Anjali - Interview with a Five (and Three Quarter) Year Old

Its been more than 6 months since the last interview so I coaxed Anjali to give me some time for an interview (for a fee this time). She has a busy schedule now and she thought about it and agreed to do it on the weekend. So yesterday I caught her when she walked into my room for some work and she patiently answered my questions (unlike earlier times when she ran off).

Q. How's life?
A. Good.

Q. What does "good" mean?
A. Nice. (I) Like life.

Q. What do you like about life?
A. My parents, my brothers, my sisters and relatives, teachers, friends, classmates and Principal Anita aunty.

Q. What else do you like?
A. Playing with my friends, jumping,...even if I get hurt I like playing...painting, dancing...I like ballet dancing.

Q. What are the things you don't like doing?
A. Eating vegetables, getting scolded, making Manasi upset...sometimes we make each other upset

Q. What are the things you like to eat?
A. Ice cream, vanilla cake, strawberry cake, chocolate cake, biryani, khichdi, lollipop, Dairy Milk, Ice pops

Q. What do you play with Manasi?
A. Treasure hunt, Ice water, Hide and seek,, School School, Mummy Daddy, Bowling, Cricket, Soccer..
(She explained Ice Water in great detail - it's a bit like Statue)

Q. What books do you like?
A. A mad, mad, week, Enid Blyton books, Blues Clues, Pepper, Panchatantra, Aesop's Fables...

Q. And cartoons?
A. Ninja Hattori, Doraemon...I am telling the shows not the characters...Chota Bheem and in Chota Bheem I like Chutki.

Q. And movies?
A. Student of the year, Chashme Buddoor, Lion King, Stuart Little...I like that the most

Q. Why?
A. The characters...like them that's all.

Q. You like crying or laughing?
A. Laughing, because I am a laugher.

Q. What are the things you'd like to have?
A. Good pants...because all my pants and jeans are getting holes...then....then...what else...I would like an alarm clock.

Q. Why an alarm clock?
A. Because these days school starts early...so if I have an alarm clock  I can get up early.

Q.What do you like about school?
A. I like studying, knowledge, maths, teachers, friends, classmates, I like Manasi.

Q. Why do you like knowledge?
A. Because if there was no knowledge on earth I would not know anything...(here she thought that she'd really have to explain the concept properly to me and went to great lengths to get her point across).. so I can grow, and learn, talk, how to end sentences...what I don't know.. I don't know somethings...I don't know science...I need to know science...I need knowledge to be a scientist, architect...(here she decided that I need it too) see you can't write books without knowledge...you can't do anything without knowledge. I love knowledge.

Q. What do you think of nanna (me)?
A. He's so tall, he's like a giant, he always likes to write, he always makes me write in my new books, always buys me whatever I want, always he does the same thing, again and again, everyday he spills my tonic, everyday he keeps looking at the computer, I don't understand why he goes to the computer.

Q. What about Mamma?
A. I don't have words...she's everything...she's a lion to me...everyday she goes rushing, rushing around the house and  gets me ready for school.

Q. What do you think about yourself?
A. I like my body. My love. Myself. My brains. My thoughts. My feelings. And my toys and things..this is what I like about myself.

Q. Who do you like?
A. Parents, teachers....god

Q. Who is god?
A. You don't know god?

Q. I never saw him.
A. You can't see him. You can feel him.

Q. Can you feel him?
A. I can feel him. He's inside my brain.  I can feel him.

Q. How does it feel?
A. (Here she got a bit hands on because she realised I needed some education.) First tell me who made us. god. Who gave me a nose, Manasi, heart, parents...see everything...god only. Who gave me water...see everything only god can do.

Q. God is good?
A.  Yeah. Yeah. Now you understood why he's inside me. He came inside me just to help me.

Q. Will he be inside me?
A. Yes daddy. God is inside everybody.. My favorite god is Ganesha.

Q. If you want to ask god for one thing what would it be?
A. I'll ask god to help me in my studies, in my races. In my tough games. I used to ask god only for toys, but now I ask for courage

Q. Why?
A. Only courage can help me win anything.

Q. How?
A. Courage is my partner. Whenever I have some difficulty only courage is my partner. Courage will help me in everything.

