May be my english vocabulary is too weak to completely understand the meaning of ‘again’ or may be I should use another word to define something that happens in loop, over and over again. Let me make it clear..I dont love changing homes but this might be my 4th house since past 8 months!! Yes, I am shifting AGAIN… I hope my new landlord doesn't read blogs or I will have to soon search for a fifth one! ;)
Believe me it is very easy to set up a home....You do that incrementally, brining it together piece by piece. You would have never known how much of junk have you gathered together until comes that stage of piling it all up and taking it to another home. I think I am no different from others having habit of keeping junk with you, giving self assurances that it would be needed one day. But when finally you throw it one day, it would surely be needed within next one month from the date of disposal! ;)
I often hear my parents and relatives saying “Amrit nu taan ghar set karan di bahut changi practice ho gayi honi hai hun taan!” I have been shifting like anything. Though I don’t love too many changes but circumstances always play some painful but sweet games with me as far as changing homes is concerned. But I think all these years I have always met better companions with each change. Now I finally made it to the best!
There was a time when I was longing to be with the Khalsa House members, almost spending my whole weekend with them and trying to be there with them after office hours and then coming back here again early morning so that I can do path with them. Although I am still not a legal resident of the Khalsa House [A reqsuest to Ramindar veerji if he ever reads this, pls make me legal! ;) ] but have been staying here since February. I couldn’t move in earlier because of the space constraints as there wasn’t more space in the almirah’s which already seem to be overloaded. But then I am able to stay because the Khalsa House members seem to have much bigger hearts than their almirahs. Or may be I am too shameless to go away because there was no space for my belongings :P
I somehow believe that you can’t just get into Khalsa House. People are very inviting, very affectionate, very apne but at the end you need to have some extra kismat to meet them and earn their company. To tell you the truth I never stayed overnight in Khalsa House earlier, always used to go back to my home at the end of the day because somehow I felt that I don’t deserve to stay with them. They all seem to be full of purity and I could see myself as full of all other stuff nothing of which seemed to present in them. If I can recall correctly I would like to call it being in disjoint sets.
But as time passed by the magnetic charisma finally pulled me over to their end and I started finding it hard to go back home. I have been staying with them since Feb end. This house seems to be more of mine now than the one where I often go to collect my belongings. In fact I have also changed my ‘wareHouse’ in the meanwhile. So I now go to Kanwal veer’s house to get my belongings.
This blog comes at a time when there is also another place getting vacant in the Khalsa House II (Jasprit veer and Harman veer’r house). Harman veer, whose Ardas made me shiver the first time I heard it, whose knowledge in bani can spell bound anyone, whose explanation of bani and slok and the way he connects one shabad to another when he sits for some viakheya makes you a motionless stone for while. He is moving to Gurgaon for greener pastures, or I should say Career pastures, for now we all acknowledge that it couldn’t be greener than here.
So though I have been staying here at Khalsa House, I would soon be getting an opportunity to move to Khalsa House II. I am happy, speechless, but I think the stay would have been much more gaining had Harman veer been there as well. May be I am not that deserving to get it right now. Rather I should try my best to get the max out of what I am actually going to get, by getting an opp to stay with Jasprit veerji; because even that is going to be much more than my ability to absorb.
So another week to go before I finally shift again to my new house. Though this time I don’t need to pack my stuff, since I did not unpack it all last time I shifted! ;) It seems I just got 'lucky by chance' to get to stay in both the Khalsa Houses for some time and I really pray I don’t have to shift from there …Again…
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Saturday, January 3, 2009
The Trespassers
It had been just few days since me and Hardeep had moved into this house. We both now shared the same opinion that the house was not worth its rent: The stains on the floor which we thought would go after a thorough wash, had now proved to be permanent and shelves without almirah doors almost laughed at us for agreeing to the whooping rent which we were paying.
While cleaning the house I noticed 4-5 broom sticks and feathers on floor close to the kitchen exhaust outlet. I cleaned them on the first day but they were back next day and their number was increasing day by day. My queries were soon answered by a pigeon, who was trying to build a nest on top of the kitchen almirah. Daily she would bring these sticks which would be placed on the shelf, adding to the strength and the warmth of the nest. I wouldn’t have minded her presence but somehow I hate pigeon’s “ghutar-goo” sound. So we decided that she would have to choose a better place for her mansion and this place belonged to us. So I needed to check for the time when she was not there so that I could block her entrance to the kitchen by placing a board/stick in the exhaust opening. But to my dismay she was more regular to our home than me going to office. Morning, Evening, Night…even at 2:00 AM!! Now this was heights! And enough for me to climb on the Kitchen shelf to have a peek in the next morning and
wooo…This time pigeon was not there!! BUT there were two eggs! That explained the pigeon being there day and night..Mother’s affection! :-
So soon we were five of us staying in the flat..It seemed so impartial that only me and Hardeep had to pay the rent while the rest of the three were allowed to stay for free. ;) Anyways the chicks were not yet born and pigeon mom seemed to be quiet. So we kind of agreed to that as well. But they would soon be out of their shells and we knew that PM (Pigeon Mom) would then become defensive. What would be the situation if she doesn’t allow us to enter the Kitchen? And what about the chirp-chirp and Ghutar-Goo family talks?? They might not be that particular about their privacy but I was…about peace at my home. They have to go away!
