childofdawnlitmountains

Om Mani Padme Hum

2009-08-25T11:55:00.000-07:00

Om Mani Padme Hum is most famous mantra in Buddhism, the six syllabled mantra of the bodhisattva of compassion.

The first, Om is composed of three letters, A, U, and M, symbolize the pure exalted body, speech, and mind of a Buddha.

Mani, meaning jewel, symbolizes the factors of method-the altruistic intention to become enlightened, compassion, and love.

Padme, meaning lotus, symbolize wisdom.

Purity must be achieved by an indivisible unity of method and wisdom, symbolized by the final syllable Hum, which indicates indivisibility.

Om Mani Padme Hum, mean that in dependence on the practice of a path which is an indivisible union of method and wisdom, you can transform your impure body, speech, and mind into the pure exalted body, speech, and mind of a Buddha.

*You are going to like it as you follow this link to listen to an YouTube audio/video of Om Mani Padme Hum recitation today! CLICK HERE FOR OM MANI PADME HUM)

*Would you also like to concentrate your mind under the sound of rain and thunder? You will like this: RAIN AND THUNDER FALLING ON RIVER

Yes, I do ride a RX100

2009-08-04T04:20:00.001-07:00

The Yamaha RX 100 was a motorcycle produced by Yamaha, and is no longer in production. It was a 2 stroke motorcycle, with a 4 speed gearbox and a top speed of 100 kmph. Fuel efficiency is low at 30-35 kilometres/litre.

Prior to the release of the RX100 in India, there were only three bike manufacturers - Escorts, Royal Enfield as well as the Jawa (later renamed to Yezdi). During the 1980s the government decided to allow foreign manufacturers to sell bikes in India, partnering with existing Indian companies. Honda partnered with Kinetic as well as Hero cycles to release Kinetic Honda and Hero Honda respectively. Kawasaki partnered with auto manufacturer Bajaj. And Yamaha partnered with Escorts to release the Yamaha RX100 2-stroke bike with 11bhp. The pickup and top speed were the best during that time in all the bikes manufactured in India. This bike was embraced by the youth of that time. Whether it was the original with its energetic looks or modifications, Indian youth at all times (including now) respect this vehicle.

Competitors
While the mileage of an RX100 (also known as RX, colloquially) was never a USP, its only competition was in pickup and speed. The Kawasaki KB100 RTZ was the only bike of its class that could claim to beat it in a drag - though a lot depended on the individual riders. Suzuki released the Shogun, an 110cc vehicle that beat the RX in all departments of the same game where RX was the leader, but it was too little too late.

The Decline
Stricter emission norms by the Government of India lead to the ban on several 2-stroke vehicles. The RX, the Kawasaki 100, the Suzuki 2-stroke bikes were all banned by the mid-1990s. Yamaha's response was to bring out the 135cc RXG. Though it retained the classic looks of the RX, it never really clicked with the public, and Yamaha lost terribly. They brought out a better bike called the RXZ which was shaped a lot better but it never lived to see the new millennium. The 135cc 5-speed RX135 met with the same fate. Yamaha released its last 2-stroke vehicle in India - the 4-speed RX135 that could be bought legally first-hand till August 2005 in select cities.

Legacy
Even today in India, most of the young working employees have awe for this vehicle, and would prefer a 10 yr old 2-stroke Yamaha to the fashionable bikes available on the road. This is despite the fact that the original version did not come out with modern enhancements like fuel indicators and side box. The headlamp has also not been good enough to ride at night. But the engine is one that lasts long. People who bought this bike in the 80's and 90's would get approximately the same fuel efficiency they got when the bike was brand new. The engine quality was such that it could be re-bored the maximum in all the bikes manufactured in India. Owners of this vehicle flaunt it as a status symbol of their youth.

Disclaimer: i may possess a bike of this model, however, not in possession of the factual information shared here. these facts were collected from an external online source and belongs to an unknown person/individual.

Dhammacakkapavattana Sutta - The turning of the Dhamma Wheel on this human realm

2009-08-01T20:42:00.000-07:00

The Dhammapada is a very important work and perhaps the best known in Theraveda Buddhist literature. It contains 423 Pali verses uttered by the Buddha on various occasions to a wide range of audience. The following is a verse selected from this great work. It is in simple wordings to facilitate comprehension, the essential purport, however, remains intact. The sweet smell of flowers does not blow against the wind. But the fragrance of virtue does. Truly, the virtuous man pervades all directions with their fragrance of his virtues.

In this lifetime, I will search for positives in the surrounding world. I will try to direct my person towards positive actions. I will try as much not to get caught up with negative stuffs - negative discussions, situations, places, company, people. To stay away from negatives, I will constantly remind myself how I must keep conscious and pose a simple question: is it any conducive to associate in this discussion or situation or place or people?

There is a good person in the neighborhood whom I meet and like to connect with. I was offered a bowl of instant-noodles for breakfast at his place last weekend. We munched the noodles. And we munched on a few good topics related to Buddhism. There were many good questions. With my poor responses, I doubt if I helped him with his questions at all. It's true I have been keeping Buddhist texts close to my heart for a while now. Many people will know this. Also, I have been publicly planning about ordaining into the Sangha for a while now. Many including my neighbor will know this as well. It's probably why he thought it proper to pose a few questions to me. Well, so much I read or follow Buddhism, I am a mere dirt. I am not skillful yet, I consider myself as a coarse rock that requires lots of polishing, washing and re-polishing and re-washing. Hopefully, I will be a polished stone over time. I will keep up my interest and efforts in Buddhism and if not in the near future, I will try to become one in the far future so that I can take good questions similar to those posed last weekend :-))

LOOKING long way back at the past, I believe that all the good work up to the point of remarkable enlightenment were personal achievements of a young person more than 2500 years ago on this planet. The young man was named Siddhartha, a prince, who let forgo royal pleasures to launch himself to an wandering, ascetic lifestyle searching for the Answer, Truth, Dhamma. After long, enduring six years of ascetic practice, the Bodhisattva attained enlightenment. The Dhamma he realized is very profound. It can not be easily understood else we would all be enlightenment by now today, else Siddhartha wouldn't have taken six years also. Prior to attaining enlightenment, Siddhartha had to spend twelve hours in a row without moving from his seat after already experimenting for six years with wrong methods.

According to my understanding, the teachings of The Tathagatha took the form of a religion known as Buddhism only after The Tathagatha reached out the message of the Dhamma to others, that was to be followed, practiced and propagated and kept secured and preserved by a spiritual order referred as the Sangha. The Buddha was alone after his enlightenment. The Buddha was at first reluctant to teach the Dhamma that he had realized. He considered, "This Dhamma is profound and goes against the flow of sensual desire; most people are strongly attached to and immersed in sensual pleasures." However, he reasoned that some were not too strongly attached, and were already searching for truth. They would be able to understand it. So he decided to teach the Dhamma first to the five ascetics who accompanied him while he was practicing self-mortification during his earlier years. The group of five lived at Isipatana then, where The Buddha found them and preached the Dhamma. The Wheel of The Dhamma was set in motion and the event is recounted in the Dhammacakkapavattana Sutta.

The Dhammacakkapavattana Sutta begins as:

"Evam me suttam — Ekam samayam Bhagavā Bārānasiyam viharati Isipatane Migadāye. Tatra kho Bhagavā pañcavaggiye bhikkhū āmantesi"
"Thus have I heard — At one time the Blessed One was staying at the deer park in the Sage's Grove. Then the Blessed One addressed the group of five ascetics"

"Dveme, bhikkhave, antā pabbajitena na sevitabbā. Katame dve? Yo cāyam kāmesu kāmasukhallikānuyogo hīno gammo pothujjaniko anariyo anatthasamhito, yo cāyam attakilamathānuyogo dukkho anariyo anatthasamhito. Ete kho, bhikkhave, ubho ante anupagamma majjhimā patipadā Tathāgatena abhisambuddhā cakkhukarani ñānakarani upasamāya abhiññāya sambodhāya nibbānāya samvattati."
"These two extremes, monks, should not be followed by one gone forth. Which two? Sensual indulgence, which is low, vulgar, worldly, ignoble, and unprofitable; and self-mortification, which is painful, ignoble, and unprofitable. Avoiding these two extremes, monks, the Tathāgata has discovered the Middle Path that produces vision and knowledge, and leads to tranquility, higher knowledge, enlightenment, and nibbāna."

