Walking with child and feeling like one.

One of the simple joys of life is to take a walk with a child holding their hand, the exchange of energy is wonderful. As you can see, here I have presented two facing pages from Thich Nhat Hanh's book, The Long Road Turns To Joy on walking meditation.


Walking with a child is meditation itself, even having a child around invites you to meditate, that is, practise awareness in present moment. The child will stop you in mid-conversation about something that was'nt so important after all (but to us evrything is so serious). I like these moments when you must stop whatever is it that you are doing and pay attention to the world around you in the present moment.
My girl-friend Gaurika's little girl sure does a pretty good job at this, being two years and old and all. I love it when she makes momentraily interrupts our conversation, and for a while I have stopped thinking and am just being....Thich Nhat Hanh is right when he says, a child is a bell of mindfullness.

Love + light

Winter migratory birds off the coast of Bombay

Please Lower the volume as you play this - the engine is loud!

Every winter quite a few species of migratory birds visit the coast of Bombay (or Mumbai, the new name). One of the species to look out for are The Pink flamingos. They have finally come to Sewri as they do each year and I'm hoping to see those pink beauties :)

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The video here is of terns following the boat enroute from Elephanta island to The Gateway of India. If you throw crumbs of bread or biscuits, they catch them in mid-air, delighting the passengers with their arial feats.

Oh! and please ignore the muddy waters of the Arabian Sea even further muddied with Bombay's pollutants. But I promise you it was sheer delight after a morning of bird-watching, walking around ancient sculptures and carvings at Elephanta island ending with these innocent white terns and the cool morning air!

Love + light

Take a walk !

A shaky video taken by yours truly during a walk with B.N.H.S in Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Borivali, yes, this is in the city!

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As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth,
so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind.
To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again.
to make a deep mental path, we must think over and over
the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.
A quote from Speaking Tree column in Times of India newspaper. Un fortunately, I cannot trace the name of the person who has been quoted.

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Waking is tone of he most enjoyable of physical activities for me. To put it simply, I must go for a walk! It seems to lighten me up, as if I have opened the windows of my mind for some good airing. And who says one has to walk in a zen garden or by some very scenic beach! So many times I am deep in some thought, and I notice a tree's leaves turning red, and I think oh! I must return with my camera next morning to capture it against the morning light. I'm taken out of my abstract world of thoughts and ideas and into the real world of change, decay, transformation, beauty and wonderment.

When you take a walk, it is as if you are at eye-level with the world, the beggar on the street, the kids running by you in the park, somewhere while mulling over the past and future issues you start observing the world outside and it is my belief , realisation is always within and without.

So there you have it, go take a walk, alone,with a friend or yur lover.

Someday I would love to learn walking meditation :) especially after reading Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh's pocket sized book, The Long Road turns to joy, A Guide to walking meditation,...mmmm....something to think about and look forward to :)

Happy New Year of the Ox! Happy Paths my freinds !

Love & Light

Gathering perspective with colours and numbers & Chritmas Warmth

Everyday vibrations
Recently I found this lovely book by Louise L. Hay, Colour & Numbers- your personal guide to Positive Vibrations in Daily Life. If you have been reading my blog then you must know I am deeply interested in colours (and numbers to an extent). Louise has presented in a simple and charming way how to calculate your personal year, personal month and personal day numbers and colours, hmmm...you won't believe how this has helped me or rather how I've been experimenting with it.

It may not seem so, but I take forever to decide what to wear, you see I'm the the intuitive dresser, ever since I feel more about colours I wonder about what colour I feel like wearing!
But after consulting with the book over a period of time, I've realised as long as I get in touch with the overall theme/mood of the day, it doesn't matter if I'm wearing amethyst or not.

Illustration from the book for personal year 7.

Understanding the past and preparing for the future
One morning as I was looking to see the colour vibration for the day. I decided to calculate my personal year numbers for the past few years and the future to see if an interesting pattern emerges. Doing so made things so clear! Understanding the theme of the year finally allowed me to make sense and accept the nature of past events. For instance, when most of my friends were getting jobs in the real world, I went off into the Himalayas and stayed in Ladakh for nearly two years! I found out those years were represented by numbers 6 and 7 and colours, indigo and violet respectively - very spiritual and inner years, time to give to yourself. Remarkable! When I read that it cleared away so many why's, that was the time I truly went inward. Knowing this just showed that everyone has different lessons to learn, one simply cannot compare. Everyone path is unique to themselves. Isn’t that amazing!

Some more insight was revealed, 2008 for me was represented by 1, a year of beginnings, how interesting, I kept feeling throughout 2008, hardship and at the same time immense satifaction of new beginings.

The future- looking ahead
Coming to 2009, next year is supposed to be a time of rest for me, where I let the seeds grow which I sowed last year, mmm....again it is so close, lately I've been feeling as if I just want to take things easy, just run around less, physically at least, let the ideas incubate, rejuvanate, practise what I've been learning, do my yoga sadhana, meditate.... and I've even changed my work routine to allow that! Once again , bang on!

Even the Humming Bird rests
I read a very good article and I have posted the link below if you feel brave enough to read it. All you artists and thinkers please do , its called "Even the Humming Bird rests" by Amy I. Wink. Amy speaks about, allowing the mind to be quiet, to rest, so that true creativity can flow
http://www.himalayaninstitute.org/Yogaplus/Article.aspx?id=3015.


Christmas Warmth

Stars lit up high in a tree outside a restautant in Colaba. They looked so dreamy and celestial.

Details of ornaments in my little Christmas tree :)

Wishing you all a very warm Christmas and Joyful New Year !

Love +light!