Lonka

Interesting title isn't it? Lonka in Bangla means - chilli. When I first heard it I found it oddly rhymed with our last name (surname) - Lanka. This got me thinking on a tangent... see this is how it is - I know more than 4 languages properly and I normally like to interchange the meaning of one word, in say Hindi, to another meaning of the same word in - Telugu or English. A few examples are given below.

1. Bengali - Kabji means wrist
    In Pahadi (Himachal Pradesh) or Punjabi Kabji means Constipation

2. In Pahadi - "Kuti hai tu" (means where are are you)
    In Hindi it means - "You are a dog"

3. Halli in Kannada means Village
    Halli in Marathi means Now!
4. Balli in Telugu means Lizard
                                                    The similar word in Hindi means sacrifice

Some more research is being done on this topic. It just brings out the inherent fun and also the spice and variety in languages. Interestingly Sanskrit is the mother of all these languages! To know more about sanskrit and our scriptures you can visit this site - http://www.srisrigurukul.org/

Just Connect - Bloggers' Conference

Calling all bloggers of the world to join in on this fantastic journey @ Bangalore. Kindly log on to
http://justconnect.artofliving.org/

There are more than 170 million blogs on the net!!! Just mind blowing!

And many people do not know what to do with their blogs (me included at times). Right from choosing which blog site is useful for you to making money and much more - there will be talks by eminent bloggers as well and an added attraction - an interactive session with H H Sri Sri Ravishankar

There will be also a number of case studies to seek inspiration as well. The conference is on January 6th, 2013. You can join online as well on - The Art of Living website
On the right hand side of the site there is a link for Live webcast link
Hope this helps.

Malda Musings

How many sweets can you eat at a time?

In a marriage (in Malda, WB) I have heard that people eat 20 to 30 each Rasgullas at a time!!! Now that's some record; yes, and a record number diabetes patients as well.

Here in Malda, you get the best quality sweets. Currently I am in Gazole (27km from Malda). Mahanto sweets is the most popular sweet shop, and he makes the best sweets.

Travel by bus frm Gazole to Malda is about one hour - and what crowd. Someone farts and (mind you its strong) you cannot do anything other than bear it.

The behavior of people here is very gentle (could be because of the sweets they eat). So people are very rajasic. During satsang - after a bhajan we normally sit in silence for some time. But here people start chatting among themselves!

Where we stay, the lady of the house once gave us some coconut laddoos - and they were delicious. We praised her for the preparation. She asked "Would you like to have lots more?" We said "yes" - and her reply was "Get half kg sugar from the market and I will make it for you!!!"

Away From Dosaland III (Dhosa in Malda, West Bengal)

Reached Malda by Farakka Express (16 hours late) from Delhi  Well the quest for dosa was on, alongside house hunting. Met an interesting teacher, who shared his experiences in the jungles of Bihar and West Bengal. By the way Darjeeling is just 4 hours away from Malda. 

There is this place called "Indians" near Malda bus stand. You get (surprise, surprise) Dhosas (as the board and menu card say it) and Idlis. And its pure veg. I feel 95% hotels serve only non-veg. A pure brahmin actually eats non-veg (without onion and garlic - bcos they are brahmins!!). The masalas simply hit your olfactory nerves and stay there. Now for the dosa - it was actually cheap (35 bucks butter masala dosa) and did taste a lot like a dosa. This is surprising. Though I won't be going there regularly. 

The other day I had been to a supposedly decent restaurant. Along with the mostly non-veg items I saw some veggies too. So i ordered Paneer butter masala - the waiter said its not there. I asked for all the other items in the menu - and got a no. Finally I asked for Roti - again no! So what was there? Rice, dal and some sabji (and papad - fully veg - phew!!). The sabji was aloo gobi (the cauliflower looked like it belonged to the appendages of a goat!!). Fortunately it was not spicy. 

The river Mahananda flows along the city

I visited the "begetable" (in Bangla) market and found so much of variety of vegetables and fruits - I began wondering how come people eat so much non-veg when so many vegetables are available.

Will be sending more posts on our stay in Malda...

Away From Dosaland II (Parathised Dosa)

Anyone who's ever eaten a dosa in Haryana/Chandigarh/ Himachal can tell there is something different in the dosa. Firstly, the masala (potato curry) is simply pasted all over the dosa and then folded. So I gues you can actually use that fork/knife and spoon that they give you.