Debate time…Should we throw her nest out along with the eggs or should we let the family stay there till the kids grow up and learn to speak and fly! J We had discussed about the Pigeon encroachment with our apartment’s watchman and he arrived next day with his weapons to demolish the unauthorized construction. But now when we had seen the eggs, we could not let that happen. When asked about what would he do with the eggs, he said ‘This just keeps on happening every now and then! Inka kya hai?? Utha ke phenk do..kitni’k tension loge!! Sab ko pareshaan kar rakha hai inhone. Yahan sabhi yahi karte hain. Main abhi isko nikaal ke phenk deta hoon…Aap chinta nakko karo!” But the idea of pigeon mom without her eggs almost made me shiver. She could not spare a minute without them, what would happen to her if she suddenly discovered that the eggs and her nest are gone. “No…We will take care of this ourselves..You can leave” May be we can find a better place where we can just place the nest outside our kitchen, where pigeon mom can still foster her kids and we could maintain boundaries. I wish I had placed the nest outside that day and not worried about the cold outside or cat eating the eggs.
So we started living happily as a single family. Soon a mutual treaty was signed between pigeon mom and Hardeep and me. We didn’t mind her presence in the kitchen as long as she was quite, and she would allow us to enter the kitchen and do our chores as long as we maintain a safe distance from her nest. Without realizing I had added another regular activity in my daily calendar: Check for the presence of Pigeon Mom and if chicks were out of their shells! I used to check for the chicks daily ;-) With a naughty smile Hardeep took a promise from me to take care of the chicks when he was away and started for his home trip.
I was drinking water in the kitchen when from the corner of my eye I noticed a blood stain on the floor near the sink! And there was a body of a small chick, like it had fallen from a great height and had burst. L It lay dead there!! I was shocked to see that. As I moved closer suddenly I stepped on something and I quickly lifted my foot up…and I had stepped on my fears... :-‘( it was body of the second one! Both of the chicks were dead!! I couldn’t believe it! I was feeling like something had hit me hard! What would happen to the pigeon mom when she gets to know about this? I was not sure if cleaning the kitchen of the dead bodies was a better option or letting the pigeon mom know that chicks are dead! The news was definitely disturbing but I did not want her to wander around the window and shelf, trying in vain to search for her kids while they were lying dead in some pile of rubbish.
While I was thinking all this she suddenly arrived at the Kitchen exhaust and came and sat at the corner of the almirah top close to the dead bodies. She was watching her kids..her kids who were no longer alive. May she had seen them dead before I did, but I wanted to leave her alone. I just picked up what I needed from kitchen and walked away.
I am still not sure if I should have allowed the watchmen to destroy her nest and eggs. May be even placing her nest and eggs outside in cold exposed to an attack by cat and other animals would have been better as well. Atleast she could have cried at the loss of eggs for some days and forgotten about them. But now they were out of their shells and alive..the family had started!!
Here I am writing this blog and still feeling bad about the family which never started. While my watchmen might have killed so many families of same species by now. Why is it so easy for a person like him to kill offsprings of a bird saying ‘Inka Kya hai and chalta hai!!’ The reaction had definitely not been been the same if a decision had to be made to kill a human’s child? Because the pigeon mom can’t speak human language or rather because humans cannot hear her plea of mercy; does that give right to humans to kill her kids! I think humans need to be taught a lot!
The pigeon mom was there whole of the day. Next day I had to leave for 10 days for a home trip. Even though the pigeon mom was not there I did not have enough courage to pick up the dead bodies and clean the area. May be thinking too much about all this had moved me enough to not to see any more of it. Hardeep would be back from home before me. May be walking out of home, leaving everything as it is, can help me escape Hardeep’s questions about the pigeon mom and her family; but I will have lots of unanswered questions in my mind. I wonder who has trespassed into other’s world, we or birds…
While cleaning the house I noticed 4-5 broom sticks and feathers on floor close to the kitchen exhaust outlet. I cleaned them on the first day but they were back next day and their number was increasing day by day. My queries were soon answered by a pigeon, who was trying to build a nest on top of the kitchen almirah. Daily she would bring these sticks which would be placed on the shelf, adding to the strength and the warmth of the nest. I wouldn’t have minded her presence but somehow I hate pigeon’s “ghutar-goo” sound. So we decided that she would have to choose a better place for her mansion and this place belonged to us. So I needed to check for the time when she was not there so that I could block her entrance to the kitchen by placing a board/stick in the exhaust opening. But to my dismay she was more regular to our home than me going to office. Morning, Evening, Night…even at 2:00 AM!! Now this was heights! And enough for me to climb on the Kitchen shelf to have a peek in the next morning and
wooo…This time pigeon was not there!! BUT there were two eggs! That explained the pigeon being there day and night..Mother’s affection! :-So soon we were five of us staying in the flat..It seemed so impartial that only me and Hardeep had to pay the rent while the rest of the three were allowed to stay for free. ;) Anyways the chicks were not yet born and pigeon mom seemed to be quiet. So we kind of agreed to that as well. But they would soon be out of their shells and we knew that PM (Pigeon Mom) would then become defensive. What would be the situation if she doesn’t allow us to enter the Kitchen? And what about the chirp-chirp and Ghutar-Goo family talks?? They might not be that particular about their privacy but I was…about peace at my home. They have to go away!
Debate time…Should we throw her nest out along with the eggs or should we let the family stay there till the kids grow up and learn to speak and fly! J We had discussed about the Pigeon encroachment with our apartment’s watchman and he arrived next day with his weapons to demolish the unauthorized construction. But now when we had seen the eggs, we could not let that happen. When asked about what would he do with the eggs, he said ‘This just keeps on happening every now and then! Inka kya hai?? Utha ke phenk do..kitni’k tension loge!! Sab ko pareshaan kar rakha hai inhone. Yahan sabhi yahi karte hain. Main abhi isko nikaal ke phenk deta hoon…Aap chinta nakko karo!” But the idea of pigeon mom without her eggs almost made me shiver. She could not spare a minute without them, what would happen to her if she suddenly discovered that the eggs and her nest are gone. “No…We will take care of this ourselves..You can leave” May be we can find a better place where we can just place the nest outside our kitchen, where pigeon mom can still foster her kids and we could maintain boundaries. I wish I had placed the nest outside that day and not worried about the cold outside or cat eating the eggs.
