Phase of Life: 'Missing Something'

“Sorrow looks back, Worry looks around, Faith looks up” 

Missing something....

Hi,

Have you ever felt you are missing ‘something’?? But the search only ends at ‘something’; coz u can’t figure out, what is it that you are missing??

Well am going through that phase right now… it’s like, when you are all set and ready to go, suddenly you feel that you are forgetting something… it’s that kinda feeling…

How does one overcome that feeling? Or wait, does anyone need to overcome that feeling? Ah that’s a better question…

Hmmm I don’t know… and quite frankly, thinking about the solution makes me dig deeper as to what is it that am missing, and it goes on….

So I tried my usual therapy methods, distraction, avoiding, thinking something interesting, planning a vacation, etc, but all in vain…

I even questioned myself, to check if I can get any answers…

Is it my past?

Is it my present?

Is it something in me?

Is it something about me?

Is it something to do with a place or a thing?

Nope I don’t get it…

And then it occurred to me ‘I don’t have to understand everything in life… I just have to live it... Then why waste time thinking? It’ll come to me when the time is right….’

So I decided “enjoy the feeling”… instead of thinking and solving the problem….enjoy it… the secret is “the solution to any problem hits you, when u least expect it ssshhhh”.

Whenever we are having fun, time flies, but whenever we are tensed/sad/worried, time goes sluggish…

So am just gonna smile whenever I think about the ‘something’, and move on…

Thank you…Keep smiling J

Amazing Journey into 2013 - Binsar (Almora)

New Year Bash…..

Have you ever felt “I want to be alone, where no one talks, but nature… nothing distracts, but nature” well I've had that feeling for quite some time now, hence decided to plan a trip to Almora (Binsar) for the New Year :)

I din do any kinda research for this trip, although had booked my tickets to Kathgodam from Delhi. So this trip was pretty much unplanned.

[Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary is a beautiful, quiet and wild Himalayan destination with rich natural surroundings among dense forest. Binsar is perched on top of the Jhandi Dhar hills. This place is situated 33 km north of the Almora town in the Uttarakhand state of India.

Binsar, which was the former capital of the Chand Rajas of Kumaon, is now home for a pristine mid altitude wildlife sanctuary. In the older days people came from far-flung villages, trekking on paths they themselves created to pay homage to Bineshwar Mahadev. Unlike Shimla, Nainital and Ranikhet - north Indian hill stations discovered and developed by the British, Almora is a truly Indian hill resort with its own unique flavor. (Source - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binsar_Wildlife_Sanctuary)]

It was 10:15PM (dated 30^th December 2012) when I boarded the train to Kathgodam. Lots of people chatting and having fun, I on the other hand, was busy reading a novel and passing my time. The train journey was easy – one night’s sleep to Kathgodam, during that journey I found out about Binsar, from fellow passengers and got down @ Haldwani around 5AM. From Haldwani it was one direct bus to Almora, took some fruits and got into the bus and off I went (it was very cold brrrr).

The journey was amazing with the beautiful landscapes and natural beauty; it took approximately 4 hours to reach Almora. I reached around 9AM and boarded another bus towards Binsar (it’s not a town, just a forest reservoir). It was an hour’s journey from there, with all the hill paths (snake turns) that made my stomach wooosy. 

Finally reached Binsar @ 10AM, spoke to the forest guard & paid the entry fees (150rs). Forest guard called me back and warned me “Don’t leave the road route, entering the jungle might turn dangerous as there are leopards, STICK TO THE ROAD”. I understood what he said by the tone he used for the last four words.

Trek Begins

From the gate the “0 point” (highest peak) is about 11 kms, so it was one hell of a walk. I started the journey by capturing few pics of myself (It was a beautiful place and I wanted a new profile pic for FB :)).

I was expecting to find few birds on the way, but due to the road and movement of vehicles it was difficult to see any bird or animal…

There were few villages inside the reservoir, not on the road route but somewhere interior I guess. I met few people from the village (called themselves “Kumauni” – People from Kumaon region). They had a unique language (Kumaoni) was hard to grasp anything. I spoke to them for a few minutes and continued my journey.

It was too much to walk and though I was tired and hungry I din stop to rest, bcoz I wanted to reach the top or get a glimpse of the Himalayan ranges before I rest. After couple of hours I grew a little impatient as I dint find any animal/bird in the jungle, so I took a detour into the jungle. 

My conscious had a conflict-

Jungle detour..

“dude, what are you doing?? Don’t you remember what the guard said??” 

“Relax if we encounter a leopard we’ll play ‘fetch’ with it, u worry a lot…”

In the jungle the mighty jungle...
the lion sleeps tonight...

