Wednesday, December 6, 2006

I caught a Cobra...a couple of months back, actually


I am sorry to upload a photo with my undies hung out for drying!! But thats where I found this spectacled cobra hanging out, literally! This snake found a peculiar attraction to the undies and climbed onto the rope I have tied for drying clothes and refused to climb down. I had to jerk it up a few times to make him climb down...obviously no usaing hands right away to catch him...he has got loads of that thing called VENOM!
This fella wasn't quite as big as the ones I have caught earlier...but he seemed very aggressive. It was a long period of tnse interaction b/w me and the Cobra. I finally got him and packaged him in a sack (phew! It was hard to actually stuff the guy into a sack!) and later released him into a farm land nearby.

A trip to Western Ghats




http://in.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/nandakalyan/slideshow?.dir=/bfa1scd&.src=ph

Check out the link......it has some breathtaking pics of Western ghats.
Wrong season wrong place. Dense fog, winds at over 60 mph and rain of over 30 cm. But right set of people fully equipped. Mentally prepared to face some horrible weather, zero visibility and awful winds! Spare it all, coz we were treated to the sight of our life...the mountains, the trees...wow!!!

We wanted to cross a river that was almost as if mother earth had all power accumulated in this one place...nah! we didnt cross it, next time....when she is a little cool ;) The forest, it was lush, wet, and foggy all over....we didnt see the sun in the sky for almost the entire three days.
The Drive- Hats off to the driver of our vehicle for getting us thru to and fro! With all possible beams and fog lights, we could hardly see, even at 12 in the noon, abt three feet in front of the bumper except on occasional good visibility! worse, we drove at night....

And now the REAL problem abt these beautiful ranges of forests, Asia's longest Tropical forest range and Asia's Largest Bio-Diversity area, The Western Ghats. Its all beautiful, u roam freely in the forest, run into trees, occasional patches of grasslands and wat not....and u stand still enjoying the serenity of the quiet moist and beautiful weather (if u think so). Then u feel a little eery in the foot or inside ur shoes or just below ur socks (sometimes even in ur armpits or back if ur are running thru bushes) and feel it with ur hands. You find that place has become soft and plump, as if a swelling developed. You undo your shoe lace or pull down ur sock and you find the most stealthy, rampant and populous predator of the range - LEECH! Awk! :) and now time to stop the bleeding, as these bugs inject anti-coagulants when they bite and hang on to your skin, just so they get fed weel thru non-clotting streams of blood from ur body. And by the time ur bleeding stops, there is one more in someother place on ur body....good fun (Thank god, I escaped without a single leech bite in the whole expedition)
I know by this this time u must be thinking we are insane or crazy beyond words...but thrill and adventure is always risky, and the pleasure of being with nature in this season is unmatched.
It was great fun, dangerous and thrilling all the same...interested in stuff like this? contact me!! :D

AND FIVE FORTUNATE PEOPLE WERE WASHED OFF OUR SINS, BY HEAVY RAIN AND GUSTS OF WIND THAT COULD TAKE US AWAY, ATOP A 2500FT MOUNTAIN AS PUNISHMENT (BY MOM EARTH) FOR SUMMITTING IT!

A 2 Z of meee!




A: All that’s in nature is beautiful
B: Black is my favorite color
C: Conscience is the measure of the honesty of your selfishness
D: Down to earth (well not completely yet!)
E: Every thing happens for a reason
F: Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe
G: God’s my best friend
H: Health is wealth, can I buy a Mercedes with that?
I: I am not a tease, I am just an example of wat u can’t have!
J: Jump up when ya can and fall flat when ya cant! (rock climbing habits!)K: K2, wanna climb it some dayL: Love to live, Love to laugh, Love to Love
M: Married to music, Metal, Trance, Madonna, fusion, instrumental, anything!
N: Never say die
O: Old wine and old scotch are not only for old men
P: Pets-cats, snakes
Q: Quote O’ mine- Are you from Mars or are u just dumb?
R: Rugged terrain, and a Harley Davidson…aaaahhh! Heaven is what?
S: Snakes, reptiles – Am a herpetologist
T: Thankfully single!
U: Up above the sky so high, wats up there??
V: Vote for Jack Daniels! (Budweiser, if not!)
W: Wats that thing called fear?
X: Xtreme metal, heavy metal, death metal!
Y: “Y” is always a good question
Z: Zestful, always!