So we started living happily as a single family. Soon a mutual treaty was signed between pigeon mom and Hardeep and me. We didn’t mind her presence in the kitchen as long as she was quite, and she would allow us to enter the kitchen and do our chores as long as we maintain a safe distance from her nest. Without realizing I had added another regular activity in my daily calendar: Check for the presence of Pigeon Mom and if chicks were out of their shells! I used to check for the chicks daily ;-) With a naughty smile Hardeep took a promise from me to take care of the chicks when he was away and started for his home trip.
I was drinking water in the kitchen when from the corner of my eye I noticed a blood stain on the floor near the sink! And there was a body of a small chick, like it had fallen from a great height and had burst. L It lay dead there!! I was shocked to see that. As I moved closer suddenly I stepped on something and I quickly lifted my foot up…and I had stepped on my fears... :-‘( it was body of the second one! Both of the chicks were dead!! I couldn’t believe it! I was feeling like something had hit me hard! What would happen to the pigeon mom when she gets to know about this? I was not sure if cleaning the kitchen of the dead bodies was a better option or letting the pigeon mom know that chicks are dead! The news was definitely disturbing but I did not want her to wander around the window and shelf, trying in vain to search for her kids while they were lying dead in some pile of rubbish.
While I was thinking all this she suddenly arrived at the Kitchen exhaust and came and sat at the corner of the almirah top close to the dead bodies. She was watching her kids..her kids who were no longer alive. May she had seen them dead before I did, but I wanted to leave her alone. I just picked up what I needed from kitchen and walked away.
I am still not sure if I should have allowed the watchmen to destroy her nest and eggs. May be even placing her nest and eggs outside in cold exposed to an attack by cat and other animals would have been better as well. Atleast she could have cried at the loss of eggs for some days and forgotten about them. But now they were out of their shells and alive..the family had started!!
Here I am writing this blog and still feeling bad about the family which never started. While my watchmen might have killed so many families of same species by now. Why is it so easy for a person like him to kill offsprings of a bird saying ‘Inka Kya hai and chalta hai!!’ The reaction had definitely not been been the same if a decision had to be made to kill a human’s child? Because the pigeon mom can’t speak human language or rather because humans cannot hear her plea of mercy; does that give right to humans to kill her kids! I think humans need to be taught a lot!
The pigeon mom was there whole of the day. Next day I had to leave for 10 days for a home trip. Even though the pigeon mom was not there I did not have enough courage to pick up the dead bodies and clean the area. May be thinking too much about all this had moved me enough to not to see any more of it. Hardeep would be back from home before me. May be walking out of home, leaving everything as it is, can help me escape Hardeep’s questions about the pigeon mom and her family; but I will have lots of unanswered questions in my mind. I wonder who has trespassed into other’s world, we or birds…
Friday, December 19, 2008
It's time to bid Good Bye! :-(
This 31st of December is gonna be a special day...I think I will remember it forever.
No..not because this would be an end to this year, but that would be my last day in my existing orgainzation. I have resigned from Satyam and am moving on to a new role in a different organization. I had joined Satyam on '27th Dec 2004' with a group of 130 other associates who were recruited through off campus interviews from various parts of the country. I remember it very clearly..It is one of my favourite days of my life :)...I think I was the Happiest person on earth on that day! :) We were told that there would be a bond period of 2 years after we join Satyam and we will have to stick to this organization for that time. But we did not know then that there will be a more stronger bond of emotional fibers, friendship strands; laced with onsite opportunity which would be strong enough to tie me to this organization for another two years even after the bond period was over.
Most of my friends have moved out of this organization. May be there are still 10-15 left of those 130 batchmates; but I don't know the left ones very well. But I know many people here now, who are not from my batch and there are many people who know me. There is this comfort zone with all your managers and their managers that lets you feel great! I know whom to put in cc in case my work gets stuck somewhere ;) There is some extra respect that you get automatically from people around you, even when you are meeting them for the first time. There are situations when you don't need to introduce yourself to strangers and there are these times when people themselves come to meet you and take advice for issues that they are facing in their project. There are fellowmates who see your ID card and say with exclamation "Kab join kiya tha yaar!! Mera id to tumse bahut aage hai" :) Yes that does make you feel old sometimes... :D
But I still feel that it would have been harder to leave Satyam after 2 years than it is now. When you see your friends moving to greater heights with higher pay cheques... you get that feeling of moving on. After all emotions can't fill your stomach at the end of the day...But I can't imagine the feeling of handing over my Id Card to the security personnel at the end of my last day. That card has been my identity for the last four years...I think it will feel like parting with a small portion of self...parting with your corporate image that you have developed over the last few years in this company.
What about the F.R.I.E.N.D.S that won't be there in the new organization? It would take some time before you can casually ping on official messengers and say "Coffee? :)" It would take some time for you to develop enough rapport with people to let them know you would be coming late to office today and if they can manage with work till then. And who can guarantee if I can get good friends in new organization?? It would take some time for me to be enough comfortable to drag one of my colleagues to cafeteria even if he already had his lunch! It would take a lot of time to.... actually a lots of things! :(
I wish there was an option to move all of your friends with you to your new organization! We can name this concept as 'CMS - Corporate Mass Switching!' ;-) I am still not sure if I would be continuing in the same city or would I be joining in another city. Just in case I need to move from Hyderabad, that would further add to this list of "It would take a lot of time to.." Still some more days to think about all this before I actually start experiencing it..Lets see...The countdown has begun...
