tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89821853808305174052024-03-13T09:26:01.506-07:00Art and Ginger Chai ConversationsBeautiful things and artful thoughts.
Art and Ginger Chai Conversationshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07203589971349086077noreply@blogger.comBlogger56125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982185380830517405.post-59739567479421114982019-04-17T06:34:00.000-07:002019-04-17T06:40:13.788-07:00To learn more question more...!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #2862c1; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><b>To be able to answer the prompt in the given context: "Who should be a teacher" is to first teach our young ones what they should expect of the learning process and from the teacher.<br /><br />Do we not need to first teach our children to respect a teacher and to understand that a teacher is meant to kindle the fire of learning in you, but the fire is your's to feed!!</b></span></span></div>
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Only if we were all to realize this basic fact that Socrates philosophized, learning and teaching would take on its true essence. </div>
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Yes, the consumerist tendencies of the capitalist world somehow dictate the teacher too to be more and more inclined to the monetary gains of the profession but even so, to be able to bring back the altruism in the humane profession it is for us, the learners and the students to bring back the lost glory.</div>
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<i><b><span style="color: #e06666;">Teachers need to be (re) trained in empathy and the students too need to develop an attitude of gratitude.</span></b></i><br />
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<i>Taali ek haath se nahin bajati!! </i></div>
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One can not clap with one hand. Both hands must come together to form a clap!!</div>
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Art and Ginger Chai Conversationshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07203589971349086077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982185380830517405.post-45623686039754598762018-08-03T11:42:00.001-07:002018-08-03T11:42:36.397-07:00For the love of pain... <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNcv_qXDlrTfBKVLx6nvob9xkUz4-PS_tyRX6hxR6vOu3CvoW65Se4Kfxa7-MlHKek3Etywx_87fHDgSfdO54w1cX2sNcfoP7szbreUJRICzYNEEOZDRJvJ1aohxZ7C5LG9KpxHqtww9c/s1600/2018-08-04+00.07.25.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNcv_qXDlrTfBKVLx6nvob9xkUz4-PS_tyRX6hxR6vOu3CvoW65Se4Kfxa7-MlHKek3Etywx_87fHDgSfdO54w1cX2sNcfoP7szbreUJRICzYNEEOZDRJvJ1aohxZ7C5LG9KpxHqtww9c/s640/2018-08-04+00.07.25.jpg"> </a> </div>Art and Ginger Chai Conversationshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07203589971349086077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982185380830517405.post-3573646061132191762018-08-03T07:53:00.001-07:002018-08-03T10:50:54.587-07:00Redefining religion! <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Art and Ginger Chai Conversationshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07203589971349086077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982185380830517405.post-87478283131386015642018-03-28T23:18:00.001-07:002018-03-28T23:18:32.938-07:00almost....<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>you and i </i><br />
<i>don't and won't </i><br />
<i>and can't</i><br />
<i>and so one knows</i><br />
<i>yes, it was meant to be...</i><br />
<i>meant to be this way</i><br />
<i>if it was meant to be </i><br />
<i>any other way</i><br />
<i>it would have been </i><br />
<i>or will be</i><br />
<i>what is </i><br />
<i>is how </i><br />
<i>it was meant to be</i><br />
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Art and Ginger Chai Conversationshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07203589971349086077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982185380830517405.post-42966582507865922052018-03-28T22:12:00.002-07:002018-03-28T22:12:22.707-07:00A stitch in time saves nine!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i style="color: #45818e; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif; text-align: left;"><span class="bqQuoteLink" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; text-align: justify;">Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.” – </span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">Khalil Gibran</span></i></div>
<span style="color: #45818e; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></i></span><span style="color: #45818e; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></i></span> <span style="color: #45818e; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></i></span><span style="color: #76a5af; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="background-color: white;">Oft one hears...."Just throw it away, it's broken......" Aaaah! yes, but I never could, doubt I'll learn to, well, doesn't seem likely anytime soon...just love it too much: fixing broken stuff. As a youngster, it was the TDK tapes with my favourite songs that used to get stuck in the tape-recorder (gunjal ho jaati thee) and I just couldn't throw them and loose all those songs, ouch!! Nevaaaah! And so I diligently fixed them with cello tape. And voila! the music, it played aga</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; display: inline;">in, minus a couple of lines and a distinct sound when the cellotaped portion ran over the tape reader.....My stuff, yes, I like fixing it, it gives me memories and with it, a history. </span></i></span></div>
Art and Ginger Chai Conversationshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07203589971349086077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982185380830517405.post-88268935898685190912018-03-28T22:10:00.000-07:002018-03-28T22:10:08.364-07:00rain.... <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>you ask</i></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>why it is i come back?</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>what i would love to know</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>when it was i ever left</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>or can i even?</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>did you?'</i></span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>can you?'</i></span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>oh! my darling </i></span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>the earth it needs rain..</i></span>.<br />
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Art and Ginger Chai Conversationshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07203589971349086077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982185380830517405.post-26677249994820865542018-03-28T21:35:00.001-07:002018-03-28T21:35:49.980-07:00The lift off...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> You can actually hear the shattering...</span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> I never ever knew!!</span></i><br />
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Art and Ginger Chai Conversationshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07203589971349086077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982185380830517405.post-69670527454565233752018-03-28T20:50:00.000-07:002018-03-28T20:50:09.968-07:00well i'll be darned!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">well, I'll be darned</span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">being irresponsible enough</span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">wasting the poetry that emanates from some deep recesses in my soul</span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">whence our souls should brush past each other</span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">on some highway</span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">you and I were meant </span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">to be...</span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">say I not</span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">it's the conversations of the souls</span></i><br />
<span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>I am the medium that feels these conversations...</i></span><br />
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Art and Ginger Chai Conversationshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07203589971349086077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982185380830517405.post-30693243696110782602018-03-28T20:43:00.001-07:002018-03-28T20:43:55.740-07:00...when I'm home...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>The accidental flick of the hand against the quivering stomach</i></span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>yes, almost missable...</i></span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>the rush of emotion that engulfs</i></span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>the constant sharp desire </i></span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>to have your head where your hand just brushed past</i></span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>love is not so much in the realm of the obvious</i></span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>but in the strength of the knowing</i></span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>in the awareness</i></span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>in the urge to give and receive, so strong...</i></span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>a chaotic yet soothing the sense of homecoming.....</i></span></div>
Art and Ginger Chai Conversationshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07203589971349086077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982185380830517405.post-26270775719905814872017-03-13T09:21:00.000-07:002018-03-28T23:24:17.362-07:00We have one life to live so much to give and so much to share....<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h1 class="quoteText" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px;">
<i style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: orange; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">
He drew a circle that shut me out-<br />Heretic , rebel, a thing to flout.<br />But love and I had the wit to win:<br />We drew a circle and took him in.</span></i><br /><br /><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: merriweather, georgia, serif; font-size: small;"><i style="background-color: white;">'Outwitted' by Edwin Markham </i></span></h1>
