Business to the Buddha

Tag: Indore

  • Amazing, isnt it?







    When I was thinking about the title of this blog – I literally went to Thesaurus. I wanted to write the best possible word for <Hindi> “आश्चर्य”! This word reminded me of Ashtavakra Geeta. Janaka repeatedly says “आश्चर्य” in that – a different Geeta. Well, I am no scholar to write on most succinct knowledge bank – Ashtavakra Geeta –  on Enlightenment. That book takes you in a different dimension.

    I was amazed with Nature. This is what this brief story all about.

    It was January 2000-2001, I was traveling to Gwalior early morning train reached Jhansi at about 1:30-2:00 may be 3:00 AM. Of course I was a student and thus was traveling in General (unreserved) boggy. It was so cold that I was wearing 1. thermocoat 2. Banyan 3. Shirt 4. Sweater and 5. a good quality jacket. I went on platform for having a cup of tea. Cold was such that I was shivering, even after wearing those many cloths. While sipping tea, hands were shivering and jaws wrecking. I have that image always as definition of cold one may face in North.

    Recently, I went to Indore and Gwalior. I have been living in Mumbai for 8+ years so had not seen in that cold thus didn’t have cloths of that kind with me either. The experience of winter I have raises hair, thinking of cold of Gwalior 3-7 degrees scared me. No doubt it was cold in Indore & Gwalior; for a Mumbaite (now at least), it was too much. Nevertheless I survived, in fact I did not have trouble in facing the cold. Neither I fell sick (which I was afraid of).

    No, before coming back to Mumbai, I asked my Art of Living Teacher Dr Shrikant Agashe – a professional MBBS Doctor. How is that possible? I haven’t been living in Indore; I was in Gwalior more than a decade ago, how could my body not give up on this cold? How is that possible, when every month or quarter – may be – at cellular level we are completely new! What he answered me, amazed me about us – more precisely the nature!

    He said every cell has a memory (somewhat amazing! For example, in case of any allergy even if you think that 25 years would be enough for forgetting about something at cellular level – your allergic nature wont be lost. Bigger amazement.

    I still remain amazed about this memory stuff. This amazement is overall for the nature, isn’t Nature amazing, functioning in its own surprising ways? “आश्चर्य”! I know I am no Janaka, nonetheless, I can be amazed with Nature

    Ashtavakra Geeta in English here

    Here Sanskrit verse, word meaning and English translation

  • Eating for the sake of eating?







    I was reading blog of Thich Nhat Hanh – a Vietnamese Buddhist Monk. It is an irony that I’m an Indian, however this Vietnamese monk introduced me to the Buddha in true sense. I read his book Old Path White Clouds and I came to know the Buddha I know now.

    In his blog – The Value of Being Together when I read the point of Happiness, I remembered an incident of my life, sharing here.

    Once, I went to a restaurant – Annapoorna Bhojanalya – in Indore with one of my friends Vijay Sharma. It is a rajasthani/Gujrati thali style joint at Jail road in Indore. Its quality of food is very good.

    We sat and ordered our thali. I was eating very slowly, not noticing anything. I was enjoying the food. I was completely into the process of eating. Well, may be that is called meditation. After some time (usually time in which a sane person should complete eating his meal) almost every second person was looking at me. I was still eating, slowly and in all likelihood mindfully. On a lighter note, I did not over eat! 🙂

    I remember, while going out after the dinner Vijay told me “…what was happening?” I didn’t understand the question. He said everyone was looking at you the way you were eating. I had no idea what that meant. Well, he completed the sentence by saying – “…that was not in any derogatory terms. Something was different than usual while you were there.” This was what was happening there “…we eat as slow as we can so we can enjoy our freedom. . We can listen to the taste in our mouth.” (from Thay’s blog)

    Do we eating for the sake of it or we’d do this also completely, in meditation?

    Disclaimer– Author is neither Buddhist, nor a seasoned practitioner, just an explorer of the path; not authority on meditation either.

  • Budget 2013 & rainwater harvesting







    I was on twitter when Budget speech was going on. I read investment in so many good projects and felt good about it. Suddenly realized – wait, should I objectively look at the expenditure? How are these expenditure be accounted for and use? What best use is possible of this money? Can we reduce some expenses by approaching a lot of things differently? Though I did not mean overlooking required support to common man, but still is there any alternative way? Is there any Jugad as we call in Hindi.

    My previous blog was on the plight of farmers in Maharashtra – Self respect. In Budget 2013 Drinking water and sanitation is allocated 15,000 Cr and watershed 5000 Cr. So, I connected these thoughts and remembered a discussion with my father last Sept when I went to Indore. We discussed that the area of Indore is about 500 square-KM. Each year Indore receives average of 39 inches of rainfall about 1 meter. Rainfall is calculated as based on a simple method – how much water would a container receive in the rains, if the container is kept open under the sky?

    If only 10% of this rainwater is harvested, how much would it be? This 10% is very least which can be done. Right now I can think of  this 10% as roof tops of private & public buildings, unused space under Govts possession e.g. polo ground (a place in Indore), University &  college grounds and say roads (with proper water canal diverting water to the harvesting area).

    Based on the definition of rainfall measurement if that 10% is the container, this container would be of a size of 10% of 500 square-KM

    Container size would be about 50 square-KM.

    This container can accumulate a whooping 50 square-KM water upto 1 meter height during the rains.

    Let me convert it into cubic meters – 50X 1000 X 1000 (Square meters) X 1 meter

    50,000,000 cubic meters of water!

    If it is assumed that population of Indore is 2,000,000 and each individual uses 40 cubic meter water per year, 63% of the water requirement (50,000,000/2,000,000X40) of Indore can be fulfilled by harvested rainwater itself. The surplus saved water (which otherwise required in Indore) can be used by farmers around Indore. What if that is done all over India? Government can save a lot of extravagant expense on  irrigation & drinking water schemes.

    Advantages –

    1. Budget money saved by water harvesting

    2. Life saved by reducing chances of drought

    3. Increased agriculture produce due to availability of water – addition to the GDP!

    I belong to a small district headquarter Dhar in MP. About a thousand years ago a King ruled Dhar – Raja Bhoj. It is said that during his tenure he made 12 lakes for water. All these lakes were connected to each other for collecting rainwater. If during rains one lake overflows, the water would flow to the other. This was 1000 years back. I wonder what are we doing now.

    Now watch this Ted talk for solution implemented even before Britishers came to rule India. There is hope, just Wake up and take action.

    [ted id=702]