*I bow 3 times before Bhikkhu Pesala and Phra Bhasakorn for allowing me to use some of their material on this blog.
*My good neighbor in New Delhi is Paritosh Chakma, freelance writer, professional human rights activist associated with ACHR.

SKS/Bodhicariya Students Re-union

2009-07-26T13:04:00.000-07:00

A re-union event is going to take place for the first time ever. Like every body, I am so hopeful and looking forward to it. I am sure it is going to work out good. As a school, Bodhicariya is poised to celebrate its 20th foundation day this year 15th November. What could be an opportune time more than this to have a reunion event!!

There's reason more than one why we need to have a gathering like this. Most of us that have been following information about the institution and Ven Bimal Bhante are aware that a certain idea has been toying in many minds on the subject of hosting an event like a reunion. The idea is appreciated and liked by all but always slipped down the to-do list in the last couple of years. But now guys are acting animatedly how to present the idea on the real ground. Not very far from now, in just a matter of 3 months, we will meet on a venue for a two-day gather. A working committee has formed and we have final draft of a letter of invitation. Do I really look like a level headed bloke? I am pleasantly surprised that guys out there do! They felt that I am a level headed bloke who can be a part of the committee and now I am direct part of the commitee with a position as the Secretary of Information and Publication. I am not alone as I have the best partner in Mr Dilip from National Law School, Bangalore. I trust that the committee will create the best event we have had in a long time. It will be a memorable one. For alumni from everywhere making available to the re-union will be like returning to the roots, like a walk down the memory lane. A chance to start bridging the widening gap between SKS and its alumini. A time to rekindle old friendships. I am sure the sight of the Bodhicariya hostels and to live in its environs for 2 days will arouse enormous joy. So many old school days memories will trickle and flood one's mind - memories of the playful times, the classroom experience, the childhood spent in the airy dormitories of Ametie, Karuna, Metta, Chetana and Paramita Bhavan....

There are hundred things that I am interested to do during the stay at Bodhicariya. I am curious to find out the boy that occupies the same hostel bed that I had. I want to go to the spot where I planted a sapling and see how leafy it has grown. I would like to stand in the central park under full moon and while away time enjoying the night breeze. I would like to have a seat in the middle row, third seat from the front that was my favorite desk in the classroom. I would like to go up the terrace in the chill of the night, porch on top of a pillar at the roof the hostel and gaze at the stars. I would get up early and walk into the morning mist, pluck fresh flowers to prepare a nice decoration and offer on the Buddha pedestal. When the community sits down to observe quitetude and practice anapanasatti and I want to be a part of the session. Assuming that I have learned a handsome deal since I left school 15 years ago, next I could plan volunteering in the school when the classes are in progress. I am sure our teachers would appreciate and encourgage me. i am sure focussing on lower class topics that I learned long ago, interacting with young minds will make one of the most productive experience of the trip.

Hey try think alike and more like the way that I am now. What are your wishes? What will be your interests as you reach Bodhicariya in mid November? Please open up and start shareing.....!
I truly hope to be present there and see you in person. Take good care of yourself wherever you are!

Thinking about travelling beyond this country to meet far away dhamma friends

2009-07-20T21:43:00.000-07:00

When the Indian monsoon is over, I will have prepared myself with a decent travel-budget ready to board the first international flight of my life. Out of New Delhi over to Vienna or Bucharest. At least this is a something I've targeted in this year....
Many honorable, dhamma friends live in Austria, Romania and Hungary. They said their invitations still exist. Where did I befriend all these East Europeans? Well, the holy place of Bodhgaya fetched me all these dhamma friends!!

I love to frequent the holy place of Bodhgaya to serve monastics monks and service the monasteries. I am thankful that monasteries like WatPa, Vien Giac, Wat Nilanjana, Wat Magadh etc extend a place to seat, dine and sleep during my brief stays. Making all of my time and positive energy available towards the monastaries aside I like to travel the surroundings of Bodhgaya, climb the Dungeshwari hill, visit the premises of Vishnupad temple, watch the rituals at the burning ghats of Gaya, etc. In this way, I have met some of the finest human beings in the form of buddhist monks, siladharas, anagarikas, upasaks and upasikas and even children and every assortment of spiritual travellers. Bodhgaya has sacred power to draw people of all walks of life from all corners of the globe.

Every minute in Bodhgaya is a fortunate minute. I faithfully believe so because I've always received precious lessons and gifts of life during every visits I made, a deeper insight into meaning of life, the dhamma, the natural order of world and world beings, the 'suchness' of all things around me. Alongwith all kinds of balms for the mind, I will not forget the good, honorable, dhamma friends that I've crossed path. When I look back to each of my trips to Bodhgaya in the past, I see faces of the dhamma friends - smiley faces, happy faces, gentle and compassionate, active and conscious, soft and simple. If I get my way, I would like to sneak out of my work cubicle and go the direction of Bodhgaya again at the peak of this current Vassa season where serious practice is on at this moment of time. There are serious solitary pracitioners as well as group practitioners, training their mind, revisiting the Tripitaka texts and mindfully observing the Vinaya rules with greater emphasis.

One of the closest that I have known is Mr Zoltan Kovacs from Hungary. The evening rush of diners at Om restaurant next to Tathagat hotel led me to the seat where Mr Zoltan was seated, enjoying a herbal, ginger tea to cool away the evening. I got my orders of green mixed-salad and steam rice with small potion of different vegetables in front of him. I introduced myself and thanked him for sharing table-space with me, Zoltan smilingly responded that it was not a problem. I am young but he is quite aged. I offered a plate of green salad with all my heart and he accepted after sometime.

We had a nice conversation over a nice dinner peppered with a silent prayer as I fed myself spoonfuls.

Wisely reflecting on this plate of food,I use it not to distract my mind,
Nor to make my form impressive,
Or to make it beautiful,

Simply to be sustained and nourished,
And to maintain what health I have,
To help fulfill the Holy life,

With this attitude in mind,
I will allay hunger without overeating,
So that I may continue to live blamelessly and at ease.
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(This english translation is a very clear one. It comes from Ajahn Sumedho, Amravati Buddhist Monastery, outside the village of Great Graddesden near Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire, England)

War of the pen and gun

2009-04-25T21:48:00.000-07:00

We invented pen and gun. Both very mighty, earth-shaping or you could say earth-breaking inventions! During the early era, the gun might have been a better tool initially than pen because it could be directly used to guard and defend human lives from beasts that roamed in the jungles. Not very long before I was born, one night my grandfather fired a shot in the highlands of Bangladesh to save his family and villagers from a rampaging wild elephant.

In our modern times without fear of attacks from beasts any longer, we have trained the guns at each other. There are so much guns in the world that there is one trained at everybody's back!

There is a big tussle between two powerful forces to conquer the domain of human conscience. I am referring to the pen and gun - the good and the evil force. Which force do you pay faith or heed to? What force plays in the big, airy dormitory inside your head?

Go to bed, have dreams as you sleep; or wake up and have dreams while awake; next you go chasing your colorful dreams. Hey stop, lemme ask you: how have you equipped yourself for the chase – with a pen or gun?

Turn on the TV to the news channels. Flip the pages of the morning newspaper. Or, browse the internet looking for news. Folks, can we realize how much the gun gained over our head and thought-process?! There's now so much guns out there we've one trained at everybody's back.

We have endless problems in our world started all by the gun. We have fielded our best man out there to control and mop away the problem, and guess how and what are the tools as he tries for a solution, it is none other than the gun. Guns booming against guns, ceaselessly, however, who is dying?? The guns are lifeless, they have nothing to lose, eventually we lose as we human die. Relate to the news that you just received thru the TV news, newspaper headlines and internet updates that you checked, we are dying. We are dying because of the guns.

One is saluted by the load of his guns. A person salutes and heeds the street cop than his professor. A country respects another by the enormity of the gun against his. There are more people in the globe that reports to duty with a gun than pen. There is more production of guns and ammunition than pen and chalks around the globe. A gun can go off any time. A gunshot could pierce the night sending down a chill down your wife's spine and make your sleeping baby cry. Compare the chalk. A chalk does not produces a mad noise. If it is squealing in the morning across millions of classrooms all over the globe, its disturbance is actually good for all those sloppy and dreamy kids in the class rapping them up from their inattention and drowsiness. That's your dreamy kid that goes to high school that the squealing just helped!

