Just s sip from The Seventh Cup

Just s sip from The Seventh Cup

In search of Truth

Today he may rest in peace or even in pieces…… for he knew everything today, literally everything!

They may arrive any moment now, Mr. Man mused.  The name Mr. Man never seemed more significant today, the society had coined such a name for him..he no longer remembered what was his actual name. Some diseases are deadly you see, he chuckled. Even on this fateful night he recalls how his forthcoming visitors had met him few years ago in the hospital .During  first meeting itself he invented their names..Mr. Science and Mr. Religion. Since then, Its been the most fruitful journey for the Man, being associated with Science and Religion and listening to their daily escapades he developed an uncanny bond with them. He vividly recalls how during every meeting both Science and Religion used to end up breaking each other’s head. On couple of occasions they had even threatened him saying that if he dares to support one of them and disregard the importance of another, he would cease to exist. Nevertheless, Man simply loved their company and enjoyed all those sweet but deadly encounters with both his friends.

But tonight would be a different ball game all together, Man was sure. With the information that he claim to possess, he might just take both his friends by surprise. The implications might be dangerous but who cares…for today he knew everything. And the man waited reclined on his tattered sofa. “Tonight I wait for my last encounter……They might arrive any moment……I am sure I will easily defeat those stalwarts…I am fed up of their daily accusations and warnings. It should end for once and for all. All Friend Ships must drown one day……because today I am the enlightened one…not those ass*****…….”,  the knocks at the door made him jump. He withdrew his diary and his pen. Come in Friends…and the Man wore his mask.

Mr. Religion was greeted with great care while Mr. Science was greeted with equal care. Both needed their space especially when Mr. Man was around. And he knew not to make any mistake this time.

Mr. Man: So, friends, how was your day. I guess you had a wonderful one because in my case I met with similar fate.

Mr. Science: Well, you see, I was trying to figure out whole day how to defeat this chap tonight because last night, of course you know, he almost killed me.

Mr. Religion: Hey don’t throw such accusation-clad-tantrums on me. I am a peace loving person. I would think twice before killing another human being.

Mr. Science: Of really, then why do people like Mr. Man use stuffs made by me and use them to kill his own specie under your name.

Mr. Religion: Why is it that every time there is a discussion , you try to categorize all three of us, is that what you learned in your science lessons in BITS….?

Mr. Science: That’s how nature works, it’s the concept of Unification theory..drawing parallelism and deducing a series of events….like in your case..GOD is one..in my case..there is just one Law….

Mr Man could see where this discussions might go now…for he sensed bloodshed and destruction one in the name of Science and the other other in name of Religion…Man would suffer ultimately…Time to retaliate.

Mr Man: Hey, both of you, calm down please. Don’t make it sound like just another night. Tonight is a different night..

Both sides of the coin gaped collectively at the Man

Mr Science: Why, what is so special about tonight?

Mr. Religion: I bet you have found another reason to accept defeat from us.

Mr. Man: Let me begin with asking you guys a simple question..”Where did you graduate from?”

Mr Scinece and Mr. Religion answered in unison: BITS

Mr. Man: If it were so, how is it that I never noticed you in college. Why is it that I met you guys after so many years and that too in a hospital.

Mr. Religion: Destiny my friend.

Science: Sheer coincidence sir.

Man: Well…what if I say that I met you guys because I wanted to meet you.

Religion: What do you mean?

Science: You mean to say that you invited us to the hospital?

Religion: That’s not possible, I had come to see an old friend.

Science: Ditto

Man: What if I say that it was neither destiny nor coincidence.

They were not impressed.

Science: So what was it?…your mental illness?

Man: It’s the Universal Law

Both were utterly mesmerized

Religion: Stop playing games dude, better tell what do you want to say

Man: Chill, all I wanted to say was I attracted both of you to my hospital bed.

While Science laughed aloud, Religion was still silent. He knew already that Mr. Man had lost it all. Finally, he retorted.

Religion: Can you elaborate your point so that we may come to a common consensus?

Man: Of course. I will but before that I would like to express my sincere gratitude to both of you because without your existence and those esoteric encounters with you guys, this wouldn’t have been possible.

