A day in the life of LIFE

At the stroke of midnight on 14th August 1947, the world slept, while India awakened to a new dawn, according to the words of Pandit Nehru. What seemed to be an almost impossible task - forming a union of 500 odd princely states that were as diversified as the colors of a butterfly, was nearly achieved, thanks to the efforts of the Iron Man of India - Sardar Vallab Bhai Patel. (I don't agree with Mr. Jaswant Singh's comments on Sardar Patel handing over Pakistan to Jinnah).

The skeptics frowned, betting on how quickly India would disintegrate based on the myriad plurality and the presence of a wafer thin commonality in social fabric.

62 years later, India has surprised many, and has become a case study in itself even as we speak today. Even as the swine flu pandemic sweeps the nation, the mood around is upbeat.

Incidentally, it was just this afternoon as the class on "Emerging Economies and Business" was in session at IIM, the core focus of the entire elective was the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China) and how they are going to shape the world order by 2050.

Very interesting discussions on comparing and contrasting the "white tiger" with the "red dragon" happened, and how the world's obsession of India versus Pakistan has now shifted to India versus China.

The Chinese are industrious and determined - and are less threatened at their borders than us. Yet, they are beginning to get wary of the Great Indian resurgence. Recent reports of China increasing its focus on its southern neighbor are indicative of this fact.

Another contrast was made with that of Japan. The Professor opined that the thought of "Japan is for the Japanese" is more than that of "India is for Indians". The nationalism quotient is so high in Japan that their resurrection post World War II has been just incredible. India at times slips into spells of siesta (the famed South American nap)and needs to be shaken up to be urged to move ahead.

All said and done, Indian dominance in the trade relations the world over is definitely looking upwards. What looked impossible a decade and a half ago seems to be materializing - quick and fast. The Finance Minister has predicted 6.5% growth by 2010 despite the recession - and this holds a lot of significance for the nation.

As I may have mentioned in a couple of previous posts, the world which earlier used to worry about the future "of" India, is soon recognizing the fact that the future "is" India.

Even as we transition from Janmashtami to Jashn-e-Aazadi, at the stroke of midnight on 14th August 2009, the world awakens, to celebrate India's new dawn and it's about time to acknowledge that there is no better time than NOW, to be an INDIAN - Jai Ho!

Image below : India on NASDAQ.

Life is a strange journey – it never prepares you for what to expect;
But it does present enough time for one to introspect;
And the thought of which links to the mad mad world,
Under the influence of which, thoughts they mold.

We all find comfort in myriad emotion:
Use somebody's emotion for solace and solution;
And when we all look back at emotions’ evolution,
It leads us back into good old introspection.

The times of joy, sharing and kinship,
Form the underlying essence of friendship:
It forms the foundation for probabilities of the future,
Which in turn enable emotions for nurture.

When things are fine, and the highways free,
Unwarranted opinions come from all and sundry;
Limited they are in the expanse of their imagination,
In others’ penury they find their emancipation!

But this is the essence of societal critic:
It forever fails to be gender agnostic,
And once the objective of the poison thought is achieved,
It moves on to other hosts on which it could feed...

After the storm comes the uneasy calm,
And we then grope for advice from the psalm;
What is the use of wisdom when it can’t be implemented?
Rejoicing are the minds that are so demented!

Abstinence appears to be the only way going forward,
An abrupt end it seems, to the graceful ballad;
How exactly it transforms we are yet to see,
But the writing on the wall is clear:“What is meant to be; is meant to be…”

Hello folks. Today is Raksha Bandhan. All I wanted to speak about RB is in this post here..

Well,what do you get when you have 5 vatus (bachelor Brahmin "boys" :)) with a limited supply of resources but all enthusiastic to have some trace of tradition and rituals as part of their routine? - The answer is an "Open air Saamoohika Yajur Upakarma" (the annual ritual of the followers of the Yajur Veda to mark the change of the sacred thread) ; the optimized and abridged version, of course.

The memories of a couple of years ago are still afresh - The 6 morning batch at the Shiva Vishnu temple at T Nagar Chennai, the dash back home to get ready for office, the sumptuous lunch at the Raghavendra Swami Math and the self made Halwa for dinner - was such excitement loaded with contentment.

This morning even as the rest of the IIM hostel rested after a night out with case studies and presentations, a few among them found themselves as part of the MI 8 auditions in trying to wake up at the unearthly hour of 6 a.m.

There were a good number of combinations for the attire adorn by us. While RPA was an epitome of the "Mandir Purohit", there were others who had : towel + towel; trouser + towel; trouser + "null" and dhoti + "null" on them.

A majority of them being Tam Brahms, I was the only Kan Brahm in the group, but yes we shared the Best Practices of the Yajur Veda Upakarma (also referred to as Aavni Aavattam in Tamil).

Even as GK struggled with his notes in Tamil (which were as old as the excavations of Harappa and Mohenjodaro) I had my "post its" in Kannada to the rescue which contained fresh notes as dictated by Ma last night.

So we figured out that there were some language agnostic commonalities that could be adhered to by all.

As we went from one Mantra to another, we looked reassuringly at each other, hoping that we were on the right track.

KS was half zombied while KR looked on vigilantly over the course of the entire exercise.

As we entered stage 2 and 3 of the stipulated rituals, the world around us had begun to gather quick pace (Being in the North East, the sun rises a good 90 minutes ahead of the prescribed timing for the rest of India).

This year, the process was more elaborate with the junior batch at IIM having a sizable number (5 is indeed a sizable number in today's context) of interested participants.

This is the first time that I'm up at 6 in the morning in the past 2 months( considering that we go to bed by 3:30, it's indeed a tough order). But it felt to take in the oxygen and the fresh rays of sunlight loaded with Vitamin D, even as the cool breeze rejuvenated our minds.

As the brief ceremony drew to a close, we got back to our normal attire, with the vibhuti (sacred ash) and its fragrance still fresh on our palms.

The conversation soon shifted from Rituals and the Vedas to ERP and Business Law - thus ushering in the next phase of the day at IIM.

But before I get into classes that begin 25 minutes from now, I am off to pounce on some upma made by RPA, the fragrance of which is already reaching my room.

It indeed feels great to be a द्विजः - it comes with its small yet rejuvenating practices and privileges.

शुभं भवतु |