Today is sunday and i normally wake up at around nine. But, i was up and ready by 7.30, the reason being that my In-laws were here and I had to take them out for a bangalore darshan. Usually, when any of my relatives are here, I prefer to take them out to some temples in Bangalore rather than to some museums or shopping malls. I assume that these elderly people would always prefer that. And in Bangalore, its always to ISKCON temple at Rajaji Nagar. To add a bit of philosophy, according to me, Temples reminds us that there is a Supreme power above us, an Infinite reality, which controls every entity in this universe and our goal in life is to understand that ultimate truth.But instead, we spend time to worship this reality in different forms only for our material growth in this earth..Ayyo, this blog seems to head towards some heavy writing, better i ll avoid this for now..

Ok, coming back to the topic, I, my wife and her parents got ready for out temple visit. We left our home at koramangala and caught a bus to Majestic bus stand. It was quite unusual for me to travel in BMTC as i prefer travelling in auto or a bike to Bus. The reasons being one, i cannot read kannada, so, i dont know which bus i should catch and two, because of crowd. But the one i took now was not that crowded as it started from koramangala and also it was sunday morning. Once we reached majestic, it was an harrowing time, until we found the platform from where we could catch bus to ISKCON temple. Even though there was information about the buses plying from each platform, there was no centralized information. what this means is, one has to have the knowledge of which platform to take or go running around all platforms checking for the right bus. But the easiest way is to ask someone. Not knowing kannada added to our woes. but, finally we found out the right bus..that was quite a relief for us!!

After reaching Rajaji Nagar, we walked from the bus stand to temple. before going to ISKCON we went to Guruvayoorappan temple which was located right opposite to ISKCON. There were a lot of small shops outside the temple selling tender coconut juices, flutes made of wood, women selling flowers et al. There was also amarriage procession going on in front of the temple. Suddenly, my memories flew back to sepetember first of this year, the day I got married. I could see the groom getting the attention of all and passerbys. He was getting his "fifteen minutes of fame" of his life and i was in a similar situation few weeks before.

From there we went to ISKCON temple. ISKCON, The International Society for Krishna Consciousness are followers of the Gaudiya Vaishnava faith, a devotional tradition based on the teachings of Bhagavad-gita and Srimad Bhagavatam. The tradition traces its roots back to 5,500 years. The precepts and practices of the members of the present day ISKCON were taught and codified by the 15th century saint and religious reformer Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and his principle associates, the six Goswamis of Vrindavana.

Now, this temple is really a pleasure for eyes. its gigantic and marvellous. its looks every bit like a monument of 21st century. As per my belief, temples are centers which promotes spiritualism by shunning materialism. But this one seemed to be different, where Materialism was manifested at its best. The temple was clean and well maintained, which was quite different from what we have seen of lot of our century old temples. ISKCON, promotes krishna cult all over the world. Inside the temple, everywhere you hear the chants of "Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare : Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare".

There are Santcum Sanctorums for Lord Narasimha, Lord Venketesawara and the main deity Lord Krishna with his consort Radha and his divine brother, Balarama. There is also an Idol of Prabhupada who is the founder of ISKCON Movement. Once you are done with your worshipping, then you have to cross a lots of kiosks, selling all and sundry starting from spiritual books to small trinkets like key chains. All products are for promotion of Lord Krishna. You have to pass through so many shops that it is highly unlikely that you come out from the shop without purchasing anything. We too purchased a few pictures of Krishna. We had our breakfast there at temple and then we headed towards Commerical street for some shopping. so that was how our temple visit went that day. i am pretty poor in finishing my blogs...so i ll leave it like this for now!!!!!

my favourite web sites

http://subhash-kak.sulekha.com/blog/posts.htm

http://www.geocities.com/sarojram18/

http://www.bookshopofindia.com/default.asp

http://nandakumarchandran.sulekha.com/blog/post/2006/11/lokaayata-ancient-indian-atheism.htm

Kavithai..Kavithai #6

Is this our country
that was once a heaven for many
Where people lived in harmony
With no thought about the money

Considered to be the mother of civilization
Where prosperity was not an illusion
With all amenities for education
It was once the centre of attraction.

Then came the crucial blow
The invaders came in full flow
Not able to stop the inflow
The country started losing its glow

The last of the invaders were British
For whom colonies were a fetish
Atlast came a man who was unselfish
and got the freedom with very few skirmish

The country which was ravaged by frequent invaders
Is struggling to get back her previous splendour
the future of her depends on us, We youngsters
Please unite and make her again the world's Super power!!!!!

Crazy one!!!!!

Far away from his land of birth
Lived a guy who was a flirt
Once he saw a girl named bert
Who was always wearing a skirt

Our hero being an extrovert
Went and told her you are the best
So shocked she was with his blurt
She stood not knowing what to do with this malapert

Bert then became fully alert
Told him that you are not a pennyworth
Don’t come behind me like a pervert
If I slap then you'll get hurt

He decided it’s time to depart
didn’t want to cause her discomfort
Before leaving he told one last thing to bert
What he said was short and curt
Cyaa bert, its time to propose evert!!


oops!!! couldnt think of writing something better!!!!

