DA DA DA

Once upon a time, Gods, Men and Demons were students of Brahma (Prajapati: referred as God of thunder).

When they had finished their training, Gods asked him "tell us something that enlightens our souls".

Brahma responded saying "DA", and then asked them whether they had understood.

"We understood" they answered. "You told us DAmyata (be self controlled)."

"Yes" he said, "You understood indeed!"

Then the men asked him, he uttered the same syllable "DA", and then asked them whether they had understood.

"We understood" they answered. "You told us DAtta (give)".

"Yes" he said, "You understood indeed!"

Then the demons asked him, ... and he uttered the same syllable "DA", and then asked them whether they had understood.

"We understood" they answered. "You told us DAyadhvam (be merciful)"

"Yes" he said, "You understood indeed!"

And thus the blessed voice of thunder ever repeats DA DA DA (a traditional onomatopoeic expression of the sound of thunder) reminding us to - be self-controlled, give (charity), be merciful (mercy).

Note: Excerpt from "Brhadaranyaka Upanisad".

సశేషం...

ఒక సెకను ఇష్టం
మరు సెకను కోపం...
ఒక సెకను ప్రేమ
మరు సెకను పంతం...
ఒక సెకను బాధ
మరు సెకను బంధం...
ఒక సెకను బెంగ
మరు సెకను భయం...
ఒక సెకను ఉక్రోషం
మరు సెకను ఉడుకుతనం...
ఒక సెకను అమాయకత్వం
మరు సెకను అల్లరితనం...
ఒకే సెకను లో ఇన్ని భావాలూ రుచి చూపించి పిచేక్కించేనువ్వే,  నా నువ్వై, నాలో నువ్వై, నేనే నువ్వైనందుకు...




P.S.:తెలుగు చదవడం రాని నా మిత్రులందరికి అంకితం...
     తెలుగు చదవడం వచ్చిన మిత్రులందరికి, ఇలాంటి వ్యక్తులు మీ జీవితంలో ఉంటే గర్వించమని..
-నిగర్వి

God in Six Minutes

        Last week, one of my friends asked me, "you read so many books, what do you think of GOD is? Do you think GOD exists?" and couple of other quick questions in succession. As I was indecisive of which article to share this month, grabbed the opportunity and said “give me five minutes, will ping you, whatever comes to mind instantaneously”. The following lines are the draft that I shared with my friend, (Italics are added to the initial draft to make readers’ life easier).

               Most of the human beings are not confident (lack of self belief)...early human beings (Homo-erectus equivalent or older human beings) realized that they can’t control everything in life...like nature, death, disasters (calamities)...they tried to find answers to most of the world's tricky questions (evolution theories), but they couldn’t (satisfied with their findings)...so they thought, there might be some super power who is doing all these (creation of the universe and life) things...in adverse conditions (helpless situations like a simple fever to natural calamities) , they started looking for help from others(but rest of the living being are equally helpless, they hoped for the same super power to help them out from those adversities)...as human beings live with hope(faith)...they hoped(urged) for someone or something to help them out from (those) adverse conditions...

               Sometimes miracles do happen...they (early human beings) might have been saved from those adverse conditions (sometimes)...the miracles that helped them out, which were humanly impossible...they thought...were done by some (the same) super power (that created universe)…they named it GOD...they found this super power in many forms...EARTH, WATER, FIRE, SUN, FOREST, SNAKES, LIONS, and MONKEYS etc...name anything...the more miracles early man experienced, the more GODS he defined...

               So I feel GOD is some super power, which helps us when THINGS are not possible to control by HUMANS…these ideas may vary, as I grow older...it’s an instant answer I can give as of now...bottom line in a word I can say is BELIEF/FAITH (on someone or something) is GOD...

               There are so many loose ends for the above draft, but I wanted to publish it, as it was conceive. I wanted to read these raw thoughts, down the line probably twenty years and give it a thought/laugh again.

Rahul Dravid: Role model for a 19yr old me

             My Dad used to say, Test cricket is epitome of all formats of the game. One has to prove his mettle in Test cricket to set apart himself from a bunch of good cricketers to a great cricketer. Those were the days Indian Test batting was rock solid with the Fantastic Four...

            Rahul Dravid’s comeback to ODI format and his unparalleled commitment, dedication made him a Role Model for a 19yr old me. I used to tell great stories to my friends about how Dravid used to play ODIs earlier and how he improved his technique and adjusted his style according to the merit of the game. For a 19yr old studious, these qualities seemed very fascinating. Since then I believed in commitment, hard work, and excellence. I learnt that if one has these qualities, success will automatically hop in, irrespective of whatever the field one is in.

Umpteen times I told my friends, if you want to document a cover-drive or a pull-shot in text book, take Dravid’s shots and keep it in the book. There were so many innings of Dravid, that constantly emphasized his commitment, dedication and excellence; take any from Following-on innings with Oz in Calcutta, Rawalpindi match with Pak, last day innings with WI, 190+ with NZ, to latest Eng series and many more.