Science: Whats “This” are you referring to?

Man: The discovery of the Law

There was a collective what-the- hell -has -happened –to- him –tonight kind of expression on both the enemies face.

Man continued

Man: All these years I have been trying to find answers. Answers to all the mysteries of the world. Answers to all the pain and sufferings of the world. Answers to the very existence of mankind.

Religion: But that has been done my so many saints in the past. Why do you want to follow suit. I always thought you to be very ungodly kind of human.

Science: Oh just shut up. The answers that you seek shall never be found. Since there exist none. It just that these Religion guys has brought so much mysticism to everyone’s life that man still feels that something is still missing.

Man: See, I am not going to humor you guys this time. Tonight I shall be given equal credibility and equal rights ..only then will I tell you guys what have I discovered.

Science and Religion thought that the best bet now would be to humor the man instead and so they did.

Science: Ok dear, no issues.

Religion: Peace.

Man grew more confident.

Man: I begin with the statement that the entire world is an illusion created not by GOD, not by nature, but by Human Mind.

Science and Religion wanted him to repeat the sentence but the man proceeded as if they dint even exist.

Man: The law as I call it is the Universal Law of Attraction. This law works on just one single principle: You Get Only When you Wish

Both Science and Religion exchanged nervous glances. What the hell is going on , both wondered.

Man: I can feel that you are not only confused but also angry. I knew I had invited you for a special dinner. And in return you are being treated like a student. Dinner can wait , so let me be the man atleast for some time.

Science: Ok ok carry on.

Man: As I was saying, this universe has been designed in such a way that human thoughts play the role of attracting everything that exist and such things do come to the source…one day.

Science: But that’s something like Newton’s law

Man: I beg to differ here. Newton claimed that it’s the gravitational pull that attract stuff towards itself I mean towards earth. While my Law claims that it’s the power of human mind that is not only attracting tangible things towards him but also all kinds of things that cannot be sensed directly, like emotions such as happiness, love. grief etc.

Religion: Hey, you mean to say that God is not the one who is responsible for such a thing?

Science: You mean to say that there is nothing like energy, that is ruling the world?

Man: My friends, that’s precisely where I am heading towards What you call as energy and what you call as God is what is call as Human Mind.

Science: How mind blowing. So what is the difference? Even I say the same thing. It from the power of human mind that we have been drawing so many conclusions, by observing, analyzing and trying to find answers to questions which these religious fanatics have kept hidden all those years.

Man: See Mr. Science, you urself are admitting that the answers that you are trying to seek already exist in the universe. You are just trying to unravel the sands of time.

Religion: I completely disagree. If you are denying the existence of God, you are denying his powers too, without him there cannot be the sun, the moon and the stars, without him Mr. man even you wouldn’t exist.

Man: I never denied the existence of God, nor did I deny the fact that its just energy that is responsible for the Governance of the Universe. All I mean to say is that its one and the same thing. Mr. Religion , will you disagree with me if I say that GOD lies within me? Mr. Science, will you disagree if I claim that I am energy myself?

Religion: Of course I will agree. GOD exist everywhere.

Science: Everything is energy.

Man: And I claim: GOD is Energy….and so am I, if God created me I am his energy, I have the power within me, I can attract everything towards me and it will definitely come…one day.

The atmosphere grew tense. Man seemed to have done some homework this time.

Man: Mr. Science, your Heisenberg claimed that its not possible to observe two different situations at one time. If one chooses to see position. he may happily see, if one chooses to record velocity he may as well do so. Its all a matter of choice. I mean to say, one needs to believe what he wants to see. Mr Religion, you claim the existence of good and bad spirits. Tell me one thing, how many in this world have actually observed such things and end up believing it. I guess there would be a handful of eccentric few. While there would be plenty who believe in such things and then have observed the same. In Mr Science language, these energies may be negative and positive, constructive and destructive in nature. In my terms, If I attract negative ‘energy’ by a negative ‘thought’ it would happen exactly that way. However If  I think positively, I will end up getting positive outcomes. I hope you are getting my point.

Mr Science: So you say that the Human Thought Process, is actually a medium of attraction?

