why should I live?

Excerpt from the book Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker

"Why should I live?" 

In the very act of asking that question, you are seeking reasons for your convictions, and so you are committed to reason as the means to discover and justify what is important to you. And there are so many reasons to live.

As a sentient being, you have the potential to flourish. You can refine your faculty of reason itself by learning and debating. You can seek explanations of the natural world through science, and insight into the human condition through the arts and humanities. You can make the most of your capacity for pleasure and satisfaction, which allowed your ancestors to thrive and thereby allowed you to exist. you can appreciate the beauty and richness of the natural and cultural world. As the heir to billions of years of life perpetuating itself, you can perpetuate life in turn. You have been endowed with a sense of sympathy - the ability to like, love, respect, help, and show kindness - and you can enjoy the gift of mutual benevolence with friends, family, and colleagues. 

And because reason tells you that none of this is particular to you, you have the responsibility to provide to others what you expect for yourself. You can foster the welfare of other sentient beings by enhancing life, health, knowledge, freedom, abundance, safety,  beauty, and peace. History shows that when we sympathise with others and apply our ingenuity to improving the human condition, we can make progress in doing so, and you can help to continue that progress. 

--

Reason! 

Srik

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mind without measure

All the below interesting quotes are from JK's Mind without Measure!


When we are confused, uncertain, insecure, we try to find a solution in the past, we go back to our traditions.

Where there is conditioning there is no freedom, there cannot be love, there cannot be affection.

The brain has the capacity to create images. The images are the illusions we have. 

Thinking is a nature of man; it is not your thinking or my thinking.

When I am observing, learning, inquiring into the fact, there is no conflict. 

Do you know what it means to love another? Have you ever loved anybody? Is love dependence? 

Why is it that all religions, all so-called religious people have suppressed desire?

You have to approach fear very simply, the trunk and the root of fear, not the branches. 

So we are asking if there is another kind of instrument which is not thought. 

Your sorrow is the sorrow of mankind, the sorrow of all human beings.

Without love, the sense of compassion, the flame of it, the intelligence of it, life has very little meaning.

A mind in conflict, a brain in struggle, cannot possibly meditate. 

Is your brain programmed to think in a conventional, narrow, limited way?

Choice is not freedom. Choice is merely moving in the same field, from one corner to another.

They may meet sexually, talk together, care somewhat, have children, but they remain separate. 

We must inquire into what knowledge is, what place knowledge has in our relationship with each other.

In the greater, the lesser disappears. In the greater humanity, the little human problems are solved.

Can there be a gap between sensation and thought impinging upon that sensation?

We never look at what is. We want to change what is taking place into something else.

What is the cause of sorrow, which is pain, tears, a sense of desperate loneliness? 

It is much more important to understand what happens before death rather than what happens after death.

Your consciousness is not yours; it is shared by all human beings living on this Earth.

Meditation is not the practice of any system because when you practice a system, your brain becomes atrophied. 

We are saying that thought is responsible for all the misery in the world. 

So if thought is not the instrument to solve human problems, what then is the instrument?

We must have a brain that is constantly inquiring, questioning, doubting. 

When you are attached to anything, there is always fear in it, the fear of losing it. 

Find out yourself what is the cause of conflict by which man has lived from time immemorial.

Patience is timeless. It is only impatience that has time. 

Is it possible to end violence or greed or what you will immediately, end the whole of violence?

At that moment when thought takes charge of sensation, at that precise moment, desire is born.

In every house there is this shadow of sorrow. There is a sudden ending.

It is that intelligence that moves the Earth and the heavens and the stars because that is compassion. 

In meditation there is no control because the controller is controlled. 

If we have problems, they obviously act as friction and wear out the brain, and we get old and so on.

The body never says, 'I am'; the body never says, 'I am something special.'

If you say, 'Tell me how to end thought', then you make a problem of it.

All power is evil, ugly, whether it is the power of the wife over the husband or the power of governments. 

When you are facing facts, you have to be totally humble, not cultivate humility.

What does that love mean? Is it based on reward and punishment?

We must begin very near to go very far. The near is what we are.

Compassion is not the product of thought. Love cannot exist in the shadow of thought.

There is the sorrow of a man who has everything and yet nothing.

What is going to happen to us when the computer can do almost everything that we do?

But if you see the reality, the truth, that you are the rest of mankind, then what is death?

Meditation is the understanding of the whole structure of the 'me', the self, the ego.

