Unravel Apparent Paradoxes

An aha moment !




We’re so stuck in pattern that we could sometimes miss brilliant moments by slotting them into existing mind patterns. We’re even capable of saying, 'too good to be true' and letting them go by unrecognized.

I had two such instances over the last few days.

One at Coorg: Mr Uthappa tells me, leave the geyser constantly on, there’s too much power cut.

The pattern of turning off switches is too ingrained plus I didn't see that much power cut, so I listened to myself. Result? A cold water shower the day I was leaving :)

The second one: There’s something I’ve been struggling with for a long long time, and had gotten so used to that I used my own, at times inefficient, workarounds. And, bingo, change happens in one startling moment, and then you find yourself so amazed, that it’s bordering on skepticism.

Give me a break…why don’t we have enough faith ?

I’m going to try it.... at a renewed level..….trust in the flow even through sneaky skepticism :)

Bylakuppe

Bylakuppe is a Tibetan settlement about 250 kms from Bangalore, off the road to Coorg. 

It’s like stepping into another land. Diksha sent a couple of pics from there to a friend and he’s like..'where bro…Bhutan or Nepal?' It’s really like that.

It’s a town mainly inhabited by Tibetans, with an estimated 7000 who’ve made it their home and you can feel the culture even beyond the temples and monasteries. And that was best experienced when we lost our way, which we did for a good one hour.

The living areas, the houses and the paths have these really colourful flags everywhere and they seemed to create a high energy aura around.

Onto the big temple, the Namdroling Nyingmapa Monastery. The sanctum sanctorium is this huge meditation hall, apparently the largest teaching center of the Nyingma lineage of Tibetan Buddhism in the world. Was so happy to hear that the Indian Government granted this forest land to the Tibetan exiles, and they've developed it into something of real significance. When I'd visited it in 1997, it was nothing like this. 

Entrance to the Namdroling Monastery

You step into the hall, and it's over whelming in more ways than one.  

It has three really imposing, 60 feet tall statues and meditation places for the monks. The statues are austere, but surrounding them is brilliantly colourful work of dragons and and other motifs in great detail.

Could feel the energy of the place even empty, and can only imagine what it must be like filled with the reverberations of Buddhist chanting and beats.

The walls again have very colourful and detailed murals depicting various emotional facets....anger, peace, love.....

A couple of beautiful frescos, but the windows were behind so that's the best I could get on my phone.

After we found the Golden temple and had our fill of it, we went back 10 kms searching for where we’d lost our way. We'd seen a local food joint, and guess it was just the draw of the natural charm of a novel landscape, especially with its colorful flags and maroon robed monks, so searched again....and this time not even knowing what we were searching for, but we eventually found it. Was divine lunch :)

A temple we found when we lost our way

Monks at the market place

Waiting for momos :)

Diksha getting a kingfisher on camera. She got some lovely shots but those are yet in the camera . Thankful for my phone :)

Now, that was brilliant diversion for sure. I'm so glad we left early that morning, as what was intended to be a one hour diversion turned out to be a five hour halt, and we were still within time of reaching Coorg before dark....though just about. It wasn't just about both of us travelling alone, but also because we'd been strictly warned to reach early because of the high risk of wild elephants that frequent the area after dark.

Coorg - The BerryLane Experience

An hour into our trip and Dikshas like….what kind of terrain do you like best ma? She loves the mountains she said. And I’m actually thinking…and I realized I just love being on the road, in the countryside…driving down..I’m most in my element there, like I feel I come to life on a different level. And doing a road trip.....with Diksha......brilliant space to be in. 

Anyways, onto the trip itself, Coorg is essentially coffee estate country and is simply simply beautiful. And we stayed in BerryLane, a home stay in one of the estates so it was authentic coffee estate experience. Even finding the place was an adventure, as we lost our way twice and what we thought would be like 3 kms beyond Madikeri was over 30 kms beyond. But what's a road trip without that element of adventure, huh?