How are you equipping your child as a family ...... with a gun or a pen??
If family members are not supporting schooling for the children, restricting getting social with friends or entering playgrounds and family elders are failing to set example of fairness and good conduct; their child will grow up to chase the dreams with the gun, not with the pen. The child will show a less tolerant attitude, not nurture a compassionate heart, wants to have what does not belongs to him, not accept the truth and always deny the truth, and, ever ready to use force at every turn of his life for the meekest reason. The child that the family breeds will have abused all the energy of his lifetime, diverted all of it towards unproductive activities without any positive contribution to the family and unto himself. Economically, that's no more than a pest to the family and the state. In the traditional Indian interpretation, a person of such nature will have to take birth again and again to unlearn bad habits (bad karma) and learn good habits (good karma) and then how to hold the pen with the fingers instead of the gun-trigger. In the Buddhist language, circle the samsara cycle without end.

To nation-heads across all 6 continents, I ask you to sit down and ponder over your lost days sitting as a child in the classroom. Come out of your thought, a deep breath and pose yourself the question: how am I equipping my citizens ..... with the pen or gun?

Next order your troops to withdraw, de-alert them all, and reconsider all those policies that your government has backed or backing up where the gun is the means to the end.

To all our brethrens especially Karbi Anglong's

2009-04-03T00:19:00.000-07:00

Question on God, can God be unkind to us? Not long ago in South-East Asia, the God just spreaded the Chakmas like butter outside their permanent domicile!!! In this way, our Chakmas are spreaded over the farthest eastern frontier of India known as the North-East India! A substantial Chakma population is found as half-foreigner and half-citizen along the belt of Himalayan foothills and tropical forested areas of the Brahmaputra valley in Arunachal Pradesh. Their main source of livelihood is subsistence farming. Their lands are known to be exquisitely fertile and cultiviable, yielding rich paddy crop and mustard seeds year after year. While the paddy stock meets their two squares of meal daily, the mustard seeds harvested during winter earns cash. In India, the cash or currency is called 'rupee'. In addition, families are bound to own a pair of trained bulls for the purpose of tilling their lands. In case not, you've just discovered the poorest family in a Chakma village! Their annual economy essentially banks on a plot of tillable land, a good summer followed with a good winter and a pair of trained bulls.

An equal chunk or higher live in Mizoram, admist the Christain Mizos, are well settled with full citizenship status, and better positioned by far than any Chakma family from Arunachal or Tripura though trailing far behind their Mizo neighbors in sectors more than one. Thinking of our Mizoram brethrens, the foremost object that comes to the mind is that they live in the only town in India which is built for the Chakmas by the Chakmas. There is abundance of business and trade both domestic and cross-border trade handled by Chakma business family and traders. What is less attractive about them is that, sometimes, they have this image that they do not push their children hard into pursuance of higher studies at university level. The tend to find comfort in mediocrity. Their region has, otherwise, got the right ground and economic strength to launch their wards to the finest university campuses available throughout the nation and produce brilliant gems who could lead their local community forward plus extend helpful assistance to brethrens beyond Mizoram borders. There is the splendid gift in their hands - an autonomous district council - bestowed by the Gandhis and Congress.

The situation of our brethrens in Tripura is plainly alike to Arunachal or Mizoram. There is nothing significant except that they may have gained some extent of powers in the field of active politics and civil service division of the state govenment of Tripura. This is a very direct statement though I don't mean to be impolite, however, their unfortunate aspect is that they may have absorbed too much culture, fashion and language of their Bengali neighbors. This is sad. The best deal though is at their hands, geographically, they live closest to the ancestral CHT. If they wish anytime, they can plan and wrap up a CHT trip with a flick of a finger, which is a real blessing judging from the envious eye of an Arunachalese Chakma. It's requires a good measure of budget preparation, lenghty road travels and above all a strong conviction for the man from Arunachal to make a make a trip to CHT to meet the relatives who still live there, the brave one who defied communal flares, hostile governance and ruthless military operations throughout decades to retain their original spot on earth. Coming back to the main point, there is something that I really admire that will not go unhighlighted: I am continously impressed with their fondness of traditional music and folklores, initiatives, experimentation and producing commendable arts! They keep aside the time to practice and create music for our ears! We look forward to each year for a nice piece of art work release. There's quite many out there awaiting some form of art work release around this Bizu! Lastly, those of you not belonging to Tripura may protest, but the most romantic youths in our whole tribe are to be found in Tripura only.

Looking beyond the Indian border, my deepest respect to our brethrens in CHT who did not falter and braved the worst of times to protect and retain the traditional homes, villages, culture and heritage. When dusk befalls and the body is willing to surrender, they can breathe their last on their own soil with dignity, honor and peace of inner mind. There is one thing for which it is worth a man's life, that is for the defend of one's birth place. Had we a rosy past, had we a nation to call our own, something unlikely to ever have, you could get these sentimental feelings. As a Chakma, there are many things that we will never understand in our life, like fighting for the nation, sacrificing for the nation, winning for the nation. I will carry a deep regret to my grave that I have never lived in a nation of my own....
Coming back to the main topic, the modern generation of Chakma women in CHT has a prized place in my heart. First of all, they deserve three-big-cheers for re-inventing the 'khadi'. I heartily appreciate the women society for transferring the new weaving skill to their sisters living far across the other side of the international border. (I've seen a new khadi from Tripura and Mizoram, but not sure having seen one from Arunachal, hope some girl out there did that, probably I just need to sniff out who ;-) Secondly, my metta specially goes out for the women again for helping nurture a Dhamma bent of mind among their family members - be it a son or daughter, brother or sister, husband and parents and old grandparents. (In every dhamma publications released from CHT, I am impressed to see the sheer number of women Buddhist devotees, their respect for the Triple Gems, heartfelt reverance for the living dhamma gurus, and participation in dhamma activities in support of their local viharas.)

One more para dealing with Karbi Anglong brethrens would do very good in the blog, unfortunately, can't produce any about them from me. Last evening I attended a phone call from Bodhgaya. I spoke Phra Ratna, who told me that our brethrens in Assam are suffering being left stranded from all of us - all of us includes the Chakmas residing in Arunachal, Tripura, Mizoram, Delhi and CHT. Our brother and sisters living in Karbi Anglong do not seem to be progressing at all! They are stalled. Their livelihood could be very toiling and harder than anything we meet daily. If you are a student or an officer in any metropolitan city in India, please ask a question to yourself: Do you know of a Chakma brethren belonging to Karbi Anglong living in your city for studies or job? Phra Ratna's answer is blank! So is mine! What is your answer?

Somebody who's been to and mixed with the brethrens in Karbi Anglong could fill the left over space in the blog by making a comment. Interested? Please forward a short one to me at your convenient time. I will have a little trip to Northeast, not sure if I can squeeze a quick visit to Karbi Anglong. If that can be, it would be great.

Wishing HaPpY BIZU GREeTiNg to all Chakma bhei-bhon lock!
Have a colorful time!
Lots of Metta!

*living under the indian democratic instituion as an half-baked citizen, but riding on the liberty to full speech and expression, these are liberal opinions of an individual. if readers disagree and/or words or comments may have hurt sentiments, which is not in the intention, my sincere and advance apologies. if you believe that author may have overshot in his opinion, please comment and freely feed updates to the author. i welcome it.

Deepak Chopra guides us to face the recession

2008-11-20T23:54:00.000-08:00

I am a wee bit aware about the person I am covering on this specific blog - Deepak Chopra. He is a popular & well known figure, a motivational speaker by professon. That's all. Period.

A little more. To the best extent that I know and a general impression I carry about him: Deepak Chopra has dissipated a lot of helpful information across the country to bring up the consciousness level of our countrymen and institutions that drives our country. He is the type of swimmer, better call a diver, who dives to the deepest strata of the 'ocean of wisdom' to harvest the purest crop to inject into humankind - grains of pure wisdom. Nourishing grains that help us grow healthy, wealthy and wise.

It is very much possible that I may've received the rains of his wisdom directly or indirectly. In hindsight, I think I can cite an example how I have gained something from him/his words.

