thats what they sayyy.. BABA!!

The Giant Bird's Beak..

2011-08-20T11:00:00.000-07:00

my sight withdrew.. i felt my body being pushed or shaken rather very vigourously.. the sound of some cries reduced and became a nil.. i regained my vision, but somehow was finding things to be too silent..

my kith and kin were shaken.. i could see them lament over my body.. i felt myself to be flying away from them, though my body remained laid there.. i tried getting back near my body, but i felt like getting pulled away.. when i turned back to see who or what was pulling me, i saw i was about to hit the ceiling.. i closed my 'eyes'.. an instant later i found myself way above my building where i stayed..

i saw some people with me.. but could not clearly make out their faces.. or could only roughly see an outline with some orange and white coloured figures..

i heard them speak something to me, and was surprised how i am able to hear.. they read my 'mind' and one of them told me "when you generally dream during your sleep, how did you hear to the conversation in your dreams? similar is the case here..". Seeing me puzzled, it went on to further tell me "this is the Astral Plane.. not in the physical plane which you think it is.. "

there was a clear unease happening in me.. immediately a huge bird came in front of us and greeted the others and immediately picked me with its beak and started flying.. i tried freeing myself only to realise that i did not how to "fight it out" , and got to terms that i am not at a physical level.. also it gave me a strength that i am not going to be eaten away by that giant bird..

i was chucked away into some other location, somewhat hazy again.. i could not construe anything around again.. there seemed darknes.. i could not even feel myself.. i could clearly understand that this is something unimagined of.. i was worried whether this was some eternal trap.. and felt like crying only to realise i cant..

"Son.."- came a voice.. i clearly could see nothing.. a small streak of light made its way in.. constantly changing from white to orange to green and back to orange, the voice spoke further.. "fear not.. u are in no trap.."

"oh.. im seriously glad i could find someone.. who or what are you ? "- i asked, ofcourse with a fear whether i will lose this "new-found-friend.."

"i am your oldest friend.. in fact by asking who i am, you are asking who you are.. i am you.."- said the voice.

i immediately realised i was getting an answer from the voice each time i just "think", though i dont blurt it out..

"ok, then who am i.. i dont even know who i am and what i do.." - i told rather helplessly understanding i am having no physical form to be identified with..

"i told u right, u r me..".

"im pretty confused here.. whats happening.. i cant comprehend.." - i despaired.

" u knw finite automata right.. u could comprehend it.. its as simple as that.. your state has now changed.."
i suddenly felt an energy in me and i felt happy, some strange feeling.. i was all 'smiles'..

i told myself "wow, i have the capacity to understand a lot.." and immediately a sunken feeling set in..

"your ego gives u tihs sunken feeling.. give up thinking about urself.."

"how do i do that ? " immediately i noticed i am able to see some face in that light-energy-figure..

The voice responded to my puzzled look, "these are characterstic changes.. even you look the same to me as what i look to you..".

i was impatient and asked "what am i to do here "

"u are energy.. and i am the source of energy.. many such energies have already merged together and thats what u see me as.. now u may merge in me if u wish,,"

"WISH? in case i dont want to ?"
The voice told "hmm.. i give u a choice.. u can go back to your physical body.. but u will have to come back to me later, which is unavoidable.."

"oh i have to come back ? "- thus i could not decide..

"you may go back.. ensure u r of help to all.. i will call u back to me later.."

The light intensity reduced slowly.. and then got fully diminished..

i felt being carried away..

i could suddenly spot my building.. my mind shouted "wow, back to physical plane.."

I could now see the giant bird which was carrying me in its beak.. it threw me from above the building..

It told me "your dream is over for today.. go back to the physical plane.. adieu.."

i got up with thud.. tension clearly writ.. saw SAI's Pic on the wall, and told "phew, thanks!"
Swami from the Pic smiled back , i felt..

MOM called out to me "anand... coffee ??"

"mummyyy"- i shouted and ran towards her.. a sigh of relief..!!!

MY FIRST DARSHAN!! :) :) :)

2011-06-03T12:43:00.000-07:00

SAIRAM

I have always felt very special , thanks to Swami. Until a point in life, i was kind of agnostic, when all of a sudden, in 2002, BABA made me realise HIS Divinity in the Shirdi Avatar to a great extent, thanks to HIS Will. There are loads and loads of Leelas, which the Shirdi Avatar has been Blessing me with :) Shirdi BABA's terrific Leelas in getting me a seat at NIT Nagpur for B.Tech is the greatest example i can quote to illustrate the veracity of HIS Word! It is a huge episode which started with putting a chit to BABA to choose between colleges, and how BABA never allowed me to choose a college aprt from HIS Choice!! I hope to write this in detail later :) My family has always believed in Shirdi BABA, but Swami has not Blessed the others to know about HIS Divinity ! However, now, my mom is entirely convinced of Swami, and i am glad it is better late than never.

It was only after i left Bangalore in 2005 to do my engineering at NIT Nagpur, that Swami slowly made me realise HIS Divinity(until then i only knew of Shirdi BABA).

2005 was the first time i consciously read somewhere, that Swami was a re-incarnation of ShirdiBABA. However i was kind of ignorant, and was running certain doubts in my mind! There was a point in time, when BABA Blessed me in slowly accepting Swami as Shirdi BABA HIMSELF. Then a question raised in my mind, which was lingering for a few days in 2007- "In case Swami is a re-incarnation, Whom of the Two should i follow/respect/worship First ?" On the Gurupoornima night of 2007, Swami first came in my Dream and there was Shirdi BABA too ! Swami told me to worship Shirdi BABA first and then worship HIM(Swami). In a way, i would like to call it as Shirdi BABA "introducing" Swami to me! :)
This convinced me that They are verily the same!

Then slowly i started realising a few SAILENT Works that Swami did. When i went home for my semester holidays later, i realised there were a bunch of Swami's Pocket-Size pics in some corner in some unused wardrobe!! BUT NOBODY in my family as yet beleived in Swami to buy HIS Pics!! A few days later i realised my wallet had another of Swami's Pic. I realised that i kept it in my wallet years ago just like that "ignorantly" !! When i had thought earlier that i should not keep any other photo apart from ShirdiBABA, there was a vehement force acting on me which disallowed me to remove Swami's photo from my wallet !

Once, i realised Swami is GOD, the next thing that was in my mind is- "what is inside Swami's Robe?" I even as yet keep wondering whether HE has a Body at all or is it made of some Light/ or energy, etc! I would wonder if HE ever sleeps at all, what would HE be doing in HIS Room, etc etc etc!!
Somehow, i still dont find a single difference between HIS Physical Form and Subtle Form, for according to what BABA makes me believe Both Subtle and Physical Forms are verily the same!

Later, immediately after 4 years of B.Tech outside Bangalore, SwamiWilling i got a job in Pune.
Hence, i have never been to Puttaparthi till date.. Though Swami has come many number of times to Bangalore (while i was in my childhood and teenage), yet, i being a Bangalorean myself, have never been to Brindavan Ashram, for i never "knew" HIM ! Strange Indeed are our LORD's Ways! :)

Slowly and steadily increasing was(is) Swami increasing HIS Dream-Appearances :) There were many wonderful Dreams, however, there is atleast One, i cannot afford to ignore from mentioning here.

When i joined my job immediately in 2009 in Pune, that Year saw Swami come to Hadshi in Pune to inaugrate Panduranga Kshetra. Months before this, Swami came in my Dream and helped me understand that i would have a Darshan(my FIRST ever !!) of HIM, where HE would inaugrate a temple. Needless to explain, it was Hadshi verily in my Dream !! However, this Dream came at a time, when one had no idea about our Beloved Swami's Visit to Pune !

BHAGAWAN FINALLY GRANTED ME A DARSHAN !! :)
I must mention that a 'stranger' then, Revathi Ramachandran, had invited me( a stranger) to her home the previous day so that we all could go to see Swami the next day. She also gave me a VIP PASS so that i could a cooool super BLISSFULL VIEW of SWAMI !!
When i entered Hadshi Darshan Area, the Sevadal ppl guided me to the VIP seat area. Swami was already sitting there in the Stage, and i was feeling sure that Swami is seeing me(though from a distance). I put my head down, but tried sneakingly seeing from the top of my eye, if Swami was still seeing me. hehe! And the evening Darshan that followed with a Discourse was the greatest time of my life i have ever experienced !!

I seriously don't know how HE worked in my case, but HE has been and is making me feel very special, for it was entirely HIS Mercy and Grace, that made me Love Shirdi Avatar, followed by HIS Current Avatar. The amount of craze-Bliss the Two Avatars are giving me makes me question if im ever worth That much !!

The amount of transformation HE has taken me through, probably, is an unmatchable quantity, which a person like my mom is totally astonished about ! Be it at workplace, home and anywhere else, HIS Leelas are so clearly seen that a smile, which i was so averse to years back, is by HIS Will even clearly seen during my sleep too !

There has not been a single day Swami makes me feel alone. HE has always kept me on HIS Lap :) and made me realise nobody can take better care of me than HIM, for HE ensures every single tiny thing is set right so that this kid can always enjoy Bliss everywhere! jay SAIRAM!

Comedy of Hyderabadi errors!

2010-11-29T01:45:00.000-08:00

It was an excellent experience at Hyderabad, but not the excellent-est(which exists in my dictonary) ! asking why ? read on :)

Harish announced his wedding well in advance, which was to be held at Hyderabad,
and i understanding that not many of my friends may make it, booked my own set of
tickets( let us call it set 1).

A few days later Harish himself forced my other friends to make it to Hyderabad,
and they finally gave in. I was glad they are making and asked them to book tickets
for me too along with them. They booked 2 set of tickets(call them set 2 and set
3). Set 2's train was a sleeper class one, and set 3's was a Seat-coach train(named
the Pune Super Fast- remember the name!). Also, i canceled the Set 1 onward
ticket. It was also decided that either Set 2 or Set 3 shall be chosen , and the other be
canceled.

All went well, as there were almost 2-3 weeks more to go, and i had a hell lot of
partying to do meanwhile with various friends!

A week before the departure to Hyderabad, i realised the set 2 and set 3 tickets'
train reached both only on saturday afternoon (Sunday being the wedding).

Hyderabad has our chacha(Nachiket, for ignorants) and vishwesh amongst other
friends, whom i will need to spend a good amount of time with. After all, they were
my final year wing mates, whom i had had an excellent time with.