No..not because this would be an end to this year, but that would be my last day in my existing orgainzation. I have resigned from Satyam and am moving on to a new role in a different organization. I had joined Satyam on '27th Dec 2004' with a group of 130 other associates who were recruited through off campus interviews from various parts of the country. I remember it very clearly..It is one of my favourite days of my life :)...I think I was the Happiest person on earth on that day! :) We were told that there would be a bond period of 2 years after we join Satyam and we will have to stick to this organization for that time. But we did not know then that there will be a more stronger bond of emotional fibers, friendship strands; laced with onsite opportunity which would be strong enough to tie me to this organization for another two years even after the bond period was over.
Most of my friends have moved out of this organization. May be there are still 10-15 left of those 130 batchmates; but I don't know the left ones very well. But I know many people here now, who are not from my batch and there are many people who know me. There is this comfort zone with all your managers and their managers that lets you feel great! I know whom to put in cc in case my work gets stuck somewhere ;) There is some extra respect that you get automatically from people around you, even when you are meeting them for the first time. There are situations when you don't need to introduce yourself to strangers and there are these times when people themselves come to meet you and take advice for issues that they are facing in their project. There are fellowmates who see your ID card and say with exclamation "Kab join kiya tha yaar!! Mera id to tumse bahut aage hai" :) Yes that does make you feel old sometimes... :D
But I still feel that it would have been harder to leave Satyam after 2 years than it is now. When you see your friends moving to greater heights with higher pay cheques... you get that feeling of moving on. After all emotions can't fill your stomach at the end of the day...But I can't imagine the feeling of handing over my Id Card to the security personnel at the end of my last day. That card has been my identity for the last four years...I think it will feel like parting with a small portion of self...parting with your corporate image that you have developed over the last few years in this company.
What about the F.R.I.E.N.D.S that won't be there in the new organization? It would take some time before you can casually ping on official messengers and say "Coffee? :)" It would take some time for you to develop enough rapport with people to let them know you would be coming late to office today and if they can manage with work till then. And who can guarantee if I can get good friends in new organization?? It would take some time for me to be enough comfortable to drag one of my colleagues to cafeteria even if he already had his lunch! It would take a lot of time to.... actually a lots of things! :(
I wish there was an option to move all of your friends with you to your new organization! We can name this concept as 'CMS - Corporate Mass Switching!' ;-) I am still not sure if I would be continuing in the same city or would I be joining in another city. Just in case I need to move from Hyderabad, that would further add to this list of "It would take a lot of time to.." Still some more days to think about all this before I actually start experiencing it..Lets see...The countdown has begun...
Thursday, December 11, 2008
OMG! Its my B'day tomorrow! :)
I was sitting in Gurudwara when my cell phone buzzed. It was Ramindar veer from Soch group calling me and he had Jasprit veer in conference%2C who was speaking every alternative line in the conversation and I was totally confused for who was there on the other end! ;) It took me some time before I was confident that it was Ramindar veer...and also Jasprit veer :-D.
It was 8th Dec and it was a holiday next day for Bakreed in most of the MNCs including Oracle and Microsoft. So the Soch group which has majority of Oracle members was planning for something...atleast that is what I had thought initially...but I was soon to be proved wrong. :-O
Veere kal da ki program Hai?
Kuch khaas nahi ji...mera taan working hai kal…Satyam vich taan chhutti nahin hai
Koi na....svere milde haan kal…nitnem de paath layi..dasso je possible hai taan...
Haan Haan sure....Main aa jaunga.
Pakka aaoge na...Eh na hoye tussi aao na?
Nahin ji..Saturday vi aanda haan.....kal vi aaunga..othon hi office nikal jaunga main
Program kithe karna hai
Khalsa House vich hi...Jithe tuhanu theek lagge...Main ki kavan..Dekh lo jiven tuhanu theek lagge..Agge vi tussi hi plan karde ho :)
These many questions and specially a conference call from two veers together was enough to give me a hint that something was cooking...but may be my sense of smell isn’t that good to judge what was that! ;) These guys have always been the best in doing whatever they do...From arranging Bharbat Pheri to Nitnem Path or Kirtan at someone’s house. Why did they need me for fixing a program and why this sure shot confirmation for my presence?? After disconnecting the call I was pondering on all these doubts when suddenly I realized...next day was 9th Dec ‘My Birthday’ and I had completely forgotten about it! :-)
I had to literally beg Hardeep (my new roomie) to accompany me to Khalsa House (Soch House) as his office is exactly at the opposite corner of the city from the Khalsa House. But he had to listen to me ;) after all I was the B’day boy! :-) We reached Khalsa House at 5:30 AM. After being greeted with Fateh and birthday wishes we started with the Nitnem Path. Normal Saturday routine...Japji Sahib, Jaap Sahib, Tvaprasad Savayiye, Chaupayi Sahib and Anand Sahib. Just that we didn’t do Asa ki vaar today but recited Kirtan.
Thanks to Jasprit veer for reciting ‘Poota Mata ki Asis’
ਪੂਤਾ ਮਾਤਾ ਕੀ ਆਸੀਸ ॥
O son, this is your mother's hope and prayer,
ਨਿਮਖ ਨ ਬਿਸਰਉ ਤੁਮ੍ਹ੍ਹ ਕਉ ਹਰਿ ਹਰਿ ਸਦਾ ਭਜਹੁ ਜਗਦੀਸ ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥
that you may never forget the Lord, Har, Har, even for an instant. May you ever vibrate upon the Lord of the Universe. 1Pause
My mother always reads out this Shabad to me on my birthday and it felt good to listen to it again even though I was away from my home :)
After the Kirtan we had langar. Saag!!! I don’t know after how many days I was having it! and it was mouth watering..just awesome! To all the great compliments which we passed on to Jasprit veer, he just answered it with “Nahin ji..This is just begineer’s luck!!” I am pretty sure he can never do anything wrong ever....He just seems to be blessed...I don’t think I should describe him much here for it would more of resemble a holy figure on earth :) but yes I admire him and respect him a lot for his knowledge in Sikhism and the way he is out there for all of us to guide us in all things.
