Yoga Diary, Day 5

What an awesome yoga day it was! Day One of the Angamardana programming conducted by the Isha Yoga centre. It started off pretty simple, hand stretching and what not and kept escalating to a great momentum. By the end of it I was fatigued, body aching in places I didn't know existed but thoroughly satisfied. This is the perfect definition of a workout.

The session was for four hours where they teach you 7 standing, 7 sitting/squatting and two lying down poses. The focus is on learning the pose and holding the pose. It wasn't about repetitions or cardio but keeping a pose for longer, doing it slowly in order to really work the parts out.

My back is hurting a little bit now but don't think it was the yoga. Some of the squats and jumps were killer but what's the point if you don't flex and stretch? This was also a great eye opener on how inflexible I have become and how afraid I am to move my body in different ways. It's almost like I'm anticipating a muscle catch or I feel I can't do it. This is a good way for me to let go of these fears and inhibitions and really jump right in.

Go Yoga Power!!

Yoga Diary, Day 4

Ok so I started with the upa yoga routine this morning. It went on quite well. Still struggling to manage the vices though. Succumbed to it today afternoon. Under the spell. Dammit!! Where is the will power and discipline?

Need to improve will power for real. Solar plexus chakra? Where art thou???

Yoga Diary, Day 3

Yesterday was quite an awesome and productive day. Work was smooth as usual. In the evening i went over to do some yoga gear shopping. Tried in different stuff and finally realized that this one brand called Anjali fits me so well. Think I'll be sticking to that.

It was amazing how just changing to the yoga clothes made me feel more active. The right clothes give you the stretch, comfort and support. I would always slip while doing tadasana, the tree pose. But yesterday I could do it for longer because my pant leg wasn't lose and dragging my folded leg down and causing imbalance, not to mention frustration.

So I finished the upa yoga routine plus did some stretching, padmasana and tadasana.

Good stuff :)

Yoga Diary, Day 2

I attended the Upa Yoga program by the Isha foundation yesterday. It was quite interesting. Learnt a few basic poses and breathing technique for overall health and well being. After I finished the class, a series of events transpired that completely changed my state of mind from yoga bliss to utter frustration, anger and hurt.

I carried that forward to this morning as well. Had a bit of a heated discussed with the man. At the end of it I actually felt even worse so I decided to do the upa yoga routine. It didn't change my state in any manner but at least I have a consolation that I completed day 2 of yoga today first thing in the morning so I don't have to worry about slacking behind on the very second day.

About my mental and emotional state - feeling overwhelmed, burdened, lonely, hurt.. like I'm lost in a void and no one can see or hear me. No matter how much I scream, I feel unheard and un-understood. When I try to express my emotions, it gets misunderstood as me blaming someone or me accusing someone when that is not my intent. All that I want is a safe space to express myself and that safe space needs to be conducive for me. If my feelings need to be expressed in a manner that suits someone else's definition of communication, always taking into account their emotions and feelings then again I'm discounting my expression. My expression is not whole, it is chipped and diluted in order to accommodate your needs. So where is my space? Where is my voice?

Also realized that I am PMSing which doesn't help my mental state at all. Let me put this out clear, just because I have hormones that contribute to a heightened sensitivity does not mean that it is a joke. You can not dismiss my emotions and feelings as "just PMS". While the reason may be more biological than mental, it does not make the intensity of what I feel any less. If anything, it makes it worse. But you need to understand that the emotions are very real - as real as the dark pit in my mind that I'm trying to claw myself out of. Bruised knees, broken and bleeding fingernails, hollow cheeks and empty shadows for eyes - it is dark and cold.

I feel unheard, unsupported, un-understood. I feel my efforts are not appreciated,  and because people do not see and appreciate the effort that I am putting in, I feel dismissible.

I feel DISPOSABLE. 

Yoga Diary, Day 1

The problem with being an intelligent human is that you come up with many many reasons to justify the decisions you make. Some of them can be so smart or convoluted that it can even convince you quite successfully. Cognitive dissonance - this has always been my biggest flaw.

