Down nostalgia lane

A meet up with a friend and colleague from twenty years back.

When Aditi called and said "Hey, I've just landed in Hyd, I have one evening free, can we catch up?". While I had visitors at home, and a whole bunch of things lined up, I heard myself saying "yes, we definitely could".

And we did....... and what's more, at one of my favouritest places.....JNIDB

It was a journey down nostalgia lane, in more ways than one. One was recalling some amazing stories from working together as a team, one that broke records at work, all of twenty years back. It's rarely that you'll get paired with someone who will match you wavelength by wavelength, be it in thought, energy, innovation, process, commitment.....and we just had all of that going for us. 

I remember being called the 'live wire team'. While I moved out of IDBI a long while back, she's stayed and grown, rung by rung, and is now Chief General Manager. It made me just so proud to see her there, rubbing shoulders with the EDs and CGMs. So so deserved. 

While our six years together was in Bangalore, another connect we discovered we both had is with JNIDB itself.  She was involved with it's creation on paper at Head Office, while I was involved with it's creation and and starting process here in Hyderabad. And we both have an equally strong attachment with it . 

It could be that which inspired us to walk around the campus, in the quiet of the evening, catching up with so many stories. And her saying "if ever IDBI sells JNIDB, I will resign". That's a whole different level of identification...such an emotionally intense statement, that it endeared me to her enough to create a forever moment.

Apart from the work angle, I have another nice story. Inspired by the architecture (it's a Charles Correa creation), and the widespread grounds, I'd told the then CGM that it would be lovely to have geese walking around the campus, and he'd said " if you can bring them, I'll keep them".

A casual thought that got fulfilled. One Sunday, I went to Charminar, bought six geese and drove them in the back seat of my car all the way to JNIDB. It's so deeply touching to see that they still have geese, though the ED now was quick to tell me "these are new, they may not be the ones you bought" :)

The driveway in

We did a lot of walking around, and came in for some chai and pakodas in between

A quadrangle within, where we've spent many a night singing and talking into early hours of the morning

In the room, Aditi was sweet enough to pose for me

Another picture

The geese pen

This was an absolute coup. I googled JNIDB to see if I'd get some other pictures of it's architecture, and was so blown to find this picture, one of the very few group pictures there........one from 1991, and with me in it (third from left)

@Aditi, is that you in green, not sure as this would be years before I'd known you....but if yes, this would be a mind blowing coincidence

Aditi, it was so wonderful meeting and catching up, and to your caption in the picture you sent saying "thanks for coming, I will treasure these moments", an absolute ditto ......so glad I came, and will treasure those moments as much, and more.

What's in a word

"What's in a name".............Shakespeare would have us be nicely poetic and idealistic.

We now know that's way more contextual than what we'd like to believe. Studies have evidenced that  'words' do influence our thoughts, and the meaning we make out of the situation, person, event etc

A small instance of how this works:

I have some flowers and plants in the house, and they've evoked reactions interesting enough to tell a story.....

"so pretty.....fake hai? artificial kyon re?"

"you gave artificial flowers for his birthday?" (one of those bunches was a gift for dad)

"are those real"? (some are). Which ones are real? it would be so pretty if they were all real"

Just in the use of the words 'artificial' 'synthetic' and 'fake', there's this feeling of belittling, of being imposter, of letting down. So much nuances.

It helps to ask the 'Why'? Why have them? What is the objective?

Is the idea to pass them off as real? or is it to add prettiness?

And lo and behold ! you have your answer and you love them a little more :)

In this context there's a quote of  Jean-Luc Godard which says it beautifully : 

“It’s not where you take things from - it’s where you take them to."

A Little Refresher

This is excerpts of something simple and sweet, that came into my inbox this morning......

None of it may be new, in some form or the other, we've read, been told.....but one thing I learnt from my Google days "repetition doesn't spoil the prayer".

