WHEN WE MET GOD !!! ..............

                          

                              

IPL 1 INAUGURATION : 18 April 2008

The first inaugural IPL was about to commence inside the circular walls of Chinnaswami stadium in Bangalore. Cricket Crazy fanatics and enthusiasts buzzed around the stadium entrance waiting to get in and witness one of the biggest cricket spectacles in India, having all the great icons of cricket from different countries at one place. 

Crowd kept pouring in Gaurav, Zoheb and me went slithering through the wall of people towards our gate. Many cars with cricketers went inside the gates, while people watched eagerly trying to figure out the identity of the inmates.  

A white car came towards the gate, people started moving towards it in a frenzy, It was like some piranha food fest, the car was completely swarmed be people. We thrust ourselves towards the car, but couldn't see much through the window.

"Who is in the car ?", asked Gaurav to one of the frenzied soul around. 

"SACHIN !!", replied the nut excited. We had this sudden rush of excitement. We could feel the presence of "The GOD !! of Indian cricket". 

Lot of pushing and shoving ensued. We were few feet from the car, we could see only a shadowy figure inside . The car was surrounded by crazy Homo Sapiens trying to get a glimpse of their favorite star. 

Gaurav stepped up his game, hustled through and with great difficulty managed to get close to the car. He was just 2 feet from the car now, he held his binocular looking at the car window. 

Heights of craziness, "A binocular for a 2 feet distance !!". Interesting what god can make people do I wondered looking at Gaurav. The car slowly inched forward into the stadium away from us, while people kept screaming "Sachinnnn Sachinnnn". 

The frenzy abated and Gaurav came back from the hustle bustle of god witnessing ritual. We started walking towards our gate again. Gaurav put his hand in his back pocket, his wallet had gone missing. With a worried look running through his face Gaurav started searching all his pockets, "Holy shit!!", his priced artifact was no-where to be found. Credit cards, debit card, driving license, some cash, some treasured photos all lost in the melee. Incantation of "Shit yaar!!  Shit yaar!!" from Gaurav followed. A terrible price to pay to see God. Frantically calling customer care service to block credit and debit cards ensued.

Did we see God in reality here  ??? ... or was it just another figment of our imagination ??? ... or another rumor spreading like a meme hoodwinking us ?? ... I am just another Agnost wondering ... "God or no God ??".....      
 

God will punish all those who have sinned .... Well !!! SACHIN when will Gaurav get his share of justice ...... or will you just stay mum like the other GODS we worship ???          

Pick-pocketing right in front of GOD is what we actually witnessed .......... When we met GOD !!!                 

Bladder Control ......

Knees trembling, palms sweating, the end grew closer with every breath, Sudhi was sitting right next to our headmistress Nagamani holding his bladder, too scared to get up and ask for a pee break. 

Nagamani with her huge head, bulky body, with a everlasting pissed-off look was our nightmare. She had an extra thumb, a 11 fingered monster striking fear with her mere presence in school. "HM came, HM came !!" was the most dreaded words known to us. Her car with number plate reading MEQ 1740 was the number to lookout for. Wooden scale was her favorite weapon.Wood meeting our knuckles was the most painful experience back then. Fear was just looming around the corner. She could barely move in the corridor without crushing few unsuspecting kids on the way just with her look.

7th std ... public exam had become a nightmare. Pressure mounting everywhere, from morning 8 AM to 12 PM, just one class, with teacher in front rambling on and on about just one subject for 4 hrs while our HM sitting behind on the lookout for her next knuckle victim. BSK(Karthik) mustering all the courage, stood-up like the last samurai, "The One" to break the pattern of pee break rejectees.

"Ma...ma...maaam" spoke Bsk with a queering voice to our HM, "ca...ca...can  I go to the toilet ??",squealed Bsk, barely holding his pinky finger up. She looked at him with a scent of disgust and snapped at him with a "SIT DOWN !!". One more request shot down the drain, our primary human right to pee violated again. Hope was lost, 4 hrs was too long for anyone to hold on. 