I remember as a very young kid, I wasn't all that interested in physical activities or education. I actually had no real interests except watching TV, playing with dolls and just existing. I took dance and music classes which I dropped once it got hard, I went for one karate lesson and gave up as it required physical strain, I was just a mediocre student in school - not great but also never flunked. In short, I was that wallpaper kid who did nothing and for whom nothing ever happened.

Sometime after I changed into a new school I got very interested in studies. Being a TamBrahm there is always pressure to excel but my parents weren't that obsessed about it (they let me just fly by all these years, didn't they). All of a sudden, when I entered 9th grade I genuinely developed an interest in learning. I was actually enjoying studying. Studying, not reading, mind you. It was perhaps this interest that created a natural discipline in my system. I would wake up at 5 am to prepare for the coming day, be back from school by 3 pm and finished my evening snack, nap and homework by 6. I spent about an hour with my friends and was home usually between 7 and 8 to finish dinner and hit the sack at 9pm. This was my routine every single day until I graduated and left my hometown. I was happy, satisfied and utterly fulfilled. I even had an active meditation practice that I followed.

For the first few years at work, I carried on this discipline. I studied the materials, excelled very well and was promoted more often than others. I even finished a counselling psychology certification course which required me to be up and about by 7 am on a Saturday. And then, something switched. It is hard to explain the reasons on a public forum but let us say it was boredom at work, distractions at home, late night partying amongst other vices. Slowly, the discipline faded away and was replaced with lethargy. The only thing I was interested in were substances - nothing more. I developed habits and addictions that drew me further and further away from leading a fulfilling life. I was hit with existential crisis more and more. Every Monday was a drab - when it never was before. Every Friday had to be a house party night. I developed sleep disorders, lost my footing in spiritual practices such as Reiki, energy healing and meditation that always grounded me, stopped reading books which I previously enjoyed immensely, my skin took a turn for the worse and as it always happens, I put on a lot of weight.

The crazy lifestyle got even worse after I moved to a new country - easier access to my vices than in India, more partying and no one to answer to. Slowly I started drifting away and this impacted work. I can see my focus is wavering, my response time is slow, I can't think fast or even if I do, I can't seem to be able to communicate that fast. I am literally forgetting words and struggle to articulate at times. My brain is probably dying. Things need to change.

Yoga - for the last year almost I have been looking up yoga classes in the neighborhood. And coming back to my brilliant mind which can come up with a million excuses why something will not work - I dismissed every class because it was too physically strenuous, I was conscious of my body image especially compared to the thin Asian women, my stamina had plummeted, I didn't have the time, it was too far, I didn't have the right clothes for yoga, it wasn't my style of "authentic yoga" or just a plain, I'll start tomorrow and today I want to chill.

This changes today. Yes today. I always wait for crucial days to start something new (or so I tell myself). "Let's quit X on New Years", "Let's start X on Ganesh Chadurthi", "Tomorrow is Monday and its better to start this then", "Let me enjoy for another few days, I'll start the routine on the 1st of next month" and so on.

Today is not a special day on any calendar except today is the day I turn things around. Today is the day that my self-aware, self-disciplined Higher Self will take over. Enough of reading the theories of yoga, enough of researching about eating healthy, enough of dreaming about the career change I want, enough of promising myself about quitting the vices and changing my lifestyle. The change is happening now.

THE CHANGE HAS HAPPENED.

Nadunisi Naaygal

Before I begin, this is me making it as clear as the English language could possibly allow, that this post is my personal opinion and also contains spoilers.

I was quite thrilled that a new movie in Tamil(!) by a director that I have come to love, Gautamn Menon, was a thriller. Not just any thriller but a psychological thriller. Being an ardent fan of psychological crime movies and TV shows, I was overjoyed. At this point I am going to take time to inform you all that I consider myself the biggest fan of Silence of the Lambs, the movie that shaped my interest and possibly my life as well.