~~

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A rustic story

It was one of those days when my mind was not functioning in sync with my senses. All my actions were driven by only one message. All I wanted to do was reach my village as early as possible without letting my ears listen to more on the message. It was during the late winter but I was fuming with the sun rays piercing into my helmet. I was riding my bike, not less than, perhaps the speed of an arrow shot in anger. I noticed it was almost thirty-minutes-past-three in the afternoon and the road was absolutely empty. Like a desert. Like a night without moon.

Although I had a very long distance to cover, the destination looked very near to me; as if I was there already. Thinking about how it was in those days and how past had influenced me to remember those frames in my mind without missing any single scene. It was as if a long history written in the book of my mind and I was going through each page of it; One after the other.

It was a very strange story of my granny, and how she carried the characters around her for such a long time. It is a very strange phenomenon to relate each person surrounding me to the same person I am so close with. As in, my granny used to carry all her friends, helpers, neighbors in the village who were so close with her everywhere; mentally.  And those characters used to interact with my granny all the time; both when in the village and when not in the village. I used to wonder in awe and think how lucky those people are; that they are remembered almost 24 hours in some way or the other; in some form or the other. Perhaps, the bonding between them was much stronger than what they even realized in their relationship. And those five or six people became very critical part of my granny’s life in all possible ways.  She used to come to Bangalore, to my house, and she used to call me by some other name (random pick out of those 5-6 people). She used to talk to me about something that she wanted to talk to the other person. And she used to repeat this wherever she goes and whoever she meets. And I was helpless but to watch this interesting phenomenon. Dumbstruck!

My granny’s world was those people who were with her all the time. Nothing else! She was in her late eighties and the only possible worst thing one would expect was the obvious. And when the message reached my ears, l could not do any good but to try reaching the village as soon as possible. The empty road, the noise of the engine, the constant fluttering of my bag’s strap, once-in-a-while the cars speeding towards the divine Puttaparthi, were all giving me the same feeling that I wanted to avoid. The entry to the village looked absolutely deserted with the rows of thorny shrubs either side of the road.  Raptors were making enough noise above my head to make sure that the message was heard. Village roads looked very unwelcomed to me for the first time. People never connected to my eyes for the first time. They did not ask me any question to my surprise for the first time. They did not look at my bag, they did not check if I am wearing my sunglasses or not. It was as if they hated me to go there that particular day. But they had no options but to ignore me.  I helplessly entered the village and moved towards my granny’s house.

The street was empty; there were no signs of any human presence. I entered the house and I saw my dad coming out of the room. His eyes were filled with tears. He was looking as if he had controlled his tears for a big event ahead. I got to know that my granny’s corpse had not arrived yet. She was at her daughter’s place two hours away from the village when she passed her last breath. People started walking in to the house and some gathered outside. I could see people waiting to pay their respects. All those characters who were part of my granny’s life were also present. Waiting. Crying.

Finally my granny’s corpse arrived. She was made to sleep on a wooden bench outside. People started crying. They started lighting the agarbattis and one by one started paying their respects. It took a bit longer than I expected for the crowd to get clear. And finally there were a few left out other than my relatives. And those were these soul mates of my granny. They were worried and crying for some reason. I was surprised to see no actions from their end. They were holding their breath to touch my granny and hug her and say good bye. But they were very reluctant to do that. I could not understand their problem. I tried asking them, they did not open their mouth to answer. They just stood staring at my granny. After sometime, one person made an attempt to touch my granny to which somebody objected. Then I got to know that they were not supposed to touch. It was the same old village untouchability problem. They were scared to touch even the body. I was shocked for a while and could not control my tears that I had controlled till then. It took too much of a courage for me to digest the fact before I made them touch her and pay their respects.

Those great souls that were part of my granny’s life were not even eligible to touch her? More than any of us, it was them who accompanied my granny throughout her life. More than anyone else they were remembered all the time. Yet, they were the ones who were untouchables.  All their lives they served a person with so much love and they would’ve missed out on even touching her in the end. I still have a tough time believing what happened on that day and still not able to come out of that.

Srik

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being just

thinking of what it is

to know and to make

of all expired times

experienced, ever!

speaking to the wall,

reflecting my mind

on overdue thoughts,

of times I quit, often

to see the world open

forcing to the edge

to complete myself

with my own actions.

questioning my mind

and letting it go beyond

my world and words

to see it like any other

of many such times

face up to realities

of those that matters

and adds to see myself

taking that very step

like everything else

to quit

and to start again!