Back to langar: Saag, Maa di daal (Black Daal) Roti and at the end was Cake!! The surprises that I had got till then were already too much for me to handle and here was another one! Cake was the least thing I was expecting in the Khalsa House. I know it must be eggless but still...I was just surprised and speechless! :-)
I was there till noon after which I moved to office. Though I did not want much publicity of my B’day in office but it seems like everybody had vowed to give me surprises. It was 7:30 PM when I was standing in Cafeteria surrounded by a team of around 50 associates who were wishing me Happy Birthday! And the credit for the second cake and celebration goes to Vamsi Krishna Vangala, Srinivas Chaitanya and Gunti...Thanks a ton guys! :) You made my day!!
I’ve turned 26...but I don’t think I have ever celebrated such a grand Birthday! I was not thinking about any celebration...In fact I was so occupied in my normal routine that on 8th it took me some time to realize that its my Birdthay tomorrow! Never ever have so many people gathered together in early hours and prayed for me..Never ever has anybody got up for me at 2:30 AM or before to prepare langar for 15 guys. I am still not sure if Ramindar veer and Jasprit veer woke up at 2:30 or even before that to make all the arrangements. And I don’t think anybody has tried to persuade me to celebrate my birthday in office as was done this year by Vamsi! This year there seems to be a almost a rain of good people around me :) I have been lucky in terms of real good friends...I think ‘thanks’ would be an inappropriate word to use here...As Ramindar says..How can you equate the love of your younger brothers with a single word which was was gifted to us by Britishers?? And I dont have any answer for him :) That is why I have not yet replied to his scrap in orkut...and I dont think I will ever have an answer…
It was 8th Dec and it was a holiday next day for Bakreed in most of the MNCs including Oracle and Microsoft. So the Soch group which has majority of Oracle members was planning for something...atleast that is what I had thought initially...but I was soon to be proved wrong. :-O
Veere kal da ki program Hai?
Kuch khaas nahi ji...mera taan working hai kal…Satyam vich taan chhutti nahin hai
Koi na....svere milde haan kal…nitnem de paath layi..dasso je possible hai taan...
Haan Haan sure....Main aa jaunga.
Pakka aaoge na...Eh na hoye tussi aao na?
Nahin ji..Saturday vi aanda haan.....kal vi aaunga..othon hi office nikal jaunga main
Program kithe karna hai
Khalsa House vich hi...Jithe tuhanu theek lagge...Main ki kavan..Dekh lo jiven tuhanu theek lagge..Agge vi tussi hi plan karde ho :)
These many questions and specially a conference call from two veers together was enough to give me a hint that something was cooking...but may be my sense of smell isn’t that good to judge what was that! ;) These guys have always been the best in doing whatever they do...From arranging Bharbat Pheri to Nitnem Path or Kirtan at someone’s house. Why did they need me for fixing a program and why this sure shot confirmation for my presence?? After disconnecting the call I was pondering on all these doubts when suddenly I realized...next day was 9th Dec ‘My Birthday’ and I had completely forgotten about it! :-)
I had to literally beg Hardeep (my new roomie) to accompany me to Khalsa House (Soch House) as his office is exactly at the opposite corner of the city from the Khalsa House. But he had to listen to me ;) after all I was the B’day boy! :-) We reached Khalsa House at 5:30 AM. After being greeted with Fateh and birthday wishes we started with the Nitnem Path. Normal Saturday routine...Japji Sahib, Jaap Sahib, Tvaprasad Savayiye, Chaupayi Sahib and Anand Sahib. Just that we didn’t do Asa ki vaar today but recited Kirtan.
Thanks to Jasprit veer for reciting ‘Poota Mata ki Asis’
ਪੂਤਾ ਮਾਤਾ ਕੀ ਆਸੀਸ ॥
O son, this is your mother's hope and prayer,
ਨਿਮਖ ਨ ਬਿਸਰਉ ਤੁਮ੍ਹ੍ਹ ਕਉ ਹਰਿ ਹਰਿ ਸਦਾ ਭਜਹੁ ਜਗਦੀਸ ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥
that you may never forget the Lord, Har, Har, even for an instant. May you ever vibrate upon the Lord of the Universe. 1Pause
My mother always reads out this Shabad to me on my birthday and it felt good to listen to it again even though I was away from my home :)
After the Kirtan we had langar. Saag!!! I don’t know after how many days I was having it! and it was mouth watering..just awesome! To all the great compliments which we passed on to Jasprit veer, he just answered it with “Nahin ji..This is just begineer’s luck!!” I am pretty sure he can never do anything wrong ever....He just seems to be blessed...I don’t think I should describe him much here for it would more of resemble a holy figure on earth :) but yes I admire him and respect him a lot for his knowledge in Sikhism and the way he is out there for all of us to guide us in all things.
Back to langar: Saag, Maa di daal (Black Daal) Roti and at the end was Cake!! The surprises that I had got till then were already too much for me to handle and here was another one! Cake was the least thing I was expecting in the Khalsa House. I know it must be eggless but still...I was just surprised and speechless! :-)
I was there till noon after which I moved to office. Though I did not want much publicity of my B’day in office but it seems like everybody had vowed to give me surprises. It was 7:30 PM when I was standing in Cafeteria surrounded by a team of around 50 associates who were wishing me Happy Birthday! And the credit for the second cake and celebration goes to Vamsi Krishna Vangala, Srinivas Chaitanya and Gunti...Thanks a ton guys! :) You made my day!!
