Life in Death

Once a group of people came to meet Jesus. Jesus told them  

"I tell you the solemn truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains by itself alone. But if it dies, it produces much grain".

I know how many Dandelion seeds are in this picture, but no one can tell the number of Dandelion plants that are in this seed. In a few days from now, probably during yesterday's heavy rain, it will fall on to the ground, die, and burst forth with life, giving birth to generations of plants.

As Christians, whom are we 'birthing'? How many of our future generations will be blessed because I - yes I - took a stand to live my life for Jesus today?

Feeling Lazy?

I observed this ant on this bush at the SABC campus, day light had quite faded off, yet this chap was working, collecting his food. It reminded me of what King Solomon wrote in the Bible (Proverbs):

 

Go to the ant, you sluggard;

observe its ways and be wise!

It has no commander,

overseer, or ruler,

yet it prepares its food in the summer;

it gathers at the harvest what it will eat.

How long, you sluggard, will you lie there?

When will you rise from your sleep?

A little sleep, a little slumber,

a little folding of the hands to relax,

and your poverty will come like a robber,

and your need like an armed man.

^{and again in the Book of Proverbs, the writer tells us that} 

Ants are creatures with little strength,

but they prepare their food in the summer;

Keep Working!

Our Anchor

Hi Folks,

In case you are wondering what this is, it is a macro photo of my E string on the guitar – the first string from the thicker side- wrapped around its peg. Taken with a 28mm reversed lens on my Nikon. 

Some thoughts:

All of us need an anchor. That picture is of the E string wrapped around the tuning peg. From a Christian point of view, Jesus is out anchor. We are locked in into him. When we drift away, we lose our moorings.  That’s what happens when the string breaks – it loses its anchor with the peg.

All of us need to be stretched. A beautiful string inside its cover makes no sound.  But stretch it  out and you get that beautiful warm 83Hz coming out of the guitar. Stretch it below par, it is off tune. Stretch it too much, it breaks. That’s why we need to take a ‘break’ when we are too stretched out.

And most importantly, we need to be played on! No point keeping a Yamaha in its cover. In the hands of a guitarist, it makes such wonderful music.

Care to add your observations?

Same balcony, same bed tea time, yet God plays with different colors, 

reminding me that: 

"Morning has broken, like the first morning
Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird
Praise for the singing, praise for the morning
Praise for the springing fresh from the word

Sweet the rain's new fall, sunlit from heaven
Like the first dewfall, on the first grass
Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden
Sprung in completeness where his feet pass

Mine is the sunlight, mine is the morning
Born of the one light, Eden saw play
Praise with elation, praise every morning
God's recreation of the new day". (Cat Stevens)

Where is your focus?

The picture shows two photographs side by side, shot with the same cam, lens, settings and location but with different focal points. One focuses on the bougainvillea branch, the other on the castor plants four floors below. Where you focus will change your perspective on life. Often, its difficult to focus. We need to see with the 'other person's eyes' to get a different perspective. Sometimes, with God's.
Have a good day!

 Was having my morning tea on my balcony and this reminded me of an old corporate saying - everyone needs a horse to ride. You can't go far if you don't have a mentor who will support you during your growing stages. And i hope, you'll never stop growing! :)  On the flip side, do not be a tendril all your life, clinging on to someone or something - learn to have a spine and to therefore stand straight!

A veiled view!

When I stood on my balcony and peered down through my Nikon's viewfinder in the dying light at my neighbor's car parked below, I was reminded of what the Apostle Paul wrote about in the Bible. Many times, we do not understand what's happening in the world around us. In our ignorance, we feign to be knowledgeable. This is what the Bible says: "For now we see in a mirror indirectly, but then we will see (God) face to face".The writer was writing this to the readers in the city of ancient Corinth. Corinth was well known in the ancient world for producing some of the finest bronze mirrors. What the writer - Paul - means is that our current understanding and relationship with God is  “indirect”  compared to the relationship we will enjoy with him in the future when we see him “face to face”. Have a great day!

Let the "Light" shine through!

I learned a valuable lesson yesterday. I was admiring the flowers on the Ivy on my balcony railings. Thought I would take a photograph. Light was fading fast and had to use the flash on the camera. It looked lovely. This morning, however, I saw the flowers in a different light. The morning sun was shining through the petals, changing the whole perspective. Remembered what Jesus told us - it is not enough that we just reflect his light off us - its his light shining right through us that enables people around us to see God through us! Unfortunately, many of us are like the Ivy in the first picture - always in darkness, hiding the beauty of God.