Well at first I found a path leading into the jungle, so followed it. After walking quite a distance the path disappeared into a thick forest, I decided to explore a little more. 20 mins later I found Spotted deer running for its life, at first I thought “guess I must have scared the poor animal” but after sometime I wondered “was it really me that scared the deer or is there another predator”. The thought scared the soul out of me… I din know if it was my instincts or my fear but all of a sudden the forest became silent (too quite) as though any minute a jungle cat might attack. I turned white with fear, but later gathered up the courage which was shattered on the ground and walked slowly ahead. Followed the same path and to my surprise found few caves… I told myself “No fear no fear no fear” and turned back and took a different route towards the road…

My body relaxed and loosened up once I reached the road… The fear and shivers had made me hungry; I walked for half an hour and had my lunch (Couple of parata’s brought from home).

The First Glimpse

After lunch, energy was restored in my body and I continued my trek. After 20 min of trekking I caught the glimpse of Himalayan Ranges. It was AMAZING, real treat to the eyes… I spent some time getting a good picture of the Majestic Himalayan Glimpse and continued the journey. After the first glimpse I saw many more in the journey…

The time was 1PM and it wasn’t hot as such, but I was exhausted. The moment I thought of taking another pit stop, I heard chitter chatter of children and guessed I must’ve reached the top… To my surprise it was the temple and I went in got some supplies (chocolates, groundnuts etc.) and filled the water bottle with fresh water. I asked the shopkeeper about '0 point', he told “there are 2 ways, 1 is a short cut but it’s a steep climb, the other is 4 kms and it’s a easy route.” I thought “ who’s gonna walk another 4 kms, lets finish it with a 1km hard trek bonanza”… and so I went through the shortcut and after an hour I reached the “0 point” all tired sweaty and legs swollen and almost numb… 

I took some time off; enjoyed the view, a little bit of sun’s heat and rested my numb legs… The sight was Amazing… one could see the entire Himalayan Ranges from there and it was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen… I enjoyed the view for a while and started the trek back to the starting point. 

Snow...

Some interesting things i saw

While heading back I took a different route and found some interesting things, found snow (very little). Took that route until I reached Kumaon Tourist Rest House, looks nice and good price…I started walking back to complete the journey… after walking for an hour in the new route I was certain that I’m lost and I have to return back to the ‘0 point’ and take the initial route… but luckily I met a stranger and he told me “you’re right, you are lost, you have to take another route” I asked him if there was no way at all, as I din wanted to return so far and start afresh. He told me “well this path leads to the road but there’s no route and it’s a tough trek”... That was a treat for my ears, I told him that’s good enough and started walking (falling on the way also :)).As I left the good stranger also warned me “as soon as you reach the road take the right hand path as it leads to the temple…DON’T take the left hand path it leads to deeper jungle”.

I reached the road after 20 minutes and took the left hand road “why not try this it might be shortcut” walked for some time and realized that the time was 4:45PM and its best if I don’t try new routes. So came back to join the right handed route... Finally I reached the temple and realized that the route is in the opposite direction... was glad that I din't take the other route…

I rested near the temple saw the time 5PM and decided to walk… Later I realized that it took me 3 hours to reach the temple and if I leave at 5PM will reach only by 8 PM (Dark, Leopard hunts at night, danger, am jungle food) such thoughts were running my mind… In any case I thought to continue walking… 

Every time I saw the sun sinking slowly, I was speeding up… It was 6PM and it started getting dark and there were no vehicle anywhere around… I thought I might not be so lucky this time and started walking faster… But as luck would have it, my right thigh had ideas of its own, making me stop my trek and rest.

I lost all hopes and started walking slowly converting pain into motivation for survival… after 20 min when the darkness had almost conquered the jungle. I heard something… “Is it my mind playing prank or is it actually a car”… I waited patiently and silently trying to listen to the sound again... “Yes, yes it is a car, thank god; I will live to see New Year…” I immediately waved my hand and asked for a lift… They were very kind enough to offer me a drop till the Binsar gate.

I reached the binsar gate and enquired with the guard about the bus timings... He said there are no more buses towards almora... I had to request for lifts again… it was dark and I started walking. After requesting couple of vehicles, a 2-wheeler stopped to help and advised me that it’s not safe to walk this jungle, as there has been news about tiger… He dropped me to a hotel and I rested…

Next day the sunrise was beautiful... enjoyed the warmth and started back to Delhi… my whole new year's day went travelling to Delhi… 

But for me, my new year began on 31^st December, 2012…

I loved it :)

A Good Deed - Selfish / Selfless

Keep up the good work....and dont turn back...:)

HI,

Have you ever felt that something is troubling you and you dunno what it is?

