Waiting for the Godot ...

A picture story .........

When will he come ........

We don't believe in our strengths .....

We are still creating the creator ....

And we remain crippled forever .....

Photos: shot at Nanjangud near Mysore.

Ganesha ...

“My Ganesha is more beautiful and he has bigger tummy than yours! “, these were the words of my four year old nice Laxmi when she came for Ganesha Chaturthi yesterday. Her comments were filled with great authority and warmth as if she is talking about her very close friend. It made me think why is that all kids feel so related only to Ganesha even though we have so many gods out there.

Even I was crazy about him as a kid, may be because Ganesha is more of a cartoon character figure than a god. He is so much fun filled with the elephant face and equipped with weird costumes like snakes and rats as his friends. These fairy tale details leave a long lasting imprint in these tender brains forever. And the other reason being most kids have grown up listening to the ever interesting heroic deeds of bal Ganesh.

Every child loves to hear/see the little elephant faced kid doing mischievous things and still escapes uncaught from the radar of elder’s not to do list. One thing why everyone likes this festival was that he was one god who felt more like a friend and secondly because of those yummy sweets prepared for him. You know it’s not a joke to raise an elephant :).

Those childhood memories still remain so fresh in me, when we used to live in a small rented place which did not have the luxury of a separate pooja room. Hence a small portion of the kitchen shelf was converted as a guest room for Ganesha during his stay.

Usually the festive fever would start almost a week before his arrival and each year we would plan his stay to at most fun with newer decorations and sweets. His three day stay would be a treat for everyone at home as if our very close relative is at home and we would be literally crying when the third day arrives where in we have say good bye to him.

As my hairs turning grey, the fear and the feeling of god in me totally changed but the very love for Ganesha still remains with the freshness as it bloomed. Even though all these gods are just an ideology and part of those brilliantly depicted epics, I bow myself to the level of creativity and passion with which these characters have been evolved over time.

I was always left with no word when I used to hear those incredible fables of lord Ganesha. He turns out to be a hero for me during my childhood days. He seemed to be so different and appealing in all means when compared to other gods.

The idea of cloning or bringing up a child in the labs artificially has been very new to the world. But you will be surprised if I tell you that Ganesha too came into existence by one of these similar means. Yup! He was given life by his mom “Paru :) alias Parvathi”, using the dust or dirt/skin from her body. Hence technically he evolved out of some cultured cells from his mom. Isn’t his birth so fascinating :) and challenging to the science at those times.

It’s proven that the technology of organ transplantation existed very long ago because the very first organ transplantation was conducted on Lord Ganesha. He still holds the world record of only person who has been transplanted with a head of a different species.

Few of my favorite fables of Ganesha were when his stomach bursts and he holds back by tying the snake as his waist belt, he also negotiates with the passing by rat to be his vehicle to reach his home and later on in the war field he breaks his one of his tusks and uses it as a weapon. All these qualities of him demonstrate the art of living and also his managerial qualities.

Anyways I had a great time yesterday with Ganesha and do check few of the photographs of his stay.

Unsolvable Problem ? - a short story

Once there lived a brave and handsome prince named Prajwal kumar. As his name he was very bright and had all the qualities of the prince and was very well respected by all the people in the kingdom. Every one was in praise of the future king as they see him moulding himself to be great emperor.

But Prajwal never thought of himself will be a king in the future and was very playful as his father, the king used to take care of the whole kingdom. Once the prince went out for hunting in the nearby forest and during hunting he found a very beautiful girl gathering logs in the jungle. He was totally drowned in the beauty of the girl and lost his senses completely. He immediately went to her and introduced himself as the prince of Veera Kotai and expressed his desire to marry her if she wishes.

The girl said her name was ragini and she is daughter of sage druvaagni. She lives in the nearby cottage and she too is in love with him. The prince spend few days in the jungle with the girl and later promised her that he will be back very soon and talk with her dad regarding their marriage.

The prince was very happy and was driving his chariot very swiftly to reach the kingdom early and break this news to his parents. While riding the chariot he didn't notice the snake moving across in his path and his chariot wheel rolled on the snake. The snake cursed the prince that his very happiness in which he blindly drove on the snake shall not be blessed to him. The snake god cursed that he will not get the girl he loved before dying.

Once the prince reached the palace he was shocked to hear that his father was killed by the enemies in the war few days back and they could not intimate him since he was not available.
On the wishes of his mother and the people in the kingdom he succeeded the throne and took complete responsibility of the huge kingdom which his father has left behind for him. Never he thought of his personal love and years rolled by.

As few years rolled by he molded himself to be a good administrator and gathered complete trust from his people and was happy that he fulfilled his duties as a king. But very lately he was remembering ragini very much and decided to meet her. He went into the forest to meet the sage and ask her daughter but when he reached the sage ashram he was told that ragini was
married a few months back to Rudra. Rudra is a great shiva bhaktha and is blessed with great powers from the lord shiva.

The king prajwal was c0completely depressed and lost his interest in life. He did not take care of his kingdom anymore and the people of the kingdom was very much unhappy with him. His mother want his son to marry some princess and grow their family but he was not interested.

He deserted his kingdom and family and went in search of peace. He thought to himself that he had betrayed her and he was solely responsible for the situation around him. He felt there is no life without her for him and he wanted her to be back in his life at the cost of everything. He was also ready to kill Rudra and get her back to him.

He went to different sages and gurus to find peace and answers for his questions. All the great sages and gurus heard his story and suggested him to get married to someone else and lead a happy life as a king. And the very curse on him by the god had made him to be in the situation he is currently now and he is not responsible for all this. They also advised him that she is now a wife of great Rudra who is a shiva bhaktha and posses great powers, both husband and wife are well known and perform various yagnas together. Hence it is not good to disturb them and would eventually kill himself and destroy his own kingdom.

But prajwal was not convinced with any of the answers given to him and still his quest to find an answer for his problem prevailed. Finally he decided to talk to Lord shiva himself and obtain an answer for his problem. He starved and meditated for few years and finally shiva was pleased with his devotion and appeared before him.

Shiva asked prajwal what is that he wants. He told shiva that he is not convinced by any of the answers/solutions provided by so many great sages and gurus in the universe and hence he wanted to obtain the solution for his problem from the shiva himself as he is the ultimate.

Lord Shiva replied even my answers would not solve the problem in you because you have created the problem yourself with the solutions you have within you. Since there exists so many solutions within you , you have created the problem or question for yourself.

Once you clear the solutions you have within yourself then the very problem will also disappear by itself.