Changing my blog

I am finding it increasingly hard to use my yahoo email id to open this particular blog. I keep getting into an old blogger site which I had opened with my gmail id!

So I decided to go with the flow- and simply use my gmail id- so the new blogsite is:

www.yourstrulymanju2.blogspot.com

It's simple- just add a '2' to the first part. I've named my new blog - Soul-train. So do continue on the journey, along with me!


Oh, and I am taking Guruji along as well...;-)

A day to remember

They say the world is made of good and the bad. But there is also the indefinable.

They say that you reap what you sow. But there are those who can only receive what they never asked for, nor expected.

Imagine that you are a child born to an HIV- infected parent (or parents). Imagine that you have been unfortunate enough to become HIV positive.

Now imagine your life.

When my office (VMware) decided to do a collection drive (mainly clothes, medicines) for HIV+ children, I dutifully obliged by contributing my share of medicines and clothes. I thought that someone would deliver the huge boxes in the Home of DESIRE Society.



I never imagined that shortly thereafter, I would be accompanying my colleagues Urvashi, Geetha, Mruthyunjay and Aditya to visit the children in their Home.

After some meandering along the roads of JPNagar, we finally found the place. A nice house set amidst greenery. Subhash, the Vice President of the Home introduced us to a bunch of lively, enthusiastic and cheerful children. Who can ever imagine...

Urvashi, Subhash (the angel who takes care of the children), me, Aditya and Mruthyunjay with the children. Geetha was quietly weeping in the van by then.

Their eyes reflected such joy and such liveliness that it was ironical for us to even imagine what their tiny bodies are going through. And then Geetha, who has two tiny tots of her own, simply broke down, unable to bear the pain of seeing sick children who were abandoned or orphaned at such a young age.

My spiritual quest took a positive turn that day by merely peering into these children's eyes which showed such love and gratitude. Their bodies spoke a language of pain and anquish. But no disease could ever reach their spirit which shone through their eyes.

We were told that a couple of children were in the hospital in a serious condition. We decided to get more involved with this Home and render whatever help that we can give them. In fact, I plan to do a Nav Chetan Shibir for the children, as soon as possible.

If you would like to help these children here is the address:

DESIRE Society (caring for HIV+ children)
8th Phase, JPNagar
Bangalore 500076, India
Phone: 080 3241 4683
Email: desire_subhash@yahoo.com
www.desiresociety.com

DSN with Anandji, this Guru Poornima

Jai Guru Dev,

Please watch this lovely video on DSN,
http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=oUHveex5UV0

Guruji Says “Do not follow me. In fact, you cannot follow me because I am behind you and I am in you. I am behind you to push you forward. For too long you have been following as a sheep; now its time to be a lion”

And the ONLY way to do this is do the DSN (Divya Samajka Nirmaan) - a very intense and comprehensive course designed by Gurudev to make each one of us realize who we truly are.

Through a powerful combination of Padma Sadhana, special meditations, breathing
techniques, group processes, and deep spiritual knowledge, the DSN course empowers participants to break through personal inhibitions and barriers of all kinds.

In just 3 days your face will be brightening up, mind will be lightened of burden and hearts will be filled with love and gratitude.

Exuberance is in his name, a state of constant bliss! Anandji has undying energy; he is full of enthusiasm, killer techniques filled with animated actions.

Please visit http://www.anandji. net/ for more info.

This Guru Poornima, do the DSN and explore the Pinnacle of potential you are gifted with. Blossoming to your fullest potential is the best way of showing our gratitude to our master

Course Date: 9th to 12th July 2009
Course Starts On: 9th July at 4:58 PM
Venue: CPRI Staff Quarter Community Hall,
New BEL Road, Near Ramaiah Hospital
Bangalore - 54

Contact: kandula.manjula@gmail.com (98450 82045)

Catching up- The Big 'O' game

It's been quite some time since I blogged- mainly because my fingers ache these days from typing out mails!! Then, I recently got hooked onto doing the crossword puzzle. I started making (word)sense in those tiny tantalizing white boxes.

Once in a way, I look up from my word-o-rama to observe the world around me! One one of these occasions, I noticed that the Great Indian election's over, with (king) Cong taking centerstage.

I also noticed that the world's gotten more polemic now.