I was in a state for a few days, when I realized “Its life” we dunno and that is what actually bothers us.. We presume something and it’s something else in actual…

In which case, “is it worth getting worried?” one may ask…… I don’t know

Do good & Go to heaven...else (Amazing how they scare us...)

I’ve heard people say - Do good and you’ll be rewarded … but does it happen? Who would’ve brought this thought and what would’ve been his intention might be a question to ask oneself, at least that’s what I think.

So if I do a good deed today does it mean that I’ll be treated good?– If a Lizard spares the life of a fly thinking in the above quoted terms will the Cat feel the same way and not harm its meal (Lizard)? Well I don’t think that’s ever possible.

People will always (“ALWAYS”) take advantage of the good people and I guess that’s why they promote goodness as well.

Do Good and forget..

So does this mean we shouldn’t do good? Nope… I never meant that… All I’m saying is that never expect something good in return for the good you’ve done… that act won’t be considered as Helping…it’ll be considered as being selfish (you be good to me, as I’ve been good to others)

I feel that, the minute u feel that you’re doing a good deed, that’s when the expectation grows. So just do a good deed and forget... why grow on expectation...

A good friend of mine, told me that Happiness is measured in terms of a formula [Happiness = (Fulfilled Desires) FD / (Total Desires) TD]. So if you want to be happy then either fulfill all your desires, or reduce the number of desires, the latter sounds easier doesn’t it? At least It does to me.

“Well so doing good deeds is good but expecting good in return is bad.”

 We humans love analyzing, calculating everything and that’s why it doesn’t add up when someone says don’t expect good in return; because 1 – 1 = 0 (where +1 = doing good and -1 = expecting it in return). We love getting it to “0” (and why shouldn’t we? We invented it din we? J).

From Your Heart....

Do Animals think??

Do Animals think??

Hi Guys,

Hmmmm....

Wanted to start this blog with an interesting topic…

We all see animals (all kinds of animals) in our daily life;

• ·        Do Animals think?
• ·         What do you think will be running in their mind?
• ·         How can they not get tensed in life, stay completely relaxed?
• ·         Not caring if tomorrow is going to be tough or anything.
• ·         What do they do?
• ·         How can they just live?

Well many more questions were running my mind.

What can i say...

It all started in Delhi, when I saw a mule carrying a heap of mud on its back (heavy of course), got me thinking-what was ‘it’ thinking…

I know that they think, but what do they think?

It was interesting and I started a research on it, asked few people.  Some of them gave a common answer – ‘Obviously they think, but they don’t rationalize’. Hmmm interesting answer, but not convincing enough. Must be more to it, not that easy and simple is it?

So I searched few websites and did a bit of research, websites like:

• ·         http://kottke.org/10/11/do-animals-think
• ·         http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2002/03.14/01-thinking.html
• ·         http://www.studyenglishtoday.net/can_animals_think.html

All these websites have a little more to add to our discussion. They have proof that animals do think and some of them even analyze.

Well this answers our first question… Now to break up the second one, what will be running in their mind? That would be tough… but we’ll concentrate only on the outline and not in depth, we’ll try to generalize it.

Joseph LeDoux, a neuroscientist at New York University made it a little easier to understand how animals express their thoughts. If they are happy (dogs wag tail, cats purr etc), in short he tells us that understanding or recognizing their emotions is easier. 

(Ref:-http://www.livescience.com/18750-animal-human-emotions-fears.html)

 John B Watson in his book “Studying the Minds of Animals” has explained in similar form that animals thoughts are understood by their expressions just the way Humans thoughts are understood…No one can enter another living beings mind to find out what’s in it.

(Ref: - http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Watson/Animals/index.htm)

Well let’s get back to our topic now… After reading all the above facts it’s certain that we Human beings can’t find out what is happening in the minds of animals. But let’s not drop our bags yet…we’ll try something different… a different approach perhaps.

Present = Gift

We all know Human beings are complicated and animals are simple… So if we apply assumption as a tool for our research then we can assume that animals think only about today (present), now…and nothing else..Not about tomorrow, not about yesterday but only today…

Well I got to this assumption based on some stories I had heard, like: A sheep, before getting killed by a butcher, always enjoys its final meal without thinking of what’s going to happen… (You may disagree stating that it doesn’t know it’s being killed, but they do sense danger).

Throw the stick please....

A dog loves to play fetch, gets the ball back to u, and finds happiness in the tiniest things…

Hence we can conclude our second question by stating that whatever runs in their minds they express it; they never hide it or try to process it. They live their life for the present.