Back to my point, so as overjoyed I was, I couldn't help but watch Nadunisi Naaygal. The movie started off quite interestingly with some good twists but turned out to be more predictable than a Karan Johan film. Was the movie different: yes. Yes, because it was good for a change to see a movie that did not have to do with the hero running on a moving train or spurning out outrageous one-liners. Mind you that I am not snooty to think lowly of commercial cinema. While I do prefer Cannes film selections, I have enjoyed really good commercial movies in the past such as Saamy or Enthiran or Dhool. But Tamil cinema has stooped to a point where I couldn't figure out if a fight sequence happened in one movie or the other. Even the good directors that I have loved since I could understand basic Tamil have let me down. I would watch Naayagan or Anjali or Mouna Raagam or even Alaypayude over and over again, but not Raavanan. Given the state of Tamil cinema, I could say yes, the movie was different.

Was it a 'good' different? Not really. Anyone could walk to work with a clown costume and call themselves different. But it takes more than just a costume to make it tasteful. While the movie does explore a very touchy subject of child sexual abuse (CSA), the way the abuse or the repercussions are portrayed are overly dramatic. Sometimes, saying less is saying so much more. Manirathram understood this. All it takes is probably just a montage, not elaborate scenes. Leave it to your viewers mind, it creates a much higher impact.

Another point that pretty much drove me up the wall - Multiple Personality Disorder. Really??? Again! It was fun and had the desired effect when Shankar did it in Anniyan. But please do not do what Hollywood did to MPD. I confess that I have watched almost all MPD movies in not just English but also Japanese, Korean, Thai etc., which probably makes it hard for me to watch any more of this. However, I must highlight that some of the movies give you a final twist such as The Tale of Two Sisters (Japanese). Nadunisi Naaygal killed it for me. Well it is charming that even 'Meenakshi Amma' is another personality which probably shocked some viewers but nopes, that is not enough to make it enter the wall of fame.

Finally, to imagine that someone compared this movie to Sigappu Rojakkal. You have got to be kidding me! Bharathi Raaja shook Tamil Nadu with the movie. It was intriguing, highly sexual, psychotic and most importantly, a legend. To compare Nadunisi Naaygal to Sigappu Rojakkal is to compare maggi to creme brulee. Even though Kamal Hassan played a sexual psychopath in the movie, I fell in love with him (well, that is the point of a sexual psychopath). Here, the lead actor, as good as he was, did not play the part too well. The movie was twisted, yes.. especially his attraction towards Meenakshi Amma but it somehow lacked the effect that makes a viewer pause for a minute and explore their darkness.. even if it is just for a minute.

Making Pongal..

Today I am going to share the recipe for making pongal. Why pongal? It’s not even Pongal time! Oh well, I was a bit sick last week and the only think I landed up making was pongal and pepper rasam, to beat the fever and cold! Recipe for pepper rasam will follow soon, for now pongal it is! 

Ingredients:

1 cup rice

½ cup moong dal

¼ cup toor dal

50gms peppercorn

1 spoon jeera

A pinch of turmeric powder

Salt to taste

Ghee, if you like

Cashew(optional)

Add the rice and dal together and rinse them thoroughly to remove any dirt. Add 3 to 3 ½ cups of water in the bowl. Pressure cooker them for 7-8 whistles. How many whistles depends a lot on the cooker that you use. So, the rule of thumb is to keep it for 2-3 more whistles than what you would while cooking regular rice.

Once the steam is out, transfer the contents to a cooking pan/tawa. Add a pinch of turmeric and mix well. Meanwhile, add the jeera to the pongal. As you stir, ground some peppercorns and add them. It is always better to add ground pepper corns than pepper powder as it gives a better flavor. Add salt to taste.

