Saatej's Mars Trip

Thank You Mr. Sekhar Kammula

I generally don't have a very high opinion of present day Indian movie makers, be it directors or actors or technicians. I believe the last great film produced by Tollywood is "Sita Ramayya Gari Manavaralu". I have high standards in this regard and am difficult to please generally.

Even with this context, I want to thank Sekhar Kammula from the bottom of my heart. And it is a very surprising reason for this volte face. 

The other day my son answered a seemingly standard question that elders pose to kids all the time, "what do u want to become when you grow up?" We, my wife and I, were expecting that he will either give a standard response like a start sports player or a normal professional like an engineer, doctor, blah blah, blah.... But he shocked everybody there. He said that he wants to become the Chief Minister of AP when he grows up. 

Now, while everybody was still trying to recover from the surprise, my wife, Mala, asked him what prompted him to say that and why he wants to become a CM. His response was that he wants to be a CM like the hero in the Telugu movie "LEADER". My son watches his share of movies and TV and till now, he has never expressed that he wanted to be like a TV character or a movie character. The only exception to the rule till then had been Lord Hanuman. He wanted to always be able to fly like and fight like Lord Hanuman.

Coming back to the episode, his answer demonstrated how kids pick up good things from the mediocre crap they see day in and day out. Also, there is nobody from either side of our family, either maternal or paternal, even close to the political world. If I was given a sheet with CM and PM listed as career choices for my kid, I would have never even considered either one of them for my son. Thank You Mr. Sekhar Kammula!!

This episode told me in crystal clear terms that try as much as we want, my wife and I, are not even close to guessing what my son has in mind for his life and career. This got me thinking somewhat. The biggest challenge for my wife and I as parents, middle class Indian parents at that, will be to ensure that we provide him with the right appropriate moral and ethical frameworks and then get the hell out of his way. 

How can parents, with all their love, concern and such strong desire to direct their kids` lives, desist from providing guidance that in reality is only limiting them. No parent can, after being battered by the storm winds called life, provide risky choices to their kids. But it is exactly the risky nature of such ambitious plans that will bring the rewards, that will bring the world to their feet. 

As I watch my son grow up, I am able to understand my Dad better, his choices for me, his strong guidance and stabilizing influence in all aspects of my life. Nobody could have done a better job at shaping, motivating and influencing me to become a better person. I will have fulfilled as significant portion of my life's purpose if I can be to my son, what my dad was and is to me.

Here's to wishing that my son continues to shock, surprise and amaze us like this. The world will definitely be a better place if we can only let his mind run amok without it being constrained by 'traditional' safe wisdom.

Here's to wishing us, my wife and I, the wisdom, strength and clarity of mind that will help us to get out of  his way and to play the parental supplemental role to perfection as he stakes his right royal place in the world on the basis of his God given talent, intellect and industry. 

The dream world of post-retirement

So yesterday, being my birthday, friends and relatives wished me best wishes and more. My very good friend, R also added that I am getting old now. This really got me thinking.

After careful, deep and long drawn out contemplation lasting all of 5 seconds, I decided to put my thoughts down. See, I had paid this idea so much thought since quite some time that I had not much to add to the idea just because I passed another birthday.

Presenting Ranga in Retirement

One word, actually two to describe this phase of life: absolute bliss, unimaginable awesomeness etc, etc., and you get the idea.

Imagining a life with my wife after seeing off all of life's challenges and curve balls leaves me eagerly looking forward to it. I will finally have all the time in the world to spend with her, to be able to attend to her whims and fancies, to pamper her, to spoil her as a small token of appreciation for being such a wonderful wife and lover. It will give me a chance to show to her in a small way how much I appreciate all that she does for our family, how she gives so much of herself to our family so lovingly and with such understanding and care. I really am looking forward to the time when she becomes my only "project" with no deadlines and she does not have to compete for attention and care with my profession and other mundane worldly concerns.

My relationship with my wife is beyond awesome, it seems ordained by Paramacharya himself and I want to contribute my fair share to keeping it that way. Post-retirement will only give me more time to cherish, relish, enjoy and enrich this wonderful part of my life even more. Many people dread growing old and retiring. I don't. I believe that with Mala at my side, we will enjoy this phase of life so much that the other phases of my life will envy the post-retirement phase.

I believe strongly that by the time of my retirement, my son will be out in the world, striving to earn his share of accolades and to building his own life with passion and purpose. I will be watching in the background, watching very very closely and with pride and satisfaction as my son applies his intellect and industry within the moral and ethical frameworks picked up from his Mother and I, from his Gurus and his elders. I believe he has been blessed with all the tools necessary to leave a strong mark on this world and make his Creator happy for having sent him to this earth. Putrotsaham is a feeling only a dad can understand and I fully expect to drink myself silly from this particular bottle of wine as time passes. 

I also fully expect that my relationship with Paramacharya and SriRama will only strengthen with time. I will finally have the time to visit all the places of divine significance that I want to do so badly. I will have all the time in the world to spend in such holy places. No more bound by the x number of weeks of vacation per year which severely restricts travel like what the heart yearns for. I will have time for all the pravachanams, scriptures and granthas, to be able to read and savor the great literary works of this world, from Hindu scriptures and holy books, to classical English, Telugu, Sanskrit and Hindi literature. 

