The guys get stunned by her!

She was new.We had never seen her before.And yes, she was glamorous!

In our department's thermal engineering lab, there was a new entrant...not an ordinary one...she was the cynosure of all the guys' eyes in our male dominated department(actually there's no female in our batch...so my classmates were the first one to see and ogle at her!).She stood boldly in front of a brand new lenovo desktop.Clothed in black(with some extra gloss!), she was very attractive, though she did not look very stylish.But still she was new...we hadn't seen this in our department before...so we stood staring.We did not need an ID card to know her name.That was tattooed on her.We inquired our professor about her.

This is what we came to know about her...She had been b(r)ought to teach us mechanical engineering students about vehicle dynamics.She stood on a chassis dynamometer and the lenovo in front of her was used for data acquisition.Wires went from various parts of her body to the computer...a complete setup to experiment on two wheelers' power and dynamics.She wasn't the only vehicle in our lab though...we have an older Ford too(but that's about 30 yrs. old!).She was Hero Honda's CD Dawn-100.Not the most stylish of bikes, but still good enough to look at(she was brand new!)in an old lab with noisy and greasy engines(which we mechies really love!)...!

When I don't understand...

You are as hungry as a bear and before you sits a burger,
But tied are your hands and taped are your lips,
You prepare madly for the IIT-JEE and make it to the IITs,
But the government suspects foul play and orders a re-examination,

How would you feel?.......You would feel the way I feel,
When I don't understand something, when something is not clear,
The agony, the pain, the frustration, the confusion, the anger,
That's what I get when I don't understand something,

The head starts aching, the muscles contracting,
the wrinkles appearing, the smiles disappearing,
The reason for that becomes an object of hate,
and unless I begin to understand, it doesn't abate,

That's how its been all these days, be it studies or movies,
understand when I don't, I feel uncomfortable,
to understand I'll be able, but only if I brood over it,
so just help me understand, or at least let me understand...

I Ain't Spiritual!

"I am not spiritual." - A statement blatantly made by a person who is a believer.
Call it whatever you want - blasphemy or heresy, but I don't get impressed by spirituality...I don't understand it...the eternally confused person that I am, I'm sure I'll never understand.And where arises the need to understand spirituality?

I'm comfortable and satisfied with what I am - a religious guy...I'm a devout Hindu...I love Hinduism...and before you accuse me of parochialism or label me as a right winged extremist..let me tell you that I'm not against other religions...In fact I love religions - Christianity for its serenity (and for Santa Claus!), Islam for some of its principles, Sikhism for its leaders(the Granth Sahibs),Buddhism, Jainism,Taoism,Confucianism,and even Pagan religions(thanks to Dan Brown for throwing some light on the worshiping of a female power)......

On why I'm Religious

Talking about my religion, I love it...The gods and the goddesses (they have become an integral part of my life - each God being called by me every minute for some silly want of mine!), the mantras and chants(they are pleasant to hear)..the rites and rituals( havan or yagna, the splashing of holy water with leaf-spoons! )...the devotional songs(from Om Jai Jagdish Hare to the popular South Indian devotional songs...I rarely listen to them, but I like them when they are played early in the morning or in the evening in Temples)..................and ofcourse I also fear some of the practices(I used to shudder at the thought of somebody in a state of trance near me...I was too afraid to go near those people when I was small - at the temple festivals in my hometown during summer hols.Even now I fear them.I don't go close to them for fear of getting killed by strangling or with a spear or trishul....lol) and am also amazed by the devotion of those people who walk on fire, pierce spears everywhere through their body....the colourful heavy kavadis...the celibacy and fast observed by those who wear Maalai(a sacred garland worn around the neck as a mark of purity ).......

I luv the epics(one of the best literary works, I believe), the Essence of the Gita(best thing to read when you get depressed),and the Vedas,Upanishads, puranas (this is too much..Honestly, I've never read them!....they Sound good na!)The worshiping of nature...trees, animals, sun, mon, planets and wind,rain, river, sea....

My religion (and any religion to its follower) energizes me, encourages me and teaches me to live...its a sort of cultural link with all those ancestors of mine...and also a form of connecting with my Creator...whereas spirituality is not...

On why I'm not Spiritual

Spirituality is abstract, vague and confusing...Its too complex and when I hear of all that people speak or write on it, I get a feeling of hollowness, a sense of nihilism, and all the energy gets drained out of me..so that is why I don't like to get involved in it...I don't understand the concept of cycle of life and death...abt Moksha n all that stuff!...And I get a strange feeling that all these spiritual leaders are quacks and charlatans(sorry,if I've hurt anyone's sentiment..but thats what I feel like)... How can a mortal, who looks like any other human being, have special powers and... how could he be so great that he or she could be worshiped as the omnipotent Almighty?

To conclude

Spirituality makes me feel insecure,confused and small while religion makes me feel confident, peaceful and Big!
Religion is for the layman like me, while Spirituality is for the saamiyars,saadhus,saadhvis and their like!

I'm worldly and materialistic !

So, I'm in favour of the colourful, lively and vibrant religions.....the more diverse, the merrier!