In High Places

I am ushering in Year Twenty Ten at Yercaud! I am at the Sterling Resorts Property. While Yercaud is not the top Hill Station destination i n the south, it does have its attractions. The Sterling Resorts property is quite cool. Situated next to the Ladies Seat view point, the balconies onevery unit in the resort provide a great view of the slopes of the hill. In fact, the resort is visible from the winding road climbing up to Yercaud.

I am sitting in the balcony of my room and looking down at a marvellous panorama spread out in the darkness below. I feel as if I am in outer space gazing down at the stars twinkling below like a handful of scintillating precious stones casually thrown on a dark velvet cloth. To the south, the city of Salem is outlined in lights. On my left, the headlights of cars climbing up the hill, shine bright and then dim as the vehicles take the twisting hairpin bends on the last leg of their climb.

This morning I saw clouds rising up from the valley li

ke shaving foam in a bowl and slowly moving up the hill to become wispy clouds above the sum

mits of the distant range of mountains.

Later, a couple of monkeys managed to squeeze in thr

ough our wind

o

ws and

took away a whole packet of Marie biscuits and Cheese! They, then, proceeded to feast on these goodies right in front of our eyes. My wife and daughter bemoaned the loss while my son

was more philosophical and asked them to console themselves by considering it an offering (albeit involuntary) to Hanumanji, the Monkey God.

I use these New Year Breaks to examine, Janus like, the past as well as the present. I present a personal Annual Report to myself! Why not? The purpose of an Annual Report is to take stock and move forward. New Years Day gives me this opportunity. So I prepare a report similar to that presented by Chairmen of Corporations to their Boards. I account for the past 365 days allotted to me and ask myself, what I had done to deserve being allowed to live for the next 365. Did I improve myself? My Family? My Organization? The community where I live?

Thereafter I prepare plans to bridge the gap between Goals and actual performance. This is the Execution Gap that Stephen Covey speaks about. Finally, a prayer to the Almighty for his support in converting these dreams to reality.

We spend the evenings strolling on the narrow roads around the resort. This evening, we went to the Raja Rajeswari Temple and thereafter to the Servaroyan Temple. The Temple, which is a cave shrine, on a windy plateau ,is dedicated to Servaroyan a local deity, who is considerd an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, the saviour.

The Art of Whistling

12.12.2009

Today at the meeting of my Rotary club, I had the opportunity to listen to Mr. Jagat Tarkas. Mr. Tarkas is the owner of a Sports Goods Shop on Wallajah Road. But his passion is for the art of Whistling. Due to circumstances of financial adversity, Jagat was forced to devote most of his youth and middle age to activities aimed at bringing his family up to an acceptable degree of financial stability. This meant that Jagat could not concentrate on singing, for which he had great aptitude and talent.

Later on in his life and especially after becoming a part of Alma Mater, he realized his loss, and decided to take up whistling as an alternate to singing. With continuous practice and efforts he is today an accomplished Whistler.

Jagat says there are many kinds of Whistling:

Outward Whistling- Where the air is sent out.

Inward Whistling- where sound is produced by sucking air in to the mouth. (Very Difficult)

Teeth Whistling- Where the air is sent out through the gaps between the teeth.

Puckering- Which is using whistling to imitate Bird Sounds.

Whistling is so popular in the States that people have quit jobs to rtake up whistling full time!

Jagat likens whistling to playing the flute. Longer and thinner flutes make shriller noise, while bigger and thicker ones have more bass.

Whistling can do all these; after all whistling is playing the flute without the bamboo! Flute is man made, while whistling uses the mouth which is a Gift of God!

Tharkaz went on to pl;ay a lot of Cine songs and melodies and held us enthralled for 45 minutes.

Tarkaz says he never knows what chemistry will happen when he whistles.

Our IPP Kishan Jain surprised us by whistling our Indian National Anthem in its entierity at the end of the meeting.

Inspirational Leadership

People have become cynical all over the world. What is worse, they have accepted hypocrisy and falsehood as the legitimate and only route to leadership not only in the political arena but in every aspect of human endeavor. As the subject of this blog is not politics, I eschew that topic and rather dwell on the implication of this apathy to the growth and sustained development of Corporates and other organizations.

