दिवे लागले रे, दिवे लागले रे,
तमाच्या तळाशी दिवे लागले;
दिठीच्या दिशा खोल तेजाळतांना
कुणी जागले रे? कुणी जागले?

रित्या ओंजळी दाटली पुष्पवृष्टी
असे झाड पैलाड पान्हावले;
तिथे मोकळा मी मला हुंगितांना
उरी गंध कल्लोळुनी फाकले...

उभ्या रोमरोमांतुनी चैत्रवाटा
कुणी देहयात्रेत या गुंतले?
आरक्त त्याच्या कृपेच्या कडा अन
उष:सूक्त ओठात ओथंबले...

- शंकर रामाणी (पालाण)

Let this Diwali be the celebration of our Inner Light. Let this inner light outshine all the darkness.

अक्षरश: स्वत:च्या अभिरुचीचं प्रतिबींब असं एका designer मित्राचं वेगळं आणि अतीसुंदर घर. सगळ्याच वेगळेपणात एक वस्तू अगदी जवळची वाटते ती म्हणजे kitchen cabinet मध्ये लपलेला दळणाचा मोठ्ठा डबा.

स्वत:चं घरटं जेव्हा थाटलं तेव्हा साखरेच्या सुबकशा नवीन बरणीत मात्र किल्वरच्या आकाराचा तो बुटका चमचाच ठेवावासा वाटतो. food processor, १०-१२ सुर्‍यांचा तो लाकडी ठोकळा असूनसुध्दा एक विळी विकत घ्यावीशी वाटते. ग़ुबगुबीत गादीवरही आईच्या साडीच्या गोधडीची आठवण येते.

प्रतिष्ठीत उद्दोगपतीच्या ऑफ़िसमध्ये मीटींग असली की त्याच्या आवडीचा चहा आणि वडा-पाव असतो म्हणुन तो मला आवडूनच जातो. एका बड्या हस्तीच्या एरवीच्या अलिशान घरात असलेल्या जुन्याच mosiac tiles आणि 'वैष्णव जन तो' ची मंद धून ऐकून आदर द्विगुणीत होतो.

परदेशात असताना बाकी रंगवलेल्या तोंडाच्या आणि वेगळ्या वेगळ्या केसांच्या तर्‍हा असलेल्या मुलींमध्येच एक वेणी घातलेली आणि दिसताच साधी वाटणारी मुलगी बघुन तिला मैत्रीण करावंसं वाटतं. मध्यरात्र उलटून पार्टीतून परतताना 'तशाही' अवस्थेत सिद्धीविनायकाला हात जोडणारा colleague सगळ्यांपेक्षा वेगळा वाटतो.

मूळचे चिरंतन मध्यमवर्गीय संस्कार म्हणजे हेच का?

Orkut is an addiction. For a long time I ignored invitations from my friends and cousins to join this 'online community that connects people through a network of trusted friends.' My being far away from home, availability of Internet at flat rate and ample of free time were the reasons for me registering myself on Orkut, besides the tireless persuasion of my loving sister to start 'orkutting.'

Within a few days I got consumed by the fascinating virtual world of Orkut. I was happy to rediscover my long lost school friends, suddenly discover profiles of cousins and stumble upon amicable strangers. Soon, the world of online communities was what I got introduced to and started becoming members of countless communities. So much so that I came across a community for those who are 'members of too many communities', phew...

Slowly I 'unjoined' irrelevant communities and focused of few interesting ones. And now, finally, I have got hooked on to it so badly that I hate being a part of the whole orkut thing, in the first place. One of these days I might just delete my profile in a miff...have been saying this for too long..haha!!

The Internet is dangerous. I call google my second brain. Unbelievable as it may sound, I need google for anything and everything. in our office if someone asks a question, pat comes the reply, 'google it you moron, don't waste my time!'

Back to the original topic of me being a victim of orkut addiction - to my irritation - much similar to the irritation of an alcoholic or a drug addict - this orkut thingy behaves as if it has its own mind. Often I am greeted with the irritating message - 'Bad, bad server. No donut for you.' The performance of this 'google family' member is so miserable these days that shamelessly the display says 'Unfortunately, the orkut.com server has acted out in an unexpected way.' It does not stop here further it reads 'It's likely that the server will behave this way on occasion during the coming months.' How horrible! Such bad service from google is not accepted at all.

Having faced that, as I mentioned, I need google for everything, so I 'googled' for 'bad, bad service. No donut for you.' (by the way what is this 'donut' thing all about??) and I came across this blog post by a fellow blogger. His way of writing is so mind blowing that I have become a fan of his writing. Have a look! Happy blogging!