                                     

                                     The driveway into Berrylane

       

                                                          

                                              Berry Lane - A beautiful house

 

Nice large well done up balcony of BerryLane

Lots of hours spent in complete silence. It's a place where stillness speaks. These places re-energize so wonderfully, that it does make me wonder what life would be like living there........why do special days and special experiences have to be one offs? I wondered......and I thought if we could just 'be ' and flow in that space of awareness, throw out the ifs and the buts, open our hearts out to the beyond......maybe you know. It’s like wanting a brilliant road trip, but not wanting the potholes or twists and turns….it's when we can embrace them into the beauty of the trip is when we can be on our way.... :)

                                                                   

 

          Behind the house

  

Diksha peering into a deep well in their backyard

                                  

                                          A deep and high evening :)
The picture reminds me of Goldilocks for some reason. Guess it's about balance, the right bit of everything. But I sometimes think balance gets in the way....it seems to bring with it a sense of holding back, not flowing....like assessing risk, avoiding potholes.......if diksha and I hadn't lost our way in Bylakuppe, we would have missed the best part of the Bylakuppe experience. Lesson there??

There are times even in existing relationships when you feel a distinct energy shift that takes it to different levels.... I felt that with our car this trip...there was some kind of a communion that happened, and while he's seven years old, he got christened only now.....he's Nandi. 

Cheers, to yet another great trip...thanks Diksha and Nandi !! 

And when we're saying bye to Berrylane.......Diksha's like.....we'll be back :)

Death Note

Who’d have thought I’d watch a full serial of Anime? Well I did, one full season of 25 episodes. I’m sure Diksha manipulated me into the first episode, but ten minutes in and I was pretty hooked, and I must admit it did make for some very interesting watching.

For those not familiar, Anime is a different genre of animation, essentially an exclusively Japanese art form with drawing and computer animations.

                           

Death Note, the serial itself is brilliant in plot; it’s dark and complex, more philosophical than mysterious, though it does have a mystery element to it. Highly logical, analytical and almost intellectual in approach, with two genius minds pitched against each other… but also working together.  A moral conundrum in terms of good bad, just unjust, friend enemy, love hate….lots of lines get blurred there.

The thinking and conceptualization is at times so complex that I had to pause and get Diksha to explain. It makes me feel these kids get to some very complex, nebulous and convoluted areas way quicker than we can, atleast I can. :)

Death note is a notebook that’s used by Shenigamis, the death gods; the name of the human written in this notebook shall die. 

The protagonist, Yagami Light is as perfect a hero as you could imagine--perfect grades, perfect record, perfect looks--in every facet, his image is squeaky clean.

This all ends one fateful day when the Shinigami known as Ryuk (very likeable monster) drops his Death Note out of the realm of the afterlife, into Light's schoolyard and Light stumbles across it. Thinking it a stupid prank initially, Light puts it to the test when saving an innocent woman from being assaulted. To his horror, it works. Could ridding the world of criminals be this easy? And there starts his journey to make the world a better place......get rid of all the bad guys.

Accompanying the Death Note is its original owner, the Shinigami Ryuk. Rather than being morally bound to Light or serving as a conscience or guide, Ryuk hangs around simply to be a spectator--proclaiming humans to be "interesting."

Pitched against Light, is L, a really interesting and alluring character, super intelligent, very insightful, who figures that Light is Kira, the killer using the book, but can't prove it and then chooses to work with him to find Kira. Ingenious stuff. A worthy watch if you’re game to try new genres.

Push Past Negatives

A small anecdote with a clear lesson:

I'm planning a road trip to Coorg with Diksha. My cousin Amit, recommends a home stay and he's been to Coorg enough number of times for me to blindly accept his recommendation.

I check the place online. It looks good. I run it past Diksha and she likes it too.

I feed in my dates and the pop out was 'SOLD OUT'.

Initial disappointment. Could I look for others? Sure, I could, but this was a known good.
I decide to call the place. Mr.Uthappa answers and says, "sorry we're sold out".

