MahaShivratri celebrations at Brahma Kumaris, Shanti Sarovar

9^th March 2013.

On the eve of Maha Shivratri 10^th March which is a Hindu festival celebrated to worship Shiva, Brahma Kumaris organized a grand fair having various good events like Inspiring talks, mediation, cultural events, Drug deaddiction stall and many more. 

My wife, who is very spiritual and religious by nature, somehow came to know about the event and shared the idea of visiting the place and as we didn’t planned anything for the evening, I thought it is worth to try. Also, it was very near to our residence. Initially, I was bit hesitant to attend this event but my wife successfully convinced me which is very common. And now I must say it was one of its kind events and I really enjoyed that evening much beyond I imagined. It is always good to spend time on the new experiences than spending money in shopping and restaurants as the gratification is really high and lasting in the former. 

Let me describe the day. We entered the Brahma Kumaris, Shanti Sarovar, Hyderabad at around 6 pm and Parked our 2 wheeler and looked around. It was a beautiful campus sprawled in 34 acres area of Land having a good number of fountains, waterfalls and amazing green cover. It was a very soothing view and calm and peaceful atmosphere was enough to make us relax.  From outside, nobody can imagine such a beautiful calm campus amidst the high rise buildings and traffic. In the campus, one can read the positive and inspiring quotes written on small boards everywhere. I at once realized that it was a perfect place to relax, unwind ourselves from the daily stressful life and to recharge our inner self. Luckily, I had carried my small little camera that day.

 

 As soon as we entered in the beautiful garden where all the events were planned, we were nicely welcome and it was an amazing feeling. At one side, all the Jyotirlingas i.e 12 were beautifully created. Although, i was bit shy to use a camera there but i captured.

12 Jyotirilingas beautifully arranged in a row

Amazing green cover. Walking without footwear on it was soothing

After we visited all the Jyotirlingas, somebody instructed us to visit the big shivling next. It was really beautiful and quite large. 

Huge Shivling bounded by small shivlings

As we completed Darshan, we visited various stalls in the garden teaching some beautiful wisdom, telling us our purpose of life and some other amazing life skills. However, pathetic me stuck in this rat race forgot about all the lessons. Now, I am not able to recall any. We also purchased some good posters like Importance of silence, Anger is one word less than Danger and many more and some good literature which I believe i will never read. There was 1 stall teaching you about importance of meditation in this competitive world. After visiting all that, we settled on the ground to see some cultural events planned during the evening. 

9 goddesses whom we worship in Navratras

In one of the event, 9 goddesses were showcased along with their specialty and at the same time, there was some commentary at the background telling us about the importance of each Goddess.
It was very informative. Let me give you 1 example: Goddess sitting on extreme left wearing sky blue colored saree is Santoshi Devi who is also called as 'Mother of Satisfaction' and responsible for the satisfaction level in our life. It is believed that if you worship her regularly, then your greedy nature will be lessened and you will be more satisfied in your life.

Excerpt from a Drama

There were large number of small events conceptualized to keep the interest of everyone, however some of the programs were in Telegu (Regional Language) which bored us. In the last, there was some play based on the theme of 'How love can be the only solution to calm down the angry and negative energy in us.' The scene in the play was taken from the very famous serial, Devo ke Dev Mahadev, telecasted on Color channel these days. Luckily, I have watched that episode 2 days before and thus enjoyed the scene more.

Finally, at 10, we went to our home. It was a very beautiful evening spend with my wife.  At least, it was far far better than visiting any shopping mall. I was feeling rejuvenated instead of feeling exhausted.

I am looking forward for more visits at Shanti Sarovar to experience that calm and serene environment. It is a very good place for someone who like to spend their time with nature. Also, There are no charges of any kind like parking etc. Everything is absolutely free.

Friday’ Magic Moments at Office

Today, I am very happy and excited about my wife’ first birthday after marriage which is very close i.e. just 10 days left for the celebration. 

In India, we stress so much on every festival or event especially when it is first time after marriage. Every other day, I used to listen something like that this is your first Holi/ Diwali/Birthday/New Year and what not after marriage. I am not ranting or anything but instead it gives me a pleasure. It gives me a feeling that this time we will celebrate the festivals in some special way with more excitement coming our way .And yes, this is true. We are newlywed; sometimes I wonder till what time, we will remain a newlywed. I believe till eternity because it is a feeling, it is a matter of feeling how excited are you. Hehehe, married people must be puzzled. 

Last week, we went to Shirdi, next week is my wife’s birthday, Next to next week, we are going to our Hometown for Holi celebrations and also first time after Marriage and next to next to next week, I am having some specials travel plans which are in progress but very much finalized and which will be a gift to my wife on her 1^st birthday after marriage.

Still making plans about her first Birthday how to make it special. For now, i have planned some surprises at midnight and then the buffet in a fine dining restaurant. If anybody has some good plan, please do share.

Just sharing one of my favorite picture below. It is the first time, i am sharing her any pic on my blog. 

Tribute to my Grandfather - Part 3

This post is in continuation to my last 2 posts and the last one.