So, Set 2 and Set 3 canceled ! Only the onward journey tickets were canceled.
(Fortunately, or later i doubted was it unfortunate that the return tickets were
not yet canceled).

Finally i decided to book a bus ticket on friday to spend a good amount of time
with hostel friends at Hyderabad. Call it Set 1, as i had already canceled my Set
1 onward tickets! [ Wrap Around condition ! :D ]

So all was set !
I told myself , "I am going to go by Set 1 (bus ) to Hyderabad, and return with the
Pune friends' (either set 2 or set 3)."

A day later i realised set 2 and set 3 tickets for returning were pretty quick
(afternoon tickets), hence i wanted to come back by Set 1 ticket (night train).

"OK", i told myself. "No more confusions anand." !

Then a BRAINWAVE struck me !
" Why the hell should i waste my set 2 and set 3 tickets ? "

Jaywardhan was the scape goat, and i asked him to go in my ticket(of Set2 or Set3)
to Hyderabad.

About 4 days to go for the journey.

My parties too came to and end, bringing to a start a stomach problem !
I was in dire-straits the next two days, and decided to cancel all the sets and
become a NULL SET !

Then hope came in a few hours, when i realised that my stomach started showing
signs of recovery.
"So the plan remains. Set 1 to go anand.. hey wait, what the hell ? it is a bus
journey ?? what if my stomach plays the fool again? "- now even my mind got upset
along with my stomach.

SOMEhow things got better and i decided to carry on with my journey.

2 days to go.

Another Brainwave struck me.
"Why not return in Set or Set 3 tickets? I will get time to rest at home before
coming coming to office on monday." [This is the TURNING POINT!! ]

I then realised that my scape-goat Jaywardhan turned a villain, as he agreed to go
on my tickets!! Then, as one would expect as happens on movies to Heroes like me, Jaywardhan
decided not to go ahead for some important reason.

So i was double happy, that i
would return home on sunday night itself.[MARK THESE WORDS!]

Hence i canceled my Set 1 return tickets.

So the final schedule was -

Anand will go by Set 1 (bus) tickets and return by Set 3 tickets
All other friends will go and return by Set 3 tickets.
Set 2 was cancelled, as they had yet remained on Waiting Lists!

DAY of JOURNEY -

I left by bus at 830PM on Friday. Chacha offered to pick me at Hi-Tech city in
Hyderabad at about 630AM on Saturday.
The bus was horrible! Much lesser seat space compared to other volvos, broken A/C
regulators at the top, the plastic board by side which keeps hitting your thigh
each time the bus crosses 30kmph!, n most importantly, an horrible guy behind your
seat, who aims his A/C on your head, because he feels cold!

630 AM, Saturday -

Chacha calls up and find out where the bus has come to. The bus driver's assistant,
who i all the while thought was a co-passenger, told me it would take about 20 mins
more.

7 AM Saturday -

Chacha - same question,
anand - same question to driver
driver same answer

7-30 Saturday -

SAME!!

8AM Saturday - SAMEE!!

Now a worst thing! Driver stopped for a coffee/tea "break" ! Another 15 mins
killed!

8-45 AM

MY stop came, and the driver showed a sense accomplishment in him !
Actually i should have had it, that my destination finally arrived! grr!

After getting ready quickly [ read 11AM ;) ], we left to the Ramoji Film City. The
lunch in between at DilSukhNagar re-activated my stomach pranks!!

There were no problems, just that every 3 hours i was fortunate to find decent
toilets!! :D

On a serious note, the overall day was an excellent one, as we friends got to
relive our hostel days, the pranks, the fun, the jokes, the mannerisms, and what
not!! This one factor helped me forget all the irritating things that had passed by during
this trip. :)

Then on our way back in the night we went to the Birla Mandir, and my stomach gave
me one more hike! hehe!

SUNDAY - WEDDING.

Stomach got better, thanks to some tablets that finally happened to work!
The highlight to me was Chiranjeevi's attending the wedding, AP's MegaStar, whose
movies i haven't seen but he is a human i have a great respect for(for his
humanitarian deeds).

As Vishwesh later told me " i am waiting for years! but u came just for one day to AP and u saw Chiru that very day and that too from a distance of 2-3 ft!!" :)

That apart, from Rosaiah to Chandrababu Naidu to MLAs and MPs to other famous personalities, the wedding became a super VIP Wedding!

NOW COME BACK TO THE COMEDY -
[recall all the things u were supposed to remember!]

As mentioned earlier, i was to return with my other friends in the set3 tickets, so
that i reach earlier!
That great train , which calls itself a Shatbdi, or i would rather call a
Shameless-Train-Body, virtually put us to all tortures in the world!

- Train arrives in the wrong platform.(as compared to earlier communication)
- No indication by the station systems.
- We found the train like how we find an auto on the roads! Asking porters, etc
about where which train is going to, etc!
- Train arrives an hour late.
- Train leaves an hour later!!!
- Train NEVER REACHED PUNE!! (hope it did !! )

We fortunately got down at 3AM at Hadapsar Village(a station very close to my house) , THANKS to some crossing! The train might have reached Pune an hour or so later, if it all it had!!

So the train which was supposed to reach at 11-30PM , so that i could have taken some "rest", only ended up reaching Hadapsar(forget Pune) at 3AM !! n IT WAS A SEATER TRAIN of all !

Well, you yourself, as a reader, tell me! WHICH SET of tickets SHOULD i have
chosen????

an innocent heart !

2010-08-06T13:36:00.000-07:00

when i take u for granted..
see the innocence in my assumption that u wont mind..

when i slap u..
see the innocence in my intention to slap u..

when i speak ill of u..
see the innocence in me for i realise not that GOD is hearing..

when i demand more from u..
see the innocence in my expectations..

when i help u..
see the innocence in my expecting things in return..

when i hurt u..
see the innocence in my incapacity to understand ur pain..

when i pray to GOD,
see the innocence in my heart..

when i dont share a certain thing with u..
see the innocence in my hunger for that object..

when i cheat u..
see the innocence in my incapacity to understand ur loss..

when i lie to u..
see the innocence in my inability to even lie..

when i tease u..
see the innocence in my unclear-sight which has made me tease u..

lastly.. see the innocence in this poem
for this poet is innocent to assume
that everyone will see only the innocence in others
to make this world a beautiful world to live in :)

True Fiction !!

2010-05-24T07:48:00.000-07:00

THEN(1908):

The horses got real tired. The driver recommended a few hours' break once they reach the greenery-surrounded pond at Neemgaon. The 72 year old driver as usual had a lot of fodder for his horses whom he considered as his children.

"Sir, we shall rest here for a few hours. MY horses need the break more than anyone of us.I will share my bhaakrees and dal with you, once we refresh in that sweet-water body." - twinkled the driver's eyes.

Elton was glad at this invitation and picked up the packet of dry-fruits he had brought along with him, which was gifted to him by the Travancore Royal family.

NOW(2009-10):

"GOD Da, help me da... i have just finished my last exam of engineering, and i am fearing this last one may be the first that i flunk" - a worried anand prayed to GOD. It was Cryptography paper and anand took it totally for granted !!

"Hey, eppo da vara ? " - anand's mom calls him and finds out when he would get back to Bangalore, as his hostel life has come to an end.
"amma, i will book the tickets via the VIP quota and come down in another 10days' time ma" - replies anand, citing reasons of the last possible few days of fun at hostel, which he would not want to miss.

"remember to get your appointment order of Avaya da..."
"sure ma".

THEN(1908):

Splasshhhh!! Horses immediately looked at the pond, but continued with their fodder.
"Sir, do all English know swimming? "- asked the driver while wiping his wet face. Elton was enjoying the waters in the 42-degree-celsius summer of 1908.

"you are one of the first few Englishmen to our village" - smiled the rustic. Elton was out drying himself, when the driver shot the next question quite innocently, " Sir, but our village has nothing for you to make use of." This is an ordinary village, and you may get nothing here."

"Why do u say so? " - Elton.

"Are you not an administrative English Officer?"
" haha.. i have no intentions of enslaving people or conquering this land like my fellow Englishmen.."- Elton laughed out loud.

"I have been conquered instead!! "- Elton continued.
A sudden expression of seriousness prevailed, while the duo partook lunch.

NOW(2009-10):

"ayyo, the heat in the train was unbearable ma.."- says anand to his amma, when he reached home. Amma hugs him and says " so engineer, congrats! ", with a cool smile on her face.

The campus recruitment offer anand got was at Avaya, which has offered its posting at Pune.
"Hmm, yet another tryst with Mahrashtra ma.. Pune this time following Nagpur, hahaha!! " - chuckled anand.

"ya, it seems BABA has taken you closer to HIM now, illa ? Shirdi is about 5 hours away only right.."- smiles amma.

Anand's Amma knew that anand had turned into a theist, rather a mono-theist, only towards ShirdiBABA , and at the same time used to shun all other deities. He accepted the others' existence, but never accepted their Powers as told by elders.

He strongly believed ShirdiBABA was the only GOD who was always with him. Anand's mom would often say his dad, " atleast this fellow turned away from atheism, im glad. however, i wish he could also follow Vaishnavism like us."

THEN(1908):

The tanga-driver seemed to be enjoying the dry-fruits. "The Travancore Royal family gifted me this. I came down to Kochi port from the Port of London. And then i found my way here, about 1100 kms northwards." - Elton told.

"why but, Sir? What makes u come here? "- asked the driver with his mouth wide open.
" I am being pulled like a Sparrow with a thread tied to my feet."

" you are speaking in parables like a MadFakir i know of, whom i love a lot " - exclaimed the driver.

NOW(2009-10):

Anand gets used to pune life. Office, roaming, Music, GTalk, Facebook, etc was the way of his life. A few months in, a life-turning incident happens. I appear in anand's dreams and instructed him that I am already in the next incarnation as SathyaSAI of PuttaParthi. I informed him clearly that I(in the form of SathyaSAI) will come to a place called Hadshi, near Pune soon to give him MY Darshan.

He got up confused, and refused to believe for Science has taught him not to believe in "such things" !!

THEN(1908):

The journey was about to resume.
"Which direction to proceed, Sir? - driver.
"Lets ask someone before proceeding further."

Elton and the driver approached the palm-grove where an old man was sitting outside beckoning to Elton.
" Take the left after 3 Koss, and Maharaj shall appear. Allah ho Akbar!"- saying thus the old man walked off., entertaining no further questions.