Now moving on to the 3^rd & 4^th question, both of them are quite similar; how can animals not get tensed in life, stay completely relaxed? Not caring if tomorrow is going to be tough or anything.

Well it’s like a one word answer to this – It’s only because they make life SIMPLE… When life is simple then there is no tension, no worries and nothing.

Power of 99

My friend once told me a story; he called it “The 99 story”:

The story has 2 families, one a rich merchant’s family and another poor woodcutter’s family; The Merchant’s family always used to be tensed and work extra hard….once the wife of the merchant asked him, “why is it that we are always tensed, when we have more money than the woodcutter, Whereas he lives in peace with much little money?”

For this, the merchant replied, “that’s because he hasn’t fallen into the 99-trap”… Confused wife asks about 99-trap… The merchant goes in front of the woodcutters house and drops a pouch with 99rs in it, and returns home..

Next day, woodcutter’s wife finds the ‘money filled pouch’ and shows it to her husband. After a while they both decide to convert it into 100rs, once that was done then 200rs…….slowly into 500rs and so on... Hence changed their life into a tension filled one.

We all get to learn something out of the story..Animals think about today, now, this moment and act accordingly…. This makes them less selfish, caring for others, caring for our Mother Nature.

Whereas if we try to evaluate our behavior, we think a lot about future ruin it for next generation, get everything for ourselves etc etc

Well Partially answered our question din it.. Let’s finish our questions list… 2 more questions…What do they do? Simple very simple…they just live (enjoy every moment, every tiny part of life)..

Just relaaaxxx dude....

How can they just live? Well I guess that’s what differentiates them from us human beings.. We sometimes think even if we have to enjoy (what will others think, what about my status quo etc n all)

Hmmmm… I feel we have answered all our questions.. What dyu think will be the major difference if we compare us to animals… the real facts (not the ones we have made to show ourselves superior)

Evolution....

Sl.No	Human	Animal
1	We Communicate	So do they ( I don’t think there would be any miscommunication)
2	We rationalize (that’s how we are actually destroying this wonderful world)	They just live their gifted life
3	High Competition with each other	All live in Harmony (very few with low competition)
4	We Discovered and invented Selfishness	They are almost selfless
5	We Complicate Life	They don’t know the word complication
6	We work on breaking the mystery	They Enjoy the Mystery Suspense given by the holy one
7	Live one, Beat all	Live one, Live all

So here are few questions I would love to ask you..

• ·         Is Rationalizing good?
• ·         Are we really better than Animals?
• ·         Are we really Smart people? (animals are the first to know when an earthquake or tsunami occurs, they know when they have to move to summer side etc)

Think on these questions, until we meet again J

Thanks for reading…………..

Trip to Himachal (took us for a ride)

Hi everyone….

Hope you’re good…

Well, I have shifted to New Delhi and hence decided to explore it.

This blog is about the crazy trip I had (Kalka, Kasauli & Shimla) on this weekend!! J

Well.. I’m slowly getting adapted to the climate here… Travelling is an energy booster and I always have the need to recharge myself. And thus evolved the idea of a trip.

Delhi is hottttt, people do say this is nothing compared to march (gets me the chills I tell ya).. So I decided to search for a cooler place to go.. after a little research here and there, I found that Kalka-Kasauli trek is about 15kms and is supposed to be a wonderful trek. So I looked for the train availability and made a rough plan about budget, (told my roommate cum colleague, he joined along).

Trip was planned for a Friday night travel to Kalka. We boarded a bus from Munirka (place where I stay) to New Delhi Railway Station; we were already running late, the scheduled time of the rain was 21:25. So we hurried and somehow reached the station by 20:30. We went inside and saw that  there was a long queue, got the tickets to Kalka, and we relaxed.. (little did we know about what was ahead!).

We started searching the platform where Kalka train was supposed to be boarded from, we asked people in uniforms and laymen, but no one (NO ONE!!) had heard of a place called Kalka. We were in a dilemma, because the ticket was to Kalka and no one knew the place! It was 21:00 and the train was in 25 minutes and we were running around asking for directions,! Luckily there was a good Samaritan who told us that the train is from old Delhi station, once we got that news, we both ran like crazy towards the metro station. I had low balance in my metro card (11rs) and there was no time to wait in line for the token in any counter, so I took my chances and swiped it anyway and boarded the metro.

It took 8 minutes to reach Chandni Chowk, and we ran again (the time then was 21:10), we didn’t even stop to take a breath(metaphorically of-course! We breathed heavy alright!! :D ), we were sweating and gasping, but neither of us wanted to miss the train (Metro charged only 7rs getting my balance to 4rs,  lucky huhJ). 

