i have a monday !

he's indian, from a small town called palanpur in gujarat, making waves at mit, and calls himself a "designeer." blowing away the audience at ted 2009 where he first unveiled his invention, he has been named by chris anderson as "one of the ten, best inventors in the world right now", and he's yet to turn thirty :-) he sees living possibility where others see nothing and fittingly called his most famous invention, which won popular science's invention of the year award for 2009, the "sixth sense". it doesn't hurt that pranav mistry has infectious energy and is good looking too :-) so what is a designeer anyway? over to pranav :-) "i love to see technology from design perspective and vice versa. this vision reflects in almost all of my projects and research work as well. in short, i do what i love and i love what I do. i am a 'designeer' " alright! i can live with that :-) and whats the "sixth sense?" what is the sixth sense indeed? how to explain it?! i'll let pranav do the talking again :-) http://www.ted.com/talks/pattie_maes_demos_the_sixth_sense.html "it's a terrible thing to see but have no vision." this is one of his favourite quotes, he's probably half a decade younger than pranav mistry, graduated from iit kgp a few years ago, and decided to challenge the status quo of computing gadgets. in his first blog announcing his arrival in april 2009 this is what he wrote - "what we are looking for is, giving the user the complete freedom to define the basics and not the industry leaders...we will usher a new understanding of what we actually need. our research will prove that innovation in its exact sense is, revolution. a solution to the problem of adoption of the idea. a notion ink." wow, what did he just say! but in less than three years, rohan shravan has gone ahead and done just what he said he would. re-envisioned what a computer tablet could be like, put together a team of young indian designers, of funders who he believed in his vision, and unveiled this january the notion ink 'adam' - a computing device that many say is the "most impressive tablet they have yet seen", filled with small and big innovations that redefine the entire tablet experience. take that, apple! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BM1m55b9C_8&feature=related i said that rohan unveiled the concept on his blog, and to understand what adam is really about, you have to experience the blog, and its band of "notion addicts" who have been commenting on it-  thousands of fans, young and old, from across the world, who have been following rohan and his dream for the last year and a half. its been a roller coaster of a ride, with hits and (deadline) misses, rumors and speculations, ups and downs, ins and outs - but they've all hung in there - mesmerized by one young man's vision. and its all out there in the blog and its comments, every single heart beat that has skipped. they have encouraged him, they have beseeched him, they have crucified him, and they have canonized him! its a living journey of a ten thousand dreams now - adam! goethe is once said to have written "whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it.boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. begin it now." two young indians, two young dreamers, two young journeys. and its a different world we're living in already :-) almost fifty years ago, a young african american clergyman announced his dream and changed the fate of a nation. today (monday) is martin luther king day and truly it is his dream of an unprejudiced world that we celebrate. the power of audacious dreams, big and small. and of those who can fearlessly rise up and say "i have a dream." they all change the world in their own ways and their time is now. always :-) heres the song of another dreamer, a nightingale who dreamt "freely" and fought fearlessly. Song of a Dream Once in the dream of a night I stood Lone in the light of a magical wood, Soul-deep in visions that poppy-like sprang; And spirits of Truth were the birds that sang, And spirits of Love were the stars that glowed, And spirits of Peace were the streams that flowed In that magical wood in the land of sleep. Lone in the light of that magical grove, I felt the stars of the spirits of Love Gather and gleam round my delicate youth, And I heard the song of the spirits of Truth; To quench my longing I bent me low By the streams of the spirits of Peace that flow In that magical wood in the land of sleep. Sarojini Naidu "in that magical wood in the land of sleep." and sometimes, just sometimes, you pinch yourself and realize that you're no longer in the land of the sleep. and the wood is sheer magic. dreams do come true :-) much love, d&s

its monday again? awesome!