Sudhi was sitting on the last bench, towards the left side corner and to his left sat our HM like a queen with the wooden scale in hand. Sudhi was already neck deep in urgency, bladder full, watery eyed, sitting in silence, with ears turning red. 

I sat on the bench in-front totally unaware of anything while the teacher kept shooting questions at us one after the other. We did our best to dodge from her gaze, eventually getting caught. It was like a war zone.  
  
"Sudhi  what is the ...... .... .. .. . ?", asked the teacher. Sudhi didn't open his mouth."STAND UP AND ANSWER", growled the teacher irritated. Sudhi didn't respond. He was lost in his own world fighting his inner aquatic demons. 

Sudhi's  inner time bomb was ticking. He was just on the cusp of watery eruption. Another half hour left for lunch. The sands of time was running low. He kept looking at his watch, "Tick Tock, Tick Tock", he was stuck in Limbo. 

HM infuriated to gigantic proportions, threw a cold stare with a ruler in hand.  "GET UP !!!". she roared with her heavy dreaded voice.  Sudhi didn't budge, stood his ground like a hero, doing something that no one in our school had ever done till date, deifying the undefiable. We had finally found "THE ONE". 

I looked down, saw water flowing all over the floor, gushing slowly towards our canvass shoes. 
"What's happening ??",  roared HM, looking at the commotion.
She looked down, looked at Sudhi  "Get up, Go out", she said. He still didn't move an inch. There was a mix of embarrassment, fear and relief on his face. Eventually he walked out concealing his frond-end from the audience around. 
Thanks to SUDHI, since that day on we never had any problems with getting pee breaks.    

"A good deed is like peeing in the pants, everyone knows you did it, but only you can feel its warmth. 

MONK

Before Enlightment: Write code ... have tea break ..code again

After Enlightment: Write code ... have tea break ..code again

I looked up, red droplets were already on there way, seeking their target like bullets from a  riffle ripping through the air with high velocity, gaining momentum in slow-motion, closing in on its victim. I was exactly in the line of fire, a sitting duck running to catch a bus in motion. Droplets as beautiful as they looked with shades of red, enclosing minute bits of pan leaf, flying viciously, twisting and twirling, adding a in-swing to its motion. 

I had to be quick; some kind of sudden rush of high-octane energy rippled through my body, boosting my reflexes and propelling me upwards towards the door. Holding the handle in one hand, I pulled my imbalanced body inside in the nick of time. Thus, a great escape from being a pan splatter victim.  

I was on my way back from kushalnagar to Bangalore. Standing inside a KSRTS bus, all crammed up, with no vacant seats, whining babies, puking kids, dirty windows to top it all, hot weather and slow moving bus on a bumpy road ...... a perfect torture recipe after a wonderful trip.

Mysore arrived after a 3 long hours, people started getting up from there seats.  I got a glimpse of vacant seats finally. I rested myself on one of them by the window. A bunch of saffron clad Buddhist monks got into the bus. One of them sat next to me. Two college going Muslim boys sat right behind us. They kept muttering away in Urdu.

The monks mere presence made me feel a saintly aura emerging from him, an instant freshness in my soul, like breathing in air after eating a fresh mint. The whole atmosphere changed for some reason. A complete ambience shift leading to a whole new semblance of thoughts.     

He had those Kolhapuri chappals on, fully saffron clad, glasses on, very short hair, a close to perfect "Michel Scofield" hairstyle.

“Hi” I said, he responded with a “Hi”.

“So where are you coming from??” I asked. 

“From Golden Temple, Kushalnagar”, he replied.

“I have been to the Golden temple. Nice place!!”,  I rejoined.

“What plans in Bangalore?? ” I asked.  

”I will stay in Bangalore for a day or two, then head to Dharmsala”, he replied.

“So from where are you originally” I asked. 

“From Tibet”, he replied.

“When did you come to India?? ”

“I came here fifteen years back”

“How old are you now??”

