Maha Shiva Ratri..

To Day is The Night of Lord Shiva.. It feels so special and divine as my mind drifts to those devotional days of childhood times where this ritual is celebrated wholeheartedly in my hometown.

A trip down the memory lane reminds me of those days of Diligent fasting the whole day and night, Melodious and Soulful prayers like Chadrashekhara Astakam, Shiva Panchakshara Strotram, Linga Astakam, Scrambling for various fruits, Decorating the idols with various kinds of flowers for symbolic ritual of Shiva’s marriage to Parvati late in the night, Passing the entire night resisting sleep, playing with pals or watching the good old black and white Lord Shiva movies like Bhakta Kanappa, Markandeya and so on, marching to River Krishna or Godavari and taking a dip early at the crack of dawn, soaking in the fuss of all the elders and inventing our own form of mischief.. Those are the days of fun, play and prayer as they paint my memory with nostalgia and warmth.

I am planning today to take the fast, visit Lord Shiva’s temple and complete it by recollecting all those fond memories of this ritual. For all those agnostics, devotees, cynics and confirmed atheists, I have nothing to say, as belief is a very personal concept. God for me is as much true as the faith that I keep on him or her. Yet, a little reflection makes me dwell on how my feelings towards rituals have evolved over all these years. My awareness, understanding, and the actions towards the rituals take a new definition every year and they reinvent themselves both qualitatively and quantitatively. And that makes me reiterate my inner belief that only experience matters in the end.

Rain is Beautiful…

My day started off with this lovely forward SMS that I have received today..

“Its Monsoon and I’m sure u must be very happy. U must feel like going out, drench urself, singing songs, splash water and find sum1 spl. right?

Every Frog feels d same!” 🙂

It surely set the tone of the day and complemented the weather nicely!!

Its raining in Chennai! When I wake up from the plush comfort of my bed, the weather warms up my spirit as cool breeze envelops me in crisp silence and the little drizzle forms tiny droplets on my forehead.. Rain makes everything beautiful.. Roads, flowers, trees, and me.. I was feeling like Maggie while riding her bicycle towards the end in ‘City Of Angels’.. I donned my sweater and umbrella and blissfully shut the noises of the world with soothing music flowing from my N70.. I sang with Bangles, and Belinda, acted like a original composer and must have looked a Sight on the roads of chennai.. Yet, who cares!!!

Savoring the moment, soaking the fresh rain, dancing in vain and living it up…

This is Life!!!

Friends!!!

Friends give a reason to smile! They are like a mild refreshing breeze over the boredom of life. What else can I say about them? They spice up life!

Life in Chennai would be a big BORE if not for a few good friends that I have. Life has become so comfortable as I have people around me who would lend an ear whenever I need someone to talk to. My job has become pretty routine and since I am still in training, I get good amount of leisure time which I chat my way through. If not for my friends, I would have gone half insane with the mechanical interaction that I have with my desktop in the office. How many times do I wish that this dumb computer can talk and write. Let me tell you guys, even if you have unlimited internet access and a computer dedicated to you, its quite boring to spend your time looking at the screen. I feel drained out in the end of the day, even if I did exactly nothing! I just can’t wait to get into the real work.

I am happy as I have a few good friends around. Some are working in the same company, so they can understand the situation in a much better manner. But then, the conversations during official hours is much much different than what you can have during evenings. Well, thanks to the so called corporate professionalism! I just shudder to this world devoid of friends.. Hope that day never comes in life! Long live friendship!!

A trip to Kanya Kumari..

Thanks to TCS training programme in Trivandrum, I got to see the Kanya Kumari. We boarded the bus at 3 AM to catch the sunrise but as the weather is so gloomy, we missed it. The journey was quite eventful and the experience is beyond description. We went to see the Vivekananda Rock for which one has to board the steamer boat. There is Vivekananda Rock and just beneath it was a Dhyan Mandir where people can meditate if they wish. I sat inside the Dhyan Mandir and could feel the positive vibrations. Its was the best time which I ever had with myself. The mix of the light chanting, natural ventilation and the sea weather made me feel quite heady. There is also a Thiruvalluvar statue, a great Tamil poet, where a short summary of each of his 133 chapters were inscribed. I was quite delighted to read each of them, one of the best poetic expressions I have ever read. To top off the day, we relaxed at the Thipparappu Waterfalls. The scenic beauty was fabulous. It was one of the most beautiful days of my life.

In Companionship with Nature!

Today is one of the most beautiful days of life. Though I say that happiness is a state of mind, the day went in quite well.. I have no words to express the exquisite joy I felt in experiencing the day. Morning I had a lovely walk in the Kamala Nehru Park and had a nice tea with my daily Daily. The day was picture perfect and quite pleasant. I experimented with Rajma and was just about to doze off when a friend of mine rang me up. We went to the Osho Theerth Park, which is otherwise known as the Naala Park. Wow! I have no words to describe the eternal bliss I felt being at the park. The songs of birds, the mild rumbling of trees and the flowing water…Never knew that a park could be so beautiful. It looked so natural and perfect. I just wondered how would the world look like if I find such scenic beauty everywhere instead of concrete jungles. How to describe the surreal experience of joy and love? Words fail me!