India is on the list of 'least transparent country'. This is an unfortunate truth revealed in every yearly report released worldwide. There's quite a binful of corruptions and fishy transactions, I don't deny that. One of the most powerful message Deepak Chopra left for the current generation of Indians is: If you are able to sleep peacefully when injustice is happening in your neighborhood, just wait for your turn. Indirectly, he is telling us to come out of our private shells and live collectivly.

In New Delhi, cars and sedans carry a poster of this message, it's a common sight. The message is printed on the thin semi-transparent sheet acting as sun blocker at the rear side of the vehicles. I ride a motorbike and face this message all the time on the roads! On every day basis, I make the best of my time and efforts to connect with people I work with, dine with, travel with, play with, win or lose with...

I am pleased to share a recent article. It's about the current global financial crisis staring at every nation's face. You will like it, I assure you :-)

When a box turtle is crossing the road and it hears a car coming, it reacts by drawing in its head and feet, contracting for protection. Evolution has kept turtles alive for hundreds of millions of years that way. What works as a natural defense isn't much use, though, when a Yukon or Explorer is barreling toward you. There are times when contracting inward is the very worst thing you can do.

That's true now in the recession that economists see barreling toward us — the road noise has gotten alarmingly loud already. But as the economy contracts, we must resist our natural reflex to contract with it. Instead, we need to do the opposite. Expansion is the best way to survive any crisis.

The lesson should have sunk in after 9/11, when the whole country learned what it means to contract with fear, anxiety, suspicion, and distrust. We felt threatened by a vast, unseen enemy, which was magnified as large as fear itself.

Fear deprives people of choice. Fear shrinks the world into isolated, defensive enclaves. Fear spirals out of control. Fear makes everyday life seem clouded over with danger.

A lot of people are approaching the economy that way, and not enough leaders are warning them that it's the worst possible reaction.

To be happy in a recession means, first and foremost, resisting all the threats that fear possesses. Don't obsess anxiously over what you could lose. Don't reduce your world to a bank account or a 401k. Isn't there an upside to losing some "consumer buying power"? To be honest, we went too far with consumerist mania. By any measure this is an inordinately rich country, and instead of mourning sagging profit margins, can't we use the current slowdown to ask what makes for true personal happiness?

Relationship. Gratitude. Appreciation. Compassion. Mutual regard. Strong social connections. Love you can trust.

I don't know why it takes a crisis to bring out those fundamental human qualities. But it often does. We all realize that the next video game, the next new car, the next flat-screen TV means nothing compared to the rewards of relating to other people. Yet we live as if the opposite is true. The pursuit of happiness is blocked just as much by indulgent over-consumption as by an economic downturn. More, in fact. An impoverished country like Nigeria recently scored number one in a survey of the happiest countries on earth, while the U.S. has never broken the top ten in any such survey.

Some may protest that expanding and becoming more human is all well and good if you have a job but totally unrealistic if your livelihood is threatened. I don't think so. Whatever happens, the worst-off will be the ones who need more compassion, kindness, and relating to. They will need real coping skills, not a show of group pity.

There's a lot more to say about how to be happy in a recession, but the main thing is to remind yourself that it's possible. Refuse to contract just because the economy does. You have the tools to be happy in the worst of times. They're just hidden under the box your new iPhone came in.

Courtesy Mr DEEPAK CHOPRA.
Deepak is the author of over 50 books on health, success, relationships and spirituality, including his latest novel, "Jesus: A Story of Enlightenment," available now at http://www.deepakchopra.com/. He is an Adjunct Professor at Kellogg School of Management.

A fond weekend with Regha Tirtha Yatra travelers.

2008-11-18T08:01:00.000-08:00

Mr. Mano and his mother accompanied with his sisters were set to visit The Jagat Jyoti Buddha Vihar, New Delhi. They were also joined by Deva in their car. They offered a lift which I declined politely. I prefer to bike on my own these days. I have learned to travel faster by bike in a city like Delhi.Within no time, I reached the temple gate by following the Ring Road motorway. It was a quick ride and I waited outside the temple’s entrance gate a long while for the Mano & co. to arrive. Unfortunately, they would never make it as I would later find out that their car broke down half-way. So, I walked alone into the temple/The Jagat Jyoti Buddha Vihar is a well-kept temple in a pocket of East of Kailash. It is mentionable that the Vihara sits upon a sizeable plot of land. If you know East of Kailash is situated in south Delhi and this south of Delhi is brutally expensive, you understand why I must make a mention. The foundation stone of the Vihara was laid in 1966 by the incumbent Vietnamese Ambassador to India then. It is quite easy to locate because the Vihara is on the same street as the ISKCON temple, one of the boldest landmarks of the capital. Personally, I have known its specific location since the last couple of years because my office site is just a stone throw distance from it. Even better, one of my co-workers that I closely gel with resides exactly opposite its main gate.Once inside the temple premise, I was amazed to discover a wondrous sight. There was ample more than the reclining Buddha statue, normal rows of lighted candles and wafts of incense in the wintry air. I caught a sea of Chakma! Instantly, my heart brimmed with elation alike Tennyson's upon sighting a bloom of colorful daffodils...

Awe-struck, I retained myself at one spot and simply look about the place and the multitude, so many of them all at once! Beyond the prayer hall, many swarmed on the courtyard and grassy lawns. They were majorly elderly men and women. All Aju & Be-Beis!

This Vihara serves as a halting point for them. If I am right, every bone was mighty tired after a lengthy cross-country bus ride but they belied any of it with their cheerful smiles, lively chatters and unbridled excitement upon meeting New Delhi city. The women carried traditional attires in which they looked really graceful and unique! I noticed some of them used their colorful khadis conveniently as head scarves to beat the nibbling cold. After a short while, it came natural to me to get close and greet and to introduce myself and to vow before them. We lit warm conversations instantly. I was asked a common question by most of them: which state that I hail from, where I lived in the city, how far was the place from that temple, what do I do - study? When I reply no to their last question, they curiously waited me to tell the type of job I do. In a way, it is fun to answer because you felt like being the most talked about person in the whole town! I tried to satisfy them by giving honest answers. After I had spoken each time one of them would quip "saw de sey" which loosely meant "ah, look, very good, very good". I entertained all their inquiries with an open mind. In my prosperity and happiness, they found rejoice.In between, I did some quick maths and also put myself in their shoes. I thought if I were one of them, I would not know how to drive a bike or operate a simple cell phone, not know how to bargain with the local shopkeepers due to language barrier, not know to read any English or Hindi road signs, just meaningless signboards. Similarly, the essential morning newspaper on the front porch of the temple wouldn't interest me either. Let’s keep aside internet, shall we? As you do deeper introspection on the topic, you find out that these Ajus and Be-Beis live without many things in life. The lives they lead look both shallow and hollow.

Standing on the same ground in the heart of a modern city like New Delhi - an educated man amidst a bunch of 'Ajus and Be-Beis' - there was certainly very less common between I and them except our connection by blood, a native language, the traditional attires, our unshakeable faith in Buddhism and a common taste of food. This is sad, at the same time it is bound to be for such is the fate of our community.

In the course, I got a chance to connect with Mr Pradhir Talukdar of Regha fame who took the lead on this pilgrimage. I found it very pleasing to converse with him, the more we chatted, the more I got infected with his words and his goals for our Chakma Buddhist community. I noted he has a distinctly greater hold of the original Chakma language, application of the proper dictions and countless interesting, uncommon phrases. After listening to him for quite a while, I do believe that his words relay a certain powerful impact to the listener’s ears. When he says, he could say it, whatever it was, the same thing, in a very different style. Listen to this you would appreciate it: our Chakma community carries a mighty 'hallongful' of past misery and impoverished present.

I was told that this pilgrimage is being operated under the banner of Regha Tirtha Yatra. Once I found out how big the group was, I thought I could nearly form 5 soccer teams out of them. As I learnt about their travel itinerary, I could hardly hold booking myself a seat with this group. Their next day plan was to fulfil their appointment with the Taj Mahal, one of the Seven Wonders of the World! Everyone was looking forward to the over-night journey for they shall enter the monumental gates of the famous Mahal in the next 12 hours!
On that particular happy evening, by joining into their fold, I found myself often carried away into a maze of thoughts.

