theosophy is altruism

i totally wanted to attend a talk at the theosophical society, adyar.
this place is the closest i can have if i want a forest from where i live. it’s the closest i can get to a river. and it’s the closest i can get to a peaceful HUSH.

still in every silence a firstborn has to chirp
and in every quiet a baby param has to prance

that is the default setting.

But the lure of going to a restful tree-filled, peace-filled, banyan tree-homed place like the Theosophical society was a lot of motivation.

Tim Boyd was to speak on ‘theosophy in a crowding world’. tim is the president of the theosophical society of america. He was one of the people who arranged for the Dalai lama’s visit to Chicago.

i went because what he says here makes sense…

the kids didnt hear a word of the speech, even though the silence was = pin drop. firstborn flattened himself on the floor of the open air audi and drowned himself in an amar chitra katha; baby param spent the first 15 minutes sticking about eight bindis on my forehead.. and the next 35 minutes in zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz land , as his wont.

i was beaming. today it was enough for me if the boys knew about this place .. the butterflies, the squirrels and the general pro-leafiness. and that a crowd can silence itself into a non-restive hush.

theosophy is altruism first and foremost, Boyd said quoting madame blavatsky. if there werent such big words, firstborn could have caught on. but.

He spoke of crowding of minds and desires in life in a city and how we are peopling it with our current. He spoke of dr. annie besant who said in 1898 ‘ Let us judge our spirituality by our effect on the world..’

i googled the rest of her speech and found this…

‘To all and each one that we meet we owe a duty. No one who comes within the circle of our life, but we have a duty towards that person. The world is not ruled by chance; no fortuitous happenings come into the lives of men. Duties are obligations we owe to those around us; and every one within our circle is one to whom we owe a duty. What is the duty that we owe to each? It is the definite payment of those debts with which we are familiar in our studies; the duty of reverencing and obeying those who are superior to us, who are above us; the duty of being gentle and affectionate and helpful to those around us, on our own level; the duty of protection, kindness, helpfulness, and compassion to those below us. These are universal duties, and no aspirant should fail in the attempt at least to fulfill them; without the fulfillment of these there is no spiritual life.’

a nice thought for the New Year.

mim 1; sons = 0

i feared that i would be outbossed by these sons of mine.

baby param to firstborn ‘i’ll eat my dinner for a long time, that way the kutcheri will finish and we dont have to go… ok’

while such plans were being hatched, i tried to find a kutcheri
that would be
1. near home
2. fantastic.

and what a winner i picked — anuradha sridhar and her mum Lalgudi Srimathi Brahmanandam — i have never heard them.
and they were fantastic.

i just came back and googled to check if they were really mum and daughter. they are. because my mum never smiles at me, she only glowers or has this exasperated look. or are these are the only two emotions you can have around me? come to think of it so does the mmmim. hmm.

never mind.

to get back to anuradha sridhar, who is gorgeous, and didnt wear tonnes of malli poo which is a kutcheri-must, i thought.

i was awed at how much fun she had with her mum. my ma would have poked me in the ribs with the violin bow — but anuradha made no MIMian blooper…

talented, smiling, unafraid of her ma and minus malli poo –is it the December season or wot??

baby param went to zzzzzzzzzzzz in the first seven minutes, leaving me with only 1 nos. fidgety sons to handle.

firstborn amused himself by watching the bats and counting the mosquitoes per head — and the mosquitoes were really on our heads– and asking me if we could leave after naatai.no. hindolam.no. kamas.no. janaranjani.no. poorvikalyani.finally. yes.

and since i hadnt had enough i came back and youtubed to find i have a week’s worth of listening to look forward to…happiness.

and here’s a video with the very song that my beloved semmangudi s iyer used to sing so beautifully…

i am only one degree of separation away from sonia gandhi

consider this;

i bought a sari.
another lady, lets call her Y, bought a sari in that shop.
Y apparently bought a sari a few years ago in delhi where sonia gandhi and priyanka gandhi shop.

voila the headline.

sometimes if you arent famous for the real reasons, you have to grab at straws
—
oh and i also saw ganesh — or maybe it was kumaresh — driving a reva car near adyar.
these very eyes, which spouse thinks are chiefly to spot juice shops, also can spot celebrities. so there.
—
grandtotal 2 reasons why i am famous.
—

note; it’s the stress of school holidays. school’s out from 12 noon tomorrow. already i am delirious.

morning raga

i am driving to drop off the boys. it’s margazhi, and we are having a contest in the car about who can spot the biggest kolam on the road.
firstborn is distracted by a woman walking balancing three enormous bags on her head, and not using her hands.
i see a line of banana trees tied to lampposts; i can see no apparent reason.
a volkswagen is honking.
i drown out the outside world by tuning into a.m. on the car radio.

i am happily reminded that it is the music season… d seshachari and d raghavachari are singing at the music academy, and the faithful AIR has captured what i am missing because of the boisterousness of these boys.
how apt kalyani sounds for a morning; — curves and waves of nuanced activity,

i found a version by m balamuralikrishna

—
and here’s my kolam this a.m.

i am trying to keep with the joneses’ who have a prettier…

will do better tomorrow

two things about me

there’s an amar chitra katha titled ‘Yama the Terrible’. firstborn has modified it to ‘amma the terrible’ — yep. evil mum nominees can move over now…

—

and the mmmim now knows that i cant subtract. we were playing monopoly — i hate being coerced into any board game– still… in the interest of postponing making dinner, i played.

and you have to  do math like 500-260 . that was okay. then came the infinitely tricky 44-18 during rent collection. and i thought the answer was 23 or did i think it was 31…

well. the mmmim is very worried about what i am doing with the household accounts.

