Commitment

Thyself, pure and true
Thyself, everyday
Thyself, when it gets tough
Thyself, when the money, the luck, the looks, the energy and the last breath is gone
Thyself, and all that it is and all that it will be and always and forever, Thyself.

Hypocrisy

He says, "My little dog - a heartbeat at my feet.", and then he kicks the dog where it hurts the most.

Kanchee

Officially Kancheepuram.

My previous visit to Kanchee was as a teenager. The plan for the big family outing was to give us a spiritual treat in the city of thousand temples. The intention backfired for the few of us due to the very obvious reason of too much too early ;). In the evening I never really got it straight the numerous deities names and their significance that I had visited. The only highlight that I could recollect was a very delicious simple lunch (yea.. grub always comes first) in one of the kanchee mutts.

The visit last weekend was in direct contrast. The aim was only shopping! :D. Having been ignorant of the myriad intricacies of saree shopping (even in its basic and simplistic form) for most part of my life, the hunt for silk sarees  could be called an "educational" experience. 

If its major shopping, its always best to plan the number and the budget (I know.. it would hardly be shopping then ;)). But our sales man was good. Really good!. He patiently showed all the different designs in our price range and slowly his assistant will bring in another set of sarees in a slightly higher range. You would obviously like the higher priced design, shine etc.  The strategy continues till you end up comparing a 5K saree with a 55k one in a matter of 2 hours. The experience!.. you get totally pulled into the magic he weaves if you are not careful :D.. Unfortunately he underestimated the eccentricity level of our family. We discussed, commented and majorly enjoyed looking through all the designs. In between Dad would comment to salesman, "You are doing a very good job. We would buy this (pointing to a 25K one) just to make you happy". Finally we wrapped up the drama as we were getting hungry. Paid for the 4 sarees we initially selected in the first half-an hour of shopping. [Evil Grin :D].

We also visited a family who have been into hand weaving for the past four generations. Had a demo and some insight into their lives about following the traditional approach these many years. The saree I bought there gets to the pooja room of the family. Home ministry prays and puts aashirwad on it. Blesses and gives me the saree. [Grass itching :D]

Learnt...

• You have original zari silk sarees costing from 10K. The sellers are very open about whether it is original or not. 
• Any saree can be tested for its original zari for 50Rs. (Testing my fav :D)
• Trend for buying the original hand weaved ones have reduced. Not much talent either to take forward the traditional methods.
• The artistic you can buy a silk and put your own design in them. Back bending work on the design gets done in 15 days by 2 people on an average.
• Technical terms for buying.. hand loom, printed, crepe, tussar silks, silk cotton, Samudrika, Parampara, Vastrakala blah blah blah.. As I said earlier I got educated ;)

PS: Pictures.. ahem.. yes.. soon :D

Quarter Life

Not that I am expecting to live for one hundred years :D.. But it does have a nice ring to the 25 years of living that I had completed this past week ;). The year has been my quarter life crisis.. Friends would know my craziness and philo level has reached a new high.. with major shift in priorities and perceptions :D.. 

Lets get back to why am I putting it in writing.. the resolution of the year.. becoming a Banglorean 

StumbleUpon

• http://www.stumbleupon.com/aboutus/
• A Firefox Addon
• Useful when you don't want to pain or get pained
• If you are already into arbit browsing, you will love this

Toothbrush

I found the tooth brush where the gas lighter is supposed to be in the kitchen. Now I cannot for the life of me remember where I can find the gas lighter.

Alone

Dharma is at his best and worst when he is alone. His best and worst forms both comes out of what his thoughts are in exclusion to all the other talks going around him. Worst is when he overanalyses a simple bad incident and overblows it to the tragedy of his life. Best is when he gets glimpses of his inner person that he really is or really pictures himself to be. 

Wondering, should he stay alone?

Kutchu's Rubber Band

While preparing tea, Kutchu was trying to multi-task by packing the tea packet with a rubber band. He remembers going to the hall to get the rubber band. But coming back to the kitchen to make sure the milk for the tea is not pongi-fying, he realizes the rubber band had disappeared. Kept it on the shelf? No. Fell down somewhere? No.

Muttering to himself, he goes back, gets another one, packs the tea packet. While doing that, he sees the rubber band number one is safely tied around is right hand.

Towards Sanyaasam... Part I

Central to Jungian psychology is the concept of “individuation,” the process whereby a person discovers and evolves his Self, as opposed to his ego. The ego is a persona, a mask created and demanded by everyday social interaction, and, as such, it constitutes the center of our conscious life, our understanding of ourselves through the eyes of others. The Self, on the other hand, is our true center, our awareness of ourselves without outside interference, and it is developed by bringing the conscious and unconscious parts of our minds into harmony.

- Morris Berman

TODO list

Are you one of those people you always have lot of things that are to be done and more often than not forget what the thing is! Recently, I was so packed that I wanted to do choose one good ToDo List available online. I wanted it online so that I get a mail reminding me not to forget :D. Yes! The only thing that I can surely say I do not forget is to check mails. Getting back, here are the few ToDo lists I came across.

1. Ta-da List - Very simple and straight forward. You can get going in a click!
2. Remember The Milk - Has loadz of features to get started. The lists can be published, shared etc. A total mico-management geek would love this!
3. Organize ToDo - This is in the middle ground between 1 and 2 with respect to the features that the tool offers. And I like the look of it! :D..

My choice is Organize ToDo. It was a not an in-depth objective choice :). Definitely not as popular as the other two ToDo lists. But who cares!

The best thing I like about ToDo list - I am the ultimate God when I do the strikethrough of the things I finished in the list :D

Obssessed with M.S.S

Doesnt matter how or when it started. I have kept hearing these all day/night for more than a week. And sometimes I hear them in my head like FM!

• Kurai Ondrum Illai.. humbles you
• Bhaja Govindam.. proper bhakti if you understand the lyrics
  
• Jagadodharana.. stealthily steals your senses
  
• Dolayam.. makes you dance with the music
  
• Shreeman Narayana.. has an ultimate finish :D
  
• Madhuraashtakam.. reaches the madness in you
• Bhavayami Gopala Balam.. no words!
  

... to be Continued

Math Tools Are Sooo Not Creative!

The tool perfectly understands integrals and my crooked as, gs. I guess I am bad enough to test the artistic nature of a logical tool!

Courtesy: My cousin's Dell Studio 14