There’s a stream, and there’s bamboo,
There’s mulberry and hemp.
Mist-hidden, clouded hamlet,
A mild, tranquil place.
Just a few tilled acres.
Just a few tiled roofs.
How many lives,
Would I have to live,
To get that simple?

- Yuan Mei (1716–1798)

Happy in the morning
I open my cottage door;
A clear breeze blowing
Comes straight in.
The first sun
Lights the leafy trees;
The shadows it casts
Are crystal clear.
Serene,In accord with my heart,
Everything merges
In one harmony.
Gain and loss
Are not my concern;
This way is enough
To the end of my days.


Weng-Siang (1210-1280)

A Beautiful Koan

Every day priests minutely
examine the Dharma
and endlessly chant
complicated sutras.
They should learn
how to read the love letters
sent by the wind and rain,
the snow and moon.

- Ikkyu (1394-1491)

"Silent Warrior" by Enigma

This is a first in the series of songs whose lyrics carry a deep meaning or profound thought, in my view.

"Silent Warrior"

Long ago, for many years
White men came in the name of GOD
They took their land, they took their lives
A new age has just begun
They lost their GODS, they lost their smile
they cried for help for the last time.
Liberty was turning into chains
But all the white men said
That's the cross of changes
In the name of GOD - The fight for gold
These were the changes.
Tell me - is it right - In the name of GOD
These kind of changes ?
They tried to fight for liberty
Without a chance in hell, they gave up.
White men won in the name of GOD
With the cross as alibi
There's no GOD who ever tried
To change the world in this way.
For the ones who abuse His name
There'll be no chance to escape
On judgment day
In the name of GOD - The fight for gold
These were the changes.
Tell me - Is it right - In the name of GOD
These kind of changes ?
Tell me why, tell me why, tell why
The white men said:
That's the cross of changes ?
Tell me why, tell me why, tell why,
In the name of GOD
These kind of changes.

What's wrong with us Bhindians*

WARNING: This is a post full of negative thoughts, ranting and generalization. No research at all. This will also contain repetitions, and grammar is pretty poor. I was very angry with everything around me and just had to let go. This is not exactly a Zen thought, even though Zen asks us to let go...


What's wrong with us Bhindians? A lot. We're hypocrites. We're cowards. We're dirty. We're mean. We have a collective crab mentality, and can't stand progress of some-one in our community. We love to pull that person down, and kick his head and ground it to dust and say - "How the hell did you dare to progress? This is where you belong - to the dirt". We take collective pleasure in torturing, beating and insulting others, especially people who are meek, weak and will be hardly able to fight back.

At the same time, we tolerate injustice and bow to the powerful. and by power I mean money-power and gun-power (earlier the sword). We suck up to the goondas, politicians, industrialists and fundamentalists like servile, pathetic dogs. Most of us Bhindians have no spine and no guts. We are worse than the worst possible lecherous, devious creature possible. We have no honour and courage. Out latent pseudo-honour gets woken up when two young innocent lovers belonging to different castes or communities decide to marry. Then, we vent our fury and make life hell for that poor couple, or totally terminate them from the face of the earth.

We're full of lazy, dirty drunkards who do nothing all day, gamble away whatever little money they get, beat up their wives and visit prostitutes. It is also just that bottle of beer that incites us into mass rioting and cutting each other's throat in the name of religion.

We love backwardness, poverty, crime, filth and corruption. How dare anybody even think of changing the system? Or for the less lazier ones.. nothing's going to happen anyway, it's no use fighting our destiny and result of bad deeds in our previous birth.. Rama Rama Rama..cough cough..aaack-chthooo. Uttered by cowardly niggardly pathetic weak Bhindians.

The general public of Bhindia is so f**king apathetic to everything!! The word 'care' does not exist in our dictionary. Similarly, the words 'action', 'do' , 'change' and 'improvement' have no place in Bhindia. The Bhindian 'intellectuals' talk, criticize, condemn, complain, write dozens of books, hold conferences and meetings but do not do anything substantial at all. In the end it's my life, my comfort and my money. Or the gutter, garbage and the slum. Ah, I'm almost done but my bladder's feeling 'full'. I gotta take a pee..hey, here's a nice wall! Lemme do my bit for the environment and fertilize it....

*Bhindian is a derogatory term for Indians used by some Pakistanis who hate India.

An angry, violent world

It seems to me that the quantum of negative energy has increased on Earth. There is so much anger, hate and mindless violence everywhere. Terrorists are blowing themselves up in crowded markets. Women are being tortured and brutalized in educated, affluent households. A person is shot dead as a result of a petty quarrel in a bar. Robbers are clubbing to death senile, feeble octogenarians. Children are being raped and tortured by perverted schoolteachers. People are setting each other on fire during religious riots. Everywhere you see, a fist is shaken, a collar is clutched, a knife is struck or a bomb is set off. Decibel levels have increased, along with the pace of life and the frustration levels of people. Even at a slightly milder level, we see shouting, quarreling and increased use of profanities in our day to day life.