idly and filter coffee. an immortal pair. like romeo and juliet, heer and ranjha, lalu and rabri. or the auto-rickshaw wallahs and their chai shops. thats the way it feels in palghat :-) the coffee decoction in amma's house is especially strong, her idlis filled with love and flavor, and their union - immortal! after a long time we're in my favourite palghat trichi passenger train again and though winter's beating a quick retreat in the south, the air is cool and crisp, and my eyes are filled with green again. these familiar sights - the paddy fields, the coconut trees, the odd farmer surveying his field, that other immortal pair (the buffalo and the white egret), and those ageless rock mountains watching over it all - these are sights that never seem to stop inspiring that joy, that awe. awesome! awesome! this was the very word prof kulkarni's son sachin used to describe his fathers operation which he was able to watch from inside the operation theatre. he may as well have been talking about the spirit that prof kulkarni's students displayed during the last few testing weeks. from the spontaneous response to the call for blood donation, to the constant presence and support provided to his family at the hospital, to the countless prayers and messages of goodwill - it was a lesson in love. the love, strength, and spirit that prof kulkarni's family and his students have showed during his hospitalization. awesome! as was the smile his grand-daughter gave from the swings in the childrens playgound a recent morning. i was pensive, lost in my thoughts, and rushing to asb as i often do :-) and i saw shruti and her father sharing a quiet moment on the swings. waved a distracted hi to them and rushed on. when i heard a child's voice beckoning me. turned back and there she was with a bright hello and an even brighter smile. everything dissolved in that smile. suddenly there was a spring to my steps and a smile on my face too. the gift of a child's unburdened smile. awesome! its also the last monday at asb for prof rooplekha khuntia - a dear dear friend and sister. she joined asb the same time we did and now heads homewards to bhubaneswar to her next phase in life. we've been through a lot together, and its not only the office that lies between shobhana's and mine that will feel empty in the days to come. we'll deeply miss her gentle and loving presence. and those wonderful meals she fed us at her "oriya kitchen". the gift of this friendship. awesome! Gift O my love, what gift of mine Shall I give you this dawn? A morning song? But morning does not last long - The heat of the sun Wilts it like a flower And songs that tire Are done. O friend, when you come to my gate At dusk What is it you ask? What shall I bring you? A light? A lamp from a secret corner of my silent house? But will you want to take it with you Down the crowded street? Alas, the wind will blow it out. Whatever gifts are in my power to give you, Be they flowers, Be they gems for your neck, How can they please  you If in time they must surely whither, Crack, Lose lustre? All that my hands can place in yours Will slip through your fingers And fall forgotten to the dust To turn into dust. Rather, When you have leisure, Wander idly through my garden in spring And let an unknown, hidden flower's scent startle you Into sudden wondering - Let that displaced moment Be my gift. Or if, as you peer your way down a shady avenue, Suddenly, spilled From the thick gathered tresses of evening A single shivering fleck of sunset-light stops you, Turn your daydreams to gold, Let that light be an innocent Gift. Truest treasure is fleeting; It sparkles for a moment, then goes. It does not tell its name, its tune Stops us in our tracks, its dance disappears At the toss of an anklet. I know no way to it - No hands, nor word can reach it, Friend, whatever you take of it, On your own, Without asking, without knowing, let that Be yours. Anything I can give you is trifling - Be it a flower, or a song - Rabindranath Tagore "Let that displaced moment be my gift." sometimes they do get the nobel prize right! and a monday morning email that is actually dispatched on a monday morning. awesome! much much love, d&s