Srik

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May 18th

Today will be the most memorable day for me. May be a day where I have thought more deeply about life and death. I am sure many of you are way forward than me in your thoughts about it. I always wondered, in my own silly way, without any substance in my thoughts, that for every death, there is one new life. I do not know why. It may be in any form. I know! It sounds absolutely funny.

The statistics that I read this morning about the birth and death rates (as of 2009) read the following: 4 births each second of everyday and 2 deaths each second of everyday (So according to my logic, for every death, there will be 2 births). Well, that was too much for me to digest today. Somewhere I thought 4 births each second is still believable but 2 deaths each second of every day is what shocked me. And to add to that the news that we read these days confirms it all. Every day we read about deaths, killings, suicides, bombings, murders and the like. I am struggling to find some good news or a positive story to read every morning.

As soon as I woke up from the bed, yawning, I took the Times of India in my hand and started reading. For a change, First page was delightful to see. It said “The Profit of Peace” and was about the business meet that is going to be held in Delhi starting today. They have named it Aman Ki Asha and the signature statement said “Indo-Pak Business Meet, The first step”. Well, perhaps, talking about peace itself is more peaceful for our government.  And many such first steps have gone by! Or maybe this is the first step through fostering trade between the two nations.  I did not get too excited about it except for few interesting statements from business people about making it possible.

As I turned to the next page, I read the most annoying news. I woke up again! It was about the Maoists attack in Dantewada district killing 44 people including 20 special police officers. It was outrageous! But what can I do? But for reading this interesting news! This is the second such attack just after a month from the earlier attack. 44 lives have gone in just a matter of few seconds! They are dead bodies now. Many will be unidentifiable. I cannot even think of the effect of this on their livelihoods. It is just not acceptable. And it is already past now! Except for some political statements, and regular news updates, video footage in all the news channels, we will not see any action against it. Perhaps, it would create more violence resulting in several more deaths.

Resigning from what I read, I had to move on. I moved on and hoped for a pleasant day. As it turned out, the rest of the day was delightful. I received a phone call from one of my very close friend’s brother saying ‘my friend delivered a baby boy’. I was ecstatic and absolutely happy over the HAPPY news of the day. And especially to hear the happy news about a person who is very near to me is blissful always. I am a kind of person who does not know how to react to such situations. I get nervous whenever I feel extremely happy and the same whenever I feel extremely sad. I will be very cautious in my behavior to an extent that one can notice easily. Many times people have even kindled me royally for my silly act of this. But, what do I do? I am the way I am.

So, hearing the happy news, first thing I did was to let all my friends (common friends to her) know about this. I sent a mail to everyone. Then I was thinking of what to do? Should I visit her immediately or should I wait? With all the excitement of hearing the happy news, I had forgotten to ask how she is doing; so I checked with her brother again. After sometime, I remembered I had not wished her husband, so I called him and wished him. I also told him that I will be visiting them in a day or two.

I was feeling very restless at office and I was feeling that I should visit her today itself. After all, she is my best buddy and I was sure that she will be expecting to see me today. So without thinking too much, I left office in the evening to visit her at the hospital. All along the way, I was tensed and could not even read the book properly. I was thinking whether to take sweets, fruits, or anything? I thought it does not matter much. I got down from the bus and started walking towards the hospital. I saw the sweets stall. I went inside and ordered for 1 kg of Kaju Burfi. And then I saw him packing too many pieces and I confused him on the count. I finally asked him to pack 500g.

While I was walking to the hospital, I was thinking, last time I saw a baby born on the 1^st day was my sister (that too when I was 8 years old) and after that I do not remember any of the new born events that I visited on the first day itself. I reached the hospital; saw my friend’s mom at the entrance. She told me the floor and the room number I should visit. I went inside the room. I saw a big smile on my friend’s face and I was equally ecstatic to see her in her new career – Mother. I handed over the sweets to her husband and congratulated him. I saw the baby; it was sleeping. It was as cute as her mother and I was feeling very scared to even touch him. I was feeling nervous to see the baby on the first day. He was sleeping and was keeping one of his cute little finger on his lips as if he was in ‘I-am-thinking’ posture. I touched him once and felt very happy. I told the same to my friend that I am very happy today. As I did not know how to act in such situations, I left very soon. I was not there even for 15 minutes.