President O's saying 'NO' to Outsourcing.

I wonder whether his 'No' to the big 'O' has come too late in the day.


Maybe, from his standpoint, it all makes sense. But after calling the world 'flat', it's hard to do 'round' again . Maybe the bigwigs in the White house need to think differently, rather than drop their favorite pastime of shedding some work overseas. If this is done in the name of economy, it doesn't make sense.

After all, doesn't Uncle Sam rely on the vast population of the East to sell its burgeoning product line? The pappus in our families don't mind choking on Coke. The college-going Tinas suddenly owe their glossy manes to imported shampoo.

Why do dosas if Pizza is literally dropped at your doorstep?

Na-ah- we're sold on Oprah and the American Pie. We can speak American with a southern twang and English with a Scottish lilt. But we look puzzled when the friendly neighborhood vegetable vendor asks us a question in aamchi Marathi.

Modern India is facing a socio-cultural identity crisis.

This happened because one fine day the west decided to outsource. And the O- biz grew, and grew and grew. We yanked our kids out of reading sci-fi and showed them the computer section- coz' that was the bandwagon raking in the moolah.

Sons of farmers dropped sickles and took to scripting instead.

From win-win of the pre-recession days, it suddenly became you lose-I win from the western standpoint.

Ab Kya hoga?

The writing on the wall is clear.

Now we need to drop the loss and win the toss instead. No, I'm not talking 20/20 matches here. This is a match of Life. We need to innovate, coz' the world knows that Indians are smart people hailing from a land which invented the 'zero'.

We need to create our I-Brand and we can do this in ever so many ways. By creating new products, we can bring more job opportunities. We can also give a boost to many of our already existing Indian products.


So why buy Loreal when you have an Indian brand available? These days, I use Ayurvedic soap, instead of the usual 'phoren' brand that I had gotten used to. It takes a bit of adjustment, but then, only by promoting Indian goods will we be able to create job opportunities for India.

No hard feelings Mr P, we're just looking out for ourselves, our jobs, and our products.

The other side of 'V'

This week India goes to polls- the big 'V' in the life of the Indian junta is definitely on.

The other 'V' for me is the launch of VSphere the product which we have been working for all these months. Virtualization is the buzzword of the IT world today, saving cost and energy for companies that adopt the technology.



I watched this program on ndt'V' yesterday- on Godmen in Politics. To be or not to be. I generally like the way Barkha Dutt conducts these sessions, although this time I felt that she did not give the speakers (particularly the BJP spokesman) enough time to voice his opinion.

Well there were er, votes for both sides from the audience, in this show. One side felt that the spiritual Masters should confine themselves to spirituality or Yoga or Church matters. The other side felt that hey, they were citizens too, and had a right to express their opinion.

I certainly believe that when the western Goras are calling the shots in lands far away, our desi Gurus and Gods have every right to voice their opinions. It's a free democracy. It's sad that secularism seems to be coming out in second place though.

So I see GREEN (technology) on one side and I see RED on the other. That's coz' there's this well-deserving product launch dinner in our company on one side, and there are sleazy tickets for booze being distributed by unscrupulous political parties on the other side.

It's technology on one side and mostly tyrannical ruling parties on the other. Can't really compare the two.

But hey, I do want one more 'V' this season.

I want the 'V' of Victory- for one, a product launch which beats 'em all other Hyper-Vs.

And the 'V' of Victory to Honest, clean ruling for our country.

Yes, that's a 'V' that's just gotta be...

The Dream

A busy road. Cars on the run, chasing one another like a bunch of crazed ants.

I am sitting in my car, with dad, mum and a bunch of drivers (the new one and the one who got a away).

The driver at the helm navigates an underpass and that was when we encounter some car trouble. Suddenly, both the drivers are OUTSIDE the car, quarreling with someone. The driver seat is now empty and the car is stranded with all of us inside it. I panic.

Dad takes a quick decision to leave the quarreling drivers behind and drive the car himself. I heave a sigh of relief. I am safe and the noise of the honking vehicles behind us has died down!

Somewhere on the way home, dad decides to take the car to the mechanic. So he drops us off at a bus station where we wait for a bus to take us home.

A ramshackle beaten-down bus is the first to arrive. Soon after, another bus arrives which is in much better shape and parks alongside the old one.

