Since a long time, i've been wondering why most of our more popular temples are built on top of hills or in places that are not easily accessible.
Or is it the other way round- because a temple is difficult to reach, it becomes more important??
In fact, we value more the things which are not easily available. To put it another way, the more restricted access is to something, the higher goes it's value.
Think first day first show cinema tickets, Liquor during probation. Gas cylinders, Ration card stocks, Passport applications, Visas to the US, BSNL Mobile cards, NCERT Books, Admissions into schools of repute, a glimpse of our local MLA after election!! etc etc. And, we ourselves create more demand than supply and make sure there is a black market created for each of the above!
Now, going back to temples, i think god went up and sat on mountains, so that atleast when we go up to see him, we'll give some exercise to our out-of-shape bodies!
Mostly, this tendency of gods going up onto hills is in the Northern part of our country. So, it's easier to reach gods in South India as most of the places of worship are in the plains or near the sea. Probably god wants South Indians to be plump and roly-poly (and we happily oblige)!
The photo attached is of probably the most beautiful temple i've seen. It's called Hidimba Devi (built in respect of Hidimba Devi, wife of Bhima and mother of Ghatotkacha), near Manali in Himachal Pradesh. As you cannot see from the photo, it is located right in the midst of snow-covered hills and in a restricted forest of trees touching the sky (in fact, they look like broom sticks used to clean the sky of cob-webs!)
The temple is extremely ancient and in the altar, there is a cave, which is below ground level, where there's a continuous holy fire burning. Phenomenal place!!
Also, in the adjoining forest, there is a huge huge tree, which happens to be the shrine of Ghatotkacha! (In fact, the board there says open air temple- that's a first for me!)
More info here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hidimba_Devi_Temple

The value of being Ancient!

Normally, the things we value the most are all things old.
Starting from the mountains (in fact, himalayas are supposed to be the youngest of the mountain ranges), the sea, our culture, our religions, The vedas, our epics, the buildings, Atal behari Vajpayee, Amitabh Bachchan etc etc.
However, our fascination remains with the new and the chic.
If we go to visit Delhi, we want to see India Gate, Rashtrapathi bhavan, Parliament building, Chandni Chowk, Connaught place and Raj Ghat, but in a Swanky new Ford Fiesta!! In fact, after coming back to our city, we rave more about the Fiesta than about the monuments, right?
Nothing wrong in that, but one thing i don't understand is the dualism in us regarding new and old. When i bought my new mobile phone, i tried convincing the shop owner that my older Nokia 5100 was an antique and that he should take it in exchange to my new Nokia 6681 and he should give me some money back. But see, dualism, he did not agree and he gave me a cell phone pouch in return for my ancient mobile :(
Same thing with our car. Long ago, before our Santro, we had a Maruti Omni 1986 model. When buying Santro, same thing. 1986 is pretty ancient, right? 60000 we got! (and today if i tell people that, they'll say you're lucky!)
When a old cinema poster of 1950's went on auction at Christies, it fetched over 40 Lakhs!! After 50 yrs, i will sell off this blog for an amount like that!!
However, as i think deeper into this, the value of an item, with age, first reduces and then again increases.
Probably that's why so many of our earlier generations still hold on to the first day covers they used to collect long long ago ( i still don't know the actual use of those covers!!).
Last week, in Bangalore, a vintage car of 1930's was sold off in an auction for about 25 lakhs. With that kind of money, a new Merc-E can be parked outside your house. So, as age goes on, the value increases in a lot of objects and even in trees. The older the tree, the more difficult the permission to cut it down.
This holds true for lots of things, but not for human beings. The older we are, in most circumstances, the lesser our value to the society. In fact, our society has not been taught handling the elderly. With over 60% of our nation under 35 yrs, what else do we expect, if the kids today are not educated on the art of respecting age?
This will strike back at us only. Especially because 66 crore of us are going to grow old together and no doubt about it, from being the youngest country India is going to become the oldest country in the world. What we do to the old people today, will be done to us too in the coming years and with the growing life span, most of us are going to live beyond 80 or 90 and a pretty frustrating time it's gonna be!
Probably that's why these insurance companies are selling so many pension policies nowadays! We're smart, are'nt we??
But i still kick myself for having sold off my Nokia 5100. Probably if i would have sold it off 50 yrs later, i might have got ..............

Bliss!

We keep hearing the statement "stop to smell the roses along your way". However, in today's ultra-fast world, there is neither the time to remember this adage, neither are there roses to smell along the way and even of there are roses, our noses have lost their abilities to distinguish the good and not so good smells!!!
But, in our daily lives there are certainly some moments which give us great happiness!. Most of them are'nt expensive (like roses today are), and hence, we just run over them without actually experiencing that joy. A few of those moments-

-> Smelling a freshly bought novel (or any good book). This is the major reason i'm anti e-books. They might be cheaper, more versatile or more accessible, does it smell so good???