It's as good as that refreshing cup of coffee each morning, definitely beats the newspaper :)

5 “Notes to Self” About the Precious Little Time You Have Left

WRITTEN by MARC CHERNOFF 

1. Your entire life can be customized from day to day.

There are hundreds of people in every town on Earth who live their entire lives on the default settings, never realizing they can customize everything. Don’t be one of them. Don’t settle for the default settings in life.

The life you create from doing something that moves and excites you is far better than the life you get from sitting around wishing you were doing it.

2. The willingness to do hard things makes life worth living.

Truth be told, one of the most important abilities you can develop in life is the willingness to accept and grow through life’s challenges and discomforts. Because the best things are often hard to come by, and if you shy away from hard work and discomfort, you’ll miss out on them entirely. 

3. Opportunity is only ever found in the present.

Some people wait all day for 5pm, all week for Friday, all year for the holidays, all their lives for happiness and peace. Don’t be one of them. The secret to happiness and peace is letting this moment be what it is, instead of what you think it should be.

4. Daily kindness is a beautiful legacy to leave behind.

Through kindness you have the ability to make a profound difference in every life you touch, including your own.  So just keep reminding yourself that you will end up terribly disappointed if you expect people will always do for you as you do for them.  

5. Everything will change again, faster and sooner than expected.

Nothing lasts. Everything changes. Day to day is a winding journey.

As human beings we are constantly outgrowing what we once thought we couldn’t live without, and falling in love with what we didn’t even know we wanted. Life literally keeps leading us on journeys we would never go on if it were up to us. Don’t be afraid. Find the lessons. Trust the journey.

To a greater or lesser extent, we all know deep down that life is short, and that our mortality—our inevitable demise—will catch up to each and every one of us eventually. And yet we are infinitely surprised when it catches up to somebody we know. 

It’s like walking up a long flight of stairs with a distracted mind and miscalculating the final step. You expected there to be one more stair than there is, but there isn’t, and so you find yourself off balance, tripping over yourself for a while, until your mind shifts back to the present moment and the reality of how life really is.

Let’s take a deep breath right now and take this to heart.

Bucket List

My first Marathi movie without subtitles, so an additional interesting experience.

As surface level, a journey of finding identity and self.....and at a deeper level, exploring the invisible and subtle connection and bond between the living and the dead, an organ recipient and a donor. 

Madhura (Madhuri Dixit) a middle aged housewife, whose life revolves around taking care of her family, is the recipient of a heart transplant, and while her family is joyous....she finds herself ruminating on what the emotions in the donors family might be. 

Her thoughts take her not just to the doorstep of the family, but to completing the bucket list of her twenty year old heart donor. Through learning to ride an Enfield, kissing a boyfriend in public, learning to wolf whistle and more.......... and how through the process she goes from being wife, daughter, mother, daughter in law, to becoming Madhura. 

And in process endears herself into her donors circle, and enables closure for the girl's twin brother, parents (Renuka Sahane and Phatak) and friends. 

While there are several facets of the film you feel could have been better, Madhuri Dixit carries  the film pretty much on her own, and enables a simple and heart warming watch.

@Surekha, thanks for getting me to watch, especially for saying "chuck the subtitles, you'll follow the Marathi" 

Another Second Hand Book Bazaar Visit

This visit to the book bazaar happened on a perfectly timed impulse.

Sunday morning, Swaroop and I are chatting up over our second cup of coffee. He's talking of Yuvah Noval Harari, and asking if I've read him, ....and says "you keep quoting Bill Bryson, if Bill Bryson does it casually and with humour, this guy does it seriously....you should definitely read him, start with 'Sapiens'....I think you'll love it". 

It suddenly occurred that this was a Sunday morning..... just perfect. Within a couple of hours, we were at Abids.

What completed the circle of perfectly timed was that I actually found a copy of the 'Sapiens' on that footpath, for a hundred bucks :)

Walking around, looking at book titles, known and not known, picking up random books, sharing experiences when paths cross......always an enriching and interesting experience.