“Thirty”

“So when did u decide you wanted to be a monk”

“When I was 11 years old, my parents didn’t want to me become a monk, but I had decided and eventually they agreed”,

“You took a major life decision at a very young age. At your age most of us couldn’t even think of anything but Food, study and play. What made you take such a bold decision at an young age??”, I asked. He was taken aback by the question, started laughing.   

 “I don’t know why, but whenever I saw a monk, I wanted to be like them, dress like them, talk like them. There was some attraction, an inner calling of belongingness. I felt like one of them. In my family only me and my uncle are monks, I have not even seen him, he left before I was born”, he replied. 

“So how is your family now??”

“They are fine, my sisters are married, and brother is working, dad is fine. I have not seen them ever since is came to India“.

“O ok, so how is your mother?”,

“She …. She is no more”, he replied

“O I am sorry”

“She died a month back”

“Did you go see her ??”,

“No, I spoke to my sister over the phone that’s all”

 “How are you feeling now ??”,

“Hmm … I did feel a bit, But I shouldn’t be feeling anything, can’t help it. I have still not reached a level where I don’t feel anything”

“There is nothing wrong in feeling things”

“No we monks are not supposed to feel pain, grief, sorrow, but it’s very hard to reach that level. It takes years and years to reach that high state of mind control”

“Are there monks who quit and go back to family life?”

“Yes there are monks who back to family life”

“One more question, don’t mind”

“Ya ask”

“After you become a monk, didn’t you get attracted to any girl ?”, I blurted out, to which the monk kept laughing avoiding the answer …..”Err … I mean, when we are 11 years old, we normally don’t feel anything for a girl, they are one of those irritating characters, better to be avoided, and when we grow up things change, the avoidable becomes unavoidable. The nature takes its course installing changes in our mind and body and the unthinkable (girl) becomes the most thinkable subject in our thought process”.  I asked with interest.

The monk continued laughing. “We monks should not feel all this. Sex, attraction is a strict NO NO”, he chuckled.

 “How do you avoid them?”

“We have certain tricks, Don’t look into their eyes”, he replied, like women were the source of all evil in this world…”don’t laugh at them or with them, don’t talk too much, just keep it short and simple, never make silly talk, silly jokes and that’s it you are free”. He explained.

“THAT’S IT !! ??“ , I replied with wonderment.

“Yes that’s all, it’s easy”,

“Wow a million-dollar advice from an expert” I wondered.

    

 The bus inched forward slowly in traffic in Mandy. There were a lot of vegetable vendors around, a huge crowd gathering busy buying stuff.  A Muslim girl was standing outside covered fully in black with her beautiful face, eyes visible. The two guys sitting just behind us got all excited like they were high on a tequila shot full of testosterone .  

“Woh potte ko dekho re (See that girl)”, said one to the other all excited, and looking through the window at her. One of them started waving at the girl and calling her with a high voice…

“Begam kaisi ho, naam kya hein tera ??”, screamed one and gave her a flying kiss, not bothered about anyone around. Like they were some emperors of this world and had all the right to choose anyone they want to be their wives.

In the melee, a tall hulkster emerged out of the crowd with a fit of rage, ran towards the eve- teasing guys, leapt and took a shot at the one next to the window with his big fists. Landing a blow right on his nose. The bus started moving.

“Sallo ********* , ****** *******, ruko”, the hulkster started throwing abuses at them, as he ran after the bus.

The bus stopped at the traffic junction after moving few yards. The hulkster ran and came towards the bus. Blood started to trickle down the nose of one of the eve-teasing victim.

“ Woh …woh aagaya  ….  bus chad gaya re (He .. he has come, is inside the bus)“, squeaked one of them all terrified, trembling.

The hulkster removed a long sharp iron hook from his back, wielding it with a cold threatening look. Both the boys almost peed their pants as everyone looked at the HULKSTER terrified.  
 

All the Neurons in the body started transmitting signal to each-other jamming the inner network causing limitless FEAR.   

