Visit to Shri Ram Sharnam, Toronto

Like most Canadians of Indian origin living in Canada, we too usually visit temples once a week, normally on the Sunday morning. (Six days for me, one day for God!) Our temple, called Shri Ram Sharnam is located about 30 kilometres from our home and it takes us about 45 minutes to reach there on the Sunday morning when the traffic on the roads is very light. Shri Ram Sharnam looks quite different from a typical Hindu temple, as you won't find statues of the Hindu gods and goddesses. On a typical Sunday morning, about 25 to 50 people come to Shri Ram Sharnam. These days, Swami Eknaamdev Ji Maharaj from Kurukshetra, India comes to the temple every Sunday, therefore, the attendance is on the higher side. The program, which starts at 10am and ends around 12pm, is quite predictive — Amritvaani sung for about 45 minutes followed by bhajans. Most people sing along with the lead singers, however, I am usually not able to do so. My mind starts questioning the validity of quickly singing the same rhymes every week without even bothering to stop for moment to understand what is being sung. Within no time, my mind starts wandering all over the planet and then stops at the wall-clock to check how much time is still left. When the program ends, people have parsaad, tea and light snack. Unless other Hindu and Sikh temples in Toronto, where free lunch is served every Sunday afternoon, Shri Ramsharnam devotees get lunch only once in a blue moon.

Shri Ram Sharnam Temple, Toronto

Sometimes I wonder — why do people visit temples? When I ask this question, I get all sort of reasosns, such as

• We must go to temple, at least once in week.
• To do darshan of bhagwan.
• To find peace/happiness.
• To see ancient Indian history and arctitecture.
• This is how we can teach Hinduisum to our chidren.
• Social gathering — to meet our friends and realtives.
• Don't need to cook lunch on Sunday (particularly applicable in Canada/USA)

I heard the most interesting reason for going to temple from a barber, Haridwari Lal in Moti Bagh, New Delhi in 1972. While I was waiting for my turn for haircut in his shop, Haridwari Lal, who was around 55 at that time told his client that when he was young in his teens, he used to go to temple almost everyday in the evening because a lot of young girls used to visit temple around that time!

Is going to temple the only way to find God? As per Hindu believe, God is everywhere (kan kan mein bhagwan), so one should be able find God everywhere, in every person, including your wife/husband and parents. One can find find God while singing/dancing in temples, but also while painting a picture, writing a song/poem, creating music, raising children, doing work in a factory or growing food in fields. As God has created this world, when we do something creative, it becomes easy to see God in that creation. If Kabir can see God while weaving cloth, why can't we do the same while doing our work?

School Life -- Now and Then

My younger son, Anuj is in Grade 12. These days, he is trying his best to maintain or improve his marks so that he may get admission in the university of his choice. His school is about 3.5 Kms from our home. I drop him at his school in the morning around 8.30 am in my car while going to my office. After finishing his school, he goes to Milliken Mills Public Library and studies there until 9 pm when I pick him up and bring back home. These days, competition to get in a good university has become quite tough as so many Indian, Chinese, Sri Lankan and Pakistani families live in Toronto and surrounding areas and they want their children to excel in higher studies.

When I look back at my school life in Moti Bagh, it is in total contrast to the school life in Canada. My school was just across the road from our home. I would run to the school after hearing the first school bell. And, in the afternoon, when the school finishes, I would be at home before the bell stops ringing. After eating the lunch, I would quickly finish whatever home work was assigned by the teachers, and then its playtime in evening. I don't remember if I studied long hours even during examination days, at least not until in the last year in the school. There were hardly any extra-curricular activities in the school. The school library was nothing more than a show-piece. We used to have one library period of 40 minutes once a week when our class could visit the library. Even during that period, we were only supposed to sit quietly on the floor; at the most one student used to read a story book to the class. We were never encouraged to look at the books or get a book on loan for reading. For sports, we were assigned a peroid once a week and a class of 40 students would just kick a soccer ball in any direction — there was no concept of teams. Most of time during those soccer adventres, I would not get a chance to touch my foot to the ball even once!

The teachers in our sarkari (Government) schools were generally good in teaching the syllabus. However, there was never any discussion or counselling about what a student could do after finishing the school. Since we lived in a typical babu colony, there was no guidance even from neighbours — all of them were clerks in Central Government Ministries. Many students and their parents did not have clear idea about the true cost of studying a particular course, and if they could get loan for higher studies. (There was no Internet in those days! ) I think, because of the lack of information on the part of the students as well as their parents, some of the students could not have reached their potential.

