The Shoes of the Fisherman

Pope died but not before leaving a legacy for living every day of his life in faith. Forgiving killers after his own blood, converting cold hearts into warm beings, keeping the flock and calling for peace and harmony, which now are increasingly becoming extinct words in a harsh, violent world. Soon another one would step into the shoes of the fisherman, as the papal seat is often called, in rememberence of the first pope, Peter, the Fisherman.
I pray for the next pope who now faces new dilemmas, between faith and science, belief and non belief, peace and violence. I hope he can lead millions of my christian brothers into the new age of faith. Amen

The Dandi Walk

Imagine a puny little man, in clothes that are barely able to cover him, walking. Walking intent, not caring about the world, with a single minded devotion to walk the path on which he has set out.
Imagine that walk changes the destiny of millions of people deprived and starved of both bread and freedom. With courage in his heart and truth in his eyes he set out to do what to me is the greatest act of empowerment anybody has ever attempted. To make salt on the shores of the Arabian Sea, salt from the ocean, which was banned by the empire where the sun never set.
Salt, that white powder sometimes is the only thing my countrymen can afford as a garnish with a morsel of rice or bread, helped Mahatama to launch the struggle political and moral freedom of India.
I wish i had a thousandth of the courage and conviction that he had. I wish i was even worth the salt that Mahatama made that day. I wish i could walk the talk too.

Bitter Harvest

This blog almost died last week……
It felt it picked more than its share of life’s bitter harvest. Until inside the seeds of the bitterness, it found hope. It wished it had not found hope. The small seedling of hope now asks for food and shelter and dreams and a little bit of sun. It asks for more than that. It asks for love.
Random Harvest again picks on the dreary randomness of life and moves on with the remains of the day.
And I am scared again to meet myself on the cross-roads of love, hate, life and death.

Love, Or Something Like That

"If somebody says, “I love you,” to me, I feel as though I had a pistol pointed at my head. What can anybody reply under such conditions but that which the pistol-holder requires? “I love you, too.”------- Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (b. 1922), U.S. novelist. Wampeters, Foma and Granfallons, “Address at Dedication of Wheaton College Library, 1973”.

Love is a miserable emotion. Its makes you a lice-worried,mud-covered puppy tired, wet, hungry and lonely, looking for shelter and getting kicked instead.
Until this thought that you do not need to be miserable in love. This thought might seem very obvious and cliched but if understood in its entirety is a very beautiful thought. It has energized me a lot
That's how the blog almost died............

Magnolia

Have you seen the movie "Magnolia" starring Tom Cruise. Its a very true depiction of our life in all its randomness. While telling a story of a day in the life of its protagonists as varied as life itself, it send a disturbing message that behind the seeming randomness we are connected somehow by a unseen, unfelt thread. I must say one of my best movie experiences and definitely in the line of "Groundhog Day". I liked the phrase used in the movie
"You may be through with the past but the past is never through with you."

Can Mobile Invade Privacy?

The recent DPS sex scandal highlights one important point. The devices which we use for communication can also be invasive and unethically used at times. The guy who posted pics of one of the girls studying with him, may not repent, but i understand what pain the girl and her parents must be going through. What torture must they be enduring?
I know many would say the girl had it coming. So why care? That is over-simplificaion to say the least. The larger issues of loss of privacy due to invasive devises such as mobile phones are completely ignored. Even the govt reaction-banning of mobile phones is a high handed solution. If an adult had done this to any collegue in his/her office then what? Would then the govt ban mobile devices in all offices also? Banning is not a solution. Instead what should be explored are the larger implications of effects of giving mobile devices to people who are not mature enough to use them.

High Tide

Its such a long time since i have posted anything on this blog. Life has changed, so have priorities. I have become a lot more wisened up and mature. I have just completed my 4th process lab. I have slowly started thinking, about myself and my actions. "there are tides in affairs of men......", my tide is coming. Lets see where the tide takes me to

Bitter-Sweet Experiences

today i felt very disappointed. For the first time i was refused permission to donate blood because of diabetes. I found out that this is wrong. Diabetes patients can donate blood. Anyway the feeling of rejection will take some time to go away. I have given my interview for KPIT Cummins and feel that i gave a decent interview. There is no thing as a perfect interview but i have high hopes.

The Journey

Yesterday a thought came inside me "why am i fighting when i know i have already lost" the answer came" because i have to". there are times when you want security and comfort, the touch of a soft hand that means its all right, the caress of a comforting voice that tells you that you are not alone.yesterday was one of those times. i feel like a wandering minstrel, roaming around endlessly in search of some illusory divinity that will tell me the meaning of living, and fighting. the search is on.

The Magic Pot

All good things come to an end and so has the journey i began with the start of process lab. today i gave up lonliness and self pity, feelings that have hankered me throughout life and taken from the magic pot my acceptance of myself as a human and the ability to touch myself and welcome myself every day. I have been disturbed by a lot of things in this process, the pain of separation that i saw in Moumita and the pain of loss that Shruti was with. I feel also the anger of Prabhat, the numbness of Sugandha. I received strength and sustenance from Balaji's empathy and Prachuri's softness. I hope i also have given to the group and the space, in my own small way, what i could. The most endearing moment of the process lab for me has been the wonderful, kind and honest gesture of Arti towards my pain and longingness. Thank you all you wonderful guys, for making the space alive with your yourness. I value it and hope you do the same...........
and the journey, as they say, has just started

The Space

Today is the third day of the Process Lab and sparks have started flying. I became aware today of "labels" given to me by people ranging from 'chauvanist' to 'connected', optimist, intellectual, supportive, rigid, egoist, image conscious, rebel, ignorant, demanding and arrogant. I feel somehow that after the afternoon session where the facilitators left the group, there has been the start of a trust building in the space. I still feel that some individuals are tentative about the whole process. One thing that became clear to myself was that i talk a lot about father because of the habit of mother in my childhood after father's death of sharing her problems with us. I am happy that i do not feel any discomfort in talking about things very sacred and personal to me within the space. I think i see the beginning of hope in this process lab this day in regard to trust building in the group.

The Process Lab

Today was the first day of the Process Lab, a sensitivity training lab based on the ISISD school of Philosophy started by Prof. Pulin Garg of IIM Ahmedabad.
The Lab started with an introductory session in the morning. Throughout the session i was feeling drowsy due to late night movie watching. This day's session seemed just to wither away till the end when i spoke about my fears of facing the dark when I was 7. It evoked a surprise in the group which was not immediately evident ( afterward when i talked to Dusi, he gave an inkling by saying with a mischevious grin, that i had evoked surprise among the audience on the issue). I felt a bit uncomfortable on speaking intimate details about my life but felt i had to, so be it. The issue in process lab is to confront the issues you talk about only to yourself, by sharing these issues in a space. I feel that the reluctance on the part of people to talk is not a healthy sign since somewhere i feel it hampers trust building so essential in a process lab.
Anyway lets see if sparks start flying in the second day.

Random Harvest

This blog is a harvest of all my random thoughts, feelings and actions. It is also an expression of my creativity. I would appericiate if people visiting this this blog post their comments on what they feel about it.
Both bouquets and brickbats are welcome at manmeet_imdr@yahoo.co.in