Random Thought!!

A shift in perspective is all you need to make a hopeless situation look like a god send...

Ladakh Musings

My friend B is working hard on striking things off her bucket list and today she strikes off 'Travel to Ladakh'. She  is also big on researching the place she is visiting and all her friends benefit from her research, as she believes in sharing knowledge, so here is a impromptu lesson on Ladakh (now Ladakh has landed itself a place on my places-to-visit-before-I-die list).

I quote her "Ladakh literally means a land of high passes and through where the Indus_River runs its course. The word "India" is derived from the word Indus and that the word “Indus” comes from the Sanskrit word “Sindhu” meaning river, stream or ocean, probably from a root sidh meaning to keep off. In Tibetan it means Lion River. Geographically, Ladakh is the highest plateau of the Indian state of Kashmir with much of it being over 3,000 m (9,800 ft). It spans the Himalayan and Karakoram mountain ranges and the upper Indus River valley. It’s also lovingly referred as  little Tibet."

The reason why she chose to go to Ladakh was the fact that she will be at the height of about ten thousand feet for a week or so, and wondered, how weird it would feel like being that close to heaven...she figures that one practical advantage of being at such a height is the improved chances of Prayers and Wishes reaching straight up there without any interruptions or delays...like reaching a place which has a hotline to GOD!!! 

She plans on visiting a number of monasteries and while planning for the trip she had a brainwave of the century. She had read somewhere "A prayer, in its simplest definition, is merely a wish turned heavenward." and as she intended to put up prayer flags herself, she kindly offer to be a carrier for any prayer or wish for any of us and put up prayer flags on our behalf. I liked the idea about writing down my prayer, as I too function better when I write things down, the following is the first prayer that came to mind,

"Dear God, I believe in you and know that you will always be with me in every situation. Please help me become a more empathetic and trusting person in all my relationships and continue to give me the strength and grace to face all the challenges and obstacles that are bound to be in my path of life"

But soon realised that I need to be more specific, this is not a wish, these are my beliefs and desires, so I started thinking what is it that I really pray for, I know the politically correct thing is that I should actually be asking for big things like world peace and international brotherhood, but I figure, I will start locally by asking for the betterment of the people around me or better still, wish for a better me, even if one life is a little better  it will contribute to world peace eventually. I confess it is not an original thought, currently reading Eat, Pray Love and the author has used a similar thought to express her logic for the decision she took at one point in life, it struck me as a good way to look at life... Not sure if you have read the book , but it is a must read, I've read it to the point where she has completed her stay in Italy and moved onto India, and I've loved it so far... 

But I digress, finally it came to me that what I really want is to know what is the purpose of my being born as a human being. I'm sure there is a plan that maybe staring me in the face but I've not yet realised it, it may not be a grand thing like starting a revolution or leading a nation, but every life has a purpose, even if it is a small task like watering the plants, I want to find out what is mine... Once I know what is my purpose, I know I will be at peace with myself and everything else will fall into place... so this is the prayer flag that I asked her to put up on my behalf...

"Dear God, help me understand my true purpose and bring me closer to the means of achieving it' 

She agreed to put up my prayer flag, and I can already see the benefits of writing down my prayer/ wish, for she shared with me a story of a Wild Rose - a desert plant that blooms once every 12 years with a sweet fragrance that spreads miles around. She asked, do you think the rose should wait for some right time to bloom, like when there are people around to admire her beauty and sing all the right praises or should the rose go right ahead and just bloom, no matter if there is someone out there admiring or not!!!

If this story is any indication I must be on the right path, for it sure mirrors my thoughts on purpose, now all I need to do is use my heart to recognise it when it lands in front of me...

Fireflies...

Yesterday we went to Kuala Selangor to see the famous fireflies. Kuala Selangor is a two hour drive from Kuala Lumpur. When we declared at office that we want to go see the fireflies, everyone said: "Yes, you got to be noble and donate blood", apparently the mosquitoes up there are really blood thirsty, so we went prepared with bug repellent, but to be fair we were not bitten even once. Once there we had to wait till it was dark, it was sometime close to eight when we finally sat in the little four seater boat.

You got to see it to believe it, the place is unreal. There wasn't much moonlight, so we were lucky to get a glimpse of nature at her best. The only sounds as we rowed in the darkness towards the bushes was the rhythmic sound of the oars hitting the water and the insects of the night calling out to one another. At first you could see nothing, then when you neared the bushes, you feel like the stars have temporarily descended from the sky and settled on the bushes along the banks. The tiny fireflies, flicker like little rice lights that are lit during Diwali. Our guide pointed out to the little bugs and to the stars in the sky and said 'See, they look the same!', to be honest they did look the same...