At the turn of the 21st century, it is a minuscule minority of our tribe that has shown the will and courage to venture out from the jungle borders and started to live in metropolitans cities like Guwahati, Kolkata, Hyderabad and New Delhi. The number is discouraging but we will concentrate on its significance rather. Let’s use a metaphor. If our whole tribe be taken as a hunting spear, the pointed-tip is the minuscule minority that thrives today among India’s top metros. It’s you and I. It’s a bachelor or a household man. It’s a layman or a Dhamma guru. I recall a respectable person addressing a congregation at Ashoka Buddha Vihara saying –“folks, please realize that we are all blessed. We have a good reason to be here. We walk the heart of India where thousands of our tribesmen shall never come to walk or had our forefathers either. Let's perform our respective duty and study and live in a discipline way. Let’s grab this golden opportunity.” Leave aside from the city; let’s look at one of the far flung Chakma village nestled in the North-East of India. To this today, it is only common in our community to find that that the best-ornamented Chakma couple will seldom cross 2-rivers-and-3-villages before halting and turning back homeward. It is also true for our grandmother to walk probably 4 hours far from her village to join her grandchildren at the next and halt. We are a weak community with weak people to take weak strides.Today, let's recall what our local boy does in his native environment. Our local boy meets his field at day-break that he ploughs hard for long hours, whiles away the afternoon grazing the cows, and retires early to bed along with his animals in rhythm with the movement of the sun. He who rises and retires with the sun is our living, local boy. However, like you and I who live in the city, when he reaches for his bed at night, there is no power that can arrest him from being an emperor as long as he is curled in his deep slumber. Lamentably, each following day he wakes up to resume the same, sorry, back-breaking 'field-plough-graze' routine. This is the characteristic of our tribe. This is our reality. This is how poorly we perform & act as an individual or community in whole. A small tribe, small measures; small tribe, small steps!

By joining into their fold, there was a new heart rhyming with the withered hearts. But the mixed throbs of our hearts in unison gave rise to many happy thoughts and happy faces, peeling away all signs of fatigue and nausea and homesickness. Each Aju and Be-Bei literally seem held so much revitalized energy in their bodies upon alighting in New Delhi, I thought, if I had taken their joyful group to a theatre-hall I could tell you that not a single body would have drifted away to counting sheep! I didn't do any spectacular, however, there was another light but benign task that I could easily do: offering each a bottle of water. My beloved Dhamma teacher from Thailand always says, no need to travel all the way to offer, offer not to me but start from within, start from your immediate surroundings, service anybody, any life.

Leaving aside everything, what is distinctly new in this group travelling under the banner of 'Regha Tirtha Yatra'? Is there a special message for all of us? How can an individual of the Chakma tribe better himself or herself? How can the collective community speed up and be better?

A luscious moon surrounded by a constellation of sparkling stars shone at me and the pilgrims. As an onlooker, I posed some of these questions before myself. And, I'm glad my conscience awakened me to this thought. I can gladly conclude that, yes, there was a message for all of us. Besides the strong Regha pillar and many wrinkled faces, one of our best-ornamented Chakma couple including one grandmother was part of this travelling group. The couple and grandmother have crossed 2000 miles far to a 21st century metropolitan city like New Delhi by leaving their home far behind! Very Symbolic! Very, very symbolic!

*[I am humbled to take the name of Mr. Pradhir Talukdar of REGHA Society and amateur videographer, Mr Anand Chakma. I wish I could thank you enough for volunteering with full enthusiasm and making this walk happen. It is true that each ‘Aju’ and ‘Be-Bei’ of this group has walked a memorable journey in your noble company. Last but not the least, viewed from a different perspective, yours is also an act of leadership.]

The Ashoka Buddha Vihara, Rajghat

2008-11-05T10:34:00.000-08:00

A monk will refrain from touring or visiting far-away places for three months and remain preoccupied - practicing perfection of the Vinaya rules and reflecting on the patimokkha and spreading purity, sanctity and holiness all over the shrine room in the process. Disdainfully, sans a monk or any auspicious rituals, our temple is a dull residue. It stands like an oak in winter ridden of its leaves. If you go to visit, the void is so big that it almost infects you.

I've lived 3 years of my life within the environs of a strict Thai monastery. The past experiences and background perhaps has a bearing over my mind that leads me to a closer affinity with temples and monasteries wherever I travel in India. I am more receptive to the changes in our temple therefore. It is not a good feeling to find a solitary temple in the middle of the capital city of India. I would consider that we are poorer today than yesterday without a bhikkhu. We like to believe that we live as a community; however, to me, this is a simple 'collection of people' standing under a roofless sky. This is an unfortunate fate. It is truly a matter of regret. Can we not take a quick step to lift the current situation? Do we really need to endure such a unfortunate fate? We must start to raise efforts and create a rescue plan.

We have a choice today. If all of us desire, the collective merits & skills could be easily redeemed towards atemple and a monk. We mix and assist one another so much, directly and indirectly, during the process, every one of us is constantly gaining good merits finally whose collective dose should be powerful enough to produce an very very positive karma, for example, a temple and a monk.....

By November, Buddhist monasteries all over the face of the globe will see a flurry of activities as the Vassa comes to a draw. At this moment of time, a true follower of the Buddhasasana with a begging bowl, walking stick and cibaras is practicing more suttas, dwells deep inside the pages of the holy Dhammapada to cultivate deeper dhamma because there will be a grand occasion to mark the end of the Vassa where the Sangha shall be presenting its dhamma skills to the larger lay community. In turn, the lay people will congregate and come prepared with the best gift and dana for the monks. Cibaras will be donated graciously for the monks. Kathina Cibara Dana is a landmark occasion held annually and the occasion is not so far from now.

November is upon us. How are we preparing as a Buddhist community in New Delhi? The future does not look promising the way things presently are. In retrospect, when the existing resident monk vacated his residency from the temple, our Chakma Buddhist Society failed to make an effective announcement regarding the unfortunate development. There may be many of us who did not get any information & specific information until belatedly. We needed a clarion call incisive enough to pierce the distance and reach everbody of our 250-odd strong community based in New Delhi. A weak voice reflects a weak and meek and defeated Society; a strong voice reflects a strong and progressive and robust Society.

May all beings find bliss including me :-)

Do you know about lactose intolerance?

2008-11-05T10:14:00.000-08:00

Many folks relish the thought of downing a frosty-cold glass of milk, polishing off a bowl of creamy ice cream, or biting into a piping-hot slice of cheesy pizza. For billions in the world, though, indulging in these dairy delights can trigger gas, bloating, and cramping. The common condition these people share is lactose intolerance.

Milk and other dairy products are a major source of nutrients, so being unable to tolerate an entire food group can make some children and even adults feel they are missing something important. But there are ways you can receive all the calcium your body needs without triggering any unpleasant consequences.

Lactose is the sugar in milk, and an enzyme called lactase is normally responsible for breaking down lactose in your digestive tract after you've consumed milk or a food made from it. Some people, however, don't make enough lactase enzymes to tackle the lactose they consume. They may be missing a little or a lot of the enzyme. Depending on the degree of enzyme deficiency, consuming dairy products, such as ice cream or cottage cheese, can trigger bouts of nausea, cramps, bloating, gas, or diarrhea, usually 30 minutes or so later.

But lactose intolerance is not an all-or-nothing proposition. It's normal for the level of lactase in the intestinal tract to begin declining after three years of age. How steep that decline is varies greatly among individuals, accounting for a spectrum of symptoms ranging from none to a lot of diarrhea, cramping, and gas. The severity of symptoms depends on just how low your levels of the critical enzyme are. In rare cases, children are born without the ability to produce lactase. For most people, though, lactase deficiency is a condition that develops naturally over time. Many people may not experience symptoms until later in life.

One of the most common misconceptions about lactose intolerance is that it is a milk allergy. Though the two are often confused, the difference is a critical one.

The inability to completely digest lactose rarely translates into the need for a milk-free diet. But if you have a milk allergy, even minute amounts can trigger a serious reaction. Symptoms of a true milk allergy include a runny nose, puffy eyes, skin rash, vomiting, tightness in the throat, and difficulty breathing. There is no connection between having a milk allergy, which is due to an immune response to a protein, and having lactose intolerance, which is an enzyme deficiency.

Lactose intolerance is most common in adults, whereas milk allergies are seen mostly in children. Essentially all children who develop a milk allergy develop it in their first year or so, and the vast majority will eventually outgrow it. In the end, very few people carry milk allergies with them into late childhood or adulthood.

