Walking in 2010 :)

Love celebrating Ponggal ( the Indian harvest festival)....for its all about sweets and nourishment...and what better way to start a year....and since it falls in the second week of January...it always prolongs the new years celebrations...

16 years ago around this time....i was in India...celebrating Ponggal with my parents , grandparents...uncles , aunties....cousins and a whole bunch of other relatives...what an experience it was....i was in my moms village....so , actually witnessed the very original way of celebrating Ponggal...for they are all farmers and have worked all year through for their bountiful harvest....and deserve to celebrate it . Its a 4 days celebration over there ...begins with the "Boghi" where you gather all your old and unwanted things to be burnt in a huge fire....the significance of doing this is to let go of your past and start anew...to leave behind anything thats negative...and make a fresh start mentally and physically.

Then the next day.....its called veetu Ponggal.....where the entire village...makes fire in front of their own little huts to cook the sweet sticky rice with an earthen pot....everyone pours the milk into their pots at the same time...and waits to see who's milk boils first....and the moment someones milk comes to a boil and flows out of the pot..we could hear ladies and young girls of that family screaming " PONGALO PONGGAL"....which is a way of announcing to the rest of the village that their milk had boiled . And the process continues with adding in the rice...brown sugar and butter and stirring it till it cooks well....then

The third day is for the cows....everyone in the village brings their cows to one spot....adorn them with flowers, bells and color their horns with bright paint ....pray to them showing gratitude to the sacred cows....

I will never forget that day.....when we all gathered at an open field...sat down by the moonlight....and they made me sing....i sang a semi classical song from a tamil movie....katrodu kuzhalin naathamey...which is about lord krishna...then the ladies gathered to do the "Kummi" dance...which is going in rounds clapping their hands in a particular rhythm...my mom joined in this dance as well...its all surreal to think of it now...it was so beautiful....something we only see in the movies.

Probably that experience while i was India....made me keep up with that Ponggal celebration till now..i try my best to create that atmosphere here....but it somehow never came close to that experience...living here in Kuala Lumpur....where the moonlight struggles its way through the city lights to touch the ground...it is far from nature....but still...whats more important is that "FEEL'....and when you could feel it ...the atmosphere is created....

so as always....i called a few beautiful friends for dinner....i adorned my house with sugar canes...and used an earthen pot to cook the sweet sticky rice....but of course i cant start a fire outside my house to cook it...or the Bomba will be here the next instant....so i use my gas stove to do it....cooked a few traditional vegetarian dishes....and had banana leaves to serve it....it was fun..and filled with laughter !! Happy to start the year with lots of sweets :)

Whats your story ?

Yes....its time to write a new chapter again..and the good news is ....the storyline is ALL in your hands....write it the way you want....let it be "YOUR" story....dont copy from another book...or refer to other authors...just write YOUR OWN STORY... ! Create the best situations...with the most loving people you know....and meet new beautiful souls....decorate your pages with the brightest of colours ....use rainbows and sunny skies as backdrop of your story...run around...play...jump for joy....laugh , laugh and laugh...dont forget adorable puppies.....set the warmest weather ...with the coolest touch of breeze.....yes this is your story....so by all means....

WRITE IT !!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE !!!!!!

Crossroads passed :)

Yeah ...just last week i posted " what to do at crossroads?"....and within days i got the answer....and i have chosen the right path at my crossroad....the answer simply dawns to you when you let go of it....and then u stand wandering....how is it that i did not see the obvious answer lying plainly right before my eyes.....yes ....as you go by life's rule you begin to understand that the toughest decisions could be made with the most simple ways...yeah its weird but true....

try letting go a little...just let go...relax....smile...feel yourself light...be blank in your mind ....empty your head.....and you will see all the answers you want flooding into its channels...so sytematically....yes...it really does....its magical..

its just like swimming...you can only float when you learn how to be relaxed and let go....otherwise you drown....nothing else had changed....same water...same place...same day ...same depth....but only one thing change...."You learnt how to let go" .......its just like that....

So be relaxed....breath....smile :)

What to do at Crossroads ?

How do you choose when you are at crossroads....?

I realise that the hardest thing to do in life is to live a life that you believe in...while the world is constantly expecting and wanting something else from you....sometimes we want somethings just to fulfill the wants of others who of course think they are wanting the best for us and mean well but not realising they are obstructing the natural path of ones life....

so when such crossroads appears in your life....is it selfish to choose the path you want for yourself....or are you to sacrifice that and try fake a living full of another person's dream ?? though i believe whatever you choose is your destiny....we still have to make a choice in the first place...and how do we do that? How do we find a balance...?