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Art and Ginger Chai Conversationshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07203589971349086077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982185380830517405.post-72770305089358400282016-07-17T10:28:00.002-07:002016-07-17T23:20:07.818-07:00Aren't we all fools on the hill trying to derive meaning?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i> Growing up in a dynamic household where everything else was drowned in the strains of music...'music' the oasis in the desert...'music' the night replete with stars of an otherwise vacant day.....'music' the soothe-balm to many an agonizing event....the loud chaos of the 'music' on headphones on the walkman, somehow blocking the real chaos outside and offering a peaceful retreat......yes, thanks are due, to parents who made available the means to keep sanity in the midst of the madness that is popularly known as, growing up.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span> <span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Over the years the flow and ebb of life take precedence and one moves on from ashram to ashram (stages of life: refer Notes), learning, stumbling, growing, learning some more. People come and people go and some people and memories just stay forever. Dear reader, I am certain that you too like me, believe that people and events happen to you to teach you important aspects of life and to rekindle your interest in subjects you might have forgotten existed in you. In that, each encounter in life is a learning process.....you cry you learn, you bleed you learn....Once I am aware of this reality, life becomes a joy to surrender to, in all its wonders.</i></span><br />
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<span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Here's one I love : <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFW-WfuX2Dk">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFW-WfuX2Dk</a></i></span><br />
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<i style="color: #6aa84f;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And so it is that circumstances allow such an exploration of the self. My father says that we must be open to experience, whatever be the challenge life throws at us, with elan and strength and go away from each/any situation having made the most of it, in that I learnt early, to learn something of value from even the most adverse situations I found myself in. No point crying and fretting about things I can not change, so I strive to make the best of what I can from the situation. On many such occasions, it was M.S.S</span></i><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>ubbulakshmi</i></span><i style="color: #6aa84f;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> that I heard in that walkman :) (How deeply indebted am I, of being part of this vastly magical Indian civilisation that has allowed me to have been touched by her divini</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ty so early in life, and through her singing, of an understanding of life itself). Today, I share her divine voice with you, it is almost as if I share a deep secret with you :) but I am happy to do so, in the hope that you too, my dear reader, develop/ rekindle your interest in meaning in the chaos, heaven knows the world needs it today. </span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Bhaja Govindam by Subbulakshmi: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8slUawzmPc">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8slUawzmPc</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span> <span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Amongst the many genres of music one picked up, the above bhajan (hymn) in Carnatic paddhati (method) was and continues to be one of my many favourites of M.S. S</i></span></span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>ubbulakshmi</i></span><i style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">.</i><br />
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<i style="color: #6aa84f;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> This bhajan Bhaja Govindam is a collection of ~thirty-one verses. It is a fantastic insight into Hinduism from one of the spiritual giants of Hinduism Adi Shankaracharya. Here is a picture </span><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> of Adi Shankaracharya from a wall in my home. Many an evening I have sat just staring at this painting from the Ravi Verma press, just gaining, I do not know what, from it. But, it is part of my being.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The above beautiful image of a guru with his disciples belongs to the 8th century. It was then that India was in the midst of the chaos that pervaded all through, in matters of religion and philosophy, the social order and the economy of feudalism. There were close to seventy-two sects in constant conflict. The caste system which had been at its peak. Basically, a rapid disintegration of all that a society holds dear and of value was on the rise. It was in this backdrop that the philosopher and theologian Adi Shankara wrote copious commentaries on the Vedic canon, the Brahma Sutras, the Principal Upanishads and also the Bhagwad Gita. He was also the one who explained the key difference between Hinduism and Buddhism, in that Hinduism asserts that the "Atman: Soul, Self: exists", while Buddhism asserts that there is "no Soul, no Self". Incidentally, this was the same stage of my very favourite period of the Bhakti and Sufi movements. More on that later. Oh! Joy! </span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span> <i><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So, the popular story about how Adi came upon composing the verses, so beautifully rendered by M.S. S</span></span></i><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>subbulakshmi</i></span><i><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">, the Bhaja Govindam, is that when he was on one of his wanderings in Varanasi, he came across </span></span></i><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>an aged scholar reciting the rules of <span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #b45f06;">Sanskrit</span></span> grammar repeatedly on the street to earn more money from any students who would be interested in learning it. On watching this, Adi Shankaracharya in anger went up to the scholar and advised him not to waste his time on "Drukrukarane", rules of grammar, at his age, but to turn his mind to God in worship and adoration which alone would save him from this vicious cycle of life and death and not the money earned through the teaching of the rules of grammar. The bhajan "Bhaja Govindam" is said to have been composed on this occasion.</i></span><br />
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<i style="color: #b45f06; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">In the next post, if you will permit me, I will try to partake with you, some of the verses, especially one from the Bhagwadgita from this Bhaja Govindam bhajan that I like, and their meaning, as I see it, but till then, let me just put here for you, my dear reader, the first verse, the chorus, and it's understanding, which is this. Please read it in the light of the above-mentioned story.</i><br />
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<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Lift the heart up to Govinda, lift the heart up to Govinda,</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="color: #38761d;">The rules of grammar </span><span style="color: #38761d;">which you are trying to master will be of no avail when the appointed time </span><span style="color: #38761d;">arrives.</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="color: #38761d;"><br /></span></i></span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i style="color: #b45f06;">( Interpretation: Govinda, or Krishna, the avatar of Vishnu, here being the spirit as opposed to the material body, rules of grammar being </i></span><i style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><span style="color: #b45f06;">material pursuits</span><span style="color: #38761d;"> </span></i><i style="color: #b45f06; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">)</i><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="color: #38761d;"><br /></span></i></span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="color: #38761d;">It is quite relevant, just this chorus. How easy it is for us humans to get lost in the nitty-gritty of day to day life and just stay lost in them forever without once stopping to think about what the deeper meaning of the life that we have been gifted with, is. </span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="color: #38761d;"><br /></span></i></span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="color: #38761d;">And so what is this so-called meaning of life that has been bestowed upon us?</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="color: #38761d;"><br /></span></i></span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="color: #bf9000;">In it's most simplistic understanding, the meaning is to be derived from an understanding</span></i></span><br />
<span style="color: #bf9000;"><i style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">of the Self. Who am I and what it is that brings me happiness? Shankara proposed that lasting happiness that humans seek lies within and not ou</i><i style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">t there in the world. No amount of worldly knowledge, referred to by Shankara as </i></span><i style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">grammar-rules, gives us sustainable joy. True happiness comes when we are able to rise above our little selves and our egos to a higher level of awareness. For me, the higher level of awareness comes through a feeling of the world in its totality. Of the acceptance of the way things just are.</i><br />
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>It is believed that when the ‘appointed time’, death, stares us in the face, the only things we are able to carry forward with us are our spiritual assets. We are unable to take the wealth we worked so hard to accumulate, the relationships we developed or the ‘grammar rules’, worldly knowledge, we have assimilated through the course of our lives. </i></span><br />
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<i style="color: #bf9000; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">Even so, in my understanding, one must realise that an attention on the self, does not in any way mean we have to stop what we are doing and give it all up. What Shankara means is that wherever we are, whatever we are doing, the focus must be on improving ourselves, in controlling our desires when they prove to be hindering self-development and moving towards the ultimate goal of self-realization. Utilizing our talents to improve ourselves.</i><br />