Q. What scares you?
A. Chimu anna comes and shouts or scares me suddenly.

Q. What do you think about money?
A. It helps us live. If we didn't have money we cannot eat. How can we buy in Ratnadeep (our supermarket)? We need lots of money.

Q. How can we get lots of money?
A. If we work.

Q. Are you earning money now?
A.Yes, I am earning money with hard work.

Q. What hard work?
A. Paintings and interviews (I promised her 50 bucks for the interview and 20 bucks for painting my t shirt)

Q. How much money do you have?
A. I have lots of money actually. I have too much. I have so much that I can buy anything.

Q. What will you do with it?
A.Buy things. Things I like....(became secretive)

Q. What;'s the happiest thing you remember?
A. Manasi.

Q. Who makes you laugh?
A. Baba, Choudary mama, Mythily atta, Ranjan maam, Mamma, myself....sometimes I only make jokes and laugh.

Q. What made you laugh the most?
A. Mamma's jokes. I remember Mythily atta's jokes. She told me old jokes. The joke is, once there was a man. He went to a shop. He bought a t shirt and got another free. The next day he went to his friend and told him to buy in that shop too. But when they met the next day, he asked his friend if he went to the shop and got two t shirts. But the friend said that he went to a shoe shop. The first one asked why did you go to the shoe shop? Because they give one shoe free with one shoe.

Q. What makes you sad?
A. Some people don't understand what makes me happy or sad. So sometimes they tell me things that make me sad. So that makes me sad.

Q. Did you like the interview?
A. Yup. I like interviews.

Q. You want to add anything?
A. My favorite story is 3 Billy Goats Gruff, Cinderella, Rapunzel.

Q. What do you think of the world?A. It is peaceful. And full of love. I feel that.

Q. What do you want to be when you grow up?
A. I wanted to be a nurse. Actually I wanted to become a writer also. But now I want to be the Prime Minister and tell people to stop cutting trees.

Thanks Anjali for a lovely, heartfelt and honest interview. It gave me some refreshing and reassuring perspectives on life. Nice to know what you feel about the world. Until next time then.

Sadhguru - More Than A Life - Arundhathi Subramaniam

Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev is a well-known mystic, known famously for his unconventional and contemporary approach to spiritualism. Arundhathi Subramaniam writes about Jaggi Vasudev's journey from a rebellious,wild and carefree young man into a revered sadhguru, the spiritual head of the Isha Foundation which has many centres worldwide and thousands of devotees.

Penguin, Rs.499, 242 p

It is a tale worth reading. Arundhathi Subramaniam is an accomplished writer, a poet who authored three books of poetry, and writes well and dispassionately. Jaggi Vasudev's life is stuff that most fiction writers cannot imagine. It's a potent combination. Born of Telugu speaking parents who had settled down in Mysore, Jaggi is one of the four children of Dr. Vasudev, an opthalmologist with the Railways, and Susheela. From his school days Jaggi was known to question everything and play truant (because he felt that the teachers were only spouting what they read and not what they experienced). Jaggi's first experience of meditation probably happened when he bunked classes at school and climbed up to the highest branches of a tree on the school compound, which swayed all through the day, until the final bell rang, upon which he would descend and go home. He had these ways with nature, with snakes (and that earned him money right form his childhood). His way with snakes is attributed to his past lives, coming down from Bilva, a tribal to a Telugu saint Sadhguru Sri Brahma.

Jaggi (Jagdish) completed his education, graduating in English Literature from Mysore University with distinction. He bought some land and did poultry farming and poetry writing, mostly built and tended to by himself, on the outskirts of Mysore. He entered the real estate business and made a successful business out of it. His dalliance with communism and Che Guevara, possibly led to his love for motorbikes and cross country road trips, right up to the Himalayas. Between snakes, motorbikes, a fast forward life, he also found the time to love and marry Vijji, with whom he embarked on many more adventures on the road and off it.

