Its just a beginning

I was trying to use one of the showlamps in my drawing room as a soft light to do some table top photography when I noticed that the reflection of the lamp on the glass table itself will make a goody snap. Since the lamp had an open top, I had to place a metal bowl on top to get that fuzzy yellow light.

What goes around, comes around !!!

Life is but a circle. We are all but the passengers traveling on the edge of it. We all have to jump off exactly where we started.



Of all the destinations in London, my camera lens seemed to be in special love with London Eye.

Ferris wheels like the London Eye is the perfect manifestation of circle of life. We are so joyous as we enter the egg shaped capsules at the start of the trip. We come along with our chosen partners and few strangers, just as we enter the realm of life, as if a new birth. As we hover around the corners of the capsule, we will be taken to the visual trip of the entire city of London. All the while we are occupied in the visual sensation, the machine will cleverly keep moving. Everyone will get a chance to reach on the top once. No stopping though. Be aware of that moment and take full enjoyment out of it.

A kid looking down thorough the London Eye.

I have learned that the sky is round. This earth is but a circle (egg shaped to be precise), revolving round the ‘round’ sun. The hefty sun is not idle itself. It in turns revolve round some another mightier object. As I descend through the London Eye, I get a feeling that the earth is nothing but one of those capsules in that ultimate universal Ferris wheel.

As we gradually descend and reach the end of our 30 min trip I notice people are sad and don’t want this trip to end. Meanwhile a mystifying thought grips my mind. As I finally complete my trip and asked to step out, I REALIZE that I finished EXACTLY WHERE I STARTED. How can it be the end? And if it is the end, did I really start?

To relate it to broader terms, everyone ends their journey exactly where they started. There is no difference between life and death except that they point to different directions. And the directions in itself are meaningless since the journey is a circle.

Rolling Eye

There are no destinations in life. Ultimately it’s a journey to nowhere. Enjoy the lift :-)

Ecstasy

Smoke rising above, dragging me down;

I got to catch my self and fight for the crown.

I rise above the smog and tap the blue sky;

Silence, silence and I hear the sound.

The garden is full of grass; but you are chasing a weed;

Mary Jane! If you want the fruits, please don’t crush the seed.

The beauty of a crystal is knitted by its joint;

Be aware! Or crack it open and loose the point.

You thought its audacious braving a storm in the ocean of acid;

Actually, you were in too much speed only to overlook the lake placid.

Let this smoke fade away, don’t be the one to drown;

Ones the dust of self is cleared, you will be the mightiest crown.

A bit(e) about food...

I write this as I accomplish one more journey..... One that started with ANYTHING..... passed by NOTHING.... and finally arrived at EVERYTHING. I would say that I have a bad habit of saying YES very easily to most of the things. Thankfully this list includes my conscience as well and at occasions I benefit from this bad habit of mine by saying YES to my conscience.

I did a similar thing recently by saying YES to my conscience and saying NO to non vegetarian food. A hell like difficult decision for someone who eats ANYTHING eatable and cannot survive without meat, a couple of days.

It was just another ordinary day when I was browsing through the news paper and I came across this famous proverb... "What goes around, comes around." If this is so true, where does all the pain, that we inflict on animals killing them for food, goes?

This left me with no answer, absolutely NOTHING.

What we do to animals slaughtering them is no different from what Hitler did to innocent people. Unfortunately for these poor animals, this holocaust is never to end.

I have taken a bold decision to say no to meat and I know this is going to be difficult. But this sort of difficulties are charming. Whenever you really win over these difficulties, you feel good and that fulfilment is actually EVERYTHING.

AS LONG AS THERE ARE SLAUGHTERHOUSES,

THERE WILL BE BATTLEFIELDS.

- Leo Tolstoy

Manali .. God made chocolate dipped icecream

A perfect pic depicting the purpose of my visit... dont take seriously the spelling of 'raid' though after all DIL HAI HINDUSTANI.

I would have loved to lie to you that the bungalow was my resort where I stayed. Although this isn't true, but good that I have a reason for next visit.

On way to Rohtang..... the road that goes to Leh. I kept walking and walking until the snow forced me to go no further.

Look at the tree closely and the mountains on the background. Shiva must have performed his cosmic dance here. This tree in the foreground has tried its best to imitate him.

LANDSCAPES OF MANALI.

The picture above is the most dear to me. Yellow draped in green perhaps tells us the power hidden in the nature. I call this the nature's angle.

This was much more huge and mightier then what I have been able to capture. Actually I was looking to capture the 'ego' carried by these rocks. The subtle nature of the pic shows that they have none :-)

There you go. What's amazing is the fact that this Buddha has open eyes..... difficult to find in most of his statues. as if "FINNALY I AM AWAKE"

Trinity - Creator, Destructor and the lovely Preserver

A friend of mine looked at this photo and instantly reacted, “was this intentional?” I smiled and said “you bet.”

A picture says thousand words, and I intended to do exactly that. I wanted to combine two opposing forces, two entirely different faces of humanity in a pictorial representation.

The background has Lord Buddha, a patron of non-violence, the enlightened one. On the other hand, I am wearing a Che Guevara t-shirt. Che Guevara, a Marxist revolutionary and a guerrilla leader.

This picture represents two iconic extremes. Two choices, I would say! Whom should we idolize? Is the pace of life today apt enough to follow the path of patience, non violence and truth patronized by Buddha? Buddha believed in inner awakening among individuals. Peace that comes from within and then spread along benefiting the society in turn.

What would have Che achieved if he followed Buddha’s ideology? He took a year off from studies to embark on a trip traversing South America by motorcycle with one of his friends. On this trip he was struck by the crushing poverty of the remote rural areas. The exploitation by rich landlords was ever present. The exposure to poverty, hunger and disease forced Guevara to believe that in order to "help these people", he needed to leave the realm of medicine, and consider the political arena of armed struggle.

Was he justified in choosing armed struggle as the means? Or was their any other way out?

I don’t have answers to these questions. But whom do I idolize? Afcourse I am wearing a Che Guevara t-shirt (symbolically a red one). Doesn’t that answer the question? If so, what am I doing in a monastery then?

Well, there’s a third face in the picture and it’s the one whom I idolize. It’s the one whom I believe, I love. He does not keep any percepts, he does not break any percepts. He is the one who believes that there is a Buddha inside each one of us and the quantum of awareness of this Buddha is the breeder of personalities. THAT FACE IS ME.

LADY.....bird

this beetle can't sing. .so I made her dance for me