Anyone ?

my idea of fun.....

do we need to book a flight....take a 10 hours journey.....visit the most beautiful places of the world...touch the historic buildings...or just drive 10 mins from home...meet some beautiful souls who can make u laugh till u shed tears ...? yeah today ...i realise...its the most ordinary moments that stays in ur heart forever...

..when we laugh for no reasons... meet for no occasions.. chat with no topics...time simply doesnt apply...we dont feel an hour passing by....now thats my idea of fun !

Yes...here i wish to thank my beautiful friends , Prema, Suba, Kym, Sam, Mei Jun and Viji who have been giving those moments of joy abundantly...thank God i met them...life is definitely lighter with laughters :)

LOVE ALL SERVE ALL

Yes ...LOVE ALL SERVE ALL.....which part of the sentence that we still dont seem to get !

How much simpler can it be explained...do we need to read an entire Baghavad Gita, or the Bible or the Quran to know the meaning of those words...no ...i think every religious scriptures in the world could sum up to ....LOVE ALL SERVE ALL.....why do we need 1000 stories and a few hundred characters and avatars to be memorized before we get the idea...?? Our hearts know the truth...it does , but we keep interrupting it with emotions that pretends not to see whats at the core...our souls..

Ive heard of this quote..." put an apple and a rabbit beside a baby.....n tell me if the baby chooses to play with the apple and eat the rabbit ".......yeah a baby will not do it...coz a baby is pure soul...no emotions...no wants...no greed....no past nor future...no relationship...no friends nor enemies....but just one thing...LOVE..!! ..and thats why Hindus always say BABIES ARE GOD....and not surprisingly GOD is LOVE!

And what happens to this pure soul made of LOVE that we are born with....where has it gone..? How far has it gone from us...can we even see the glimpse of it ?? No...we have buried the poor soul beneath layers upon layers of selfish and greedy personal needs...that PURE LOVE is suffocating itself.....

And sometimes....life pushes you so hard ...that you bang yourself in the head....and in that few moments...those layers of unwanted emotions cracks a little here and there....letting the Love beneath breath a little....after sometime ...your head heals...stops hurting...so you start layering over love again....then Life pushes u a little harder...to see if would break away all the layers above the LOVE.....but again....we break only a few top layers...and still keep pure love buried...then God decides ....its time to HIT real HARD !!!.....then you breakdown and cry....you ask GOD....WHY ???????......and GOD is standing there puzzled....you mean you still dont get it .....gosh ...looks like ive got to take you another round ....reincarnate....till you get the idea.....

SO ......lets try break away those layers....we might not be able to do it with one life....but at least we can try reduce the number of lives we need to take before we break the last layer and become PURE LOVE !

LOVE ALL SERVE ALL - SAI BABA

Wished you were a Princess...??

Ever wished you were princess...?? To have it ALL ...? Treated like a queen?? To live in a Palace? Would life be PERFECT then ?

If you read The story of the Queen's childhood by her nanny, Marion Crawford " THE LITTLE PRINCESSES" its the story of Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret, then you might change your mind . The story begins when they were aged 5 and 2.

And what did they have for a toy? Something which most of us would not even dare dream to have....yes, a Little House presented by the people of Wales with nicely matured garden growing up around it . The house was built to scale for children and its complete with every detail, curtains , plumbing that works, lights , a drawing room, oak dresser, bookshelves , even a kitchen with every possible utensils, cooking pots and canned goods ALL in miniature !!!!! The roof is restructured every 3 to 4 years to fit the growing princesses...!! Now...werent they the LUCKIEST KIDS On EARTH ??? But wait...

Guess what they longed for...

To be able to make friends with other children they see when they take a walk in the park ...the other children are almost mystic beings from a different world coz the princesses are never encouraged to play with them...

And what did they think was FUN ?

When the princesses saw people streaming out of the underground station , Elizebeth says " Oh dear, what fun it must be to ride in those trains "....so the nanny arranged with the Duke to let the children take a trip on the train. The children excitedly bought their own tickets ( which they thought was part of the fun) had tea out of tea cups , tea which you paid for with money , these were wanderful treats they thought. BUt this fun did not last long coz soon people started recognizing them and the crowds began to form. So a car was sent from the Duke's garage and they were brought home immediately.

NOw....is it too much for kids to ask for a train ride and a cup of tea they bought themselves?

Something which MOST of us do EVERY day...and think it is a hassle...let alone FUN!

SO...being a PRINCESS doesnt solve the problem...does it ? And we have no idea what others are going through no matter how PERFECT their life seem to appear..

So...its a fact that EVERYONE...no matter where they are in life..is always lacking something ( Or so we think)...the truth is life is made WHOLE by fitting in ones imperfections with someone else's perfections......you have something...and so do i ! You lack something and so do i ! So we are a huge jigsaw puzzle to be fitted together to make life WHOLE...lets keep working on it , and lets do it for FUN :)