What was once a pristine blue lake now resembles a flat football field! Don't get fooled. Under that green, is many feet of water. Water birds once abounded. Now, perhaps, mosquitoes and all other creepy crawly life forms.All life forms choked by this fast growing Water Hyacinth. Somebody, whose job was to maintain this lake under the KR Puram ORRoad, Bangalore,  shirked his job. This is the result.
So is our life. If we don't clean up the weeds as they start growing, a point of no return will arrive, when it will be almost impossible to do a cleanup job. Out habits will determine our destiny. And even if we manage to do a cleanup, where do we dump all the garbage?

The finger-work of God

The Bible tells us that the Heavens proclaim the glory of God. They are his 'finger-work'! Taken from my terrace, a play of colors over a 10-minute window. I had promised a post-a-day, could not do it as tons of work buried me. Started again in earnest.

How do you say what you say?

Sometimes, how you say what you say matters more than what you say!

An advertisement next to the K.R. Puram ORR Rail Over-bridge.

Gokulashtami Concert Day 13, Bangalore

Yesterday's concert was by Sri. Abhishek Raghuram, Sri. Abhishek Raghuram, Sri. B Raghavendra Rao and Neyveli Sri.Skandasubramaniyam, and again, I had a great ring-side view of the concert! The audience was outstanding!

Gokulashtami Concert Day 11, Bangalore

Sri.Pattabhiram Pandit, a student of the great maestro Sri.KV Narayanaswamy, sang with total involvement,enjoying every nuance himself and singing without any reservation whatsoever---a style which is his own unique style, full of bhava and strictly adhering to tradition. Mysore Sri. Nagaraj accompanied wonderfully on the violin,  Sri.Easwaran on the mridangam was outstanding and very inspiring. Sri.S.N.  Narayanamurthy on the ghatam, played with great understanding to give us all a great concert.

Gokulashtami Concert Day 11, Banglore

Sri. Sanjay Subramanyam, Sri. Varadarajan. Neyveli Sri. Venkatesh and Sri.  Rajashekar

Saw this large house last December in Paro, Bhutan. Over a hundred and fifty years old.  Must have been a grand place while it lasted. Now, it's all ruins. NOTHING lasts for ever. Live life accordingly!

Unnathi Musical Fest, day 9

Sri. N. Ravikiran (Chitravina), Kumari Subhalakshmi, Sri. K.V. Prasad and Mysore Sri G.S. Ramanujan - check out their credentials on internet - they were performing solo on stage at an age where we as kids had no idea what music was! Sri Ravikiran, a child prodigy, performed on stage at the age of two in 1969! Akkari S. Subhalakshmi, from the musical Akkari family, an expert violinist and vocalist performed violin solo at the age of 8! Vidwan Sri G.S. Ramanujan carries the flag of Mysore style percussion Sri K.V. Prasad Located in Chennai. K. V. Prasad commenced his mridangam training at the age of six and  has been a long time accompanist to M. S. Subbulakshmi late in her career. He has also been a favored accompanist to musicians such as Yesudos, Unnikrishnan, and A. Kanyakumari, among others. 

Our God will provide!

Look at the splendor of the grass of the field! If this is how God clothes them, how much more will He clothe us? So don't worry what you will eat or drink or wear. God knows out need and will provide.

Gokulashtami concert day 7

The audience were treated to an extraordinary concert by ''Mandolin' maestro Sri U Shrinivas who came...played.. and conquered the hearts of all. It was a sublime concert which was traditional and executed with the precision that only a maestro like Sri.Srinivas is capable of.  On the violin was Sri Srinivasa Rao,  the inimitable Sri Harikumar on the mridangam and  Sri Guru Prasanna on the kanjira.

Gokulashtami Concert Day 6, Banglore

Sri. O.S. Arun, Embar Sri Kannan, Sri J Vaidyanathan and Sri.Karthick kept the tempo up on the 6th day with their superb performance in spite of the sound system often refusing to co-operate!

Worship of God in the High Places

Time and time again, I have observed people building places of worship on mountain tops. Daunting places, a seemingly impossible task. I took this picture in Paro, Bhutan, last year. Tiger's Nest Monastery. One has to climb 900 meters from base camp to reach this monastery. Took me 2 hours. But why mountain tops???? Any answers?