They took the left turn as instructed and moved on further.

NOW(2009-2010):

I work upon my instruments and and make sure HE gets MY Darshan at a VIP level seat at Hadshi; he still wont budge to believe in MY Re-Incarnation as SathyaSAI. I am not ready to let go of anand, for he was a butcher at MY Court in SHIRDI in his previous birth, and I have promised him that he will be with ME in the future generations.

MY favourite way of Gracing anand is through dreams! and thats what I resorted to!

THEN(1908):

" Yaa na.. Maharaj mala tumcha sathi thambaila sangitla "- said a man with a white turban. The driver translates the Marathi to Elton that Maharaj instructed this turban-man to await them.

They enter a Masjid. There was a heavy rush. The driver and Elton always thought that this was a very scarcely-populated village, but it seemed otherwise. It was Evening Aarathi Time, and prayers were sung with great Faith. The prayers just ended as the duo reach the Masjid.

Elton barged into the crowd, and fell down unconscious.

"Maharaj..." - shouts the driver, who followed Elton, and falls at MY Feet.

Elton gets back to consciousness with the help of others, and asks, "Where is MY Lord ?" I smiled and answered- " I am your Lord. I am HE. HE is I."

Elton falls at MY Feet seeing MY change of Form and back to the normal Form. "Is this possible or am i hallucinating?" - a puzzled Elton asks.

" Nothing is impossible to ME. " - I told him.

I looked towards the driver and asked " so when did you become a tanga-driver?"

The driver, in tears of joy, explains to ME how I appeared in his Dreams and blasted him to quit butchering innocent animals, which was his original job.

The Driver then had changed his profession to that of a tanga-driver. I am happy with his Devotion to ME and have hence decided to reward him.
" Stay HERE at SHIRDI.. Resume your butcher job here, serve only ME.. I need some animal flesh to convert some non-vegetarian devotees to Vegetarian ones. Now on you are one with MY Heart. " - I commanded the driver.

The driver looked at Elton and told " This is the MadFakir i refered to; i never knew HIS whereabouts, but thanks to you, Mr.Elton, i have reached my Destination. "
Elton smiled back and told, "Even this sparrow has reached its destination."

I told all present, " none can understand ME, who am the BABA of not only this SHIRDI but the entire Universe.. Even Arjuna never could not understand MY Doings during the Dwapara Yuga..".

I had instructed Elton through a Vision to reach India via Kochi Port, and then I provided him Directions to this Place, SHIRDI, through MY instruments.

I further ensured the driver that he would serve ME in the future generations too. As for Elton, his karma ends in this very life, n he will become one with ME !

NOW(2009-10) :

A number of dreams were enough to let anand understand the fact, which just cannot be comprehended by today's constrained-reasoning!

Now anand understands that behind every action of his, every success of his, every good/bad(if at all any) I was the sole reason !!

Now anand accepts it all, and asks me one question, " who was i , who am i, and who will i be? "

I told him that he was a butcher in MY Court at SHIRDI(the same butcher, tanga-driver), and today is a very successful human-being, with heights of peace
graced to him by ME, and Will be a part of MY Court in Gunaparthi, Mysore.. the Court of PREMA SAIBABA, which would be MY Third- Avathar in this Trinity of SAIBABAs. !!

CONCLUDING WORDS:

Thus the lucky soul who once served ME (Shirdi BABA) as a butcher, and who then enjoyed the luxuries granted by ME and is experiencing ME as SathyaSAI , now is going to serve Prema BABA at Mysore too!!

Thus this soul has enjoyed and is in future still going to enjoy a Divine Association with all the 3 Avathars comprising the Kalki- Avathar. [ not to talk of MY previous Avathars of Rama and Krishna, etc..]

I Will take care of every tiny aspect in the life of MY Devotee !! Peace and Prosperity are ensured in MY Devotee's life, coz WHY FEAR WHEN I AM HERE !!

complicated dreammmmmmm!!

2010-05-19T07:08:00.000-07:00

Word of Caution:
Don't be surprised if u end up not understanding anything ;) u may even feel to quit reading this post halfway itself.

TO AVOID GETTING A LOT CONFUSED:
The word "dream" i refer to can be any desire/goal.. be it career, life, whatever.. just not specific!
It will fit into anything :)

Purpose of the post: to complicate simple scripts!! ;) For this is the current trend :P

so lets start the complicated dreamm !!

" come on , make way.." - shouting all the way,

Swami ran down the stairs. Yes it is our dear old Swami, who we think was a "kid" at heart, has got even more kiddish now.

He ran down the two floors in a jiffy, leaping 3-4 steps at a shot.
What was this sudden gush of energy for?? It was quite sometime watching Swami in so much
of an enthusiasm.. i being him guessed it within a shot.. yes.. that "magic" it is which is making him go berserk ,hehe!!

Okies before i complicate things further, i am the blogging-personality of Swami.

Yeah, i am he and he is i, but.. i love to stay impartial and avoid coming into emotional contexts.

Purpose of this Personality:
i love to retrospect on incidents very impartially and comment to Swami. Thats where i am different from him!

He ran out of his office building, saw Aman coming to office there. It was 9-27AM. Dragging him outside along with him, which nonplussed Aman, Swami finally got to a halt skidding on the wet floor outside the building, thanks to Aman's resistance against Swami's pull.

"Oh wow.. it rained kya?? floors are wet man.."- Swami was all smiles proving Aman thereby that he has all the 32 teeth intact and also showing off his middlemost 2 upper teeth to have a slight dent.

Aman, pissed by all this asked with a great deal of anger and sarcasm - " u mean u did not come to office today by this building entrance, to have not noticed the rains ??"

Swami, yet in a fantasy mood, got all the more excited. HE took aman's two hands by his two and
chipped in a wonderful step of Swing Dance lasting 2-3 seconds. "am i ur girlfriend?? leave me, u ..!!" -shouted aman.

The company bus had arrived and 2-3 more friends caught up and laughed out at the crazy Swami's mood.
"kya haal hai..?? kuch chamak raha hai tere aankhon mein..!! " - said Lav.

Aman had had enough and shouted at Lav, "take this mad guy off man!! subah subah dimaag kha raha hai.."
" Bas Kya dost!! "- Swami smiled back running his fingers through Aman's dense silky hair.

Aman realising that Swami always told things first to him finally smelt that Swami wanted to
tell him something.

Swami pulls Aman from others towards a bakery, buys loads of sweets in order to distribute to
every known person in office.

"to know it rained, u should experience 'rain' " - said Swami.
"I experienced rain now, today.. and realised that it indeed has literally rained too" - he continued.

Aman turns very glad on knowing the hidden-reason of that parable Swami used which
he got to know while conversing on the way back to office from the bakery.

Aman knew how crazy Swami was, and how now he has been blessed with his desire/dream.
Swami gets to his seat after distributing sweets to his friends.

It was close to lunch time now and Swami says he is full when his usual lunch-table-group
beckoned him to the pantry.

Swami closes his eyes, trying to digest the great excitement and happiness. He felt as glad
as a farmer would feel seeing his wonderful crops about to be harvested, or as an Army
Officer who would proudly announce to the world that he won the war for the Nation, or as a
Sachin's fan who saw him get to a double-century in ODIs, or as a devotee who has witnessed an
excellent miracle of GOD.

A sudden flash of wisdom dawns him.
A few years back the very same Swami was trying to take his control over an exactly opposite situation. Yes, an exactly opposite reason.

A moment that he had forgotten, but was reminded due to the current thrill.

Rewinding a few years back..

The stage was all set. He was about to reach his then-wonderful dream he had in mind. Little
knowing that it would not materialise, as HE realised it later to have followed GOD's Will,
he was strongly behind it.

He had a few friends then. Many in number but only a few when it came to his dream
realisation. These few were harmless who whether helped or not, never atleast put him in trouble, as the rest had always done.

He was exasperated when his dream became an issue of fun or became a reason for him becoming a laughing-stock, and was taken advantage of by bullies. Swami, himself once a bully in
childhood, felt he was reaping what he had sowed.

But the anguish deep in his blood, could not be controlled easily. However GOD took care then to
avoid Swami from punishing his traitors.
An incident where Swami goes to the extent of smashing one particular chap who "played" with
his dream, making fun of it, and hence was instrumental in making it a distant-dream or
rather a to-be-forgotten-dream is worth mentioning. Somehow GOD helped Swami realise
that it was GOD's Will alone to clear Swami's dream, and that it should not materialise.

However Swami just could forget or forgive the tragedy caused thereby by the others.

Swami took a few days to get his anger healed. He got over it.
But his dream reshaped. He remained silent on this.

He took a few years to check the veracity of the existence of his dream. The dream was there consistently. But something was missing, yes.. He felt the dream was better to buried unfulfilled, which GOD had willed years ago using Swami's "friends" as instruments and hence leaving no scope of development of the dream.

But somehow this dream would not fade off..
Swami was worried, and a little concerned, as there was atleast a small speck in his heart
thinking of this dream.

"Why?? Why is it persisting?? i am no more interested in that dream.. but why is it
smashing me into pieces??" - he would ask me often.

Some instinct, which Swami sometimes terms as GOD's sense, made him understand that Swami just needs to wait.

Forwarding to the Present:

I always believe in "this too will pass by" philosophy. Maybe since i talk very less to Swami, Swami doesnt wait for my reply. Maybe he doesnt understand that he needs to turn silent
for a while to get my answers to his questions.

Never mind, he will learn to get my answers soon.

Thus leaving Swami at this point of contemplation about his past and his possible future which GOD alone will Will, i would now want to use our GOD Sense Instinct.

Rewinding back to our old plot.. :

A few years pass by with Swami's dream slowly fading. The sting is no more there, the craving
is not much felt. But when Swami assumes a future without that dream being achieved, he
feels a pain. This was the question he has been worried about throughout.

Swami asked me, " what do i do? how do i get rid of it?"

I answered back, wondering how he has learnt to listen to me, " just go.. achieve the dream.. u
dont want to live without it..".

Personally i have no interests in his achieving this dream which is complicating his life for
nothing. I tried the reverse psychology and i got what i wanted, as follows:

"no, maybe i would happier without the dream.. " - Swami.

"Why? " - I asked.

"i feel by achieving it, if at all i can, i will be at no peace. i have more aversion than inclination towards it now"

"Why?" - I repeated the same question.

"i have an aversion.. wait.. why am i having an aversion??"