Now let me go back to my last year in school. As I mentioned earlier, I just used to finish the home work and go to bed by about 9.30 pm. One day, my classmate Rajan, asked me if I studied until 11 pm or 12 am. I told him that I go to sleep at 9.30 pm — that all. He was surprised by my answer and suggested me that I should study a few hours during night, preferably until midnight or even later. Thanks to Rajan, I started studying for one hour in the night, which I slowly increased to two and half hours, and this helped to improve my marks in the final examination.

Why are we getting taller?

Have you noticed that generally children are taller than their parents? According to an article published in Scientific American, in the last 150 years, the average height of people in industrialised countries has increased by about 10 cms or about four inches. The change could be due to several reasons, such as better food we eat, evolution and changes to our genes. All these reasons appear valid; however, what I have noticed among my family cannot be explained by these reasons. Most of my cousins are about 5 feet 2-6 inches tall and their wives are close to 5 feet 1-3 inches tall. However, all their children are over 6 feet tall! So much of evolution in one generation! What could be the reason for this sudden increase in height? Is it due to the genetically modified food and meat we eat? Only God knows what kind of hormones, steroids and other stuff the cattle grower feed to their animals so that these animals grow at the fastest possible rate. And when we eat that meat (or for that matter even vegetables), it is bound to affect us. In this context, you would recall that the mad-cow disease that first attacked cows also started affecting people who ate from the affected animals.

What are your views on this topic?

107 Years Old and Still Going Strong!

107 years old and still going strong! No, I am not talking about my grandmother; she died just before completing a century. In fact, I am talking about a light bulb that has been burning continuously for more than 107 years in a Fire Station in Livermore, California, USA. This 5-watts bulb was installed in 1901 and was never turned off. The bulb has appeared in several editions of the Guinness Book of Records book. The bulb is so popular that it has its own website.

Light Bulb on since 1901

Isn't it surprising that when most electric bulbs don't last a few weeks, a bulb has been burning on for over 107 years? Some people claim that the bulb did not burn out because it was was never switched off. You might have noticed that most bulbs burn out when these are turned on. I feel that this is not the primary reason for the long life of this bulb. Two main reasons are - first, this is a low wattage lamp and second, they created almost perfect vacuum during he manufacturing process before sealing the filament in the bulb. Due to these two factors, the filament never gets too hot to evaporate and does not oxidise due to lack of air in the bulb. Well, whatever is the reason of the extraordinary long life of this bulb, it is amazing! You might be wondering, why they can't make long lasting bulbs these days. Well, if bulb manufacturers start making really long lasting bulbs, they will go out of business very soon!

If you look around in your house, I am sure you would find a few old things. Usually some memories are attached to these old objects. For instance, I have a scissors that I bought in 1970s to trim my moustaches after facial hair appeared for the first time on my face. And I have a jacket that I bought in 1987 during my honeymoon. I also have a few 1, 2, 3 and 5 paisa coins that have gone out of circulation. I remember that in 1960s, I used to get 3 paise as pocket money and it was used to buy peanuts or channas from a hawker who used to visit our neighbourhood in the evening. We had a lot of old interesting things in our house in Moti Bagh, New Delhi; however, hose had to discard because we moved to Canada in 1997 and could not bring them here. One thing that I always remember is a Vacuum Tube Radio set built around the Second World War time. This radio had excellent sound quality and could work on 70 - 400 volts AC or DC.

Please feel free to share your views about any old interesting thing that have or had.

The Story of India

Last month, I watched an amazing six-part series on TV — The Story of India. In this extra-ordinary six-part series, produced by PBS and BBC, Michael Wood talks about India, the most ancient surviving civilization and its history spanning over 10,000 years. The program, which was telecasted in high-definition, had excellent picture and sound quality. Don't worry if you missed the series, as I am sure it will be telecasted again in future — just keep an eye on local schedule of PBS/BBC/WNED. Meanwhile, a lot of useful information about The Story of India is available on the PBS website. The website contains synopsis and several short videos about the program. It also contains a very informative interactive photo gallery. Another useful section on the website is Ask Michael Wood, where he answers questions asked by the readers. In brief, the website contains a lot of useful and authenticated information about India.

If you are interested to know about the history, mystery and diversity of India (and lots of pictures), I may suggest Kamat's Potpourri. The site contains over 16,000 pictures and thousands of other postings.

