I drove Amma and the children to Pant station for the Brecon Mountain Railway for a sixty-five minutes trip to Pontsticill and back. We travelled in a coach just behind vintage steam locomotive and observed beautiful scenery of
Since everybody in the party was proving to be a nature lover, the next day I loaded all of them in the car and headed on for
For a taste of Ritz Hotel we took the underground to
Soon Kedarnath temple became visible - alas its appearance was marred by some ugly structures that have propped up in the vicinity. And the route was lined up with all sorts of people going up on ponies and hand carriages. By the time I covered the full 14 kms distance and stumbled into my room at the inn, I was ice cold and completely wet – I feared my fingers were frost bitten. I warmed them under my armpits and then on a sigree (coal stove). Presently Negi joined me and I got into my sleeping bag intending to stay there for the next 24 hours. But lo and behold in two hours time the rain stopped and all my troubles and weariness disappeared. I got up, put on my remaining clothes that were still dry and came out to look at a sight that was even greater - to me – than the sight of Kailash. Numerous snow clad mountain peaks were surrounding the Kedarnath temple. With great humility I entered its premises - I was almost alone there - it felt as if I had received whatever I was seeking. Last time I was there I was only thinking of Amma - this time it was to seek Shiva in me! And I was not disappointed. As I commenced meditating a woman entered and commenced singing Krishna bhajans - she was not deterred my gentle reminder that it was a Shiva temple and that at least she could pray in silence. But I was beyond resentment when she ignored me. On return from the temple, tired as I was, I used my remainder energy in making a call to Ira before returning to my sleeping bag.
From Chapter XIX - Diwali time at LakshmanjhoolaLast night we went to Parmarath Niketan Ghat for the aarti of the
It was Diwali day and in the evening I meditated for 20 minutes, laid out diyas and was in the process of putting the vicks and pouring oil in the diyas when Amma came with a candle to light them up. Would you believe that it was the first time in 44 years that she did it- mainly because all the previous 43 times there were friends, children or grandchildren to do it. I also scored a first when I put a piece of a laddu in her mouth. Just when we thought we had finished our quaint little Diwali, there was a knock on the door and entered Mr. Sanjeev Yadav with sweets to share with us. I tried to make polite conversation with him by asking a few non-controversial questions. As he is wont, he replied them with great passion while addressing Amma. Amma, unaware of Mr. Yadav's style of always answering somebody's questions by addressing some other person within hearing distance, took it as a great compliment and was flattered by what she thought were his attentions to her alone. And now we two have two different opinions about Mr. Yadav - she thinks I am queer for not liking Mr. Yadav.
From Chapter XX - The palace on Wheels22 November 2004
On 17th Nov when Amma and I boarded the Palace on Wheels (PoW) at
When after an overnight journey we reached Jaipur, Billo (my late older brother’s daughter), Annie (My older sister’s daughter) and Ritu (my younger brother
The train steamed us towards Jaisalmer after dinner, a desert area bordering
I have heard it said that if you do not go to God, He comes to you. You might recall that my original itinerary had visit to a couple of Shiva Jyotirlingams that I deleted after visiting Kedarnath thus saving fatigue and money. Imagine my astonishment when I was told that a Shiva Jyotirlinga was right there in Ellora and I walked the one-kilometer distance to that temple in heartfelt thankfulness to God.