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<span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Shankara refers to humans as moodha matey (foolish brained/ fools). He calls the human existence foolish for focusing on the transient, on the temporary aspects of life, while completely missing out on the permanent factor, (for Shankara, it is) Govinda, the self in our lives. According to Shankara in their short-sightedness, humans tend to choose the trappings of immediate pleasure over long-term satisfaction. </i></span><br />
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<span style="color: #b45f06;"><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Another one I love : <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8NK70cm-9k">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8NK70cm-9k</a></i></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Therefore Shankara asks us to invest in ourselves, simplistically putting it, urging us to not only build a healthy bank balance but to create spiritual assets that we can carry forward with us. Lead our lives in such a manner wholistically. It implies in day to day living that we look not only at taste fulfillment but nutritious eating, not looking at short-term gains but long-term fulfilling relationships, looking at creating happier healthier generations rather than insecure individuals. </i></span><br />
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<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="color: #bf9000;">And I end here, with the thought that I think that I would not fully endorse the view of Shankara about human relationships ......</span><span style="color: #93c47d;">He says that w</span></i></span><i style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><span style="color: #93c47d;">e are unable to take the wealth we worked so hard to accumulate, </span><span style="color: #6aa84f;">the relationships we dev</span></i><i style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">eloped</span><span style="color: #93c47d;"> or the ‘grammar rules’, worldly knowledge, we have assimilated through the course of our lives</span></i><i style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">.......</i><i style="color: #bf9000; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">as I am also a strong believer in human relationships as being more than just mere physical connections. A meaningful connection to my "self" for me requires a connection with others in my life. I think this thought needs more analysis and I hope to do that analysis at some point. </i><br />
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<i style="color: #bf9000; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">Until next time then, my dear readers......it's been a somewhat heavy post!! :) </i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Notes:</span></i></span><br />
<i style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashrama_(stage)</span></i><br />
<i style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Pictures courtesy the internet.</span></i><br />
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Art and Ginger Chai Conversationshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07203589971349086077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982185380830517405.post-89363450193596290932016-07-11T19:27:00.002-07:002016-07-11T19:54:18.977-07:00On Yoga<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>First off I am not a huge expert on Yoga, just a practitioner and someone who has experienced the benefits of following most of, or at least most of, the 8 aspects of Patanjali Yoga. Asanas being one of the 8 disciplines within yoga. Yoga is actually “Yog” a way of being, of achieving the highest in self awareness and self perfection. Simplistically put Yog is a totality of 1.social behavior , 2.inner discipline, 3.body postures that are not simply postures but a careful mind-body balance act, 4.breathing techniques, 5.control of the five senses, 6.focus or concentration, 7.meditation and finally 8.Samadhi which is the state of egolessness, of bliss. Yoga philosophy encompasses the merging of many many many things. For instance, the dualities of material versus cosmic (purush-prakriti), of the ‘gunas’=innate tendencies of humans It is too deep a subject actually. A good study would need a lifetime. Also, the vast country that India is most of our Again, I am not an expert but to my knowledge Patanjali ( From early AD/ 2000years ago) Yoga is the main source of Modern Yoga as we are (very briefly, tip of the iceberg kinds) familiar with it. It has been studied and propagated in different forms by many different scholars. Tirumalai Krishnamacharya (1888-1989) for one, yes, he is referred to as Father of Modern Yoga sometimes (though if you ask the majority of Indians will never have heard of him or Taimni) Another person who was in North India was I.K.Taimini (1898-1978) He too interpreted Patanjali’s Yoga. (Side Note: South of India has more of a tendency towards scholarly endeavours as compared to North India that too has reasons in history. North was always fighting the onslaughts from the Himalayan side whereas our Dravidian belt was cut off from the North by the Vindhyachal ranges and had more to do with pursuits of research and study.Ok: digression end) Now, why I mention the two scholars (I have read neither and am sure there are many more) their interpretation of Patanjalis Yoga Sutras will be very different based on their experiences with it. B.K.S.Iyengar (1918-2014) was related to Tirumalai Krishnamacharya and was briefly his student. Now the thing is that even Krishnamacharya changed the postures to suit individual needs, as I said there are many many factors, based on a body’s doshas, gunas, prakriti etc…an individual manifestation of any given asana will differ. Also, please know that there are layers and layers of work that is needed to get to the so called difficult asanas. Basic ones can be done by almost all but the ones that seem very tough need just that, a tough mind and a tough mental determination. So why are they so tough and like the ‘mallakhambh’ which is a sport actually. You see, many a times men would congregate at the mallakhambh (a place to practice the pole excercises) and there it would be convenient to teach the Yoga asanas also, both the mallakhambh and yog needing strength of both body and mind. But, honestly I doubt if the Iyenger yoga was developed for the boys at the mallakhambhs. The toughness of the asanas would surely be more to do with mind games than anything else. Pushing oneself to run and think being comparable…….Brings us to the question…Is it for tough people not satisfied with the simple asanas…not so simplistic as all that I would think….It is not so much for tough people more the tough minds as the complicated asanas, teach the doer the finer tunings of the body, brings one closer to creation and an understanding of meaning of being, simplistically put help give the practitioner a deeper lesson in patience, an insight into what the Gita syas..…karmanye vaadhikaaraste…ma phaleshu kadachanah….keep at the work in the right manner…following the correct principles (breath is essential part of the asanas)….. do not work for the results, for the tougher asanas…just concentrating on the moment with the simultaneous awareness of the journey, the path to reach the final pose (the goal) and stay in it and in doing so savour the path too. It’s an understanding of life and beyond, that's 'yog' or yoga as it is popularly called,…..and as I said we are still at the tip of the iceberg. </i></div>
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Art and Ginger Chai Conversationshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07203589971349086077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982185380830517405.post-740297597000254012016-07-11T19:16:00.002-07:002016-07-11T19:55:15.239-07:00Making happy happen....<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #a64d79; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;"><i><b>My very dearest of friends and family. I have a confession to make! Hahahahaha! now I got your attention!! Eh? Well, nothing too dramatic, nor too scandalous (tho knowing the Saggi in me, most of you jumped to that conclusion, I am certain hahahaha!!). So, what I wanted to confess was that it is not that I am always happy and partying, nor am I at picnics or vacations everyday. It just 'appears' to be so. Why you ask me? Why do I do it? I'll tell you why, it's because I lear</b></i></span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; display: inline; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;"><i><span style="color: #a64d79;"><b>nt early in life from a fabulous man in my life, my father, that one of the most important things to keep happy in life is to train one's mind to be "santosh" , "satisfied", "There is no end to wanting he says, where do you stop?". Hmmmm, it is easy to use these words papa, I said to myself. How does one make these words happen then? My father uses his work as his mainstay, his focal point, his most cherished moments of the day are when he is deeply engrossed in Physics and music. (He just had his latest co-authored paper published in Science Direct! Bravo, papa!) Yes, so how do I make my happy happen, everyday, day after day...I do it like this. I relive my happy. I revisit my vacation that I had a month back and the happiness comes flooding back. I relive cherished moments with friends till the next moments fall into my lap, I recall the sadness that was in me when I did not have what gives me joy in this moment...It is all a conscious effort at "being". The Lord has been kind to us humans and given us the power to remember and recall and rejoice in our joys of the past. Even as we all have our own ways to deal with things/ life/issues/work/deadlines/ health I cope like this.Yes, happiness, vacation, picnic, beauty..... is indeed a 'state of mind'.It is posting old pictures that made you happy, moments that fired your imagination, days that made you want to sing....and that my darling friends is my confession. ( Post Script: I too am working hard each day at my work and my home and my health, dealing, coping, and...and....and....yet, it appears that I am partying....well, maybe I am, then again maybe I'm not!! Hahahahaha!! Gotchya!!) Yes, everybody hurts...I got my share too....but let's all try be happy shall we, there's enough sadness to go around without me adding to it.</b>......</span></i><span style="color: #1d2129;"> </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijZRCIrTgQc" rel="nofollow" style="color: #365899; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijZRCIrTgQc</a></span></div>
