Desert(ed)

The Rann of Kutch opens up into a vast emptiness that screams in silence. A place that is so engulfed in its own empty space that it refuses accept any form of life. No animal life, no plants, not even a blade of grass. Such is its unyielding hostility. Anywhere you look, you will be welcomed only by unending stretches of bare white land. The white by the way is apparently the salt residue on the desert which once used to be a sea.

Just like how silence can sometimes be deafening, this vast land of emptiness seemed so full. Full of so many things. For me, so many emotions. War. Peace. Love. Loss. It makes me think of the ordeal the sea must have gone through before being stripped of all its glory and reduced to a colorless, lifeless delusive land.

The Rann of Kutch will never fail to intimidate even the most undaunted. Standing in the middle of this sea of nothingness, made me strangely silent. Silent - in introspection of all the emptiness within me. Silently wondering if I can be so inviting yet so hostile. Silent… because how could I be heard anyway, when this emptiness is screaming so loud?

Photo courtesy: Poornima Sukumar

Be AWARE - Yoga with awareness

We all love our daily dose of blissful yoga. But doing these same asanas with a little bit of awareness can make a world of difference. In fact, isn’t this exactly what sets Yoga apart from any other kind of exercise? With Yoga, since we are seeking for something more than just physical fitness, we should be ready to give something more than just our body. Here is where our awareness comes into play.
There is so much talk about awareness but the question is how do we inculcate it into our daily lives? Awareness is nothing but doing/being with a certain sense of consciousness. With a little bit of effort this can be achieved.
Try this: 
Do your usual Suryanamaskara just as you would do any other exercise. Observe how you feel and how your body and mind respond. You will definitely feel good as your body gets stretched and feels lighter no doubt. 
Now do the same Suryanamaskara with total awareness. Every move, every inhalation, every exhalation, every sensation in your body should be given attention. Now observe. Your body and mind respond in an entirely different way. A few things you will observe right away are: (A) your breath becomes deeper, slower and totally in sync with your body. (B) You will know exactly which muscle is getting strained in which posture (c) Your entire asana will be more enhanced and you will find yourself going a little beyond the usual limitations of your body. In fact it can shift you to a whole new dimension.
Your daily practice will become more than just that - A practice. And with time you will see that the awareness no longer limits itself just to the practices… it will become a way of life.

I see now...

I close my eyes and I see your face,
Suddenly no more are these miles of space.

I'm sorry that I denied it all this while,
But now I really wanna make you smile.

Darling, I don't know as to where we stand,
But I know that forever I wanna hold your hand!

Rock Steady

You finally hit a rock, and its so steady
But you know you can’t stay, cause your not ready

You just can’t deny the violent grip
The more you try to hold on, the more you slip

You are unwilling to leave but you have to go
Because darling… you’re a river and you have to flow!

Without you...

You came and showed her the light at the end of the tunnel
She would never have gotten through it without you…

You showed her the silver lining around her dark clouds
She would never have looked that high up without you…

You took her upon your shoulder so that she could see the view
Would she have ever seen that far without you?

You raised her up when she was beneath the rocks
She would have never gotten this high without you…

You gave her faith when she stopped believing
Could she have ever kept it without you?

You rescued her from the fiery monster in her dungeon
She would never have come back to the castle without you…

You saved her life when she was bound and broken
I doubt if she would’ve ever survived without you…

You gave her your crown when she couldn't hold on to her’s
She would have never felt like a queen without you…

You left without a word, without a goodbye
Now she’s lost and I don’t know what she’ll do without you.

Sadhguru

All my life I have been searching for a Guru. The perfect Guru. I always imagined a wise old man, with long gray hair and a robe, sitting under a tree (very typical!) So when I finally found him – it was a jolting surprise! He had long gray hair and a white shiny beard alright! But he was not your conventional guru. Wearing blue jeans, a T-shirt and trendy shades, he was speeding in a Rover. I immediately realized that he’s no ordinary guru. But one look at him and I knew it, he was the one I was searching for. Sadhguru. Who would’ve imagined?