            I witnessed a great cricketer’s last international performance and farewell on 6^th Jan 2004. Back then I didn’t think about today. The feeling was immense, deep and emotional. Realizing you can’t see your favourite cricketer playing international cricket again, is speechless, back then I was just 20.

Thursday 8^th Feb 2012, I happened to read that Dravid has invited media for an important announcement. Since then the feeling that was lost somewhere deep down, rushed all of a sudden and amplified exponentially. Lucky 28yr old me, who was in office, during the retirement announcement, couldn’t witness it. But media is so cruel these days; they documented each and every word of Dravid, with colourful snaps of this black and white event. The turmoil may continue for couple of days in the brain and eventually settle down, will be buried somewhere deep down, but I am sure it’s gonna come back pretty soon in a heavier dose.

             As said by another great cricketer, “There is only one Rahul Dravid”. Indian cricket team never had a player like him in the past and undoubtedly can never produce a player of his quality in future. Thanks to “The Wall” for getting better for each innings and motivating many sports-persons to common-man (like me) in many aspects of life.

            I want to rest the topic by one of my favourite dialogues (I feel it’s apt for the situation) from POTC: At World’s End.

Barbossa: The world used to be a bigger place.

Jack Sparrow: World’s still the same. There’s just less in it.

With Great Power, Comes Great Responsibility

            Most of you might have heard this famous quote by friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man, who learnt it from his Uncle, Ben Parker. Ben Parker was not a super hero like Spider-Man, then how come he knew about “Great Power” and "Great Responsibility". This article’s focal point is on the story, Uncle Ben and the said quote. 

            During WWII Steve Roger’s volunteered himself for an experiment conducted by a Scientist known as Dr. Abraham Erskine. After the successful transformation of Steve to a super human, scientists named him Captain America. Shortly after the experiment, A German Spy (some stories say it was a Nazi) damaged the lab and Dr. Erskine lost his life in the same tragic accident. 

            With the remnants of the lab, fellow scientists conducted further experiments and created five more super humans. But their abilities couldn't last long as that of Captain America’s. So they were all given specially designed rings to control their power, preserve it and use when necessary as long as they kept the rings on. Those five super humans along with Captain America, formed a team called Six Super Warriors and fought Nazis during the WWII. But Captain America’s baffling disappearance lead to the six super warriors’ team dissolve.

            One of the above six super humans was Keane Marlow A.K.A Destroyer, who was best friend of Uncle Ben (was aware of Keane’s super power). Keane married the woman, he was in love with. One evening the couple witnessed a bank robbery, immediately the Destroyer wore the ring and faught the thugs, but the thugs use gun fire to stop the Destroyer who could put them to justice. In the crossfire the Destroyer lost his beloved wife. 

            Keeping his best friend Keane and his super power in mind,  Uncle Ben quoted to young Peter Parker “With Great Power, Comes Great Responsibility”, but he never shared the story of Keane with Peter Parker.  

NOTES: From John Semper’s Six Forgotten Warriors, Season five of Stan Lee's Spider-Man.

It’s been an Year…

It’s been almost an year since my last post, being busy with important happenings in real-life, the longevity of no internet days are the reasons for this paucity. Though didn’t write anything throughout the year, my mind never stopped thinking about writing, out of those hundreds of ideas/incidents only few are worth sharing like “My Encounter with Talking Dog”, “The Night I Traveled with Super Woman”, “The Alluring Dreams” and “An Untitled Thriller”. I definitely share these incidents with blogger world sooner.

Meanwhile, I kept myself busy with reading books, learning new technologies in professional life, enjoying sitcoms like never before, and as usual balancing my diet and work-outs. 

Reading Books: Throughout the year couple of my friends’ suggested me wide variety of readings. These guys influenced me so strong that I wanted to read 1000 books. Current book shelf score is 60/1000 hope one day I reach the mark. Malcolm Gladwell’s “Blink” and Sigmund Freud’s “Interpretation of Dreams” are among the best readings of the year.

Enjoying Sitcoms: I used to watch over 200 movies per year during the salad days of MUMBAI life. But due to the catchy phrases, mind-boggling comedy timings, and short and sweet length of the episodes made me watch sitcoms almost daily. Now I am a regular follower of CBS comedies “HIMYM”, “The Big Bang Theory” and “Two and a Half Men”. Thanks to STAR WORLD for acting as INDIA’s CBS. Apart from these sitcoms I got the privilege to watch Stan Lee’s Spider-Man and The HULK. These anime gave lot of insights on many things that I barely knew in childhood.

Diet and work-outs: Completely kept myself away from gym throughout the year. But sporadically pushed myself in skipping and jogging. Cycling is something I want to try very fondly, waiting for better time and place. Coming to diet, increased the intake of Carb’s, gradually reduced the intake of Milk from 3/4ltrs per day to NILL and replaced it with Coconut water and Chaas.

Anticipate on tenterhooks for next post. Hakuna Matata.

Cipher...

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