My Mystic Moments..India Miniguide, 2012

There are many moments in our life, where our experiences go beyond the mundane, day to day travelogue. India as a country, always evokes images of spiritual mysticism, but in all reality, like any other part of the world, it can at some invisible stroke of night, touch you beyond the dark !

Years ago as a child, when my father was posted in Agra (UP), we had a colonial house completely out of a victorian romance. In the sun porch facing the beautiful sprawled garden, where every old tree had its own history, there was in the corner an old piano..a left behind from the British Raj.

It was also the time, when I was learning classical music, studying in one of the oldest convent schools of India, St. Patrick. There were scenes every day with my music teacher as, my Hindi was nothing to write home about ! My teacher in exasperation, would throw up his arms and ask for the blessing of the muse for me, every time I struck a wrong note !..Then one day late in the night, when I was all alone with my grandfather, we heard the melody of the piano. It seemed very close to Raag 'Behrawi', which was not my favorite, as I always chose the more ambivalent 'Raags'- 'Bahaar n Malhar'. This happened nearly everyday and I was soon scripting to all my friends of a 'haunted house', which chose to educate me in my musical skills.

Then one day,as I was reading in the sun porch, I heard an almost beseeching 'meow' behind me..and lo and behold, there was our house cat sitting on the piano playing with the keys..the mystery was solved but, a mystical moment was etched in my life forever !

The comical mysticism of my childhood has found, place in my website..,Dalai Lama , Dharamsala Travel - Spiritually Energizing Holidays in India, Nepal, Bhutan & Tibet. , as my mystic moments. We hope you can enjoy them as you pen a few of your own.

Sun,Energy &Attitude Dharamsala!

We often drink in the energy of the Sun...It is a bright sunshine gold exquisite to the touch of our hands! It teaches us to reach out and catch,what cannot be bought in any market.

Even as the cold wind whistling on the roof top of Vidya Niwas, in Dharamsala circled around us,there was a gust of Sun Energy& Attitude in the Surya Namaskar we learned from the Yoga guru.....with much to follow as the days went by...quick on the calender and forever etched in our minds!

18th December 2011 :- Guests sharing diary notes in Vidya Niwas

Healing Bonds 2011

There are so many bonds which can bind us in so many different ways..Healing, must always be from the Heart, which very often sings its own song. Who can know why when we return tired from work, a steaming kettle on the fire can welcome us..we know not the magic of the stars on a dark night which can set dreams ablaze !

A comforting touch..a loving caress, even a long distance phone call from a near one, can be in itself the whole essence of a Healing Bond..!!

......................... Winter's Spell

And I arise after the Sun set;
Oh Children of Dawn!
Won't you welcome me, the Maiden of Rest.

The Water stones and the Crystals flow.
The Streams breathe again, the Wind bellows.
The Forest shivers and lets down the White Snow,
The Cherry Blossoms sing as I grace the floor.

And I arise after the Sun set;
Oh Children of Dawn!
Won't you welcome me, Your Maiden's home.

Thorny white bushes where the Hedgehog hides.
The Squirrels are ready to slumber tonight.
The Bird of the dark opens its eyes;
The Fox digs it den, The Moon shines.

And so I arise after the Sun set;
It's my Awakening,
The Winter's spell dribbles on every creature,
My Haven stars its release.


..............................Naintara

My Last Duchess ......

My Last Duchess written by Robert Browning is a dramatic monologue based during the time of Renaissance. It is an amalgamation lined with puns and several other artistic elements which reveal the mindset of the people living during the early 16th century.

Setting of the poem:- The era consisted of the Monarchial rule where the society was limited into the Royal Family and the common folk.
The Noble borns were status oriented and self dignified. The male personalities especially of the Royalty had a very autocratic way of thinking.
They were self-distinguished to such limits that a chauvistic attitude can be seen which is reflected in the personality of the Duke.

The speaker of the poem i.e. Duke of Ferrara is having a conversation with the Envoy of the Count of Tynol. He begins the poem by expressing his admiration regarding the portrait of his deceased wife. He refers to his wife as 'his and the painting as "My Last Duchess" hence revealing his possessive nature. This also reveals the self-dignified, egoistic side of his personality.
Describes the painting to be so beautiful, so craftfully created that it seems as though it were alive, that the duchess herself were real.(a simile used in this line)
It can be seen that he refers to the Duchess as an object of his control, a possession that belongs just to him.

It is believed that the painting was a creation of "Fra Pandolf" who infact is an imaginative character. It was merely in "one" day that he completed the painting.
From this again we see the possessive side of the Duke. He alloted just a day to the painter to study the Duchess.

He asks his visitor to sit down and look carefully at the painting. Many a times people would want to know the reason for that particular expression of the Duchess,
the passionate glaze and the blush of joy on her face. People wanted to know the reason for that look but only few dared to ask and if asked, only from "him"(this again reveals the possessive nature of the Duke, his like for controlling the duchess).

He tells the reason for the blush. According to him it wasn't just because of him that that 'spot of joy' would appear. He makes an assumption here and says that maybe Fra Pandolf made a comment like "Your coat covers your arms" or maybe he complimented the duchess by telling her that no artist could reproduce a replica of the real beauty which lay within her.

Thereafter he expresses the various "misconducts" of the duchess.
He is unable to understand how 'easily impressed and pleased' the duchess would get by trivial compliments.
He says she had a "roving eye", that she had become an infidel.
Anything gifted to her held equal amount of importance and brought equal amount of happiness.
From the expensive gift he gave her to the sunset in the west, both were equally valued by her.
If a worker from the palace broke a cherry branch and gifted that for her, she would become happy. Even riding the donkey brought joy to this woman.
Whenever she would express her gratitude to the men, this conduct seemed approving but only to certain limits. Here we can see the suspicious nature of the Duke.
He didnt trust his duchess and felt that she showed more than just gratitude to those men.

After that he says she never valued the gift he had given to her. His gift of "a nine hundred year old name", the royal title bestowed upon her after she became "his" wife again reveal the domineering,self obsessed, possessive, autocrative mindset of the Duke.
Although he reveals that he wasn't good at expressing his feelings, that conversation was absent in their relationship, he says he would never stoop so low to correct her mistake. He felt it beneath his dignity to point out the Duchess's indecent behavior.
And because his wife never listened or showed any signs of changing herself, "He commands" and all the smiles ceased.. This either means that the Duke gave commands for his wife's assasination or it was through something he said that his wife no longer lived.

At the end of the poem the Duke shows a bronze piece of art consisting of Neptune taming a sea horse.
This is a pun which implies that the Duke saw women as objects who could be controlled. He felt that women were like the sea-horse, possessions upon whom he could play his control upon.....