Here I return after a looooong time....! Well, I had to return!!!
The devout experience of past week has forced me to blog one more time, for, it wasn’t surely one of the "yet another" weeks to be deprived of attention.
Disclaimer: The atheists can and will swamp down my experience as a mere case of coincidence.
I am at a loss of words to describe the heavenly experience I had last week. I am filled with apprehensions that my limited vocabulary might take away the might of it. Anyway, I've decided to have a go!
So here it goes... I had been to my hometown a fortnight back thanks to a week’s leave. On the way back, I thought of taking a few books lying at my home for my book-bug-personified-Roommate in Gurgaon. While I was on the lookout for the Blytons and the Archers, I could finally manage a copy of Ramayana by R.K.Narayan along with a few "How to become a billionaire”- sort of books (There is no dearth of such books, having an IIM-an for a bro).
Anyways, I couldn't return empty handed. So, I packed those in my bag and gave them to the Bug with a "People-like-me-obviously-read-these-kinds-of-books" look. He thanked me earnestly and took it all but the Ramayana (Has it become more boring than "how to make Bill Gates your assistant" is left for his elucidation). The book was lying on my bed for a few days gradually feeding my temptation to read it for, well, the twentieth time? More apt to call it "one more time". I yielded to it finally last monday night. The desire to read an RK Narayan's overpowered the "How many times do I‘ve to read these epics" thought. I should praise RKN for his well knitted narration of a minimized Ramayana keeping the chief ingredients in-tact. (Let me keep its review for another post.)
I dozed off reading the first few chapters of it and chanting my routine shlokas which includes:
"Yatra yatra raghunatha keerthanam,
Tatra tatra krithamastha Kaanjalim
Bhashpavaari paripoorna lochanam
Maruthim namatha rakshasantakam "
(Meaning: We bow to Maruti, Who stands with his palms folded above his forehead with a torrent of tears flowing down his eyes wherever the names of Lord Rama are sung or thought.)
The next morning, I woke up a little earlier than usual at 6. I opened the door of my room and entered the hall. And to my astonishment, saw a big monkey glaring at me. Neither of us showed any reflex. The monkey slowly walked away to the terrace keeping its glare fixed. (We don't bolt the door leading to the terrace). It spent the rest of the morning sitting on the water-tank without any fear. I thought it was one coincidence to remember for a long time. I jokingly told my friends about the shloka, saying this was because of the Ramayana I am reading. But the realization came to me only in the evening when the monkey followed me to my house on my return from office. It leapt off into the darkness when I neared the house. But still, I could sense it was somewhere nearby. I forgot about it, had my food, read some more of the book and discussed a few stories of the great Indian Mythology with my room mate who surprised me with a strong interest in it.
The day wasn't mine at office. I started feeling there was no scope of learning in my current project which was mainly involved in testing the GUI (Graphical user interface, for the dummies) of a tool. I felt I needed a change. With this thought pricking me I slept off another night. I had the weekly status meeting the next day at the end of which I was summoned by the SPM only to be informed that I was getting shifted to another project due to an urgent requirement. Wow!!! How cool was that???
I thanked my stars and returned home. I didn't see any monkey following me this time around. Then when it was time to retire to bed, my vision crept past the window panes of my room to the terrace of the neighbouring building. And there stood the monkey again, looking at us with eager eyes. Hairs stood all over our bodies. I had forgotten to read the remaining chapters of the book!!! Something told me that it must be waiting for it. So, I took out the book and read it fully though it was well past midnight, rolling my eyes over to the monkey every now and then. It sat steadily as if listening to my silent reading. When it was curtains for the story with "Rama and Sita living happily ever after”, the monkey disappeared into the darkness. I started believing it was indeed one from the monkey clan that fought for Rama if it wasn't the Hanuman. I went to the terrace and prostrated in its direction and kept a picture of Hanuman as my mobile's wallpaper (How non-scientific-superstitious-idiot I am for the Atheists and the Doubters).
Then came Thursday! I was given an important automation scripting work that could reduce the effort of testing by more than 80%. I took it up confident of my programming skills only to be stuck later with some issues. I had to use a language called "Expect" of which I had no idea. I couldn't say I didn't, as people thought a person well versed in TCL (another language based on which Expect was created) should have known expect by default. The problem lied in the fact that there wasn't any standard study material for it. The only book it had was to be bought for a few dollars online. I got frustrated. I asked my seniors for help offline. But they too were baffled with the issues. I had a point or two to prove. It was my first task in the project and the positive result of which can bring me laurels like never before. So, I was determined to make it at any cost. Thursday went and Friday came and came along with it, the deadline. I still couldn't solve the issues. People started rising doubts on my ability to finish it. I didn't know what to do. The issues looked very petty. All I needed was that book "Exploring Expect- O ‘Reilly" which I couldn't find free online. Then I saw the wallpaper. Something told me to chant the shloka that Hanuman chanted when he was unable to find mother Sita in Lanka the chant of which made Hanuman find her in a jiffy.
"Namosthu Ramaya saLakshmanayai,
Devyai cha tasyai janakatmajayai
Namosthu Rudrendra Yamanilebhyo:,
Namosthu Chandrarka Maruthganebhya: "
As soon as I said it, one of my friends pinged me giving me a link which had a store of many eBooks hacked. I finally got the book I wanted, and got my scripts running in no time. I was so eager to find the solution that I never took time to see the cover page only to get a pleasant shock later on seeing it later:
"Asaadhya saadhaka Swaamin,
Asaadhyam tava kim vada!
Rama Dhoothou Krupa Sindhu:
Matkaaryam Saadhaga Prabhu!"