During the “India Shining” phase of our recent economic history, we preferred to be blind to the “Value of Values” as Swami Dayananda Saraswathi calls it. The result was that we crowned people as highly value based who were paying no more than lip service to truly invaluable values.

Both Swami Vivekananda and Swami Aurobindo Maharishi are of the confirmed view that personal liberation invariably precedes public success. It is, therefore, essentialthat we liberate ourselves before we embark on our journey to attain greater heights in our chosen field of accomplishment.

Inspirational Leadership is not something that you have; it is something that you already are. Yes! You are already an Inspirational Leader! At least, the potential for becoming one is already in you.

Have you seen a temple tank or lotus pond? In the centre of the serene water-filled area you will notice lotus flowers sticking out from between the disc like leaves. In the rainy season the tank will be brimming with water and the lotus flower would ride high on the water! The heights that anyone can achieve in their life, similarly, depend, not on birth, wealth or even education, but on their own innate enthusiasm and energy. The Divine poet Thiruvalluvar says...“The spirit of a man is the measure of his fortunes…” .

If this spirit of pure positive energy can be accessed and unleashed, you can achieve anything you want!

Inspirational Leadership is the art and science of tapping into that extraordinary vein of potential in you and converting it into extraordinary results for yourself, your family, your organization and finally the whole world!

Insha Allah

I have often been asked as to why I keep repeating words like “Insha Allah” and “Bismillah” which are Islamic as well as quotations from the Psalms in the New Testament. This could, arguably, be a valid objection and a reminder that I claim to be a Hindu by religion. While it cannot be denied that my faith is rooted in the Vedic tenets, I have never claimed that I owe any allegiance to rituals and dogma, if any, of Hinduism. My conception of God and perception of a relationship with That Supreme Being is such that it is incapable of being confined within the dogma of any single religion, be it Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, or any other belief system. I have, therefore, endeavored to adopt the best practices in ALL religions and to adhere to them in the true spirit in which they were first propounded.

In this sense, Insha Allah, is an acceptance that the future is a closed book, the pages of which, only the Omniscient one could have seen. The last line of Alexander Dumas’ novel, “The Count of Monte Christo” clearly articulates our absolute lack of control over the future and total ignorance about it:

“Until the day, God deigns to reveal the future to mankind, the sum of all human wisdom is contained in these two words…Wait and Hope.”

Similarly, Bismillah is a surrender of ego before beginning anything. We dedicate the act to the Supreme and take away all expectations. We will be able to dedicate to Him only those acts that are worthy of Him. So every Act is examined for its suitability as an offering to God. Thereafter we perform action in His name and to His Glory.

This is quite similar to the concept of Nish Kaamya Karma that is extolled in the Bhagvad Gita.

The Goal of all religions should be to spread the need for

1. Surrender of Ego and submission to the divine will.
2. Cheerful Acceptance of the Divine Will.
3. Performing acts without concern or worry about the fruits or results.

Ujjain Dharshan

09.08.09

Ujjain Dharshan

Situated on the banks of the river Shipra, ujjain is one of the seven sacred cities of

Bharat.

As ancient as Varanasi (Kashi), it is a place where Lord Shiva in Linga Rupa can be seen in every nook and corner. But, the cities claim to fame is the Mahankaaleshwar temple, which is one of the Twelve Jyothir Linga Shrines. The temple complex is full of small shrines to various Gods and Demi-Gods liked Ridhi-Sidhi Vinayak, Dasa Hanuman, Guru Brhaspathi and Saakshi Gopaal.

The Jyothirlingsa at Ujjain is unique in that it is the only one that faces

south. The story of how this came about is related thus: This is the Ling that Markndeya Maharishi hugged when the Yama, the God of Death camre to claim his life. When Yama threw his rope, it fell on the Ling too. When he, who was standing in the Southern direction

from which he had come, tried to pull the rope, the Ling turned South too from its original east facing position. This is one of the two Jyothirlings in MP, the other being Onkareshwar.

After that we visited the Har Siddhi Deviji temple. We had breakfast of Hot Poha and Jalebis at a famous old time shop.