Art and Ginger Chai Conversationshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07203589971349086077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982185380830517405.post-51047723757945228822016-01-01T07:20:00.001-08:002016-01-01T07:23:24.877-08:00I am responsible for my rose.....<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i style="color: #ea9999; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 19.32px;"><b>"W<span style="line-height: 19.32px;">ho is in the house of my heart", </span><span style="line-height: 19.32px;">I cried in the middle of the night.</span></b></i><br />
<span style="line-height: 19.32px;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><b>Love said, </b></i></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><b><span style="line-height: 19.32px;">"It is I,</span><span style="line-height: 19.32px;">but what are all these images that fill your </span><span style="line-height: 19.32px;">house?"</span></b></i></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 19.32px;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><b>I said, "they are the reflection of Your beautiful Face".</b></i></span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 19.32px;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><b>Love asked,</b></i></span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 19.32px;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><b>"But what is this image full of pain?"</b></i></span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 19.32px;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><b>I said, "it is me lost in the sorrows of life"</b></i></span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 19.32px;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><b>and showed Love my soul full of wounds.</b></i></span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 19.32px;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><b>Love offered me one end of a thread and said:</b></i></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><b><span style="line-height: 19.32px;">"Take it so I can pull you back,</span><span style="line-height: 19.32px;">but do not break the delicate string".</span></b></i></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 19.32px;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><b>I reached towards it but Love struck my hand.</b></i></span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 19.32px;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><b>I asked,</b></i></span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 19.32px;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><b>"why the harshness?"</b></i></span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 19.32px;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><b>Love said,</b></i></span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 19.32px;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><b>"To remind you that whoever comes to Love's holy space </b></i></span></span><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 19.32px;"><i><b><span style="line-height: 19.32px;">proud and full of himself, </span><span style="line-height: 19.32px;">will be sent away....</span></b></i></span><i style="color: #ea9999; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 19.32px;"><b>Look at Love with the eyes of your heart."</b></i><br />
<i style="color: #ea9999; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 19.32px;"><b>Rumi</b></i></div>
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<i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 19.32px;"><b><span style="color: #e06666;">And how it comes to in life that what one reads and understands and feels at different points in one's life all collapses as one:</span></b></i></div>
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<i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 19.32px;"><b><span style="color: #ea9999;">"Goodbye," said the fox. "And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: </span></b></i></div>
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<span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><b>It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."</b></i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><b>"What is essential is invisible to the eye," the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember.</b></i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><b>"It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important."</b></i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><b>"It is the time I have wasted for my rose--" said the little prince, so that he would be sure to remember.</b></i></span></div>
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<i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 19.32px; text-align: left;"><b><span style="color: #ea9999;">"Men have forgotten this truth," said the fox. "But you must not forget it. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed. You are responsible for your rose."</span></b></i></div>
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<i style="line-height: 115%; text-align: left;"><b><span style="color: #ea9999;">~ Antoine
de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince</span></b></i></div>
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Art and Ginger Chai Conversationshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07203589971349086077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982185380830517405.post-35595336246739371762015-11-29T07:59:00.000-08:002015-11-29T08:06:54.480-08:00If You Forget Me by Pablo Neruda<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 27px;">I want you to know </span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 27px;">one thing.</span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 27px;"> </span></span></i></h1>
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<i><span style="color: #e06666;">You know how this is: </span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666;">if I look </span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666;">at the crystal moon, at the red branch </span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666;">of the slow autumn at my window, </span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666;">if I touch </span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666;">near the fire </span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666;">the impalpable ash </span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666;">or the wrinkled body of the log, </span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666;">everything carries me to you, </span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666;">as if everything that exists, </span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666;">aromas, light, metals, </span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666;">were little boats </span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666;">that sail </span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666;">toward those isles of yours that wait for me. </span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span></i>
<i><span style="color: #e06666;">Well, now, </span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666;">if little by little you stop loving me </span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666;">I shall stop loving you little by little. </span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span></i>
<i><span style="color: #e06666;">If suddenly </span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666;">you forget me </span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666;">do not look for me, </span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666;">for I shall already have forgotten you. </span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span></i>
<i><span style="color: #e06666;">If you think it long and mad, </span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666;">the wind of banners </span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666;">that passes through my life, </span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666;">and you decide </span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666;">to leave me at the shore </span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666;">of the heart where I have roots, </span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666;">remember </span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666;">that on that day, </span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666;">at that hour, </span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666;">I shall lift my arms </span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666;">and my roots will set off </span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666;">to seek another land. </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #e06666;">But </span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666;">if each day, </span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666;">each hour, </span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666;">you feel that you are destined for me </span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666;">with implacable sweetness, </span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666;">if each day a flower </span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666;">climbs up to your lips to seek me, </span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666;">ah my love, ah my own, </span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666;">in me all that fire is repeated, </span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666;">in me nothing is extinguished or forgotten, </span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666;">my love feeds on your love, beloved, </span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666;">and as long as you live it will be in your arms </span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #e06666;">without leaving mine.</span></i></div>