I'm like......'Oh, I actually saw that on your site, but thought I'd check anyways ...... sad...your place came strongly recommended, and I was keen'.

He hesitates....he's then, "when did you say you were coming?"  I give him the dates and he's like...."do you want a standard room or a deluxe?"

:) :) :)

Looking past the initial negative got me to a sure positive !!

'If 50 million people say something foolish, it is still foolish':

Another cognitive error from the Heuristics and Biases....... I of course, had an additional bias as this is a line from Somerset Maugham :)

Social Proof

In the middle of the concert, when the soloist is displaying absolute mastery, someone begins to clap and suddenly the whole room joins in. You do, too.  After the concert, at the door you watch how the people in front of you place a coin on a plate.  You probably leave a tip as well. Why? Social proof.

Social proof  dictates that individuals feel they are behaving correctly when they act the same as other people. In other words, the more people who follow a certain idea, the truer we deem the idea to be. And the more people who display a certain behaviour the more appropriate this behaviour is judged to be by others.

This is, of course, absurd.

A simple experiment carried out in the 1950s by legendary psychologist Solomon Asch shows how peer pressure can warp common sense. A subject is shown a line drawn on paper, and next to it three lines – numbered 1, 2 and 3 – one shorter, one longer and one of the same length as the original one. He or she must indicate which of the three lines corresponds to the original one. If the person is alone in the room, he gives correct answers – unsurprising, because the task is really quite simple. Now five other people enter the room; they are all actors, which the subject does not know. One after another, they give wrong answers, saying ‘number 1’, although it’s very clear that number 3 is the correct answer. Then it is the subject’s turn again. In one third of cases, he will answer incorrectly to match the other people’s responses.

Why do we act like this? Well, in the past, following others was a good survival strategy. Suppose that 50,000 years ago, you were travelling around the Serengeti with your hunter-gatherer friends, and suddenly they all bolted. What would you have done?  You would have sprinted after your friends. 

Those who acted differently from the group – and I am sure there were some – exited the gene pool. We are the direct descendants of those who copied others’ behaviour. This pattern is so deeply rooted in us that we still use it today, even when it offers no survival advantage, which is most of the time. 

Social proof is the evil behind bubbles and stock market panic. It exists in fashion, management techniques, hobbies, religion and diets. It can paralyse whole cultures.

Remember novelist Somerset Maugham’s wise words: ‘If 50 million people say something foolish, it is still foolish.’

Why You Shouldn't Read The News

News Illusion - Are we learning what we need to know

I've stopped reading newspapers. It's yet an experiment I've been doing on myself.... I still haven't gotten down to stopping the subscription.....and I guess that's because it's a such an instilled habit, that I'm yet to make peace with it. Over the last five months I must have read the paper less than five days, yet I dutifully pick it up every morning, keep it on the coffee table for the day and put it away unopened every evening  :)

The few times I actually picked it up, what I've invariably found is that ten minutes with the paper, and there's definitely negativity creeping in. Sure you can stay immune at a personal level, it's not about getting emotionally impacted; but just that scam and terror and rape are not the pleasantest of things to start your day with ( nor end your day too if you ask me). And it's not just about negative, but pretty much purposeless too.  And as I'd originally decided, there's no way I've been able to reach Op-Ed (I'm not much into sports) without glancing through other pages.

It also tells me how some habits are just so hard to breach.

People have told me I'm being an ostrich, you know, hiding it's head in the sand to avoid reality kinds. But I don't think so. What really is that piece of disturbing or dramatic information doing to me?  And what's worse, it multiplies.....we find that news becomes discussion points. 'Gang rape in Delhi again', I read this as I took the paper off the rack the other day when we were stepping out for a walk early in the morning, and because I was with a friend, we spoke about it. Negativity multiplied. In us and thus in the world.

It's not just journalists sensationalizing stuff....it's even us....news is the easiest topic to make pc (polite conversation) on...especially the ones that scandalize or shock.

So reading this from Rolf Dobelli totally resonated with me.

