9 Days Gayatri for Mumbai

Thousands of friends from around the world are chanting the Gayatri mantra 21 times, every night at 9 PM local time, for 9 days, to bring some peace and healing to Mumbai's victims and their loved ones, after the most recent horrific attacks. We started from Nov 26th, and will continue until Dec 4th. Please join us if you can.

I feel deep horror and anger. Imagine the helpless terror and panic when someone in a crowded train station or hotel simply pulls out a big gun and shoots around indiscriminately. Imagine precious lives being snuffed out in a minute, just like that, wasted, with no explanation or meaning or redemption for the loss. Imagine the frustration of knowing that the country's leaders will do nothing more than "condemn" the attacks. Imagine the despair in knowing that another attack is inevitable, only a few days or months away, and nobody can or will do anything prevent it.

Yeah, that's a LOT of anger and frustration. I am glad I can channel my emotions out in more spiritual and healing ways by joining this prayer. Please, wherever you are, join us in chanting the sacred Gayatri 21 times at 2100 hours, YOUR local time, until Dec 4th. Spread the word.

Gayatri mantra
ॐ भूर्भुवः स्वः ।
तत् सवितुर्वरेण्यं ।
भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि ।
धियो यो नः प्रचोदयात् ॥

om bhūr bhuvah svah
tat savitur varenyam
bhargo devasya dhīmahi
dhiyo yo nah pracodayāt

MP3 Audio of Gayatri Mantra.

Fights in Love

No matter what relationship you are in, there is a definite cost to fighting and arguing. This is especially true of love. Each time you argue or fight, you lose a little bit of the capital which was invested in love. Fight often and you risk losing all the capital and your love account going bankrupt! The result is a huge loss and much misery. You could be wounded so deeply that it might turn into a never-ending cycle of hurt, even if the relationship itself ends.

This might seem extremely unfair to many people, but the cost of fighting has to be paid even if the fight was caused by the obvious faults of only one person in the relationship. No matter who is at fault, the cost and loss are incurred by both. After all, the capital of love does not belong to any one person in the relationship.

So, if you are tempted to fight or argue in a loving relationship, especially over small matters, take a moment to reflect on the cost and see if the fight is really worth it. Perhaps, you are better off saving it for another occasion when there are bigger things at stake? It will help to view whatever provoked you in comparison to the bigger picture of your entire life and love.

If you find that you are fighting too often over small things, and are unable to break the pattern, consider taking a temporary break. It might seem like taking a break could damage the relationship, but believe me, the damage caused by frequent fights is bigger. If the faults / provocations are really serious, substantive and frequent, you might want to consider just ending it permanently, rather than staying in a relationship which perpetually teeters on the brink of love bankruptcy.

There are some people who actually think that an occasional fight helps to strengthen the friendship / love. This is not true. Granted that in the beginning stages of the relationship, a fight or an argument might help us realize how much we care for each other, how much we miss each other if the fight momentarily keeps us apart. But note that it merely helps us realize the love that's already there. It does not contribute anything worthwhile to the love though. If fights keep happening over a long time, it will cost for sure. No love is deep enough, no relationship is strong enough to survive prolonged and frequent fights. In fact, more the intensity of love, more the resulting hurt, and greater the damage to the relationship.

Irregardless: Height of Literary Idiocy

The height of literary idiocy is not simply the usage of the non-existent word, irregardless. No. That pinnacle is reserved for idiots who use that word, and if anyone objects, smugly point to the Merriam-Webster dictionary.

It is amazing how many people have come to think that it is an acceptable word for colloquial usage, based on such dictionary entries. As for the genius who entered that word into the M-W dictionary, confirming that "there is such a word", tamely calling it "nonstandard", and not asserting that it is WRONG, that worthy should be banned from ever touching a dictionary in his life, let alone updating one!

At least, Dictionary.com has this usage note:

Irregardless is a word that many mistakenly believe to be correct usage in formal style, when in fact it is used chiefly in nonstandard speech or casual writing. Coined in the United States in the early 20th century, it has met with a blizzard of condemnation for being an improper yoking of irrespective and regardless and for the logical absurdity of combining the negative ir- prefix and -less suffix in a single term. Although one might reasonably argue that it is no different from words with redundant affixes like debone and unravel, it has been considered a blunder for decades and will probably continue to be so. (Emphasis mine).

If you are one of those who argue that English is an evolving language and so, if the majority of people use irregardless, it will become part of the language and a real word, try irregularless and disrespectless for size. See if you can figure out juse why irregardless will NEVER, EVER be a correct word no matter how many people use it!

Obama, a president who reads!

This week America did something great for a change (in recent times) : It elected a president who reads! Newspapers, no less! And, who gets technology. And, who actually thinks in terms of teachable moments"!

I had once read about how John F Kennedy's administration was romantic, idealistic and attractive like Camelot - with King Arthur and the knights. Now, I can understand how it must have been. Obama exudes this aura about him which will attract lots of smart people, with a can-do, will-do attitude. More importantly, he gives the impression that his administration will be disciplined, focused and get things done.

I hope I am right. I hope he does well. I hope he never forgets that he has gotten an entire generation of young people to believe again and he has a responsibility to not break that belief. I hope he does not screw up. Actually, at this point, I don't care if he screws up. If I'm to be screwed, I'd rather be screwed by a smart person, a thinking person, someone I can identify with and agree with in some ways at least, someone who is actually attempting to do something good!