Amma - The Hugging Saint

How difficult can it be to pen my thoughts about the person who has been one of the most influencing phonomenon of our times?

The most amazing thing to me is the diversity among the followers of Amma. People from every corner of the world. In a world where people try to sneak a holiday to go out and spend time and money for sex, cigars and booze, it is so awe-inspiring to see so many people travelling all the way across the globe to spend a two month vacation just to serve people. Serve people who they are no way related to, except for sharing a binomial nomenclature.

According to me, the one uniting factor that brings all of them together is sheer-love. The word un-conditional love has been undermined/over-used so much that it sounds too simple to explain the love of Amma.

In my first few visits to the ashram, I was trying to be cynical about the activities of the ashram (natural for a person from a country where saffron is the color which is most exploited). How come an ashram started by a young lady from a fisher-man family earn so much reputation in such a short span.. Slowly but steadily I became more level-headed.. The only investment Amma had to make is Love.. And there were lot of buyers.. Buyers who were badly bruised by the harsh realities of this materialistic-world.. I learnt "Only by giving will we receive"..

If Amma's "Love and Serve" strategy is going to keep my neighbourhood clean, if it is going to transform me into a cleaner-me, if it is going to make a difference to the way the society handles the problems, I will be more than happy to be Amma's "Chella Kuttan". I want to live in a better world, if it has to be in Amma's lap, can I get any luckier..

Satguru Mata Amritanandamayi Devi ki, Jai..

Happy Teachers Day

About 21 years back!

I was sitting at home with my younger brother playing with a drumstick and an empty water bottle.. It was a Jugalbandhi contest! Dad comes to me and tells that he is gonna take me to a place where i ll get lot of snacks to eat and a lot of kids to play with.. He knows his son better than anyone else.. I fell for it.. He makes me wear a blue checkered shirt and a navy blue trouser.. Folds a small kerchief into a triangular shape and pins it on to my shirt.. I then hop on to the baby seat on his bicycle.. It was a quick drive to a place, scenes of which i still remember very clearly.. It was one big hall filled with moms and dads and whining kids.. Then we both walk up to a fair lady, with a bob cut.. He says something in English, which I dint understand.. Not that I was least bothered abt it.. The lady pulled me closer to me, kissed me on my cheeks and called me "Bardi kishan, go sit down in there".. Its been 21 years since that day.. And she still hasn't learnt how to pronounce my name correctly.. (Neither have i got the "colors" right..)

Every single teacher has some kinda effect on us, dont they.. Sumathi mam (Maths), Sabitha mam (English), Hariprasad sir (French).. The list goes on.. These are not just people who taught you maths, english and french.. These are the ones who taught you things starting from how to wash your hands properly to how to propel a rocket out of the earth's atmosphere..

If you beleive you are in a better place than many others, or if u beleive u can do better than what u do,it is only cos of them.. Don't you think so?

Happy Teachers Day All!

PS: The author's school journey started as "Bardi Kishan" in TVS Lakshmi MHSS, Madurai and ended as "Irritating Specimen" in SBOA MHSS Madurai.

Google Plus - Any Luck?

Tried out Google plus.. Google is following the invited-users-only just like it did for orkut.. But this time, there is a diff.. When Orkut was launched, we dint have a sophisticated social-networking tool.. So we were super-excited to plunge into Orkut.. But now, things have changed.. I am still excited to try Google Plus.. But, I know i still have FB.. Its cant get any better than FB.. Lemme see how hard Google has tried.. "Atleast he tried" hardly matters.. We all know what happened to Google Plus's elder brother.. But honestly, Google plus is not that bad either.. Its a decent attempt to pin down FB.. But what matters from this point is Innovation.. FB was a late-comer.. But, we all remember how he not only stormed past but also sidelined Orkut to become the front-runner.. Google was nothing but a mute spectator.. If Google Plus has to beat FB, think different.. Thats what winners do and thats what FB did to be what he is today! ;)