Man: You may think that way

Mr. Religion: You mean to say, every man has GOD in him and he may wish to do anything he wants..and its bound to happen that way.

Man: Why not, think of your own self for a while. Think where where you 5 years before, and where are you now, u definitely have achieved what u had desired from heart or nearing to it.

Religion: This sounds insane. Look at you. You want money all the time and you wish to seek happiness through it though you get none. So how can you say that if a man wish for something, he gets it.

Man: Your question is the answer itself. If man wants money he gets it one day. If he wants Happiness and Satisfaction he gets that too. The clue is to wish for both. We generally end up asking for just one of it. I can bet if you interview a rich man and a poor man and ask who is happier, you may get different answers.

Religion: Then why is it that rich becomes more rich and poor more poorer?

Man: It nice to find that Religion is seeking answers from Man. Anyways, it’s a very simple explanation. A poor always cries and says “I am poor I don’t have money”..and he says this every day. And so it happens every day. He attracts poverty towards him. While the rich thinks the other way.

Religion: So you mean to say that if one fine day a poor man wakes up and says that “I am rich”, he may become so?

Man: My law says it is bound to happen without any exception. The question is…who will be ‘sane’ enough to think like that and believe what he thinks?

The silence was palpable in the dark room.

Science: Well your explanation defies logic. If I think I want a good physique and keep chanting it all day, I wil get it? Its Bull****. It happens in the world of the man sitting next to me.

Religion frowned.

Man: You seem to have derived conclusions all ready without giving it proper time to sink in. Thts the reason why I always ask you guys to learn some qualities from each other. Science should meditate every day for some time while Religion should take steps to destroy all superstitions in the world. Well as for the question, leat me answer it to Science in his own way. When a persons thinks to modify his physique and he ACTUALLY wants this to happen, then without his conscious efforts, his sub-conscious mind –Religion should read it as GOD- while manipulate his body functions and his brain shall generate necessary cells in the body and trigger necessary hormones that would motivate the guy to spend time exercising and losing those extra kilos. His body is now in resonance with his mind. If a bewildered friend happen to ask him “who I your motivation?…GOD?”…your answer should be “My self”

Religion: So now you deny the existence of GOD. This is not acceptable.

Man: I am not denying the existence of the word GOD, I am just trying to remove a human figure associated with the name.

Religion: So what if one believes god to be in human form.

Man: Precisely, the point is he must Believe.

Science: So this means that your theory has scientific explanation as well as spiritual explanation to it?

Religion: And you claim that whether its an object or an emotion everything is GOD in the form of Energy?

Man: Well, well I guess my purpose is clear now. But you still might have a small doubt that how is it possible that if a person wishes to attract a car, I mean a tangible car, it actually comes to him?…The answer is definitely…on just one condition..he must Believe that he will get it one day..then see the magic. It’s all a matter of perception or the kind of happiness you wish to derive from materialistic or un materialistic objects. One may quietly sit and assume he has million dollar with him and ponder over things he may do with it. The kind of happiness that one gets by the sheer thought of it is similar to the kind of happiness one may derive when actually achieving it in material form. This is hard to digest. But as I told earlier….I am the enlightened one. Not you.

Science: So finally you claim that our existence is of no use? All that science has discovered and worked for ages is all in vain?

Religion: And you say that Human Thought is an alternative to GOD and his powers?

Man: Don’t get upset my friends, I just mean to propose an alternate theory..

Science: Did you discuss this stuff with anyone else apart from us?

Man: Why to discuss its all there..Dan Brown’s Lost symbol talks about it in brief and by the way your colleague Noetic has been doing extensive research in this esoteric concept. Then the movie The Secret also speaks about similar stuff. The only difference is, its just lying there floating in the Universe and man is busy making money.

Religion: But this is how it is meant to be. Some secrets should remain hidden..forever for common good. For the survival of your specie.

Science: And that Noetic guy , if he manages to find something outstanding, then I will lose all the credibility.

Man: This won’t happen. I am more judicious than you two, and I will see to it that  your existence is not threatened. The fact is—Your are one and the same thing. While one talks about electromagnetic waves, the other talks about spiritual powers. For me you are just one single entity.

