Rajasthan trip: How it all began.

For oft, when on my bed I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances in Rajasthan sand and hills.

(Stolen from William Wordsworth; changed according to context)

As I sit now reminiscing about the past week, it all seems like a big jigsaw puzzle of memorable events which somehow has become all jumbled inside my head. As I write this blog I would try to solve the jigsaw puzzle and present a comprehensible picture of the Rajasthan trip to anyone who ventures to read.

It all started one day morning, maybe a week and a half before the trip. I had planned for a 6 days trek from Manali, a hill station in the Himalayas, during this vacation when almost all of my friends gradually dropped out of it. There were various personal reasons for that, which I don’t want to go into the details. I had applied and got leave from office. My trains were booked. Suddenly the trip was cancelled. I had gone to sleep the last night all dejected. As I opened my eyes in the morning, this brilliant idea came to me. I immediately called up Avinash. He did not pick up the phone, later when he called, I could not pick up the phone, but when I did speak to him I told him my idea. I had always wanted to go and explore Rajasthan. And he was based out of Jaipur. I humbly asked him for his time and company for a Rajasthan trip. And he said yes!

Whatever happens is for good.

Jo bhi hota hain acha ke liye hota hain....

'Whatever happens is for good,'said dad.
'Really?' Said I after a little pause.
'Of course not,'said he, with a small giggle. 'These are fundas to fool your mind. All that happens to you is not and cannot be good. But just to keep you from going into permanent depression, you say such things like this. These are all mind games that you play which helps you to move on. Everything are mind games.'

Rains in Kolkata...rains in Bangalore...

Here i am in abhijit, hari, anand's place with no work. Enjoying a leisurely Saturday evening. Abhijit is getting ready to attend his friends reception. Hari went and Anand has left to repair Anand's bike (For the inquisitive, who is asking the obvious question of why Hari had to go with Anand to repair a bike; Anand and Hari are inseparable brothers, Anand does not go any where[other than his office and washroom] without Hari).

And here i am scribbling thoughts. Let me come to the topic. Before I start with the 'bakar', let me say that when Hari was leaving, I asked him for a topic, on which I can write something and this is what he told me. 'Rains in Kolkata...rains in Bangalore...'. And me being the talented guy I am i knew i can write something at least on this, somehow I'll connect this with some gyan and will make a happy ending also.

Time and Commitment

Humans are such that they can solve any problem posed in front of them. The only thing that is needed is time. And to give time to something you need commitment. So it all boils down to how much committed you are to solve the problem or to see to it that the problem at hand reaches a logical conclusion.

And if you cannot commit yourself to this problem then it only means that there are other commitments which are taking precedence. As long as you can pinpoint your commitment and be committed towards it, there is no issue. But more often than not, we remain confused about our commitments.

Blessed be the Lazy, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven...

I think being lazy is good. As most of the problems that we face today are because of over enthusiastic active people. Had the Megasthenes’, Vasco Da Gama’s and Columbus’s stayed at home we would have had a much better society today. Watched Helena Norberg’s Ecomomics of Happiness some days back. For the last few days I was thus observing how consumerism has taken over our mind, soul and body. And what I saw and realized out of observation and self-realization was quite alarming.

Helena Norberg-Hodge (hereby referred as HNH) made her case as she demonstrated how globalization is actually disrupting the carefully grafted local communities, cultures and traditions which has developed over some thousands and millions of years. She demonstrates how the so called messiah called ‘Globalization’, who was supposed to be the panacea of society’s ailments has actually increased manifold the problems of poverty, communalism and other social evils. Most of our society’s problems are because of causes which were sown in the last century with the advent of mass production, industrial revolution, globalization and the mad drive to promote consumerism.