Can we add classical music concerts to the list? Why not? This is my list and I am the master and all powerful lord of this blog. Something like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCyshbQUgAE&list=PLR2YxJ69aiPSeV0GG0HZADOKrGe5pga5-&index=15

Can one ever tire of listening to a maestro rendering an all time best composition by another legend? Keep adding to the list so that by the time retirement comes, there is a list of music like this, so big, so beautiful that  life is filled and overflowing with bliss listening and losing self in their beauty and melody.

What else? Oh yeah, for the times when Mala tires of me and kicks me out of the house, I will have friends who will have grown old with me, who will love to spend time reminiscing, just love the company and have a lifetime of experiences to go over and discuss. 

Finally, when I have no pressure to ace exams or further my career aspirations, I will go back to school and obtain a Doctorate in Mathematics. This will be just for the love of the subject, to revel in the beauty of logic and watch in amazement as my mind grapples with and admires the combined brilliance of all of our current and past generations.

The best life partner one can imagine, time to pamper her, beaming with pride over my kid's accomplishments, best possible relationship with my Guru and IshtaDevata, unbelievably great friends, all the time in the world to savor the finest of all of the world's cultures and a chance to study a subject close to my heart just for the love of it. Damn, I am excited about retirement. It can only get more and more wonderful from here on wards. 

Mala, can we please throw in a couple of dogs, two Golden Retrievers in a huge backyard?? I can die a happy man!!

Tsunami of love, grace and compassion - Maha Periyavaa

There is a wonderful post about a devotee's (Prof. Sundaraman's) personal experience which is available at http://mahaperiyavaa.wordpress.com/2011/01/17/i-lived-with-god-absolutely-a-must-read/

Humbly suggest all friends to not start reading without either a box of tissues or a big towel handy. Also, please don't start reading if you have to attend to wordly things in the next 30 minutes. Believe me, your heart will not want to move away from the divine experience and return to mundane worldly matters. There is no escape from the tears of bliss on reading this most moving, heart warming experience. I strongly believe this experience of Prof. Sundaraman needs to be cherished and read and reread and reread.

Anytime in life when one is feeling low, feeling life to be an insurmountable series of obstacles and challenges,  take a few minutes of time and read Prof. Sundaraman's experiences with Periyavaa. Your faith in GOD will be restored and you will get all the confidence you will ever need to go back and tackle the world. When you have Paramcharya in your corner, can any opponent dare to even think of fighting you? 

Place your heart,   mind and soul at his lotus feet, put all the burden on his physically frail but divinely magnificent shoulders, sit back, relax and savor the magical ride that life will become. 

There are a few places in the narrative (I don't want to spoil the reading pleasure by providing highlights) that demonstrate Paramacharya's compassion for his bhaktas so strongly, so emphatically, that it is impossible to ever again worry about anything in life as long as the mind and heart rest at Paramacharya's divine feet. 

Bhagwan Ramana always used to ask all the devotees visiting him, "where is your gamanam now"? I wish everybody in this world that their gamanam always be to the lotus feet of our dear beloved Periyavaa. This is my way of wishing "sarve jana sukhinobhavanthu"

Nailed it!! Saatej rocks the school anniversary with his moves

Saatej was selected from his kindergarten class for a dance show during the anniversary function held in Vijayawada, AP on Feb 18th, 2013. 

It was the culmination of about two weeks worth of practice sessions for the kids. The kids were starting to get bored with the practice sessions, the parents were nervous, tense, excited, slightly scared and proud at the same time. The teachers were dog tired after corralling 10 hyper active dancing kids everyday for two weeks.

The main event started at around 6:30 PM under clear blue skies with a magnificent turn out of all the school kids and their excited, happy families. The dance show started at around 7:30 PM. Saatej's mother was as tense as she was on the day of our marriage ;-) wondering how my son was going to perform. I have to tell her to pace herself as she has at least 15 more years to go before she can hand off Saatej to his girlfriend.

I was cool and calm thinking that this is nothing but a kindergarten dance show. Who will watch and care for this show other than probably the kids in the show, their parents and the teachers who put this all together. Boy, was I ever so wrong? The crowd really was watching the entire dance show with keen interest. I guess everybody enjoys cute, all dressed up kids moving to great music.

Long story short, to end the suspense, my son nailed the performance. My wife, usually a tough nut to please, was beaming from ear to ear after the show. 

My son, well, he couldn't care less for how his performance turned out to be or how the audience received it. He really enjoys moving to the rhythm of good music. But he was smart enough to leverage all the congratulations from his mom and his uncles, aunts and grand father for probably a months supply of candy, gifts and surprises ( in his words). Smart boy, has the potential to go far in either Wall St or New Delhi's corridors of politics. 

A sincere thanks to his class teacher who selected him and encouraged him, his dance teachers who taught him and to all his friends in the dance group for enjoying themselves and providing everybody with a jolly good show yesterday. 

Keep rocking kids!! All of you are destined for great things in life!

Actual video to follow in another post shortly.

Why is the fan regulator limited to a max number of 5?

Saatej is currently in India. Yesterday evening, he was drenched in sweat after a very engrossing session of  play time with his friends.

He came home and tried to cool down with butter milk given by his mom. He switched on the fan in the bedroom. Then his mom came to check on him and the status of the buttermilk. He was still sweating and his question to his mom was: "why do the fan regulators stop at no. 5?"

What is Hanuman's surname?

Saatej got a new geometry box as a gift for standing first in his half yearly exams. He was filling out the label and wrote his name as N. Saatej.

Then he wanted to add the name of his favorite God Hanuman next to his name. 

His question to his mom was: "what is Hanuman's surname?

More such questions to follow. Stay tuned.