Damn the human mind !!

Ever since I have started working , i dont remember taking a holiday and staying at home sleeping and eating ... its been almost 9 yrs ... today , i find myself forced to take rest for a week at least, with a sprained ankle ... and trust me i was not happy to hear that i will be stuck in bed for a week or more...
I don't really feel sick just that i cant move ...

Not that i never took holidays or leave from work, but for me holidays are always about travelling and going places, which obviously has its own set of planning to be done and decisions to be made.

I was whining about this situation when a friend told me that some force ( divine / universal/ unknown) has decided that i need this rest and making me take it!!! could be true.. and it got me thinking..

Have I forgotten to take it easy ?? Yeah..life has not been a bed of roses , but a little bit of fight do get me what I want ... but not having to do anything / make any decisions/ not being engaged constantly to find a solution to a problem .. this seems new to me :) ... i feel light and i am not able to accept this feeling ..

now the worry is ... is it ok to feel so light ?? :) damn the human mind !!

Is it possible ?

Is it possible to love more than one ? Is it possible to have more than one BFF ? Is it possible to choose between multiple people we care about ? ( reminds me of a dialouge , " pyaar bahaut baar hota , lekin mohabbat sirf ek baar hota hai "  who believes that bull shit ? )
Here's some context- I was helping a friend with free advice on girlfriend and friend dilemma , and like it happens sometimes was hit by this crystal clarity of a thought  .
There are few in our lives who are non negotiable .

So you can have family , friends , lovers, mentors , teachers , work and all other relationships that's defined in the dictionary and add the ones which are not defined too. Out of all these people there the ones you will never negotiate on. So Wats does negotiate on means ?
Well I guess it means , u will prioritize
them - no questions asked . You will cross seven seas to be with them . U will drop everything and rush to their help if they are in trouble. Doesn't matter if u haven't spoken or met them in years . These are the kind of relations where there is no room for ego .
That's the easy bit .
Now how do u choose between two non negotiable ppl ? Hmmmm that's difficult . Fact is u can't choose . Depending on the situation u take a call . U balance . And you go on ..... No one said its easy !
I like to believe these non negotiable ppl have bit of our souls.... : )
So smart thing to do is never ask someone to negotiate on their non negotiable ones .....

Once again

Yes I have thoughts to share and quiet a few of them. Coming soon .

pattampoochi paradox

It feels great to see my china orange tree grow from a little sappling to a 2 footer .. and I was waiting to see a little touch of orange on it soon.........and to my surprise I found a touch of yellow on it ......yellow eggs from a butterfly !!!....A beautiful Pattam poochi hovering over my orang tree... little did I know that P.poochi is laying eggs on the young sprouting orange leaves .. :(

The eggs will lead to caterpillars and the small P.poochis will be feeding on the my orange leaves soon ... to save my tree i ll have to destroy the eggs :( feel sad about that too ..

Well i guess leaves were made to be eaten .. but my gardener says the caterpillars would destroy the tree...

"Pitter patter on the roof top "...

"Pitter patter on the roof top "... its raining outside, in kolkata ... lying on my bed , I close my eyes and my mind travels back to Coorg .. may be the only bit missing is the fire flies glowing at the roof.......... hmmm......on second thoughts , missing a lot more than the fire flies..

After a killing month at work , the friday arrived , when I once again took out my rucksack and left home for a trip down south .. to coorg .. with a friend .. We took the state bus from Mysore to Mercara(Madikeri) 111kms, tickets cost Rs 83 per persons.. we started at around 7:30 - 8 am from Mysore and reached Madikeri at around 11 -11:30 am in the morning. On the way to Madikeri , I tried to put a name to the crops and plantation , that we were passing by and realised that I have long forgotten my eco geo and geography lessons from schools ... during my trip I ll once again discover ... that coffee and spices are the speciality of coorg..

The town of Madikeri, is a sleepy town .. and during July , the rains keep away most tourists .. the bus dropped us off at madikeri circle , which we referred to as Chain gate area.. we were to stay at a home stay over the weekend before we moved on to our actual destination Honey Valley. From the circle to took an auto to our Vinayaka Home stay .. a quite little house with a terrance and a red gate .. with a great view of the main road connecting the town. and ofcourse surrounded by tall greens( iam bad with flora and fauna names, though I would try to be more specific where ever I can ) which kept swaying with the strong wind ...interestingly the wind kept changing direction all the time ... it kept drizzling on and off with bouts of heavy shower at night .. the drizzle was like fine snow you would hardly feel it , very different from the drizzle that I am used to in the city ...

