Walking-The-Road-Writing-The-Way

‘Let Knowledge be my Goal Let Reason be my path Let Courage and Self-effort be my ways Let every other shrine be damned. For I am my own God’. ( Written long long very long ago !)

--> Travel Literature " In Patagonia " Re-visited I am a lay reader and my writing is just as lay. To top it, I am an uncomfortable traveller. And this is my lay review of an unusual travel book by an unusual author. Whenever I read classic travel books I am humbled by the profound detachment these authors seem to have had, travelling alone to places remote and uninviting. I am humbled by the fact that I am not made of that supreme stuff to attempt such feats. One book that completely disorients me is "In Patagonia" by Bruce Chatwin. It was published in 1977 and it was instantly raved as a minor classic. It seems Bruce Chatwin left a message, "Gone to Patagonia", and abruptly left his job at the London Museum . He took off on a ridiculous journey of quest and came back with a minor classic as his debut into the literary world. "In Patagonia " defies any kind of genre classification. It could be called travel...

Here today, gone tomorrow!! Am I ready for it? How am I to come to terms with this truth?

Travel to Thiruvakkarai To Widen Your Perspective (How would you like to travel to a place that will widen your perspective by 20 million years?! Take a break, pack a camera, and travel to Thiruvakkarai. A drive down ECR with a lunch stop-over at Pondicherry is the best that you can do on a Sunday.) Traveling to new places and seeing new things widen one’s perspective. This is an adage that’s surely worn-out and thin from excess usage. The truth is that only some places and some things do and some places and some things don’t. And in this particular place and the particular thing the adage proves its truth, and proves it by a very wide margin- and by the Geological Survey of India’s estimate, by no less than 20 million years!! The place I am talking about is Thiruvakkarai and the phenomenon I am talking about is the fossil trees of Thiruvakkarai . Thiruvakkarai is a quaint little village of South Arcot District. It lies about 20 to 25 kms south west of Pondicherry, between Pondicherry...

"He was overwhelmed with a reminder that at some moments the earth seemed like a fabulous stage set for an imortal drama, or initiation. The trees, the arbours, the orchards, the sweeping fields, the abunant heavens, all the astonishing colours of nature, the flwers, the hills, the lakes - it all seemed the most extra-ordinary setting for wonderful events, for the most fabulous adventures in living, for marvellous festivities of the huma spirit. The perfect setting for humanity to perform the most amazing feats of history making, of self-overcoming, of transcending, of momentous 'becoming' . We have the setting, Lao was thinking, we have the consciousness, but the grand event, the luminous illuminaton is missing. It seems we are not up to it. Here we have a world of legends, of pyramids, of oceans, of mountains, deserts, valleys, meadows, volcanoes, waterfalls, colours that bring tears to the eyes, we have trees and flowers and animals of unbelievable variety, we have civi...

Lt. Dan: Have you found Jesus yet, Gump? Gump: I didn't know I was supposed to be looking for him, sir.

"When am I going to start LIVING this life?.....I mean when I am actually going to become fully ALIVE?...feel the consciousnes of being ALIVE completely, brightly, fully aware, and be charged by the LIFE Energy?" Some days back while suffering from a phase of 'heavy,subdued and hazy consciousness, I could actually feel the burden of my body on my consciousness. I realised that we are victims of this physical body. I could acyually feel the weight and restrictions of this physical boundary on my 'consciousness'-----both in quality and in quantity. And now today I realised that we are all victims of this world around us also....victims to ideas, expectations and 'normal' life-style. We are all only 'half-alive'. We are all living our life 'half-dead'. Should'nt we doing new things, exploring new ideas, activities, places....realising new knowledge...and expanding ourselves? Should'nt we be doing things that make us feel ALIVE every mo...

Emptiness ..and in that Emptiness everything is just 'IS' ....as it is in reality......no strain...no confusion...plain clear and lucid....in Emptiness. And in this Emptiness I got to do, just what I got to do...and everything will just be fine...as they are...everything will just happen just as they have to...everything is as they should be....in Emptiness.

Gump asks, “Whats my destiny moma?” Gump’s moma says, “Life is like a box of chocolates,… you never know what you gonna get until you open it.” “ ..But you gotto do the best with whatever you have got.” Gump wonders, “ Do each of have a destiny or are we all just floating around?”, Gump says, “ May be both of it is true, may be both of it is happening.’’

Walking - The - Road is both what it says and also a metaphor. It is the physical ritual of walking to a holy place, a pilgrimage, as well as a metaphor for the inner spiritual progress to self-realisation. It is both an inner as well as an outer pilgrimage. It takes us to a holy place on both dimensions. It is a journey between two different dimensions, it begins from a physical destination but its final destination is a spiritual one. Writing - The - Way is both what it says and also a metaphor too. It is the ritual of writing about the external journeys that one takes to places of worship, as well as a metaphor for the way of writing or articulating one’s way to inner progress, to new knowledge and to self-realisation.