THAT HURT!!!

Ok, so here I am, driving my new pulsar at a clean 70 kmph, just travelling from Mohali to Chandigarh and I’m inclined to take a curve which acts as the bridge between the two cities. Slowing down just a notch to ensure that I don’t get stuck in the flow of the traffic, I tried to pull off a simple overtake of which I was sure I’d make it despite of the Maruti 800 speeding this way. But just when I was curving in and was passing the 800 at the same time, a stone rolled out from under the tyres of the Maruti and hit my knee at about 140 kmph and let me tell you, THAT HURT!!! I may want to curse and blame the government for not building properly metalled roads and allowing for a large number of stray stones roll under our tyres, but that would do no good. What must be realised is that no matter what you say, THAT HURT!!! And it’s bad enough that it hit me to notice that it hit me at a speed additive of mine and the Maruti’s and that’s maybe even ok because it’s basic physics, what’s really upsetting is that this stone could easily have hit my bike at some critical point. And boy, THAT’D HURT!!!

The Advent of an Attitude

Well, winter’s on and although it’s started to be the sunny golden days of youth in the beauty of Chandigarh, it’s still chilly because of the wind thanks to Global Warming taking a break and giving its shoes to Global cooling. Amidst all this drama of heavens, we’re plopping our pens on the Sessional sheets given to us by the college. Now, last year, remembering the same time, I can firmly recall the amazing speed with which the students exited college after their day’s test was over; some heading to popular eating joints or to the lake to hang out with friends and the zealous types heading home to study for the morrow’s fight. However, this year, this time, something vastly different is happening. Due to the new sessional policy of the college, two tests are being held in the same day. This caused a unique sight. Now the colliders of the college building, once flooded with only pure sun light is littered with students of all batches and braches, sitting it out in the sun and preparing for the next exam. Although an unfamiliar sight, it is absolutely astounding to see fellow engineers basking in the glory of the sun and studying their brains off. Its a lovely moment to see those heads bent down, sitting cross legged or stretching out on the floor and mesmerized by their subject books. It is not just satisfying to see your friends and colleagues like this, it makes you proud of the community in which you are growing as a person and makes you feel happy about your college. Of course, with this, we strictly disregard the concept that they’re probably cribbing that they don’t have the right books or that the syllabus is too vast. Makes you kind of think about Purani Jeans or Tanha Dil. But then there’s Dil Chahta Hai and Lakshya. It’s never about the future or the past. It’s about the present. And our present will determine our lives and our attitudes. Maybe all this cribbing and studying in the sun will help us later in our lives. Maybe this is what it’s all about. It’s never going to be one path or the other. It’s going to be about our attitudes to all paths. And maybe just maybe, these days in the sun are going to be all we’re going to need to learn some very important lessons in life.

Walking into an Oblivion

As I walked into the morning air, full of anticipation of the day ahead, the chill greeted me with full force. The wind was steadily sweeping on my face and I was no better with the new cardigan and muffler which I had bought with assumptions that they would stop the north Indian winds from charging against my weak bodily frame. Nevertheless, I stepped out into the cold, casually glancing at my watch and reminding myself that I was a good two hours ahead of schedule and would easily beat most of the people with whom I would otherwise have jostled to get a good look of the Living Master. I have many times after that reminded me that I was wrong in this assumption. As I walked along the road leaving the hostel, I saw sewadars standing every few feet, carefully guiding people about the correct path to the Satsang Ghar. I walked along the path they specified and soon reached a point where the road bent down into what was probably the river basin but had been transformed by hard work into a sprawling landscape of trees and grass, with a firm road leading down to my destination. As I stood on top of the road, I looked beyond and saw nothing more than a world of white mist. The landscape I knew had been transformed right in front of me into a white heaven and what was even more surprising to me than the beautiful sight which held me in its power was the overbearing fact that out there in the fog were huge patches of people, trudging along the path specified, leading the march to the Satsang Ghar and I was truly very late indeed. As I walked along the path, I could see the flowers sprouting in the plants very near to me, but I could feel the roar of a giant mass of humanity beyond the white veil, hidden from my eyes but not my thoughts. How many people were out there? Since when were they bearing the cold which I had felt the contempt of since the first moment I had gotten up this morning? What was this feeling which my heart felt when I saw this pristine beauty in front of me and heard the roars of countless people somewhere afar, who seemed to be at a place very distant from here and yet I felt connected to them as thought they were singing my hearts joy out. I was lost in my thoughts when a sewadar came by to ask me to move on. I did as was commanded, although that command came more like a request and was accepted more like a law. I moved on, slowly closing in on the ever evading white wall. As I moved on, I discovered more and more people and the more of them that I saw, the more assured I was that there were more somewhere ahead. At long last I reached the base of the road and although I could see just as far from myself here as I could from there, I felt deluged with humility and a calm which seemed to wash off of me, every small bit of bodily pain and doubt I had fielded ever. I felt like this place was there forever hidden inside me but only today, when I had risen and walked the path I had been told to did I discover it. I steadily walked again, for somehow, looking at the people around me and the mist around them, I knew that I was walking into an oblivion, aware of nothing less than supreme purity.