Swami was perplexed. I got him thinking, to help him understand the missing link.

It took him a few days to think over why he was disinclined to the dream, which once he was crazily chasing. He retrospected in total detail and got back to me.

"i think i always was disinclined to it.."- said Swami.
I patiently heard to him.
"there was this fear that i am not supposed to have a life with such a dream executed.. a dream
as what i apparently was after.."

"hmm.."- it was getting interesting to me.

"hence i wanted to avoid this dream in my life once and for all"

"ok.. but why did u chase it? " - i asked.

"from what i understand, my sub-conscious mind plotted this plan so that i am 100% not gonna achieve this.."

"aha..!" - i exclaimed. i caught the rest of the game. His sub-conscious mind too played a
reverse psychology with him, until he totally is willed against even thinking of such a dream/desire.

Back to Present.. :

Swami gets up from his seat and goes to the pantry. He has got over the over-excitement and
he is now very content.

Now what is he content about? Why did he jump up and down today morning??

Simple!! His present dream was realised!!
hehe, don't go crazy, this dream is one beautiful desire that he wanted to achieve since long,
and this dream he got connected to by his former-disinclined-dream.

Such is life!! If you are finding some undesirable incidents continuously happening, just say yourself, " this is the path to achieve my greatest of dreams ".

Yeah, finally Swami sits with his friends in the pantry with an extreme sense of satisfaction of having achieved the greatest of goals, or dreams, known only to him.. i mean known only the dream, him and me!! :) ;)

I know the readers are not content with the connection so far.
Swami was after a dream only to realise he should not have been after the dream, but was
also chasing it in such a way that he can only distance himself away from it forever. Had his
subconscious mind let him know that it was playing a game, he would not have chased it all, thus ending up as a prey to the dream.

Why did the Subconscious mind want him to chase it still??
because Swami's actual dream was the current one which he has GodWilling attained. And the
apparent-dream was a stepping stone to achieve this!! Besides he would now understand that the achieved dream is much more precious than the apparent-dream.. infact the most precious !!

SWAMI thus is blessed with the BEST !!

short.. but good!!

2010-03-26T06:31:00.000-07:00

Shot-1

JAN 31-2010 : 4-35PM

Dude, it was that useless auto chap at Jogeshwari !! Hey.., but what about ur sleeping for another 10 mins?
I would rather blame it on the slow locals upto Dadar, and the other which stood for 2 mins at the prev station(Masjid station) to CST.

OK FINE!!! forget it mann!! i fell short of around 10-15 seconds!! thats it!! i missed my train to pune!! its done! dont think of it anymore!
Dratt!! now how i got to go back to Dadar and pick up a bus to Pune!

And again goes my mind:
I could see the train leave the platform da... it was a matter of 10 seconds at most, for my defeat in the sprint to the train!!

aaaahh!! i cant believe it!!

I had been to Rohit's place in Mumbai for the weekend and was to return to pune this evening by the 4-30 train.. i missed it...!

Contemplating on my 15 seconds deficit, i got a range of very genuine factors which played spoilsport to my catching the train!!
An auto-driver took about 25 mins to reach the local station against the general 5 mins! Then the local train to Dadar, n switching railway lines to reach CST!!
The scenes were playing again and again !!

Ohh!! the ATM has no cash!! Shucks!! Let me try the third and last atm at CST; i have no cash in wallet to get back home!! I tore the train ticket with an anger that was basically out of disappointment!

I recalled.. it just cant be my fault.. GOD decided it, say for some good reason!! This is what BABA always says.. that nothing happens without HIS Will..

Now my anger shifts towards GOD, and every time my anger is directed to GOD, it takes HIM a second to cheer me up! So too was in this case!!

I left to Dadar for a pune bus.. loooong line!! aaaah!! An alloy of anger and irritation raised !!

" chod baba.. load mat le yaar.. aaram se jao na yaar.. "- said Rohit, with his ever-smiling face!!

OH MY GOD!! Rohit was with me all the while..!!!

"yes Rohit.. i was 15 seconds SHORT.. but i surely loved this extra 2hours!! a thrilling experience today with u!!:) " - i told rohit mentally!!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shot-2 :

Mar 24-2010: 9:09 PM

What the... helll !!!!
we are out?? dude, hey captain, .. are we out???
man, tell me we are not out.. i cant take it man!!

i was in tears.. literally in tears..

Heart shrunk to the size of a pebble from a conch n i felt blood being squeezed out!!

Dude, we won the first 4 matches.. and there were 2 more to go.. but the ego had set in,..

BAS-KYA-DOST team !! it rocks man.. we will slaughter any team, i used to say out..
i felt like MahaBali, when Vamana Avatar in HIS great Splendour and Size demanded MahaBali for one more foot of land..

yes, our team's ego was thrashed.. we did not even know of its existence earlier!!

HOW??
We won 4 matches on 4. Table Toppers!!
The next 2 matches are against the easiest of teams to be faced, we got to know.

We lost the 5th, scheduled last week, by a run.. We gave away the victory to them..!!
We still didnt get up from our pride-slumber!! Rather that loss was not enough an alarm for us :(
Coz, we told ourselves, "we virtually won that match!!" [ i repent for that now !! ]

Today.. the 6th match.. the opposite team had 3 players short.. yet our shots found the fielders' hands!! YES, we lost in a most embarrasing manner..

"Never Mind, we will smash the other teams in Quarter Final, Semi, n the Final" - we told.
I thought we were thus self-confident!

Alas, we had been lured by the lust of fame! BAS-KYA-DOST fame had reached all nooks and corners of Avaya after all !!

We took for granted that no other team is going to win 4 matches to grab us off our QF spot!!
but the online-score/points table talked otherwise.. yes.. we felt 'cheated',.. by ourselves!!
We then calculated that... had we scored 5 runs more, we would have been through!!

What is disappointing is we never knew uptil now that we were already out.. !!

" i found very good friends in my team.. all of them are sweet hearted but we are still young blooded.. tend to make mistakes!! but we learnt!! yes we learnt!!"

SHORT of 5 runs.. but somehow i got 5 times closer to my DOSTS!! :)
BAS KYA DOSTTTT !! :)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BEING SHORT IS BEING GOOD, Baby!! :) hehe!!

OR, simply putting it, GOD makes everything happen for the bestttt!! :) Cheers! :)

2010-03-09T01:14:00.000-08:00

(got the following poem through a group-mail from a devotee called Adeline Teh. This poem best expresses what i fail to!!)

Swami, my Lord...

How patiently You have waited for me...

For many years I was ignorant of You

Yet many more I have searched for You

And when I have found my God in You

I was still plagued with doubts of You

Swami, my Guru...

How graciously You have guided me...

Your books became my constant companion

Your messages were my solace when in confusion

Yours words never failed to inspire and uplift me

Your teachings paved the path to help me see

Swami, my Father...

How tenderly You have loved me...

Each time we met, You brought me closer

Every question I asked, You gave me an answer

When darkness blinded me and I was led astray

You came in my dream to show the way

Swami, my Atma...

How lovingly You are always with me...

Work through my body so I may serve You in others

Think through my mind so I may help You in others

Speak through my lips so I may comfort You in others

Love through my heart so I may love You in others

I FIRMLY BELIEVE...

2010-01-01T07:09:00.000-08:00

(the following poem was penned by Bhagawan Shree SATHYA SAIBABA 4 Decades ago, and given to Prof. N. Kasturi on NEW YEAR's EVE, 1960.)

I FIRMLY BELIEVE...

I firmly believe there is none kinder than You,
to shower Grace on me.
Tell me, is this not the reason why
I am at Your Lotus Feet?

I firmly believe You will respond quick
when I do pray and plead.
Tell me, is this the reason why
I am crying aloud for You?

I firmly believe You are ever beside me
to guide my steps aright.
Tell me, is this not the reason why
I am Yours thro' day and night.

I firmly believe You can never say 'No'
Whatever I ask from You.
Tell me, is this the reason why
I long for a glance from You?

What have You designed for me this time?
Why this dire delay to offer boons?

However long You make me wait and wail
I will not leave, I'll be standing still
Until Your loving eyes do turn on me.

OM SAIRAM

the Ananda Imprints!!

2009-12-20T07:00:00.000-08:00

(hi people, i describe below a memorable outing i had with my team-mates in Avaya.)

It was 1am. "Oh my GOD! At 6-30 i have to reach Magarpatta gate to make it to the team outing to Ananda-Valley, about 50 kms from pune." - i exclaimed. I bid my novel a good-night.

At 5-20am the alarm shrilled and after coaxing myself to get up, i finally got up at 5-40. And the feat was achieved, as i made it to the Magarpatta gate by 6-30!!

At 6-45 our journey kicked off with the 2 buses whizzing away from Magarpatta. It was decided to pick up other of our people at various locations in Pune like Camp, COEP, etc.

It was "pre-breakfast" time! Bourbon, Little Hearts, Appy made rounds. Then came the POEM session where i got a chance to read my simple poem in front of the biggies of our team, whose appreciation of the same, i will remember for very long.

This was followed by very cool rounds of Dumb Charades between 2 randomly made teams in the bus. It is noteworthy that we gave each other tough, unactable and funny movie-names like "Murde ki jaan khatre mein", " 2 English men went up the hill and came down the mountain", and names which i could not even imagine/remember of.

we reached Ananda Valley by about 9-30am.
Breakfast was awaiting us, which we quickly had.

We set forth trekking! There was an appreciable density of greenery and trees which took us along a curvy and uneven path. There was a small hill to be climbed and then a sharp dip followed by a steep hill, which posed a challenge to many. My under-estimation of hill trekking in general took a jolt, especially here, as i came without even a pair of shoes!!hehe!! Trekking turned out to be super fun!

Then we walked back to the main ground where some team events were scheduled to happen.

There were good games organised amongst teams divided randomly which also included poeple from 3 other companies. Dynamically re-teaming, water-transfer with hands, walking over wooden pieces, etc are some to name. Meanwhile, some played volleyball in the adjacent courts.

Lunch followed after about 90 minutes of this gaming, at about 1-30
pm.

A magic-show succeeded lunch where the magician pulled people out of the crowd to make the show better. Yogesh, Bansi, Pranjal, Jyoti, Ashish, Saurabh and Punam were the Avaya-ites who were called by the magician when he was exhibiting his various tricks that included bringing water into an empty jug, bringing pigeons out of 'nowhere', taking a given ring out of a tomato, etc.