In pictures:

Praveen picking up stuff

Swaroop, picking up stuff

Rafeez......I had to get him in picture. I ask if he has 'games people play', and he's like "Eric Berne ka madam? I was so blown 

  

I actually picked up a ten rupee book, a Victoria Holt who was one of my favourites during school

I'm saying "It's quite hot isn't it?" ....I'm fully ignored. And then Swaroop replies after like six minutes, so engrossed that it took that long for him to even register my question :). So off I went by myself for a bathai juice respite.

Two cute little kids who were quite happily waiting as their father browsed books

Swaroop and me

 This parking lot always amazes me, just to have such a massive empty site in the middle of abids.

Back home , Swaroop with his chilled beer, made more enjoyable after the visit. It looks like he's actually reading a synopsis on the floor :) 

Our haul for the day, Praveen's, Swaroops and Mine. Was fun to go through back home, as we each didn't know what the other had bought.

An interesting titbit...... Swaroop recalling that his first ever book was what I'd bought him in his 9th class.... 'The Other Side of Midnight' by Sidney Sheldon... and saying that's what had had set him off into reading. Felt so good, though beats me why I'd have anyone start with Sidney Sheldon, that too in school :)

Bohemian Rhapsody

The poster reads 'The only thing more extraordinary than their music is his story'.

A movie about the extraordinary life of Freddie Mercury.  One that scintillates ....through it's music, and a life that's been lived on over drive.

It's so quick, crisp and packed, that you just have to keep pace. We begin with seeing Freddie Mercury, born as Farrokh Bulsara to a conservative Parsi Indian family, working as a baggage handler at Heathrow airport..... so seemingly nonchalantly handling the racism and a father who wants him to get a regular job.

He self auditions to a band at a local pub, gets taken in, (all it takes is one listening to his voice at full sing), reforms the band, calls it Queen...... meets a girl, falls in love, gets married.....hits the popularity charts, tours Europe, tours America, discovers he's gay.......gets to their first big hit 'Bohemian Rhapsody', all in under 30 minutes. 

A couple of lines that caught my attention....

Freddie tells his girl friend: "being human is a condition that needs a little anesthesia" ( a line that Swaroop quickly wrote down in the theatre itself)

and another which Diksha drew my attention to (she's a fan....poster on wall kind of fan...and it was her third time watching within the week )

When a friend warns him that he's burning the candle at both ends, Freddie says "but the glow is divine". 

The movie has several goose bumpy moments, especially so when we see the process of some really well known numbers getting created. Like with Bohemian Rhapsody itself, which has the most vague lyrics. There's a moment of frustration when Roger, the drummer breaks off to say "wait, how many times are we going to say Galileo, and anyways, who the hell is Galileo". 

While Freddie has a meteoric rise to fame and stardom, the path is anything but smooth. There's the rift with the band when he decides to go solo, his getting manipulated by his manager and the blatantly maligning interview. His discovering his gay preference, his marriage falling apart, but a beautiful friendship with her that continues till he dies.  Then his getting the dreaded AIDS. 

As his life falls apart, lost to alcohol, drugs and men.....so does the band.

Yet, through his life, you know he has lived by choice, through arrogance and rebellion and humility. The scene where he's trying to get the band back together was neat, such an honest unconditional apology. Redemption seems so possible and real.

Nice was also seeing him in a happy and sensitive relationship with Jim Hutton.... so beautifully brought out in a scene before his parents, when he reaches out and holds Jim's hand. My teary eyed moment. 

The finale is when the band comes together again for the Live Aid concert, which some people will remember from 1985, the largest ever getting together of the best of singers and bands in aid of the famine in Ethiopia ( I recall watching it on TV). It was brilliantly re-orchestrated...including the foot tapping into which they drew in a 1.5 billion audience.....just for that concert the movie is worth watching on large screen. 

Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury was unbelievable, and so were many others but my post is already too long.