Earthquake in Sumatra. Plane crash in Russia. Man holds daughter captive in cellar for thirty years. Heidi Klum separates from Seal. Record salaries at Bank of America. Attack in Pakistan. Resignation of Mali’s president. New world record in shot-put.

Do you really need to know all these things?

We are incredibly well informed yet we know incredibly little. Why? Because two centuries ago, we invented a toxic form of knowledge called ‘news’. News is to the mind what sugar is to the body: appetising, easy to digest – and highly destructive in the long run.

Three years ago, I began an experiment. I stopped reading and listening to the news. I cancelled all newspaper and magazine subscriptions. Television and radio were disposed of. I deleted the news apps from my iPhone. I didn’t touch a single free newspaper and deliberately looked the other way when someone on a plane tried to offer me any such reading material. The first weeks were hard. Very hard. I was constantly afraid of missing something. But after a while, I had a new outlook. The result after three years: clearer thoughts, more valuable insights, better decisions, and much more time. And the best thing? I haven’t missed anything important. My social network – not Facebook, the one that exists in the real world consisting of flesh-and-blood friends and acquaintances – works as a news filter and keeps me in the loop.

A dozen reasons exist to give news a wide berth. Here are the top three. 

First, our brains react disproportionately to different types of information. Scandalous, shocking, people-based, loud, fast-changing details all stimulate us, whereas abstract, complex and unprocessed information sedates us. News producers capitalise on this. Gripping stories, garish images and sensational ‘facts’ capture our attention. As a result of news consumption, we walk around with a distorted mental map of the risks and threats we actually face.

Second, news is irrelevant. In the past twelve months, you have probably consumed about 10,000 news snippets – perhaps as many as thirty per day. Be very honest: name one of them, just one, that helped you make a better decision – for your life, your career or your business – compared with not having this piece of news. No one I have asked has been able to name more than two useful news stories – out of 10,000. A miserable result. 

Third, news is a waste of time. An average human being squanders half a day each week on reading about too much irrelevant stuff..

Kick the habit – completely. Instead, read long background articles and books. Yes, nothing beats books for understanding the world.

At the cost of repetition...... reading and writing what's relevant to you allows for clearer thoughts, more valuable insights and better decision making. Get rid of the clutter and get in things by Choice. Yep, one favourite word for sure :)

Jagriti Yatra

This is what the Jagriti Yatra site portrays.

Jagriti Yatra is a 15-day long, national train journey that takes you 8000 kilometers across the length and breadth of India, to understand and build the India of smaller towns and villages through enterprise.  As the name suggests, its a journey of social awakening.

I got to meet one of the yatris yesterday, Bhushan, who has recently joined SELCO. He is an engineering student from Hyderabad, who after engineering realized that the social sector was where he wanted to be, and then shifted to Development Studies at the Azim Premji University.  And he was talking about what a transformational experience the yatra was.

It's a program that's now been on for six years; an annual train journey that takes highly motivated young Indians and a few from outside India as well, between the ages of 20 and 27, on an 18 day national odyssey. An exclusive 18 bogie train that takes 450 young men and women selected out of a pool of thousands of applications, to meet with and learn from exceptional entrepreneurs who are developing innovative solutions to India's challenges. It is focused on the adaptation and replication of successful enterprise models across Middle India. The enterprises they visit are like Joe Madith of Gram Vikas, Dr. Aravind of Aravind Eye Hospital, Anshu of Goonj, Kiran Mazumdar of Biocon and also Harish Hande from Selco. 

Here's the path the train takes:

The 450 yatris literally live on the train for the duration of journey and the conversion ratio into entrepreneurs is 16% and 47% of these have been started in small towns and villages .....amazing numbers !!

The concept has as its center the belief that enterprise with a focus on the problems and solutions of the “middle India” of 500 million people earning Rs.100 to 200 a day, is the need of the hour.

A yatri said: 'Whether or not I have been successful, whether or not I got the best of this opportunity I don’t really know but more important is that after the 18 days on train, I am able to ask more questions' ..a true awakening.