Soon after this, some of us went biking ATV bikes, while the girls went for a bullock-cart ride.
Here is where i pulled out a master-piece snap(though by fluke). It was an excellent example of panning photography, where the camera is moved with the same speed as of the bike. I know Manoj Thakur is going to pay me a fortune for that, hehe, as it was him on the bike!!

Meanwhile Rain-Dance had started. Harish, Chinmaya, Ajay, Ganesh, Ajit, Sanjay, etc took a leading part in this.

Meanwhile some of us played a few cricket matches which i felt was a treat to be a part of. It was much more interesting than a T20 game! Indeed there was so much of cricket talent in the team. And yeah, i understood one concept that if i concentrate on the ball, i dont connect well; whereas when i close my eyes properly, i connect each ball for a six!! hahaha!!

Then after the snacks/tea/coffee at about 6pm, there was a short karaoke session, where a large group "screamed" some songs with the background music on. It brought back the memories of the hostel where people used to sing(read 'shout') at the top of their voice!!

After a group photo session that followed, we got onto the buses to get back to Pune life again! ;)

Not so soon though! The return journey was unexpectedly very energetic, as i predicted people to doze-off/sit-silent after a long day of great fun and activity. A great variety of songs from movies, ads, and a variety of famous movie dialogues were delivered in chorus (and of course with some sarcasm which made us laugh our hearts out).
Special thanks to Sanjay, Ganesh, Ajit and Harish for making the return journey very amusing.

Overall an excellent trip which made me understand that corporate outings, or rather Avaya-outings can get as good as college outings too!

There was not even the least of troubles or hitches in any sense, and there was not a single moment of boredom!

Cheers to our team and the organisers for weaving out a beauty which will remain fresh in our memories for a long time to come!! :)

a poem on avaya! :D

2009-12-17T01:19:00.000-08:00

(this is my first poem that i felt like publishing !! )

july 20 my corporate entry,

Rajini Harale was our sentry…

the first 15 days were like college life,

then i finally saw CCD-CM becoming my wife..

Avaya's caption is "power of one",

oh! my wife CCD-CM is in tower one…

CM training and more CM training,

we gave Sreekanth a lot of paining..

where is the ISDN trunk where is the SIP trunk,

I found out CM indeed is a hunk...

"enjoy man enjoy" playfully said Chinmaya,

then I learnt to say that CM is mahomaya..

it was Vijay and Durgesh initially,

in stations team i ended up finally..

Yogesh motivates me to become an Avaya star,

i said it is easy because Bansi is my SuperStar..

How come all my doubts vanish,

I got the answer, n it was Harish...

each and every time i am attacked by an MR,

i instantly ask "Bansi, where you ARE"?

lets have coffee before your MR,

says my good friend Atul Manwar..

oh my boy, many MRs are left ,

oh my boy, many MRs are left,

who cares, for Stations is the best..

this friday we are going to Ananda Valley,

oh come on, let me not think of my MR tally..

sab log rahein ‘anand’ mein dooba,

all thanks to my Guru BABA..!!

S-27 , nbh-extension, VNIT Nagpur !

2009-12-12T01:41:00.000-08:00

Wonderful soothing music filled my heart in Avaya's cafeteria.. it was I with I.. yeah.. in solitude..

Right.. it is a saturday, but yet i came down to office to convert my loneliness at home to some solitude in my cubicle..

That soothing music took me to a new beautiful world.. hey! no.. not new.. i realised that it was the old beautiful world.. my friends at vnit..

I was about to have maggi for lunch, for who is going to walk to the magarpatta hotels in the afternoon.. yes i feared loneliness again..

The 4-5 hindi songs i heard being played in the cafeteria after i came, sounded great but none of them had i listened to earlier..

There was this beautiful change in the tempo of the music and then the sudden weaning and revamping which stole that moment from me.

" .. garfield, did u notice that beauty?" - i was ecstatic ;
Alas! garfield (ashutosh) is not here.
"I am not in my hostel room dumbo!" - I told myself.

This is a reason i have STOPPED listening to about 60-70% of my song collection. Garfield has listened to every of my favourite songs(be it tamil, hindi, english or marathi) and we used to discuss at length the various techniques involved.

Besides my music collection puts me into the an imaginary world of my staying in hostel, which then i find painful to come out of.

A week back, when ashutosh recalled his experience to me over the phone, about his going to the hostel after passing out, sent out a chill in my spine!
He could not stop his tears when he noticed that "baba(i.e. I ) no more stays in S-27 in Nbh-Extn"
I got the fright of my life when i heard that from him.
I realised i was convinced wrongly that i am only on a holiday trip away from hostel.
Meanwhile, I was reminded of Allen, who left the last from hostel(thanks to IAF interviews) described the hostel as a graveyard !!

Garfield further had told me, " baba.. when u enter the yeshwantnagar gate man.. what a beautiful feeling.. breathtaking memories attacked me yaar.. our mess-offs of all, the photo-sessions..".

I could not control my tears! I could not accept this.
All my dosts' absence attacked me!!(writing all their names would only torture me mentally further! )

"Lets go once man baba.. ".- he further told.
I lost my voice to tears and gained back to say him, "OK".

Do i have the guts to enter the college, for such a weak heart like i can't even stand a minute's loss of my dosts??- i wondered.

After a while doma(srini) called up to say he is going to college for some work and hence asked me to make it to nagpur to meet him.

I was excited !! Doma was a person I had great affection and bonding for, within just a few days in the 2nd year when we got together in block-7 hostel.
Then i recalled garfield's conversation which scared me of the scene at my hostel.

"can i take the fact that my 2nd floor nbh-extn is being occupied by some juniors and that my friends are no more there!!"
"nooo way"- came the answer!
I convinced doma citing some dumb reason that i cant make it!

"maggi- sir" -shrilled the cook.
"uh.. aan..."
whoooph!! where was i?
Soon i understood the reality that i am at avaya's cafeteria..
As before the soothing songs started to flow through my ears.
"..these are the culprits that take me to the imaginary world.."- i told myself.

Everything, i felt , went frozen for a moment!

"maya.. illusion.." - i told myself.

I picked up the maggi and started gulping through quickly so that i get out of the cafeteria (which is subjecting me to loneliness yet again).

I suddenly was reminded of the wonderful mumbai-trip i had the previous weekend. Sam and gudi had come to sahare's place so that we could have an entire night and day together.
An Hostel Experience! :)
I was also reminded of the pain of separation during the journey back to pune, after just one day of revisiting hostel life!

"..this weak heart can't take anymore.." - i told myself and walked out of the cafeteria with a masala-chai(unusually, as i always stay addicted to filter-coffee).

As i walked down to my cubicle to do some kind of time-pass, a vision struck me and questioned "give up the temporary.. it will only cause u pain!! "

"true Father!!"- i talked with Peace flowing into my heart, " .. i yet again realised that YOU are the only Permanent Companion and Friend of mine!!"

As i started to write this post after reaching the cubicle, i wished that Lord SAI never puts me into another eddy of loneliness!!

One thing for sure is i was yet again fed with the lost wisdom that GOD alone is one's true and constant companion, and that one can never have any worldly possession with him for more than a certian period!!

AMEN!

THIS ONE IS MINE !!

2009-11-18T21:54:00.000-08:00

this is one of the poems penned by SATHYA SAI.. :).. yes the DIVINE POET HIMSELF!! :)
-> in 1974 for the November issue of SANATHANA SARATHI (the Birthday Issue)

This One is Mine

I do not need any riches; for, why should I?
A carefree mind is enough, O Father,
That is a Million for me!

I shall not yearn for Fortune; for, why should I?

A smile-lit face is enough, O Father,

That is a Million for me!

I shall not pine and want: for, why should I?

A glance from Thy Eye is enough, O Father,

That is a Million for me!

I shall not crave for Wealth; for, why should I?

The joy of being Thine is enough, O Father,

That is a Million for me!

Enough for me these things I have,

Whatever Thou hast gifted now;

Why think of getting more?

ll have them when Thou wishest;

Enough for me Thy un-diminishing Grace

Which falls on all whom Thou hast blessed,

With the words: This one is Mine.

the chit that took me to Hadshi !! :)

2009-11-03T07:01:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,
Let us understand that a true Knowlege-Seeker won't be prevented by anything, even Science.
A true Knowkedge-Seeker would want to accept the challenge of understanding how things happen, however unbelievable, rather than blindly say"it can't happen!!". :)
may Knowledge Grow!! :)
By sharing this message to my friends, i start off to run through the post.
(this is not meant to hurt anyone in anyway. Cheers!!! )

[
THIS INCIDENT IS THE BEST IN MY LIFE, AND THE MOST VALUABLE EVER!!
]

I wept from the bottom of my heart. It was tears of ecstacy. I had never thought this beautiful Day, the Divine Thurdsay (29-OCT-09), would have come so quickly.

The LORD, my beautiful LORD, who leaves millions of us in BLISS finally made way to the temple stage for a discourse.
HIS entry was grand, amazing, and beyond words to explain.

The Vinayaka Sthothram that that was sung as a sign of welcoming our beloved Swami carried a Great Energy, and it went on to raise my awareness that the ENERGY is nearing me. :)

Drumbeats, Trumpets, and all the grand instruments used elated me that my HERO is making HIS Entry. Feel it to know what i am trying to convey. :)

Lots of crowd around HIM, i have not yet caught HIS Glimpse this evening, the crowd was running towards the dias with BABA among them. The Energy in me rose touched its pinnacle, and lo!! the LORD with HIS Divine Smile makes way. The beautiful saffron Robe was the first
Thing i noticed.

"victory to SAI" filled the air.

Bhajans that followed filled my heart, not with silence, but Peace, or something even purer!! Yes.. it was Ananda!! BLISS!! Even the minutest of doubts got cleared seeing the LORD.

"I ART THOU" - said my soul!! YES, for once i am my Atma. :)

Tears of Joy flowed down strongly. This is my Destination, i felt.

MY mind thanked Revathi for giving me a vip-pass, which hence brought me so close to Swami.
Swami's Discourse followed. What an Orator, but obvious!! The LORDmade Geetha simple to our ears.

Earlier in the morning, I saw BABA at the same distance, but this time, BABA was there earlier, and clearly showed me signs that HE did see me enter. Each time i doubted, i got an acknowledgement. HE takes it as a challenge to solve my doubts, and convinces me comfortably. :)

I being a fool, how did i deserve HIS Great Darshan!!
My mind reeled back to my past.
How did i come here??
What pulled me here??

