Attempt to eat healthy

I see a lot of people around me, different shapes and sizes. Some of the shapes are the one which I don't desire for myself. Deeply fried vegetables, red skin potatoes, patties, cheese dripping from every food puts me into the thinking mode and then the action mode in which I am cooking healthy food.

I tried to cook split pea lentil stew for myself.I put it on flame and got so busy that the water evaporated and what I was left with this :

 

and some experiments turn successful and healthy in life and what I got after some slicing and dicing of vegetables was :



and my plate looks wonderful and healthy



The Indian flat bread (chapati) and the south Indian crepe (dosa) are a little oily.But once I learn how to knead the dough I will not use the oil.

Meditation Session 2

I convinced myself that one day was not enough for me to decide whether I want to continue taking the classes or not ,so I went for the 2nd class.I asked Andrew whether I can come today without signing up for whole course. He said I can, so I hauled a taxi (was getting late ,otherwise I would have taken the brown line towards Kimbal ) and the class began at 1.

Today we dealt with mostly about setting up the meditation space. It should be clean and less distractions, no noise (white/brown or pink noise if you want to block the external sounds. I do it all the time .This is a long duration brown noise link ) . It should be clean so as to bring the point that you love the place and care for the place. Also , free from distractions is a desirable.

The whole idea is meditate where you feel comfortable, respect the process.Respect the idea of meditating and concentrating.Unless you respect it, you won't do it. This is my philosophy.

One can light a candle , it can be stimulating.

I had this doubt that if I am focusing on an event e.g. if I have this issue whether I select X or Y, then focusing on an event will introduce a lot of external variables.As an example, what will I cook for dinner? Veg salad or rice + lentil stew. The words salad and lentil stew are not abstract, they can have many different ideas and events attached to them. e.g. salad can bring in the thought, I have to go to veg market to buy them, then I can think of the lady at the cash counter is very rude, then one of the office mates of mine is very rude, then office reminds me I have to finish the algorithm and design phase by Monday, then tomorrow is Monday, what will I do.

All haywire and you are not concentrating anymore , you are just sitting at a place with your eyes closed and worrying .

I would like to digress for a while here,if you observe the thoughts that you have then you will be able to link how you hopped from one though to the other.Its similar to the connected graphs that I studied in my discrete mathematics course.Rod Bucknell describes his experiences and experiments in though retracing in his article , Experiments in Insight Meditation

Coming back to the point .

Or what I can do is focus on a candle, or a nature's picturesque view.It can help in minimization of the thoughts.

Less number of variables means less number of distractions, sounds right !!

But no, the candle technique is more like focusing technique.

So what?? That's what we do in meditation !!

Well, yes !! But then you need to go to the meaning of meditation.Its not just focusing ,its focusing on ideas, on events, retrospection, introspection and self reflection.Its connection to the inner self about how you truly feel about something. Being true to oneself. So candle is fine, but for long term and or if you want to touch base with your spirit/ soul then it might be temporary.

One more point !! When to meditate? I would personally like to meditate at 2 points, early in the morning and when I am in some difficult situation e.g. multiple geography phone call, you are getting up at odd hour to attend it and people are denigrating your effort in the recent project despite your immense efforts.

I would not like to keep it 'before I go to bed' job because it will mean "now I have done everything, and can meditate". Though nothing wrong with it, but for me its similar to keeping it at the bottom of the totem pole.

So, today I had a strange feeling while meditating. We started with breathing , then focused on body parts and relaxing the body.After some time I began to realize that my body is getting heavier, I had my hands on my upper thighs and fingers intertwined, I was feeling very heavy as my body has become a rock, its solidifying. Some other people also experienced the same .Andrew said its a positive thing, it means that your body is totally relaxed now.

That's a good thing !! :)

I won't say that I was able to ward off the thoughts and for few moments I felt drowsy as well .It was a state of limbo.I was attentive to external stimuli but everything else was slowing down and then I started feeling drowsy. May be that's what happens when you sleep.

I will try to observe the same tonight.

Meditation Sessions 1

Though I am from the land of yoga and meditation but until now I cared two hoots about it.Recent developments and extra load at the work has taken a toll on me. I have been finding it very hard to concentrate, there is something always always at the back of my mind. Even when I am jotting down this blog, pressing the keys furiously, I am thinking of myriad things .The brain is a wonderful organ but sometimes it needs to be tamed so as you can tell yourself that you are the master of your body and your thoughts. People have varied reasons for meditation, some do it for relaxation, some for calmness and tranquility, serenity of their being, some to reach the inner conscience , some want to talk to their inner self and some are just aping others as they don't have anything else to do. Trust me I met a lady in the class of the last kind.