1. http://atlasshrugged-eccentric.blogspot.in/2013/02/u-turn-in-blogs-vision-and-tribute-to-m.html

2. http://atlasshrugged-eccentric.blogspot.in/2013/03/tribute-to-my-grandfather-part-2.html

After the holi ended, his end was also quite near. Although his health is improving, his mood was getting worse. I remembered the incident when he tore the 5 rs note. He was like a kid in those days. His activities are not like that of matured man. I once read a poem “The seven ages and it said that the 1^st and 7^th stages are exactly similar and very few people in this world experience this 7^th and last stage. I like his attitude. What happened once in last days that he asked for a pomegranate juice and that was not allowed. My grandmother told him to get him the juice of Mausami. I told her, let him drink pomegranate juice. She agreed and I don’t know why I said this perhaps it was in my subconscious mind that now he can be dead any time. All these things keep happened and the doom day comes, I didn’t remember the exact date. Let me tell you about the day from the very beginning. Night before the black day, I was in the hospital. In the morning, pintoo chacha came and I was asked to leave. Further, I was given certain instructions to purchase so much food from the Sargadho and give it to kodi aashram and also to go to gaushala where the holy cows live to donate some money over there for the grass, diet of the cow. After finishing these things, I went straight to home and slept. It was around 6,7 pm when my mother woke me up informing me, he was no longer among us.

Babaji was the word I used for him. He always asks me to sit in his room while dinner but I talk to him for a while and then went into my room. I was such a pathetic couch potato who didn’t understand the value. He keeps coming into my dreams and still threatens me some times, haha, it was a funny. I think today also, he would come to my dreams and to tell me how I was going on the blog about him, whether to include anything or erase anything. He was such a darling. There are lot of incidents that I remember quite vividly about him. There are also certain events about which today I feel guilty. There were days when I didn’t respect him at all and argues him, totally ignore him but gradually, I started about his way of thinking and emotions as I am growing. May be same would happen to me and even worse, this is life.

He was also the topic when I was drinking with my brother in Fox, Gurgaon. Everybody on our family is so grateful to him. He was the one who decided to switch to job after his retirement as my father died when I was small, he advised my mother to become a teacher. He decided that we both should continue our school It was he who decided to construct the shops in our garden. It was the most difficult of the decision of his life as we all know how much close is the garden to his heart. Efforts never go waste and when the time was come to reap the benefits of his efforts, he passed away. His decisions are so fruitful to us today. He makes us feel proud always. One thing I always learned from him is to live with proud. He was very passionate and once when I went with him to distribute Diwali gifts, somebody told him why do you drink? My Baba simply replied, it was my passion and the people lives for their passion. Those were also the great days when every year I used to go to him to distribute gifts in the morning in chacha’s car Fiat. These memories also keep flashing. Mostly, dhadkan music was played in the car as it was the only cassette in the car. As a result of which, whenever I listen to the songs of this movie, I got lost in my younger days which I spend with my babaji. I like the way my baba and his attitude was respected by everybody.

Tribute to my Grandfather - Part 2

This post is in continuation to my last post.

http://atlasshrugged-eccentric.blogspot.in/2013/02/u-turn-in-blogs-vision-and-tribute-to-m.html

I caught a train from Lucknow. Its Lucknow Chandigarh, I usually prefer this train because I know how to get berth in this train without the reservation, in fact process is same in all the cases, I would rather say I know what the TT charges in this case. I was very lucky to catch this train as the time was not sufficient but still one thing we learn in colleges is rash driving. Here comes its application. In the meantime, I also enquired my brother if it was the truth what the mother said or something else. My brother confirmed and told he would leave Delhi tomorrow morning along with bua and fufaji and of course my cousins. It was a very chilly night and the rain was falling continuously  It appeared to me for a moment if there is something wrong seriously as the god was also supporting my eyes. It was of course very serious but during such times, it’s a tendency of the mind to be steered towards negative and worst repercussions. I talked to the tt, got the birth and those were the days, when I have started reading. I have said reading because Atlas shrugged was my first serious reading of the life. It also helps me in bad times. As I woke up, I had a cigarette and waited for the destination. My mind was full of what-if questions. It was heavily raining and the environment was very depressed. As I landed in Saharanpur, I got a call from my brother. They have just entered in Saharanpur at around 8am and as the arrival time of my train was also the same, on the top of it, it was raining, So they called me to know where I have reached. When I informed them, they came at station to receive me and then we all finally went directly to the hospital. I always feel a kind of shyness in company of my relatives. I don’t know whether it is natural or due to my other mental requirements. 

After we exchanged the greetings in the hospital, there was a kind of contact of eyes between me and my grandfather that dampen my eyes and spirit little. But I try to remain normal, as soon as we entered, condition of DM is getting worse and someone told me to get the Gangajal from the house of Dr. Jaipal Uncle whose house is very close. I walked in the rain to the house unaware of the whether it was tears or water, I asked for the same. This was another point where I felt little shyness. I went back to the hospital and my grandmother helped him to swallow the gangajal. In Hindu mythology, something rubbish is believed about gangajal and its effect or what so ever. I think I shouldn’t say the water rubbish but who knows is it really the gangajal. Haha…its normal in our mythology but let it be, we shouldn’t make fun of it. One must try to accept people and things and traditions as they are and not as he perceived. After spending some time, we were asked to go to home and then bring lunch after a gap of 3, 4 hours. I don’t know who went along with me, but one thing that I remember was that I left the hospital on Activa.

 The best thing is when two People love each other very much, it becomes difficult to express. This case requires no extra explanation. Beauty and love is in the eyes of beholder as said by Shakespeare, in fact I would say respected Shakespeare. The days passed like this, DM began to recover slowly, relatives left, my brother plan to left on holi. 

Holi also comes, I went to railway station to drop my brother. That holi was not the most colorless. There were Holi’s even horrible and depressing than that. Those were the days when my disagreement was at the peak against those who preaches Holi is the most colorful festival. Of course, it was a bad argument.

 Things comes and goes, life moves on. Life waits for nobody and the most mystic element i.e., time heals everything. 

Stay tuned! I will continue it further.