And I was so happy to read...Google is their main sponsor. It's said..once a googler ...always a googler, true I guess :).  Coca Cola, Rolls Royce and The Indian Express are the Co Sponsors.

A picture of energy, comradeship and joy there !

7 Most Breathtaking Train Journeys in India

This is from Holiday IQ

Travelling by train has its own charm. The joy of peering out the window, lost in thoughts and witnessing the changing landscape.....living poetry

I've done the first one, Kalka to Shimla, and it's truly amazing. With my fascination for trains, when I was planning a trip to Australia, I actually picked Brisbane just as it claimed the best train journey in the world, but trust me , that was not a patch on the Himalayan Queen from Kalka to Shimla. :)

I've actually done this one twice, once when twenty and then twenty years later, but whats brilliant is that it still held the same rustic archaic beautiful experience. The first time was a day trip and the second time at night. And each was differently amazing. The one at night was like floating through the stars, like out of a Roald Dahl book. The lights of the villages on the hills which are around you through the ride, look like sparkling stars and the air is so clear that its like seeing a different level of sparkle, like being on dope if you know what I mean :) 

Now the first time had a different and not so pleasant kind of adventure to it, one you'd rather forget. There was an accident.... a car fell off the road above and landed right on the track before the train. I initially loved being stranded there amongst the hills for two hours and there was a dhabha just out with a swing, and it was lovely...... until I got back in the bogie and saw that they'd put the body of the driver into our bogie. Travel is adventure I guess, whatever kind.

Now, this does look like a nice place to pick atleast one or more TBDs ( To be done's) or to add to the Bucket List as its easier understood, what say? Anyone game? ;)

1. Kalka to Shimla

Source: msn.com

Set in the backdrop of the Shivaliks, the route between Kalka and Shimla is one of the most picturesque in India. The train passes through more than 100 tunnels and 850 bridges. The train inches along the tracks built over bridges, which resembles art galleries of ancient Rome.

2. Mettupalyam to Ooty

Source: digest18.com

The Nilgiri Mountain Railway connects Mettupalyam to Ooty, which is located at 7228 ft. Running at the speed of 10.5 km/hour, the train passes through many tunnels and bridges, offering wonderful viewsof the green hills, tea estates and tall girder bridges. HolidayIQ Traveller Priyam says, “The train stops at many stations, each one more beautiful and quaint than the other. You can buy snacks at almost all stations but tea served at Coonoor is a must!”

3. Mandapam to Rameshwaram

Source: blogspot.com

Rameshwaram located on Pamban Island is connected to Mandapan via the Pamban Bridge. The train ride across the Pamban Bridge provides a beautiful view of the Palk Strait. HolidayIQ Traveller Pradeep says, “Don't miss the Pamban Bridge view from the train. Those who love photography will love it and must get some good clicks of the bridge.”

4. Goa to Mumbai

Source: waytoindia.com

Nestled between the Sahyadris and the Arabian Sea, Konkan Railway operates trains between Margoa to Mumbai. Trains pass through many tunnels and over 2000 river bridges. Sarbajit Ghosh, a HolidayIQ Traveller says, “The train passes through more than 100 tunnels, each time opening up to new scenery. I will rate this journey as one of my best ever.”

5. Neral to Matheran

Source: indiamarks.com

The Matheran Hill Railway is the only heritage train in Maharashtra. The narrow gauge rail route between Neral and Matheran goes through forests and offers panoramic views. The train covers a distance of 20 km in one-and-a-half hours. HolidayIQ Traveller Vinish says, “The train covers a distance of 12 miles in an hour thereby allowing the passengers ample of time to soak in the scenic views.”

6. Jaipur to Jaisalmer

Source: blogspot.com

The Desert Queen rail route between Jaipur and Jaisalmer passes through the Thar Desert of Rajasthan offeringviews of sand dunes and desert wildlife. HolidayIQ Traveller Jasvir Singh says that the view of sand dunes from the window is very beautiful. 