.... the first monday

the last day of the year. the last monday mail of the year :-) the monday morning mail celebrates its first anniversary next week and i am probably the most surprised that its come so far :-) "why do you write these emails" asked kiruthiga and i have no real answer! began on the mistaken notion that laxmi may be lonely in jharia and a regular email may cheer her up (turned out she was more like the queen of jharia :-) got on that crazy train and haven't been able to get off! and an year has come to pass:-)  an year has come to pass. and its been an intense year. almost every certainty i took for granted - family, friendships, institution, job, student relationships - all of them were suddenly open to question. came under an intense scrutiny and i learnt much, not all of it comforting. held the same mirror to myself and i learnt even more, and even less comforting :-) no wonder the hair's been greying so fast! another year has come to pass. and intense year it was. and in the public world outside, and in the private world within, it was a singular mantra that was resounding - not sure, not sure, not sure! and as life's mysteries go. the deeper i have entered this world of not sure, the more it has liberated me. the more my assumptions and certainties have been shaken, the stronger i seem to have found myself at the end of it. lot less sure and yet lot stronger :-) and somewhere in the midst of all this have been the monday morning mails. neither monday, nor morning, nor email! and yet somehow a monday morning email :-) they've been mostly a spontaneous flow written in quiet moments. and its been the search for that quiet peace that has determined which day is going to be the monday of the week :-) i have no real clue what i will write, and i probably read each mail many more times than any of you. "now what did he write?!" the most joyous part of the mail of course is the search for the poem. have discovered some gems over the year :-) and for those gems. and for patiently bearing with all of the writer's idiosyncrasies. and for being the collective inspiration for the monday morning mails, a deep deep deep thank you. cannot speak "for sure" about your lives, but these mails have made my life richer :-) they are my reminder to me about all i celebrate about this life  :-) its the end of one year, and the beginning of another. and arbitrary as these divisions in time may be, they have real influences on our lives. and every new day, every new year is yet another opportunity to count our blessings, and share them too :-) the poem for this moment is one of my favourite benedictions - from one of my favourite swamis :-) and its the poem i invariably tun too each "new year" :-)  "My Prayer for You" May God bless you all with health, long life, peace, prosperity  and spiritual enlightenment. May you all walk in the Light of God, with God, with your hand in his, with the whole of you in his palm. Live in God; love in God; serve God in all beings.  May that Supreme Being dwell in your eyes and in your heart,  seeing His own self in all; seeing God himself in all.  May we thus swim in the ocean of bliss. May the peace that passeth all understanding dwell in your heart,  radiate from every pore of your skin, bathing everyone who comes within  the circle of your aura with that inexpressible peace.  May harmony radiate from you,  dispelling the darkness of disharmony wherever it is found.  May bliss radiate from you, dispelling the gloom of suffering, misery,  and pain - physical, mental, moral, and spiritual. May God lead us from the unreal to the Real, from darkness to Light,  from mortality to Immortality. Assert every moment of your life: "I am the immortal Self. I am not the body.  I am not this finite, limited mind. I am the immortal  Self. May you be established in that Self-realization right  now. - Swami Venkatesananda "May you all walk in the Light of God, with God, with your hand in his, with the whole of you in his palm" what a lovely thought with which to welcome a new year:-) no matter what is happening in the world "outside", may we always walk "in the light of all that is good", and may this truly be the best year of our lives - happy new year! much love, d&s

the bright lights of monday !