My reason is that I can't concentrate and want to learn how to focus on one thing at a time.

The teacher Andrew Shykofsky is a 48 year old guy who teaches and practices meditation part time apart from his daily full time job as a marketing person in some company. $ 20 is quite steep for a single class, but then too I though let's give it a try.

First of all he removed all the wrong definitions of meditation from my brain. He gave me the dictionary definition, which is thinking deeply and focusing on something for a period of time for religious , spiritual or method of relaxation. I understand the religious and the method of relaxation part but not the spiritual one. Spiritual, as far as I understand pertains to the inner self and your soul. So if one wants connection to inner self then one meditates for spiritual reasons.

I was also asked not to expect anything unless I practice a lot, its not about deciphering the codes and omens, or dream sequence interpretation ,also some shadow of calmness will not engulf me suddenly after meditation. Its like learning a new language , so one has to draw a parallel with the speed and effect of meditations. In nutshell, I will not be jettisoned into a world of concentration and self awareness, it will take time.

I have read about how to meditate online and have one or two android apps on my nexus, but sparingly used. All of them talk about breathing deeply and lotus positions or the padmasana.Of course, they are important and have scientific connection . But for a person like me who sits on a chair whole day and spends around 16 hours in front of a computer, it will be hard for me to sit cross legged for one and a half hour and then concentrate on something simultaneously. The physical pain is one of the most powerful stimuli and winning it over is not what a neophyte like me is looking for. Andrew also agreed with me and to my surprise he had chairs in his room instead of mats. The chairs were comfortable and the seam of the chair left the thigh at just the right length. One should not be totally taut his back, but it should be attentive and not slouchy and sluggish posture. Of course, you don't want to fall asleep or do you? :)

The mental awareness, the physical/body awareness and the emotional awareness are the three parts that will be concentrated upon by the meditation. He said it is the general notion that mind controls everything but there are people who meditate and feel that the true consciousness lies in the upper torso of the body. And he said he can teach us to do so. I was excited.

So, after the theory it was time for practice. I had taken my shorts with me, which I always carry as shorts are the most suited and most comfortable invention of the guy whose pants were torn and tattered , of course below the knee .I had already changed to shorts before the session started.

The meditation session started with dimming of the lights and some transcendental music in the background.Before this Andrew asked me to think of something which I would like to think and focus upon. It can be anything, any relation of mine, any mantra, any face etc. Many articles talk about focusing on the breath, which seems to be very boring to me. So, if I am meditating or trying to meditate I will have to treat my body as a child who doesn't want to drink milk and his mother puts protinex or complan in it to make him do so. So, I thought of some unconventional thing and closed my eyes relaxing my body slowly . The relaxation of body is important, not all of a sudden , but one by one. Start with the feet, then calves, knees, thighs, then upper torso . He had asked me to focus on my breath side by side and breathe deeply while observing the inflation and deflation of the lungs and the abdomen. That's too much work . I tried taking in deep breaths but then my mind started thinking of something else esp. have I received a text on my phone or not? What will I cook on going back etc.

So I let go of deep breaths, concentrated on the task at hand aka thinking and focusing on an already decided thought. I in general take fairly deep breaths.

I would not say that I was successful in concentrating for the whole period, my mind wandered a lot but yes after a while the speed of the thoughts was less. One has to build a wall between yourself and the mind imagining that it is in some other room and you can shut and open the door to that room at your will. After concentrating, focusing for 15-20 min he asked me to open my eyes and discuss how I felt.

I felt a little sleepy for a while, but yes I was able to concentrate keeping other thoughts at bay at least for few seconds. This needs to be consolidated and practiced enough to experience the true power and taste the fruit. After all, meditation is not any low hanging fruit for me.

PS : Generally I am very critical about teachers and want people who are absolutely flawless in their knowledge to teach me. I have had few such teachers in past, One was Rahul Vohra who taught me chemistry ,another one was Amitava Sengupta who mentored me in National Physical Lab, New Delhi.

Andrew reads from a manual which spoils the fun of learning a new subject .Again, its a personal opinion .I am not undermining the 30 years of experience in this subject which he brings on the table with him.

Best motivational speeches in one video

Al Pacino and Mohd Ali !! What a motivating speech.