If you suspect you may be lactose intolerant, check with your physician for a proper diagnosis.

Do you know? People residing in tropical parts of the globe are more prone to lactose intolerance!

Colin the baby whale euthanized in sydney

2008-10-31T06:21:00.000-07:00

COLIN is a baby humback whale too weak to survive, marine biologists are doing their best Down Under including initiating EUTHANIZING process defending that their action IS a more HUMANE approach to wane the suffering of the baby whale.

Sitting 5000 miles far from the scene of action, however, I have strong reservation on the tactic being employed. I would like to spill a few 'ifs & buts' questions.

If man cannot stand to see nature taking its course he should refrain from taking it as his duty to take immediate action on nature's behalf. I mean if it were to die, let baby whale die a natural death at its natural hour under natural circumstances.

Modern man has become very soft-hearted and over-conscious. I call it unbalanced and disoriented. His insatiable inquisitiveness gives rise to unnecessary pins & needles for him as well as his neighboring worldings. In his environment he wishes to be available everywhere. He wants to deliver beyond extra and demands that he should be allowed to handle 'it'. Who cares who's shoes (hoofs) he is stepping on to? Who cares who's privacy curtain he is tearing apart? Nobody from within or outside can stop him from getting close and know it, feel it, judge it and act on it.

If animals were witted and spoke our language and man went knocking for their permission, no animal would give a consent ever. But, man does not pauses to ask or knock. The man supreme who stands above all! He is born to outclass every beings on this planet. He is not the one who looks up at the moon in awe. He is the one who opposes the might of the earth's gravity to pluck the moon. The supreme man who stands above all! He does not gives two hoots, he can run amok regardless of what a zebra or a fox or a eagle or a humback whale likes to think. That's the way he would like to have it. Funnily, at times, it takes just a 'word or two' from a qualified man or team to decide the matter of life & death.

In the wilderness, it is natural for wildlife to lead a precarious and edgy life. To live hard and die hard is a quite a okay thing for wild animals. If man decides to intervene in the natural order of things, only limit actions to promoting and saving life, DEFINITELY NOT TAKING LIVES.

Quick facts about Colin in case you weren't there to hear his story around third-week of Aug, 08.

Lost whale had been trying to suckle on yacht in harbor
Officials hoping to coax whale to sea so it can be adopted
Bringing whale into captivity not an option since it needs to be breast fed, said experts
Humpback whales are in the middle of their annual migration (july thru sept) from the Antarctic to tropical waters to breed and then back again

Where you be, how you be, my brother

2008-10-30T12:28:00.000-07:00

A week and a couple of more days slipped by unnoticed. There were the usual and regular tasks and very few odds to grapple with, so I was largely at peace with myself, within myself...

In the warm company of Deva, Hari and many others who used to pay frequent visits to our house, there was not a speck of hint that anything could have turned sour or gone wrong...

Then one day after the heaviest rainfall of the season, I were to show up at our local temple at Rajghat and received a piece of tiding that snapped the bouyant, good humor from my heart. A cousin brother enrolled with a Delhi University program ushered me into his cabin and broke a painful news: my younger brother in Arunachal Pradesh no longer lives in this world.

Much much tears, grievious heart and so many questions to God asking why, why, why...it takes a big time in this world to come to term with loss of a family member, relative, friends, well-wishers. I managed to come to term over time. As I started to regain composure, I tried to move outside the house out on to the streets, take a few bus rides, sometimes playing on the grounds under the sun...until fully recovery, sudden emotion and sobs would return sometimes in the middle of anything that I was doing that led me to pause in the kitchen, halt during jogging, walk out without a words as the favorite TV channel played, losing grip of the soap while soaping my body...
The time was 8 years ago. It was the monsoon season. The month was August.

Over time, all good or bad simply pales into history. Then, one needs to take a long mental walk down the memory lane to get to it again. You'd start to really recall it only if you consciously consider all the current family members and sense what is amiss. Once in year time, you'd get flowers and place it on the resting ground with a painful heart. This summer I was home and walked to the cremation ground of the brother we lost. With dhamma prayers in mind under a bright sunny sun, I thought of the beloved brother.

"I will live up to each day of my life with the special thought in my heart that I had a brother younger than me. I will welcome dawn of my life reminding myself that you lived. I wont't cry anylonger that you are not beside me. Instead, I will cherish the brother you were. On and on and on....inside the core of my heart you'll reside."

"Your deeds, actions and strengths have always pleased me. No matter if you were younger to me, you have long surpassed me with your honesty and sheer hard work. "

"In our past, years in and years out you'd look forward to meeting me every summer holidays, I promise as you leave me behind, my man will always remember your face, your voice, your virtues"

"Where you be, how you be, that's beyond a human brother thinking power. Sometimes I search for you hoping to see you again; among the cluster of twinkling stars high above, in the ring-well's water reflection, underwater of the spirited, gurgling streams; inside pages of novels I read, on petals of jasmine, in the streak of afternoon sunrays penetrating into my room..."

"A drop of tears or two, let them as a token of gratitude for your unconditional love, the company you gave me and I am sorry if I hurted you with the little mischiefs I played on you. Adieu, my brother"

English....arrgghh!!

2008-10-30T11:42:00.000-07:00

Trying to get into the skin of the English language? You better catch it fast else it will change its skin before your eyes! If French is definite as solid, English is formless as liquid. We read it in the lower classes, liquid takes the shape of a container. Likewise, English takes the shape of time and place. English language could undergo distinguishable changes over a simple span of a year's time. So, if you are an English language enthusiast brace yourself well to master the language. It involves some extra efforts of learning and unlearning in the process.

I can already see Rupashi who is striving in this direction wholeheartedly. She is picking up the nitty-gritty of the language under the tutelage of some of the most skillful language-specialists. She improved vastly since she took up her current offer with IBM Daksh, Gurgaon. I am glad I met her over a morning cup of tea, she revealed the subtle differences between 3 specific alphabets and how to pronounce them accurately. Those 3 are J as in Juliet, Z as in Zebra and the 'S' in the word 'pleasure'. It was fun doing tongue-xercise! Here's a few gems of the English language. Quite important they are!

Homophenes - words have different spelling and meanings but the same sound - heir, air, sun, son.
Homonyns - words spelt and pronounced alike but mean different things - hand, cricket

There's more! Add to this is the irrational and idiosyncratic nature of English spellings. It bears no logical relation to speech. The problem arises because the number of graphenemes (written symbols) does not correlate with their number of phoemes (sounds) in the English language. The 26 letters of the alphabet cover 47 phonemes (according to COD).

Sometimes one phoneme can be represented by more than one graphene. Hence, Bernard Shaw's famous analogy that the word 'fish' can be written as 'ghoti' and still be pronounced 'fish'!
-'gh' in words like rough and laugh has the 'f' sound.
-'o' in women has the 'i' sound
- 'ti' in nation and ration has the 'sh' sound

Besides these inconsistencies, there are the silent letters which complicate English spellings - 'h' as in hour and honor, psychology and pneumonia, or debt and doubt or calm and palm.

Best of luck to all of you with your English :-)

I thanked my stars for the fortunate encounter!

2008-10-27T09:55:00.000-07:00

About 2 years ago, a friend and I were standing at platform #2 at the New Delhi Railway station. The platform was cold as it was winter season. We reached the station with ample time at hand. As the departure time slowly closed in, I caught two familiar faces among the swelling crowd. I must have met one of them before at our Rajghat Temple and we greeted each other. Like me, he also came to see off his friend. I saw the stranger with his luggage.

We broke the ice by introducing ourselves. The stranger told me that he was a resident of Mizoram and rounding off his trip from New Delhi on that day. He was a polite man and returning with the same train that my friend had booked. Now, who would have thought! Out of my wildest dreams, this stranger took me back straightly to my kindergarten years. When he spoke, it was for me as if I was looking at an old picture held in his hand - a black & white scenery where the sun is shining less bright. He inquired on our family well-being and I gave warm answers to him. He made a special mention that he initiated as a sramanera at Ratnapur under a monk that was none other than my grandfather. Instantly, the distant feeling of talking to a stranger and all my reservation blew away. His revelation effected my heart in a pleasing way.