The relationship between Me and Thee


I ME MYSELF

This is my view of the divisions in any person. There are three divisions in the person’s entire self, including the physical parts of that person. This is what I propose out of the meagre knowledge I have. This I propose because I wanted to understand why I as a person have so many conflicting thoughts inside myself. When I use the words “I” or “ME” or “MYSELF” when I am speaking in a general sense, I do not refer to the PROPOSITION made by me.

THE “I”

The “I” signifies the divine particle in a person. It is the explicit symbol of the soul. The “I” or AHAM is the “Paramaatma” in a person. It is the “BRAHMAN” that prevails upon all material and immaterial things in the entire cosmos. This face of the “I” is generally dormant but peeps out occasionally as what can be termed as the “CONSCIENCE”. But the second form of the “I” is the hyperactive “EGO”. It is present in every lame person and this mask over the “AHAM”, when shed, paves way for realizing the “BRAHMAN”. It takes just one sentence to say about self-realization but one entire birth may not be enough to achieve it. Like a new shiny snake emerges after shedding its skin, an entirely new person is seen after he wins over his ego. Like the shed skin, the “EGO” is very unclean and hence man should try to shed it. The lame way to do it is by “ATMASAMARPANA BHAVA” as proposed by many great people. Whatever one does for his/her pleasures must be offered as worship to the divine. Thereby it is possible to shed the “EGO” and realize the true self. Sri Shankaracharya has described this in a verse in his work “SOUNDARYALAHARI”. The goes like this-

Japo jalpaha shilpam sakalamapi mudraa virachana,
Gatihi praadakshinyakramanam ashanaadyaahuti vidihi.
Pranaamaha samveshaha sukhamakhimaatmaarpanadrushaa,
Saparyaaparyaayastava bhavatu yanme vilasitam.

{All this has already been said as a part of other theories. So nothing new can be said as every high thought has been explained before. This is a combination of various thoughts that I am able to interpret in a certain different sense.}


The relationship between the three parts can be understood properly only after understanding the “MYSELF”.


THE “ME”


The “ME” is the symbol of what actually the person is, as seen by the outside world. It is the beast natured feature present in every one of us but suppressed in different proportions in different people. In this, there is both good and evil. The “ME” signifies what others see in that person. In a society, his attitude, physical appearance, behaviour and his character are all seen by people, which is nothing but what he is in the society, that is, “ME”. What am I in the society? is what the “ME” in a person all about. This part is predominantly active and has a close bearing on the “EGO”. This is why people react so spontaneously when they are spoken to or something is spoken about them. This part cannot be shed but it can be made to be dormant by a conscious effort to regulate the senses and their reactivity. The “ME” is a part of the mind and so by controlling mental fickleness the “ME” can be brought to the stage of dormancy. This is the wherein the thoughts are diverted towards the “I” or “AHAMKARAA”. The best example for this stage is a person who was known to have been in this stage, Sri SADASHIVA BRAHMENDRA. This is also, as far as I can comprehend, the Samaadhi, as illustrated by PATANJALI in his “ASHTAANGA YOGA”. But this is only the stage of Savikalpa Samaadhi, which is directing the flow of thoughts in only one direction. Further from this stage, the “NIRVIKALPA SAMAADHI” can be achieved by the eradication of the “VRITTI”, that is the mental functions or simply thoughts. To achieve this there has to be a regular disciplined and striving effort by the “JIGNAASU”. After the ultimate is achieved, there is a congregation of the three parts, namely, “I”, “ME” and “MYSELF”.