Science and Religion exchanged glances. They understood that from this day one of their existence is in jeopardy. The only way is to destroy the other immediately. Man had no clue what happened next….Lightening cracked …sounds of thunder engulfed the noise of gunfire.

Morning 7am , the next day.

The duo Detective Anjan and Sergeant Panda were trying to analyze the cause of death.

Panda: Its rather sad. He was a BITSIAN. He was from my college.

Anjan: But I hardly recognize this chap. It’s been years man. I wonder what made a BITSIAN drive a bullet into his skull.

Panda: It’s a clear case dude. Haven’t you seen the evidence?

Anjan: I still don’t agree with you that he committed suicide.

Panda: What more do you expect from a person who has been suffering from Multiple Personality Disorder.

Anjan: So you mean to say that he killed himself because he was suffering from this disease?

Panda: No dear, look around…there is no trace of any second person in the room. And most importantly, the pistol has his fingerprints. What more evidences you want?

Anjan: I know man and I don’t doubt your sanity. What I mean to suggest is that this is not exactly a suicide.

Panda: You mean to say that this is half murder or something? Outrageous.

Anjan: See his diary..you will get the clue.

Panda: “Tonight I wait for my last encounter……They might arrive any moment……I am sure I will easily defeat those stalwarts…I am fed up of their daily accusations and warnings. It should end for once and for all. All Friend Ships must drown one day……because today I am the enlightened one…not those ass*****”……..so what implications can you draw from his writings?

Anjan: For that you need to flick pages backwards. It very clear that his esoteric mind invented two figures that used to meet him every night right from the day he was discharged from the hospital. He calls himself Man while his other two companions were Science and Religion. Every night he speaks how difficult it was for him to manage them. And this night as the line goes- It should end for once and for all. All Friend- Ships must drown one day……because today I am the enlightened one..

This clearly means that either he had intensions of killing the other two and so he murdered them or he must have died in the attempt to save one from the other. So in either case this cannot be a suicide.

Panda: But you are forgetting something. To prove that it is a murder you need to prove that Science and Religion do actually exist. But in this case, SCIENCE AND RELIGION ARE FIGMENTS OF MAN’S IMAGINATION, so in either case proposed by you there is just one truth— Man is the one who is dead.

Anjan: Whatever it is..I guess the war is still on…I just have last doubt….Why did the Man say that he is the Enlightened one?

They scratched their head ,and proceeded  in opposite directions.

The Thai Express

Thai Airways TG316 gave a smooth landing at the Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Bnagkok on 17th of January 2010 at 5:40am. The smoothness of the landing was sure to have lasting impressions for days to come…!!

Rewind:

Last four hours were spent in a trance which was due to TEA. Naah, these Sexy Thai Airhostesses were not serving ‘TEA’ but Beer and you might just have the clue whats in store for you for the next 150 days. The TEA I am referring to is Tension, Excitement and Anxiety and the fusion was due to things happening at the neck of time right from the moment I embarked from Guwahati to Delhi…

Landing Delhi 3 hours late from scheduled time (Here I consider myself lucky owing to the gruesome climatic conditions prevailing there…because exactly two years ago I was not at all lucky..but thats a different story!!), meeting Mr. Swamy (for the first time)- another trainee from BITS Pilani- at the airport after series of cell phone communications with balances running out from each other’s cell phones (when will I learn to maintain ‘balance’ specially during these circumstances :P), extra luggage that I was carrying was enough to ruin me of all the Indian currency that I had saved in case I miss the Mahatma. But thanks to Mr. Swamy- we like two ‘intelligent’ BITSians made some adjustment and the crisis was averted. The Aircraft had a huge belly to stuff over 300 passengers. It struck 12:10 am and the wheels parted from the Indian soil.  (If you are reading with an intelligent mind you might be wondering how in a four hour journey I had lost 1.5 hours..well  thats the time difference between the two countries). It gave a sense of pride to manually set the hands of my watch 1.5 hours ahead..Now thats what I call Time Travel . The wrist watch read 5:40am…Here I come Thailand..I heard someone shout.