Kavithai kavithai #4

Terror Terror..Creating Fright

sitting alone in the park
when it was already dark
i started thinking about the plight
of the lives taken away last night

what wrong they did
why their lives taken away like this
and who have done all these
So many questions coming up in my mind
any answers for this in your mind??

Let us pray to GOD
to stop these mad DOGs
who fight in the name of GOD
not knowing there is only one GOD

Oh God, please stop this crusade
before everyone becomes insane
but, maybe all this is your game
to bring an end and start all over again!!!!!

Kavithai..Kavithai #3

Long long ago
not so long ago
i too had a wish
So close to my heart
that it tore me apart
i was breathing
yet, i appeared lifeless
thinking and thinking
for that one particular wish

Atlast this wish made me sick
so i decided to give this a kick
i threw the wish out(of my mind) and closed the hood
It really made me feel good
do you want to know what was that wish?
better forget, you'll never realize that wish

kavithai kavithai #2

This day last year
when i was full of despair
The last hope was gone
carried away by that cyclone
I could see the hell
the gate was opened, waiting for me
All because of that demon
which was squeezing me as a lemon

everything started with a tryst
didnt knew that this will bring a twist
He was the best friend for me
who was always available for me
Even when I fired him to death
He didnt raise a breath
but slowly and surely
he was consuming me daily
Until one day I was bleeding through my nose
the blood dripping on the rose given by my Rose

Here i Am nowhere
hanging around all over
Wish i could take next birth
So that I could tell people
that - "Smoking kills"!!!!

kavithai..kavithai!!

This is about my Mother
who is there for me for all Weather
Morning or evening, Summer or winter
she keeps thinking about me and my brother
dont know why i least bother about her
Whenever i am with her
but the Moment, i stay away from her
then the life becomes tougher
the days become longer
and the nights become darker
the thoughts of meeting her
makes me feel better
And finally, there comes the moment
with all its splendour
and here i am again with my mother
the joy of reunion bringing back the laughter
but will this last longer
I am afraid i ll stop thinking about her
if i am close to her
Should I be with her or stay away from her
Oh My God!! let me know what should be my answer!!!

One year in pune - part 1

One year in pune

This is something I wished to write a long time back..but due to my laziness it took such a long time before I decided to pen it down today. What I am going to write now is one of the most beautiful phases in the short span that I have lived, but the memories that I carried over from this one year has been enormous. Before writing this down, I would like to tell the reason for this one year being gr8. The main reason being unfortunately, i had a very boring and dull college life. More explanations may not be needed if I mention the name of the college where I did my mechanical engineering. Its none other than the notoriously strict Sathyabama engineering college in Chennai. I still rue the decision to study in this school(its not a college, anyway) where neither did I learn too much about mechanical engg nor I enjoyed my life as a teenager bunking classes, watching movies or flirting with babes!!! The only good thing that happenend in those four years was getting to know my good friend Isaiah Ranjith Kumar. Otherwise there is nothing much to cherish… I might write a separate blog on the life in sathyabama later, right now I ll stick to the topic on hand!! Another reason why this one year has been memorable is because, whatever I have achieved till now is because of what I have learned in that one year. Before starting to write about that one year, I would like to thank my previous employer for providing with this opportunity, my friends who stayed with me in pune for one year who made my stay memorable and also my trainers Mr. Manoj Chauhan and Mr. Siegfried Mueller. There is one more trainer whom I don’t want to thank, because he was the only villain in that whole one year(chuckles)!!!

How it all started

I was one of those unlucky fellows who completed the degree in 2002 when US was reeling under severe recession. There were not many campus interviews at that time and since me be an exceptionally average student, I couldnt go past GDs in the very few campus recruitments that I attended. After completing my college, I was happily sitting at home waiting for an opportunity to come. Preparing resumes and attending interviews were the main job for me in that whole one year!! In between I had got a job in one mannar & sons company with a pay of 1000 bucks a month. But I didn’t work there for more than a day. After almost a year, I got an opportunity to work in sundaram motors in Chennai as a trainee!!! I was asked to undergo training in Mercedes Benz Workshop. That was my first tryst with a passenger car and the association still continues. That’s where I came to know about the one year training held at the Mercedes company in pune for engineering graduates sponsored by the dealerships. The name of the course was mechatronics and the main idea of the training was the train the engineering graduates to diagnose the complex electrical and electronical faults in the Mercedes Cars. Since diagnosing a complaint required system knowledge, quantative ability and knowledge of using diagnose testers which were in English, it was not possible to train the technicians who were already working in the workshop. So the good souls in the Mercerdes plant decided to take engineering graduates from each dealership and train them in diagnosing the complaints. This is one decision which they will rue later!!