Finally, heat some ghee in a separate pan and add the cashews. Once they turn golden brown, you can add it to the pongal and stir. Note: if you are cooking pongal because you fell sick (like Yours Truly), avoid the ghee and cashews. Your aim is to get well soon and not gobble up high fat ghee ;-)

Vethal Kozhambu

Vethal Kozhambu, or simply called Vethakkozhambu is one of my favourite gravy. It is a spicy, sour, tangy gravy with a slight tinge of bitterness. It is best eaten with rice, but what I love to do is to store it over-night in the refrigerator and use it as a side dish with curd rice. It tastes absolutely delicious. So before I make you drool (myself included), here is the recipe

Ingredients

Tamarind - golf ball sized
2 tablespoon gingely oil.
1 spoon urad dal
1 spoon toor dal
3-4 medium sized brinjal or a few tindli
2 spoons vethal kozhambu powder
Salt to taste

Soak the tamarind in a bowl of water. It is good to heat the water slightly as it will soften the tamarind faster.
In a pan, add the gingely oil and fry the vegetable until it is almost turning black. Remove the vegetables and set it aside.
Fry the urad and toor dal in the remaining oil until brown. Add the tamarind water and let it boil till the smell of tamarind fades away completely.
Add the vegetable now.
Add two spoons of the vethal kozhambu powder and stir well to avoid lumps.
Reduce the flame to sim and let it blend and cook well.

Tip: If you do not have the vegetable, you can also add plain papad after it is fried. Fry the papad normally and break it into small pieces. Add the pieces finally after the vethal kozhambu powder is added.

Making Sambar - Tam Bram style!

Being a Tam Bram (a fancy way of calling Tamil Brahmins) I am expected to know how to make sambar. People assume it is passed on through genes, like how a German can drink beer or Irish can make potatoes.. and well perhaps it is! So here is the much in demand sambar recipe for all my friends out there.

Ingredients

1 cup Toor dal
1 large tomato, cut into medium size
2 capsicum, cut medium size
Lemon sized ball of tamarind
1 spoon mustard seeds
1 spoon jeera
2 spoons sambhar powder
1 spoon cooking oil
a pinch of turmeric
a pinch of asafoetida
Salt to taste

Wash the dal, add a pinch of turmeric and boil it with water. You can use a cooker to boil it fast. The dal should be cooked in a way that you can mash it.
In a small bowl, soak the tamarind. Best to heat up the water a little to soften the tamarind.
In a pan, add the oil and once it is heated, add the mustard seeds and jeera. Add the tomatoes and capsicum. You can replace capsicum with any vegetable.
Squash the tamarind until it completely mixes with the water and add the tamarind water. Let it cook well until the smell of raw tamarind fades completely.
Add salt.
Add two spoons of sambhar powder and strir well to remove any lumps.
Drain the dal water into the pan and cook well.
Mash the dal completely and add.
Reduce flame to medium and let the sambhar cook well.
Finally, add just a pinch of asafoetida.

Sambhar ready!

Indianized Tomato Bruschetta

Ingredients

3 Full tomatoes, finely chopped

1 Medium sized onion, finely chopped

1 large green chilli, chopped

1 spring onion

4 cloves minced garlic

2 tablespoons butter or 1/4 cup olive oil

1 French baguette

1 cup mozarella cheese

Salt to taste

1. Melt the butter or add olive oil in a frying pan. 

2. Add the garlic and onions and fry till golden brown. 

3. Add the chopped green chilli and later the tomatoes. 

4. Once partially cooked, you can empty the finely chopped spring onions and mix well. 

5. Add salt to taste. To give it the 'Indian' colour, you can sprinkle some turmeric powder. 

6. Let the mixture simmer to spread the flavour of the tomatoes. 

7. Meanwhile, cut the baguette horizontally, about 3-4 inches wide. 

8. Spread some butter (optional) and toast. 

9. Once the tomato mixture is cooked, divide it equally over the baguette slices. 

10. If you have an oven or microwave, you can add the cheese and broil it till it melts. In the absence of those, just melt the cheese using a ladle only till it is semi-solid and pour it over the tomato mixture. Let it cool down.