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<i style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #e69138;">Analytical Response, Corde:</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="color: #cc0000;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3Uvb_gCp9_Hhu7Ayr-F4dagzuDOzwrA408KKV4y_4_TiaQm3YGcBL8ckyHSC-21MjQkefmpFACHnKsL-2LluafIgRNqjnH-O1zm5XTPIiMpcVQ9YX60HLo5AjKCLf9BdJIooTZmnm5HI/s1600/CHAIRe12831da42e6d15619672dc65872e04e.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="clear: left; color: #141823; font-family: "georgia" , "palatino" , serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 27px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;">Pablo Neruda</span><span style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;">(July 12, 1904 – September 23, 1973)</span></a>'</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px;">Neruda won the </span><a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_Prize_for_Literature" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #0b0080; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px; text-decoration: none;" title="Nobel Prize for Literature">Nobel Prize for Literature</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px;"> in 1971.</span></span></i></div>
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<i style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #e69138;">Pablo Neruda, a Chilean poet, was recognized for being one of the best worldwide. Neruda, with his South American roots, has won us over with words that leave lingering feelings in our hearts. Neruda favored communism, and often wrote politically influential poetry. Furthermore, even though Neruda was highly successful by the age of 20, he was still struggling financially, and had four unsatisfying relationships; these came to inspire many of his conflictive love poems. Neruda in the poem “If You Forget Me,” expresses himself through the art of poetry, leaving behind subtle hints of his true theme: love is mutual and both parts of the relationship have to put equal effort for it to work, he shows this by using literary devices and distinctive diction to prove this theme.</span></i></div>
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<i style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #e69138;">Pablo Neruda constantly uses metaphors that are symbolic to the message of his poems. Metaphors can be strong and useful because they’re a comparative point where the reader manipulates the metaphoric object, then sees how it resembles the emotion the writer is trying to convey. Most of what Neruda writes in the poem “If You Forget Me” is metaphoric of his relationship. For example, “If you think it long and mad, the <b>wind of banners</b> that passes through my life, and you decide to leave me at the <b>shore of the heart where I have roots (</b>…) ” The first part uses a metaphor, which he then uses to explain what he believes she will do, which is that if she overthinks all their love’s downfalls she’ll end up focusing on the negative side thus leaving him forever. Through his metaphors Neruda describes an inner message about people and how they will only look at the negative side of things when it seems most convenient. Additionally, the second metaphor in this stanza is, “Shore of the heart where I have roots” is so deep, and perfectly describes how lost he is because he is restricted to loving her; she whom he has loved so much and perhaps for so long that it seemed as though the “roots” of his “tree” were deep inside her heart. In other words, he could never really stop loving her; you can never stop loving someone you once loved that much. Brilliantly, Neruda handles metaphors that explain so much in just a few words.</span></i></div>
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<i style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #e69138;"> Pablo Neruda writes strongly about his loved ones at specific times in his life, so we must also rely on his diction to find out his true meaning. For example, “Remember that on that day, at that hour, I shall lift my arms and my roots will set off to seek another land.” That fragment right there can be interpreted in so many different ways; some may say his relationship was lacking passion or perhaps she didn’t really love him back when he needed her to etc. But, when analyzing his word choice it was led to believe that Neruda was tired of living in doubt, of not knowing if she really loved him or not; but if she were to accept she didn’t have feelings for him, he says this: “On that day, at that hour” meaning that he would begin to forget her in that instant then, “My roots will set off to seek another land” he would begin to find someone else worthy of his love. Another example, “But if each day, each hour, you feel that you are destined for me with implacable sweetness, if each day a flower climbs up to your lips to seek me, ah my love, ah my own, in me all that fire is repeated, in me nothing is extinguished or forgotten.” When I read this passage I see a theme, or idea, that the writer is trying to communicate to us; in the passage above, he rephrases the beginning as, “But if each day, each hour.” This is significant because he is implying that he could forget any doubt he had of her if she could just love him back. Through these lines, Neruda shows that his great diction expresses the true meaning of his poems.</span></i></div>
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<i style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #e69138;"> Meaningful metaphors and a specific diction are some of the many techniques Pablo Neruda uses in his writing to enrich his poetry. He says so much in so little, and his words are so carefully crafted to exploit a variety of emotions, and feelings without losing any value in trying to explain his meaning directly. All that Neruda went through, all of his values, ideals, principles, beliefs, relationships; all of the ups and downs in his life; the moments of desperation and seeking for help, and the years he had to hide below basements because of the warrant for his arrest, or when his first wife left with his only child or perhaps the happier times when he loved a women so much. All of those experiences, everything that life taught him, he poured his heart into his poetry leaving us with writing so meaningful and substantial it leaves us stunned.</span></i></div>
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<i style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #e69138;">Pictures courtsey: Pineterest</span></i><br />
<i style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #e69138;">More on Neruda here: https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/pablo-neruda</span></i></div>
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Art and Ginger Chai Conversationshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07203589971349086077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982185380830517405.post-9424524814057715822015-10-09T03:52:00.000-07:002015-10-09T03:52:38.913-07:00..somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly....<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Lennon Tribute- Lucy in the sky ft. Ilina & Ishrita</i></span></b><br />
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<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><b>In a world riddled with hatred, insecurities and turmoil, a small contribution to peace from us comes in the form of children who are brought up appreciating the finer tendencies of the human nature. Loving the arts in all its manifestations, painting, literature, poetry, design, appreciating good music and contributing to the world by loving and respecting peace towards all fellow men and animals alike.I am proud to be one such parent....Here's a small tribute to a man who spread the message of peace and who imagined a world without boundaries hoping that all humans can live as one.We love you Lennon, and hope to take your message forward!</b></i></span></div>
Art and Ginger Chai Conversationshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07203589971349086077noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982185380830517405.post-21603977526622778832015-09-12T03:00:00.000-07:002015-09-12T04:35:08.583-07:00Somebody's knocking at your door...do me a favour...let 'em in.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #45818e;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Aren't there cracks in everyone's life that have no easy fillings? And so we allow pain and denial to settle in the cracks. Well, to me even these cracks are dear as they define me and give my being 'meaning' and it is through these very cracks that I am able to develop an understanding of philosophy, poetry, art, life, relationships and appreciation of nature. In dealing with the cracks one poet I have come to love is Rumi.I know many of you read him too :) I sometimes write my interpretations of Rumi, here is one such.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So come, let us then think of ourselves as a 'soul with a body' </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">instead of a 'body with a soul'. The body is only constantly running towards it's end. Coz that is the ultimate truth.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjwEKhf3_54Uj9E5c9FEpdTKWoSFlxoJ8LuQnN9R_zylVmYaI3GCLcjTn0BmJgprGmvpqZgYp_YkuB5K459uKKwPX4-vEhmRZ8ZbTSPINCk58dEUwUbA9iubdlLRTAwaDPcVbEx90ETVA/s1600/Green+door.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjwEKhf3_54Uj9E5c9FEpdTKWoSFlxoJ8LuQnN9R_zylVmYaI3GCLcjTn0BmJgprGmvpqZgYp_YkuB5K459uKKwPX4-vEhmRZ8ZbTSPINCk58dEUwUbA9iubdlLRTAwaDPcVbEx90ETVA/s640/Green+door.jpg" width="426" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>The Guesthouse: Rumi</i></span><br />
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<span style="color: #38761d; font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">This 'being human' is a guest house.</span></i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d; font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Every morning a new arrival.</span></i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d; font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">A joy, a depression, a mean memory,</span></i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d; font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">some momentary awareness of a time gone past,</span></i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d; font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">suddenly arrives as an unexpected visitor.</span></i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d; font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Welcome and entertain all! </span></i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d; font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Even if it's a crowd of sorrows,that violently sweeps