And there's so many of their songs, that even for me, who wasn't a big queen listener, there were so many that make you want to sing along..... and what's more, that's what they wanted I guess , with the lyrics at the base of the film, like in karaoke.

The songs in the film......Somebody to love, Crazy little thing called love, Fat bottomed girls, Radio Ga ga, Love of my Life, Another one bites the dust, I want to break free, We will rock you, We are the champions, Don't stop me now, and of course Bohemian Rhapsody.

I also couldn't get over the likeness they created to the original Queen:

If then I wasn't a big fan of Queen, I think I am now .....have been listening to them on you tube since  !!

Default Settings

From Seth

We know that the default settings determine behaviour....... the way it's set to act if we don't override it is often the way we act. Because often, we decide it's not worth the effort to change the setting today.

Which means that examining your settings now and then is worth the effort:

Don't speak unless asked vs. Don't keep quiet with a suggestion.

Look for the downsides vs. Look for the upsides.

Do the minimum vs. Do the maximum.

Don't ship until perfect vs. Ship and learn.

The benefit of the doubt vs. Skepticism.

Trusting vs. Wary.

Inquiry vs. Sarcasm.

Speed up vs. Slow down.

Generous vs. Selfish.

We all have defaults. Are yours helping you?

November 14th

As much perception, as fact, is the reality that for grandparents, grandchildren have grown up too quick.

Dad does reminiscense often about how nice it was when Dhruva and Diksha were little and they got to spend so much fun time together. Dad could play with the kids at any level, and for however long.

He would become Subbaiah the mechanic when dhruva would play with his cars….. enjoy Super Mario in full competition with Diksha…... be the geologist when it was dinosaur playtime. There’s been many a trip to the Zoo and Prime time and Yogi bear park when he’d just take off on the Vespa with both the children. 

I recall this time that we lived close to Kachiguda for a bit, when he would take Dhruva for a walk each evening. And where would they go? They’d apparently walk to the station, buy platform tickets, and go sit on one of the benches watching trains go by :)

Fast forward twenty years to now...recently when Diksha went to their place, dad was sitting in the balcony, and he pointed at the evening sky and said:

“which star is that?”

“Is it Sirius thatha ?” 

“Aah....that’s right….how did you know?”

“I learnt from you only no thatha”

Such wonderful moments….moments which let you know that time together is times indelible and forever.

Thoughts and feeling inspired from the day, November 14th….no, not children's day, way more significant to us…. dad’s birthday

And to add a couple of pictures from this evening when Praveen popped champagne for the b'day :)

Happy Birthday Daddy !!

The Early Hours

I'm not really into poetry, but this one, not just caught my eye.... guess it tugged somewhere deeper within, and that's why it's here.

Also as preface is Maria Papova's beautiful introduction :

“The most regretful people on earth,” Mary Oliver wrote in her beautiful reflection on the central commitment of the creative life, “are those who felt the call to creative work, who felt their own creative power restive and uprising, and gave to it neither power nor time.” 

There is something lovely about this notion of giving time — a generous counterpoint to our culture of taking time, snatching it from the river of being, with the fist of disciplined demand, only to see it slip through. The discipline of showing up is an absolutely necessary condition for all creative work, yes, but it is not a sufficient one. 

Sometimes — often — we show up, only to find nothing happens. Whatever it is we are showing up for — art, love — cannot be willed, cannot be wrested from the hour or the soul. We learn then that the work is the work, but the work is also the waiting — the exasperation, the surrender to despair, and the swell of joy on the other side of the surrender.

THE EARLY HOURS

by Adam Zagajewski

The early hours of morning; you still aren’t writing

(rather you aren’t even trying), you just read lazily.