From Chapter XXI - Trvalling and Living Economy Class
A taxi brought us to the Bowring Institute where a room was reserved for us by Abdul Gaffar. This place was out of bounds for the army officers when I was posted here in 1953, 1958-59 and 1969-72. I was, therefore, skeptical about the accommodation. Before checking-in I had a peep at the room and found it tolerable (read 'did not recoil in horror') - it was air-conditioned, had two beds and a good bathroom with hot and cold shower - and quickly settled down with a never-complaining Amma. In any case we did not have many alternatives -Russian President Putin with his large delegation and security detail was to come next day and a world cardiology conference was bringing hundreds of doctors from all over the world. Room rents in the hotels had been doubled and were costing up to 19,000 Rupees a day. Even our old St Marks Hotel (remember Kiran where you, aged 4, used to ask for room service in your own inimitable style) was now costing Rs 8,000 a day. We therefore happily settled for living economy class after the pleasures of Palace-on-Wheels,
Last evening the Commandant, Brig Mavalankar (he was a subaltern in my 4 Engineer Regiment in 1970 after I had left it) held a dinner for me to meet some old and some new officers of the Madras Engineer Group. And quite a motley group they made. There was Colonel Thapliyal retelling his old tall tales duly revised for the occasion. Colonel Babloo Das was there recounting the exploits of 4 Engineer Regiment in Bangladesh in 1971 war and how as an ex-4 Engineer Regt commander, I helped him to get out of a dicey situation once (which event I remembered not at all) - it was nice to know that I did good things too! Colonel Mohinder Sahni, who as my second-in-command, had got lost in a reconnaissance mission in 1968 and who was given an outstanding report by me on that merit, was there still looking as someone who had stolen the rank of a colonel. Then there was General VP Yadav who drinks like a fish, smokes like a chimney, works like a horse and has still remained a gentleman and a friend all these years. My friend CB Ramesh was there - he was quite a different man in the absence of his wife, Indu, and regaled me by telling stories of the days when I was his acting commander in North East in 1964-65 and alternately bullied him and helped him study for the Staff College Entrance Examination. The Commandant himself looked a very satisfied man at the job he was doing and I did no harm to his ego by praising the considerable improvement that he had made to the Officers’ Mess. Then there were many wives whom I had known as young girls and who now looked as old as the MEG - 219 years. The western food that was served was better than I have had in many European capitals....
Early morning on Sunday with Sonali as our guide we left in a taxi for Tiruvannamalai for a day's outing. The 5-hour drive on a newly constructed highway and partially deteriorated old road took us to the place made holy - and world famous - by Maharishi Ramanna. We reached there at 12.30 p.m. - exact time when the main temple closes for the afternoon - and left at 3.30 p. m. - exact time when the temple reopens because we wanted to be back at
The main event of the Wedding Anniversary - a Reception - was organised at the Railway Club whose spacious lawns were specially lighted and decorated to receive 300 guests that included all Yatin's family (from near and far), friends (real and hangers-on) and his building co-residents (film actors and bootleggers). Whiskies, wines and juices flowed while music played at such a loud tone that it would put Trinidadian loudness to shame. I could tolerate the calypsos in
From Chapter XXIII - Raving and Burning for the Last Time
Early next morning while Amma and Sonali slept, I made another foray to the temple that was not yet open. The temple town was slowly coming to life as in solitude I experienced Shaivite bliss in the courtyard of the temple. Soon we were on our long drive back to
Shatabdi Express deposited us (Amma, Varun, Priya and I) at Haridiwar one hot morning. At Kankhal Devyog Ashram we had to wait a couple of hours to consult the Ayurvedic doctor for Varun after which we drove directly to Mussoorie to escape the heat. It took us a rickshaw ride from the taxi stand to the Mall, a Hotel shuttle from the Mall to Avalon Resort and a climb of 200 steps to reach our apartment. But when we did reach it, it was like entering paradise. The mountain air was cool and refreshing, the apartment was elegantly furnished and the terrace outside gave a magnificent view of
Now an E-mail from 10-year old Anika:
Baba
Just remember how much I love you; I know you are busy,
But I’m missing you like crazy,
You’re high in the mountains having fun,
Socializing with everyone.
The scenery's probably very lovely,
I wish you could’ve taken me,
You are so lucky,
Because you get to eat amma'a curry,
I’m counting the days till you come home,
Till then I’ll be alone.
You must get tired when you walk up the hill
Especially in that cold chill.
And say hi to uncle Varun, Priya and Amma too
Hardly had I embarked on my project of mapping out my next life that I was required to embark once again for
What follows is the wealth of words that has set me on a spiritual path that might yet render a next birth redundant.
This finite, mortal, ever-changing world that we see around us, is born out of Maya alone. Due to the non-apprehension of Reality, Man recognizes the world of objects, emotions and thoughts. Through the body, mind and intellect he contacts the world and creates more and more vasanas. These vasanas make one act more and more, and in the end, man becomes co-cooned in them and gets permanently for himself the sense of a separate individuality. All these are created by non-apprehension of Reality. The supreme Reality functioning through Maya is called Ishwar or God.
The wise man should discriminate between the Self and the not-Self in order to remove the bondage and dock himself in everlasting happiness. Thereafter there is no strife, no stress and no strain for him.....
It was on 31st December 2006 at our rented apartment at
“The final result of such a spiritual Self rediscovery is a total liberation of the mortal individuality from all its physical mental and intellectual entanglements. This is called Liberation, Self-Realisation or God Realisation.”