that rhythmic sound. of the ocean waves seeking the sands. its early evening on the 24th of december, theres a sun gently setting on the waters and we're sitting on the beach in amritapuri, hundreds of people sitting in a quiet circle around a space made sacred by amma's expected presence. these are the legendary friday evening meditations on the beach, its the first time we've been in amritapuri on such a friday evening, and its lovely. i'm sitting and typing away on a spot right behind where amma is supposed to sit and i said its quiet.but for this wonderful banter going on amongst some little kids in whose space we'd slipped in. they're indian by face but speak english with a lovely lilting accent i can't quite place. makes it even more beautiful :-) i look around at the sea of face on this sandy beach by the arabian ocean. the meditation is over and amma's launched into an impromptu bhajan. i look around at this sea of faces and these are some happy faces :-) what an incredible setting and what a gift this evening was. just being there. sitting quietly. and drinking in these precious moments of love seeking and love speaking. once again the air of relaxed expectation, the gentle banter, and that wisdom timeless. and amma, utterly quiet and still during the meditation, a mountain, an ocean, an immense peace. "lead us from death to immortality - what does it really mean" a sudden question from amma to her swamis and they're under the spotlight, and in a spot :-) she takes all their answers - the clever, the earnest, the erudite, the learned, the creative, the common explanations, the uncommon explanations - takes them all and puts them away. "what does it really mean?" takes us all and goes to the heart of the matter - our hearts - and explains in words that all can understand - immortality is in the compassionate heart, the good that we do without any self concern, egoless - it are these thoughts, words, and deeds that will live on, long after we are gone. shes saying the same thing the swamis tried to say - its the death of the ego - but this we understand :-) the sun has set, the darshan is over and i am sitting on a rock watching the waters  approach and recede, dancing that eternal dance. theres a cool breeze blowing and the only sound i can hear is this music of the waves crashing against the rocks. its a meditation in itself and i could spend a long long time just sitting like this. just watching the sky get darker and the waters greyer and the ocean deeper and deeper still, an eternal cosmic heart just beating away. i look back and hello! everyone has disappeared. a moment ago this was a bustling mela of chairs, mikes, people, silence and songs. and now all that remains is the silence, a little stretch of grey-black sand and the rustling of those palm trees. did i dream it all? where did everyone go? or is it the ocean called amma gently reminding us again how ephemeral life's waves are, beautiful as they may be. xmas. its xmas day and we're on the move again. last night it was a full house at the bhajan hall and a party. amma's western devotees had rocked the house with their annual xmas play. a memorable production on the three marys in jesus's life. drama, humor, passionate singing, rocking beats, imaginative sets, modern dance, flower like children, peacocks and elephants, robbers slithering down innocously placed ropes, despair and redemption, and the messages sublime- they delivered it all! seemed like months of hard preparation - and all for love. now thats christmas! the christmases of this life have always been a time for celebration. a winter celebration. delhi, calcutta, chennai, an even in my darkest doctoral days in berkeley couldn't bear not to be celebrating at this time of the year! gay cafes, brightly lit market places, brightly dressed up people, that familiar music, the midnight masses in san francisco with haricharan and our temple sangha, the joy of getting, and giving, gifts, those never ending plum cakes, and joy, just an unreasonable inexplicable joy. thats how i really feel on christmas! perhaps its to do with the heart this festival celebrates. love is joy, even when it hurts lekshmy's wedding at trivandrum on christmas day. the ceremony took less than 15 minutes, or so it seemed - these malayali weddings! lekshmy was a sparkling smile throughout the morning - never seen a bride grin so much, or throw her head back so often and laugh out loud. she looked so happy and he so content. thats a way to wed too. and be. may they always be so :-) and now i sit on the eigth floor of block b at amritapuri watching the gulls fly over the distant ocean. the last few hours of our special xmas weekend, and this cold and cough notwithstanding, it was a wonderful time. if this be the season of celebration, much was. and the bells are still ringing inside. its been quite a journey this week's monday morning mail :-) it may have taken its time, gone a few places, but as long as you believe in santa claus, you'd better believe this too - the monday morning mail is sure going to be there!  Snow in Bethlehem Thunder rumbles in the mountain passes And lightning rattles the eaves of our houses. Flood waters await us in our avenues. Snow falls upon snow, falls upon snow to avalanche Over unprotected villages. The sky slips low and grey and threatening. We question ourselves. What have we done to so affront nature? We worry God. Are you there? Are you there really? Does the covenant you made with us still hold? Into this climate of fear and apprehension, Christmas enters, Streaming lights of joy, ringing bells of hope And singing carols of forgiveness high up in the bright air. The world is encouraged to come away from rancor, Come the way of friendship. It is the Glad Season. Thunder ebbs to silence and lightning sleeps quietly in the corner. Flood waters recede into memory. Snow becomes a yielding cushion to aid us As we make our way to higher ground. Hope is born again in the faces of children It rides on the shoulders of our aged as they walk into their sunsets. Hope spreads around the earth. Brightening all things, Even hate which crouches breeding in dark corridors. In our joy, we think we hear a whisper. At first it is too soft. Then only half heard. We listen carefully as it gathers strength. We hear a sweetness. The word is Peace. It is loud now. It is louder. Louder than the explosion of bombs. We tremble at the sound. We are thrilled by its presence. It is what we have hungered for. Not just the absence of war. But, true Peace. A harmony of spirit, a comfort of courtesies. Security for our beloveds and their beloveds. We clap hands and welcome the Peace of Christmas. We beckon this good season to wait a while with us. We, Baptist and Buddhist, Methodist and Muslim, say come. Peace. Come and fill us and our world with your majesty. We, the Jew and the Jainist, the Catholic and the Confucian, implore you to stay awhile with us so we may learn by your shimmering light how to look beyond complexion and see community. It is Christmas time, a halting of hate time. On this platform of peace, we can create a language to translate ourselves to ourselves and to each other. At this Holy Instant, we celebrate the Birth of Jesus Christ Into the great religions of the world. We jubilate the precious advent of trust. We shout with glorious tongues the coming of hope. All the earth's tribes loosen their voices to celebrate the promise of Peace. We, Angels and Mortals, Believers and Nonbelievers, Look heavenward and speak the word aloud. Peace. We look at our world and speak the word aloud. Peace. We look at each other, then into ourselves, And we say without shyness or apology or hesitation: Peace, My Brother. Peace, My Sister. Peace, My Soul By Maya Angelou the sun has completely set over the ocean, the sky itself seems to have disappeared. this heart itself is the ocean at this moment - dark, immense, and deep. this peace. such peace. may it fill our world :-) merry christmas! much much love, d&s