The Joy Of Gluttony!

I just woke up with a nightmare!

In my dream I was looking for a specific kind of sherry to go into some kind of a gourmet channa (chickpea) recipe, an Indian recipe, of course.

Weird dream! Which Indian recipe uses alcohol in its preparation?

Then began my travails...

Off I left on a sojourn to Godrej Nature's Basket in Cuffe Parade. The quest for the elusive sherry did not end there.
I was desperate. Desperate times called for desperate measures. I had to get my sherry. Even if it meant a 30 kilometer ride to the suburbs!

Then it was HyperCity in Malad. No luck. That was nightmarish!

And then Food Hall at Palladium, Pheonix High Street, Lower Parel.... after longish (endlessly seeming) ride up an escalator, I finally reached Food Hall. 

After numerous distractions (read: gourmet cuts and cured meats - oops! We are on the Navratras, nine long endless days and nights when even thinking of non vegetarian delights is sacrilege. Man, these are the toughest nine days, no not even eggs!) I finally found my sherry.

That's when I was woken up with a jolt!

Yes, gluttony is a vice, a delightful and harmless vice! A vice unlike others, quite harmless, yet quirky and very much unoffensive and perhaps! 

That's the joy of gluttony!

The Starfish

Another nice story worth sharing. Here goes:

Once a man was walking along a beach. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day. Off in the distance he could see a person going back and forth between the surf's edge and and the beach. Back and forth this person went. As the man approached, he could see that there were hundreds of starfish stranded on the sand as the result of the natural action of the tide.

The man was stuck by the the apparent futility of the task. There were far too many starfish. Many of them were sure to perish. As he approached, the person continued the task of picking up starfish one by one and throwing them into the surf.

As he came up to the person, he said: "You must be crazy. There are thousands of miles of beach covered with starfish. You can't possibly make a difference." The person looked at the man. He then stooped down and pick up one more starfish and threw it back into the ocean. He turned back to the man and said: "It sure made a difference to that one!"

Hope this helps us be better humans, humans being, not humans doing!

Peace Of Mind...

I had to share this nice story of Lord Buddha here...

Once Buddha was walking from one town to another town with a few of his followers. This was in the initial days. While they were travelling, they happened to pass a lake. They stopped there and Buddha told one of his disciples, “I am thirsty. Do get me some water from that lake there.” 

The disciple walked up to the lake. When he reached it, he noticed that some people were washing clothes in the water and, right at that moment, a bullock cart started crossing through the lake. As a result, the water became very muddy, very turbid. The disciple thought, “How can I give this muddy water to Buddha to drink!” So he came back and told Buddha, “The water in there is very muddy. I don’t think it is fit to drink.”

After about half an hour, again Buddha asked the same disciple to go back to the lake and get him some water to drink. The disciple obediently went back to the lake. This time he found that the lake had absolutely clear water in it. The mud had settled down and the water above it looked fit to be had. So he collected some water in a pot and brought it to Buddha.

Buddha looked at the water, and then he looked up at the disciple and said, “See what you did to make the water clean. You let it be ... and the mud settled down on its own – and you got clear water... Your mind is also like that. When it is disturbed, just let it be. Give it a little time. It will settle down on its own. You don’t have to put in any effort to calm it down. It will happen. It is effortless.”

Having 'peace of mind' is not a strenuous job; it is an effortless process. When there is peace inside you, that peace permeates to the outside. It spreads around you and in the environment, such that people around start feeling that peace and grace.

Cast Away!

Thirteen years back I saw this amazing movie. Despite the time that has passed, I still cannot get it out of my mind. 

Yes, Cast Away is forever etched in my mind.

The movie is all about a Federal Express employee, Chuck Noland, a role played to utmost perfection by Tom Hanks. Chuck is marooned on an island after his plane crashes into the ocean. Far away from his home, his love, and any human contact, Chuck is tested to the hilt - mentally, physically and emotionally in order to survive. He constantly engages in a battle of wits with himself all along. 

For emotional support and companionship, Chuck clings on to his inanimate companion, Wilson, a volleyball that is washed ashore from the debris of the crash.

And today I realised that his name, C. Noland, could literally also be "see no land", perhaps to convey the protagonist's despair!

The emotions that Chuck experienced at that beautiful island paradise in the Pacific are no different than what  we sometimes experience in our lives.

While we may have a modern lifestyle with amenities and conveniences do we really enjoy them? How many times do we "see no land"? Don't we get tossed and turned around in torrents and avalanches that the environment thrusts down on you? Don't we sometimes feel like castaways and cling on to our very own "Wilsons" for support?

Chuck moved on, so would the rest of us! 

And for my dose of inspiration, I will watch Cast Away again, when I reach home tonight!

Amazing Indian Landscapes Part 7

On the way back from Paradeep to Bhubaneshwar, we "caught up" with magnificent sunset. This was the first time I saw the sun set in 2013. That made me realise how much I have been missing.

The sun and the clouds, it seemed were playing a fascinating game of cat and mouse. 

I really wish I could take out a little more time to enjoy more of such beautiful experiences that cost nothing, but still are priceless!

The clouds "gobbled up" the sun!

And in a few seconds, the sun emerges from underneath the cloud!

So long! Till we meet again....

View the previous editions of Amazing Indian Landscapes here.