Gokulashtami Concert Day 5, Banglore

Artists in yesterday night's concert are Sri.Abhishek Raghuram, Mysore Sri Srikanth, Umayalapuram Sri.Sivaraman and Sri.Sundar Kumar

Gokulashtami Concert Day 4 ( contact details are in the post below)

Artists: Sikkil Sri.Gurucharan, Mysore Dr.M. Manjunath, Srimushnam Sri.Raja Rao and Sri.Giridhar Udupa

Visit this group's homepage: http://groups.google.com/group/unnatiblr?hl=en

Email this group: unnatiblr@googlegroups.com

Please visit: 

www.unnatiblr.org

SGBS TRUST, Unnati Centre, Temple Road, Sadanandanagar, NGEF East, Bangalore 560038.

Was waiting for my friend Balachandra Gowda near Airtel office when i saw this combination of  Pizza, cabs and the Hosur elevated road, and thought -

 "we don't have time to cook lunch at home, we need Dominos and other brands of Pizza, the traffic in Bangalore has become so crazy that people prefer cabs, and the roads too full that we need roads in the sky to reach faster". Truly the effects of being progressively civilized!

Gokulashtami Concert Day 3:


Dr. Shertally Ranganatha Sarma, Smt. Charulatha Ramanujam on the violin,  Sri.K.V. Prasad on the mridangam, and   Smt.Sukanya Ramgopal on the kalam. An amazing performance once again!

Today, Sunday evening, was no less different. Again, a feast for the senses. And I had the best seat in the auditorium. As a photographer, was right next to the dias, and had the whole hall as my domain. Just imagine! another 2 weeks more of this!

Vocals by Sri Unnikrishnan, on the violin Sri.TKV Ramanujacharyulu, .Sri.Ranganatha Chakravarthy on the Ghatam 

Saturday Evening was a musical feast at the Unnathi Center - Gokulashtakmi Celebrations. How strangely different - the Culture in many so called 'developed'countries as compared to what we have here! Enjoyed the evening.

Vocals: The Priya sisters, Sri.M.A.Krishnaswamy on the violin, Sri Satish Kumar on the mridangam, and Sri.Purushotham on the khanjira

Somewhere in HRBR Layout!. Look at that leafless tree. Not Dead, Resting. New leaves will spring forth!  I remember what the Revd. Bro. Cyriac Kurias from Don Bosco Calcutta once told me - Often we need a spiritual 'retreat'. To stop in our tracks to let God catch up with us. Seems we are going too fast now-a-days. Faster than God. 

00:11 midnight, first post of today - Saturday. Sometimes, we too need to get back to the garage. To get ourselves refitted and fine-tuned for the task ahead of us. (Pic at a garage opp. temple on 80 ft road, HRBR layout)

Reflections. Again, Vrindavan TechVillage. May our lives be a reflection of the beauty that God works inside of us.

Vrindavan TechVillage. My work place. Sometimes we are very lucky. We get to work in an environment that is fabulous, this brings out the best in us. Environment often shapes the thinking, growth and behavior patterns of its inhabitants.  Let us turn our work places into places of productivity. 

Hibiscus. Every morning, there are 8 to 10 flowers. The ladies in the neighborhood fight among themselves to pluck this flower to be offered at the temple. Just thinking. This plant has no freedom. It cannot move away from the spot where it has been planted. It cannot even protect itself against these women. BUT still, it keeps booming. Day after day. What about us? Do we bloom where we are planted? In spite of adverse conditions? Or do we see the grass on the other side of the fence as greener? 

Want to climb higher? Put out strong roots. And  hold on to that is firm and won't crumble. Otherwise, like Humpty Dumpty, you will have a great fall. The Bible tells us to hold on to God and not human beings. That's a great anchor!

Earlier on, I wrote about communicating. Sometimes we need a bit of lubrication to set the tongue rolling! Shot at the Skyye.

Communicating

Can u guess what these two chaps on the yellow walkway are talking about? All living things need to communicate. Thus the pubs, the clubs, the media, et all!

Waiting for customers!

Travelling from Horamavu Signal to Vrindavan TechVillage each morning, this sight of autos waiting for customers greets you. Wonder where they came from, wonder where they go, but, like all of us in Bangalore, they too have a story to tell. Of driving through the maddening traffic, negotiating tough customers, not knowing what the day will bring. Hope this will be a good day for all of us.