Money and India.

Had a wonderful trip to Trichi, Kumbakonam, Kulithalai. Life there has not changed a whole lot but I see technology everywhere. A good lunch in Kumbakonam costed Rs 20.00 only and yes people are still respectful. Small homes, lots and lots of temples and as soon as we stepped in those towns, immense peace came into the minds. May be this is what philosophers call it connecting with yourself! Having lived in small township for 20+ years in childhood, no wonder, I did not have any starting trouble right from first minute in those towns. This time, intentionally I travelled in regular bus from Kumbakonam to Trichi with my Parents. Stopped in the middle and enjoyed the hot hot ground nuts and tea (yes - they supply tea in disposible paper cups even in small towns in India). What a life! Schools have imporved everywhere and lifestyle is little better.

One sad thing though - we saw quite a few small villages with very poor living standards, people living below poverty line. On one side we celebrate economic success- on the other side, we still have majority of population living below their means. Like Mahatma Gandhi told - the true India is in Villages. Amid all these, there is a peace which we need to search for in big cities.

In my birth place, I still see people not locking their doors during day time - nothing to fear for.
How do we get that life of simplicity and facility of modern world! Don't know the answer yet. - When I read the book by Suki Sivam, I realize that, you need to be yourself to get that peace wherever you are.

My driver was asking me the cost of the sneakers that I bought in Foley's during sale. I mentioned to him the cost ($29.99 in sale=Rs 1200.00). He told me that he recently bought one Nike in India for Rs 5000.00!! What is his monthly income - Rs 5500.00 in a good month!!!

NRI and India.

Next to me standing in line in the Airport was a couple who was tavelling back to Dallas like me. The discussions with them were ranging from US Elections to Infrastructure in India to Food items to taste in India. Cost of living discussion did take place and having born and brought up in US, they could not relate to the changes in cost of living index in india in the last 10+ years. Wait a minute, born and brought up in US - Yes, they are American couple who have been living in US last 4 generations having moved from Germany and now for the first time moved the family to India on the Job. - Yes, during the last 8 trips to india in the last year or so, I have been seeing more and more Americans moved to India and taken up Jobs in india. In the Restaurants, in the Airports, and in shopping malls, I see more and more of Americans (and may be some Europeans too) in India. The term that we used to hear - NRI - Non-Resident Indians is now slowly fading away and a new term is getting coined - RNI - Resident Non-Indians. Here and there in the news paper, I am reading articles on American male getting married to Indian woman. If you are an NRI - you are not any more crowd puller of Autos and Taxis. You have to be a RNI!!

The profile of India is changing. Changing so rapidly, that it is difficult to gauge whether for good or for bad. It is encouraging to see the economics and hopefully the good changes are there to stay.

One thing that RNIs are yet to figure out though is, why is that all Indians crowd around the Gate before boarding despite the fact that they annouce seat numbers and board them only in that order? This is happening in all Airports. I remember when we board the train, we need to rush to the Door to get in before train leaves the station. May be that we still live in those memories !!

Money has no value now in India. NRIs once thought that the dollars that we earn here are much more to cover and then to have a lot in the bank to settle down in India. That is not true anymore. I met with several NRIs who moved back to India recently and many are feeling the pressure. (see my next blog "Is Money everything in india" for different perspective on this).

Vijay Vittala Temple - Feb 16 2008.

Vijay Vittala Temple is a must see and it is near Bangalore. In my snapfish albums I have posted several pictures. The Gita Upadesam structure is spell bounding and Vishwaroopam picture is also wonderful feast to the eyes. See some of the links for futher info. This temple also hosts Gayatri Devi's Mandir one of the very few temples for Gayatri Devi. As you know, Gayatri is the mother of all Vedas. This temple walls have all Rishi's statues also.

http://travel.webshots.com/album/559724553HHysQO?start=12
http://www.templeofcosmicreligion.org/htms/VishwaShanti/VishwaShanti1.htm
http://www.dvaita.org/haridasa/dasas/vijaya.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vijaya_Dasa

Baffled to see Ghee turning to Butter - Feb 16 2008

We went to Siva Ganga with my In-laws and my wife's Uncle's family.
Shiva Ganga is near Tumkur about 60 km from Bangalore. This town houses a Shiva Temple on the top of a Hill. This Shiva Linga is Swayambu (no known event of any human being having done the Prathishtapana) and it has been there since Kratha Yuga (1st Yuga).
The importance of this temple is also the fact that only in this temple, when you do Ghee Abhishekam, it turns to Butter. We have seen this in our own eyes. Aso, there is a cave which comes all the way from bangalore to this temple top hill. It is documented that the founder of Bangalore Mr. Kempa Gowda used to come from Bangalore secretly using this tunnel to avoid killing by Britishers when they were ruling India. One can imagine the technology that was used those days to carve our a cave and tunnel from bangalore to top of the hill. The end of the tunnel is just opposite to the Shiva Garba graham !.
Some of us climbed further up hill to see a place called Volakal Theertha (Holi Water) where spring water is found inside a hole. The local belief is that if you could reach and gather this water through the hole, you have done Punyam. (Apparently I could gather some water !!)
One cannot imagine how water is flowing atop a hill all through the year. We climbed up further to two other places where water is flowing - places called Uthbava Ganga and Thadava Ganga. Our wells are getting dried these days but top of the hill, natural water is flowing all through the year.
One can climb further up to the top most tip of the mountain to see a beautiful Shiva Temple. We did not go that high. One can see a beautiful Nandi on top. Few years back, someone stole a very heavy Bell at the top of the hill. The whole town could hear the sound from the bell on festive occasions. But that bell is gone now. Our modern day technology is used to steal from a wholy place when those days, people used the technology to cut a tunnel to visit the temple !
Opposite to SivaGaga is Siddha Ganga. This place is very special as even today it seems one can see natural water flowing from ground where it is believed to be from a spot where Lakshmana shot an arrow to get water to Sita when she was thirsty during their walk from Ayodya during their 14 year exile.
Tumkur is famous for Tamarine. Also, near tumkur very good Agarbathis are available. Apparently my father came to Tumkur to seek admission for me in an Engineering college. Because of cost involved, it seems I refused to go there.