THE “MYSELF”

The “MYSELF” includes the mind, the think-tank of the human and all his physical parts. The brain and the mind are the parts that are most prominent. The “MYSELF” is that part of a person that thinks, through which only a person expresses his feelings and communicates with fellow beings and accomplishes many tasks. It is the medium of exchange between the “I” and the “ME”. Thus it is interactive. The “MYSELF” is a dependent factor. Unless the other two parts unite, the “MYSELF” continues to prevail. The “MYSELF” is what a person thinks about himself, knows about himself and interacts within himself, i.e. all the conflicting thoughts that arise, the confusions that take place etc and also through which he learns about the outside world. Thus the “MYSELF” is an important part the person. It is through the “MYSELF” that a person can achieve the union of the “I” and the “ME”. The MYSELF has a great influence on the “ME”. This because the “ME” is what others perceive in a person and the “MYSELF”, being the medium of exchange, highlights only the good qualities to outsiders and helps in nursing the selfish and harmful ambitions within the person, not revealing it to others. This is why people tend to say one thing and do something else. Thus the “MYSELF” helps others to feel the “ME” to be good. Hence there is great power in the “MYSELF” to help a person to either progress or even to bring his own or others’ downfall. Thus is the result that people pose to be good, hide their bad intentions and also act unlike what their own real instincts provoke them to be.

The “I” is purely divine and spiritual. It does become powerful unless it is realized. It has its own individuality and is existent in a person by birth. The second “I” is downtrodden and filthy. It is powerful in all selfish and self-centered people. It takes form from the moment a person starts to become selfish and concerned about himself. The “ME” is normal and worldly in its existence. It is neither strong nor weak. This starts to exist from the moment the person becomes a part of the society and recognized as an individual. The “MYSELF” is powerful, both interactive and dormant depending on the situation and state of the person (sleep etc). It is the only part that has tangible coalitions (the body) and takes help from these to function. The “MYSELF” comes into existence as early as in babyhood when the baby starts reacting to the outside world.

The “I” is absolute and powerful when realized. The “I” is the only particle that exists in total independence. The “ME” is neither independent nor powerful. It is a highly intangible but real factor. The “MYSELF” is consciously powerful. It is the one that causes the gap between the “I” and the “ME”, i.e. makes a person to appear unlike his true self and at the same time helps to realize the true self when prompted by the “I”. the mind is the major cause for this kind of functioning of the “MYSELF” due to its power of thinking. The “MYSELF” is highly intangible to the person as he does not differentiate between the three particles in him. In terms of power, the “MYSELF” comes second. The “MYSELF” is a highly dependent factor and its existence is dependent upon the existence of the “I”, (mainly) the second “I” and the “ME”. It cannot exist by itself. Hence clarity in thoughts leads to accuracy in actions.

NOW, what is making me write all this is the “Myself”. The “ME” in me is Nanda Kalyan G.S. and for the “I”, I wish I could realize it.

“I”--- Aham or Brahman
“ME”---- The person as seen by others (Who is he /she?)
“MYSELF”---- What am I to others?



And if you didnt understand any of wat I said above, feel free to ask. Dont feel bad, a lot of people have no knowledge.

Metal Videos

For all you metal freaks like me out there, here is are a couple of links for you to explore....videos only

Good collection of all old and new vids - http://www.gauntletvideos.com

Near to good collection of Metal vids - http://www.metalvideos.ru/download.html

Okie Dokie collection - http://www.hdpvidz.com/videos.html

And now the bait.......the MP3 site that sucks (coz its slow) but if you have the patience you can download.....especially if you have been dying for a particular song since a long time, get it here-
http://kot.spb.ru/mp3

Now dont try to get me killed if any of the above dont work....I just used these a few times and good to share!