—

so here’s some vintage suruti where i drowned my sorrows.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUm0JidtrRU

hashtag; question you always wanted to know but didnt know who to ask

what happens when a tumbler of water gets poured on the keyboard

the shift key doesnt work.

now

how am i supposed to swear on this blog

how am i supposed to ask a question that doesnt end with a hook

or exclaim without the line and point

or log in without the at that sits on number 2

beware of 4 year olds carrying a tumbler of water

fasting…

i do a fortnightly fast,
and my family pelts vadas and leftover idlis at me for that.
they are persuaded that i’ll keel over, and waste away etc etc.

and now i upped it to a dry-fast. not even water, for about 24 hours and a little more.

this is very do-able. more easy than the water fast or a fast that has something that you drink…

the result is:
a
Mim
who is
lighter
brisker
alerter
stronger
and has better skin than pre-fast Mim.

will totally recommend.

but not if you are a neo-faster (you have to break in with water fasting a few times first).
and if you are Jain you already know what i am talking about.
**

look ma, no tv!

i am thankful to the “STILL no tv after in chennai 4 months” stance.

firstborn is making his own monopoly: places that are important to him and baby param, at 4, is chipping in…

new zealand (rs. 500) and sri lanka (Rs. 20) are in, as well as Ananda Bhavan Sweets and Snacks (Rs. 200) and Kidzania (Rs. 60 —> indoor malaysian playground)

if you buy Nandanam (Rs 300) you get to pass an arrow and then collect Rs 100 from the bank.

*this is bordering on reality, considering the traffic jams WHO can PASS nandanam?*

: this is work in progress(as this post goes to press: Brindavan is being added alongside MGR Janaki College for Women; and there’s a juice and fruits spot as well #pazhamudir )

the headline was meant for my ma.

if i had to do a marathon blogger series…

i would do it on the works of the writer who has inspired me completely.

15 years ago it would have been rene goscinny
10 years ago it would have been plum:-)
5 years ago it would have been a tie between pratchett and bombeck

today it is Paramahansa Yogananda…

two years ago, his “autobiography of a Yogi” swept me off my feet like the way the H. Potter novels did when i was in my 20s.

i’ve changed my lifestyle to make way for the changes he prescribes…

sometimes he speaks of the most simple things

“If you spend your life in constant excitement, you will never know true happiness. Live simply and take life more easily. Happiness lies in giving yourself time to think and to introspect. Be alone once in a while, and remain more in silence.” ~ Paramahansa Yogananda

resolutions…

amazingly, i stick to my resolutions for most of the year…
this i realized in hindsight.
the goal is easier if it is something
like no sugar for 365 days

**
the abstracter the list is, the harder it is to remember and
and here’s a list by ‘christian d larson’ i liked for 2013. i tried to break it into what it means for me…

• To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.

(I so need to remember these words at 3.31 pm when the boys come back from school… and the resulting puddle of chaos)

• To talk health, peace and happiness to everyone you meet.

( am guilty of being the “listener” when the ocassional auntie rambled on about back pains and insomnia, cysts and spondylitis; at the mmmim’s family bashes i’ve chosen gossip over peace; am generally wary of talking happiness : what if the stuff runs out?)

• To look at the sunny side of everything and make
your optimism and dreams come true.

(in these years, i’ve crossed over from pessimism to neutralism dusted with optimism; but given a choice i’d still be neutral)

• To think only of the best, work only for the best and expect
only the best for your life.

(it truly never occured to me. am glad i read it here. how liberating!)

• To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater
achievements of the bright, fresh future.

(finally! where i already score very high. i am a 10/10 in this one. i am not going to admit this is because i just dont remember anything. but if you know me, you know that i have mostly forgiven or surely forgotten)

• To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every
living creature you meet a smile.

(the thing that came naturally in my life in KL. i’ve smiled at the leaf, the bird that i could only hear, the star i saw outside my window: should totally recreate again in 2013)

• To give so much time to the improvements of yourself that
you have no time to be critical of others.

(mostly the mmmim and firstborn — but firstborn needs a lil criticism if he thinks 6 times 7 is 46 no?)

• To be too large for worry, too strong for fear, too noble
for anger, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.
(i know 3 women who are 10/10 on the last three: my ma, my mil, my friend V respectively. I dont think women can take ” to be too large for worry”)