Nirvana perhaps?

As I walked home from Andheri station, somehow this suburb looked and felt different. Yes, there was gutter filth on the roads, the honking was loud and aggressive, people were still throwing things on the road, it was crowded and the air quality wasn't something to write home about. But I didn't get bothered by any of those things. I just observed them and my own reaction to them and that was just about it.

I also started seeing the (gulp) beauty of Andheri. The fresh vegetables on the stalls of the vendors, the actual existence of greenery. The beautiful and diversely dressed people. Those faces had so many stories to tell.

What has happenned to me? Am I en route to Niravana? I hope so  :)

Monsoons make strange Samaritans

With a heavy downpour over Andheri Station and I had no choice just to battle the elements and fight my way home. I couldn't be sure when it would be stop raining or if the flood-water would recede. In this chaotic mess, I found myself untangled in an unusual situation.

A young lady in a full burkha was crossing the street at the same time as me and she nearly fell twice in the wind and was struggling to stand still with the flood-waters. Given the number of potholes in S.V. Road, there was a lot of hidden and lurking danger. As I moved ahead, I noticed that she needed help but I wouldn't dare to volunteer, given my fear of getting lynched by her religious co-practitioners. But she grabbed my arm, albeit with hesitation and apologies, and we crossed the Brahmaputra-like conditions in suburban Bombay.

As I was telling her that there's no need to apologize and the wind blew her veil off and I made direct eye contact with her. The burkha hid a beautiful and pale face and ocean-blue eyes. It was a strange moment when we made such strong eye-contact. She covered her face as we reached the other side and she said goodbye with a thank you. Something tells me that the beautiful face is covered out of compulsion from home. How sad!

Andheri (West)- A solution from Yogananda

When my parents bought the cosy apartment I live in, Andheri (West) was a peaceful suburb far away from the maddening crowds of southern and central Bombay.

In 2011, the area from the railway station to Navrang Cinema is among the most chaotic you will find anywhere in the world. Hawkers, vendors, 3-wheelers bikes, hordes of humanity and stray dogs all tussle for space in the midst of the metro construction work, which like any project in India is behind schedule.

It's impossible to walk from my building to the station without getting my nerves tested in some way;  a speeding 3-wheeler, someone spitting paan on the roads, piles of garbage, the regularly-broken sewer lines. But then I have 3 choices: put up with it, fight it or move the hell away from the locality.

But this is India, a country with a great history and tradition of spiritual and self-realized human beings. One such person was Paramahansa Yogananda. His words are an answer for my neuroticism and hopelessness in anger management.

"Do not take life's experiences too seriously. Above all, do not let them hurt you, for in reality, they are nothing but dream experiences...If circumstances are bad and you have to bear them, do not make them a part of yourself.

Play your part in life, but do not forget it is only a role. What you lose in the world will not be a loss to your soul."

He goes on to say "Trust in God and destroy fear, which paralyses all efforts to succeed and attracts the very thing you fear."

Back to my first love

When I rid my body of this viral fever, cold, assorted pains and weakness, I am going back to my first love: basketball. I love hoops. I can play basketball for hours without feeling even slightly tired and I am lucky enough to have a decent court at the Andheri YMCA.

Growing up in Queens, New York, in the late 1980s, I used to spend my entire Saturday at a basketball court pretending to be John Starks or Patrick Ewing. I definitely had more of a John Starks kind of game and loved playing tenacious defense.

The Andheri YMCA is a wonderful place to play and I love looking up at the trees after posting a lay-up. The 3 on 3 games that go on there are as brutal and warlike as my games with the homies in Flushing. I can get in a good  two hours of hoops everyday as soon as I am fit. That might keep the weight off my body over the next few months.

Here's a wonderful tribute to John Starks, my childhood idol.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRVr10i28Kw