To those, who are yet not a victim of Orkut, believe me, you are not missing anything and please, I appeal to you - do not fall prey to this growing orkut mania...you will be happier that way...

It snowed :-)

View from my house yesterday & today!!

(click on the pics to enlarge)

Hey...you know what...it snowed today!

In was unusually cold today, something like -2. I thought it might start snowing in a day or two so I asked my colleague to read the weather forecast. While he was at it, I looked out of window and screamed...he got scared...lol! It was snowing!

I started jumping around like a kid...you should have seen my face :)

But then in stopped :( then it got dark. After a couple of hours I left office. I came out of office and there was snow every where...it had continued snowing after it got dark. there was snow on the footpath. Man it is so slippery, i was about to fall only :)

Snow on the cars, snow on the roofs, snow on the cycles, snow on the benches...what fun!

I came home and looked in the mirror - the fine featherlight flakes were all in my hair and on my shoulder...I didn't want it to melt but what to do the heater was on na :(

But its OK now am not a snow virgin any more :)

PS: This morning, while walking fast fast for the bus...I slipped and fell....hahahahahahah....it was so embarassing ...there were many people watching the fun. But - nobody laughed, nobody helped!!!!!! Forget helping but atleast have a hearty laugh.......strange are the people here....I was laughing to myself till I reached office.... didn't care for the looks I recieved.....hahahahahha

Walking on the snow seems to be an art :)

नन्नाचा पाढा

आताशा थंडीचा तडाखा चांगलाच जाणवू लागलाय. बर्फ पडायला जरी अजून अवकाश असला तरी कोट-कानटोपी शिवाय बाहेर पडता येत नाही. आज ऑफिस मधे शिरल्या बरोबर लक्षात आलं की floor heater overnight चालू ठेवायला सुरवात करायला हवी. घरातली जमीन लाकडाची आहे हे एक बरंच झालं.

बटण चालू करणार तोच लक्षात आलं की कोण्या असामान्य रंगार्‍यानं मस्तपैकी स्विचबोर्डावरुन oil paint असा काही मारलाय की बटण चालू होणं केवळ अशक्य! वैतागच आला. बरं असंही नाही की मारली गाडीवर टांग गेलो कोपर्‍यावरच्या मजूर अड्ड्यावर आणला एक गडी झालं झटक्यात काम. काहीतरी खुडबुड खुडबुड करुन झाला एकदाचा तो heater सुरु आणि दमुन मी खुर्चीत बसलो आणि आमच्या ऑफिसमधल्या शिपायाची इतकी आठवण आली. तो असता तर ह्या सगळ्याचा चार्ज त्यानीच घेतला असता. वर नंतर गरम कॉफीचा आयता कपही बसल्या जागी मिळाला असता...

कॉफीची आठवण झाली म्हणून उठून percolator चालू केला आणि कपाट उघडून बघतो तो काय, साखर इल्ले! बरं असही नाही की लावलाय कोपर्‍यावरच्या वाण्याला फोन आणि आलाय त्याचा पोर्‍या सायकल हाणत पटकन. बाकीच्यांना काही सोयरसुतक नाही कारण ते पिणार black coffee. दिवसभरातल्या बाकी कॉफ्या जरी black चालत असल्या तरी ही पहिली कॉफी मला आपली दुध-साखरेची लागते. मग काय पुन्हा एकदा कोट-टोपीचा जामानीमा केला आणि पडलो बाहेर...

रोज अगदी हटकून आमच्या कामवाल्या बाईंची आठवण येते. स्वैपाक आपणच, धूणं-भांडी, केर-वारे आपणच. सगळं आहे. washing machine, drier, microwave पण करावं तर लागतच ना!

एक दिवस मजाच झाली. बर्फ पडायला लागण्याआधीच बूट घ्यायला म्हणून दुकानात शिरलो, बराच वेळ झाला तरी माझ्याकडे कुणीच येईना. या साहेब, या साहेब नाही. थंडा गरम नाही. बेंचखालून फर्रकन पायाचं माप घ्यायचा तो स्टॅंड ओढणं नाही. पटवा पटवी नाही. माळ्यावरच्या माणसाशी अगम्य भाषेत बोलणं नाही. आकाशातनं पडल्यासारखे त्या भोकातून पडणारे आपल्या मापाचे बूट नाहीत. कुणी तुझा पाय हातात घेउन बूट घालून देणारे? स्वप्नात आहेस का काय? भानावर येउन मी आवडलेला बूट हातात घेतला, बाजूला ठेवलेली जीभ मदतीला घेउन घालून बघितला. स्वतःच स्वतःला अभिप्राय दिला आणि माझी मिळमिळीत खरेदी उरकली...