-> Holding a glass of tea in your hands in chilly winters (holding. not drinking). We experienced this during our recent trip to Himachal. We ordered tea just to hold. Not drink! Awesome experience.

-> Sitting on the beach front-alone, just looking at the waves. As far as i know, this has to be the most therapeutic experience in the world. There is in-expressible magic in the waves that break on the shore with all their might and slide back peacefully.

-> Looking at babies laugh. You know it better.

-> Going to the ATM and finding that there is more money than you expected. This happens quite regularly for me- i'm so good at managing my finances, you know!

-> Drinking a cup of Strong South Indian Coffee- Aaaah.

-> Wake up early in the morning and find out that you still can sleep for some more time.

-> Come home late after a tired day and find HOT food waiting on the table!

-> Someone telling you that you lost weight!! Ahem!!

There are hundreds of things like this happening in our daily lives. And i'm sure these are god's way of telling us that there is a heaven on earth!!
Till the Roses come up on the street side, i think we have to make do with the rest and i'm not complaining!!!

Devotion or Discipline?

Firstly, let me make it clear- This article is not about any religion or their practice. This is more to do with the people and bureaucracy than a god and his devotees.
The Golden Temple, Amritsar, stands out as one of the most beautiful places of worship in the world, not only is it outwardly beautiful, but as the seat of the Guru Granth Sahib, is also spiritually very unique.
However, i'm not here to talk about the spiritual part of the temples. Each day on average a Lakh people visit the temple / eat in it's Langar (Free food/prasada centre). I've been there 4 times till date, the last visit being 4 days ago and i've not seen a single policeman or security guard till now!!! And there is absolute peace and awesome discipline in the people there. Best of all, there are almost no restrictions. In a place so narrow and so old, there is no one guiding / pushing / shoving people around into proper direction. There are no no-entry boards or traffic stoppers and still, the place is in utter peace all round!
I'm not comparing places, but i've seen a lot of busy temples / places of worship and always, more than the devotees, the bureaucracy and the employees placed there to help the people create chaos. Pushing, jostling, shoving and shouting are integral aspects of darshan in any busy temple, except in Amritsar.
Believe it, there is no line jumping, no recommendations for special darshans, no VVIP seva etc in the Golden Temple.
The reason being the upbringing there, which is so much service oriented that people do not have these concepts of inequality before god.
And they sincerely believe that you cannot forcefully discipline someone. It has to come from within. When thousands of people around you are so serene and calm, you naturally cannot be otherwise!
In my limited wisdom, another reason for this has to be the Free darshan concept. When we say that everyone is equal before god, why differently priced tickets?? and why separate gates and queues to go into the temple? We are preaching something and practicing something else.
In fact, our authorities are making sure that we are unequal before God. Hence, the experience here is different from there. What say you?

Hospitality in the Hills

Over the last 10 days, we went on a tour into the Himalayas and i've had quite a few learning experiences. The first of which is the "from the heart hospitality" of the Pahadis (and I mean it as an affectionate term).

Our yatra took us from Amritsar to Himachal, where we covered the whole state by Car- Dalhousie, McLeod Ganj, Manali, Rohtang Pass route, Shimla, Kufri, Sidhabari, Khajjiyar etc etc and one thing which struck me all thru was that hospitality is more than a business in the hills.

For a state which has tourism as one of it's most important sources of revenue, the people should have got tired of tourists, who, more often than not, relish spoiling the beauty of the place around them. However, it strikes us as a great surprise when the people whole-heartedly welcome us in and do more than they need to.

Whichever hotel we went to, firstly, the food was very very good. secondly, the service was impeccable (i'm not talking here about big hotels- wayside dhabas are mostly what we went to) and in more than a week, i've not seen one guy frowning!!

Enroute to Rohtang Pass, the road was completely blocked with ice and we had to go up walking for a distance and when coming back, we were chilled to the bone and all of us went into a small kiosk selling tea (that's where this photo was clicked).

4 sisters and a brother immediately took charge of us, putting us around a huge fire and giving us hot tea. Now, we were feeling hungry and one of us asked what could we eat there. Someone suggested Maggi and in a minute, 5 packets of noodles came out. Believe it, one of the sisters went home and got onions, tomatoes, chillies and cabbage and made noodles, the kind of which, i've never tasted in my life!! There was love served in those bowls!

And how much did they charge us, 15/- per bowl!! Maggi packet costs 11/-. This is just one of the experiences in Himachal.

The point i'm trying to make connects here. Life in the hills is very difficult. Few months a year, snow blocks them out. Few months, their places are completely taken-over by tourists who show scant respect to their culture or surroundings. Still, they do not lose their cheerful disposition. 

Hospitality for them is not a way of making money. It is an extension of their regular life. To know what i'm talking about, one should experience the hills- not just the physical aspect of their beauty, but the beauty of the people who live in them. They are the true beauty of the Hills.