Hanuman Temples

There are two famous Anjaneya Temples in Bangalore. One is in Banaswadi and the other is in Jaya Nagar. The temple in Banaswadi is very old temple and that attracts several hundreds of devotees and is considered very powerful.

The temple is Jaya Nagar is called RaagiGudda Hanuman temple. Gudda is hillock in Kannada. In olden days, this was a hillock of Raagi cultivation and this Hanuman temple is there from those days. Visit the link below for more info.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ragigudda_Anjaneya_temple

Get more disk space in your computer.

I have been noticing that even if you do not save any files in your computer, the available disk space was reducing gradually. This is due to the fact that the temporary files are getting stored due to internet surfing, CD burning etc.
To acquire the lost disk space, I found a simple utility which is burried in Windows. It is called cleanmgr. From start, go to Run and type cleanmgr and click Ok. The system will analyze the disk and report where all it can gain space. You can view the report and run it. You will get back all the space. This works well with Windows XP and I am sure it works in Windows 2000 also.

Life can turn around in any direction.

Our elder Son's first vocal music teacher is a great singer herself. We still have her recordings and she has such as a melodious voice. She lost her husband early in her life but was blessed with two daughters. But, due to an unknown medical reason, she started loosing her eye-sight gradually. What I learnt in this trip is that she almost lost her eye-sight! It was disheartening to know this. I tried to find her and meet with her. Unfortunately (I say this as a normal human being with attachment to the earthly things), she renounced all her earthly desires and left home and joined an ashram and she is now known in that area as Maa Chinmayee. Her two daughters are being taken care of by her parents. She has a beautiful home, but preferred to join the ashram and serve people.

Thoughts from "Inda Naal Iniya Naal" by Suki Shivam

During the Dwapara Yuga - Rama fought Ravana. Rama and Ravana came from completely different Vamsas - race and families.
During Treda Yuga, Pandavas fought Kauravas who came from same families.
During Kali Yuga - Same person is good in the morning and bad in the evening !!

Vaidya Veera Raghava Perumal Temple Visit - Feb 13 2008

On this day, I had the blessings of visiting this temple with my parents. This place is in Chennai suburb in a place called Thiruvallur which is about 1 1/2 hr drive fron Chennai. This Temple is one of the 10 Divya Desams (Vaishnava Sthalams). This Perumal has the power of removing all illness in the family. One of the great devotees of Perumal called Salihothra Munivar attained a boon due to his Tapas and God asked him what he wants. He asked nothing for him but requested him to bless all those come to him by removing their illness. Perumal blessed him so. You can see the deity of Perumal in a position like Lord Renga natha but his right hand on the head of Salihothra Munivar and his left hand in a position of teaching all Vedas to Brahma who is sitting on a lotus raising from Perumal's Belly Button. When perumal offered the boon to Salihothra Munivar, he was feeling cold and he asked him for a cover. At that time Salihothra Munivar had only a long towel checked towel. Even today, that is the Alakaram for the Perumal - A simple long towel.

Also in this temple, one can offer salt, pepper or dissolve Jaggary (Vellam in Tamil) in the Pond near by. We did Praying for everyone's well being. It is sad to see the Pond in a very bad shape. No attention is given to maintaining the Pond. Although I was told that on the day of Ammavasya lots of people come to the temple and that money is not an issue. Some efforts can b taken to clean the surroundings of the temple.

Visit http://temples-india.blogspot.com/2007/09/veeraraghava-perumal-temple-tiruvallur.html

http://www.ahobilamutt.org/temples/evvul/evvul.html

2 Great Chapters from Bhagavad Gita.

Chapter 10 and Chaper 11 explains the Vishvaroopa Dharshanam of Sreeman Narayana. So, chanting them daily will result in great benefits.

Unity and Co-operation.

Thoughts from Gita by Sri Velukudi Krishan in his lecture "Kannanian Aramudhu".
Families have to be like Clouds. Clouds if they are together, they cannot be drifted away by strong winds. If they split, then even a slight wind can drift pieces of clouds to whaterver direction it needs to be taking. This is also exhibited by the story that my father tells in our childhood about how brothers and sisters should be united through the wood pieces. When they are together the bunch cannot be broken easily but if they are seperated, then can be easily broken.

But the speciality of this Clouds example, exhibits more of realism. By listening to outsiders, we see in stories how the siblings, family members drift away in different directions. By their own non-cooperative mentality, we see in stories how brothers fight and split the properties. So, Gita explains well through the Clouds which we see every day, how we should live. Standing example is the Maha Bharata itself. The Kurukshetra war is the cause of seperation of clouds in the same family. After all, Pandavas and Kauravas are from same family. If only they had shared their kingdom and wealth, there would have been no place for Kurukshetra war.

Does this apply only to Families. No, it applies to any organized group - whether naturally organized or man-made.