A cab ride

I had only 45 minute with me and the Google maps showed , 37 min from my location to the Lincoln Avenue. Based on my past experiences I shuddered to rely on my navigation skills and hauled a cab.Though it can burn a hole in your pockets, but always better than getting late. The cab driver greeted me and asked about my well being. I was in such a hurry that I had skipped the breakfast, had guzzled down a small glass of orange juice only. So I started eating the banana and the yogurt that I had with me. Driver asked me if I am vegan. I said No, but vegetarian. He said he lives near the Indian community of Chicago and there are many veg restaurants if I want to try. I asked him if he was talking about Devon avenue. he answered was affirmative. I told him that I am from India only.He was very pleased to hear this and told me that he is from Somalia and eats Indian food all the time. He told me about the uncountable number of Indian movies he has seen. He likes Indian movies, not the western ones. He told me that 15-20 % of the Somalian culture derives its roots from Indian culture and till few years ago, almost all the females of his land draped themselves in Saree, which is the authentic and indigenous Indian attire for females.All women dress according to muslim standards nowadays, wear hijab and burqas. He told me that Somalia is 99 % Shia Muslims. I asked him the difference between Shias and Sunnis, he himself was not very sure. I have read this difference once or twice but I always forget.


The words such as roti, gaadi are common in both languages.I told him that these words are not from Hindi but from middle eastern languages and have been used since ages for the meting of cultural pots in Indian plains.


Old Hindi movies are accepted in Somalia because they are good for entertainment and also there is minimum physical contact between male and female actors . This reminded me of the old movies in which hero is running behind the girl in a garden and the kissing scenes are obviated by showing two intertwined buds , flowers or 2 birds in vicinity. This reminds me of all the scenes in old hindi movies portraying the first night after the wedding in which the light would just go off signifying passion .


Anyway, Hindi movies are quite debatable . I should not digress.


This affection towards old hindi movies for a reason gave me some points about the society in Somalia. He told me that if you like a girl, you send your parents to their house asking for proposal rather than doing everything by yourself .


I was trying hard which movie I have seen is based on Somalia and it struck me suddenly that it was Black Hawk Down by Ridley Scott and also Captain Phillips starring Tom Hanks. I told him so and inquired about the rule of Mohd Farrah Aidid. He gave me some quick facts about his rule, the civil war in Somalia, how 18 regions have fought over a period of time with each other and how they are trying to bring their country towards a democratic election. He told me that everyone carries a gun there for safety purpose. I shuddered at the thought.


He then asked me if I think Manmohan Singh will win the election this time. I chuckled at this. This man driving me to Lincoln av, is surely has decent general knowledge.


What I liked about him was despite all of such problems he loved his country and is planning to go back to meet his relatives and his friends there whom he left 20 years ago.


Sometimes you just gain the knowledge from someone you expect least.


BTW : One should always be politically correct, I had an instance when I was sharing a cab with a girl and the driver was a Palestinian. The mention of Yaseer Arafat made him go bonkers and he was willing to let go off the cab fare if we disembarked his cab instantly.

The Lessons of History

http://prashantmudgal.wordpress.com/2014/02/09/the-lessons-of-history/

The Lessons of History

Kipling

Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the two shall meet,
Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God’s great Judgment Seat;

Seva

Alfred Adler, Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud are considered fathers of the modern psychology.
Alfred Adler had this analysis which is "Fourteen-Day Cure Plan".
“He used to say to his melancholia patients:
"You can be cured in fourteen days if you follow this prescription.Try to think every day how you can please someone.”




Adler claimed he could cure anyone of mental illness in just fourteen days if they would just do what he told them to do. One day a woman who was extremely depressed came to see Adler. He told her, "I can cure you of your depression in just fourteen days if you will follow my advice."

She was not very enthusiastic when she asked, "What do you want me to do?"

Adler replied, "If you will do one thing for someone else every day for fourteen days, at the end of that time your depression will be gone."

She objected. "Why should I do something for someone else, when no one ever does anything for me?"

Adler jokingly responded, "Well, maybe it will take you twenty-one days." He went on to add, "If you can't think of anything you are willing to do for someone else, just think of what you could do if you felt like it." Adler knew that if she would even think about doing something for someone else, she would be on her way toward improvement.

