Mysorean

[Via Sowpar]

Long times ago, in Egypt lived a famous mystical person name Zun-Nun. A young man came to visit him and asked “Teacher, I do not understand why people like you dress in such a way and very simple, isn’t in this era was necessary to dress neatly, not only for performance but also for other reasons?

The mystical only smiled and took his ring from one of his fingers, and said “Young friend, I will answer your question, but first do one thing for me, take this ring and go to the market across this street, can you sell this for one chip of gold?

Having looked at Zun-Nun’s dirty ring, the young man became doubtful. “One chip of gold, I am not sure this ring could be sold at that price.”

“Try first, young man, who knows you did it.” The Young man went to the market quickly. He offered the ring to the textile, vegetable, meat, fish traders, and the others. The fact was that no body was willing to pay for a chip of Gold. He went back to Zun-Nun residence and reported “Teacher, no body was brave to offer more than one chip of silver.”

With a wise smile Zun-Nun said, “Now go to the Gold Shop at the back of this street. Show this to the owner or to the gold trader. Don’t give your price just listen how much he will pay for this ring.”

The Young man went to the shop mentioned and returned with a different expression from his face. He then reported “Teacher, the traders in the market really do not know the value of this ring, the gold trader offer this ring for one thousand of gold, And the value of this ring was one thousands times from what the traders in the market offer.

Zun-Nun just smiled subtly and spoke softly, “That was the answer of your questions my friend, “Someone cannot be valued only from his dress “The traders in the market” give value like that. But not for “The gold trader”.

Even in our lives, there is Gold everywhere. We don’t assume the “Gold Trader”s role frequently. We assume the “What-if-he/she-is-not-gold?” role. It is our ability to identify Gold around us that is limited. Gold is everywhere. Gold or Diamond is the same to me!

I know a person who is very cute, sweet and genuine. She knows the amount of Gold (She calls them diamonds) she is surrounded by. It is amazing that she recognizes the people around her. Many people live their lives without knowing the treasure that’s everywhere. This post is for you my cute little diamond.

[An email fwd via Naveen]

As I was passing the elephants, I suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at anytime, break away from their bonds but for some reason, they did not.

I saw a trainer near by and asked why these beautiful, magnificent animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away.

“Well,” he said, “when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it’s enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free.”

I was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn’t, they were stuck right where they were.

Like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something, simply because we failed at it once before?

Everybody is sitting around evaluating every person from the other side. The looks travel as if they were arrows to an enemy side with no consideration to the possibility that they may end up as one single happy family a few days later.

The conversation happens across multiple channels among multiple people at the same time. The elderly men are discussing their professions, the women are talking weather. The children are staring at the boy. The boy is not allowed to or supposed to or expected to feel overawed by the situation. Because he is the one who has asked to see the girl. That he has been told that this is the only respectable way to get married is conveniently sidelined by all concerned parties.“Hey you know, that couple had a love marriage” is actually a statement conveying social stigma and not a casual remark.

Emotions are deep. We, normal human beings, are mostly unaware of their depth. Even the so-called “stable” people are some times taken aback when they feel the depth of emotions.

What we might know is that these emotions exist. Sometimes even the existence of a certain emotion within us might come us a surprise. Being aware that there are emotions that exist within us is sometimes termed as “knowing self”. But do we know the complete depths to which they exist? I am afraid not.

We live in a world of rationale and logic. Whatever happens we try to assign a why to it. Answer the self-inspired question. Slot it into something comfortable in our mind and get on with the next moment.

We are fooling ourselves. The world we see is rationale and logic. The world is not all rationale and logic. What we see, we try to assign rationale and logic. The world we see is rationale and logic.

What I know is nothing. What I don’t know is more than what I know. And a combination of this is what forms the World. I am not getting into issues of control and action here.

Being aware of this truth helps me control and act in a humane way. Is this the ultimate truth or is there something else? I don’t know. If I have to know I will know. I am comfortable with this thought. It brings immense peace to my being.

I am aware that there are depths to my emotions that are unknown to me. There will be situations in life when those depths are touched. That’s when the unknown enters the known for an instant. It’s a certain delicate moment of our being when we are confronted with the depth which was unknown hitherto.