My friend made my day happy today and her new born son made me ecstatic!

While I was walking to the bus stop, again, it was a strange encounter. I heard a band set and a sorrow music being played. I guessed it right. It was a death beat. People were dancing in the front, and some were crying. I saw the dead person being taken on a march to the funeral ground. I thought there is no escape from life anyway!

After encountering this incident and thinking of all the chaotic news I read in the news paper today, I thought about the new life I touched. What a great feeling I had!!! Incredible!

Srik

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Why?

At times it happens

that you feel at loss,

looks like a fight

far from the sight,

you hold your breath

and think in depth,

make yourself move

come out of the awe,

you tend to play hard

and yet it gets mad,

it will be unexpected

of nothing expected,

everything looks far

from all that is near,

you change the way

but ain’t big to say,

deep in the trouble

thinking you aren’t able,

you look for the light

to alter things right,

you say everything ‘yes’

and end up in a mess,

it looks very chaotic

and to experience is toxic,

every minute is a warning

and you start worrying,

too big for a failure

when it is not too sure,

you think of a solution

there isn’t really a problem,

you stand behind the wall

that might just fall,

when all such illusions

tend to take you away,

try doing nothing

but ask yourself…why?

Srik

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Rise

on a voyage

in to the unknown

wild and weathered,

I am climbing

steep it is

under the piercing sun,

lost in the space

of the gorgeous nature

I’ve reached the top

In my determination,

In all my thoughts,

with a hope, I can

moving up high

dragging my body,

but, mind is restless

and ahead in its way

every drop of sweat

and each tiresome step,

puts me to the comfort

giving me more strength

I reach the destiny

proud and ecstatic,

I look back my way

and say, is this all?

amazed in awe,

gaining momentum,

rising up to the world

I look for the next

Srik
(Pic courtesy: Srivathsa)

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always more…

the more I think,

there is more to think

the more I wonder,

there is more to be in awe

like, sleeping a journey,

experiencing absence,

missing the nearest,

failing over the easy,

confusing over the clear,

messing up a neat!

it isn’t really me

or it isn’t for me

to let go or hold

to the time I’m good

life ain’t the same,

all the time I see

there is more to it,

that I cannot sight

that I do not know…

to the too much of

too little I know,

there is always more…

Srik

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Out of the world!

Have you heard this expression – ‘Out of the world’? I had not, until some days back. And now I do express that myself. Out of the world! Wow!

When you are running against the time, and you are pressed to do certain things that take your breath for a few days, all you do is to run towards some breathing space. So did I. I listen at times to what my heart says than the mind. Mind just plays, but heart feels everything! It is that feel, is what I wanted and I listened to it just for that. And to get into that feel is an amazing experience. Experiencing that is again a feeling by itself.

What I saw to begin with, was not clear. It was not clear, not because of my sleepy eyes, but because of the view was not clear. It looked like a bright orange ball covered by dust; black and grey patches of trees and mud-spattered field. Whatever it was, it was beautiful. Taking the view inside my eyes, I went back to the dream. Perhaps! It was like I was actually dreaming.

It looked like I was on some divine motor that took me from one world to the other. And it stopped. It stopped because, I reached the destination. And the destination was the starting point of my journey. Can you believe it? I know one cannot. But believe me. I got down from the motor. As I got down, I heard a loud noise. It was like someone trying to hurt a big tree by cutting its branch. And I was right. I saw that ‘someone’ drilling the tree; with the red crown and wearing a golden jacket. And not just one tree, I saw the same play over three or four trees. May be I did not count it right. But I am certain I am not completely wrong. Do you think it feels good, when you encounter such things in front of you? I know what your answer is. But let me tell you, I enjoyed it. I enjoyed watching it. My eyes rolled over all the trees and the way trees were getting drilled. I loved the sound. And I loved every tune that came out of the tree. Well, I had to move on. I could not be stationed at the same place as it was still a start of my journey.

Crossing every milestone, embracing with the frozen air and staring at the every sight that came in front of my eyes, I was moving on. I moved on like a flowing river. No one could stop me cold. I was free. Free to an extent that I did not know where to stop. But I was stopped abruptly. Abruptly, I stopped at ecstatically delightful view of the colorful screen. For the first time again, I saw it. It looked like I am watching a video, with the dramatic colors. I thought, they came and sat in front of me. Dramatic colors of green, yellow and red painted faces. They sat on every branch of a tree. I did not see any leaves in that tree; but the tree looked complete with the folks painted in dramatic colors. I guess there were at least eight of them; one on each branch. I had never seen such a beautiful sight in my recent past. Atleast I remember it, if I did. But with in no time, the tree was empty again. Like a river without water. And that water without the flow.