7. New Jalpaiguri to Darjeeling

Source: odysseytravels.net

The oldest mountain railway in India, Darjeeling Himalayan Railway offers stunning views of the mountains including the Kanchenjunga. The highlight of the route is the natural loops the train passes through; the most famous being the Batasia Loop. HolidayIQ Traveller Megha says, “The train takes a very long time to cover the distance but the splendid views it offers makes it worth it. It is a once in a lifetime experience.”

Heuristics and Biases

Apparently we are all victims of a lot of heuristics and biases that we pick up by default as we grow, call them patterns in thought or conditioning.

These patterns create space for cognitive error....…deviation from logic, from optimal, rational, reasonable thought and behavior. They look like almost routine mistakes we make, but which are so ingrained that we don't see them for the error they are.

For example, it is much more common that we overestimate our knowledge than that we underestimate it. Similarly, the danger of losing something stimulates us much more than the prospect of making a similar gain. In the presence of other people we tend to adjust our behaviour to theirs, not the opposite. Anecdotes make us overlook the statistical distribution behind it, not the other way round.

The errors we make follow the same pattern over and over again, piling up in one specific, predictable corner like dirty laundry.

Will awareness of the biases help? Let's not expect to get more rational....but maybe we can get less irrational ? :)

Rolf Dobelli has actually made a list of these cognitive errors and it made for fascinating reading; he says some of these errors we have known for centuries and some have been discovered only in the last few years.

Here's one I liked:

The Confirmation Bias

The confirmation bias is the tendency to interpret new information so that it becomes compatible with our existing theories, beliefs and convictions. In other words, we filter out any new information that contradicts our existing views. This is a dangerous practice.  As super-investor Warren Buffett says: ‘What the human being is best at doing, is interpreting all new information so that their prior conclusions remain intact.’

Whether you go through life believing that ‘people are inherently good’ or ‘people are inherently bad’, you will find daily proof to support your case. Both parties, the philanthropists and the misanthropes, simply filter disconfirming evidence and focus instead on the do-gooders and dictators who support their worldviews.

An example from business journalism: ‘Google is so successful because the company nurtures a culture of creativity.’ Once this idea is on paper, the journalist corroborates it by mentioning a few other prosperous companies that foster ingenuity. Rarely does the writer seek out disconfirming evidence, which in this instance would be struggling businesses that live and breathe creativity or, conversely, flourishing firms that are utterly uncreative. Both groups have plenty of members, but the journalist simply ignores them. If he or she were to mention just one, the storyline would be ruined.

In conclusion: nothing is more convincing than your own beliefs. We believe that introspection unearths genuine self-knowledge. Unfortunately, introspection is, in large part, fabrication posing two dangers: first, the introspection illusion creates inaccurate predictions of future mental states. Trust your internal observations too much and too long, and you might be in for a very rude awakening. Second, we believe that our introspections are more reliable than those of others, which creates an illusion of superiority. Remedy: be all the more critical with yourself. Regard your internal observations with the same scepticism as claims from some random person. Become your own toughest critic.

To fight against the confirmation bias, try writing down your beliefs – whether in terms of worldview,  marriage, healthcare, career strategies – and set out to find disconfirming evidence. Axeing beliefs that feel like old friends is hard work, but maybe imperative.

The Razor's Edge - Somerset Maugham

Reading The Razor’s Edge was an unparalleled experience.

It’s amazing how insightful and intelligent his writing is. There’s an underlying layer of deep clarity which seemed to so naturally have so many answers. I was almost envious at the ease with which he seemed to be able to see right into people; understand them, understand what makes different kind of people tick..... what works for each and what doesn't,....and then, seek out what he connects with, support what he likes even if he cannot connect with it, and stay away from what he doesn't connect with. 

It’s a story of a mans’ search for meaning, the protagonist,  who refuses to fall in line with what is expected of him, his courage to give up all things that matter to people, his journey and search, and how he ultimately reaches India, finds a guru...and then has an experience of awakening on a mountain ....on his birthday ( apparently Ramana Maharishi who Maughum himself spent a good deal of time with) .

