Reminiscence

As I walk towards Rainbow hospital, I realize how much I have missed him... Not just him, but each one of the persons in the group who call themselves Mastimakerz...

 

Gone are the days when we would spend time hanging out at Scoops or having a kulfi or pani-puri... Gone are the days when we would pull each other's legs and crack those muscle jokes... Gone are the days when each person per day would become a target for the entire group to tease...

 

This group was the one to give me an individuality.. This is where I got my first nickname: goki. I was the agony aunt for many of my friends and I found shoulders to cry on when I needed them the most. I was taken care of as a precious jewel... Pampered a lot!

 

And I love those birthday bashes we had and the unique way of giving gifts to our friends, by just throwing them out of their reach and bug them till they manage to catch hold of the parcel...

 

Now, with most of them scattered all over the world, I sometimes feel very lonely and friendless... As time moves on, the calls gradually decrease and there are hardly any mails in my inbox. I am afraid, soon, we may reach a day when we may meet as strangers and exchange pleasantries in a formal way. I do not want that to happen!

 

I love those days; I miss those moments. I do not think such moments in life can ever come back again. I wish I could turn back the time wheel and spend some more time reliving those memories..

 

With these thoughts I reach the meeting point. I wonder if he is still the same friend of mine. A minute into our conversation, and I am relieved! He hasn't changed a bit! It's the same mischievous smile and the twinkling laughter amidst muscles jokes. I am relieved! I have not lost a friend. It's the same old Suresh and his silly jokes!

 

After an ice-cream in Scoops, a loooooooooooooong chat on the footpath and an hour later, my dream(rather reality that is as good as a dream) is broken by the sharp vibration of my mobile. How time flies! We bid goodbyes promising to meet again with the entire group of mastimakerz during weekend. I am already jumping with excitement and eagerly looking forward for the reunion!

Knotty Tidbits: 1

During our wedding ceremony, there was a ritual where I had place my hand over V's heart. For split of a second, I was wondering where his heart was. I mean, I knew that heart is supposed to be on the left-side of the body. But at the moment I could not make out where his left was!!! I put a hand over my heart and then proceeded to place my hand on his heart...

 

The priest was quick enough to observe it and remarked: "I asked you to place a hand on his heart and not yours... Don't you know where his heart is?" And this was accompanied by a naughty smile from V (It was as though he was saying: "I lost my heart to you and you are wondering where my heart is!")... I was blushing red and was trying hard not to blush! What a sight I must have been!!!

Knotty Tidbits: Intro

This post is a prologue for a series of posts related to funny incidents in married life. It will be a peek into my mis-happenings as a new bride (nayi dulhan). I will not mislead the readers to think that I will be publicizing my personal life or put my private moments with my special someone on this blog for everyone to read. That will not happen! Readers who assume like that will end up being disappointed! :)

 

Wait and watch for more posts in this series!!! ;-)

Wedding Bells

Congratulations!

My best friend is getting married!!! Wow! I feel so pleased, happy and excited. I am jumping with joy... And this news is doubly-delightful because I hear it on the 4-month anniversary of my wedding...

I am so damn happy for you dear. Falling in love and marrying your love... This is the best thing that can happen to anyone...

This is the occasion to disclose the dream that I got about him long long time back. Okay Mandu, don't get angry! I really have to reveal it! ;-)

I dreamt that all of our friends had decided to play a game. Each person has to do something to shock the rest of the persons. The person who does the best is the winner. And I vividly remember what our Mandu did to shock us. Well, some part of it is censored. So, I won't write about it. To summarize the whole thing, what our Mandu did, was to arrange the stage ready for a wedding ritual and he actually got married and that was his act to shock us. I felt bad (in my dream) that he did not even bother to inform the wedding date earlier. It was indeed a weird way to shock us!!! Now in a way my dream has come true! Mandu, you shocked me with this pleasant surprise ;-)

I wish you, couple, a life full of everything. Let the magic of love bind you together till eternity!

Bhaja Govindam

While I was browing to get the complete Bhaja Govindam slokam from the internet, I chanced upon a site that told me the reason why this slokam was composed.