After a shower and lunch and a short nap we set out in the evening for the Abbey Falls, about 10 km from Madikeri ... named after the late daughter of some British Colonel .. At the Abbey falls we also had some yumm coffee... from the falls we went to Raja Seat , which has now become a place for fountains, lit up by colorful lights dancing away to Bollywood tracks .. historcally at the Raja seat , the Raja of Coorg used to watch his captured enemies being thrown off the cliff ... I m sure the dancing fountains have take away the chill from the place ..but what warms you up is the view of the hills covered with coffee plantation from the Raja Seat... there's a toy train service as well , but i guess I have to try that next time I am there ...We walked back to the Madikeri town centre and stocked up on our preferred wines .. you guessed it right .. I got my SULA Red :) , for sale only in Karnataka .. 650 ml .. one more reason for my love for the place ..

Once we reached the home stay it started raining again ... we had a couple of hours before dinner .. so I read a bit ...the book I was carrying with me was " past continuous" by Neel Mukherjee ... though in real life it felt like present continuous , with the rain pouring out side and sula inside ...

Next day morning we set out for Talakaveri... Talakaveri is famed as a mountain region with the original source of river Cauvery and hence the name Tala-Cauvery (head of Cauvery). It is located in Brahmagiri hill at 1,276 m above the sea level. This place is considered to be very holly and a dip at the pond is said to wash away all sins ...at the long stretch of stairs that carry you to the main pond and the temples , the rain gods again wanted me drenched .. the place was covered with mist and cloud and probably had zero visbility .. the strong wind almost blew me over ... once I reached the holy head of cauvery where she had sprung out .. i almost felt as if the clouds had somehow gotten inside me and touched me deep wthin.. I prayed .. and I prayed .. there were steps going upto the peak , i believe, however with rain it was not possible to climb up...

Upstream to Cauvery , we also visited the Bhagamandala temple , at the confluence of 3 rivers Kaveri, Kannike and the fabled river Sujyoti... On our way back we stopped for lunch at the town and hogged at the yummy southie biriyani and fried coorgi moorgi ..stuffed with food we could only think of a snooze in the afternoon ....

In the eve we walked through the town and had coffee at Bean Scene( they can definitely learn a thing or 2 from CCD or Barista on building ambience for coffee :)), on our way back we, walked past the OLD fort , now used for administrative pupose and to house the local jail .... also carried our dinner from the East End hotel ;)... another round of wine and it was time for dinner ... and as if on cue it started raining ... at Coorg (as well as in kolkata right now :), it had stopped raining when i was writting about Abbey falls i guess .. present continious ..or should I say .. past continuous..)

Next day morning we woke up early to catch the private bus shakti from the Marcara bus stop ,which would take us to the Kabinakad junction, tickets cost Rs 24 per person. For 2 hours we drove through the various small towns of the Kodagu(coorg) district.. i was amazed at the sight and feel of a bus travelling through the narrow hilly paths wondering how they managed to climb up ... and what happens if the bus breaks down .. fortunately i did not have to find that out.. we reached the Kabinakad junction at 11am, 2 hrs after we boarded the bus.. At Kabinakad we had the 4 wheel drive jeep waiting for us to take us up to Honey Valley.. 3kms from Kaninakad. The journey to Honey Valley was again through a narrow path which became more and more rugged as we went up . Upon our arrival we were met by Les an Aussie , who ran the place.. .. the first thing you notice at honey valley is the surrounding coffee plantation and and how you feel like you have dropped into a vaccum... the only noise being the rains and the occasional birds chirping away.. the peace and quite of the place is only broken by the sound of the jeep when guests arrive or leave.

I dropped off my bag at the room and ran out to explore honey valley and take pictures.. Honey Valley had various types pf accomodation the guest house the old house , the private cottage .. everything opening up to the beautiful view of the coffee plants and the silver oaks around you .. gives you the distinct feeling of being in the lap of the nature.. the pretty little paths made for good pictures.