Strawberry Dessert

Ingredients

• 1 (10 inch) angel food cake
• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
• 1 quart fresh strawberries, sliced
• 1 (18 ounce) jar strawberry glaze

Directions

1. Crumble the cake into a 9x13 inch dish.
2. Beat the cream cheese and sugar in a medium bowl until light and fluffy. Fold in whipped topping. Mash the cake down with your hands and spread the cream cheese mixture over the cake.
3. In a bowl, combine strawberries and glaze until strawberries are evenly coated. Spread over cream cheese layer. Chill until serving.

Trains...

I recently heard the news of a friend's separation and was going through how I felt about it. Initially there was a pang. We all want happy endings - not our own version of happy ending but what we see in movies, read in fairy tales and come to believe. After I sorted out the pang, I sat down to think about them, which is when I came up with the analogy of trains.

Like trains, or train tracks, we all have a single line - our life. If you have ever travelled in a train, and have seen how the tracks run in and out of each other, you will soon realise how our lives are no different. We all have our main line, we meet several lines that come into ours, and we also part from several lines. The continuous dance of railway lines joining and parting from our track is rather fascinating. You can watch it all day long..

There is nothing unusual about meeting or parting with lines. It is just the way it is. And for the train to run smoothly, the right line has to meet at the right point and also part at the right point. any mistake, we get derailed. There is nothing sad about letting go of lines. They arrived, served a purpose, took us that far in our journey, and now it is time for it to leave, so we may journey forward.

Everyone has their our lines that meet ours at some point and part at other. In the end we all have our our source and our own destination. We simply cross paths. Some of us may share the same source and destination, but we start and end at different times and follow different paths. For example, there are three trains connecting Chennai to Hyderabad. All three start and arrive at different times and completely different tracks. But they all reach the same place.

At the end of the day, all we have is the journey to savour. The joy of travelling and excitement with which we look forward to the destination, while enjoying the journey. So.. Happy Journey! :-)

Experience God..Fall in Love

Stop. Before you laugh over the title and decide to leave this page, just pause. My teacher once said that we can either trash the gyan she gives or just pause for a minute, consider it and then choose to keep it or trash it. So, I ask the same of you. Pause. Consider. Choose.

Many have talked endlessly about the experience of the infinite. We even discussed in class what Peak Experiences mean. According to definition, it is a term used to describe a transpersonal state of immense joy, euphoria and harmony with all. And then, my teacher (Wise One she is), said something. That got me thinking.. how do I get one of those? Have I experienced one of those states that connect me with God?

And then I wrote this..

I see God..

When..
I share a light joke with my dad and see him laugh,
I sit near my mom's feet and hug her legs,
My head in her palm resting on her lap..cheeks against her toiled hands,

When..
My dog cuddles up near me when I least expect,
A friend remembers to bring back a souvenir from his travels,
A cousin calls to say 'Thanks for being there',

When..
I spring out of the couch to open the door for him,
Our noses rub and eyes lock,
And share a smile that conveys what no word can,

When..
The window screens rain drops trickling off mango leaves,
Silent peace that connects a car ride,
Genuine bonds that says 'I'm here for you',

When..
I experience 'ah-ha' moments discovering my Truth,
Feel words are just never enough to share what I feel,
And Gratitude that causes misty eyes.


Love and immense Gratitude.. these are the only two things that I can think of when I look back at my life. Love for those who have nurtured me, smiled and walked with me, loved me and accepted me. Gratitude to them and also those who hurt me for they have, in some twisted way, shaped me. Thank you.

I am no great saint, no great philosopher. But I do know love and can say thanks from the bottom of my heart. So, this is the path that I carve for myself. I believe it has helped me to not just say 'Hello' to God but also hug Him. And I hope someday it will help me become One.

Everything Is Love

It amazes me how it is so easy for people to judge and to classify people. Like books in a library - fiction, non-fiction, spiritual, romance, thriller and so on. Punch the card, give a colour code, place them in a rack and forget all about them. Forget that no book can be entirely thriller or romantic. Forget the traces of a different genre that flavours it, that makes it whole. 

