I am just back from a 2-week vacation to India! And let me tell you, 2 weeks is never enough for an India trip. And a trip to India is never a vacation! It was crazy, mad, hectic and a blur now! I had been there for the Silver Jubilee Celebrations of the Art Of Living foundation. It was great!

Its been almost a year since I left Chennai for Phoenix. So when I got there, everyone said you will never be able to drive in India after you have driven in the US. Well, it was certainly not tough to get back on my Honda Activa and do a couple of rounds of Chennai city. I took to my dear ol' two-wheeler like fish to water. It was like I had parked it outside yesterday and got back on it the next day!

Now am back to home to Phoenix. And this is so much fun too.

Of all emotions that man has been destined or blessed to experience, I think 'gratitude' is the most beautiful one. When the heart feels complete and has nothing to crib, grumble or complain about, when satisfaction and contentment brims, and a prayerful feeling towards all that is and was prevails- thats gratitude. It is a prayerful, meditative state in itself. Those moments of gratefulness make up for so many moments of wanting, waiting, worrying and anxiety. It almost makes those worrisome moments of the past worthwhile. It is a wholesome moment in the present.

Everytime we look at the night sky - the moon and the stars and even the occasional blinking lights of an aircraft, we feel so lifted up to the skies. The heart feels featherly light for one quick moment, which then extends to such an infinite time within that quick moment. It feels almost like you have taken in the infinitum of the sky within you - as if for a single moment, the entire space above you fit perfectly into your being.


Expansion
a quiet bloom
blossoming within
all quirky chatter
now subdued.
an innocent glance
an eternal glimpse
a silent current
in those simple moments,
a lifetime unfolds
and folds within.

The other day we were driving to Payson and seeing all the cacti on the way, a thought passed my mind.

Cacti are such awesome creatures - they can stand heat and cold just the same, they survive when there is water and live out of their reserves when there is none, they are not choosy about the soil they grow on, they grow oblivious to the surrounding flora, and they hang on for long enough to grow hands which grow quite later in their lifetime. Okay, I know I am stretching this cacti thing a bit too much - but it made me think about how we have developed narrow comfort zones to everything in life. And the cacti - they can actually treat triumph and failure just the same. Heard that somewhere before ?

As a rule, man is a fool
When its hot, he wants it cool
When its cold, he wants it hot
Always wanting what is not!

Ek din aap yoon humko mil jaayenge
Phool hi phool rahoon mein khil jaayenge
Maine socha na tha...

Ek din zindhagi ithni hogi haseen
Jhoomega aasmaan gayege ye zameen
Maine socha na tha...

Ek din dil ke raahon mein apne liye
Jal utenge mohabat ki itne dhiye
Maine socha na tha...

Here's wishing a bright, cheerful, peaceful and fabulous 2006 to everyone on this planet ! Life's been busy and eventful with no time to log and blog. Its good when there is always something to do, when you feel at the end of a week that its been a long and busy week. Time simply flies when there is so much to juggle between. The flip side is that I don't get to do stuff which I normally do in my leisure - like blogging. But then again, its always not so good when there is nothing to do. I'd rather go with a crazy, jam-packed, don't-even-remember-what-I-was-doing schedule.

Nature is equanimous and bountiful. Nature is thoughtful and organised.

Did God stand outside earth and shower it with diamonds that scattered themselves in different points of the globe as snow-capped mountains and peaks.

That is exactly how I felt during my visit to Colorado last week.

The snow-peaked Rocky mountains had me spell bound. Trees all around were bidding farewell to autumn and readying themselves to welcome winter. However, they seemed undecided about withering away. The soft wind blew their dry old leaves away reminding them gently that it was time to let go. The trees silently heeded the voice of the wind. The trees were showered fresh by rains in the evening as though to cool them and prepare them for the snow that was to fall later. I left Colorado before it started snowing.