"Revathi gave me a vip-pass, n i came.."

How did Revathi know me?
"2 days before this, she became my friend through orkut, and since she too was in pune, hence i could take her help."
(Revathi never cared i was a stranger. Her family invited me to their home the previous day, so that we could leave together early in the morning, next day. BABA took care about my reaching her home with the most comfortable of ways, and with ZERO rupees travel!!)

OH!! How come u went to Pune?
"Avaya.. job!!"

Oh!! how the job??
"Campus recruitment from NIT Nagpur.. it is a huge story to explain

how BABA made my interview finish in 10 mins!!" :)

Accha!! How the NIT Nagpur??
"ohh!! that i put a chit in front of BABA(in a temple in Bangalore) to choose between NIT Nagpur, and RVCE, B'lore".

Great!! So had the chit been RVCE, Bangalore, ..??
" NOOOO!! how could i have met my Lord here in Hadshi Village, 50kms from Pune today. I once had a dream where BABA assured me that the chit was chosen according to HIS Wish and for my Welfare."

Oh,come-on, u could have met Swami somewhere else, right??
" NO CHANCE!! I was in Bangalore , from childhood. Yet, i could not go to HIS Ashram even once in Bangalore(where HE stays in Summers) and Puttaparthi(150kms from Bangalore). Why that, HE never allowed me to have Faith in HIM then! :(

Here i need to mention the greatest miracle for me. BABA came in my dreams 2 months back , when then, this Hadshi visit of His was never even known to anyone. In the Vision, HE makes me realise that i would first see HIM in a place similar to Hadshi, and the details were similar."
( I here wish to avoid a lengthy and detailed explanation.)

Now, back to Hadshi village. Swami finished HIS beautiful and punchy Discourse. A point HE made in between, made me whistle for HIM, which i wanted to from long. :)

Earlier He had materialised a Golden Ring for a devotee. I was lucky and fortunate enough to have witnessed that Miracle. :)

Then Bhagawan accepted Arathi, and made HIS Way back to HIS Residence. And similar to the entry, the exit was awesome.

The next day(friday) at office, i was restless.
"what was happening in Hadshi..?" - I wondered.
Another friend of mine, Shweta, gave me a gist of the day, which ended up making me restless to have missed HIM.
I felt bad i could not make it to Hadshi, as i was worried if that would leave a bad impression at office, that i bunk a lot!! :D

Thus, HE made me long for HIM that day.
This longing, which i got, HISWILLING, made me decide that i will make it to Mumbai for HIS Darshan there.

" OK, it is friday night now!! NExt evening, BABA is giving Darshan in Goregaon, in Mumbai. How do i go?? Where do i stay? "- puzzled my mind.

I called up Rohit Sahare and told him i am staying at his place for the weekend, without even asking if he is ok with it or not!! :D

Later, next morning, on reaching rohit's place did i understand, that my BABA will come to a Hall in Goregaon which is hardly a 10-minute walk from rohit's place. I didn't know Rohit stayed near Goregaon!! This itself i felt to be an acknowledgement of the feeling that BABA indeed is doing it all for me.

Next day, at Worli, in Jambooree Maidan, BABA gave another Darshan.
Here, the SevaDal did a great job by providing free biscuits, packaged water (all unlimited) to 50,000 people atleast!!

Such is the Magnet called GOD!! :)
The Mysore-Pak prasadam i had was the best in my life.(believe me!! :) )

My friends forced me to stay back for BABA's Darshan at Brabourne Stadium that evening. BABA made me to leave, as i had already booked my tickets for the evening. However, my College-mate Mohnish Chawda attended the function there. When he prayed for me, BABA showed a signal, and simultaneously i called him on his mobile. All at the same time!!
Non-believers will call it co-incidence!! LOL!! :D

Once this fool had no idea about BABA. But this one week, or the last 3 days, gave me the greatest fortune, for i had 3 Darshans of my LORD in different locations all in 3-4 days!!

Thus the Chit landed me here, in ecstasy!! or rather was it not my LORD, whose Mercy and Infinite Love brought me here!!

om SAIRAM

Chacha all the way!!

2009-05-12T04:28:00.000-07:00

The Preliminary:

Unfortunately the word friendship is taken too casually. If there were a higher virtue, then that is what is being described in this post. Here on, any reference to 'friendship' in this post simply means the purest form of friendship ever known.

A beautiful smile.. he carries. We have shared a room for all the four years. He always supported me even when I was wrong. At times I myself would doubt whether he himself knew that.
He even terms me as his favourite author.. hehehe!! Yes.. my dear chachu.. I literally accept
it. :) I don't need a greater inspiration!!

This post, I dedicate to my chachu. Apart from my Master SAI's inspiration, I credit it to my chachu (or my great friendship with chachu) for writing this post.

If you don't find anything good in this post, there may be just 3 simple reasons:
- my poor writing skills haven't delivered the ideas !! OR
- you take friendship for granted!! OR
- you are not forunate enough to have such a great friend!!

[ I apologise for being harsh here, because this is one such post which I feel is a small
dedication to my friendship, and any fun made out of this will only pierce my heart! Thanks
for understanding!!]

Incase the following turns out to be a bit senti, kindly bear it. In case it fails to bring tears
in your eyes ;) , then according to my chachu, it is a "good-try" by me.. hahaha!!

The post!! :

As the whole world (read vnit) knows, our dear chacha is known officially as Nachiket Vaidya, or Nachiket to not so close ones.
Thanks to Sameer for suggesting the name "Abdul Chacha".
Also visit "Abdul Chacha tries to joke" community in Orkut to know more about our chacha.

If one asks me about my most memorable events, I would comfortably say it as the Second and the Final Years.

The second year was a golden period for the simple reason that everything I wanted just personified! Best of friends, decent results, etc SAIWILLING.

Hiru (hiranmay to others) and Gudi, my closest friends at college till then, were my roomies.
And our hero, chacha was in the next room. There was not a single day where he would not be teased to death by me and his roomie wagle, though others too would join in for the great gaala.

I used to find immense happiness being with these two characters, chacha and hiru. The third year saw me and hiru go to different wings, though on the same floor. Chachu however stayed in my wing.

In the second year chachu and I contributed together for a cooler, which I selfishly used for cooling my computer rather than providing a relief to chacha or his lappy. I always repented for having taken a contribution from chachu. Afterall, he turned out to be my closest buddy in the coming semesters.

Also a great thing I repent, and will always do so, is that I did not spend quality time with my chachu in the 3rd year, thanks to my other wing-members. Though it is always nice to have more close friends, but it hurts a lot when I recall now that I spent a bit lesser with chachu than I used to in the second year.

There were many people who I used to tease and have immense fun with. But how many
realised that I do it only because that I take the freedom that we are good friends???
Chacha was the only one of those 'victims' who realised my love and affection for a friend
like him, and that my way of expressing friendship to him was this unique path.

An highly mature character, I always feel humble in front of him. For the amount of character,
great attitude, and simplicity, chachu will touch the greatest of peaks, which no human has
dared to.

Surprisingly, I, a person with an unimaginable amount of ego and attitude, tamely surrender to
only two people.. yeah, of course chachu and hiru !!( To Chacha, though I don't show it.)

The friendship I share with chachu, I am sure no one has ever experienced. I, in fact, feel at
this stage, after passing out from college, that I just can never build such a friendship again
in life.

For once, I loved summer in Nagpur (the final year's). I am glad that the summer peaked at early march(first week) itself, because, chachu and I spent our best times in my room, sometimes with others too. This was so because we shared a cooler to face the summer heat, as mentioned before. If not for an early summer, I and chachu would not be sharing 65+days together in my room.
Thus for the all summers from the 2nd year, we were together.

The first year's summer, we were in the same room, because we planned to "prepare" for JEE (second attempt). Chachu cleared, but 'it became a good-try for me' ( read as, I did not clear JEE)!!
Thank God.. chachu was unhappy about his JEE rank for the second time too, and hence did not go to the IITs; else how would I ever have got this gem as a friend?

Though I don't care a fig for not getting through the Oracle interview, yet my only cause of worry is that I will miss my chachu (and hiru, as they made it to Oracle).

It was exam time, for one last time. Yes.. the final exams of the final semester.
As history repeats, just before exams, I got into a depression, this time for a reason which has been troubling me for 7 years!!
Chacha obviously knew about it and tried helping me out of it.

Thankfully Chachu and I all picked up the same electives.. what a relief!! As usual he would teach me, as he had done in the past. Atleast his presence in my room was enough to see me get back to my normal.
If at all I am asked to name a factor apart from SAI for my academic success, it is chacha's teaching me and hiru's inspiration( seeing hiru itself would inspire me to work, hehe!!).

I being in chachu's project group was an added fun to me, as he would do all the work with others, but would never complain to me that I dont work!! :-)

There was an unfortunate call from IIT Kanpur to me for MTech, to which chacha did not apply. This would simply mean that I will have to bid farewell to chacha on 5th of May itself, as against May 8th( his ticket to Mumbai).

Firstly I was least interested in further technical studies; and besides my leaving chacha FOUR special days in advance would only make me repent for my entire life!!

Finally, on the eve of leaving to Kanpur, a few hours before, I, SAIWILLING, cancelled my trip to Kanpur. What a relief!! I did not waste a single moment away from chacha.

On 8th evening, when chacha was leaving with the other mumbai chaps, my emotional torture reached a peak!!
I went to the railway station to see him off, I weeped so much, which I would not have weeped in my life. I hugged him very tightly thrice, unable to control my tears in front of the whole crowd. When the train was about to leave, I hugged him very tightly the third time, wished him the best of everything for the future, and kissed him on his cheeks for as long as the train started moving.

Chacha's eyes were moist, probably for the first time in VNIT. This only increased my bonding further towards him. Chacha generally is a person who never lets out his emotions known, be it anger, depression,etc ( as he is greatly matured); this quality of his I admire a lot. This is a quality which I lack totally, as I am a person who can never control my emotions.
Now when Chachu himself could not control his tears, where can I hide my emotions?? I was glad that someone cared to cry for me while leaving me.
The Train left.
I lost my soul, I felt! If I am granted one boon, I would ask God to keep chacha and me always together(be it work, studies, etc) in the future!

I came back to the hostel with the rest few. My train which was supposed to be before chacha's did not provide me with a confirmed ticket. SAIWILLING the next day's ticket was confirmed.