I’ve turned 26...but I don’t think I have ever celebrated such a grand Birthday! I was not thinking about any celebration...In fact I was so occupied in my normal routine that on 8th it took me some time to realize that its my Birdthay tomorrow! Never ever have so many people gathered together in early hours and prayed for me..Never ever has anybody got up for me at 2:30 AM or before to prepare langar for 15 guys. I am still not sure if Ramindar veer and Jasprit veer woke up at 2:30 or even before that to make all the arrangements. And I don’t think anybody has tried to persuade me to celebrate my birthday in office as was done this year by Vamsi! This year there seems to be a almost a rain of good people around me :) I have been lucky in terms of real good friends...I think ‘thanks’ would be an inappropriate word to use here...As Ramindar says..How can you equate the love of your younger brothers with a single word which was was gifted to us by Britishers?? And I dont have any answer for him :) That is why I have not yet replied to his scrap in orkut...and I dont think I will ever have an answer…
Monday, October 20, 2008
A different 'Dhan' for this Dhanteerus...
I think I was too busy enjoying my Fruit & Nut flavoured ice cream for I could not see beggar kids sitting and staring at us across the road divider. It was Dhanteerus - the day when people buy metal (utensils or gold) considering it to be auspicious for the coming year ahead. I did not know about this and was just accompanying Sachin, Shashank and Neearaj for some shopping that Sachin wanted to do for this day. Buying something in Gold from Tanishq for his mother at the Paradise Crossing in Hyderabad. May be the extra rush on the road or me liking the flavour could be blamed for me not watching around whats happening...
Suddenly I could see a child in filthiest shorts and torn shirt, almost hopping towards us, his hands in air begging for some money. For those who have been in Hyderabad for a while would definitely know that there is abundance of beggars present in Hyderabad especially on S.P. Road. You can find a variety of them: Some being beggars just because of laziness, some with lost limbs, and some with crutchers which can be thrown away in a corner when they walk back home after the city falls asleep and is no longer watching them. So here was one of them standing in front of Neeraj begging for anything that could come out of Neeraj's pocket.
Giving a rupee or two doesn't really hurt anybody these days but the pain of paying it to next 10 beggars who would rush to you seeing you pay it to one of them, does give everybody a headache. He tried to shoo away the kid and finally handed him over the ice cream that he was eating. I am sure even if my vocab was best in the world then also I would have been unable to describe the smile that was there on that child's face. While I got entangled in that smile, the mother of that kid was busy in pushing the rest of her kids to us; as she could see potential donors standing on this side of street. Soon we were surrounded by alteast 4-5 kids all begging for money and eyeing what was there in our hands. We all handed over our ice creams to those kids who seemed to happy as if they had earned their Dhan on this Dhanteerus day.
One of us quickly pointed out..."Arre yaar...bache ko jhoothi ice cream kyun de di khaane ko??" Lekin every one of us pratically knew the answer that us bache ko fresh ice cream to shayad hi koyi leke deta. I am pretty sure those last few spoons of ice cream would have given him more happiness and content than 1 or two rupees which would have gone to his Mom's pouch. Though they would have been added in the Monthly Family Savings but it would have definitly not brought that smile on his face.
It was definitely a Dhanteerus day for us and for that kid, while we earned the Dhan of that kid's smile and a silent thanks in a language which we all could understand inspite of being from diff regions; and the child earned the Dhan of enjoying the flavour of a Baskin Robbins ice cream which he may not be able to afford.....may be not in this life.
Suddenly I could see a child in filthiest shorts and torn shirt, almost hopping towards us, his hands in air begging for some money. For those who have been in Hyderabad for a while would definitely know that there is abundance of beggars present in Hyderabad especially on S.P. Road. You can find a variety of them: Some being beggars just because of laziness, some with lost limbs, and some with crutchers which can be thrown away in a corner when they walk back home after the city falls asleep and is no longer watching them. So here was one of them standing in front of Neeraj begging for anything that could come out of Neeraj's pocket.
Giving a rupee or two doesn't really hurt anybody these days but the pain of paying it to next 10 beggars who would rush to you seeing you pay it to one of them, does give everybody a headache. He tried to shoo away the kid and finally handed him over the ice cream that he was eating. I am sure even if my vocab was best in the world then also I would have been unable to describe the smile that was there on that child's face. While I got entangled in that smile, the mother of that kid was busy in pushing the rest of her kids to us; as she could see potential donors standing on this side of street. Soon we were surrounded by alteast 4-5 kids all begging for money and eyeing what was there in our hands. We all handed over our ice creams to those kids who seemed to happy as if they had earned their Dhan on this Dhanteerus day.
One of us quickly pointed out..."Arre yaar...bache ko jhoothi ice cream kyun de di khaane ko??" Lekin every one of us pratically knew the answer that us bache ko fresh ice cream to shayad hi koyi leke deta. I am pretty sure those last few spoons of ice cream would have given him more happiness and content than 1 or two rupees which would have gone to his Mom's pouch. Though they would have been added in the Monthly Family Savings but it would have definitly not brought that smile on his face.
It was definitely a Dhanteerus day for us and for that kid, while we earned the Dhan of that kid's smile and a silent thanks in a language which we all could understand inspite of being from diff regions; and the child earned the Dhan of enjoying the flavour of a Baskin Robbins ice cream which he may not be able to afford.....may be not in this life.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
My world last few weeks
I am almost absent from all the places where I could be found at and also not doing what I normally do in free time. It will actually soon be a month since I wrote my last blog supporting the fact that I have lots more to do these days! I am not online on messengers, hardly login in orkut...once in 2 weeks, lesser STD calls and no songs! In facts weekends have been busy to the extent that I now agree to the rest of the Soch members when they say 'Thank God its Monday!' ;-)
The last few weekends have completely been at the Khalsa House. Waking up at 3:15 getting ready and reaching Khalsa House at 5. And then the normal routine. Weekends are now completely at the Khalsa House, doing Path, Kirtan, discussions, preparing and having Langar, sleeping in afternoons, pulling each other's legs and cracking jokes, and learning lots from them. I think I have made a lot of good friends since I joined them. Though its a different story that my existing friends are feeling that I have suddenly vanished from earth and are unable to understand my sudden bonding with Soch.