   

 ******************** TO be Continued ******************

 

“We live in illusion and the appearance of things. There is a reality. We are that reality. When you understand this, you see that you are nothing, and being nothing, you are everything. That is all.”

The Sparrow ( Reminiscing True experience)

YEAR 1993

I was in my native for summer vacations,  the most awaited days of childhood. No school , no homework , no nagging teachers , it was like finding oasis in a sea of desert , a period of absolute bliss and tranquility. Being satisfied  with  all  the little things, all the way from stones, twigs, tires, kites, marbles and so on. The lifeline of  fun was light-years' long.

Our house had this old roof tails supported by small pillars. Our backyard was pretty big with lot of plants and hanging pots. A thin mesh separated our house from the backyard. Birds were frequent visitors , sitting on the compound wall and waiting for us to throw food at them. crows were the majority and were  excellent food catchers. sparrows were the next to come.
 
The lightning fast gray white colored sparrows would fly around  the place often, their pleasant chirping sound was  a treat to our eardrums. They would often come into the house through the door, do a quick scan of the house for eatables. The backyard mesh had a door which was always open for them to come in and go out as they pleased. The house had a constant chirping throughout the day. 

One day a huge number of sparrows came inside the house. I went inside to get some rice grains to feed them, many started  flying out and  only one was left inside by the time I came back. I rushed to close the door, so I could feed at least one . The door was jammed , I was not able to close it. I started pushing the door hard with more force, but was not able get it completely shut . I looked around for any obstructions, couldn't find any. Then I looked up to the top of the door. There was something above holding the door from closing. The sparrow was stuck there jammed with its head twisted . I went back shell shocked and sat down on the floor, with tears rolling down. It was all over an innocent life lost. I just sat there seeing it, wondering how it all happened. Was it fate or karma or just plain bad luck we'll never know. 

My aunt came by, she saw me looking at the door and crying, opened the almost closed door. The sparrow dropped to the ground with a thud. Chirping sound transforming to a thud was hard to take for me, with absolutely  no signs of movement. It was lying there still ,looking all white with no signs of blood. I was sitting there wondering how it flew so fast to the door.
My aunt picked up the dead sparrow and buried it in the backyard. Interesting how life changes from above ground to underground within a matter of few minutes. I had marked the burial place with stones.

The next day I came out to the backyard, I was surprised to see another sparrow sitting exactly on the burial place. It just sat there continuously from dawn to dusk. I put food for it to eat, which just went untouched. The scene was real sad, tone of its chirping was also very different , a beautiful sad mix of music and agony flowing out through its vocal chords, a melancholic balled. This went on for 2 days and I was helpless. 

On the third day clouds started building up in the skies early. Looked like heavy rain was about to descend upon us. It was already drizzling. The sparrow came and stood there in the same place even in the rain. Slowly the rain started increasing but the bird did not budge, melancholy slowly overshadowed by the hissing song of the rain "tsh tsh tsh tsh shhhhhhhhhhh". The crying bird eventually gave up and moved under the roof overlooking the place. The rain grew heavier by the drop looking all mighty and unstoppable. 

I went back and saw after few hours, there was no change in the status of the rain or the bird . I couldn't sleep that night, all the events from the past three days were weighing on me. eventually I slept. 

I woke up in the morning, I ran to the backyard. The sky looked all bright, the place of burial was all washed off, no signs of anything there. The bird also was missing, slowly everything returned to normal ,other birds coming. A new day, new beginning, sounds of sadness was replaced with joy. Fun and games returned.      

 It was cricket time, I was batting, I hit the ball with a elegant straight drive a trademark Sachin shot. I went straight to the drain. the fielder went to pick it up. He called us all to help him to find the ball  from the drain. we all went there searched the dirty water with sticks. we never found the ball, but found two floating dead birds instead. 

We'll never know when the time to meet the maker is near, life's expiry date  concealed by the almighty. We are all products without expiry dates written on us and hoping not to have been made in China like everything else.   

