In good company

Finally, I found something in common with an uncommon writer, Salman Rushdie

The author remarks,

"There's a writing self which is not quite your ordinary social self and which you don't really have access to except at the moment when you're writing, and certainly in my view, I think of that as my best self," he said. "To be able to be that person feels good; it feels better than anything else."

-- as quoted at close of yesterday's New York Times article, Now He's Only Hunted by Cameras

Six hours to the mountain

Day before yesterday, my feet tingled big time. And the thought which inspired the nerves to go hyper was, boy, oh boy, I am six hours away from the mountain. Bangalore being five hours from Tiruvannamalai. My house being an hour from Bangalore bus station. And that means I live in a space that is six hours from my beloved Arunachala.
Then why oh why am I so concerned with getting the house in order, why do I keep changing the arrangement of the drawing room, why on earth am I waiting for the broadband connection, why don't I get on that bus on which the conductor hangs on the door and yells, Thrvnnamalaai, Thrvnnamalaai, Thrvnamalaai?
Is it time, or is it repetition that erodes vowels out of a word, and urgency out of devotion?

Time travel in Bangalore

The best way to deal with the fatigue, confusion, and excitement of shifting to a new place? Dig out an old favorite novel and forget the utter mess your house is in.

I got this fat book, The time traveler's wife, as a gift from a seeker I met at Ramesh's. One of the most romantic stories that I have ever come across, it has childhood love, wedding, partings (because the fellow time travels to past and future) and, it also has the classic sad ending.

I always wonder, when I read western novels that talk of characters who suddenly meet ghosts, etc., why they don't consult eastern mystical bullshit.

I mean, time travel is not new to our saints, is it?

Here there is a fellow who is utterly at a loss to why he suddenly vanishes and lands, naked, in a past or a future space, he knows not for how long. He is hungry, and to survive he steals, beats people, picks locks, etc. That he also meets his wife, when she is six, is what gives the sweet taste to the otherwise worrisome nature of time travel.

To reduce risk of getting caught, the one thing he does in his everyday life is jog, to keep running fit. Why does he not come to India? Or at least look up some of our exported experts?

Having said that, its beautifully written. I wouldn't even say it is convincing, because I never doubt. This is God's world, not ours. He can beat his own logic, if he so pleases. As Ramesh says, if God can create beings with bodies, he can create them without bodies too. Not a big deal.

What is nice is the expansion of space, of time, the rest, the pause that these thoughts give to a mind on a roll of mundanity.

Wish I could go

Home Catalogue Audio/DVD

WEEKEND TALKS WITH AN ADVAITA MASTER IN BANGALORE

Ramesh Balsekar
Saturday 26th April and Sunday 27th April 2008 From 10.30 am to 12.30 pm
At Cardboard Factory, Bilvardahalli Village, Gottigeri - Post, Off Bannerghatta Road, Bangalore 560 083
Just 2 kms. from the Country Club
Lunch will be served. All are welcome.
For further details, please contact : Jaya Nagarkatti. Tel : 080-28429800

Click here to view the books by Ramesh Balsekar
Click here to view the audio/dvd by Ramesh Balsekar

Musical revealations

The short film making workshop that I am conducting had the music class today. The objective was to sensitize ourselves to the different emotions and layers that a piece of music can evoke.
Dahivat Shukla, the music teacher, played for us a number from his collections. He then asked each one of the participants for their response.

This is what they said.

Uttara: I felt as if someone with a great aura has entered the room. Someone special, and he has a strong sense of self.

Ashfaq: I felt that this person was complaining big time.

Nirali: I sensed a strong sense of detachment.

At this Dahivat smiled at me. I smiled back, saying, 'She is my friend.'

Raju: This person has risen above a lot of hardships in life. And their is an anger, raudra bhav.

Me: I saw a wild jungle, an unsafe environment. And yes, a strength.