Sometimes, which is most of the times, I don’t want to do anything about the newly discovered part of me. There are a few rare moments when I have made the decision to explore it. The exploration is a journey. The journey doesn’t promise any benefits. What is a benefit?! The journey makes me more aware. I am more than what I was before the journey.The journey doesn’t bridge the gap between known and unknown. It cannot happen through such conscious decisions. Being aware & living are extremely powerful states of mind. And boundless too.

As a tribute to my teachers, I had written this about Mr. Suryanarayana, my mathematics teacher during Intermediate days at Hyderabad:

“There was one Mr. Suryanarayana who was a Don in the World of Calculus. His style of teaching was so simple and clear that I became a fan of Calculus. He used to be called M1 at college. [It was a system to label teachers as M1, M2, so on in SRM Junior college/ Special Coaching Centre]”

In response to this, I have received a connect from one Mr. Vidyanath saying Mr. Suryanarayana is no more. He passed away 4 years back.

During our Intermediate days, professor was not keeping very well. He would come whenever his health permitted him to. We would wait with great excitement for his arrival. Because once he came, the class would be a roller-coaster ride. Nobody would believe it was a mathematics class. He would stand on the dais for a mere 15 minutes; explain the concept that he would be handling during the next two hours. Then, he would walk around between the benches clarifying doubts of students with amazing patience.

Subjects like Calculus, co-ordinate geometry and others were just made to sound so simple. It was Mr. Suryanarayana Rao who drove the fear of mathematics away from us. Instead he made it our most favourite subject. I know of atleast 80 people (my intermediate class) who just adored him. Some of us would call him “Thatha” not out of ridicule but affection.

Even today if I am faced with a problem of mathematics, I won’t run away saying that I have forgotten all this. Instead I will try approaching it from first principles. The fundamentals which the Great professor has so superbly taught us. It is now fun to do mathematics.

Thanks to you Sir. Thanks! If I say you were God to me, I don’t think I would be off the mark. Guru devo bhava. Now that you are with God, please tell God to send more people like you to make more students understand the fun behind every subject. You know the best as to how learning can be made effortless.

In the form of your death, special coaching center has lost its best professor. The students are never going to realize what they have lost. The student community, who has learnt from you, will know what a great loss it is. For me, it’s a great personal loss. I have lost my Guru. And I guess I had done something really bad not to know about the loss for 4 years. I will miss you Sir!

Also, thanks to Mr. Vidyanath for updating me. Please keep in touch.

Hyderabad is where my parents stay. I work out of Chennai. Though not a home-sick kind of guy but still like going home. I feel there’s a certain duty that I owe towards my parents. And these duties we can carry out only on being with them.

Once during a discussion with my close friend – Iti – we agreed that there were so many things that our parents depend on us for. But most of the time, we were away [atleast Iti and I were away from our parents while studying and working] from them pursuing what we called the ‘career’ aspects. And in fact, they [our parents] wanted us to succeed in them. And once we got into the ‘career’ mode that was it, we went on with our lives as if it was now absolutely independent from the whole world. Yeah, we keep talking about how “teamwork” is important at workplace and how we should life our teammates when they are down or help them out in case they had some issues. Somewhere down the line, we slowly pushed our parents and family to the background. They are always there.

In fact, when my dad bought his first car – a second hand blue Maruti 800, I was so excited. At that time I was with my parents [doing my intermediate] and it was really a happy issue for me. Not that I did something great on the car’s arrival. It was just that I was there. After that, we moved through a new white maruti 800 – to – a silver maruti Zen – to – a Hyundai Accent. I never even knew the day when these cars were being purchased. [Yeah, I know the mistake here is mine and throughout this article I continue to admit that the mistake is mine]. I missed sharing the joy of my parents on getting the new cars. I wasn’t there.

My brother on the other hand has always had the great fortune of being with our parents throughout. Though he feels he would have done better if he had moved away for his undergraduation [Like me], I think he has a long way to go. During which he can actually go through everything he wants.

Iti says, “There are so many things that our parents want us to do for them. But they don’t generally say it out because they feel we might not like it. But as you start living with them, you realise that there are so many small things that you do which give them immense happiness. These things you cannot do if you are away from them”. Typical of Iti to put the most sensible of things in the most simple of ways!

