their name, just in case. After all this conservative build-up, you finally end up treating foreigners as exceptions to the Indian pledge and get ready for a cross-cultural revolution.

13. You think fluorescent orange, fluorescent green are good colours. You wonder why the rest of the world doesn’t agree with your aesthetic tastes. . Saree choices: you get confused so much, you give up and buy whatever the sales girl suggests, as if the sales girl thinks exactly like your niece. You don’t know that there are things like male colors and female colours. You also wonder how gender differences can be attributed to non-living things, like gents watches and ladies watches, gents footwear and ladies footwear, gents purse and ladies purse. They are just functional instruments, right ?, why do they complicate choices ? Why not have gents cars and ladies cars, gents keyboard and ladies keyboard, gents mosquito repellent and ladies mosquito repellent ? Thus goes your orrriginal thinking.

14. You are so much established in Vedanta, you have mastered the art of detachment so much that you can right-click and choose attachment or detachment. You come up with complicated phrases, like, attachable detachment and detachable attachment, which only the Brahmachari community understands. At a given point of time, you can be emotionally connected but spiritually disconnected. This can baffle people at times, because they are trying to find out what mode you are operating in, are you interested or not interested ? It’s like the loose contact of the network cable to your laptop. Every time before you press Enter, you have to check whether it is connected or not.

15. You have no clue how to handle kids, particularly infants. If someone gives a baby to you for a few minutes for caretaking, you start sweating. You think they are going to scream anytime. And just when you thought that, it does scream. Their cheeks get red and you think it needs medical attention. You are always wondering whether it is going to do the zing thing on your lap-top, causing you to rinse your clothes. You have strange concepts from nowhere, like, ‘if you spend lot of time with kids, you may convert to making some of your own’. You are waiting for the Mummy or Daddy to come and get the baby back from you.

16. You go to a 5-star hotel with friends and have just curd rice. The waiter looks at you, as if your Mommy never fed you anything else for upbringing. You look at him back, brimming with pride that it’s indeed true. You shoot off into a speech to your friends on the wonderful effects it has. You recall with nostalgia, how, in your school days, you ate previous day’s rice soaked in water with curds and how it was instrumental in acquiring the vast intelligence you have now. Not knowing, that’s precisely, what the waiter will be bringing in a few minutes. And then you crib, ‘How can curd rice be so costly ?’. ‘Exclusive cow for you, Sir’, he explains.

17. When you want to describe a corporate scenario where two parties are fighting, you use the husband-wife analogy. When more parties join the fight, you start extending it by upto third wife, fourth husband and so on. If it’s software projects, it even extends to, my kid and your kid are fighting with our kids. You don’t realize that the project manager on the other end of the conference call, may be married and he may be raising his eye-brows at the way you are making his professional discussion more lively.

18. You do not know the difference between normal jokes and adult jokes. You think they are all the same. You even think, every normal joke has an adult significance. You don’t know which to use, when and where, to whom. Therefore, you draw twitches from people who listen to your jokes, instead of laughter. You wonder why the women in the gathering are not laughing but staring at you with a confused look like “what’s happened to this bloke”. Then you realize that you have told the wrong joke at the wrong place. But you repeat the mistake all over again at the next gathering with a different joke.

19. What is meant to be taken seriously, you take it as a joke.What is meant to be taken as a joke, you take it seriously. Like this post. You are an enigma.

20. You think, you don’t suffer from any eccentricity. It’s the rest of the world that is way off the orbit, particularly the married folks. The world revolves around you and it’s not doing it properly. You also use phrases like ‘Cha, married peepal, they are like that only no?’ or ‘Once you get married na, that’s all raa, gone case, booked forever, Govindaaa only’ and so on. To think you don’t have any eccentricity, may itself be one. Also, even a normal eccentricity found in normal people, you wrongly assume only Brahmacharis suffer from these eccentricities. It could be anyone. This misunderstanding can itself be an eccentricity.

21. And finally, some tidbits, all bunched into one item.

• You are scared to death, of dogs.You feel all the dogs in the world are out to get you and afraid even of sleeping dogs. Let the dogmatic dogs lie as they are.

• You think that a girl’s mind is programmed and re-programmable. By you.

• You think the whole world is there to listen to your bathroom singing and you distort the lyrics of sweet devotional songs with Mexican tribal drum sounds produced by you, because you think tunes transcend the lyrics.

• You carry a wide green sitting mat that looks like a flying magic carpet, occupying area worth three kadapa slabs. And yet you jostle for space.

• You have tea at the middle of the road at midnight, after a drama practice session, and want to call it Brahmachari independence.

• If someone names his book as Jyoti Rupa Sandhya Vandana and Gayatri Mahima, the title doesn’t look spiritual to you.

So, Which one of these, do you think, I suffer from ? Let me know in the comments.

Not that I’ll eliminate them. I’ll even out those eccentricities, get back into orbit and replace them with newer eccentricities, as part of personal growth. Different people have different eccentricities, and there as many eccentricities as there are people. So if yours is not on the list, put that in the comments and let others know.

I have no idea how the Brahmacharinees operate in this terrain. So if you feel this post has a gender bias or a chauvinistic angle, please know that it is not intended. Indeed, both genders are equally capable of going off the orbit. Do a simple find-replace and tweak the context a bit, you will get their side of the story. My guess is, it’s as complicated as it is on this side. But don’t break your rules and go to verify it, in Mohabbatein style.

If you think the eccentricity I am mentioning here refers to someone whom you know, keep quiet. Don’t put that in the comments and get me sued. We can giggle on that over a cup of coffee. I don’t know you, I disown all my readers regularly. Read Ram Gopal Varma’s disclaimer on Raktha Charithra. It’s all fiction and faction blurring into fact, occasionally. The rest is just accidental coincidence.