Everything is idle, quiet, full, as if

it were a gift from the muse of sluggishness,

just as earlier, in childhood, on vacations, when a colored

map was slowly scrutinized before a trip, a map

promising so much, deep ponds in the forest

like glittering butterfly eyes, mountain meadows drowning

sharp grass;

or the moment before sleep, when no dreams have appeared,

but they whisper their approach from all parts of the world,

their march, their pilgrimage, their vigil at the sickbed

(grown sick of wakefulness), and the quickening among medieval

figures

compressed in endless stasis over the cathedral;

the early hours of morning silence

— you still aren’t writing,

you still understand so much.

Joy is close.

Flight of the Falcon

As I walked into the balcony with my morning cup of coffee, I saw this beautiful big falcon on the opposite terrace.

Something so penetrating and powerful about that look, I just had to set my cup down and go get my camera. Bonus was that soon as I got one picture, it took off.....likely it's sixth sense picking up my presence though I was trying to be discrete. 

Yet through the camera, almost by default I got pictures of the take off and flight.....inspiring that lofty sounding title :)

An experience that lifted the spirits...

Einstellung

Not as complex as it looks....it's phonetically pronounced.

Einstellung, is a term used in psychology, to talk of the tendency that people have to set their mind into a fixed approach to problem solving. We are okay to repeat known methods, and become blind to alternatives that might be simpler and more efficient.

It's how we fall into a pattern based on experience. 

Experimental studies have evidenced that we do not consider solutions when we think we already have one, even though it may not be accurate or optimal. 

So we may stay stuck in a pattern or not resolve an issue, if we don't actually innovate. 

This apparently presents itself across the board, and has been demonstrated in varying areas of expertise and skill sets. I've read studies done in medicine and chess....and evidence says, whether we know it or not, we all experience it.

Issue is not lack of knowledge, it's being on auto pilot.

With this even self awareness might not help, it's yet coming from our own mind see. It's then about going out there and getting that alternate perspective....being able to reach out, listen, have that open mind. 

How language shapes the way we think

Basic but interesting.

"Does language enable expression of what we already know, or does language enable you to create what you know...to alter your thinking, and so your world" .

This is something that has always fascinated me. I do believe our concepts crystallize and expand as we articulate, and to that extent language alters thinking.

It's a much debated subject, and there are theories both sides.  The movie 'arrival', took it to a whole new level, showing how learning the language altered her very conceptualization and grasp of time. She had access to time as the fourth dimension. Sci-Fi yes.

This is real, at a basic experimental level. It's what psychology does, make theory a science, so, interesting for sure. 

Dhruva's Film 'The End' Wins Best Original Soundtrack

At the Final competition of CinemadaMare, Italy.

End of the 3 months of touring in 12 Italian cities, they had the main competition of CinemadaMare film festival, and it was such a joy to see Sagar Saha, for Dhruva's film, The End, get 'Best Original Soundtrack'.

Dhruva shot a short clip of the film screening at Venice

Why it's especially exciting is because I remember those days when Dhruva was making the film, so engrossed that we hardly got to see much of him..... we had no idea when he was sleeping, when he was eating...nothing, he was in another zone. 

It was taking longer than he had planned, and the final jury (final exams) was fast approaching, and the music score was yet pending as he had to go back to Pune to get it going.

I could sense his stress levels going up as time went by. So many movies I've watched with him he'll draw my attention to how it was the music that was determining the emotion felt... a lot of his listening would be movie sound tracks, so I knew just how much the music component meant to him. 

He said he knew what he wanted, and he believed that his friend Sagar, who is good at the key board, could compose it. In fact there was so little time towards the end that I asked if we could get anybody else in Hyderabad to help with music composition, and he was like "no amma, I know exactly what I want it to convey, and I know Sagar will get it when I tell him, only he can do it".

And he did, and how !

From the CinemadaMare site:

At the end of 3 months of touring ... and of competition, in 12 Italian cities, here is the result of the #MainCompetition of CinemadaMare 2018: - Best screenplay by Monika Maslowka and ArenManoukian, for the drama "The Maltese fighter", by Maltese director ArevManoukian; - best Editing to Fabrizio Franzini, for the film "Piccole italiane", by Letizia Lamartire; - Best photography to Giorgio Giannoccaro, for the drama "Il tract"; - best Original soundtrack to Sagar Saha, for the film "The end", by the Indian Dhruva Prasad Devara; - Best Actor Malcom Ellul, for the film "The Maltese fighter". In the photo, the jury presided over by Salvatore Verde

Congratulations Sagar and Dhruva. It's a wonderful achievement !!