While the underlying theme is the search for meaning, it's set in aristocratic Paris and England of the early 1900s  through the first and second world wars. It gives you an insight into the lives and times of the British Aristocracy as also the economic crash of America in the twenties.....it's all about money and status and society and image.  An unusual backdrop, but it so well brings out the contrasts of what gives meaning to different lives.

Maugham himself says of his book:

"The man I am writing about is not famous. It may be that he never will be. It may be that when his life at last comes to an end he will leave no more trace of his sojourn on earth than a stone thrown into a river leaves on the surface of the water. But it may be that the way of life that he has chosen for himself and the peculiar strength and sweetness of his character may have an ever-growing influence over his fellow men so that, long after his death perhaps, it may be realized that there lived in this age a very remarkable creature."

While being insightful and honest to an extreme, his writing is far from simple...it's in fact almost lyrical, especially in its use of analogy; 

A line I really really liked where the protagonist is telling of his experience reading Spinoza…’I don’t suppose I understood very much of it yet, but it fills me with exultation. It’s like landing from your plane on a great plateau in the mountains. Solitude and an air so pure that it goes to your head like wine and you feel like a million dollars’. 

I'd say I felt just that reading Maughum.  

While I’ve always had difficulty when people ask me questions on favourite books and favourite movies, I’d without hesitation put this into my favorite books. In fact half way through the book, I wanted to start reading all over again just to enjoy the beauty of the experience, as I was letting it seep through my soul, which is what it actually did.

While Herman Hesse and Paulo Coelho are more abstract and philosophical, I found a lot more depth in Maugham. 

Swaroop, I'm so glad for that day when we walked into that store of old books, and you bought me this parchment looking book. Huge Thanks !!

The Present Moment

The present moment: It's all in the here and the now. It’s almost paradoxical how, this, is at once the simplest and the most complex. It’s simple because it’s a super sensible and rational concept. Every moment is the present, so can we focus all our energies on the here and now; no brainer, right? Complex because, by the very nature of our being…… existing in a framework of time, with full awareness of a beginning and an end, the present carries within it all the moments of the past and the need of the future.

When Ekhart Tolle says, I’ve spent a lot of time with great Zen masters….. all of them cats; he’s essentially talking of their ability to be in the present. And in that context he says there’s so much to learn from every flower or tree or animal. 

But then, the human is said to be the highest in the process of evolution; It takes a tree, a flower, a cat, thousands, no millions of lives to reach human. In the process what we've earned is a mind, a mind whose essence is to think, to reason…… so it’s the cat and the flower in terms of presence, but as human, its getting there and being there by choice. A present by choice.

Meditation is not about shutting off thought. It’s not just about quieting the mind. 

It’s about knowing yourself...getting to that heightened degree of self awareness, from the within and the without.

It’s not for nothing that people call it ‘the monkey mind’. There’s so much chatter there, so much drama that arises out of the humdrum of life, from the baggage of the past and the want or fear of the future. It’s about quieting the unnecessary chatter.... getting to a quiet space.....a space which allows awareness.

                                               

Here Ekhart Tolle quotes a nice little story on ability to get rid of the chatter. 

When two ducks get into a fight, which never lasts long, they will separate and float off in opposite directions. Then each duck will flap its wings vigorously a few times, thus releasing the surplus energy that built up during the flight. After they flap their wings, they float on peacefully, as if nothing had ever happened.

If the duck had a human mind, it would keep the fight alive by thinking, by story making. This would probably be the duck's story: '" I don't believe what he just did. He thinks he owns this pond. He has no consideration for my private space. I'd better be careful around him going forward. I can never trust him again'. And on and on the mind spins its tales, still thinking and talking about it, for days, sometimes months and sometimes even years. As far as the body is concerned, the fight is still continuing, and the energy it generates in response to all those thoughts is emotion, which in turn generates more thinking. This becomes the emotional thinking of the ego. This is how humans live all the time. No situation or event is ever really finished. 

