An Interesting title

Normally the mind wants a thrill a minute or something miraculous or marvellous. Just take a look at entertainment – it needs a thrill every minute or its a flop movie, or look at all popular lecturers – there is a good amount of information and some interesting anecdotes. Now why does the mind need all that. If there were no movies or novels or serials etc., what would have happened to the mind?! Would it not wilt and die? Actually all the problems are in the mind – well most! Someone talks to us or doesn't we accordingly feel good or bad… It needs something interesting to stay afloat!

Need to think more on this, will post more on this.

Leena

Just watching Leena as she talks to people and cares for them. She is a CST (Cranio Sacral Therapist) and a really good one (and not just bcos she's my wife). Just seeing how every moment she thinks of how to add some value to people's lives around her - actually makes me so conscious (n quite envious) that I feel I need to really pull up my socks. To tell the truth I have been quite a slacker all my life, and I got married (by Guruji's grace) to such a workhorse that I feel I need to catch up a lot.

Interesting tea-making

Came across an interesting chai ka thela.

What this guy does is - he puts a little milk n sugar in your glass, then adds tea powder (dust not the small globules) in the strainer/filter/channi. Then he holds the strainer containing the tea powder over the cup and then he pours hot water on the strainer and into the cup, and voila you get fresh tea and it tastes very fresh just like the tea bags (which are made of plastic n cloth anyway)!
Price: Rs 3/- only.

Happy New Year 2013

Here's wishing everyone a Happy and prosperous New Year. May justice prevail and the law work well. Let more and more people become stress-free and let all the violent tendencies subside. Lets be happy!

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..