The Airport was a monstrous replica of a palace- majestic by all means. I was rubbing my eyes and cursing my optic nerves for not cooperating with my neurons because I struggled hard to refrain from sleep walking (though I was wide awake for about 20 hours already.) The journey from the runway to the Baggage collection zone seemed longer than the journey from Guwahati to Bangkok itself…walking through numerous gateways..stairways..pathways..it went on and on. At a particular time I was flabbergasted to find the flat escalators repeating one after another….I imagined I was in some parallel universe where time and space have lost their meaning. I almost came out of my TEA trance when

I saw the Passport Varification zone. Within next 20 min we collected our baggage and trudged to seek our receiver. (Aditya Birla Chemicals was kind enough to arrange for a pick up on a Sunday morning that too from over 100km away from the work station..and this was just one of the numerous generosity that they bestowed upon us in days that came by.)

The ‘Royal’ treatment came as a surprise to both of us when we were given the key to a sexy-ac-fridge-3 rooms-2 bathrooms-kitchen-dining hall studded apartment. The icing on the cake came when we discovered the existence of wify connection in the house (I can vividly recall this was almost the first thing that we were looking for..internet…we could as well have bartered all our ‘gifts’ in exchange of internet in case there was no connectivity..we were BITsians after all ) But .. as they say- jab upar wala deta hai to something phad ke deta hai..and the giving never stopped!!!) I need not mention about all other necessary stuff that was already secured in the house in case we find the need to eat/bathe/sleep…

Food (one of my biggest tension.. me being vegetarian  …and the numerous stories of Thailand being devoid of vegetables completely…) was served in a small apartment by a Thai ( Originally Nepali) woman and it was pure..pure  vegetarian..ahh came the sigh of the century..it was not only veg but also activated some of my taste buds too.  A good cook was there to keep me alive for the rest 150 days…the last trail of TEA vanished completely.

A word of caution—Henceforth all characters in this Thailand Episode shall bear the names of my friends since the identity of the real characters needs to be under the shadows in everyone’s interest else I might find myself in deep jeopardy.

We were all set to embark a journey into a new world (Mr. Swamy though had visited Thailand with his parents but I understand his urge to come back here once again since there might have been few  unfinished tasks to be accomplished here. :P). First things first..I uploaded pics of my apartment in facebook and instantly received remarks with shades of green. Then it occurred to me…I have not informed my family as yet..a pang of guilt ran through me and I rushed into 160by2 and notified each and every member of my family. During dinner we were introduced to Mr. Prasad Bhandare  hailing  from Mumbai who is working in this chemical plant for  1 year contract as  a design engineer. He seemed like those satisfied youngsters who lead a carefree life backed by ‘awesome’ location , handsome pay and contact info of over a dozen Thai Chicks. He boasts of having over 2 years of Thai experience…and by that he means ALL Thai experience. We extracted loads of general information about Thailand from Mr. Bhnadare and the cook. Here are some of the mind boggling results:

• In Thailand there is a custom of keeping the headlights of bikes, scooters etc. ON during day time too. Back in India you may create an impression of being nuts.
• The local people have tremendous respect for the King and the Queen. Its more than what we have for our Indian counter parts ..Shahrukh Khan and Rani Mukherjee. Just try blurting offence against the Royal family and you might be ripped off your own respect.
• English seems to be a forbidden language. One may find himself lucky to discover someone conversing in English. Though I got a shock of my life when I found my cook speaking well versed Hindi but that was due to her Nepali origin. Needless to say, you need to type the amount on a calculator if you decide to buy something from a Thai Shop…even bargaining is done that way!!
• The Thailand population comprises of males, females and lady boys (who also fall in the category of females after their sex change operation) which makes this country having more females than males. In India its just the reverse for numerous unethical reasons.
• The woman wears the pant in a Thai family and the males are  required only to lend some extra support in finance and full support during mating. In India the woman is not even allowed to think of ‘pants’ forget wearing them.
• Buddhism being the religion.. numerous men turn into monks ..another reason for the above population stats. In india this system is open to all males but sadly it also has resulted as another game of extracting money from the junta.
• The local people cook food outside the house in open. They kill, boil, eat, wash and return to their homes. In india this strategy is unthinkable considering the fear of dogs, rats, hungry bellies invading your property. This might result in several mini world wars all around the country.!
• The people here are very honest. I remember giving two notes of 20 baht to a local popcorn shop in a mall since I had no clue how much was I supposed to pay. The owner returned one note with a smile on her face.
• One may find woman all around contributing to the country’s economy as employees. In india one may find all woman inside kitchen satisfying the apatite of the family.
• Last but not the least, its impossible to guess the age of a female. A good looking office attendant instantly gave me an impression that she would be easily under 25 yrs of age and unmarried.. only to discover that she was above 35 and on a threshold of being divorced. Bout India?…no comments.