I read somewhere that life isn't about the breath we take, its about the moments that take our breath away, the moment when I saw the fireflies was one such moment that will be etched in my memory for ever. I could have stayed there on the banks of the river all night listening to the sounds of the forest and the gentle sound made by the river as it flowed and just watched the little flies go about the business of being alive. The whole scene had me thinking that I was so lucky to be alive and to have the good fortune to be able to enjoy these sights. Also I couldn't help but wonder that this scene has been the same since time immemorial, the only person extra was me, but the little insects let me into their world without any protest. If only we could be that understanding and learn to live the simple life, without the malice, the treachery, the plotting and greed, I guess we will help make this world a better place. If there is one thing I learned from them it is, that you just go and do what you do best, leave the rest to the supreme being who is up there looking out for you...

Disas Touch...

So I usually pride myself as something of a domestic goddess, who can manage a household whilst keeping her career. So when I had a day when everything I touched went kaput, it was disastrous for my confidence. 

Yesterday the first roadblock I hit was blowing the fuse because I was cooking at the highest heat level and apparently I should not be doing that  (Duh, who is going to tell me that, don't you think the apartment should come with instructions like... 

1) Do not use the hot plate at level 5, you will blow the fuse

2) Do not surf channels beyond no 10, the volume will reduce (yes this is what happens when you go beyond channel 10 on the TV in my colleague's room)

3) Do not empty morsels of food into the kitchen sink, you will block it  ( OK, I admit, I knew this, but was feeling too lazy to scrape the food off the plates into the bin).

So first while cooking I blow the fuse and was left standing in the darkness that was only alleviated to some extent by the emergency light near the door and the eerie red glow of the hot plate. So I called housekeeping  and they send a maintenance guy over, he takes one look at the hot plate and does something to the fuse box and the lights come back on, on further questioning him about the cause of the blackout, he points out to the hot plate as the culprit, don't use it at the top mark he advises, smiles a 1000 watt smile and leaves.

Next the biryani I was cooking resembled a very badly made khichidi and was nothing like the light and fluffy rice I normally turn out. I somehow managed to eat some parts of it and packed the rest to be eaten later... if possible.

After that when cleaning the dishes I managed to jam the blasted sink. No matter what I did the water refused to go, and I had to call housekeeping again, much to my chagrin the same guy came with the pump to make the block go away. I think the people at housekeeping will soon nickname me the Lady with the 'Disas Touch', Short for Disaster, to Rhyme with Midas touch... but being the opposite...

Sen from Heaven...

Before the rain...

And it is pouring...

After staying in a hotel for over a month and eating restaurant food for every meal, my nerves had reached screaming point. Just then someone up there in heaven took pity on me and decided that enough is enough and I need to be moved to an apartment. Lo and behold, I now live in the most divine service apartment. 

This is the view from the window of my apartment, it is on the the 22nd floor and when I look out it makes me feel like I must be close to heaven... Sen from heaven signing off...

Creativity at its best !!!

Seen in the washroom of one of the food joints in Melacca, creativity or rather a practical example of 'Necessity is the mother of inventions'. This chopstick is a trailblazer of sorts, it surely has been to places where no other chopstick has ever been before and done things that no other chopstick has done before :-D...

Portrait...

A street artist in KL, drew this portrait of mine. I like to think that he saw my inner beauty when he drew this, as to be honest, only the eyebrows and double chin are mine, the rest belong to Rani Roopmati... not that I'm complaining, I love this picture to bits!!!

While he was drawing this picture a huge crowd had gathered to see the progress, from kids, to young boys and girls to older people all formed part of the crowd. It is really funny cause, people who were walking on the pavement would stop, look at the sketch and then look at me and back at the sketch. If I happened to catch someone eye there would be smiles all around.

All the while it was being made I was unable to see the picture, at one point, a horrible thought came in my mind, 'What if he was making a fool of me and drawing a picture of a monkey ?', like how whimsical artists sometimes do, so I asked my colleague as much, it was only when he assured me that the artist was really drawing a lovely picture that I could relax. The end result is for all see, it is a thing of beauty and I know for sure that I'm going to frame it the minute I land in India and this portrait of mine will be with me to the day I die...