YEAR 2011

Sparrows are almost nonexistent in Bangalore now due to the mobile frequency used  here. Only a matter of time, increase in the frequency spectrum usage would eventually render the city bird -less. 
  
 I sit in my office with a window in front, watching the trees outside through its the mirrored glass. I  regularly see birds fly into these mirrored windows, trying to escape crashing into their own reflections. 

Humans even unintentionally intrude into the lives of these birds. 

Sparrows are almost gone from Bangalore, only a matter of time when pigeons, mynas, cuckoos, parrots  and eventually the crows vanish............  

Inception revisited (Reminiscing True Experience)

           

DONT JUST READ BUT VISUALIZE.... words will metamorphosize into real world objects.
              
I was on my way to a ski resort in Switzerland. I had won a ticket to a newly opened ski resort in Switzerland. Sitting by the window as the plane zipped through the air turning the city below into a miniature structure.

  After a long day of buying all the equipment needed to ski the previous night, I was all hyper and exited to ski. It was a small plane with few people seated behind chatting away and a pilot in front as usual.

It was supposedly a 2 hour journey to the destination. I was Listening to "Across the universe" by the Beatles for most part of the journey.  I was addicted to the lyrics. wonderful to visualize and experience the essence of the song. It was a cosmic ballad of sorts with an Indian touch attached.  My pod kept on throwing out the lyrics "Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup ..." and they were flowing through my ears  into my brain endlessly.

The picture outside was very bright, the blue skies above and the mighty Alps below made a colorful combination. The snow-capped mountain stood  there tall and majestic. The ski resort looked magnificent from up there. We were 10 minutes away from landing, just hovering above the landing strip which was on the top of a mountain.

   As we descended below the pilot took us on a trip around the mountain. Flying in between the mountains,  the river flowing below, the sight was breathtaking. We were few  minutes from landing now.  The plane flew above taking position for landing. The landing strip was relatively short in length. We flew closer and closer to the strip and landed with a jerk as the wheels touched the runway. The pilot was not able to apply the brakes and the plane kept moving close to  the edge of the cliff and it leapt from the edge into a free fall. The pilot somehow was able to get the plane under control. We slowly gained  altitude, lucky not to have crashed into the mountains. We took position to land again, this time the pilot reduced the speed of the plane,  it slowly went close to strip but didn't have enough speed to reach the strip and it lost altitude more quickly,  the nervousness grew exponentially, the feeling of death came over in an instant and everyone started panicking and screaming, the plane undershot the runway and crashed into the mighty Alps. Everything went blank.

 I heard the screams again, was I alive? was I dead? I had no clue. I opened my eyes, our car was moving off the road into the barren land to the right. Pradhu kept screaming(Aehhhhhhh) with his weird tone, with an absolute look of panic in his face.  I was totally lost for a second there, what was happening a dream inside a dream ? how is that possible ? I wondered, had never experienced it  before. experiencing extreme high intensity of goosebumps , the hair on my hand standing straight catlike.  The car came to a halt after bumping all over the stones and bushes there. It was a relief. We were all still alive.  

  The timing of the dream was perfect, as the plane crashed in my dream, here in the real word Arun driving the car  lost control,  Arun driving the car  for most part of the night, slept  for a second  and  his hand slipped to the right moving the steering wheel to his right, we drove  into the barren land. Lucky not to have gone left and crashed into other heavy moving machinery . making a "Chuttney" of ourselves. 
 
 It was very close to the car falling off into the river scene  in the movie  INCEPTION, Prabhu's screaming was the kick here, the only thing missing was the bridge and the river below and a slow motion camera.

 It was a perfect ending to a eventful VEGAS trip with one question looming over my head, "Did I  die in the dream or Prabhu saved my life with the modified kick". I guess I'll never know.

 Are we living in a modified dream world until death or a unknown kick waking us up in a different time, different place, We will have to wait and see the mystery unfold ........    
  
Dreams feel real while we're in them. It's only when we wake up that we realize something was actually strange.( Dom Cobb )