Dahivat stood up ( for effect), and told us, 'All of you are spot on. What I just played was a piece by Salif Keita.
The name of the album is soro, the song is sanni kegniba.
Let me tell you his life story. He was born a prince, in an African jungle. He grew up playing and enjoying music. When it was time for him to become the King, the elders said, Beta, now you have to give up your musical habits.
Salif said sorry. No deal.
Elders said we are also sorry. Its either music or the kingship.
And Salif went to America, and fought against all odds, and became a star.
And from what I have heard, when Salif goes on stage to perform, he stands still, closes his eyes, joins his hands and sings.
So yes, he probably has an aura, he is justified in complaining, at having been ostracized from his community, and he needs that detachment to be able to rise to great heights.'

And he misses the jungle, I wanted to add.

A love for the language

'Can I attend school with Pavan tomorrow? I am kind of out of touch with what he is learning.' I write in the boy's diary.
'Sure,' she replies.

Navjyoti ma'am, class teacher of the multi-age class at Riverside school, Ahemadabad.

What a pleasure it is to watch her interacting with the kids. She talks to them in a well modulated voice, with clear pronunciation, better than any narrator I have worked with. More than that, she gives them her full attention, something I need to learn as a mother.

They are rehearsing for a play, 'Wizard of Oz'. They have seen the movie many times over, and whatever they remember is the guide for their dialogs and actions.

'Maam, how to show the house twirling and falling?' one kid asks.

'Let us make a house from thermo col ' says another.

'No, let us make a house from two of us. Then we can hold hands in an A shape, and go round and round and fall.' says director number three.

'And you can hang a dupatta over the house like this. Now, does this look like a house?' says Navjyoti.

Pavan is playing the wicked witch of the east and west, he has to fall under the house. The two boys fall on him and he yelps.

'All right, all of you. Come and sit down in front of me. Pavan, you sit next to me. Now, this is where you learn about team work. All of you are working together, that is team work. When you fall on Pavan, you must take care not to hurt him. Let us practice how you fall. . .'

Finally, it is time for the parent- teacher one to one.
'His spellings are very bad. His handwriting is awful.' I say, before she will say it.

'Don't worry about his spellings and handwriting. This is a computer age. He will learn spelling at his own speed. What is more important is that we inculcate in him a love for the language. Let him learn to express himself. Talk to him in English, read out stories to him every night, to the point when he starts thinking in English. Don't force him to learn, learning should be as natural as joy.' she advices.

I am almost in tears. A love for the language, she said. These words struck a deep chord in me. Yes, this is something I have. A love for the language. And what does it really mean? To be able to express myself, to articulate and appreciate the texture of an entire cosmos.

The ultimate truth may be beyond words.

For this moment, God is the Word.

Chinese Magician

Chinese magic. Without the Chinese.


Requirements:

• Seven year old who can speak, 'Oink poink, shink pank!' confidently.
• Audience with sense of humor.
• You.

Procedure:

1. Blindfold seven year old brat. Hold him (/her) in your lap.
2. Ask someone from the audience to hold any object in front of the blindfolded brat.
3. Ask the brat to tell you what the object is in Chinese.
4. 'Oink poink, shink pank!' the brat will announce.
5. 'The magician tells me that the lady is holding an orange handkerchief in her hand, in Chinese.' you announce.
6. Remove the blindfold. See how happy and surprised your Chinese Magician feels when he sees the orange handkerchief.

Mumbai meri jaan

'Come to mumbai for the weekend. You must meet this doctor, he is very good', says sis.

'I am very busy, I have to pack up the house, to shift to Bangalore...' I reply.

'I will book your tickets,' she persists.

'Well'...

'You can also meet Ramesh, you might not be able to come so easily to Mumbai from Bangalore,' she insists.

And so I am off to meet The Beloved.

Maybe this is what they mean when they say that spiritual life is difficult at first and later it becomes easy.

Ten years ago, I used to cry if I didn't meet Ramesh for a week. And now I get a red carpet to peddar road....

Which chapter are you on?

AUTOBIOGRAPHY IN FIVE CHAPTERS

By

Portia Nelson

1/ I walk down the street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I fall in.