The other places of interest are:

• Sandeepani Ashram where Sri Krishna and sHri Balarama studied under the Rishi Sandeepani with Sudhama. A Shiva ling created by the sage for his daily pooja out of a Bilva Leaf van be worshipped here.
• Garh Kaalika the Patron deity of King Vikramaditya of Vikra Aur Betal fame. This is also the place where Kali made Kalidasa a great poet. The lonely atmosphere and the eerie surroundings can take one back to those times when Vikram and Kalidasa lived! There is a Cemetry nearby where Aghoris still perform there mysterious rituals.
• Bhrtrihari Gupa where Barthruhari the famous brother of Vikramaditya did penance. Also the shrine of Goraknath Maharaj. The place where Vikram overcame the Betal and made it his slave.
• Shri Mangalnath a shrine dedicated to Mars and Shive. Prefered spot for those desiring matrimony! The green parrots that flock here are a treat to the eyes.
• Those tiring of life itself (After all, Matrimony does that to you!) can go to the Temple of Kaal Bhirav. The idol is but a mere face with red shot eyes lined with black and a open gaping mouth which would instill fear in any one. Which is what such Gods are meant TO DO. These shrines are meant to keep evil doers in check by putting the fear of God in them. The deity is supposed to drink the wine that is the divine offering in this temple.

Indore Visit

This is possibly my second proper visit to Madhya Pradesh. The first was a visit to Omkareshwar when I was seven or eight.I made that trip with my parents from Khandwa in Maharashtra when we were visiting my maternal uncle who was stationed there.

Indore is an Industrial town, but luckily the factories are far away in Pitampura and Naghda. Indore is the focal point.

Indore, or Malwa, as the region is traditionally known was the royal seat of the Holkars, of whom Maharani Ahalya Bai Holkar seems to be enshrined in legend.

The weather was quite cool with mild showers in the evening. The roads are wide and have green trees and shrubs lining them. The whole place is by and large clean with numerous old heritage buildings nestled between ultra-modern and chic designer structures.

Another thing I noticed was that people are pretty friendly on the roads. Car and two wheeler drivers are more patient with pedestrians. The people are happy and show it. This is because of the quasi-urbanized nature of the city that permits the rural values and manners to survive.

I felt that this part of MP had no unique or clearly distinguishing features like language, food, dress or even a major difference in geography. The state is seamlessly merged with its surrounding states especially Maharashtra. Of course, in interior parts like Ujjain and beyond they speak Malwi.

We visited the Rajwada or Royal Residence of the Holkars. There is a huge gate facing the main market and a circular park. The gate gives access to an open courtyard. Across the courtyard is a covered platform with a Gaesha shrine in the center. This abuts the

museum cum temple that houses many royal artifacts, pooja idols and other objects of interest. One peculiar idol was that of Malhar Mahadev or Kandhoba. Lord Shiva is here depicted as mounted on horse together with his wife.

The Four Gates of Lalbagh

18.07.2009.

I was in Bangalore on a training assignment.

In the evening I went for a stroll in Lal Bagh. I was accompanied by my friend from

long ago. She had suggested that I come to

the West Gate to meet her. We walked together in companionable conversation discussing our mutual interests: a love for nature, poetry and good literature. While I am also interested in social issues, our views differ on this. She prefers activism and direct action in supporting the down trodden, while I prefer an approach that would enable people to become self sufficient and proactive.

As you must be aware Lal Bagh has four Gates:

The Main Gate which attracts most tourists.

The Double Road Gate which leads to a small hillock and thereafter the mai

n gardens. This is equally popular. The other two gates are less popular but offer natural attractions that are worth a look.

The West Gate, which gives access to the

small curved lake that is home to numerous birds. There are ducks, cormorants, pond herons and kingfishers.

The pathway that runs round the lake is a regular space for both Bangalore Walkers as well as Lovers. The Elephant grass thickets around the lake and a natural dyke raising in the landscape effectively conceal this lake and hence most “tourists” do not venture beyond the “main attraction”—The Glass House.

My friend mentioned a visit to the Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary near Delhi when she saw people driving straight down the reserve to see a rare Australian bird and then make a bee line for the exit without pausing to enjoy the othe sights. It appeared as if they wore blinkers and were totally oblivious to the other equally interesting birds that my friend and her group saw as they cycled down the reserve park.

We quit Lal Bagh when it was almost dark through The Siddhapur Gate. This is a desolate and barren areaof the park least frequented by visitors both local and tourists possibly because this gate gives access to slums and othe lower income areas. But the peace and tranquility of the park is best enjoyed here where there is more opportunity to listen to the “Voice of Nature.”