Had chacha not left before me, perhaps I might not have come under such a terrible mental torture! Life seemed to have come to an end. I felt everything happen against me. The whole world suddenly seemed to become an hell.

I started recalling every single incident with chacha in the four years. Each morning I would get up to only see chacha's face. When vishwesh wanted to sleep in my room due to the cooler, I told him to sleep on the other side of chacha, as chacha should be the one to sleep next to me!

Hugging chacha and sleeping, and disturbing his sleep, I will never ever get those days back!!
On 9th morning, I refused to get up from sleep, because I will be reminded of chacha throughout. On getting up, the whole day went only in weeping for the absence of chacha. I immediately went to my friend's room (as I sold my monitor away) to mail chacha about the tortures I am facing.
Then I went to chacha's room, and felt him sitting there with his lappy. Suddenly I realised
he is no more at VNIT. Tears flowed like never before. I sat on his cot as I started feeling dizzy, and was gasping for breath.
Then I saw some waste left back by chacha in his room. Amongst those I picked up a pen of his, a xerox copy of his ID card of something, and some papers he wrote on, as some memories that I could carry back home.

At the canteen that afternoon, I felt the dosa extra salty due to my unstoppable tears falling on it. Just then, chachu called up and informed me of him safely reaching home. I felt a great relief listening to his sweet voice.

Thanks to my 300+ talktime, I spent my lonely train journey a bit comfortably talking to many friends.

But what mattered to me most was my chachu shed tears for leaving me. This is enough for me!!
Now I feel I have had two great achievements in life. One, Hiru considering me his best friend; and two, chacha too misses me!!
Afterall these two chaps matter a great deal to me!

My dear SAI, just grant me a wish that I will always be unseperated from chachu and hiru for the rest of my life, and that we will be the same friends, as we were at VNIT!! :)

Looking forward to meeting chacha and hiru !!
Looking forward to hug chacha!!
Looking forward to disturbing chacha's sleep!!
Looking forward to teasing chacha, and deriving fun!!
Looking forward to being with chacha and hiru always!!

BAS KYA CHACHUU !! :) ;)

I am sure SAI, YOU will surely grant me with these wishes soon enough!! :)

a Fitting Farewell Gift !!!

2009-04-15T22:35:00.000-07:00

I walked away giving him a sweet peck. I walked out of the class. The last possible class in VNIT, or my B.Tech. was about to begin just after this.
A couple of my friends asked me to bunk that class. It was to be the Information Security class, a class I seemed to show zero interest, although the subject was an interesting one. I too was reluctant to attend the class.
So I picked up my notebook on the bench, gave a sweet peck to my place, where I sat throughout the year.
This was that divine place where Kakde's lectures seemed to me like Lord Krishna's GEETHA( or GITA, incase some people have problems to 'understand' !!) discourses to Arjuna.
This was that very soul, which talked to me daily, which consoled me for my oracle's debacle (I had flopped royally in oracle's interview), and for my most awaited MBA chance that I put down the drain.
He( read 'my place') was the one who supported my decision to avoid sitting in other companies after Oracle until Avaya, and fed some wisdom onto me; in fact, he talked to me about everything possible, yes no exceptions at all !!
I somehow felt him call me before leaving the class. I looked back, bid him a farewell, and walked out from the door. I neared the steps to realise that I cannot leave him, not so quickly. I immediately informed my friends to get going, for I wanted to attend the last class.

His anger, which I can't stand, was a major factor for me to attend classes. Else he would be wrath with me for not meeting him. He would show his anger by pulling someone else to him when I attend the next class, thus depriving me of his company. Thus he loved me so much.

I was relieved. I felt my place hugging me when I sat on him again.. for one last class. Generally he will never allow me to be distracted; he would shush everyone around for me. We both have had the best of classes. I always tell him everything, even the most personal matters..!
We both were very happy to be back with each other. He told me to scribble something on him so that he can cherish for the rest of his life. I was in tears when I wrote on him.
The teacher on the other side was teaching some thing which seemed latin to me as usual. This I felt is important to mention now because however 'latinish or greekish' the teacher teaches, he was always there to help me understand, and put me on track. But today , he told me "lets talk for one last time.. forget the class..". I never removed my hands off him the whole 60-70 minutes.
He told me to sit in my favourite position, i.e. folding both legs, like how one sits on the floor. For probably the first time, my legs never became numb, which generally become so in about 20 minutes whenever I sit in such a position.
Class seemed to get over fast!! Friends around were saying our ma'am to leave the class. I felt the 60-70 minutes we devoted to each other were too fast, but too divine.
The whole class left. The whole classroom stared at me with great love. It was such an emotional feeling. I felt like kissing every brick in the wall. I went to my place again.
He too could not control his tears. I bent down onto him, kissed him for as long as possible and thanked him for everything.. for setting my future, my life, for being with me in every part of my life.
I did not want to wipe my tears, for this is the minimum that I thought I could do for him, i.e. let some tears for him. But he seemed to wipe my tears and promised me something that I never imagined. He promised me that he would be with me always, just as how my Master SAI is always with me loving me and guiding me.
Then I pecked the blackboard. He taught me so many things with love! Before I left the class finally, I pecked my place once again. Now there seemed to be no response. I shook him, asked him to get up for me one last time. My heart broke. I just then realised my pant had been pulled by the nail in the bench, when I left towards the blackboard. This is yet another proof of his love for me. But why was he not responding now?

SAI responded to me, "my dear.. don't you realise..? I am Everything.. his soul has merged with MINE.. you can always see him in ME.. yes, HE is permanently with us.. ". I was enthralled!!
I bid farewell to the classroom, came out thrilled, latched the door, and kissed the door, as a sign of bidding one last farewell to my classroom!
I walked to my cycle, looking back at my department. Now when I was about to bid farewell to my department, I was stopped. I heard the Goddess, the Soul of my department, say me that She too is coming with me when I leave the college.
"WHATT!!" - I asked. "Don't be dumb like others trying to find logic in everything. Certain things are beyond human ken!" -She told.
SAI quickly added to remove my doubts," Only fools try to find ME through science and logic.. Aren't you aware that Science is only a part in ME.. then how do you find ME only through science?"
I came back to the hostel with a great deal of happiness, for I am not going to miss any of my non-human best friends. as they verily are situated in my heart now!
Also this was a spiritual treat to me! Lord SAI explained with utmost simplicity what was explained throughout in Bhagavad Geetha.

What a realisation..! Had my bench not pulled me back when I was about to bunk the last class, I would not have got such wonderful farewell gifts!!

I love you my Sweetheart CompSci dept!!
I love you my Sweetheart seat !!
I love YOU my MASTER SAI !!

the Guard.. !!

2009-04-13T10:12:00.000-07:00

People generally think, at least the current generation, that the world is full of individuals, i.e nobody cares for the other.
One strikingly contrasting example is one of our VNIT guards.

The guards too enjoyed along with my seniors when I used to be ragged at the gate of my hostel block. Our hostel prefects spread my "fame" far and wide by my extended nickname SEX-BABA!!
I personally had no issues with such a prefix to my nickname at college, but as I have been taught by SAI that nothing in this world is accident, it turned true that this rechristening of my name too had some effects.

In the following years in the college, each time I cross any of our college gates, the guard always refers to me as , "aur baba, kaise ho?" ; "baba, shirt tight hai baba..", etc.
The guards in our college are ex-Servicemen from the army. Interestingly, most were passouts from technical institutes. Most guards enjoy calling me by the same extended name, to which I would invite with a broad smile.

I don't refer to the above as an effect of the rechristening. It is as follows.

There is one guard, and probably another too, who speaks his heart out to me, and generally the conversation turns out to be about 20-30 minutes. Though this was not regular, but such nice conversations used to happen every fortnight or a month.
The guard knows many things about me, including my placement, that I will be working at Pune. He went on to the extent of even letting me some contacts there in Pune which would help smoothen my settling there. He also explained how I should live life at Pune, especially when your parents are elsewhere. He got close to me by calling me informally by the extended nickname.

This guard was my well-wisher, which is why I started this post with our generation's general ideology only to prove it wrong with this guard's example.
He has related to me many of his experiences in the various camps in various regions of India. Not this alone, he went to the extent of even explaining what life is, and how today's world is forgetting the divine qualities and hankering after animals' qualities.

Not a sense of gratitude(with sincerity), not a ray of good hope being spread around, while only gossips, rumours, negative energies keep making rounds. It is just a matter of Permutations and Combinations for a subgroup in a group of friends mocking or criticising the rest of the group behind their backs.
Hardly do people hug each other with a true sense of love and affection. A friend gets close to you only by praising you or by letting down others. " he likes her.. he is a crazy chap.. she is this kind of a girl.. he got blasted by another.. " and what not!! Is this what we call social interaction?? Two people get close by talking ill about others!!

I salute him who prefers to stay away from such a social-network!! People may call him unsocial, but I surely attribute him to be truly social !! Be of some constructive use to the society to be called a social element.

The guard who taught me all this has a tough life ahead, as new private guards are taking over the old guards' place. But one thing for sure is, his wonderful attitude in life, and his good-heartedness will compel my SAI to offer him a great life ahead. At least for once, I am his wellwisher!!

white Devaru- my Superrrr-Computer!!

2009-03-29T00:09:00.000-07:00

A post may carry opinions or ideas which may be entirely objectionable to certain readers. However, it should not be objectionable to the author himself!! Yes.. my previous post( or rather my first), 'the stone God' was such a masterpiece!!
It made me wonder as to why , a person like me, who no doubt, definitely wants to shine well academically, but hates to put in efforts for the same, made it feel like a very big tremendous conscious effort was put to achieve a transient thing like grades!! Infact the major theme sincerely meant to be told, was that it was the STONE GOD which has to take credits for all the good/bad I was made to do by HIM!!

A similarly misunderstood concept is the "age" of my computer, named DEVARU(a kannada word)!!
Devaru has a differential age as such. His monitor is about 10 years old, I accept. However, I intend to make it clear that his CPU is not more than 2-3 years old. Seriously!!
Devaru stepped into VNIT on 12th Aug 2006. Special thanks to Kaustubh Gudi for helping me bring it from Wadi(Vijayanand travels package). [Also a special point to mention that on this day, our beautiful Computer Science dept. was inaugurated. Thanks to Ruturaj for the info].