Oh come on! Called me life; and I moved on. But the feeling never ended. If not the painting, I could see the whole world around me. I stood like an alien in a new world. I do not know how an alien looks, because I could not see or hear or control myself out there. I forgot all about me being there. It was like life called me there and I went there to know the meaning of why I was called for. I rotated myself in circles; all I could see was a new world. I feared to understand the depth and the distance. But I could experience the feel and feel the experience of being in a new world. I was stationed at my sub-conscious address for a while. Somebody who was wise enough knocked at my door and pulled me out of that state. Else, I would be in the nature by now! Enjoying! Happy!

Enough is enough, but the world is not enough to call it quit. Where the road ends, a new way begins. Likewise, I was at the end of the road; unwillingly. Yes, unwillingly! Never-the-less, all I wanted was to see it disappearing from my view. I waited for it. But it was on its own. Perhaps! This was the last thing I wanted, to end my day in a delight. I waited. I saw many cattle egrets flying in front of my eyes in a pattern. I thought, they are running away from me. But I was wrong. They were running faster to make sure that they do not lose the light. Like me. They will not lose! I told them the same light comes again. This is life. And this is the nature at its best. The process! May be they listened to me. By then, to my fulfillment, I saw the light going down. Serene! Leaving me in the dark for a while! But promising me comeback!

Time, just went unnoticed. I was surprised to see I reached the end of my journey started from the destination I had reached earlier. And you do not believe if I say, I experienced all these during my visit to the beautiful Tadiyandamol. Sunrise in the form of the ‘orange ball covered with dust’; trees getting drilled, rather pecked by the ‘golden-backed woodpecker’; dramatic colors painted on the tree by the eight ‘chestnut-headed bee eaters’; when I, like an alien, saw the world standing ‘on top of the peak’ understanding the depth and distance; and finally when I waited to see the ‘sun getting set for the day’; I said to myself, all these were just OUT OF THE WORLD!

Srik

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Hmmm...

On a relaxed time ever,

forgetting my past and the future,

letting my thoughts flow into the present,

closing my eyes and revisiting my dreams,

reading my mind over my own writings;

I turned on the music,

I got in to the hmm…

Humming aloud, into the ecstasy,

feeling the touch and embracing the wind,

forcing into my ears, to make me dance,

on my toes, one after one, moving my legs,

dancing in the bliss, tiring out myself;

and turning the volume high,

I continued to hmm…

Every step made me smile and

every note made me think, and smile again;

Every smile, pushed myself to the heaven,

and heaven, made me reach my dream;

walk over my dream was again a dream…

I played the next track,

And I again got into hmm…

Without my mind, I carried on;

I carried myself on to a different world,

a world of within me and my vibes,

a very near feeling but yet very far,

just to be myself and unconditional;

Rejoicing the music,

I continued to hmm…

Numbness taking over my steps,

desiccated me out from within, over the joy,

letting go all my inner emotions, feeling good,

I could feel myself lighter than a fly,

resting my steps and reverted to life.

I was a humming bird for a while,

And the music of life… plays on forever…

Srik

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Just around the corner

I always remember this expression ‘On-the-way’ and I get fascinated by it most of the times. I am just letting my fingers type what I am thinking and contemplating about. The more I think, the more I key in on this electronic device that keeps me busy in spite of being busy-the-other-way. Everything is on its way for sure. If you ask for anything, you will hear its on-the-way and it’s just around the corner. You will get it soon.

Well… my life is on its way!

I found a road and I am on my way. Sometimes I need to deviate, because I saw another road. Likewise, I see many roads. Where do I go? How do I get to know which is the road that is less travelled by? If at all I am over excitingly doing things to deviate from others. I will. Because, I challenge such risks.

One such risk is what time is. So, I am challenging the time. My time. I feel like I am racing against the time. Oh! Come on…we all are. That is how I get to know my competitors. All are just around the corner. You need not show up yourself. You get to see what you do not expect to see all the times. You feel, you are on the right track. Because the path you’ve chosen has the name tag ‘Right track’ even before you walk over it. And if you feel you are on the wrong track then, you cannot blame anyone. It was your choice to walk over the ‘right track’.