जागा वेगळ्या पण परिस्थिती अशीच. पोष्टात जा की बॅंकेत एक तर सगळं automatic. माणसाच्या मदतीची गरज पडलीच तर मशीनमधून नंबराच तिकीट काढायचं आणि indicator कडे बघत तिष्ठत उभं राहायचं.

संध्याकाळी घरी येताना बसला गर्दी नाही, अंगावर खेकसणारा कंडक्टर नाही. कोपर्‍यावर ओळखीचं हसणारा चांभार नाही...काही मजाच नाही...

स्फुट

मुल लहान असतं तेव्हा आई भोवताली असतं. अगदी आईला सोडत नाही. जरा रांगू लागलं की ते उंबर्‍यापर्यंत जातं आणि परत येतं. जरा चालायला लागलं की अंगणात फाटकापर्यंत जातं आणि परत येतं. आतापर्यंत त्याला आईच माहित होती पण आता मात्र त्याला आई, घर आणि अंगण माहित झालयं. मग पुढे पुढे आई, घर, अंगण आणि शाळा. त्याहीपुढे आई, घर, अंगण, शाळा, कॉलेज आणि ऑफिस...

कधीकधी मग त्याला आई, घर, अंगण, शाळा, कॉलेज, ऑफिस... आणि नॉर्वेही माहिती होतं. पण म्हणुन काय ते आई, घर... सगळं विसरतं? शक्यच नाही. उलट प्रकर्षानी आठवतं.

त्याला माहित असतं की ते सगळं आपलच तर आहे. ते कुणीसुध्दा हिरावून घेऊच शकणार नाही. आणि म्हणूनच ते निर्धास्त असतं. परतायचं तर असतच, मग काळजी कसली?

प्रसाद

Gandhi Jayanti

I am aware of the wave of ‘Gandhigiri’ post the release of Munnabhai. This article may appear as yet another ‘me too’ sorts but there lies the success of the film. The film simplified Gandhi and has left a lasting impression on me. It will be difficult to find an Indian who is not familiar with the name Mahatma Gandhi but hardly few really know what this name stands for and his contributions to modern India.

It is the most overexposed name and since childhood I have been hearing, reading about him. But somehow the lectures delivered by leaders on the national celebrations or the lessons in the history books never caught my attention.

No sooner than the person achieves the greatness he is elevated to a great height and thus becomes inaccessible to the common man. Gandhi’s philosophy, his lessons and teachings were made into an ‘ism’ and thus were taken away from the layman and were posed as something meant for the elite and the intellectual. This movie brought it back to the layman.

Many must have criticized and ridiculed the movie but for me it worked. Despite the flaws and minimum content it aroused my interest in Gandhi. Voraciously, I read all the information on Gandhi that I could Google. In the quest for more I booked the autobiographical ‘The story of my experiments with Truth’ at the Oslo city library as my next book to be read. As expected, the book is already borrowed by some one else and I am on the waiting list.

Our tragedy is that we make a God out of wise men. People call them incarnations of the God. Statues are made and people start worshipping the statues. I do not mean to attack beliefs. Of course, it is a wonderful method, idols and statues constantly remind you their deeds but one needs to take inspiration from them and not merely worship them. It has to go beyond observing a dry day and declaring a national holiday.

It will be a tall statement if I say that am turning to be a Gandhian. Many of his philosophies may not be as relevant today. But I know one thing for sure his teachings and messages are like a torch light in the dark. Today, on his birth anniversary, for the first time in my life I offer tribute to him. I am going to end this article with a few of is quotations that have impressed me

"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."

"There are many causes that I am prepared to die for but no causes that I am prepared to kill for."

"Hinduism as I know it entirely satisfies my soul, fills my whole being ... When doubts haunt me, when disappointments stare me in the face, and when I see not one ray of light on the horizon, I turn to the Bhagvad Gita, and find a verse to comfort me; and I immediately begin to smile in the midsta of overwhelming sorrow. My life has been full of tragedies and if they have not left any visible and indelible effect on me, I owe it to the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita."

"The sayings of Mohammad are a treasure of wisdom, not only for Muslims but for all of mankind."

“If all Christians acted like Christ, the whole world will be Christian.”

"Yes I am a Hindu. I am also a Christian, a Muslim, a Buddhist and a Jew."

“You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean, if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.”

“A man is but the product of his thoughts what he thinks, he becomes.”

“Be the change that you want to see in the world.”

And many more…

2 October 2006