I had been to Manali recently thinking I will be able to eat some good dosa (finally, phew!). What I got is stated above, the chutney was the only redeeming factor. The sambhar (or saambar as it is pronounced here) was not what I am used to. Already feeling a lot more dispassionate about dosas (heck, what are they???).

Food cravings

Just wondering, when all we need is some dal, roti, sabji, rice, salads to keep us active n moving, why do we still earn so much money and eat so much junk - and the result is a bad stomach or some ailment. The problem is the craving to eat some junk.

Why am I getting so philosophical? I had some samosa, rasbhari and a paneer kulcha yesterday. Today morning I had to face the consequences... I was having a proper diet all this while but just felt like goin for something different...

Above pic indicative of what i ate (on the right) yesterday in Mandi (Pics courtesy - Google)

Decided now that as age progresses one's desires/cravings better subside or life will be miserable!

Uncertainty

Life seems uncertain so many times (almost always...!).
You think u move on to greener pastures only to see more challenges (problems).

There is this movie - "The Ultimate Gift" - wherein a grandfather gives his grandson a number of tasks to fulfill in order to gain his inheritance. There are a number of lessons learnt on the way. One is where the granpa says one must welcome problems as challenges to be overcome so that we will be stronger in future.

Many a times u face a problem alone. Good to have someone to share it with. Reminds me of the dog that gets up after being in dirt. It just shakes off the dirt vigorously.

Any further comments....

Happy Diwali

Nids

Any guesses who the real Nidhi is??? 

These days kids really do more than wht we used to do in our teens. Nidhi for e.g., has given so many exams (competitive) and has traveled much more than most of us. And I guess she deserves all those loooonng picnics to all the exotic places!

Jayant

Meet our current inhouse psychologist / handwriting expert - Jayant!!!

Merese panga naa le (#_&*@ Talwalkars)

He has already analysed some family members - I get the feeling he is mighty accurate. Thank god for all the electronic gadgets - or else we wud be writing with the good old pen. Well the guy has grown up. No longer our "Babloo (Jayantilala)".

Watch out for this guy!!!

Prison SMART in Mandi

Started a Prison course in Mandi Sub-jail. The jails here are much much different from the ones u c in India. Here the inmates are mostly sincere and I did not see any professional criminals. Almost all had done a crime in a moment of un-awareness. Whatever we taught they learnt it sincerely. There are a few foreigners - 2 Britishers, 1 Russian n 1 Turkish. The Turkish person has long matted hair and beard. Satsang was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone. The SDM (Sub-divisional Magistrate) inaugurated the course. So our pics will appear in the local dailies. Lets see how this course progresses..

Some musings on mountain driving

Just came to Mandi from Kullu by bus. Better to travel by the govt HRTC bus as they drive more sensibly. The private ones either drive exceedingly slowly (sometimes at 20 kmph all the way) or too fast - either way you end up feeling woozy.

Driving on the mountains is a little tricky. We have an 800 Maruti car. This is the best car I would say. Now how to drive properly in HP mountains? One is to stick to the left come what may - as most of the turns are blind turns. But staying on the left too much means you end up "swaying" the car also too much. What our STC Udayji told me was to ensure that the car is driven straight as far as possible. No matter how twisted the road is be on the left but not necessarily too much left. So you are driving mostly straightish - this reduces the swaying effect, which in turn makes the passengers less woozy or pukish.

Another thing -
1.  don't go too fast (60kmph is fastest) - no matter wht car (or u may feel ...)
2. take ur foot off the accelerator during the turns
3. honk at the blind turns
4. take breaks

The following pics were taken in late 2010, when both of us were learning car driving on the mountains.

thats our car behind (I have lost some weight since then)

just a few km from Kullu on the mountainous road

with Ramsaran ji - who spent hours training us with loads of patience. We learnt a lot about acceptance from him.

Bijli Mahadev

A few kilometers from Kullu, there is this unique place. You can take a cab or bus up to a place and then have to walk all the way up to a mountain, on top of which there is a temple called Bijli Mahadev.

Well for a fact there is a lot of Bijli (Lightening) involved. Every once in two or three years during rainy season (i guess) there is a lot of thunder and lightening on the mountain. There is a small window / aperture on the side wall in front of the shivalinga ( a really huge one). The lightening in a most inexplicable manner manages to enter through the side-aperture and hits the huge boulder/rock. The linga breaks into a number of  pieces and is strewn all over the place. The pieces are then picked up by the villagers and then joined together with butter, and lo and behold you have the shivalinga back. The villagers say, in case they miss any piece of the linga they can hear a slight moaning sound coming from the broken piece and they retrieve it.