Devaru is actually undergoing an ironically similar treatment, as was during apartheid. The irony being, Devaru is a 'white' !! Today , the world is of the opinion that if a computer is black, then it is of a latest configuration!! My poor Devaru! [please! i m not talking races in a serious tone!]

There were times when devaru sobbed at the "praises" he received from his master's(read baba) friends like "Wow man.. your comp runs CS(counter strike) too", "Hmm.. not bad.. it supports matlab..!! ", " it is copying faster than I thought", etc..

I would always think," my brother had a 100MHz P1 machine and ran through his computer science with ease!! What else do I need, when Devaru is so damn advanced!??"

He would immediately retort to me, " what the hell baba? i am of 512MB RAM, I run all the applications you have asked me to, without any deadlocks.. the fellow who is insulting me has a computer which cannot even copy a text document in less than a minute, forget seconds!."

I always convince him, " I know your worth, my dear. You process at a much better rate than most people's systems here."

At times, I am reminded me of OWL's Philosophy. The owl would not want to open its eyes in the morning and hence declares that there is no sun at all.
Similarly, Nobody wants to listen it is a AMD-64 bit processor. Nobody cares to see devaru's brand-new SONY DVD writer. Nobody wants to see the speed at which it carries out its processing. But they are there to declare it a dumb thing!!
Ofcourse Prasad Mulay knew its worth, and hence bought the same processor(Devaru was at his happy best to know this, and processed even better for a few days!!).

OK!! I accept that 'computer-apartheid' has blind-folded your opinion about devaru. However I(and devaru ofcourse) surely want an answer to the following. Devaru's NEW mouth(read speakers), ALTEC LANSING, was not left either. "Not bad baba.. the music quality is good!!"
"Obviously dumbo.. it is altec-lansing !!"- Devaru shouted back.

Yes, the mistake was mine. I bought a speaker set without woofers for two reasons:
1) It may disturb others!! (what an anti-VNITian thought..)
2) Relocating the computer with woofers is an extra pain.
(a third reason being , i considered it a waste to pay an extra 800-1000 for that low-frquency emitter!)

You know what? The person who complained about the lack of woofer, owns a laptop which runs a 5 minute song for 10 minutes; like a table screeching when moved!! No idea whether his laptop is sad, or whether his speakers has a sore throat!!

On the other hand,Devaru till date has run all my 2000+ favourite songs with great zeal (almost 24x7).

Devaru has always been very loyal to me, and always says me before I put him to sleep in the night, "baba, I am so thankful to you... you take every extra care to save me from 'viral-infection', you give me the required amount of sleep.., you show me the world's best movies.., you feed me with fresh data(read food) everyday, you dress me up well (read as organised).., and on top of all, YOU BOUGHT ME A NEW COOLER( named Coolesh!!) TO SAVE ME FROM NAGPUR's SCORCHING HEAT!!! I love you indeed!!"

oh devaru how can I ever tell you that I am planning to sell your monitor after my 8th sem!! I however, promise to take the best care of you in future too!!

I thank you for all that you did, and also for allowing me to blog through you!!

Cheers Devaru!!!

the stone God!!

2009-03-27T02:01:00.000-07:00

Salutations to my Master SAIBABA!!

Let me rush through a few preliminaries to get the theme better understood.

It was during the second half of 2005. I got admitted into the Computer Science Dept in National Institute of Technology, Nagpur. A matter of great pride to all my well-wishers!!
Earlier, my Master SAI told me that i should attend the AIEEE counselling rather than take a seat at the highly fancied RV College in Bangalore, which boasts of top class placements. Besides my bro did his B.E. there in CSE. My dad was at his adamant best to get me into RV, because else my seat in RV would be forever forfeited.
SAI assured me often that "I know best what is good for u..". Also HE had promised me that HE would put me in a place where my Faith in HIM would only increase.

Now come to the central theme.
I got into this beautiful college and the first year was only about making friends around and getting ragged by seniors. Life seemed to be floating in air. People told that NIT has a great tag and can offer one a great future. Some others told that life was not easy in a NIT. To me all this was only a matter of conversation and timepass. After the exams, which i knew i had not done well (for still a 'school boy' attitude, i thought i may not get a CGPA of 8). Vacations were fun at home only for a week, because i had an uninvited guest.. viz EXAM RESULT!! It was a mere 5.9 !! Life for once forgot mercy.. i was shocked and my Faith in SAI was easily shaken..
People around i.e parents, cousins, relatives, well-wishers, etc were bogged down. Dad was convincing me that a NIT is a high level University, and that it is not easy to get a pointer. I was only worried about my dad's reaction. SAI Willing it was a clear path.

Next sem.. 2nd sem.. back to college.. i was worried about how teachers would react to my performance.. in the train i was contemplating continuously as to how others such as seniors, prefects, friends would react.. and whether i would be labeled a NULL? !!
After entering the college i realised that SAI saved me from flunking in 3 subjects!!!! two DDs and one CD. Phew! it was a close shave indeed!! i was close to becoming a discontinued student.

My roommates were preparing for the JEE again.. I too thought of doing the same, so that i could remove the blemish in my academics. I was vexed as to how would i manage another 7 huge semesters, especially in computer science which according to seniors was a low scoring branch. Now i realised SAI has put me into a trap, a vicious circle rather!!

Each time i would go to the Mechanical dept for the Engg-Drawing class, i wud see a small stone-built place of worship, which would hardly be 1 foot both in height and width (on the way to SBI bank). I earlier never considered it as a temple, thanks to my seeing massive, huge temples (whose areas in the order of hectares) in Bangalore, in TN, etc. This turned out to be the HERO of my VNIT life!

Now i see the HERO of our story beckoning onto me. I was perplexed. It was 9:10 am already, thanks to the mess workers' laze in serving masala-dosas. !
From the college canteen(Don't confuse it wit the above mention of mess), there is a sidewalk to the mech dept, via the workshop. Before turning left into the sidewalk, we get to see our HERO at a distance of about 15 metres.

Now why was HE beckoning at me? and what was HE trying to convey? I somehow felt like saluting to HIM and ran to the class. Prof.Warade asked me to come to the teacher's table. Good GOD!! I remembered i just wrote my internals the previous week. I took my eyes away from the marks, but took the sheet to my desk. It was 14/30. A terrible performance indeed!! Now my mind was upset as usual. I realised that my brains were useless and that engineering. was not my cup of tea. Even the previous night dad had encouraged me. hehe!! what was the point!!

My mind wanted to divert. It wanted to trace itself back to the hostel. I walked back to the hostel. When the sidewalk led me to the canteen, my legs didn't move. They were stuck. I saw my HERO signal again. Just then i felt a hand touch my back. I ricocheted back to class! My friend wanted to go the teacher and hence wanted me to move. I saw that the whole class was there in front of his table. I learnt that the teacher has given a grace marks of 6 for a question. I was thrilled!! Getting 20/30 may not be great, but to me seeing anything above 15marks seemed distant.
My mind was beatified. I got a satisfaction that i had never seen in the whole of 1st year so far. I was at my jovial best after a long time to my friends. While walking back to the hostel after the class, i felt my legs getting stuck again n that too at the same spot!!

I then realised.. " hey it YOU SAI!!!" I cried out, "YOU are there with me!!.. DUDE YOU are there with me!!". Now i understood that even getting a GOLD MEDAL here is not going to be tough. This one instance was enough to prove HIS all-Pervasiveness.

JEE got over. 2nd semester got over. It was results time!! It was a meagre 7.1 again; but dad was happy to see my entry into 7 from a 5. A few days later JEE results out.. and i was not selected.. (i never deserved it for my efforts were negligible..). And then i realised that i have to live with the 5.9 n 7.1 in my first year! So far, i was convincing myself that i would make it to IITs for a fresh lease of life.
Seniors in computer science dept told me that it is extremly tough to score and that teachers judge with respect to pointers in first year!! "oh SAI.. where are YOU now?? why this scary situation again?" Just then i was informed about Prof. Kakde that he excruciates the students, and flunks the students. (Contrary to this I have become a great fan.. and am ready to do anything for his class.. i pity those who haven't experienced his teaching!!)
"enoughhhhhhhhh!!", my mind shouted.
3rd sem classes started. Now while going to my comp.sci. dept via the canteen, at a perpendicular angle i could see my HERO beckoning. HE day-by-day convinced me that i am not going to fall to anything further. I would have tears in my eyes.. and would thank HIM, and carry on to/from my dept.
Now grading became relative against the 'absolute grading' which was until last year!! Soon the first sessionals approached( now, 2 tests in a day!!). After the last test, when i came out of the class, people were standing outside the dept, all checking some papers. It was Prof.Moghe's( the GodFather of our dept) paper.
I ran to his cabin. Now my heart was beating worse than an earthquake. Bhaskar was questioning Moghe Sir about the paper correction. It all looked the more tense. Moghe Sir signaled me to get in. He gave me the paper. My eyes refused to open. And then, it was a 23/20!!! yes.. 23/20!! (Moghe Sir's pattern was very interesting.. He would give questions for more marks than the alloted. So it was very encouraging to the students.). This was the first test at department level. n i topped!! wow!!! I felt like this after my 10th std results.. or perhaps more!!
Next sessionals same thing.. Moghe Sir's paper i topped.. 22/20!! hahaha!!
Final exams approached!! Other subjects turned out to have a decent internal score. However Analog Circuits seemed to scare me.. i had a 20/40. Fear engulfed me, that i might flunk!! but i knew this would not bend me to my knees anymore.. because my HERO was there guarding me!!
3rd sem results.. 8.39 !! my dad was excited about my performance!!
My HERO now told me that my Department was the House of Lordess SARAWATHI, and that SHE ever blesses all.
4th sem , 5th sem, 6th sem, 7th sem.. there was no turning back.. my HERO promised me that HE wont let me down.. n i know that HE would even chop HIS Head to stick to HIS Words..

Meanwhile i got 2 jobs. 1 at PSL and another at AVAYA. During the Avaya interview, i was praised for my "comeback" from 5.9, or as some of my wellwishers told i was a "phoenix"!!
Little do they know the truth!!

Till date, i am unable to convince anyone of the truth that the STONE GOD was the true HERO.. nobody would accept if i tell that HE wrote my exams.. that HE evaluated my papers, because even my mistakes fetched me marks!.. that HE entirely took me in HIS Shoulders..
Life would have been so dead without HIM !! But HE is always there with me..
i thank YOU, my HERO.. the STONE GOD!! my SAI!!