The thing I am most happy about these days is that I have started doing Kirtan again & thats all because of this group! Thanks to them once again! I had last played Harmonium around 12 years back and to my surprise I could recall many of the Shabads I recited when I was a kid & learning music at my school. It will take some more time but I think I will be able to recall some more.
Actually last couple of weeks we were lucky to have Harpreet Veerji with us. Basically a Mechanical Er with specialization in Robotics from some abroad university, he actually is specialized and skilled in lot of other things than technical stuff. He stayed for around 5 years in Damdami Taksal and we were learning Gurbani pronunciation and some other religious aspects from him. So last few weekends have been extremely busy trying to learn whatever we could from him.
We used to have classes conducted by him where he started with ੳ ਅ ੲ (ABC of Punjabi) and learned pronunciation of each letter after putting 10 different matras on each letter. It was actually a shame when he asked how many of you remember ੳਅੲ and it was only one in our group. And then we learned and wrote all this and yes we had vivas and written tests too! :) But the best was his patience and his will to make people learn correct pronunciation. Anyone would be irritated with the number of mistakes that we made, or because some of the folks could not pronounce few letters at all. But any mistake would make him say 'Waheguru' in a very humble tone, instead of 'Offo' or 'Oho' which would have come out of our mouths had we been in his place while teaching all this. It was basically most challenging with the members who were not born in Punjab and had difficulty in pronouncing letters which are not there in Hindi like ਘ ਝ ਢ ਣ ਧ ਭ ੜ. But we all failed when it came to ਙ ਞ. Thanks to his efforts we all can pronounce all these letters now and we also have many videos from him which we will be watching in coming days to learn more.
There are a lot of his statements which I will remember for lifetime but the best one "Kutte nu kadi kise nu nahin kehna pehnda ki tu kutta ban te bhaunk, billi nu meayun karan layi nahin kehna painda, ik banda hi hai jehda rab di raza vich rehna bhul gaya hai...isi nu kehna pehnda hai ki banda ban ja!" :) Dekho hun bande banan vich kinni der lagdi hai...
But the office life is soon gonna kill all my plans! Got into a new project which is in high visibility mode with escalations and missed deadlines. So unfortunately I had to cancel my plan of going to 'Bidar' with Harpreet veerji and Soch group. They all are leaving this weekend and I know I will be missing a lot! :(
The last few weekends have completely been at the Khalsa House. Waking up at 3:15 getting ready and reaching Khalsa House at 5. And then the normal routine. Weekends are now completely at the Khalsa House, doing Path, Kirtan, discussions, preparing and having Langar, sleeping in afternoons, pulling each other's legs and cracking jokes, and learning lots from them. I think I have made a lot of good friends since I joined them. Though its a different story that my existing friends are feeling that I have suddenly vanished from earth and are unable to understand my sudden bonding with Soch.
The thing I am most happy about these days is that I have started doing Kirtan again & thats all because of this group! Thanks to them once again! I had last played Harmonium around 12 years back and to my surprise I could recall many of the Shabads I recited when I was a kid & learning music at my school. It will take some more time but I think I will be able to recall some more.
Actually last couple of weeks we were lucky to have Harpreet Veerji with us. Basically a Mechanical Er with specialization in Robotics from some abroad university, he actually is specialized and skilled in lot of other things than technical stuff. He stayed for around 5 years in Damdami Taksal and we were learning Gurbani pronunciation and some other religious aspects from him. So last few weekends have been extremely busy trying to learn whatever we could from him.
We used to have classes conducted by him where he started with ੳ ਅ ੲ (ABC of Punjabi) and learned pronunciation of each letter after putting 10 different matras on each letter. It was actually a shame when he asked how many of you remember ੳਅੲ and it was only one in our group. And then we learned and wrote all this and yes we had vivas and written tests too! :) But the best was his patience and his will to make people learn correct pronunciation. Anyone would be irritated with the number of mistakes that we made, or because some of the folks could not pronounce few letters at all. But any mistake would make him say 'Waheguru' in a very humble tone, instead of 'Offo' or 'Oho' which would have come out of our mouths had we been in his place while teaching all this. It was basically most challenging with the members who were not born in Punjab and had difficulty in pronouncing letters which are not there in Hindi like ਘ ਝ ਢ ਣ ਧ ਭ ੜ. But we all failed when it came to ਙ ਞ. Thanks to his efforts we all can pronounce all these letters now and we also have many videos from him which we will be watching in coming days to learn more.
There are a lot of his statements which I will remember for lifetime but the best one "Kutte nu kadi kise nu nahin kehna pehnda ki tu kutta ban te bhaunk, billi nu meayun karan layi nahin kehna painda, ik banda hi hai jehda rab di raza vich rehna bhul gaya hai...isi nu kehna pehnda hai ki banda ban ja!" :) Dekho hun bande banan vich kinni der lagdi hai...