The Bijli Mahadev

At the base of the linga there is a small hollow. If you place your hand (avoiding the eyes of the pandit) you will observe it is hollow and the rock extends (as told) to the base of the mountain. The river Parvati flows along the base of the mountain. 

The temple layout (from the entrance)

If you touch the shivalinga you can feel the butter.

Away from Dosaland I

This may be a series of posts on my (Venu) path. For anyone living in Bangalore, you know what dosa and idli means. Imagine you are in a place where you hardly get any of the above...

Well since October 2010, I have been in HP, where you get dosas only in Manali and Shimla (I mean the decent ones). The price is more than Rs 65 for a masala dosa. And what you get in the name of dosa is unspeakable.

Food eaten here (HP) has very very less spice compared to south India. It took me almost 4 months for the food over here to register its taste on my tongue.And now (2012) if I eat anything in Bangalore its spicy for me!!!! What a change?!!

Its so cold here in Kullu that if you want to ferment idli - it will take about 5 days. For dosas a little less, maybe 3 days. But you dont get wht u get in Bangalore.  A swamiji from Bangalore ashram had eaten here once and - he hasnt eaten here again.

What you get here is Mo-mo, Thupka, Chowmein, Burger(?), Pizza(?). During the cold I would say Thupka is best (its noodles with soup). Well Leena is calling me to eat Mo-mo with our landlady. gotta go.

Well (mmm..) miss them some times

Ganesh Darshini - one of the best eateries for dosas in Bangalore

INteresting Prashar

A few kilometers above Mandi (Himachal Pradesh) is a  place called Prashar. Rishi Prashar had done a lot of penance there and hence the place has got its name. There is an ancient temple and a lake. The uniqueness of this lake is that round tuft of grass.

When it rains the tuft of grass moves over the lake!

Prashar Lake in winter

(Pics taken from Google though)

Daddy

As a kid I was not really interested in studies, though I made a show of it. So daddy being a math perfectionist had a tough time. For example, on a Sunday say he would explain a concept to me and then go to his office (yes he's tht dedicated) and come in the evening. What would i do the whole day? I would sit dreaming or watching TV or play with friends or just go plain scared looking at those math problems. Evening time came. My dad came to ask if I had done the problems. To escape his wrath I would say - Yes but I have a few doubts (remember those days no mobile phones - i am talking of the 1980s - so could not call him), and would ask him a few doubts on almost every problem and he would explain it. Well then, I had to complete the problems before sleeping!

That's Daddy - Dr. L. Radhakrishna (FRAS, London)

He created a subject (or joined two subjects) in Mathematics called Relativistic Rheology. He is currently retired - writing a book called Write Mathematics Right. Its a guide for mathematicians trying to publish a  research paper or a book in/on math. The uniqueness of this book is that its not boring - it has a THRILLS index and a HUMOR index - a first for Maths books!!!

HP Review

Here Marriages are given more importance than any other work! Had sent someone to do TTC (teacher's training course) but tht person had to attend a relative's wedding. So wht did he choose? WEDDING ofcourse.

Himachalis are generally very quiet and mind their own business, contented. A guy will stay in his current  govt job and post for 20 years without any promotion - and is still happy. Though this trend is changing with the younger generation opting to study outside right from 12th.

Majority of Himachal population is in rural areas. Reaching out to them is the real challenge. 5 houses together makes a village, then over to the next mountain and u have about 10 more houses and so on. Ever thought of giving them an intro talk or tell about fee structure of the course? Tough. But still teachers do wht they can to reach them. Ofcourse there are well populated villages n tehsils as well. But total population of HP is almost 70 lakhs. Bangalore's population is more than 90 lakhs, I suppose.

First Post - venu

Well, this blog started as a place where me n Leena can share something. I m from Bangalore n she is from Himachal. Both of us are traveling Art of Living teachers, currently in Himachal Pradesh (Kullu n Mandi districts). By our family and Guruji's blessings we got married on August 23rd 2010 in Bangalore at the Art of Living International Centre (better known as Bangalore Ashram), venue - Mahalakshmi Mantap (wish i could upload the pics, but at 199KBPS on my Reliance Netconnect I am lucky even to t y p e).

Watch out for some interesting places, weird people and more in our upcoming posts.

C ya.

(Well had to reduce the pixels n memory size and then could load the venue of our wedding)

Mahalakshmi Mantap, wedding venue, Bangalore Ashram