The Beginning of the Noble silence

So Im finally off to Igatpuri to the Vipassana mediation ashram!
After 3 years of wanting to try this form of meditation out, finally, things seem to be falling in together to be able to go!!
Some important things I need to keep in mind over the next few days:

What Vipassana is not:
It is not a rite or ritual based on blind faith.
It is neither an intellectual nor a philosophical entertainment.
It is not a rest cure, a holiday, or an opportunity for socializing.
It is not an escape from the trials and tribulations of everyday life.

What Vipassana is:
It is a technique that will eradicate suffering.
It is an art of living that one can use to make positive contributions to society.
It is a method of mental purification which allows one to face life's tensions and problems in a calm, balanced way.

Vipassana meditation aims at the highest spiritual goals of total liberation and full enlightenment. Its purpose is never simply to cure physical disease. However, as a by-product of mental purification, many psychosomatic diseases are eradicated. In fact, Vipassana eliminates the three causes of all unhappiness: craving, aversion and ignorance. With continued practice, the meditation releases the tensions developed in everyday life, opening the knots tied by the old habit of reacting in an unbalanced way to pleasant and unpleasant situations.

5 precepts I need to observe at all times:
The Precepts
1. to abstain from killing any living creature;
2. to abstain from stealing;
3. to abstain from all sexual activity;
4. to abstain from telling lies;
5. to abstain from all intoxicants.


Might completely change my own outlook, Im curious, but also a little nervous to think if I can brave it out.The Noble silence begins today!
Let you know when Im back in 10 days.
Find out more abt vipassana here:

Food for thought

The sleep that flits on the baby's eyes- does anyone know where it comes from?
Yes, there is a rumour that it is dwelling where, in the fairy villafe among shadows of the forest dimly lit with glow-worms, there hang two timid buds of enchantment.From there it comes to kiss baby's eyes.

The smile that flickers on baby's lips when he sleeps- does anyone know where it was born? Yes,there is a rumour that a young pale beam of a crescent moon touched the edge of a vanishing autumn cloud, and there the smile was first born in the dream of a dew-washed morning- the smile that flickers on the baby's lips when he sleeps.

The sweet, soft freshness that blooms on baby's limbs- does anyone know where it comes from? Yes, when the mother was a young girl it lay pervading her heart in tender and silent mystery of love- the sweet,soft freshness that has bloomed on the baby's limbs.
-Rabindranath Tagore , Gitanjali ( Nobel Prize Winner for Literature,1913)

He never ceases to inspire me..

The darkest shade of grey

Keralam.
The Sanskrit interpretation of this name is the land of coconuts.
From the top of my aunts home in this beatiful land, all I can see are lush green coconut trees fringing the lining between the land and the serene Arabian sea. And " as Surya hastens to travel to other cousins in different parts of Prithvi", he leaves a trail of shadows in his wake- some dark, some light, some long and some short.

Every holiday since as far back as my memory goes, I remember coming home to visit my dear old grandmother in our family home in a little place called Tirur in North Kerala. As a little child, there are a tousand things yet to discover in the backyard- the silent river in behind the house was a magical bridge leading to the unknown area of the paddy fields and neighbours who spoke strange tongues.
As a child, in a month, I owned the place. I was the queen of all I surveyed with servants in the form of my brother and sneaky sister.
Standing on the gate watching trucks and blaring jeeps go by, my kingdom streached further than my eyes could see.

Looking back now as I go to the very place I used to rule, I see that the trees have grown shorter, the magical river is a small piece of flowing water and the strange tongues that the neighbours spoke were nothing but Malayalam- a language that I claimed to understand.

This trip back to my "homeland" has made me wonder where home really is? In kerala, I can barely communicate in Malayalam, I dont feel at home in the religion of Christianity of my mother- nor in Hinduism of my father. In Mumbai, my Hindi is broken and in Kerala, Im the next Premchand. In North India, I am a south Indian and and in South India, Im a malayalee from Mumbai.
To the Christians I am a Hindu
To the Hindus, Im half Christian.
Who am I?

I am a die hard romantic.Some of my good friends might even call me high strung. Nothing exists for me in shades of black and white. I seem comfortable only in subjective grey areas of values that are so different in interpretation accross people and cultures.
Maybe what I belong to is merely my own values.I dont fit into any stereotypes. Perhaps, thats just me.
While sorting through the different shades of grey in my own life, I find that the darkest shade of grey is the colour I create through my own imagination.

Freedom- from what?

Its over!!
My BA exams are finally finally done!
Ive been in the final year of college for now a year and a half, seems like forever. But no regrets whatsoever. Just hope I can still say that when the results come out.

5 years in St. Xavier's college Mumbai... what a time!
How do I encapsulate the experience..

From seaking out of class in junior college and walking into the college principal..
to those long winded discussions in the dusty old "woods" about classes, loves, the purpose of life, and general gossip..
to watching every single movie that released in Sterling on Fridays and bunking horrible Math lectures..
to being challenged by some of the most dynamic and awe-inspiring people on topics as diverse as theatre to quantum physics..
to those endless hours in the "Moffis" (the Malhar office Malhar ) living under hypertension and worry over "what if" those two days of Malhar ( our college festival) are going to be washed out by the rains...( we were never washed out, at least when I was around)
to knowing and understanding what it takes to make a friend for lifetime
to those lovely music filled sunsets at Rural camp (spoiled only slightly by creepy crawlers)
.. these 5 years have shaped me in ways I cant even begin to describe.

Walking into St. Xavier's college is like walking into a time warp- where people stay ever young and the air is charged with energy. But walking in is also very humbling- the huge structure and the atmosphere seems to overpower you. And the legacy left by countless others of excellence is daunting.
But, coming back to the college, after your time is over makes you feel like an outsider looking back at an experience of yours that is caught in time.
Memories hang thick in every corner. But faces change.

I guess I can never truly know what the last 5 years has given to me.Leaving college, I dont take away too many friends, or information from classes. But I think an education is much more than that. ..
When in college, the rules were always unfair, the canteen food had cockroach eggs in it, that the professors droned on too long after the bell, but now I smile.
Thank you Xaviers..
you really did give me both roots and wings.
( from the Xavier's College Anthem)