I am lost.... I am hopeless.

It isn't my fault.

It takes forever to find a way out.

2/ I walk down the same street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I pretend I don`t see it.

I fall in again.

I can`t believe I`m in the same place.

But it isn`t my fault.

It still takes a long time to get out.

3/ I walk down the same street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I see it is there.

I still fall in... it`s a habit.

My eyes are open.

I know where I am.

It is my fault.

I get out immediately.

4/ I walk down the same street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I walk around it.

5/ I walk down another street.


I think I am between two and three. Wonder if I will mange to walk down another street in this life.

Short Film making Workshop

Manjushree, who’s taught at NID and FTII

is conducting a

SHORT FILM-MAKING WORKSHOP

Learn to make a short, fiction film. A 5-day concise package, which includes screenplay writing, shooting with a digital camera, editing and uploading the film on your blog / website. Basic theory coupled with hands on practical experience.

Film-making is a marketable skill as well as an affordable hobby in today’s world. Short films are widely used by corporates and NGOs. They find an audience at film-festivals, You-Tube, video-blogging, and are a great beginning for a career in the booming media.

8^th April to 12^th April,

10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Fees : Rs. 3500/

For registration, contact Manjushree at

Ph: 98988 72862

Email: manjushree.abhinav@gmail.com


Course Structure

• 8th April : Class on Basics of script writing, by Manjushree. Students will write a script of five minute duration.
• 9th April : Class on Camera operations, by Mehul Upadhayay. Students will shoot their script, using each other as actors.
• 10th April : Class on Editing theory and software, by Manjushree and Mehul. Students will capture the rushes.
• 11th April : Students will edit the five minute video, and then upload it on the net.
  
• 12 th April : Class on Music, by Dahivat Shukla. Students will also watch some good short films.
  

A meditative fantasy

What do you do when your best friend has gone for a Vipassana meditation course?

I think of her, sitting on the blue square cushion. Eyes closed, a slight frown between her brows, floating in self awareness. How beautiful.

I know Buddha did not approve of murti pooja. So forgive me, sir, if I fall into those who keep your statue in their homes, though they do not sit thus. After all, among all the statues ever made, Yours is the most popular.

I can only wonder at the aura-scope, the star power, of the man who looked so charming while he sat in meditation, that, thousands of years later, no sculptor worth his salt dies before sculpting the Buddha.

I also wonder, in those rare, foolish moments, if it will ever be possible, to maybe remember a past life, of a leaf, a caterpillar, a grasshopper, that saw the Living Sample before he became more of a statue.

Worse than pregnant

We were shooting a docu-drama on safe sex, one of my students being a practicing gynecologist. This is part of the weekend batch in the documentary workshops that is going on these days.

On Saturday we pen the script. A group of young people chill out with cold drinks, one young boy takes off with one girl (establishing the scenario), cut to two pink strips on a urine test kit signifying positively pregnant teenage girl (confrontation), panic calls to boyfriend, meetings with girlfriends leads to doctor's clinic, lady gynecologist asks so what is your plan? are you going to marry or do you want to abort the baby? (climax), poor young boy waits in doctor's office, then girlfriend and doctor come back relieved of the problem, doctor gives advice on family planning and use of condoms (resolution).

On Sunday we shoot. Somehow they have managed to get actors of the right age. As usually happens with such topics, we joke with the actors to make them comfortable. Things go fine till the climax. The doctors office scene takes multiple takes to get an Ok take.

The student who is doing the camera is an intense director.
'We should focus on the boy when his girlfriend is having an abortion,' she says.
'Usually the sympathy is on the girl alone. (To the young boy) so, show us how you will look when your girlfriend is undergoing an abortion. No, you wont read the pamphlets on the doctor's table. No, you wont hold your head in your hands like that. Just look straight at camera, without blinking. . . .'

And this is when the poor fellow said, 'This is worse than an actual pregnancy'.

We all laughed but secretly agreed with him. Face to face with the worse thing possible, sometimes it is facing the world that is more difficult than the tragedy itself.