your house empty of its belongings,</span></i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d; font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Even so, treat each guest with honour</span></i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d; font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Who knows, he/she may be clearing you out</span></i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d; font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">for some new delight, some new adventure....</span></i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d; font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The dark thought, the shame, the malice,</span></i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-size: large;">meet them at the door laughing,<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-size: large;">and invite them in.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-size: large;">Be grateful for whoever that comes,<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-size: large;">as each has been sent<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #38761d;">as a guide from beyond.</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i><span style="line-height: 1.8em;">(With major edits to the English translation made by me)</span></i></span></div>
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Art and Ginger Chai Conversationshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07203589971349086077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982185380830517405.post-5874831326318454962015-09-06T08:24:00.002-07:002015-09-06T08:25:46.261-07:00......my soul belongs elsewhere, of that i am certain.....rumi<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i><span style="color: #ea9999;">Most times life takes one to a place from where one understands things differently.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #ea9999;">The constantly changing and transient nature of life is such that many a times things, words, phrases, poetry, philosophy, spirituality, events, take on completely different meanings. I say this because of late I am able to understand meanings where earlier I did not see them. This is one such song, a song I have really liked and sung all my life and only now I felt it so differently, and it's meaning as I understand it from my 'now' perspective.....whatever that means!! Hahahahaha! </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Meri jaan, mujhe jaan na
kaho meri jaan</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Meri jaan!</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="line-height: 13.65pt;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Jaan na kaho anjaan
mujhe, jaan kahan rahti hai sada </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Anjaane, kya jaanein,
jaan ke jaaye kaun bhala</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="line-height: 13.65pt;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Sookhe saawan baras
gaye, itni baar in aankhon se </span></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Do boondein na barsein,
in bheegi palkon se</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 13.65pt;"> </span><span style="line-height: 13.65pt;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Honth jhukein jab hothon
par, saans uljhi ho saanson mein </span></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Do judwa hothon ki, baat
kaho aankhon se.....</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #ea9999;">How does one translate poetry like this? </span></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #ea9999;">How do I explain the depth of meaning of each word, each line.....</span></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #ea9999;"><br /></span></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #ea9999;">Well, let me try....this is my personal understanding......</span></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #ea9999;"><br /></span></span></i></div>
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<i style="line-height: 13.65pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #ea9999;">My beloved, call me not your life,</span></span></i></div>
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<i style="line-height: 13.65pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #ea9999;">oh!my dearest!</span></span></i></div>
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<i style="line-height: 13.65pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #ea9999;"> Oh! you ignorant one, don't speak of me as your life, cause where is the permanence of life?</span></span></i></div>
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<span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><i> An ignorant may not understand this, but who would take this path knowingly?</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><i><span style="color: #ea9999;"> Oh! the many times I have cried with dry eyes,</span></i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #ea9999;">But my moist eyelids
have never allowed even two tear-drops to escape (cause that would be an insult to our love)</span></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #ea9999;">With your lips bent upon, to meet mine, and our breaths entangled </span></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #ea9999;">Let not the lips speak of what passes between us, allow our eyes to do the talking.....</span></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #ea9999;"> Gulzar, the beautiful poet at his very sensual and soulful best......</span></span></i></div>
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<i style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18.2px;">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulzar</i></div>
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Art and Ginger Chai Conversationshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07203589971349086077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982185380830517405.post-20779901272374968272015-08-31T10:45:00.000-07:002015-08-31T11:18:03.255-07:00I really want to see you but it takes so long my lord.....<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i style="color: #ea9999; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">I desire you more than food or drink.</span></i><br />
<span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">My body, my senses, my mind,</span><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">hunger for your taste...</span><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">I can sense your presence in my heart.</span><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">Although you belong to all the world,</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; display: inline; line-height: 18px;"><br />I wait in silent passion,<br />For one gesture, one glance from you.</span></i></span><i style="color: #ea9999; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; display: inline; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></i><br />
<i style="color: #ea9999; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; display: inline; line-height: 18px;">~ Rumi</span></i><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>I struggle for just some moments and then the answer it comes to me on it's own accord and all is well with the world again....</i></span><br />
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<i style="color: #ea9999; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">Why struggle to open a door between us when the whole wall is an illusion? </i></div>
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<i style="color: #ea9999; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">~ Rumi</span></i></div>
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Art and Ginger Chai Conversationshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07203589971349086077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982185380830517405.post-14390793284197633042015-08-11T23:23:00.000-07:002015-08-11T23:23:09.688-07:00Of bhakti and prem....a bond close to my heart... (Spirituality and Love)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';"> Out beyond ideas
of wrong and right, there is a field.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";"> I will meet you there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";"> Rumi</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEgkp6__JBXlCCqrQ9iS9NV666TDEMfosH8YaISrHawUbQFNR5js850StqByMADwn7eY18udTxP4LWhVwRmlPN62Gzlm_U-3HVbNRMIoH73kbUC7mveqV5LDYPWFmXWT1CLcbeRuGBFsw/s1600/11412219_10153438657538185_3434874146944838463_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEgkp6__JBXlCCqrQ9iS9NV666TDEMfosH8YaISrHawUbQFNR5js850StqByMADwn7eY18udTxP4LWhVwRmlPN62Gzlm_U-3HVbNRMIoH73kbUC7mveqV5LDYPWFmXWT1CLcbeRuGBFsw/s320/11412219_10153438657538185_3434874146944838463_n.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">My first ever engagement with Rumi, (I thought then it was Roomy) was when I was a teenager. I saw the The Rumi
Darwaza, also known as the Turkish
Gate, in Lucknow, Utta Pradesh, India. Rumi Darwaza is an
imposing gateway which was built under the patronage of Nawab
Asaf-Ud-dowlah in 1784. Oh! how I knew not at the time the meaning it would come to hold for me in later years of my life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; line-height: 115%;">Rumi Darwaza, Lucknow: Photo Credits: Luknowcity.org</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">And then Rumi lay </span><span style="line-height: 18.3999996185303px;">dormant</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> somewhere in my memory......</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; line-height: 115%;">It is only recently that I became engaged in
Rumi yet again, when I came across some verses that moved me deeply, and I realized how
meaningful and powerful the verses are for the individual and the state of the world at large today.I say engaged “in” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; line-height: 115%;">Rumi and not “with” Rumi, because once
you get introduced to Rumi there is no way that you stay a separate </span><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">entity than his
words. To become 'one' with poetry, nature, love, mysticism, music…..that is the true
meaning of spirituality, of life, and one can only ever be “in” the meaning not “with” it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">Rumi was born on
the Eastern shores of the Persian Empire on September 30, 1207, in the city of
Balkh in what is now Afghanistan and finally settled in the town of Konya (he
is buried here too) in what is now
Turkey. (Mental note: to visit soon) Today all three nations: Iran, Turkey
and Afghanistan </span><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">claim him as their national poet. In fact n</span><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">one of these countries as they are today actually
existed back in the time of Rumi. Iran was the Persian Empire, a monarchy much larger than what it is today. It included all of today's Iran and Afghanistan
also parts of Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkey and Iraq.
