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blog HNY

Hello 2015 !!!

It’s been a funny old year, 2014. Was it just me or was the whole world on a bit of a roller coaster ride ? Some ups and a lot of downs it seemed. Perhaps it was me having a lot of time on my hands ( while I struggled with my health) to watch the news, several times a day,everyday, that gave me the impression the world was going a little bonkers. And sadly, religion was cause for much of the madness.

In view of which,I did question often the wisdom of writing a blog on religion of all things, especially by someone as un-religious as myself.

I had to go back and remember why I had started writing it in the first place. It had started off as an exercise in passing on my culture to my kids, the festivals and the colours. It was also a way of exploring the history of one of the world’s oldest traditions.

It was about debunking some myths and celebrating so many others.

I had wanted to share my excitement about the Vedas and the Upanishads because I think they are as cool as Hawking’s Brief History of Time. As are the million of gods and goddesses, with their many faces and arms, once you get to know them. The symbolism is as profound as it is sublime.

I wanted to share the wonder inherent in it, the lightness and the fun. I didn’t care about much else.

So my new year resolution is to continue not caring, watch less news and carry on with the exploration !

This poem by Edward Lear says it best….

I went out of my mind, and came to my senses,
By meeting a magpie who mixed up his tenses,
Who muddled distinctions of nouns and of verbs,
And insisted that logic was bad for the birds.
With a poo-wee cluck and a chit chit chit,
The grammar and meaning don’t matter a bit.
The stars in their courses have no destination;
The train of events will arrive at no station;
The inmost and ultimate Self of us all
Is dancing on nothing and having a ball.
So with a chat for chit, and tat for tit,
This will be that, and that will be it.

Edward Lear.

( I wonder if he wrote it during his three year stint in India )
Wishing you all a wonderful new year !!!

May we have a sane one.