Thinkin' on your stomach.

Moksha, they say, is a difficult objective to attain. While saying this, 'they' probably took into account, intensely hard levels of concentration, self-deprivation, spiritual purification and the like. I'm quite sure they didnt have a terribly-conditioned old bus in mind as an obstacle to salvation.

Kerala is a land of temples; perhaps the best known pilgrimage destination in Kerala is Sabarimala, high up in the Sahyadri Mountains(western ghats). Sabarimala Sri Dharmasastha Temple is the most famous and prominent among all the Sastha Temples. It is believed that "Parasurama Maharishi" who retrieved Kerala from the sea by throwing his axe, installed the idol of Ayyappa at Sabarimala to worship Lord Ayyappa.The pilgrim season begins in the month of November and ends in January. The temple attracts pilgrims not only from the southern states of India, but also from other parts of the country and abroad.(Courtesy Sabarimala.org)

If you still can't figure the place out, its the holy hillock in Kerala where Vivek Oberoi goes every year: there. (just goes to show you how celebrity-centric this world is). I visited the place yesterday along with Dad. Sabarimala happens to be 2 districts away from Trivandrum, so it only took a day. Being my first visit since I started this blog (what an excuse, eh?) I decided to thrust online, a vivid description of how the journey went.

Travel

Dad had booked bus tickets from the Travancore Devaswom Board. To cut a long part of the story short, travel by bus was horrendous. Why, the inquisitive reader may ask.There were 47 seats, the sustainability of each totally at the whim and fancy of anyone above 80 kgs. They jammed three people in one seat. Seriously, I think the bus has been designed and had been used previously by the Seven Dwarfs for their transport purposes. I've got knee cramps, butt cramps, cramps in every known part and organ of the human body. During a 5 hour journey that started at 9 in the night, I tried to sleep in every imaginable position. No matter which, some part of my being always ached. Irony is, somebody mentioned the words "Luxury Bus" before the bus came to pick us up. 'Horrendous' seems to be majorly euphemistic.

The Trek

The temple is, as already mentioned, atop a hill on the banks of the river Pampa. Vehicles stop at the banks and from then on, its travel by foot. The considerably steep uphill trek spans 3-4 kms and usually, consumes 2-3 hours. I've gone to this place 2 times before and on both occasions, the journey was quite manageable. However this time, the journey was extremely exhausting, thanks to our cruise in the bus. Dad had tried to act smart by going to the empty rear of the bus and trying to sleep there. However, that idea suffered major "jolts". So, basically, after covering some distance, we were totally pooped. At one point, Fatigue told Shame to take a hike; and we slept on the sides of the trek road. Indeed we were looking so worn-out that, as Dad put it rightly, if we had a towel sprawled in front of us, we would have attracted some coins of sympathy.1 hour of undisturbed, blissful sleep. After which, we managed to complete the rest of the journey.

The Temple

Praying at the temple was a pretty ordinary affair. We climbed the 18 steps, past the metal detector, to reach the shrine with gold-plated walls. Fortunately, the rush of devotees was quite subdued this time around. Quite possibly due to the heavy rains lashing South India. We were able to catch comfortable glimpses of the Lord getting dabbed in ghee. The intensity of the devotees has always been a source of admiration for me. Many of them traverse State Boundaries, unruly roads and trek difficult terrain barefoot, just to get a one-minute(if you're lucky enough) eye-in at the idol. I'm not going into any bullshit about Religion being the opium of the masses, but there was a sense of intense fervour in the atmosphere, quite palpable to me as I cupped my hands together and prayed.

The Return

We usually returned by any bus that was available at the time. So this time around, I wondered out aloud hopefully to Dad, during our brief sojourn, as to the bus we would be returning in. He gave me a short glance and said, " Why, we would be returning in the same bus. I booked two-way tickets." I gave him the you-hafta-be-kidding-me look. No doubt, the man had the same feeling of dread in his eyes.
So there you are; 5 more hours in the mobile House Of Horrors. However (to be read with much emphasis), there exists something known as 'saving grace', a term to which I shall henceforth attribute divine powers. This saving g. came in the form of a lunch. Yes,lunch. The bus driver, quite obvious of the pain which his passengers were in, stopped at a cracker of a hotel (clear off any imagination of outward poshness from your mind). Lunch was superb. A central Travancore delight. Yum, Yum. Gorge, Gorge...and more of the same.

The comfort of home, to which I have alluded in one of my previous posts, is readily heartening. Any fluff of atheism remaining in my mind was given the heave-ho, as Mom was waiting back home with a fruit salad.

Effort. And that was what pulled me through an excruciating 30 minute session of driving lessons today. My mornings, for quite some time now, start with "Ignition,shifting to first gear and stepping on the pedal." At 7:30, a middle-aged chap chug chugs along and brings his 'miniscule' (Note word) Maruti to a stop in front my house. Self, of all the people who would have been normally be awake at the same time, will be dutifully waiting for him outside the door. Today, there was a slight drizzle..the atmosphere was perfecto for a jolly car ride. My thoughts in such fashion were disrupted by the sound of something that resembled a fog horn more than anything else. Awaiting my eager eyes as they looked out on to the road was a 'gargantuan'(Note word also) automobile in jarring blue. If anything, this monstrosity shook away any remnants of sleepiness in me. The instructor, with a noticeably wicked grin on his face, beckoned.
I got in. Or more correctly, this 'being' swallowed me. Yours truly, who till then had been a little arrogant at grasping the nuances of driving, pretty quickly,lost his colour. As I sat there, cramped (would you believe it?!) for knee space in a vehicle I thought would encompass the entire locality, I realized that some controls were quite different from those in gentle Marutis. Thankfully,all the stuff that was alien to me (a certain amount of 'knob-pulling' had to be done) were done by the instructor. Now, except for an unwielding gear, the other paraphernelia seemed similar. There was a back-seat occupant also;another student who had just completed the day's drive. He looked as if he had gone through hell..as i looked onto his pallid face,I thought he would froth at the mouth any moment.