Turkey had not yet formed then and Afghanistan was part of the Khorasan
Province in the old Persian Empire.</span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">Rumi recited
poetry for about 25 years wrote ~70,000 verses in which he has covered every morsel of
emotion, thought, idea and topic under the sun!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">The general theme
of Rumi's thought, like that of other mystic and Sufi poets of Persian
literature, is essentially that of the concept of a union with his beloved (the
primal root) from whom he has been cut off and become aloof — and his
longing and desire to restore it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">Rumi believed
passionately in the use of music, poetry and dance as a path for reaching God.
For Rumi, music helped devotees to focus their whole being on the divine and to
do this so intensely that the soul was both destroyed and resurrected. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">In other verses Rumi
describes in detail the universal message of love:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">The lover’s cause
is separate from all other causes<br />
Love is the astrolabe of God's mysteries.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">If we look closely we see elements of oneness with the creator and humanly love so intertwined in his works.....</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">One of the verses
close to my heart……<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">I choose to love you in silence, for in silence I find no rejection.<br />
I choose to love you in loneliness, for in loneliness no one owns you but me.<br />
I choose to adore you from a distance, for distance will shield me from pain.<br />
I choose to kiss you in the wind, for the wind is gentler than my lips.<br />
I choose to hold you in my dreams, for in my dreams, you have no end.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">~Rumi<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Art and Ginger Chai Conversationshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07203589971349086077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982185380830517405.post-51887288914929226532015-01-10T22:15:00.000-08:002015-01-10T22:15:15.071-08:00Likh likh ke yaad karo: Write and write again to learn.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #741b47;"><b>It's been a long time and now I'm coming back home...I've been away now, oh! how....</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #741b47;"><b>Happy to blog after a long break....</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><b>2014, an evening, and my 12year old is revising something. "Beta, (my dear child) I hear myself saying, do take a register (notebook) and write your answers till you know them well.This is the way to revise your lesson"</b> </span><br />
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<b><span style="color: #b45f06;">Rewind to 1987, I hear his voice from somewhere "Praachi beta, likh-likh ke yaad karo": "My dear child, Praachi, write and write again till you have the lesson learnt by heart". How many long brown registers I filled up writing and rewriting my lessons. I still remember some of the answers by heart! Till date my father writes in his calligarphic handwriting...aaah how I love the small letters....a daily diary, of things he reads, of a new word he makes sure he learns each day. And I think I too do the same, well, let's be honest, in my case, on most days.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Writing in your own hand as opposed to the cut and paste culture of collecting information today....hmmmmm.</span></b><br />
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<i><b>Here is a link to a good post I just read on Tumblr and it brought into perspective my above thoughts.In fact it inspired me to pen this note which was hidden somewhere in the crevices of the mind but was not finding the light of day.</b></i><br />
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<i><b><a href="http://tj-shin.tumblr.com/post/107747427246/best-way-to-improve-skill-to-visualize-information">http://tj-shin.tumblr.com/post/107747427246/best-way-to-improve-skill-to-visualize-information</a></b></i><br />
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<i><b>Thank you Mr.Shin for the share :)</b></i><br />
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<b><span style="color: #0b5394;">Well, here they are, the fabulous person who taught me to write regularly in my own hand, "Roz thoda-thoda likho": "Write a few lines each day" (the habit sticks to this day!!) and the person I insist write a little each day in her own hand :) Confusing eh? Oh! Well.</span></b><br />
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<b style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-size: large;"> Happy writing folks! Till next time then!</span></b><br />
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Art and Ginger Chai Conversationshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07203589971349086077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982185380830517405.post-88430806282115635752014-11-28T07:44:00.001-08:002014-11-28T07:44:22.031-08:00I Have A Dream | Ilina Gandhi | Friends of Art | Contemporary Arts Week<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/emtdQ33FcOQ" width="480"></iframe>Art and Ginger Chai Conversationshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07203589971349086077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982185380830517405.post-53668737617861757302014-09-11T11:54:00.000-07:002014-09-11T11:54:19.907-07:00Let's spend the night together......<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><i><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">When the children they are an out..... partying, mommies well, they are an up.....reading. And what better for company.... With my favourite tulsi chai and flaxseed </span><span class="_4-k1 img sp_LWp1MpKGrs1 sx_59a56f" style="background-color: white; background-image: url(https://fbstatic-a.akamaihd.net/rsrc.php/v2/yP/r/90b8T5aM1AH.png); background-position: 0px -5317px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: auto; display: inline-block; height: 16px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px; vertical-align: -3px; width: 16px;"></span></i></b></span><br /></div>
Art and Ginger Chai Conversationshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07203589971349086077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982185380830517405.post-22419318412208231352014-09-11T11:34:00.000-07:002016-06-26T03:09:17.718-07:00Hey! It's not a fight!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span id="yui_3_15_0_6_1409515333401_7"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Why does every suggestion of following rules in our culture become a fight?</i></span></span></div>
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<span id="yui_3_15_0_6_1409515333401_10"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>I wonder?</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><span id="yui_3_15_0_6_1409515333401_18">I stand many an evening in the back porch of my home facing a large</span><span id="yui_3_15_0_1_1409515333401_1142" style="line-height: 1.25; word-spacing: normal;"> lawn </span><span id="yui_3_15_0_1_1409515333401_1147" style="line-height: 1.25; word-spacing: normal;">requesting different groups of children and many parents too, to please heed the rules and play badminton, frisbee, soft ball etc. discussing with them how it is dangerous to the young babies out with their grandparents or ayahs if a big ball were to come flying and hit them.</span></i></span></div>
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<span id="yui_3_15_0_6_1409515333401_25" style="color: #134f5c; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Most of the days there is argument "Aunty it will not happen we will be careful etc" Äunty why should we stop playing, we have no park here". I Agree. But, it doesn't change the fact that a ball is a ball and a strong kick many a times hits the lamps in the lawn shattering it's connecting wires.</i></span><br />
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<span id="yui_3_15_0_6_1409515333401_22" style="color: #134f5c; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Many a time the balls have come flying into my balcony.Good no one got hit.....so far.</i></span><br />
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<span id="yui_3_15_0_6_1409515333401_37" style="color: #741b47; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>My husband warns me at times..."Let it be, let them play, some one might get nasty and bitter with you.Why do you have to guard all the lamps in the lawn and all the bachhas in the prams or the elderly aunty taking a walk, no one else complains, why do you?" So, some days I let it be and try to enjoy the weather.</i></span><br />