When it is hardly any justice to classify books like this, how is it fair to classify people? The most complex of beings created - who have a spectrum of personalities in them. Yes, not one or two, but a spectrum. And the condition called multiple personality disorder.. Humbug! It is the natural order, not an academic disorder. We are happy, we are sad, we are emotional and hard, we are soft at times but harsh mostly, we are good we are bad. We are what we are. 

But then, it is hard to name a spectrum. A spectrum has no beginning or end. The colours in a rainbow seem to have boundaries from a distance. But when you look close, where exactly does blue end and indigo begin? No one can say. They merge, become one and this is the natural state of being. You can not draw lines in a rainbow. You can not create boxes and place people there.

I have been thinking a lot lately about stereotypes and buckets. One of the most annoying one that I have come across is the stereotype of a spiritual person. Spirituality - what does that mean?  White clothes or saffron robes? A cap or a turban? Books in your hand or rosaries? When I ask people their idea of a spiritual person, they tell me different things, moulded by their perception and religion. A common image is that of someone who has given up wordly pleasures in search of Truth. Someone who dresses up plain, chants the name of God and is 'moral'.

Rubbish! That is probably religious but is it truly spiritual? Religion lies, it again places people in buckets. You are this or that depending on who you follow, what you believe and what book you read. There is empasis in classification, not unification. But aren't we all truly one? We - you, me, the trees outside, the birds that sing, the dog on the streets, this table, the laptop and the tiny little electrons that jump with each stroke of the keyboard are all One - Divine. True spirituality seeks the Truth from within for that is where it lies. Look inside and you will find heaven and hell. Look inside and you will see the Divine - whatever name you may want to call it. 

True spirituality is One, it sees one. When you realise that you are no different from your neighbor, you are no different from a rock or a tree or a piece of entwined wire you realise that all is actually One. Then you fall in love. You fall in love with yourself, with the rock and the tree and the wire that you saw as yourself. How can spirituality be abstinence? When everything is you and everything is divine, how can you call something or someone holy and the other unholy? Spirituality arises not out of abstinence but out of embracing everything. Everything is holy and pure..everything is spiritual and worthy of love. 

Everything Is Love. 

Every form of love is pure and divine. When you see divinity in yourself, in your dog, in your education, in your mother, in your lover - every form of love is pure. The very fact that you are capable of love is a step towards divinity. When you can love without judgement, when you can love everything and everyone without conditions, when there is a general feeling of Love all around to, there is peace within you - Inner Peace and immense joy and bliss. After all this is the bliss that Buddha talks about - a general feeling of oneness and of love. Of Universal Love. 

One - Richard Bach

I just read this book yesterday and wanted to share my thoughts here.

The experience of One was a mixture of relief and restlessness within me. Relief because, I have always wondered if it is possible that we are all the same. I have read in several texts and I do truly believe that we are all from the same source and essentially One. The whole concept of time and place is just an illusion. So, I could be Hitler's reincarnated soul, or Gandhi. I can also be you and you can be me. Basically, there is no clear border as to where I end and you begin, if at all we do. I was relieved that someone has also thought about it and written about it. So, I'm not insane after all!

Then the skeptical part of my brain asked - what about the actual boundaries that we do see. Like, I know where by body ends and where the chair begins. What about that. Then I thought of conditioning. When we are born, we come into this world with different levels of sensations and the ability to feel, see, hear and experience many things. Slowly, our parents, teachers and society conditions us to only feel, see, hear or experience certain things which they approve and accept. Hearing voices from people other than those present in the room is disapproved and so on. So, due to conditioning, the human brain loses the ability to experience all that which was experienced before.

Just because an adult brain can not process the information, the adult eye can not see it, we can not deny its existence. What about all the microbs and bacteria that are only visible using a microscope. Parallel universe and the existence of a parallel self is hence acceptable. We can not deny just because we can not see it with the naked eye.