He also spoke about Mr. Bhattacharya, the primary school head-teacher then. The gentleman is profusely thankful that the head-teacher obliged to admit an overaged student that he was in the early Eighties. A single, bold signature by the teacher made all the difference to his life! As years unfolded, he passed the exams at the end of each school term, jumping from one class to another and thus carved a respectable career. Fast forward 25 years, I was meeting a prideful man in the heart of the country riding on a Rajdhani, Indian Railways' prized passenger trains. I thanked my stars for the fortunate encounter. After meeting him, I needn't worry much about my friend on the train.

Be a Diamond
Take just a quick minute and think about something: what makes gold so great? Or diamonds? What makes a diamond so much more special than a cubic zirconia? Both are shiny. Both are "pretty." So why is a diamond so much more expensive? Why is it so valuable?

BECAUSE IT'S RARE.

People want things that they see as rare. Diamonds are rare. If amethyst was more difficult to find than diamonds, I guarantee people would be getting on one knee with an amethyst engagement ring. Diamonds are rare and therefore, valuable. It's the law of supply and demand.

Be rare. Be a diamond. Be different than the others. Amongst all the other lumps of coal (other guys) you are the diamond. You stand out, above and beyond all the others. Learn to play an instrument, learn comedy, learn a foreign language. Do something that will make people say, "Here's something different."

Ever go to college? If so, you can pick out the ones whose parents are paying for their school versus the kids who are either paying for it themselves or are on scholarships that require good grades. The ones who have things given to them don't appreciate what they have as much as the ones who have to work for what they want.

Remember, to be valuable, you have to be rare. People take for granted the things that are always there. Don't always be there. Be rare. Be a diamond.

(*courtesy Giovanni Casanova - Be a diamond)

Desikottama Prof Kazuo Azuma from Japan

2008-10-20T10:40:00.000-07:00

I did not know the meaning of Desikottama* then. I met Prof. Kazuo Azuma at The Claridges, New Delhi, in the year 2006. As I entered his hotel room, his soft voice greeted my in fine Bengali. I was held in awe. The period was the peak of summer season and the professor appeared fragile and drained. Do you know that this season is also referred as the mango season in the northern region?

The room was cool and comfortable with a clear view of the pool. Unfortunately, the professor who was traveling alone and not in his ablest self due to health concern had to suffice with strict bed rest while I perused thru the pages of my novel and at the same time watched television on a low volume.

There were no door bells to disturb the room except when the phone jumped to life. But nobody seemed to mind it because it used to be none other than the professor’s wife. She used to telephone from Tokyo. Her voice enlivened the professor and made him pleased and at home. Very shortly, I discovered that his wife spoke Bengali also. I was enormously surprised by this old, enchanting Japanese couple. I could not help but compare the finely dressed, articulate hotel receptionists from India who wouldn't speak a word of Bengali or Sanskrit! I felt deeply drawn to the professor.

In those two days spent under his noble company, I was very happy to be able to test my elementary Japanese that I learnt at Reiyukai Foundation many years ago. Thus, he became our endeared ‘dadu’. His face brimmed with fondness and affection as I started to address him as ‘dadu’. As he regained his composure and energy, he transformed into an animated personality more than I imagined. We took part in delightful conversation, laughed, ate together and watched more TV programmes. All of us felt great like a new one-dollar bill!

Next day, my heart was overwhelmed with happiness when he called to us and explained that all of us could sleep on the same bed like a grandfather and his grandchildren. I had to check my senses: I was going to sleep on the same bed with a Japanese who saw Netaji with his own eyes! As a little boy, dadu saw Netaji in uniform. Whew! Netaji is a fable for us, a character that exists in history texts. It is natural that I had to bat my eyelids twice before believing him. But, dadu was truthful as he could only be. He recounted in front of us that one day the street was filled with a big crowd for an event where Netaji took the podium. That event is very far from now. Dadu was referring to pre-WWII era. He narrated many interesting stories about Japan, Japanese as a society and his own life’s journey into becoming a Rabindra scholar.

I love the extra ordinary person he became by embracing Kolkata and its wholesome inhabitants. General people like you and I would like to complain on Kolkata’s prickly heat, devilish rainfall, unhealthy slums, rickety infrastructure, and dismal football and so on. In an maverick style, he decided to leave behind a promising career and set out to travel far from his beloved homeland. Ever since he landed on the shore of Calcutta, he stayed immersed in the fathomless waters of Rabindra. Professor Kazuo Azuma is an eminent Rabindra scholar, well-known among Japanese society for his translation work of Rabindra masterpieces.

I am fortunate having known and met and served his feet for as long as he was in New Delhi. The days at The Claridges will remain an ever lasting memory. I’ve got substantial facts and pictures already by bits and pieces from internet; I hope to connect and plot a fuller picture of adorable ‘dadu’ in near future. My recent finding was a photograph of a group of Vishvabharati scholars and ‘dadu' is wearing a white kurta-pyjama, chappal and ‘jhola’ hung casually on his shoulder - a Japanese completely transformed to Bengali. He hums Rabindra sangeets, eyes sparkle at once upon taking Rabindranath's name on his lips; dadu accepted that his heart will sing merrily all the way home if he could die in Paschim Banga - the land of Rabindra waters!

*Desikottamma is an unique honor bestowed on persons of distinction by Vishvabharathi. It is the highest honor Vishvabharathi at Shantiniketan confers to academicians. Till date, 34 foreign nationals have been conferred the award. The Desikottama award was instituted in the year 1952.

Fyi, the word’s translated in English means ‘ideal person of the country’.

Rabibar by Tagore
Please listen Tagore's Shruti natak " Rabibar". Tagore's magical use of words and emotion made this story as oneof his best (almost like his Shesher Kabita). This drama though written almost 100 years ago but it seems it is written today such an immortal piece was created by Tagore.
Please enjoy the drama in two parts in the following link: http://calcuttaglobalchat.net/calcuttablog/2007/11/08/robibar-story-by-rabindranath-thakur-presented-by-jagannath-basu-bengali-geeti-natya/

Dear polly jones and dr vijayan of bodytree

2008-10-04T04:26:00.000-07:00

Dear Polly Jones,

My name is Rajendu B Chakma, ex-Bodhicariya student living in New Delhi. I was here since 1999!

I 've been following your 'BodyTree' with enormous interest and I really admire the work that your group is doing. I visit your web site very often. The site is cool with neat and specific information & updates. However, I am more so glad that I met Samar Chakma in New Delhi recently who studied at BodyTree for nearly 3 years.

This will be an update for you! The Chakma community in Delhi is quite a large one at the present time. Each year the number increases significantly due to the constant influx of youngsters from Arunachal Pradesh. These are basically high school pass-out, poor in English and good in Hindi, however, blessed with healthy bodies. They get started with some kind of jobs within a week upon their arrival. For example, work in factory assembly lines, dress-making units, waiters in bakeries, etc. A few that are good in math, language and personal grooming manage to get jobs in modern shopping malls and amusements parks as sales agents/stall boys or stall girls. Some are able to penetrate into the popular fast-food chains like MacDonald's, PizzaHut, Subway, KFC etc. The noteworthy point is that girl's percentage almost outranks the boy's. These groups of youths live collectively in suburban areas like Noida and Gurgaon located 30kms away from Connaught Place, heart of New Delhi.

Here, I carry on with a job under a privately-held American Inc. Therefore, I can emphatize with their back-breaking schedules. I am sure that each of these boys and girls got a bigger plate of work in comparsion to me. But, I like that their spirits and readiness to face the challenge. I am constantly impressed with their show of grit & determination, they have taken it in their strides, they don't want to give in, they don't falter; above all, they are prospering. These youths are able to utilize their youth-potential here under the skies of Delhi. If they didn't make it up to here, their years would have been spent in insignificance in Arunachal. Typically, the girls would be fetch waters from the riverbank at the crack of dawn, harvest crops, weed vegetable farms, sell stuffs in local bazaar and collect firewood from nearby jungles. In a similar monotonous fashion, the boys would be graze cattle, plough paddy fields, clear jungles, go fishing etc. Today, optimistism is evident in their ways and mien. Many of these boys & girls tend to save sufficient money to send back to their parents in Arunachal in the same way Keralites send fat remittances from Gulf countries! On the ground there is noticeable change - the family of the boy or the girl is less poor than yesterday.