But Jaggi Vasudev's life underwent a change after a walk up into the Chamundi Hills in Mysore and he found his life purpose - the consecration of the Dhyana Linga, an unfulfilled dream of many lifetimes gone by.  The T short and jean clad yogi began taking his yoga classes and later on workshops which found acceptance in and around and soon his popularity spread. Jaggi followed his vision to set up the Isha commune outside Coimbatore and conducted the first 9 day Wholeness progam in tumultous weather.  From that base of disciples grew the Isha Foundation and spread far and wide. Meanwhile the co-conspirtors of Jaggi from his previous lifetimes also appeared, Bharathi for one, and the dream of consecrating the Dhyana Linga at Isha Foundation, Coimbatore grew bigger and bigger. How much the dream finally consumes is revealed in the book.

Your guru must ask you for your very life, says Jaggi. I like that. And so many more liberating and revolutionary thoughts.

Jaggi Vasudev, the mystic who enjoys his golf, his cricket, his motorcycle riding, his fast driving in cars, his unconventional but authentic brand of spiritualism is undoubtedly an incredible person. He is as spontaneous as anyone ever desires to be, lived his life on the edge and probably still does, is totally unpredictable, completely focussed and has the kindness, love and compassion to seal it all. He is definitely someone we'd all love to be. Having read the book I do wish to see the Dhyana Linga, the purpose of Sadhguru's life and the Isha Foundation someday soon. And perhaps if I am lucky, see the motorcycle riding mystic perhaps.

Thought for the Day - The Link Between Gratitude and Being Fully In the Moment

It struck me suddenly that you cannot be grateful to anything if you are not fully present to it.

Why should one be grateful. Good q. You should, because if you are not grateful, it means that you are generally not happy with stuff that is coming your way. That you are not appreciating what you have.

That stuff will slowly dwindle as rejection or not being appreciated is not liked by anyone or anything. So out goes love, money, happiness, good relationships, jobs, opportunities - and that's not a good thing.

To be grateful is to stay in a space of appreciation. Of wonder.One cannot be that if one is not fully present in the moment.

Thought For the Day - What Makes Us Look Forward to Certain Things

Why do I look forward to certain things and want to avoid certain other things?

I look forward to certain things where I feel I can either contribute (or get something I like, such as praise, applause, gift etc). I do not look forward to things when I have nothing to contribute and I am getting something I do not like (criticism, rebuke, ridicule, penalty), or not getting anything.

When I have something to genuinely share, I look forward. (It normally brings the stuff I like.) When I have nothing to share, I avoid it.

I like it when I feel worthy. When I feel worthless I do not.

It is not about that place. It is about me and my sense of self-worth.

I can increase my sense of self-worth by looking to share, to contribute, genuinely. Then we can give a smile, love, knowledge, comfort, peace.

Champions Trophy 2013 - Well Done MSD, Team India and Selectors

My cricket watching has gone down a bit because international cricket in recent times has not kept me interested for too long. Perhaps it's a case of overexposure.

But I saw the final of the Champions Trophy 2013 and bits and pieces of some other games. I liked much about this new look Indian team - for starters - the new look. The Indian selectors led by the clear thinking Sandeep Patil, with his team of Roger Binny, Vikram Rathore, Saba Karim and Rajinder Singh Hans, are all hardworking, behind the scenes cricketers who will do an honest day's work.  They must be complimented on taking some fine decisions and sticking with form and commitment shown by the second rung players and not just sticking to old and sentimental favorites.

1) Shikhar Dhawan has been brilliant ever since he stormed on to the scene. As he repeatedly says he has used the domestic seasons to learn and grow, to sort himself out and now he knows his game inside out (literally). Players who are fully ready, who come after piling on runs for seasons upon seasons, who face rejection, the touch knocks of life are bound to value their time, their place in the middle. You can be sure he will be around for a while - he knows how difficult it was to get where he is now. I liked the way he told Nasser Hussain in the post match presentation that he dreamt he would be the Man of the Tournament. We need such passion, such newness, ambition. Full marks there to the selectors. Sehwag and Gambhir now know there is some self-analysis, some training to be done which is a good thing.