In addition, the film got selected among other film festivals, at Mexico, Brazil, Italy, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Pune, and at a 'Film Festival for War Veterans' in the US, and also won "Best Short Animated Film' in Jaipur and Pune.

Dhruva, what I'm most proud of, even beyond your effort, commitment, and focus, is your belief in yourself, and in your film.......the belief and faith that enabled you to send it out to so many film festivals across the world. 

And this is not just a proud mother speaking, it's what I'd say to anyone who believed in themselves as you have. There's nothing more powerful. 

Congratulations Again !! 

Persistence vs. Consistent

From Seth

Persistence is sort of annoying.

Consistency, on the other hand, is the happy twin brother of persistence.

Consistent with your statements, consistent in the content you create, consistent in the way you chip away at the problem you’re seeking to solve.

Persistence can be selfish, but consistency is generous.

And the best thing is that you only have to make the choice to be consistent once. After that, it’s simply a matter of keeping your promise.

On Deepawali

Tradition can be beautiful......and certainly is on Deepawali.

The diyas, the sweets, the rangoli, the crackers, the family time, the food, the feel.....all good stuff. 

Especially the diyas, my favourite part....the little earthen deepaalu that one accumulates over years. Then atleast two new ones added each year...that's blind faith in moms word :)

I'll add the two, but I love my old ones.....ones I have since Dhruva and Diksha were little, and painted them pretty :)

The day sure brings a lot of joy and fun and smiles

A layer more is always nice, to add to the story and meaning. 

I was watching Sadguru talk on 'Why Narakasura's death is celebrated as Diwali?'. 

He starts with laughing 'we're celebrating the killing of a man' :)

The story he tells in a nutshell: Krishna slays Narakasura.....they are both one, part of the same consciousness, yet very different people. Krishna has chosen to live his goodness and strengths, while Narakasura, has lived a life of evil. And when slain by Krishna says 'you have not killed me today, you killed my limitations'.  And this is what we celebrate today, the slaying of evil.

He ends with 'why wait till we die to look at our limitations'.

Thought it was a nice thought to remember when lighting our lamps today.... maybe look within to find that one limitation you want changed, or that one strength you want enhanced. Light it out.

Have a Dazzling Diwali !!!

An Arty Experience

It's what comes with having an artist for friend :)

Sujata was visiting, and in the middle of conversation says "chal art galleries ghumke athe hain", and as faithful friend I go along. I must admit that all my art exposure is happily inspired and thanks to her.

Kalakrithi Art Gallery, is literally down my road, I must have passed it a million times, but the thought to go in had never even occurred. 

While we started thinking we'll visit two, Kalakrithi itself was so engaging  that it took over our entire allotted time, and could have easily taken more. The ambience, the vibe, the quiet energy, the feel.....and then you see how each piece of art adds in to create it.

And what's more, we chanced upon the well known artist Vaikuntam there, who'd come to visit as well. We got to talk enough to hear a lot of his story and how while he's always been painting, it was a visit to his native place in Karimnagar that finally inspired him to his niche art that shot him to fame ( he does these typical rural telangana women, something raw and powerful there). Was a fascinating half hour with him.

It's in three zones:

one, a cafe with so much art everywhere, that I didn't realize until we were leaving that it actually served food

two, the actual art exhibition which is currently displaying artist K G Subramanyam (Vaikuntams teacher he said)

three, a 'concept and design store' called Creatif, which opened just a couple weeks back. It's a whole different experience again, like I was telling those girls, it was like walking through a museum, rather than a store.