Now something about  Aditya Birla Chemicals: Location SARABURI 108km away from Bngkok.

On the very first day, we were assigned a conference room next to Mr. Bhandare’s table by Mr. Das who was our so called ‘Boss’. (Most of the employees here are Thai and most of the senior posts are held by Indians). An engineer cum MBA with dangerously calm countenance and ability to make you feel uneasy in any conversation, Mr. Das is extremely ‘respected’ by his colleagues. We were placed under two mentors Mr. Sinha and Miss Wandana who are extremely dedicated hands of Mr. Das  so technically me and Mr. Swamy  were meant to be their fingers. Its Time to Dance!! I chuckled.

Mr. Das made both of us write on a blank sheet of paper about our expectations from the company, I wondered what else to write considering those ‘gifts’ that I had received already. After that he made a call to the HR department and ordered them to arrange for our medical insurance (It’s a chemical plant folks) followed by local simcards and a local maid. He hung up ordering them to install a TV in our apartment immediately—and I felt sweet suffocation under another ‘heavy’ gift. Then there was Mr. Roy opposite to our cabin –a BITS alumni – infected with an Impression Syndrome. He pops into our cabin every now and then to inquire what we are doing (that’s the time when I have to minimize my google chat/orkut/facebook windows much to my anger..but theres absolutely no problem..we are expert in this art:P)  not forgetting to remind us that we are BITsians and how important it is for us to leave a good impression all around.

Though one advise given by him made me realise  how Survival is the only mantra in corporate and industrial world. He lectured saying that people would be very nice and sweet to you but theres a purpose behind everything. One needs to maintain his dignity and remain within professional limits. You need to show that you are BITsians and are capable of…….and it went on and on. ..The very next day our mentor Mr. Sinha came to our cabin and with gleeful expression questioned “Do you guys drink”…”Yes, occasionally”, I replied…Mr. Swami replied, “Not, yet”…and then words of Mr. Roy buzzed in my ears…maintain professional limits etc etc….In a course of few days we realized that this kind of world appears very cushy but only at the surface….Below lies a world full of mutual distrust, hatred, vengeance and nail biting competition. Mr. Bhandare definitely vouches for it. After Office hours we spend quality time googling, facebooking, torrenting, skypeing, watching latest BBT, HIMYM , 24S08 (Anil Kapoor yoyo) episodes  until sleep envelopes our mind.

As days went by, we interacted with many people Indians and Locals…There are about eight Indians who come to the Nepali cook to have Indian food. Interestingly, half of them are Bengalis. Then there is a funny Security Officer who is a local. His funniness is due to his struggle to speak and understand English. It was in fact a very daunting task for us to explain to him how a game of cricket is played..It was through him that we were able to extract some of the results discussed earlier!!!Of course he knows who Amitabh Bacchhan is and that Aishwariya Rai is his daughter-in-law but at the same time he respects the King more than anyone else.

Its time that I sign out now..but not before mentioning some virtual ’ Kodak Moments’ that I have stolen during last 7 days:

*My first step into the soils of Thailand.. ofcourse.

*The first visit to Birla Temple opposite to our apartment.

*An Indian lady contributing Thai Baht at the Birla Temple as if the King has been surrendered to Lord     Krishna.

*A group of some 60 Indians watching 3 Idiots at the colony ClUB House.

* Learning to fire pistol at Mr. Bhandare’s apartment.

*Visiting Lotus Mall and getting drenched during return journey.

 please do comment…something should motivate me to write further ..rite?