Temples and wealth

At lunch today, 2 colleagues and I were talking about money and temples. The discussion started with today's news that India would be giving money to bail out Europe's economy. And the thought was anyways our politicians have so much money in Swiss Bank accounts which are black (unaccounted). This is a golden opportunity to convert it to white. May be they will have a red book in which they will maintain these transactions - ki kisne kitna diya hai operation Europe Bailout ke liye and what should they get in return.

Our conversation turned to the Padmanabhaswamy temple riches of 1000 Lakh crores. Concern - how sure are we that our greedy bereaucrats and politicians will not "eat" into this pie? How sure are we that the riches will still remain with Lord Padmanabhaswamy and will not decorate a neck of someone's wife? Or kith or kin?

Sample Tirupati - a ticket to expedite the darshan time used to cost Rs. 50/- several years ago. Now, they have introduced another ticket priced at Rs. 300/- but the darshan time today is the same time that you would spend on a Rs. 50/- ticket 5 years ago - 3-4 hours. Considering a lakh devotees take the Rs. 300/- ticket on any day, the amount Tirupati gets to make is Rs. 300,00000/- and this is purely based on 1 single type of ticketing. Other than this, there is the Rs. 40/- and Rs. 50/- tickets and the several special darshans priced high (above Rs. 1001/- and above, upto Rs. 25,000).  Despite this, there is bribe everywhere. While you are standing in the line, someone will come and give you kumkum and say it is directly from the God. you are excited that this should come to you, of all people and you start feeling special. But this feeling lasts only for a fleeting second - that person forwards his hand and asks you to pay for it!!! :(
There is bribe even to get a glimpse of Lord Venkateshwara for a moment long, bribe for extra laddoos, bribe for lodging, everything ... And right in front of the Lord's eyes... Where is this going to end? Or is there an end?

I guess, only Lord Padmanabhaswamy and/or Lord Venkateshwara can answer this question!!!

Bed Time Stories

Every night, I have to tell 1 (or 2) bed time stories to my daughter. She will not sleep without hearing at least 1.

The challenge is, i have to tell her a story of only animals and that too of her choice. She might say, tell me a story of rhino and tiger or zebra and monkey - i have to let my imaginations fly, concoct a story and tell her, lest she starts crying... sigh!!! I just cannot see her crying...especially seeing tears in those beautiful eyes breaks my heart :)

So, what do I do? Tweak the stories that I know, replace characters and tell the same to her in various ways. Like last week, she wanted to hear a story of crow and fox. And this is what I told her:

"One day, there was a thirsty crow. He was looking for water to drink. Enroute, he met a fox. He asked the fox if there was drinking water in the vicinity. The fox, since is very cunning animal, decided to fool the crow and said, "Yes, a little further from here, you will find a pot filled with water". The crow was happy and flew in the guided direction. It did find a pot with water underneath. And what did it do? Started dropping pebbles in the pot, and once the water came up, it drank to its content and flew away. The fox had followed the crow and saw how intelligent the crow was. It felt extremely ashamed of its behavior and apologised to the crow"

How is that for imagination?

Life

Anything that is being born is beautiful,

Why do we like spring?

 All the trees are giving "birth" to new leaves, flowers, fruits. We get to see them right from their birth till they grow up - isn't nature beautiful?

There is a new life being born and it is beautiful. I was so excited when I came to know I was going to be a mom!!! I did not mind losing my shape and look dowdy, I was so looking forward to seeing the cutie pie that was gonna come out of my stomach (well, not literally!!!)

Against all the anger, cribs, madness - I still love my kiddos... every night when I kiss them good bye... it makes me feel SO good !!! Giving birth to a new Life - and see it grow and flourish in front of your eyes - is so blissful experience

Such is Life :(

We have a colleague who had gone on maternity leave. She delivered a healthy, chubby baby and the baby is currently 6 months old.

Yesterday, a friend pinged over IM and said, "Did you hear about this team member?"
And as usual, any goss at office, I would be the last one to know... I responded, "No, what happened?"

Friend typed, "Her husband, apparently, expired in an accident on Saturday"
I:  oh..God...what happened?
Friend: Apparently he had gone out on a team outing and they were returning by car. And the car was hit by behind. Sadly, he was the only one who was hit and died on the spot. Nothing happened to the rest of the occupants..

I could not respond - what kind of fate was this that snatched a loving dad from a 6-months old baby? A loving husband from a nice, beautiful girl? A son from old parents?

No answers!!