Every person is striving against odds in every corner of the world. It is the order of nature. But an individual actually marches on during crisis and wouldn't collapse because of faith, perseverance, positive mentality and constructive efforts. It is pleasure to note that every individual and society no longer seeks isolation. It is equal pleasure to note that every individual and society is inching forward with a common dream of 'One World, One Dream'. It is great to find so much helping and volunteering going on these days in a way never witnessed before! I am pleased to find that you've already started to make efforts in your own unique way with the rest of the worldlings.

The reason that I like to share the stories of this bunch of boys and girls today is: they have an indegenious root. I thought their case would naturally interest you. You have already studied our society from close quarters, well aware about our past history, tradition, society's status and progress and as such.

Down at 27 Kallar, I know that it is one special place where transfer of skills takes place. The art & subjects taught at BodyTree institution are very strong and practical. They have enormous utility value.

Your experiment in life revolves around youths. I will be very glad if you have near-future expansion plan to increase student enrollment. If that would be the case, I am very much interested to submit a few profiles of aspirant-students who could attend long term courses at BodyTree. Thanks very much for reading my email.

NB: heard of GlobalGiving? I am sure your organization will be fit to apply for & receive donation from all around the globe! Visit http://www.globalgiving.com/

** Find more about BodyTree by visiting their web site: http://www.bodytree.org/ **

Chakma Phrases.. haha

2008-09-30T07:48:00.000-07:00

When was the last time I visited my family in far away Arunachal? This is a painful question because destiny seldom unites me with my parents and birthland. Opportunities are very few and far between. During a visit in 2005, I gave prime attention to listen and catch common proverbs and phrases used by a native Arunachalese Chakma; here's a few gems LoL!

prasansa goi le - huji naw awna, ninde goi le - monot doog now gorana
issue gon hudo-hudi naw goojso
jaguno jinis aani arunachalor namsing-gate-to phar go rei naw pare harab oi de (jagun=town on ap/assam border, jinis=goods, namsing-gate=name of border checkpoint)
medera goot sil mela dile, nijoo heiyet goo uri pore gideh
nari jatto Buddhoyo bujinapare, melagoon bari raak, phooljamuro saan (bujinapare=unable to comprehend, phooljamuro=cobra)
mele goone sobono jinis se ni yo ma-gon, sennot tei rajayo burei naw eh-je (sobon=dreams, raja=king)
jei shangma salaang goile u ossot, sei shangma punopok siri degele yo, habibo
baaro aat baaj, sher hotta dileh, hanow hum nei, bana darbo (baaj=bamboo, darbo=firewood)
soojo mu, huroloh mu! (sooj=needle, hurol=axe)
bek darani hariloba, mui hungara tem hudu (darani=claws, hungara=crab)
moh mobile-phonan puroon oiyeh, hisshunoi, chakma hodani tibire hodadi naw sunile abho! (puroon=old, hodani=language, tibire=tripura language)
eh-dukkho dellot rong di patteh, yen gotteh hi eddok bej oiyeh deh! (dellot=grain pulses)

Did they make sense :-)?

Bodhi Tree and Blue School Bus

2008-09-23T07:28:00.000-07:00

Our school was unique in ways more than one. It provided more than a desk, pencil set, textbooks and teaching staffs. It was our home. We were a family of 300 plus boys and girls hailing from Brahmaputra valley, Khasi Hills and Lushai Hills.

When I sit back and ponder over the school days, I am strongly drawn towards the Bodhi tree and School bus above anything else. I could see that the Bodhi tree is standing sprightly with a bountiful of glossy spring leaves and the School bus next to it, bathing in the golden sunrays.

It resonates in my memory the sacred silas and chantings we offered under the candle-lit canopy of the Bodhi at dawn and twilight hours. The Bodhicariyan community portrayed a picture of devoted, peaceful, progressive dhammic unit at such hours. We prayed for happiness of all beings on the face of the planet. From a Buddhist perspective, the Bodhi tree stands for universal free spirit. It is joy, it embodies rejoice in cultivation of awareness and compassion towards one and all. Our dhamma teachers taught about wholesomeness and being skillful (kusala) and encouraged the practice of anapanasatti to devoid the minds of delusion and negative thoughts.

The school bus was a brand one in a blue coat. It was a palpable object of pride for the entire Bodhicariyan community though providence seemed to play a joke on it. Our school bus did not ply around collecting and dropping school-kids to their school gate; instead, it had our educators and administration staffs riding on it everyday thru out an academic year! During my days as a resident-pupil, it used to carry out four sorties every day ferrying the teaching staffs, delivering hostel rations including fresh vegetables, sacks of rice grains and etc. It rolled upon uneven, dusty carriageways winding across paddy fields, wetlands and several villages where it was uncommon to find any other vehicles. The school bus was indispensable just like one of the organs in our body.

Visit Bodhicariya portal located at : http://www.skskolkata.org/

World in the puddle

2008-09-20T06:33:00.000-07:00

We had a sprawling courtyard to the front of our bamboo house. Our family used the soft afternoon hours sitting on the open courtyard. I was a kid, kidding around my father’s knees. Our house was nestled in the farthest north-eastern extent of India bordering China & Burma. The Himalaya bounded us from the north, east and west. On a clear day, breezes combed our rice fields and the snow-clad mountainous peaks rose to lofty heights head-butting the cumulus clouds. The surrounding hills were covered with dense, thorny, impenetrable tropical vegetation due to the fact that our region received a heavier dose of rainfall than the greater rest of India.

In the region I was born, the heaven pours rain earlier than anywhere in India. My poor tiny feet always skided on the wet earth! My younger brother and I would dare the warnings of our parents and topple over each other body in the next moment. One or the other between us would sometime spill tears in pain. We were miserable, invariably.

We suffered the rigors of falls & skids on the courtyard, quickly collected ourselves and dashed to the local school’s ground. All other kids from the neighborhood came to mix and merry. We had fantastic level of energy in our little bodies. We could jolly tear down from one goal-post to another and still wanting to sprint one more race. You will notice that energy and intensity in your municipal parks with today's kids as they release their energy outside the classrooms when you involve them in any kind of physical activity. Kids enjoy maximum fun in open spaces.

Now, it is also very important to comment on the nature of the rainfall. Rainfalls are very heavy. They are typical torrential downpour that continues unabated for cruel hours. They are accompanied with bolts of thunder and lightenings. From the position of our village, a typical downpour to our north meant spelled a lot of trouble for the people dwelling south including us. The rivers would bloat and swell to a demon-size and broke away embankments, hutments and irrigated lands. Trails of destruction meet one's sight in the aftermath of the rainfall. Too many uprooted trees, arthritic bamboo groves, carpets of twigs, leaves and fruits along the roads. There's more. The hills appeared dull as if stripped of their might like a mass of forlorn buffaloes. Gradually as the sky picked color and sorted away the dense clouds, bird songs fill the air and the hills turned blue as if magically; blue hills upon blue hills resembled children in uniform going to school. Flocks of wild geese will also appear in the sky. It was a heavenly sight to see the white geese rowing in neat formation silhouetted against the blue hills. They were ease, calm, serene, united, disciplined and synchronized. What a lovely sight on earth! Could anything be amiss? Yes but for rainbows! Rainbows are elusive as the auroras but when they appear, they paint a picture fairer far! A rainbow was so natural to blossom in our sky. At times, they blossomed in a merry pair. Children of the Chakma tribe point to the rainbows and say that God is at work funneling water from one side of the mountain to the other or one bank of the river to the other or from a bigger river to a smaller one! As a child, I could feel the pulse of the changing surrounding. Do I imbibe that pulse today?

There is a funny part of me related to the puddles formed on the courtyard: a deep fear of falling into the puddle-worlds. It was purely quixotic of me to shirk upon finding a sky & clouds & my own reflection!!!

A few words

2008-09-20T03:27:00.000-07:00

I was born in the farthest eastern border of India to a micro-community known as Chakma in Arunachal Pradesh. Our mountains receive the first daylights of India. In our region, the water of the mighty Brahmaputra is as chill as the Himalayan ice kingdom it emerges from. The grasses grow taller than the healthiest bushes of Rajasthan. I will be visiting my homeland very shortly, before the first burst of the Dussehra cracker of this year; where, the cows graze on sweet tender grasses by the sparkling rivers, where cumulus clouds float like the prosperous cotton fields of India's heartland, where at nightfall the moon appears rounder and bigger than a Kalahari diamond, and, balmy night breezes seduces you to dreamland effortlessly.

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