This whole experience of reading the book was like walking in a storm. So many questions and so many answers unfolding. Restlessness within me and all around me. I felt like I knew the answers to those, but I could not frame it into words in my head. It was the exact same feeling you have when you have the name of a movie at the tip of your tongue, but you don't remember it clearly. The nagging feeling in your chest.

Then I had this another weird thought. What if all this is an illusion? A dream. Could it be possible that what we think we dream is actually the reality and what we think is the reality just the dream? Also, could it be possible that all this is an imagination? Of someone? Is it possible that Earth does not exist at all? Nor does the universe or anything for that matter? Could it be possible that everything is nothing? P.S. I have tried to verbalize my questions here. But I still feel that I have not captured my feelings. Oh! the limitation of human language!

I rescued a human today.

(Taken from the internet. If it is copyrighted, please let me know so I can take it down.)

Her eyes met mine as she walked down the corridor peering apprehensively into the kennels. I felt her need instantly and knew I had to help her. I wagged my tail, not too exuberantly, so she 
wouldn't be afraid. As she stopped at my kennel I blocked her view from a little accident I had in the back of my cage. I didn't want her to know that I hadn't been walked today. Sometimes the shelter keepers get too busy and I didn't want her to think poorly of them. As she read my kennel card I hoped that she wouldn't feel sad about my past. I only have the future to look forward to and want to make a difference in someone's life. She got down on her knees and made little kissy sounds at me. I shoved my shoulder and side of my head up against the bars to comfort her. Gentle fingertips caressed my neck; she was desperate for companionship. A tear fell down her cheek and I raised my paw to assure her that all would be well. Soon my kennel door opened and her smile was so bright that I instantly jumped into her arms. I would promise to keep her safe. I would promise to always be by her side. I would promise to do everything I could to see that radiant smile and sparkle in her eyes. I was so fortunate that she came down my corridor. So many more are out there who haven't walked the corridors. 

So many more to be saved. At least I could save one. 

I rescued a human today.

Quite interesting and fo fun :)

You are The High Priestess

Science, Wisdom, Knowledge, Education.

The High Priestess is the card of knowledge, instinctual, supernatural, secret knowledge. She holds scrolls of arcane information that she might, or might not reveal to you. The moon crown on her head as well as the crescent by her foot indicates her willingness to illuminate what you otherwise might not see, reveal the secrets you need to know. The High Priestess is also associated with the moon however and can also indicate change or fluxuation, particularily when it comes to your moods.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

To Dogs & Cats

This is taken from the internet, author unknown.

Dear Dogs and Cats:

The dishes with the paw print are yours and contain your food. The other dishes are mine and contain my food. Please note, placing a paw print in the middle of my plate and food does not stake a claim for it becoming your food and dish, nor do I find that aesthetically pleasing in the slightest.

The stairway was not designed by NASCAR and is not a racetrack. Beating me to the bottom is not the object. Tripping me doesn't help because I fall faster than you can run.

I cannot buy anything bigger than a king sized bed. I am very sorry about this. Do not think I will continue sleeping on the couch to ensure your comfort. Dogs and cats can actually curl up in a ball when they sleep. It is not necessary to sleep perpendicular to each other stretched out to the fullest extent possible. I also know that sticking tails straight out and having tongues hanging out the other end to maximize your space is nothing but sarcasm.

For the last time, there is not a secret exit from the bathroom. If by some miracle I beat you there and manage to get the door shut, it is not necessary to claw, whine, meow, and try to turn the knob or get your paw under the edge and try to pull the door open. I must exit through the same door I entered. Also, I have been using the bathroom for years -- canine or feline attendance is not required.

The proper order is kiss me, then go smell the other dog or cat. I cannot stress this enough.

To pacify you, my dear pets, I have posted the following message on our front door:

To All Non-Pet Owners Who Visit & Like to Complain About Our Pets:

1 They live here. You don't.
2. If you don't want their hair on your clothes, stay off the furniture.

(That's why they call it 'fur'niture.)

3. I like my pets a lot better than I like most people.

4. To you, it's an animal. To me, he/she is an adopted son/daughter who is short, hairy, walks on all fours and doesn't speak clearly.