Why? What pleasure do people get out of hitting, torturing and killing others? Why is there so much hate and anger? Why do we love to see others suffer? How come the sadistic animal has come out so openly amongst us?

Is it because we are basically violent by nature? A psychologist like Freud would support that theory. According to the proposed theory, humans have always been violent and have never changed by nature. Ancient people were equally brutal, if not more. However, enough good people are out there too, so we need not worry, as the balance in society between love and hate is sustained. Nowadays, though, we get to see and hear more about violence due to the explosion in information and communication technology.

Economists would propose that the pressures of the extremely high population is causing the mayhem. There are too many people, and not enough resources available. Hence the intense competition and in-fighting amongst the haves and have-nots.

Environmentalists would term this as a prelude to a painful cleansing and correction process by nature. This cleansing process would involve in the deaths of millions of people, and would redress the balance on Earth. For this, we humans are mainly responsible due to our teeming population and excesses against the environment.

Atheists would point out the rise in violence to increased fanatical religious dogma and hate. They would talk about the excesses by early Christians and the hard-line Muslims, and would quote the current rise in Islamic terrorism.

Religious heads and devouts, on the other hand, would point out the lack of spirituality, religion and morality in today's youth as a cause of excessive hate and violence. They would ascribe the rise in hate to a breakdown in family values and social norms.

According to me though, the economist's and the environmentalists' theories which rely on cause and effect are the most sound. However, they do not delve into the qualitative aspect of the problem and, whether this increased hate and violence is good or not. For a common layman like you and me, peace and security in life is a paramount need, and this hate and violence violates the need, making us helpless, insecure and shaky.

Will the ruthless cycle of hate ever end?

Life Lessons from a fictional Killer

The other day I saw the Hollywood thriller "Collateral" starring Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx. It was an extremely racy movie, gripping and very slick. Tom Cruise played "Vincent", an extremely ruthless and focussed contract killer. Jamie Foxx was a simple, unlucky cab driver in Los Angeles named Max, who got entangled with Vincent.
I stop here as I do not want to reveal the whole story for my readers who have not watched the film. What I want to focus on, is what I learned from the movie.Besides being an edge of the seats thriller, one could take some lessons on how to go about finishing a task or a job in daily life, from the beautifully portrayed character of Vincent in the movie. I thought about it for a while and came up with various lessons:

1. Planning
In the movie, Vincent had a well-planned schedule and extensive information about the six 'targets' he had to kill. He had meticulously chalked out the plan, to kill everybody within one night. In our work lives, planning is one of the most important things. Having a proper schedule, information and targets is the first step in getting a job done.

2. Alertness and awareness
Vincent is shown to have hawk-like alertness. In our daily life and workplace, we must be extremely alert and aware of our surroundings, to pick up information, signals and changes. These will help us flow and grow.

3. Spine-chilling focus and determination
The look in Vincent's eyes throughout the film showed extreme focus and determination, and a desire to get the job done at any cost. Never did he lose sight of the target - six dead people. One must possess the same level of focus and determination to succeed in real life.

4. Utilizing resources and surroundings to get the job done
Vincent did a fantastic job of using the services of the hapless cabbie Max, though in full legality! In the same way, we must learn to squeeze the last drop out of all the resources provided to us by the company or government to get our job done.

5. Flexibility, having backup plans and thinking quickly on your feet
Vincent shows his flexible side too, when Max, in a fit of desperation and anger, destroys Vincent's laptop which contains all the targets' information. He thinks quickly, and comes up with an excellent plan, to get back the data from the original client (mafia boss).
In life and at work, we will face many small problems and failures. That should not dishearten us or make us loose focus from the job. One should develop the ability to come up with novel ideas to overcome unfavorable situations.

6. Less talk, more work
In the movie, Vincent is shown to be habitually laconic. And when it comes to executing his subjects, he does not waste words, he justs shoots and kills.
Similarly, we should stop talking and blabbering too much and should just get on with the job.

7. Machine like precision - quality and skill
Vincent is shown to be an extremely good marksman. He shoots accurately and with the exact number of bullets in the right places to cause instant death. One can imply that Vincent is a very skilled shooter who has practised a lot.
Similarly, we must become experts at our fields of work through sheer practice. Only then can we do a job well.

8. Swift and Cool headed execution
The calmness the Vincent exudes and the swiftness of his executions is admirable. This is partly related to point 6. and point 7.
One should not get tense or emotional while finishing a task. Nor should one suffer from procrastination. Execution of plans charted out should be as swift as permissible, and should be performed with a cool mind.

In conclusion I have to say that, if we, in our daily lives, incorporate all eight qualities exhibited by Vincent in Collateral, we are bound to be highly successful in our profession and thoroughly enjoy our jobs. Thus, we can get to learn great life lessons from the most unlikely of characters.