I decide to board the new bus. Inside the bus, I look around, but cannot find mum. She must have boarded the ol' tin-box, I reckon. I'd meet her at home anyway.

The bus starts moving and I see strange 'stops', but not the familiar bus-stop near my home! Along the way, all I see are new houses, beautiful flowering plants, and villages. We move on and on, and I realize that I must get off before I leave the city altogether.

I alight at the next stop which looks like another village. I ask a passer-by whether I will be able to find a rickshaw home, (I give them the address). The passer-by nods and suggests that I wait a while.

Soon I hail a black taxi. I ask the driver the fare for taking me homeward. He cites an exorbitant amount. I reluctantly agree to the price, and am fortunate to have enough money in my purse to pay him.

I get into the taxi but almost instinctively, I do not like the driver. Added to that, the car moves slowly, practically inching its way home-ward! Somewhere on the way, the driver even stops at a tea stall. By now my patience is running thin. I get off the car and decide to wait for a rickshaw.

While waiting on the kerb, I see a house which many tourists are visiting. I decide to check it out, since there are no rickshaws in sight.

Inside the house, I see machines making cement tablets. Not too keen to explore, I skirt around the low-lying machinery and get to the exit quickly.

Most of the rickshaws seem to be occupied I see an empty one which is approaching me. It is very large and artistically designed. Strangely, the driver is not seated at the steering wheel but is actually sitting atop a modest throne. Yet, he manages to stop the rickshaw near me! He is dressed in white and is chanting constantly. I am puzzled over how he is driving the rickshaw.

Still, I ask him if he can take me home. He smiles and says 'yes'.

More people board the auto and I wonder how he can let so many people in.

I ask him once more if he can take me home, this time I sound more sceptical.

He takes no notice of my scepticism and only smiles and says "Of course, I take everybody home."

"I take these home too" he adds, pointing to the tiny plants growing in his rickshaw!

I wake up with a start. It is three am.

I cannot go back to sleep. For all I can think of is the dazzling whiteness of the driver's dress...

A bundle of nerves and a bunch of trees

I'm totally with folks who often refer to themselves as being 'a bundle of nerves'.

Currently, I am just that. One painful heat boil rubbing against cloth is all that it takes for my nerves to bundle up and shriek!

No matter, I can soon put it all past me. Even as I 'Jai Gurudev'd' my way to the medicine cabinet in search of some ointment, the boil broke and that soothed the skin quite a bit. I thanked all the Gods lined up in my Puja room for the relief rendered.

Gratitude is a balm that works quite well among human beings with wounds, abrasions, cuts, burns, boils and a fermenting attitude as well. I tend to show gratitude by putting my hands up in the air and looking skyward in search of a God who's probably wearing Prada. Or some equivalent brand available out there.

This gratitude continued as I drove to the office the day after that boil'ing Apocalypse. I glanced at the trees laden with purple blossoms and marveled at the beauty around, which kind of offset the thick smoke-filled air.

The branches were sinewy and brimming with flowers in varying hues- purple, mauve, yellow. The colors may have been different, but all the branches had but one characteristic.

Like outstretched hands, the branches pointed Upwards, swaying gently to the occasional breeze. Despite facing the menacing axe poised to cut and kill, these gentle branches only looked Upward in constant Gratitude.

And here I was fretting over a boil.

Connecting...

Just when I was skillfully pushing aside the few odd pangs of guilt for not making any blog entries, I got a mail from a new-found online friend who said that I had actually inspired her to start her own blog. Well, that's the thing that keeps you going. A word here and there.

So here I am again...:-)

The International Women's conference went off real well, although I dare say that I was truly behind the scenes with no chance of attending a session. I mean, I was looking after Hema Malini ji, whom I admired for years. Trust Gurudev to put you where you always dreamed to be. In front of one of the most beautiful women the world has seen.

Hema ji is forthright, straightforward and no-nonsense type. I quickly learned that she can intimidate people with her direct approach. But go past the tough exterior and you find that she is a very sensitive person. I guess one has to be sensitive to be able to portray Divine persona such as 'Radha' or 'Lakshmi'.