When Sri Adi Shankaracharya was in kashi, he saw an old man learning the rules of grammar. This slokam is an advice to the old man to spend in time in gaining spiritual knowledge rather than intellectual knowledge. He advises the old man to seek God and salvation, instead of concentrating on worldly things.

The slokam begins with:

bhajagovindaM bhajagovindaM govindaM bhajamuuDhamate . saMpraapte sannihite kaale nahi nahi rakshati DukR^iJNkaraNe ..

The above verse means:

Worship Govinda, Worship Govinda, Worship Govinda. Oh fool ! Rules of Grammar will not save you at the time of your death.

Each verse in the slokam is full of wisdom. It is very soothing to recite them.

Paati's Thaalaatu

When we were children (I wish I were remained a child! :D), we would fall asleep listening to the melodious voice of our Paati (grandma) and sometimes Amma. The song that is sure to make us drop into deep slumber was 'Mannu Puhazh Kausalai Than..' I miss those carefree days.

It was a lullaby(thaalatu) sung (in his PerumaaL thirumozhi) for Lord Sri Rama by Sri Kulasekara Alwar (more details here).

mannupukazh kowsalaithan maNivayiRu vaaytthavanE

thennilangai kOnmudikaL sinthuviththaai semponsEr

kanni nan maamadhiL pudaisoozh kaNapuraththen karumaNiyE

yennudaiya innamudhE iraaghavanE thaalElO

Oh Rama! The One who took birth as the darling son of eternally fortunate and famous Kowsalya! The one who shattered the heads of the strong king of lanka,

in the south! The One who shows Himself so gracefully in the divya desam of

ThirukkaNNapuram divya desam surrounded by tall, beautiful and strong

ramparts studded with gold! The apple of my eye! My sweetest nectar like

Lord! Sri Raamaa! Lullaby to You.

My Paati would often replace the word Raaghavane (in the last line of the verse above) with my name and sing it. It would feel so personal as though she is singing just for me. And she would be singing just for me! :D

I wish to record this song in her voice... I do not know when I will get to meet her. Sometimes life changes so much that you can't help being lonely and longing for our closed ones. Even a far-off friend can make us feel so warm and yet a person right next to us may make us feel very distant.

I would not want to continue in these lines else this post would lose its meaning.


Courtesy: http://ahobilavalli.org/perumal_thirumozhi.pdf

Upanayanam

Last week we attended the upanayanam (sacred thread ceremony) of my cousin. The purohit who did the ceremony helped us understand the nuances of each mantram and we even got to know the historical(mythological) background behind a famous mantram. I do not want to spoil the show by revealing the name of the mantram right here. Read on and enjoy! :)

As the legend goes...

Thousands of rishis(sages) came together and found out the perfect ultimate mantram... and later all of them dispersed to go and do tapas.. after hundreds of years when they broke their tapas, the only thing that came to their mind was the fact that they had all composed a mantram.. but noone remembered what is was. they met each of the other rishis who participated in the making of the mantram. yet noone could recall it...

Finally they decided to go to the place where the mantram was discovered to find out if anyone had overheard their discussions. Their meeting had happened under a porasu maram(Chloroxylon swietenia tree). It said that it knows the mantram and recited it.. This is the gayatri mantram...

Hence when a person takes up brahmacharyam, he is given a dhandi(stick) of porasu maram.

A person who has taken up brahmacharyam needs to recite this gayatri mantram. This mantram is one of the most respected mantrams in Hindu culture. More on this mantram at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gayatri and http://www.gayatrimantra.co.in/

Living Happily Ever After?

"I wanted a perfect ending.
Now I've
learned,
the hard way,
that some poems don't rhyme,
and some stories
don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end.

Life is about not knowing,
having to change,
taking the moment
and
making the best of it,
without knowing what's going to happen next.

Delicious ambiguity."

- Gilda Radner, 1946-1989

Anguish!

Every composer knows the anguish and despair occasioned by forgetting ideas which one had no time to write down. - Hector Berlioz