2) Playing Rohit Sharma as an opener was a brilliant move. Murali Vijay has has a woeful domestic season but he came into his own in the Tests against Australia. But in the shorter versions his form has been erratic. But batsman to batsman, Rohit is streets ahead in terms of talent and value to this team, and with his new found responsibility as captain of the Mumbai Indians, a stint that has done him a world of good, I finally see his career settling down. It is a delicious prospect to see batsmen of his calibre playing with responsibility (just as it is equally distressing to see them play irresponsibly, something which he has been guilty of, though unconsciously, for most of his career). To promote him to open was a wise and bold move and it paid dividends. Batsmen of such calibre can play at any position.

3) Virat Kohli cannot be kept out of any of the Indian sides because he brings not merely a huge sense of combativeness, an overwhelming desire to win and backs it with responsible and match winning knocks and performances in the field. And once again in the final he showed what a mature head he carries on his young shoulders as he garnered some crucial runs with Jadeja which ultimately proved to be the marginal difference.

4) Suresh Raina was a huge component in the World Cup 2011 and he still remains exactly that with his brand of aggressive fielding, batting and irrepressible exuberance on the field. He is a sobering effect, a positive influence and a dangerous batsman who can bowl a few overs. He is the silent force behind Dhoni and delivers in every way he can.

5) Dinesh Karthik was another good choice, he got a just reward for his batting performances in the domestic circuit, and he delivered in England when it mattered. He is a professional too and someone who like Shikhar Dhawan, understands the value of his place in the team. Bold move by the selectors to pick him as a batsman and one that DK justified fully.

6) MSD at 6. No praise can be less for this man. His tremendous leadership skills, clarity of thought, focus and vision, rootedness to the moment have once again pulled off the impossible for India. I have never seen anything like this man and I was amazed when I heard stories of how people wanted him out. Where can you get such leaders? I firmly believe that the leader makes the critical difference and when one has such exceptional talent, one should nurture it, not throw it away. MSD should take up leadership roles in society at a later stage in his career, especially at a time when India seems to have such a dearth of leaders. the young man has absorbed so much pressure in the past few years and kept it off his team really that it is shocking and somehow saddening to see how the carefree, longlocked young man who charmed President Musharraf even, has greyed and aged. But the true champion he is, MSD smiles it away, takes it in his stride and says, tomorrow is a new day. I loved the way he clapped his hands and encouraged a nervous Ishant after the tall bowler bowled two wides following a six by Morgan - and Ishant found the courage to bowl a slower one that dismissed Morgan, and then a shortish ball that got rid of Bopara. I loved the way he handled the post match interview with his feet firmly on the ground, the way he received the trophy, thrust it into Shikhar Dhawan's hand and walked off behind the scenes. My vote for MSD any day. What a man!

7) Ravindra Jadeja is a terrific talent and brings exceptional value in all three departments. He seems to have found the confidence of his captain, his team and himself and he can put the demons of yesteryears behind him. One can be sure that under the mentorship of Dhoni he will surely keep all distractions and temptations away and focus on his game and do well for India. His performance throughout the tournament, more so those crucial runs in the final, gave India the momentum.

8) Ashwin brings a mature head, a combative attitude and skill with both bat and ball that can turn matches. He is someone who will be around for a while too, someone who knows himself, his game, who is used to winning and who has seen the ways of his skipper closely. He is a balanced sort of a person and you know he will never go way off the mark even on his off day and that he is the kind who can be trusted to bowl the last over without losing his head.

9) Bhuvaneshwar Kumar carries much courage and skill, a heart of a soldier and the cunning of a fox, within that slim frame and unassuming manner. When he scored a hundred with the last man and secured an unlikely win for Central Zone against North Zone he showed what he is made of. And when he started swinging the ball both ways and knocking openers out even on flat wickets, he gave the Indian bowling teeth that look much sharper than ever. A silent operator who is worth his value in gold, another one who knows his game and is on top of his skill, someone who came out of the process, Bhuvaneshwar gets my vote any day with the new ball in all three versions of the game.

10) Ishant Sharma was another bold pick by the selectors and he fully justified his inclusion with two match winning performances. The rather erratic spell in the final however was the turning point of the game but more than that, it was heartening to  see his deliveries thud into the wicketkeepers gloves in the games he got his rhythm. He loves his wins too and it was a sight to see the lanky bowler jump all over his skipper when they won the game. They seemed to have had some private premonition about the game - good for them.