This is the beautiful concept of "service before self"

Meditation

I want to meditate but cannot, my attention span is very less and due to this I have to spend a lot of time on one task. Many people advise me to meditate, I even asked one pro person whom I know intimately about it. But I could not meditate, focusing on a mantra will stray my attention away for sire. I have to do something about it . I got few books and apps but nothing happened.
Today I was trying to make an origami model, and it was a difficult one and I had added to it the problem of color coding.I kept working on it for 4 hours, I had no idea of the time, I wasnt  felling hungry , didnt even went to attend the call of nature. At the end I realised what I was doing was meditation only. I was focused, no fidgeting , totally concentrated , I was calm even it was a difficult model though I had a feeling in between to quit this and go to bed as it was already 4 am. My breath was normal and most importantly my heartbeat was not very high which remains high in the usual case.
I am glad that I understood some part of meditation process and also for the end result that I got

Judaism and Zoroastrianism

Today while having lunch, Paul asked me what is the general perception of people of India regarding drinking liquor . I gave him full account of how ancient Indian society was divided and how its considered a sin in few sects of society but what is the contemporary view and all that. He told me there is a festival Purim in which its allowed to drink in Judaism.
He told me that he is a Jew but doesn't go to synagogue often.I got my concepts cleared for the differences between Judaism and Christianity. Old testament and the new one.
I didn't know that Jews believe in the messiah and that it hasn't come on earth yet. So it was nice insight for me. I always got confused between Jews and Parsis of India. Now I know the latter follow Zoroastrianism and go to fire temples and of course they were Persians.
Then we started discussing Dan Brown.I totally savor such conversations.

First month change

I am quite amused for the title I have selected for my blog . It feels like I am pregnant and looking for changes in my body with the fetus dancing inside me.
So, Its been more than a month now I am in USA. Unlike my previous trips to foreign lands this one is giving me complete chance to interact with the city. I don't think so that there are myriad changes ,I have always been a solitary reaper so here I am more into myself. Not a big deal !
I am not cribbing at all for all the walking that I have to do daily.Yes temperature is a little extreme, but it can be worse. I find it beautiful outside and I like walking when snow falls on me.
One thing I dont like is ,my office bag has become heavier than before. Apart from the laptop and other things it has gloves, muffler, few snacks, few arbit boxes,old food material etc. But its manageable .
I dont like the fact that subways here dont cater mobile signals. For god sake, we are living in 21st century . My reading time has not reduced. I read in bus and in train. Keeping myself educated. :D
I was never a shopping freak ,so you send me to New york or Paris or Sierra Nevada I am going to buy only the necessary things for myself. Though seeing all those world class showrooms on 5th avenue and the park avenue is an experience in itself.
Food: One of the most important factor !!

There are many vegetarian options available if you want to buy outside. But one cannot eat out daily health and monetary factors both of them play their role here. So I cook.Also I have learned to eat frozen food items. Definitely my list of known vegetables has increased now.I have developed a liking for boiled vegetables,amaranth , brown rice, quince , persimmons and yes mashed avocados and who doesnt likes dressings of cilantro lime or olive oil + balsamic vinegar dressing on their salads :)

I have to edit this post. I forgot to mention one major change that I clean my dishes each and every time I eat, or drink anything :)

New Year in New York

It was a thursday and I got a little late for the office ,So I decided to work from home for the time being.A colleague of mine was returning back to India after staying here for about six months. So, he called me up and asked me to come to office and from there we will go somewhere . I reached office and when Tomas left .We went out of the office , roamed on the 5th avenue , went to apple store ,clicked some photos and then called up few other Indian guys from Accenture and  Goldman Sachs .They said they will be there in an hour or so. We tried to go to the Times square. But I shuddered at the sight of the crowd. There must be at least a million  people and many more coming, waiting in queues The police and cops were deployed everywhere and they were carrying out their roles with dexterity .It reminded me of the local fares of Delhi at the time of RamLila and Janmashtmi . The difference is we have global crowd at times square. Just imagine, people go bonkers for witnessing the crystal ball drop at times square at midnight and for that they start gathering there from 10 am or so. They just sit there for 14-15 hours. They cannot go anywhere to pee . Some guys keep bottles and relieve themselves in them .What happens to girls I am wondering.
I so people pee in their pants. A smell of food, feces etc etc was filled in the atmosphere.

Standing there for insane long hours in -5 degree Celsius and that too for a show of 5 minutes , hugging or smooching a stranger .Seems like too much work to me. Feels like a cult which is being followed, but then everything is a cult in one or other way.
But its an experience in itself, You talk to people , people from various lands, big luggage with them ,speaking in different accents of English can be something I can look forward to. But this time I didn't.

