Bachelors' Day Out

Finally we made it!!!

We were planning a Bachelors Trip (I am getting married soon) for over a couple of months. The plans moved from Sri Lanka to Andaman Nicobar to Goa to Madumalai Jungle Resort to Chikmagalur and finally on the eve of starting the trip it was Wonder La amusement park in Bengaluru. Our trips are like Kingfisher flights- more cancellations than conductions. But this one was successful! Even the days shifted from last weekend of September to first weekend of October then 3rd week and finally the last weekend.

Finally it was Vinni(Vinayaka), Avi (Avinash), Guruji (Murali), Paddu (Pradeep) and AK (me).

It was a pleasant morning last Saturday. Vinni, Murali and I set out to Avi's place and from there a gang of 5 left on 3 super bikes! Uppit and vade breakfast was good. I had my best drive on NICE road. The road, the scenery around... you feel you have landed on a different planet. Beautiful!

We reached Wonder La at around 11:30. After a failed attempt to get 25% off on tickets by proving we are college students, we set our feet in the amusement park. Felt like half of Bengaluru was there. We started with a dungeon ride which was supposed to be scary, except for Avi and Murali, none among the over 10k people there felt that. Then we all went for 'Free Fall'. This is very scary. The hydraulic lifts you for 20-25 feet and drops you from there... man, I was mad... with screaming Paddu beside me, it felt like my last moment! That's the only non-water activity that Paddu participated, for others he was just holding our glasses, keys, waving at us etc.

Then we went for 'Mixer'- supposed to be toughest in the park. I was reluctant. It looked very dangerous. But Avi and Vinni, convinced me (or should it be confused). Man, I am still wondering how I could be alive. Then another one, which was made to rotate our bodies senselessly. The long queues for all these didn't deter our spirits. Then we had sumptuous meal. After taking a break and self glorification talks we set out to water sports. First we went into the pool and got drenched. It was real fun. Splashing water over each other. Paddu, Vinni and I had special interest with this pool. The Rain disco was my favorite. Annamma dance, Mithun da dance and Nagin dance were on full display. The tunnel water ride, pendulum, lazy river and Flat slides were the sports we played. We, except Vinni I think, were nervous but we all made it. It was great fun and a great opportunity to set aside all our fears and self created phobias. We all did it.

The greatest part of this day out was our bonding. We had a lovely time. Paddu's witty one liners, Avi's philosophical views on happiness, Vinni's good-for-nothing inputs, Murali's insights on purpose of life and my... (well, I will leave this job for other 4 to do).

This was the first Bachelor's day out/trip of our group... are we getting modernized? But we don't look like that... A great weekend!!

Bare necessities…

As I set my foot towards my home from my work place, a few days back, my mind was a confused lot. I was greeted by a cloudy sky outside. It was about to rain. Things like- 'should I do or shouldn't I', 'is this right or that', 'speak or remain silent', 'who's mine, who's not', 'should I share with someone or not'... and what not. A mess. It is in the nature of Mind to remain confused and unclear and worry.

I had walked a few furlongs, and then a few lines of a poem I had read long back flashed. Here it goes-

Look for the bare necessities

The simple bare necessities

Forget about your worries and your strife

I mean the bare necessities

Old Mother Nature's recipes

That brings the bare necessities of life

The bare necessities of life will come to you...

The assuring line of 'Bare necessities of life will come to you' brought whiff of relaxed air into my heart. I think we have all had experience of something taken care when we were not conscious about it. I have had many such experiences- a case in point is I never look through rear view when I drive, but somehow I never met with anything untoward or another case is that I joined a decent workplace without actually preparing for it... somehow it is taken care of. You can call it the power of God, if you want to.

It reassured the futility of worrying and behaving as if I am in control of all things. In actuality I am not in control of anything. How relaxing is this fact. I playfully call it -"Chennakeshava eno ond madtane" (Chennakeshava will do something about it).

Felt these words will sooth an aching heart.

I am so beautiful

Love others, as you love yourself- goes a famous saying. The emphasis of this saying lies in the first half. But, what about the second half? Do we love ourselves? Is the answer a thumping YES?

By loving ourselves, I don't mean being egoist, egotist or bragging about oneself. All these are not love in first place. I mean acceptance- accepting ourselves as we are and finding beauty in it. Whatever exists is God's creation, then how can anything be ugly or bland? It has to be beautiful. So we must be beautiful.

We don't like our eyes, our nose, our hair, the way we look, our nature, our decisions, our bank balance, our mistakes, our education, our town, our non-acceptance by others... I am sure you will agree with me that this list is without end. But why shouldn't we step a couple of steps back and see them in new light... we will find beauty in all of these. There are no templates to which our attributes should adhere to be called "beautiful". You need not come out with any list of items to prove that you are beautiful, you are beautiful and that's it.

Once we have accepted ourselves, we can be more confident, more loving, more forgiving and more "ourselves". We will bring more of ourselves in all that we do or don't. Life seems blessed.