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<span id="yui_3_15_0_6_1409515333401_34" style="color: #741b47; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>This evening too I stood in my porch (pic above) watching some sweet children playing in the park with a football (It had rained there are wires around that lamp I thought) in my usual way called out to the kids and said " beta, this is not the right place to play with a football, do you have badminton rackets,I too want to play with you?' It was a pleasant evening just after the much awaited showers.</i></span><br />
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<span id="yui_3_15_0_6_1409515333401_45" style="color: #741b47; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Three maids, who were with this group of 7-12year olds sat chatting amongst themselves on the bench. I told them, help the children understand : aap samjhao bacchon ko lamps ke paas ball na kheilein, aaj barsaat hui hai, current bhi lag sakta hai" (it has rained heavily today, they are playing right next to the lamp, can even get electrocuted' ...maids responses: total ignore, looked away into horizon...I loudly said " if you will not explain to the kids I will have to call a guard and tell the kids the rules". </i></span></div>
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<span id="yui_3_15_0_6_1409515333401_52" style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Suddenly a mother appears with her son whose football it was (I am guessing) and stomps towards where the kids had been playing telling her son...you play.Her entire body language suggested animosity...."how dare you tell my son not to play.She flayed her hands at me in a "bahut ho gaya chup raho" silence...I am in charge here!" when I had not even said anything to her..she was acting on behest of her 7/8/9 year old kid "aunty ne khelne ke liye manaa liya hai" aunty has forbidden me to play. I spoke up "It is not a fight, I am not fighting with you..I just want that the children should play a safer game and not a ball game" </i></span></div>
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<span id="yui_3_15_0_6_1409515333401_87" style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>The lady's husband suddenly appears in his first floor balcony and says loudly across the lawn to me "This is my property" he hollered at me across the lawn. "Yes, and the lamp is also your lamp,can break... the kid is your kid....can get.... He replied magnanimously " I don't know if you are on rent or owner here, but this property is mine and if the lamp breaks I will (thumping chest) pay for it" this was on repeat so I quickly gave in, what does one say or do? " You go right ahead sir and get your kids to play football here, do join for a cup of tea sometime" I said. Maybe over a friendly cup of tea he will not feel that I am his enemy and that we have to fight and make a huge issue about teaching our young ones some basics also keeping them safe in the process.I was contemplating going over and amicably discussing but better sense prevailed.</i></span></div>
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<span id="yui_3_15_0_6_1409515333401_59" style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 16.25px;"><i>It does not matter who they are, who yelled at me,spoiling a perfectly blessed cool evening.I feel sad that as humans we are not trusting of each other at all.Why would the parents feel I was trying to be bigger then them.They knew they were teaching their kids to break rules and disobey. The is the reason for their anger.The ego.Why would they not feel the need to be friends with me, after all all these children play in front of my eyes every day.If ever anything were to happen to any of them while playing I will be the nearest and the first one to run and protect and take care of any of them if anyone were to get hurt or well....... in my mind the open wires in the lawns are a big electricity hazard especially for kids lost in their games to know where they are stepping.......but that is another story.</i></span></span></div>
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Art and Ginger Chai Conversationshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07203589971349086077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8982185380830517405.post-26115336912702659782014-08-31T03:37:00.004-07:002014-08-31T03:54:04.287-07:00These are a few of my favourite reads......<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;"><i><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>There is a song by Cliff Richard called "Wired for Sound"....This is post like that song. I like different books for different reasons. How does one choose ones favourite books? And my liking for a book at a particular time depends entirely on my mood and my need at that given moment.</b></span></i></span><br />
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><i><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;"> I like “Little women by Mary Alcot” because I learn to be ‘content’, just reading it, simple lives, simple joys…I love the way the mother of the girls goes from neighbor to neighbor helping ever</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; display: inline; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;">yone and being “like” a working mother and yet doing so much good to society and for that how the girls love and respect her.Yes, it forms a part of my favorites list. </span></i></b></span><br />
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<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #7f6000; display: inline; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;"><b><i>But, on other days a favourite would be a ‘Rats, sorry King Rat by James Clavell’ when my mood and need would be to feel one with the strife of war and to be grateful for my own secure cocoon.</i></b></span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; display: inline; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;"><b><i><span style="color: #141823;"> </span><span style="color: #f1c232;">Another state of mind necessitates historical, period books such as ‘The Pillars of the Earth’ by Ken Follett wherein the slow shift from religion to science and from orthodox thinking to modern thought is brilliantly captured by Follett in the medical and (technological) architectural processes that shaped post medieval Europe and as a Sociologist I much enjoy this kind of reading of society. </span></i></b></span><br />
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<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #93c47d; display: inline; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;"><b><i>Another favourite and a book I saw being read and reread by my father when I was a little girl (and even today, I do hope to inherit his writing skills, he maintais a diary of notes of and from his favourite reads!!, what a man!!) is ‘The Passions of the Mind” by Irving Stone and also “The Agony and the Ecstacy” and “Lust for Life” by the same author.These are my favourites even though I can recall only some portions of them and I can safely admit that they have not been read by me ‘cover to cover’ but yes, they are part of my favorite list.That makes six.</i></b></span><br />
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<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: red; display: inline; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;"><b><i>I often find myself telling anecdotes from another favourite “Maus” which is an interesting graphic novel by Art Spiegelman, this is usually when I am in a ‘teach my kids the value of stuff and the necessity to believe in the worthiness of frugality’ mood.I appreciate how the father of the protagonist uses his teabags more than ten times during the course of the day as this was what they would do during his time at Auschwitz. He would sometimes even use the same teabag the whole month (all from memory so might be wrong about exact anecdote).I now use my tea bags at least four times a day (much to some of my friends chagrin)</i></b></span><br />
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<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; display: inline; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;"><b><i><span style="color: #141823;"> </span><span style="color: #990000;">So, you see there are different things one takes back from books that come to make it ones favourite. I like "Nirmala" by Premchand for it laid the foundation for my interest in Sociology and social commentary when I was very very young....and many many many more ……..maybe I should stop</span></i></b></span><br />
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