Namma Bengaluru

Namma Bengaluru

                 People have commented on how my trip to Bangalore was nothing but a waste. A waste of money that I could have used elsewhere, a waste of time I could have spent completing my degree and a waste of work when I could have been doing other things. To those people I have to disagree completely.              
  Bangalore taught me how to live, how to laugh and how to love. In the faces of the people of Bangalore I saw my fate; in their eyes I saw my family; and in the heart of Bangalore I saw my motherland. In Bangalore I was saw the utmost hopes for humanity that raises one’s own heart to the sky. While I also saw the failings of humanity and what needed to be changed for our own society to survive.            
   In Bangalore I learned my purpose, found my own courage in life and discovered the essence of my soul. In spice filled streets and grand gardens my mind exploded with idea and thought. On lonely red dirt roads and green coconut groves my imagination soared. Upon high terraces from which the city stretched far out below me to the sunlit horizons I could fly.              

     My mornings were spent among family; permeated with the sounds of the chanted Vedas to awaken the Lord from his slumber. In the afternoon, the sound of the bustling and crowded streets, hawkers and beggars following my every step and the welcome sight of friends in college and on their way to work. The evening was signaled by the sounds of conchs from temples that dotted the city, the muzens call from atop the tall towers of mosques and the church bells ringing for Saint John and Saint George. The rains would come and wash away the days filth; bringing new life to the city as it lit up in a beautiful neon daze.              

   Life was never boring. Life in Bangalore is grand whether one was the utmost pauper or the richest businessman. Festivals and shows, sights galore, always smiling faces to meet; Bangalore is a welcome home to all. Art and music can be heard, seen and felt through the city at all times. Hearts ablaze with artistic flame are kindled to full light from the atmosphere Bangalore has given.            

   Bangalore is all this and more. In that wonderful city, that beautiful place I learned who I was and what it means to be alive, to be human. A part of my heart will always remain in the garden city where cool air conditioned breezes bring the monsoon rains. A part of my soul will always remain in Bangalore just as a piece of Lord Krishna is always in Vrindavin.      

         This is why my life in Bangalore means so much to me. Why a piece of me will always call Bangalore home. Thank you to all the wonderful people I left behind and I envy that you get to stay and I cannot… yet. I will always love Namma Bengaluru

Timeless India

Thank you to everyone who has helped me on my path. To everyone who has helped me explore and fall ever deeper in love with India.
Timeless India:

                Many people have asked me why I started traveling to India at all and the only answer I can give is that India called me to her. Traveling through that country you realize that India is not simply a patch of earth but a vibrant living thing. Bharat Mata is a name given by locals meaning Mother India and she is just that and for some inexplicable reason all my life I felt a pull by Mother India almost as a human calls her child home, I felt as if I were being called home.          

       India is a land of multiplicities. Everything is in seen in multiples of each other; god is seen in millions of forms, the sheer amount of languages being spoken numbers in the hundreds and the cultures and peoples associated with these are even more numerous. Ageless India and yet on the verge of becoming a Twenty-first century world power; one can find bronze and iron age chants still being sung in temples that are almost as old while skyscrapers reach to the heavens even taller than the temples, dances that have been danced for a millennia are performed while Bollywood and more contemporary styles bring together fusions of the ancient and new.          


         India is also a land of paradoxes. Unbelievable beauty exists among her architecture, music, landscape, and culture while poverty is an all to apparent problem. India almost seems to exist in the past, present and future at one time. Relying on the timeless practices and rituals the she has followed since before even civilization yet striving so quickly for the future that parts of her are left in all three times.              
    This is why I have fallen in love with my Mother India. With all her variations she is a beautiful young maiden and a harsh and ancient crone. She is a symbol of peace in so many ways and yet she has been invaded since time immemorial, India has survived and changed and grown. India never dies and at times it seems India will outlast the world. She is haven to me as a port in the storm, as a mother is to her child… Mother India.

Sight of the Lord

   The bus rumbled slowly up the hills of Tirumala, the sun just beginning to rise above the landscape pierced the thick mists that had formed on the holy mountains. The air was electrified with devotion; my first sight of the holy temple of Tirupati was of a giant Shank and Chakra glowing in the morning on the peak of the mountain. My heart accelerated its pace and my mind leapt into a frantic want to see that most ancient image of god.
                We entered into the temple after an eternity of waiting. My heart and mind were exhausted but I still ached to have darshan of the lord. Before entering into the inner-sanctum I made the simple prayer and hope that I would be able to see the lord properly. The crowd behind and in front of me were relentless… the pushing was almost frightening. One could be caught and pushed in any direction without digression and the simple mass of bodies all clamoring for a simple look into the golden doors was vast. 

 I entered the inner-sanctum and came face to face with the image of my lord. Balaji had heeded my prayer and I was pushed into a pocket directly in front of the ageless Srinivasa. Reality and time slowed to a stop, all noise for me was lost and nothing existed except for Venkateshwara and myself. I stood in awe of the grandness, the beauty and grace of the lord. It almost felt as if he was staring back at me, deep into my soul. With that single glance of the Lord my mind was in absolute bliss and I felt as if so many questions, so many confusions I had were all answered in that momentary look into the face of god. My mind was quieted and my heart beat with sheer adrenaline.
                After the darshan, that for me lasted eternities, I was pushed from the face of my lord. I craned my neck for even one tiny look more into that most holy of holies. I exited the temple in complete calmness with the only aspiration of coming to see my lord again. I realized that tears had been flowing down my cheeks as I felt my face wet; I circumbulated the temple in parikrama, the names of God swirling in my mind. Everything, all I have ever wanted or thought suddenly made sense... all questions were answered leaving me with the memory of my visit to abode of Sri Srinivasa.