And well, I always thought, like everybody, I did the right thing and I chose the right way. No. I think at this point in time, with all the chaos around, I feel at loss. Not that what I did was wrong. It is not. It did not seem like a loss as well. It in fact, inspired me even more and made me feel good about myself. And the same amount of positive energy and impact was created at the other end too. Atleast I got that impression. I hope I am not wrong.

And while I was mulling over on everything being good, I got into an encounter with the time again. Not my time, but others time. When I am in the generation that has forward thinking minds, I never thought I will be led to think backwards like others do. May be that is the only gap I am seeing in the present generation. We only talk about always looking forward and not believe in some blind beliefs from the past. But we are not the same when it comes to performing our own duties. We still tend to think backwards with a genuine polished ‘reason’. And that is a reason enough to deviate from our own thoughts. Sometimes, we cannot ignore it because, if you ignore it, you will be ignored!

Everything is just around the corner. Without letting thoughts to overtake on the others, one will need to be unimaginably patient and optimistic about whatever is going to happen in life. Expecting to be optimistic without having that ignition of crossing over the backward thinking phase is a challenge on its own.

So what I thought the past; and what I am going to see next, is just around the corner!

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Point Return – It’s New again

Well, I am not writing about the Point Return initiative by D.V Sridharan. I am just using his initiatives name for my blog post with due respects. What I am trying to say is that the point is to return to Jan 1^st every year. Today being the last day of the great year 2009, my head is having a tailspin over the kind of activities I had done in the past one year. For me, new-year does not mean anything except that it gives me a reason to try something new. And of course, there will be a lot of learning for me as I pass the puzzles of times that I encounter in the 365 days of one more year’s life time. Surprisingly, year 2009 gave me some of the best times ever. I could get to do a lot of new things, I could work on my passion for certain things that wanted to pursue. Looks like in spite of many mistakes i have committed, I have lived the phrase of ‘being passionate’ this year.

Now the most sensitive part of life is my own life and my world. That everyone calls it personal. Even I do. There were a lot of break downs this year and also a lot of exciting times spent. As I said I could work on many things that I can call it as my passion. To name them, the list goes like this: time spent on Photography, time spent on attending music concerts and plays, time spent on adventure activities, time spent on public functions, more number of books bought, read and wrote a few reviews, quite a bit of poetry, more time spent on writing, time spent on meeting new people, joining guitar classes, time spent on social networking, tweeting and information sharing and spending time with my close friends and making new friends. So I have made use of my weekends very effectively. Not to forget, I have had many breakdowns and failures in the above list as well. One of them is I haven’t spent enough time with my parents and my little sister. One good time spent was when cousin gang went on a Bannerghatta trip. I was extensively travelling and could not concentrate on that. I regret to admit that. But I shall look forward to spend a good time with them the coming year.

I have had some lucky breaks in spite of the downturn with respect to my career. I have moved on to a new promising and challenging role. Oracle is keeping me busy enough during the weekdays and I am trying hard to meet the expectations of my seniors. Of course, I do not know how far they are satisfied with my performance. So, my stint at office is more of learning and spending my time more on the kind of activities that were totally new to me. There were a lot of break downs as I am still a beginner with respect to some of the critical business aspects. But I am lucky enough having survived without the pink slip thus far.

Now that I have three separate lanes in my life, one being the career which I already blah’d it out, the other two lanes are my personal life (no comments) and my social commitment - my NGO. Like every year, there were more failures than successes this year as well. There were more interactions with respect our project with many people, many organizations and many private sector companies. Some of them promised us good, some of them promised us to promise good, some of them failed to keep up their promise and some of them totally forgot what they promised us. Accepting this challenge, we are moving on and on. So every year will be the same as there is no end for challenges. As Narasim says, for every two steps of going forward, we have been going a step backward. But we gain one step at least and will keep trying our luck given the commitment and certain hope we have in our proposal.

Well, now that I have shared about all the three dimensions of my life, now I would like to list down the activities that I did in the past one year. This gives me a details on what I did most and how much did I spend? That led to my zero savings life. I may miss some of the activities in the list if I do not remember or if it is not very interesting.