There were various trekking points to be visited from Honey Valley ... however , the rain was too heavy and we had very little time .. we did though, venture out for a walk in the evening while we still had day light .. accompanied by brownie ( as I named him ) . With Brownie by my side on the walk , I lived a long cherished dream from child hood ... he even tried to warn us off some unseen creature lurking in the foliage .. .. we took the other path and followed it to a stream, where we had the LEECH ATTACK.. i got just one , which was enough to make me hop back towards Honey Val. Learning :- wearing black shoes attract more leeches.. ..

Then we trekked down the path which takes you to Hov V. Pretty steep and on the way back I realised , that I wsnt as fit as I was 2-3 yrs back.. ( hmmm ) ..

Upon our return from the short walk we had tea and as the day light faded into the dark , we made ourselves comfi at the dinning hall and enjoyed our own preferences of books and journals.. thats where I came accross the book on Coorgi weddings and their history and festivals .. the legends made for quiete an interesting and enlightening read .. why the Coorgi women wear their saree with pleats at the back .... how River Kaveri ran away from Agastha muni .. etc etc .. you have to be there to feel the wonder of it all ...

After dinner Les and team bade us good night with " listen to the pitter patter on the roof top " and we retired to our rooms to watch the fire flies glowing near the roof .. which made up for the cloud covered sky hiding away the twinkling stars ..
Next day morning , we had to leave early to catch our bus to Virajpet.. starting our journey back to the maddenning crowd..

Coorg was a beautiful experience , though most of its beauty undiscovered by me .. Les had told me that during March the Coffee plants flower and the whole place looks like it has snowed , along with the intoxicating smell of coffee all around .. so March it is or might be .. who knows ............ past -present-future- continuous!!!

That's life!!

We are surrounded by INEVITABLES in life ....here are few that's coming to my mind , Death, Failed first love, Kids growing up, pet dog dying, best friend getting married ..and to include it all.. NOTHING BEING PERMANENT... so being understanding matured adults we all know these facts of life ... do we know them cause its happened to us or did we always know it and lived in denial ....
hmmmm , so wats wrong with living in denial !! We keep hearing "Stop resisting and accept it ." well acceptance does help ... but you need to know what is it that you are accepting ....
We all know, it all ends with death .. and loosing a loved one is painful ... so what am I accepting here .. !! I am not accepting that since death is inevitable I can not hurt if I loose some one , rather i am accepting that death is inevitable and since I am human I am going to hurt .. I am accepting the pain....
First love ... well mostly it never works .. but we all wish for it .. and we all say " for me it will work" ... if you dont have that hope , that faith , well then you will never love ... you cant hold back love cause you are scared of beig hurt .. accept the hurt .. go through the pain of parting..
Kids growing up and best friends getting married .. well you always knew that would happen ... but you just dont want to share them with anyone else.. so do you accept it and not miss them .. no .. if you dont miss them you never loved them ... but what u do accept is that when you let go of them , it is going to to hurt and the pain will be unbearable .. accept .. that it is ok to feel the pain.. the more it pains the more you love and value ...
Make friends with pain .. dont resist it ... pain is inevitable ....accept it...

A lost thought on Growth .

Yes , I had lost this thought .. but like all thoughts this one too came floating back to me and I had to put it down here ... What is growth ?? Why are we all running after growth .. definitely for some it means a better salary and pay package ... what about the rest who dont really care abt the money ?

Well .. heres my thought .... all human beings think of :whats the purpose of my life " ? "why am I here .."? .. and ofcourse they never got the answer to these questions so easily ... so the human kind created their own answers ... you need to be remembered by you achievements ... u need to be better than others at things ... you see, the society forces you to become someone important .. who is remembered... the society wants you to perform .. the peer pressure and competition ....what if I dont care ... I am happy with what I am ... I have a comfortable life ... dont need anything more .. the ego massage ... the pride ... nothing... just want peace of mind ... but th society doesnt allow that ... you are constantly being compared and rated ... hence you have a purpose in life ... to achieve a certain list of things , which will entitle you to the title "successful " ....

Humans feel insecured ... wen they do not know the answer to some question ... so we created our answer to the qustions ... the purpose of our life is to be successful ... we created the hirarchy .. the career path and the promotion s ... do we really need any of this ?

think for your self ... dont let the social system make you choices and take your decisions...