A 'Sadhu' and his magic

I almost never had an encounter with a sadhu before, except for seeing them in temples or here and there. At least I never faced one of them alone before. But every day is not the same and I live in India, where 'Sadhus' are in abundance. This is a land of faith. These 'Sadhus' know how exploit this gift of God well. Blessed be those who found a real 'Sadhu' in their life - for they are rarer than the rarest gem.

Today just as I came out of my house on my way to office, someone called me from behind. Usually I'd not pay heed to any call from a stranger, but there was something in this strangely clad man, may be his gesture or his gaze (I'll never know what) that drew me towards him instantly. I thought he would ask me for time or directions, but he asked for nothing. He said "May the Almighty bless you, and I see faith in your eyes. May you be successful wherever you go." What flattering statement. I smiled.

With a smiley face he drew me into his traps. He said more of the world then asked for a 1 or 2 rupees so that he could drink tea. I usually don't return a deserving beggar. This guy was not one deserving, but my hands went into my pocket and I took out a two rupees coin and handed it over to him.

Thus started a series of dazzling performance usually demonstrated by a 'common Indian Sadhu', and ofcourse, needless to say my doomed morning. But hey, an encounter of such is an experience of a lifetime. He took the coin and thanked me and as I thought of walking off suddenly he commanded me to stretch out my hands and for my utter surprise, returned me my money.
"Keep it. Don't ever spend it away. This coin is blessed", he said.

A colourful Indian Sadhu (courtesy Flickr)

I was puzzled, but happy that he returned my money, so might be at last I met a real Sadhu. Little did I know then of what more lay in wait for me. He asked the money back again with eloquent speech that he was delivering. It was mesmerizing. Hypnotism with words. He looked straight into my eye with such a strong gaze that I could not take my eyes off him.

"Stretch out your palms my good lad,"he said, "Here is something for you to keep".
He handed out the coin to me again, but when I took it in my hands it was no more a coin but a "Rudraksh".
(Those who are not familiar with Indian culture and Vedic myths, Rudraksh is a seed of a fruit, rarely found. The tree is known to be born out of the tears of Lord Siva, the God of destruction, when he cried for mankind). No wonder I was a little influenced by his tricks, so I stood there for longer.
"Tie this on your right hand or keep it in body contact. Thou shall be successful to the envy of others", a boon came along with the "Rudraksh" from the mysterious man.

Happily I'd have walked away at this point, but I didn't. I stood there listening to him.
"Now I'll leave this place and travel to Tarakeshwar (a holy place of Lord Siva in West Bengal). There I'll pray for you. And shall read the Ramayan for you", he said, "But alas! I don't have one with me now. So give me a hundred bucks for buying one".

Well now, he was talking sense. I immediately replied, "Sorry I'd have given you something, but for now, I'm in a hurry ". I said but I couldn't leave somehow.
He badgered on with eloquent words, that would make a man give up all his worldly possessions  for the love of God, as everything is an illusion!
"No points", I thought, but still said, "Look I'm going and I'm in a great hurry".
"Well, so you want to test 'Baba' of how much strength he has? So be it", he took the Rudraksha from me and turned into a glossy stone sphere of the size of a battle-nut.

At this moment precisely the connection with Mr. Sadhubaba broke away. I just gave him back the stone and said, "See you later, right now I'm off", and left very unceremoniously. I heard him calling out from my back, "Could not spare a little money for Baba! That's really sad. Wish you all the best though".

I walked off with the amusing experience and caught a bus to office.

Jungles of Civilization

Forests and jungles were there since the ancient time, before mankind and will remain after mankind. But the type of vegetation that populates a jungle changes through ages. The forests of the Dinosaurs is in no way similar to the forests of the Neanderthals; so are the jungles of the modern times, of the modern man. The greatest difference being that most natural vegetation is getting replaced by man made ones. I'd like to give you a few examples. Be careful as they are not so soothing to the eyes of normal people.

A very colorful small jungle inside a modern building

bengali and sex

I heard that the Indians constitute the highest no. of visitors to porn sites in the net. Well, If taken percentage wise I don't agree to that. I know and agree that we are though a little conservative outside, but inside we like to take peeks at things that are morally banned in the Indian culture. But considering the huge population of India we definitely would make up the highest portion, inspite of being low in comparative percentage. The reason for this would be it is more private and easily accessible with almost no chance of being embarrassed.

For Bengali's the scenario is little different. We pretend to be very intellectual and cultural. And as per the culture goes sex is dirty everywhere, but intellectually not, if you describe it in an artful manner. For example, the great Indian poet, Kalidasa. And then so many more contemporaries. While some just hint at it, others give it a more explicit  exposure, all for the sake of art. I don't mind that even if it is a pretension. It looks nice at least.

Just an hour ago one of frustrated friends (frustration at the behaviour of a girl) vented saying the girls act differently in the society outside, but are all the same b****es inside. I'd add a little more and say, whatever pretensions we were outside, we all (men and women) still have that animal instinct in us. We show it out in glimpse. Everywhere.

Note: This is a test post in order to check, whether really the word "sex" draws a huge number of visitors...

Looking out

Looking out and looking forward. Now that I'm here I need to start doing all that I wanted to do for such a long time, starting with finding a place where I can get settled - come back and rest after a long outward journey. But that's not what this article is about. It's about looking out of your window and seeing things. Window here is not only physical window of a house, but the window in our heart.

So what do you see when you look out your window?

The answers should be collaborative. So I'm not writing anything.
Please reply in comments as to what you see or feel. That'd make a great combined article.

- Sam