Jan 5, 2009	Visit to Toyota Technical Training Institute, Bidadi to learn about their training programs.
Jan 10, 2009	Visit to Nettur Technical Training Foundation, Electronic City to learn about their training programs.
Feb 15, 2009	We filed our project proposal for Sankalp Awards. Our proposal did not get shortlisted.
Feb 22, 2009	After a long time, I delivered my promise to my dad by visiting my granny in a village called Budili, Hindupur district of AP.
March 5, 2009	My friend Sup got married. Attended his wedding party.
March 21, 2009	Visit to VGKK at BR Hills. This was both for the study and for the trek
April 5, 2009	Bought the Canon Sx10 camera and started my Photography times
April 22, 2009	Uploaded the Paradise Lost- A short documentary on Kandavara on web
April 23, 2009	I voted for NOBODY
April 30, 2009 - May 18, 2009	Mission Sarpass - We climbed up the Sarpass peak successfully during the YHAI National Himalayan Expedition
May 31, 2009	Participated in the Sun feast Run - 5km Maja run
June 6, 2009	Participated in the Silicon India Start-up event at Nimhans convention centre
June 12, 2009	Visited Pondicherry for 2 days to attend my friend's wedding
July 2, 2009	Attended the SHSF book release function at Royal Orchid and met with Rashmi Bansal the author of the book
July 26, 2009	Namitha's farewell at office
July 30, 2009	Got inspired by the book IIM to Ganjdundwara that inspired me to take up a big project
Aug 1, 2009	Friendship day moon light trek to Bilkal Rangaswamy betta
Aug 8, 2009	Moonlight trek to Savanadurga hillock
Aug 14,2009	Visited the Lalbagh flower show
Aug 15, 2009	Meruthi Parvatha trek with a thrilling story to end
Aug 23, 2009	Published 'My story with Ganesha' on my blog
Aug 30, 2009	Fun drive to Channapattana
Sep 5, 2009	Paid my tribute to all my teachers while travelling to Pune
Sep 6, 2009	Trek to Singad peak near Pune with Hari
Sep 9, 2009	Interesting and a moving meeting with a Sardarji in Pune
Sep 12, 2009	Trek and camping at Lohagad peak with Hari
Sep 18, 2009	My first (only one) photo feature published on Citizen Matters
Sep 18, 2009	Attended BIAF performances at Chowdaiah memorial hall. Photos published on Citizen Matters on 21st Sep
Sep 21, 2009	Attended Raghu Dixit's concert at Yuva Dussera in Mysore
Sep 27, 2009	Bannerghatta visit with cousins
Oct 9, 2009	Attended the Jazz concert by Germans at Chowdaiah memorial hall
Oct 11, 2009	Participated in the Cyclothon and had a thrilling experience
Oct 21, 2009	I got my guitar
Oct 24, 2009	Eye opening meeting and presentation at Rotary Club, Bengaluru
Oct 24, 2009	Participated in the Nike Run
Oct 29, 2009	State level YHAI Island expedition for 3 days
Nov 10, 2009	Bengaluru Raining photographs published on Citizen Matters
Nov 10, 2009	My first guitar class at Kaladhar music school
Nov 11, 2009	Adventurous visit to attend Doc’s wedding reception
Nov 15, 2009	Moving discussion with a Doctor who promised to serve the needy and a social entrepreneur who is doing brilliant work
Nov 20, 2009	Described about Beautiful Bengaluru
Nov 21, 2009	Visit to Unnati vocational training centre campus
Nov 26, 2009	4 days visit to Hampi, Badami, Aihole, Pattadkal and Tangadgi
Dec 5, 2009	Trek to Karighatta and Himavad Gopalaswamy Betta
Dec 13, 2009	Attended Raghu Dixit’s concert at Gnanajyothi audi
Dec 19, 2009	Attended the Carnatic vocal concert by Dr. Balamuralikrishna
Dec 19, 2009	Trek to Kuduremukha peak
Dec 25, 2009	Trip to Dandeli and experience at Milind's home stay

Wow! The list looks huge to me. Although I have not included many of my good friends’ weddings because there were many weddings this year and I attended only a few.

Times! Passion! Friends! Music! Adventure! Reading! Writing! Memories…Overwhelmed!

So, I am left with only one day. Today!

And again the point is to return to January 1^st and a new year of 2010. I am looking forward for the best time as I got during this year and enough courage to face the challenges that will come along my way.

I wish you and your family a wonderful and prosperous ‘New Year 2010’!

Srik

PS: This is my 50th post in this year :)

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