I heard him speak. Never heard anything like that in my life before. I was instantly blown off of my feet. He spoke with such conviction and ease. His purpose is undoubtedly to do this. His knowledge seemed to be like a bottomless reservoir. Still, he claimed to know nothing. Nothing but himself, nothing but the truth. For me, (like so many others), it was definitely an Aha!! moment.

I did not want to meet any movie star, any rock star, anyone, as badly as I wanted to meet him. I finally did, it was a celebration of life for me. Every night when I pray, I secretly hope that, when I open my eyes, god will be standing there and smiling at me. I always imagined a funny grin, which would eventually turn into a warm smile that would tear me apart. I feel like my hopes turned to reality.

Now everyday I find my life taking newer dimensions; everyday I find more of myself. Life suddenly seems so easy and beautiful. I am just sailing through it. I’ve never been happier. Thanks to Sadhguru, for making me realize that the only person who can make me happy… is myself. Nothing had gotten me so fascinated ever. But this great being has, and I will be eternally grateful that GOD loved me enough to put me in the same lifetime as Sadhguru. So that I may experience him, his words, his energy and everything he has to offer. I love you with all my heart Sadhguru and I will be grateful to you forever. Maybe for many more lifetimes.

As he rightly says, you don’t choose your Guru, your Guru chooses you! This was definitely my calling!

I bow down to him for everything that I know… and for everything I don’t.

Magnificent Masinagudi!

The drive started before sunrise. Needless to say, so did the drinking. A drink in your hand and the wind in your hair is an awesome combination, unless you’re behind the wheel of course! (I AM a responsible citizen!) Destination?? Masinagudi – An exotic locale a few kilometers from Ooty. A perfect getaway for the weekend.

We passed by the scenic Bandipur forests and couldn’t help but slow down to enjoy the nature (and some beedis that we traded with cigarettes from an old man on the roadside). After spending some time monkey-gazing, we continued our drive to our final destination. In an hour we were in the middle of the beautiful Masinagudi forest and checking-in to our resort.

Our room was a very cozy bamboo hut, built very strategically on an elevated surface, making it look like a tree house… well almost! We were soon getting ready to go to the river side for lunch.

After a nice, long, sunny lunch (mouth-watering Biriyani which was specially delivered to us on the river-side) we headed back to our resort to catch up with some friends. The rest of the evening was spent talking and hanging around a camp-fire and drinking. Thanks to Sujay (my amazingly talented story-teller friend)and Sagar (my amazingly hilarious friend). With them, you never notice how time just flies by. Before we knew it, it was almost mid-night. And time for the mid-night safari!
Woohoo! What a safari THAT was! We were three in an open jeep along with a driver who was so over dramatic, we almost felt like we were a part of an over-the-top Rajnikanth movie. Man! His filmy dialogues and his action-hero like driving was too much too handle… especially when your drunk and there’s a Tusker almost spitting on your face. Some ride that was!

We spotted loads of animals! Bison, Bears, Deer, Antelopes, Tuskers and more Tuskers! They were literally in-our-faces! It was like they were just posing for us on the side of the road, like as if they were expecting us! Like a friggin parade it was! A whole two hours in the wild! What a rush!! Phew!
And then we were back to our resort! All excited and pumped up, and narrating the whole experience to the rest of the gang who were in another jeep. Sadly, they hadn’t seen a thing, except for rabbits (like that counts!) We gloated and gloated and finally when we had pissed them off enough we decided to head back to our rooms! It was 3.30 am by now and time to crash… well almost!

It was a beautiful night we couldn’t resist! We sat in our balcony for a while and did quite a bit of animated chit chat about all our previous jungli experiences. We were still not over the amazing safari of course. And then we realized how exhausted we were and finally decided to call it a night! Needless to say, I dreamt about a mammoth that night! And not a cute, talking one like in Ice Age!

The next day was meant to chill out for a while and head back. And that’s exactly what we did! Woke up late, had a lazy brunch and started our drive back home! I am a big sucker for drives and loved this one too. The wind in our hair and … you know the drill! :)