But the office life is soon gonna kill all my plans! Got into a new project which is in high visibility mode with escalations and missed deadlines. So unfortunately I had to cancel my plan of going to 'Bidar' with Harpreet veerji and Soch group. They all are leaving this weekend and I know I will be missing a lot! :(
Monday, September 22, 2008
My first meet with 'Soch'
The countdown finally ended on Saturday and the day had come for me to meet the ‘Soch’ group. I had actually been waiting like anything to meet everyone. Having heard a lot about the group and members from the Path girl, it was time to associate faces with my imagination. We had booked a cab to go to other corner of the city where everybody was gathering in the ‘Khalsa House’ to do Path. The excitement could be judged from the fact that I was up by 3:00 in morning and was ready before 4 AM. The cab came and four of us started to a place which was going to be one of my favorite ‘to be at’ place from then on…
“Waheguru ji ka Khalsa, Waheguru ji ki Fateh” The greeting was followed by exchange of names with those standing in the hall. I was introduced as the new member of the group. It was 4:50 AM and the small TV in the hall was playing 'ETC Punjabi' broadcasting live Kirtan from Golden Temple at Amritsar. There were soft beddings covered by neat colorful bed-sheets in the main hall, this was where we were to start Path in some time. As I washed my hands I noticed around 35 tooth brushes in the brush stand. Curious enough, I could not resist myself asking how many guys live in this house? “Officially 5, unofficially many…” answered one of them and we all laughed together.
There were mixed sounds from the Kitchen where Deg (Karah Prasad) and Langar was being prepared while reciting Mool Mantar. Soon we started with the Path. The number of persons were 5 at that time, but were soon going to increase. The best was the rhythm/Lai/Sehaj with which Path was being done. We all had formed a circle which went on widening as people joined us. I could see people getting involved deeply as they were reciting Path. Any pronunciation mistakes were corrected politely by other members. Everybody would take turns to recite the lines from the Pauri, and the rest would together recite the next two lines. It took little more than three hours to do Nitnem, which was followed by Asa Ki Vaar which was recited on Harmonium and Tabla. By the time we finished, the number of persons in the room was around 20. The Ardas was performed by Harman, Punjabi vich kavan taan ‘Rooh naal ardas kitti si ohna ne!’
Had I not known these guys are all IT professionals, I would have never guessed it that day! Saffron, Black, White Keskis with flowing beards and glowing faces; they were completely immersed in devotion & their voices echoing in the house, the atmosphere was all different with all this happening around. After Ardas Deg was distributed, followed by langar. And now these guys who were so good in religious aspects, proved to be good at humor; as we talked while enjoying the delicious Langar prepared by them. I was not at all feeling that it was the first time I was meeting all of them. So polite, so humble, so generous, so helpful, so knowledgeable, and lots of others so’s and these guys seemed to be full of it…I was speechless and so happy to be with them.
The tea was accompanied by discussions on pronunciation on typical words and burning copies of the CD of ‘Panj Kahaniyan’ - A film entirely directed, enacted edited by them for the Sikh Youth Film Festival hosted at Sikhnet.com. I have watched the movie now and it is awesome. A must watch! I couldn't remember the names of everybody I met, but I was already a fan of almost everybody I had met.
I wanted to stay there little more but had to come back as they all needed to move on with their weekend tasks. Before leaving I expressed my gratitude and promised them I would be there from then on for all the Saturday meets and also the next day when we were supposed to meet in the Gurudwara. Overall for me the meeting with all of them had given me lot more than I had expected – A new group to link me to Sikhism, A new reason to continue staying in Hyderabad and A new ‘Soch’ to inspire my inner self.
“Waheguru ji ka Khalsa, Waheguru ji ki Fateh” The greeting was followed by exchange of names with those standing in the hall. I was introduced as the new member of the group. It was 4:50 AM and the small TV in the hall was playing 'ETC Punjabi' broadcasting live Kirtan from Golden Temple at Amritsar. There were soft beddings covered by neat colorful bed-sheets in the main hall, this was where we were to start Path in some time. As I washed my hands I noticed around 35 tooth brushes in the brush stand. Curious enough, I could not resist myself asking how many guys live in this house? “Officially 5, unofficially many…” answered one of them and we all laughed together.
There were mixed sounds from the Kitchen where Deg (Karah Prasad) and Langar was being prepared while reciting Mool Mantar. Soon we started with the Path. The number of persons were 5 at that time, but were soon going to increase. The best was the rhythm/Lai/Sehaj with which Path was being done. We all had formed a circle which went on widening as people joined us. I could see people getting involved deeply as they were reciting Path. Any pronunciation mistakes were corrected politely by other members. Everybody would take turns to recite the lines from the Pauri, and the rest would together recite the next two lines. It took little more than three hours to do Nitnem, which was followed by Asa Ki Vaar which was recited on Harmonium and Tabla. By the time we finished, the number of persons in the room was around 20. The Ardas was performed by Harman, Punjabi vich kavan taan ‘Rooh naal ardas kitti si ohna ne!’
Had I not known these guys are all IT professionals, I would have never guessed it that day! Saffron, Black, White Keskis with flowing beards and glowing faces; they were completely immersed in devotion & their voices echoing in the house, the atmosphere was all different with all this happening around. After Ardas Deg was distributed, followed by langar. And now these guys who were so good in religious aspects, proved to be good at humor; as we talked while enjoying the delicious Langar prepared by them. I was not at all feeling that it was the first time I was meeting all of them. So polite, so humble, so generous, so helpful, so knowledgeable, and lots of others so’s and these guys seemed to be full of it…I was speechless and so happy to be with them.
The tea was accompanied by discussions on pronunciation on typical words and burning copies of the CD of ‘Panj Kahaniyan’ - A film entirely directed, enacted edited by them for the Sikh Youth Film Festival hosted at Sikhnet.com. I have watched the movie now and it is awesome. A must watch! I couldn't remember the names of everybody I met, but I was already a fan of almost everybody I had met.
I wanted to stay there little more but had to come back as they all needed to move on with their weekend tasks. Before leaving I expressed my gratitude and promised them I would be there from then on for all the Saturday meets and also the next day when we were supposed to meet in the Gurudwara. Overall for me the meeting with all of them had given me lot more than I had expected – A new group to link me to Sikhism, A new reason to continue staying in Hyderabad and A new ‘Soch’ to inspire my inner self.
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