In spite of her busy schedule we did chat up a bit. We giggled over the cute goody bag that the organizers had placed on her bed. Hemaji will look past any other cuisine to get to the plain South Indian fare of idlis and dosas. She loves to use her own herbal tea dips. All in all, she does take care of her diet and health.

While looking after Hemaji and her dance troupe, (who had joined her to perform a beautiful dance ballet at the ashram), I also was able to meet Usha Uthup, a singer par excellence, whom I idolized for her wonderful renditions- eastern or western.

Here are a few pics that you might enjoy:

Hemaji at dinner. Guruji came in later and spoke to her (and us!)

That's me with Ushaji

Hemaji (as Radha) with 'Krishna' and the dance troupe.

International Women's conference at ashram

Ok, ok, I haven't been writing for quite some time. But folks, I have been busy. I mean REALLY busy. Office matters, work on the personal front and on TOP of all this, I was helping out a bit with the forthcoming International Women's conference. Yep, the biennial ALL GIRLS' MEET that's to take place at the serene, soothing, green ashram.

Come Feb 6, women from all walks of life will be arriving at the ashram to participate in the conference.

This year's Conference is entitled "The Light of Leadership: Integrating Global Perspectives".

The conference sessions will seek to:

- Highlight the importance of women leadership in ensuring sustainable
development
- Create a network of women committed to bringing a positive change in society
- Explore ways to unlock the innate leadership potential within every individual

Dates : 6th - 8th Feb, 2009
Venue :The Art of Living International Centre, Bangalore, India

Information is also available on our website

Here's a word on the registration goody bag. As conference registrants, women will get to interact with women from all over the world, from different walks of life. They will also avail an Art of Living course, which teaches simple stress-relieving and spiritually uplifting techniques. They will also get to interface with experts in Ayurveda, and will receive some wonderful rejuvenating holistic tips and treatments. More than anything, they will be in the company of Gurudev Sri Sri Ravishankar.

One can very well appreciate a conference like this and its relevance in today's issues of women's rights. World over, women's basic problems are both similar and diverse- sometimes unique to geographies and to workplaces. How better to appreciate this than attend a conference which brings so many women under a common umbrella of love, compassion and the steely resolve to take action?

If there women readers out there who are interested in knowing more about the conference you can mail me at: Kandula.manjula@gmail.com

Back on track

It's good to be back after a soothing break from the normal routine. It rejuvenates and revitalizes the spirit. Some quality time with family, friends, relatives and pets sure feels good. Not to forget the sweet boxes that were doing their rounds during the New Year.

Despite our busy schedule of visiting homes of relatives in Hyderabad, my husband and I did manage to take time off to read the Holy scriptures- and books that wrote about them. It was such a fantastic feeling I got when I started to read a commentary on Adi Sankara's Vivekachudamani. I browsed through the 'Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna', and it was so beautiful to read about His life.

Came New Year's Eve, and I started yearning to see a glimpse of Gurudev. Nope. I only had His picture and had to take comfort in the gentle face that stared back at me.

On Jan 1st, 2009, in between phone calls of new years greetings, setting the breakfast table, doing my Kriya, I was desparate. So I prayed hard to Guruji so that I could at least see his face SOMEWHERE. I missed him a lot.

It was mid-morning, when I decided to flip the TV channels. One, two three...hmmm, nothing on screen, I reckoned. I almost shut off the idiot box when I saw Gurudev's beaming presence. He was addressing the youth of Andhra Pradesh- speaking about meditation, prayer, peace and the like. I smiled to myself- this was Gurudev at work!

I hardly switched the TV on all of the week, and I happened to switch it on, at a time, at the very channel, where He was speaking!! I listened intently to his every word. He started to speak about science- a topic that always interested me since I had done a PhD in Biochemistry. "Of what use is a study in science if it cannot be put to use?" he asked in rhetoric. "...Yes, Kriya has a lot of good effects as per the studies in Biochemistry". I giggled. Yep, it almost seemed as if Gurudev was speaking to ME, comforting me that he was always there. We only had to be receptive to cosmic signals.

I am so grateful. I could have studied any number of books, imbibed some knowledge, scratched my head over the syntax, pondered over the semantic meaning, wondered over God's presence. But just a mere glance of my Guru had answered the fundamental tenet of all our Belief.

Faith.

Faith can move mountains, and this time it brought my Guru to me when I wanted Him.