Rest in pictures:

The entrance which has some pretty sculptures and art pieces

That's the cafe, where every single piece, be it the tables, the chairs, the panels, the walls, the trees are all a piece of art.

Sujata, engrossed in an acrylic of Ganesha

One of the many tables, it was interesting to see that most of the tables were already bought by Zomato

Entry to the main art exhibition

The core art gallery

Entrance to the design store, where every piece sold is inspired by a well known artist, and almost anything you touch has a story

The pretty girls who run the store, I sadly can't recall names

A stoll inspired again by an artists work

A picture from their archives of royalty and history, they had so many beautiful pictures, but this one so caught my attention....like made me want to know her kind

This was us meeting Vaikuntam

Sujata, must say thanks....an enriched and beautiful morning. Spaces of visual beauty and inspiration in an urban landscape.

Luck Is !

The trip to Tirupathi, being two full days, gave us a lot of time on hand.

The tirumala main darshan was scheduled for Day 2. On Day 1 we did three other temples, decided to give one visit a go by.

What did we do instead? We decided to stay in the room and play cards... we played rummy.

Moms played a lot, I've played some, but we've never played together before. And some experience that was.

It was impossible to beat mom at it.  I could start with a sequence and yet lose. I could get two jokers and still she'd win. I couldn't believe it. With each passing game I could only gape. And it's not like I'm bad at rummy.....it was just so lopsided, that I had to finally pause and ask "what the hell ma, how are you doing this?".

And then she smiles and says, almost like a confession, "it's always been like this, people would almost refuse to play with me as I'd always win, don't know how". She went to a casino in Vegas, and she's the only one in the family who won some whopping amount. Fascinating.

So , now you know why the 'Luck is' :)

Visit to Tirupathi - The Temple Experience

A question that I get asked "When you're a non believer, why would you go to Tirupathi?"

I don't like the term non believer. Because truth is, I believe in anything and everything......known and unknown, science and metaphysical, man, ghosts, spirits, energy, love, karma, thought, teleportation, mind body unification, positivity,  thought, telepathy, anything....

What I don't adhere to is structured religion, religion based on a personalized god, one that functions through ritual and fear and divisiveness, all those man made constructs. That doesn't make me a non believer, see. 

And tirupathi is a whole different experience. It's just so powerful and intense. 

It epitomizes sthanabhalam. Such a powerful energy center (for lack of a better word)

A long time ago, I'd read a plaque in a museum in Tirupathi, which so beautifully described the sanctum sanctorium experience, in just this one line:

" a suspended moment of expanded consciousness".

And that's exactly it..... that moment where you feel transported into something larger than you, where you seemingly drop all boundaries with body, let go identification with self and merge into the beyond. It's so hard to describe. It's overwhelming, and leaves you with just awe.

I've had that experience maybe a handful of times, mostly only in deep meditation. It's quite an experience. Something you don't want to come back from.

And it's for that, that one gets drawn back, again and again.

The rest of trip in pictures:

Mom, at Tirupathi airport. It's the first time I felt like being welcomed into Andhra Pradesh as another state. Not nice feeling :)

Kapileshwaram temple, which we just wandered into in the evening.

A pretty location, almost etched into the mountain

This was interesting. On the way up to Tirumala, we stopped to see this phenomenon, apparently a new discovery. A mountain edge that looks like the profile of Sri Venkateshwara Swamy. At first you don't even see it, but once you do, it's just so visible. Like a Gestalt picture.

A zoomed in picture...click on the picture and then look at the leftmost top edge of the mountain

Day 2, the two of us waiting before darshan

Mom noticed this tree sitting there....how it seemed like sliced in half, growing and blooming only one side....fascinating

Coffee in-between the wait

A view of Tirupathi town as we come down the hill

Harinath, and Sridhar our guide and driver for the trip.

Tirupathi airport, such picturesque surrounds....though I wished it had a more temple feel

That ends another of the many many trips to Tirupathi......with joy and gratitude for having been able to visit.