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