Train Delhi - Kalka

Finally we entered the station at 21:20, with only 5 minutes left and we had to still find out the platform! So we spoke to few people got to know that its platform 5 and ran (remembered the movie Bhagam bhagJ). We reached and saw that general compartment was packed… it was 7 hours journey and we didn't want to stand in that compartment, so we boarded the sleeper and got 2 seats, so occupied those and slept as though we owned them J…

Kalka - First Destination...

Now that we got the time… my roommate (Mayank) told me “Next time thoda planning karke ayenge”…I smiled (laughing in my head.. thinking ‘when do things happen according to our plan anyway! :D’ )… the train started its journey at 21:30 and we were all set. After an hour or so the TT came to check tickets.. I smiled at him and handed him our general tickets… he looked at my face and informed that we need to pay 200rs for seats, we bargained and got them finally. After that I slept like a baby, the next morning around 4:45 we reached our destination.

It was early and around 5:30 when we started walking, we asked a few for the route to Kalka by walk and they looked at us as if we were out of our minds! Coz it was more than 30kms. They suggested that it would be better for us to take the bus. We anyway got the route and started walking, the view was good.

Snake route

It was a long walk after which we found people and they showed us the way. After walking more than 7 kms we realized that it’s just the road route and that there’s no path through the thick forest…even if there were any people, they did not know about it. So our trip got boring.. (boring coz I love walking through the forest!), the view was amazing and the feel was great, but.. it was still a road trek.

Bus - Shortened the trip ;-)

Mayank and myself discussed and decided to cut short the trek as the “Thrill” factor was missing, we boarded a bus to Kasauli. After  40 minutes we reached Kasauli and the climate was AM AAA Zing.. loved it... drank tea and had a light breakfast and then..off we went to see “Manki point” (its Mann Ki in hindi, lord Hanuman’s foot print can be seen there).

Church of England

People told its 4 kms to Manki point… but as we walked, the view was soo beautiful that we didn’t know when we covered 4 kms. We reached the place and it was within Air-force vicinity so no photos could be taken. Sad part was that only one was allowed at a time, as there was no locker for mobile phone (which was strictly not allowed btw).. So I let Mayank go ahead and waited outside the gate..all alone.. looking at the beauty of creation and day dreaming… after 30 minutes or so he returned and it was my turn to go…(lot of formalities ID proof etc) it was quite a walk, I met few army folks on the way, spoke to them, got to know the history of the place saw the temple on top. The view from there was mind blowing (one could see entire Chandigarh from there).. stayed there and spoke to few people and returned back to Mayank and we continued our journey back.

Nature en-route to Mann-ki point

We reached the bus stop, saw the Church of England which was built in 1884. We had to plan ahead as there was an entire evening to be spent. So as we sat in the bus stand, we decided to go to a new place. Boarded the bus to Dharampuri (40 mins) and then from there.. to our new destination - Shimla (2hrs).

We reached Shimla around 15:00 and din know any places so we went to the old bus stand and started walking to find some place to eat (till then we were living on minimal food).we found a Chinese restaurant (simply Chinese ka board, actually hard core desi), had 2-3 Paratha’s and with the help of android application started exploring Shimla.

Church in Shimla

We went to the mall road and saw lot of pretty girls J then visited the Church. After which we saw a temple (Hanuman ka) there was an open challenge

    "below 30 years if they reach the temple in 30 minutes they’re absolutely fit, in 45 minutes then only fit etc".

So we took up the challenge and started walking faster, after some distance the climb got steeper. We took some rest and asked few people about the distance and they told we had walked only 5% of the climb L.. We were looking at each other when we saw an old man carrying a wooden bed to the temple.. that boosted our energy and we started running.

en-route to hanuman temple

We met a lot of monkeys made few pit stops to get nice pictures and kept moving, finally reached and saw the time, we had reached in exactly 24 minutes (yes a record J). We were happy, Mayank visited the temple when I waited outside listening to the tales of mischievous monkeys.

Once he returned from the temple we started our journey back to the Shimla bus stand (had decided to try the bus). Boarded the bus to Shimla bus stand and from there bought the tickets to Delhi (bought deluxe tickets; nothing deluxe about it baaad experience; push-back seats doesn’t work, charging point doesn’t work & there’s a TV only for showcasing)..

Somehow managed the journey partial sleeping, partial fighting for a better (comfortable) position to sleep. Once we reached Delhi we had smiles back on our faces….

Well I hope you guys enjoyed reading this blog...Thanks all…have fun J