Our ducks lesson is this: Flap your wings......let go of the story....and return to the only place of power....... the present moment.

More from Bijapur

While Gol Gumbaaz stands out for its sheer size and acoustics, Bijapur also has some other really impressive monuments that tend to get overshadowed because of the uniqueness of Gol Gumbaaz, but which by themselves are also worth seeing.

Ibrahim Rouza

Ibrahim Rouza is the tomb of Adil Shah Ibrahim II, and is known as the Taj of the Deccan. It reminded me of the Spanish Mosque that we have in Hyderabad, one of my favorite structures in Hyd. It's just so neat in proportion and design, that its a treat to the eye.  In fact it is said to have been the inspiration for the Taj.

Uppali Buruz

This was a weird structure and caught attention more for its size and total lack of decoration which was so uncharacteristic of those times. Apparently a watch tower. After Gol Gumbaaz, there was no way I was climbing this one, though it looked fairly straightforward in comparison :)

Afzal Khan's wives cenotaph

Afzal Khan was the General in the Sultans army, and when he was to lead his army into battle against Chatrapati Shivaji, an astrologer had predicted that he would not return. So before he went, he killed all sixty of his wives and these are the tombs of some of his wives. The others have small graves spread over the area where the killing happened. Apparently one of his wives, Khatija Begum ran away to a nearby village, but he chased her there and pushed her into a well. The village is now called Khatijapur 

Fort Wall

Bijapur was an extremely well defended and powerful kingdom of the times. The fort wall ran around the entire city. In fact Adil Shah is the dynasty which is said to have destroyed Hampi of the Vijayanagar Empire.

Baara Khamaan

An intriguing and unfinished structure. There's one story that states that it was planned as a structure to overshadow the Gol Gumbaaz and Adil Shah had his son killed so it wouldn't be completed. 

Gagan Mahal

The ruins of a palace and auditorium of sorts. Story goes that it was built for Rambha, a srilankan dancer, who later became mistress of Adil Shah. It's grandeur can be felt in its sheer size, and it's also very picturesque with a moat running around it and a lake at the back.

Manjunath at the moat

He felt it would take a week to do justice to what Bijapur has to offer, and I tend to agree. There's so much more I didn't see...two days for sure.

                                              Tongas are still commonly used in Bijapur.

The Archeological Survey of India is doing a really good job at Bijapur. All the monuments are well protected with nicely maintained gardens around, and clean.

Manjunath, thanks a ton for taking me around to all these places. Without you, I'd likely have done only Gol Gumbaaz, and maybe even that only from the outside :)

Sujata's Works of Art

This is a painting done by a close friend, Sujatha, and has a place of prominence in my house. And there's almost no one who walks into my house who doesn't have a comment on it; and this inspite of my having some other real large paintings on my walls too. It competes with panache :)

A visit to her house at Hubli..... and a couple of paintings she'd done way back in college caught my attention.

Old school paintings, but I still love these for their level of detail, and beauty, but apparently I know little about art :)

She's been painting for a long while now, self taught, and with several exhibitions to her credit as well. From these paintings....... through to the one on my wall, clearly brings out her shift from realism to abstract, the fusion abstract, which is the acceptable art form of today. 

Apparently, abstract art came into existence with the invention of the camera, somewhere in the early nineteen hundreds. It's like cameras could capture realism so painting had to be about something internal to the artists mind and so came about abstract and it was initially totally abstract, like totally lacking a subject.

The newer trend  (thankfully for the likes of me)  have subjects. but in abstract form; its a fusion of realism and the abstract, like the ones she does now.

Here are some of her paintings:

That's a Radha Krishna theme. it's one of her hall mark styles,  and the style is now recognized as hers in some art circles.

This is an under water series she'd done

This is another version of Radha Krishna, the third one of which is the one at my place

I find the Buddha almost surreal.  

If anyone's interested in picking up her pieces or even wanting to get one done, let me know...... I'm happy to do my bit promoting her art. I've always thought her paintings had a natural depth. 

Proud of you Sujata Pawar !