Remember: In many ways, dogs and cats are better than kids because they:

1. Eat less

2. Don't ask for money all the time

3. Are easier to train

4. Normally come when called

5. Never ask to drive the car

6. Don't hang out with drug-using friends

7. Don't smoke or drink

8. Don't have to buy the latest fashions

9. Don't want to wear your clothes

10. Don't need a 'gazillion' dollars for college

And finally,

11. If they get pregnant by mistake, you can sell their children.

You Are Here...Am I?

With so much hype about the novel, You Are Here, I bought a copy to see what the noise was all about. I started reading about a few pages and instinctively I could hear the echo of various chick flicks, all strewn together in a massive obsessive-confessor style.

Girl gets dumped – career goes bad – suddenly life is falling apart – then the hottest boy turns up – falls not for the hot models in the party but for this poor little girl with her hair ever messed up and perennially smelling of coffee – sparks fly all over the place – they hook up. Sounds familiar? Well, that is all what this book is about.

The book starts with a girl – in a vey fancy event-management job recently dumped by her boyfriend. So typical of Hollywood movies, I thought. In Hollywood, the girl either has to be jobless and loveless in the beginning and suddenly finds herself in the most glamorous of the jobs - event management, Page-3 journalism, or invariably fashion. Sometimes, the girl is already in a fancy job but get dumped right at the start of the movie so that the entire 90 minutes can focus on how miserable her petite life is and how she meets this drop-dead gorgeous man and they live happily ever after.

This novel is no different. In a supposedly raunchy style, it takes off the same way. The girl is yet to get over the tragedy of being dumped and always finds the hottest boy in town to make out. In between, you will find flavours of humiliation and disaster in career, about how this middle-class girl wants to be the models or Page-3 society she works with and yet all the time cringing and whining about how miserable her life is.

If you grew up watching movies like Never Been Kissed and the other numerous high school movies that Hollywood has churned out, you will see the similarity here. Only that the hangout is not some fancy place but our very own Café Coffee Day and all other Indian spices garnished all around. Also the chapter titles are lifted directly from the episode titles of Private Practice – a popular American drama. They all start as ‘In which..’

Some of the descriptions want to be very bold and I-am-the-new-Indian-girl. Sadly, they wound but being vulgar and utterly unreadable. And the book is so typical that I wanted to vomit all over it. The same cycle everywhere you turn. Why are the girls always portrayed as vulnerable, utterly insecure, lacking confidence and the entire time craving for men? I you have read books that come out by the ‘Red Dress’ publication, you will know why I am disgusted.

I know this might come harsh, but it is such a shame that books like these sit next to the greatest works of literature such as Catcher in the Rye, God of Small Things. I was so temped to visit the book store and ask them to make a separate rack for filth like this.

Anyway, I think I have ranted enough. So my summary of the book – it is the story of a 26 year old teenager who forgot to grow up.

While travelling to work today, I saw the most heartless thing that was done to a calf. The milkman was crossing the road with his herd of cows and a few calves. The sight should have been perfectly normal and not have evoked any anger or shock in me. Except that the milkman had tied the calves' mouths with a rope so that they will not drink the milk!

Can you believe? Depriving the calf of the right to it's mother's milk when we are enjoying rasamalai and rasagulla here? Imagine being starved of food for days, when it is literally a stone's throw away. Would you do that to your child? How would you feel when someone made you suffer and also deprive your child of sustenance? Would you tolerate? Then can we tolerate this?

When you go get a glass of milk to day for your child, I want you to think about this. when you make yourself a warm cup of cappuccino, look back at what you just read. There are alternatives to milk that supply ample source of calcium. Soya milk is absolutelyt healthy and tastes delicious. You even get them in flavours like chocolate, strawberry, kesar-pista and so on. So, you don't even have to spend money on buying Bournevita or Milo for your kid that will not drink plain milk. Use rice milk, it is healthy and completely vegan!