Instead we went to office again and waited for the other guys to join in. OMG !! there was an infinitely long queue in front of my office .Thanks to its prime location in NY, a road adjacent to Alliance Bernstein building leads to Times square so it was closed. Thanks to our access cards .We could just go through the other side of the building to go anywhere, instead of standing and waiting in the queue with the plebeians :)

We took the food from Halal guys  , its one of the best food in NYC. I had falafel over Rice and Lettuce but I stayed away from the hot sauce of theirs. Its insanely hot and has no taste.  One thing I like about Indian spices is that they have a taste they are not used for burning few organs of your body which I think is the case with the hot sauce of Halal guys. Anyway, we had food and in the meantime the other guys also arrived. They were starving as well. We took them to Dukes Deli, a nice place to have salad, continental , sushi and my favorite persimmons salad .
I was just standing and looking at various things and another girl was doing the same. We started talking and talked for some time and then her boyfriend came back from washroom .Both of them greeted me new year and they left.

I dont remember when did I talk to any girl randomly in New Delhi. I understand that the atmosphere of Delhi is way different from that of New York. But males are same everywhere, you can see this thing very clearly and this concept got cleared when I was in a nightclub Webster hall there. But leave these things aside, girls are more secure here and more confident . Delhi girls are no less in confidence but they have this air of arrogance  engulfing them, and a belief that they belong to some different species , different from normal human beings. Of course I cannot generalize this ,I am not saying that males or american females are the paragon of all the virtues.

But anyway, after seeing a million people at Times square five of us headed to central park ,it was no less than a celebration as well.And then at 00:00 hours fireworks started. The sky was beautiful and the pyrotechnics were adorning it with colors giving shades to it and to the eyes of the on lookers. It lasted for 15 minute. Then we headed back to the our office. I was planning to go to my place but the 4 of them urged me to go with them . We reached their room and it was really cold .

I was not in a mood of drinking, so they people proceeded and had a good time I guess. We had a erudite and very deep conversation on American economy , effect on India and of course Aam aadmi party :)
We kept changing the music on demand . We played cards, 29 was the name of the game. Those who think playing cards is a bad habit should read about Mickey Rosa and six other MIT maths students who brought the house down in Las Vegas casinos way back in 1993. IIT Bombay has official cards society , even my college had few games which everyone was master at.

Finally, at 6 am or so we started getting drowsy and fell on the bed welcoming the first day of the new year.
No resolution nothing !!

Modular Origami Part 3

I went to the American museum of natural history and there they had an origami tree, instantly I searched for nearest Barnes and Nobel and got origami paper and the result of 3 hour effort that evening was

This is the origami tree they had on display at museum 

There they had people from origami USA and I looked up at their website. Its like an expensive hobby in America it seems to me. The best thing is learn online and take help from people by joining a community.

Why Modular origami?

Modular origami is a stress buster for me.I can work and concentrate on it for hours and fully absorbed, away from the issues that trouble me. Its like a meditation.
Ha ha  !! I am talking like as if I am a pro in this art. Not at all, I am a neophyte but very eager to learn .

As far as the resources are concerned , on should look for cheap paper .Its not always available and an instruction book or video.
Tomako Fuse 's book  and Miyuki Kawamura 's Polyhedra origami is a nice place to begin with . Otherwise there are thousands of videos available on Youtube.

Modular Origami Part 2

I wanted to have my basics right, so I attended a 2 hour workshop at Japan foundation New Delhi.It was very basic one, valley folds, mountain folds, water bomb, square folds, triangle fold etc. 2 small kids and few super rich housewives were attending the class. I learned few things but I was itching to do something which is difficult to assemble and form. So , here started my tryst with modular origami.
I started with tricorne, jackson cube, icosahedral .

Modular Origami

For past one year I have been doing the paper folding. I was looking for some productive hobby which can inspire me and keep me absorbed for a long time. I came in contact with Arvind Gupta, he used to present origami on Doordarshan's Tarang (a daily TV show for children) and then Bhupesh told me about the origami sessions he was attending. I started with very easy models and usual single sheet origami such as boxes, animals, birds etc. Japanese cranes were I was particularly interested in . There is this interesting concept in rural Japan that a father gives 1000 paper cranes to his daughter on her wedding for a prosperous and happy life ahead.
I started folding in my free time and during the lunch breaks of office and there was a small zoo on my table. But few days later I saw that the cleaning guys removed them on weekend thinking of them as trash. This time I made them again and put them in my pedestal drawer.