So I started. Unfortunately, this thing of evil, didnt. Perhaps it didnt think fit to do so. After considerable effort, of which I have already made references to, it budged. My house is on a slope and it took the focussing of every ounce of my energy onto my leg to effect the brake. As we moved on, I realized that the accelerator was as sensitive as Schwarzanegger. The steering seemed to have a mind of its own, differing with my actions, the every other second. After half-an-hour of zig-zagging, I returned to my source in one piece. The ordeal wasnt over that quickly. As we reached the infamous sloping road, I realized that the brake was stuck.The instructor, crackpot that he was, seemed to think that I wasnt pressing it properly. So he jammed at the brakes(with my toes still over it) HARD. That worked miraculously;a second later, the neighbours noticed someone limping out of a humungous blue fourer.I'll quickly wrap this piece up; my legs are already aching at the reminisce. He seems to have crushed a nerve.

arun

A silent debate rages on between the advocates of free knowledge dissemination and the bigwigs in the commercial/corporate sector. One of the major issues concerning the world today is the availability and usability of 'free knowledge'. What exactly does the term indicate? It highlights a result more than an issue. The stand here is that Knowledge should be Free. I am referring to sources (of knowledge) that are available to anyone- be it open source journals, open software or other content-bearing works. What made me ponder on this issue was the instance of surfing through the books of E-brary, the online library. Content in e-brary is not free; for every letter,every word you copy , you are deducted money from the account you have already paid to join the service. Knowledge dissemination should be free. Online Services like E-brary, EBSCO, Infotrac, Encyclopedia Brittanica should be open to access by everyone.Such access is important in today's world because the same has been reduced to the status of a global village. Man, suddenly, is not confined to any particular sphere of life. He needs knowledge that is a conglomerate of various sectors.Taking a personal example, a student of law has to be well-versed in science (esp. biotechnology) if he is to study Intellectual Property law purely because there are a lot of segments from both science and law that merge to form Intellectual Property. Research scholars and students find it exceedingly hard to extract information on little-known topics. Sources that provide info on such content always, almost without exception, charge currency for obtaining it.

There is, as there will always be, a flip side to the issue. The recent controversy surrounding Wikipedia's publishing of wrong, misleading content (concerning accusation of prominent people in JFK's assassination) BBC News :Wikipedia joker eats humble pie. is an eye-opener. It, in no uncertain terms, shows us what exactly could go wrong once content(majorly on the web) is given open access. Wikipedia, undoubtedly, is a pioneer towards the enobling cause of Free Knowledge Dissemination. It's also encouraging to notice that there is a significant group strongly supporting the movement. However, the recent spate of events show that flaws creep into the system. Open access is misused and misleading knowledge (worse than no knowledge at all) is provided. The plausible solution to this issue, is perhaps restriction. Restriction, however, need not be in monetary terms. See BBC News:Wikipedia tightens online rules. Then again, other restrictions have their own errs. The solution is not clearly visible at the moment. Wikipedia's progress needs to be followed closely as the movement's success is imperative to the whole concept of free, open access knowledge.

Looks like this is "Change the name of your Blog" week. I'd been musing on how the title inspired by Footsbarn theatre was actually catchy..Heck, i decided to go a step further n give it a shot in the arm ala Shakespeare style...The drama's title is taken from Hamlet's famous soliloquy which i dutifully quote below:

To be, or not to be? That is the question—
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And, by opposing, end them? To die, to sleep—
No more—and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to—’tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished! To die, to sleep.
To sleep, perchance to dream—ay, there’s the rub,
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause.

Before i explain the new blog title vis-a-vis this passage, it would be interesting to note what Hamlet actually meant. Shakespeare used to be nightmarish in school days, but in retrospect (and further introspect from a casual standpoint) you can't help but admire the man. Hamlet dwells on the question of his existence, thanks to his difficult times. He asks himself whether to die or to live. Living would mean taking the blow of harsh reality face-first. Death, on the other hand is compared to sleep..mere sleep..which is far more "attainable". Perhaps, Hamlet says, its possible to dream while sleeping (the analogy is continued)..but he is afraid of the dreams that could occur in death..I personally think his helplessness and indecisiveness is brought out brilliantly through these words..

The blog title deals with a parallel aspect..i construe sleeping as the the state of dormancy in "outward life"..the individual's apparent serenity as he/she presents themselves to society. However, the "inner self"/soul is far more turbulent..be it for the better or for worse..The intention in this life is to chronicle the inner-self in tandem with layman life. Perhaps i could dream my true expressions in my state of dormancy.

Cheers
arun