I have been wanting to go to Hyderabad for the past couple of months now. And something or the other keeps coming in my way. This time I have planned to make it there for the weekend of 24th & 25th. And with heavy rains lashing the state of AP, many trains have been cancelled [including Charminar express]. And my dad also says, that it’s better I stay put at Chennai. And he was the one who was asking me if I would be coming home this weekend or not during every phone call.

God has his own ways of dealing with things. I find myself too small-minded to accept his ways. And I can never be big enough to refuse them. If he just wanted me not to go to Hyderabad he could have done something else. What’s the use of troubling so many people all over the state for it? I protest. And God, you better listen. Enough is enough. Among many other things, You flooded mumbai, hit New Orleans with a hurricane, now again inundating Andhra. What’s your anger against?

Kids play with whatever they want to. If you go back from office and pick up your kid and start playing. The first thing your kid (if he’s 1 to 2 yr old) will do is put his/her hand in your pocket, and get that pen out. Then goes the mobile. Then a few important papers! [Those business cards you exchanged just before you left!] Then comes God! Yes! You can’t believe it? You are so divine and holy that God was with you all this while.

The kid takes God out of your pocket. And starts crumpling God. Yes, once you see God you can do anything with him!

Instantly, you tell the kid, “No cutie pie, leave it. This is God. You shouldn’t do such things with God”. And as if on cue, you take [snatch] the ten ruppee note back from the kid carefully [so that you don't tear God!].

And, as the kid grows up, he is taught “Money is God”. We keep reinforcing this throughout the kid’s life.

Then, whenever a coin falls on the floor. What does the kid do? He picks it up [with his right hand that too], touches both his eyes with the coin and gives it back to the owner.

We are living in such a material world that money has become the be-all and end-all of our life. Our life revolves around money. We want to earn money. More money. And more money. And why?

How stupid I am! I ask why do you need money. Here we go:

1. We need money to satisfy our needs. What are our needs? Two cars, three mobile phones, two TVs, one big refrigerator, one bigger refrigerator, one microwave, two computers, and the list goes on. These can be safely classified under wants. Wants are upgraded needs that are formed because of the society’s influence. Wants are nowadays entering the are called “Greed”. And greed can never be satisfied.
2. We earn respect because of money. This according to me is the biggest fallacy of this society. We are given a status of middle-class, upper class or lower class based on how much of it you earn in one year! I feel like we are not living in a harmonious society but in a Train. [You know that second class, first AC, etc. etc.?!]
   And this status is respect. You own a car & a house, oh wow! you are a big guy! That’s respect!
3. Money brings me peace. I want to meet one person who earned peace on earning money. People go abroad to earn money. They leave their family members, go away, stay in as trying circumstances as possible, all this to earn money. And at the end of it all, what would we have gained? A few lost relationships because we never stayed in touch. We would have lost the beauty of life in the process. Continue living life like a machine. The output the machine will give is “money”.

There is a particular line in one of Rajnikanth’s movie songs which goes like this:

“…kaiyil konjam kaasu irundhaal needhan adharku ejamaanan
kazhuththu varaikkum kaasu irundhaal adhudhaan unnakku ejamaanan…”

If you have money enough to take in your fist, then you are in control of the money.
But if the money is upto your neck, then it’s the one in control.
[Song from Muthu - "Oruvan Oruvan Mudalali" - Tamil Language. You can listen to it here. Lyrics by Vairamuthu. Music by A R Rahman]

The lucky ones among us, have money enough for our fist. [And if you notice, the fist restricts the size that it can hold. It cannot hold infinite money.] But we want to get to the point where we have money till our necks. So, in the process, the lucky ones are trying to attain unhappiness.

How will one be happy if control of one’s life is with the money that one has? When all of us are trying to attain unhappiness, then why do we crib about the lack of happiness in our lives? We have thrown it away with our own hands. Its upto us to find where it is.

All of us want to go to Mumbai. But we got down from the train going to Mumbai. Changed platforms. And ran to get into the train going to Calcutta. And now, that we are inside the train to Calcutta, we are cribbing that we are not going to get to Mumbai anyway. We need to get off the Calcutta train, and try to find out how to get to Mumbai. Simple.

Sounds simple? Try doing it. All the best!