Happiness is Real when Shared

Last weekend, I watched a movie — Into the Wild. This movie is based on the true story of the adventures of a young man Christopher McCandless. This movie is completely different from a typical Bollywood movie, which touched my heart. Christopher has just completed a college degree, but is not happy with his parents and the materialistic world. He donates all his savings and leaves the house without telling anyone. Over the next three years, his adventures take him to several parts of USA. During this time, he never calls back his family. In the end, he goes to Alaska to live alone in nature, where he dies because of illness and starvation. Before dying, he writes — Happiness is real when shared.

If one wants to be happy, he/she need not run away from family. One need not go to Jungle or Himalaya to find peace and/or happiness. Happiness can be found everywhere including in one's home. Mahatma Buddha also said once that what he found after leaving his wife and kingdom could have been found while living in his home.

So let us try to be happy wherever we are and whatever we are doing...

Life - Destiny or Coincidence?

During our life span, we experience several unexpected events, which sometimes significantly change the course of our life. For example, every day you go to your office by 7.30 am bus, but one day you decide to go by car and later you learn that the 7.30 am bus met with an accident. Or, as they show in Indian movies that a boy and girl bang into each other, fall into love and eventually get married. However, the one incident that changed their life – was it coincidence or their destiny? Whatever happens in our life — is it coincidence or destiny?

In 1981, I used to work in Televista Electronics, New Delhi, and one of my colleagues, C T Subramanian was from Chennai. In 1982, I left Televista to join Department of Electronics, Government of India and C T Subramanian too left the company and went back to Chennai to join some company there. In 1990 or 1991, I went to Bangalore for some training, and in the evening I went to a shopping centre. And to my surprise, I find C T Subramanian in the same shopping centre. He was also sent by his company to Bangalore for some official work and he also decided to visit the shopping centre in the evening. Was it a coincidence or destiny? What are the chances of two persons from two metro cities having population of over 100 million each going to a third large city on official duty and deciding to go to the same shopping centre on the same day at the same time! I remember another incidence — I was going with my wife to Chandigarh from Delhi in our Maruti car for a short vacation and we stopped at Karnal at a restaurant for breakfast. There we spotted one of my old friends, who was also going to Chandigarh with his wife for vacation, and they had also stopped at that restaurant for breakfast! Was it a coincidence or my destiny that wanted me to meet my old friend?

Many people, particularly those who don’t understand or accept the supreme power, usually do not believe in destiny. They either believe that whatever happens in life is coincidence or they control their destiny. However, when I look back at my life and unexpected turns it has taken, I have no doubt that whatever is happening in my life is my destiny. Just a few examples: After passing Grade 8, when it was time to choose subjects for high school, I was asked by my parents to choose commerce instead of science, though I got third position in Grade 8 in my school and I was very good in science. One day, one of my classmates of Grade 8, Ashok Sexana comes to my house and convinces my parents that science stream will be better for me as it will offer more avenues later; and, thus I shifted to science. Was it coincidence or destiny? Did the God send someone to convince my parents? Or, did the God himself come in the form my friend to help me?

Another example: I started publishing articles in Electronics For You magazine in mid-1980s. In 1987, I started developing a five-part series of articles about dBASE III, and while working on the project I decided that the series would look better in a book form. (Electronics For You also used to occasionally publish electronics books.) When I was about to hand over my typescript to Electronics For You for consideration, my colleague and friend, R Ravi Chandran asked me to try Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company, the largest publisher of technical books in India, to publish my book. I told him that I being am unknown young boy in twenties with no credentials, how can I even approach them to publish my book. Ravi Chandran asked me to just send a copy of the typescript to Tata McGraw-Hill besides sending it to Electronics For You. I followed his suggestion, and my first book, dBASE III and III PLUS - A Hands-on Approach was published by Tata McGraw-Hill, and then they published several more. (Electronics For You did not take any decision about publishing my book!)

Now one last example — I saw an advertisement from Canadian High Commission, New Delhi in a magazine that I usually don’t read about a seminar about immigration opportunities in Canada in 1996. At that time, I was holding a respectable position of Joint Director in Department of Electronics, Government of India and was a popular computer books author. My books also used to provide me enough royalty income. In other words, I was happily settled with my wife, two children and parents, living in a nice south Delhi neighbourhood. However, I don’t know why I attended the Immigration Seminar, applied for immigration, resigned from a respected permanent Government of India job of 15 year and moved to Canada. After two years, my brother, who also had a very good job with JP Industries, immigrated to Canada. And, then in 2001 my father died and my mother also immigrated to Canada. Thus the entire family, who did not even have faintest idea about moving to Canada some time ago, is now in Canada.

The more closely I look at my past life, the more convinced I become that our destiny is a kind of pre-determined. We may feel that we can influence our destiny a little bit by our actions, but can we change it? I don’t think so...