11) Umesh Yadav is certainly the man to back with the new ball as he is the quickest bowler we have and has the uncanny ability to pick up wickets or bowl overs that push opposition teams into uncomfortable positions. He is strong and as long as he is fit, he can make any batsman in the world hurry through with his expert pace. He can knock over a few wickets any time in the best of team and for that one quality, he needs to be in the team.

Well done everybody. To me it is a clear case of how the best prepared players got the opportunity, how players with the most desire to play and perform for their team and country made the crucial difference and how a good, well-thought-of team combination left no gaps for anyone to exploit. And when you give such a team to an able leader, you cannot keep it from winning.

Anjali's Second Blog - About Nature

Here's Anjali's second blog. About nature.

"hi i am harimohans kid anjali p and i want to talk about plants,animals,under water animals,etc. my dad is writer i know you know his books like the men within,if you love someone. now lets see mom. mom can heal you. 

why do we cut trees? why do we throw litter? no save the earth! do not cut trees do not throw litter i will be a prime minister and save the earth i will plant trees throw litter in the bin.


1. we must stop cutting trees because you will get a lot of sun!
2. always throw  litter in the bin.
3. do not by to many cars and bikes because  you will get cold/cough!
4.make sure the city is clean."

Anjali, amongst nature

As I heard in the car today Anjali feels strongly about nature. She gets distressed at the cutting of trees because "even they have a life and they are our friends....if we cut trees there won't be any butterflies and birds...they will die...". She also confessed in rather great detail about how she wants to be a Prime Minister because then she can spread the message "..through newspapers..." and not allow "...cutting of trees...". Another initiative she thought of, and by now she was really animated and at the top of her voice, was of bringing all the attas (aunts) and relatives together and tell them about this initiative of hers, and about not using plastic.

I suggested that she express herself through a blog and she typed in one letter after another, pausing to get correct spellings, checking with us etc. I left the other stuff as it is, unpolluted, if I may say so.

Good for you Anjali. Your bit for your friends - I am sure they will remember your gesture.

Thought for the Day - The Outcome or the Process

This is a puzzle. Should one be focused on the outcome or the process. In my opinion they are both part of the process and the goal.

Being entirely goal or outcome driven may take all the enjoyment out of the process, the journey. By not enjoying the journey, you may not enjoy the results of the journey. You may miss the forest for the trees. You may lose your soul in a mad rush to reach the goal.

The goal and the process, trees and the forest

On the other hand if you are focused on the process and keep improving on it constantly, you would certainly garner enough expertise to get to the goal anyway. You would be reaching the outcome that the process throws up by itself consistently. You would be more aware, compassionate and understanding of both the goal, the process and the medium (yourself).

The second method is advisable certainly because it is more wholesome and growth oriented. The three aspects to this endeavour of excellence - the goal (long term, comprising of several short term goals), the process and the medium (yourself) - must be employed jointly and harmoniously for a healthy growth. However it is easier said than done because you must first go through the process of goal-oriented work to understand what the process is all about. You must first learn to be honest about the endeavour and commit yourself to it.

In my opinion, being goal oriented at the first stage is not a bad thing to start with (unless you are already an evolved soul who can see everything in perspective). It makes the amateur honest. It makes you understand the need to be honest, to understand the purpose of striving for something, to also understand the importance of intensity and earnestness. Competing hard and winning makes you stretch and push. It makes you understand that the process comprises of many parts and not merely the actions. And it makes you realise that achieving goals require sacrifices, commitment and constant improvement. When one goal that is aspired for is achieved, it is a great revelation, a complete education in the process. If not for the goal oriented approach, you may not understand the process itself.

In the second stage, as the amateur matures and takes on the pride of a professional, there is more focus on the process. As the professional you hone your tricks, learn new tricks, learn to fall and fail, and still smile and get up. You know that you are there for the long haul, that you are there to make a difference as only you can, by being the medium and letting your art flow through you. It makes you compassionate, understanding and unyielding, in a loving manner. This is the stage where the process reigns supreme, where the practitioner knows how infinite the journey is and how capricious the route can be. It requires patience and love.

A shoe maker begins to make the shoe with an outcome in his mind. His understanding and love for the process, the shoe and the customer, can elevate it to a fine art. But this elevation happens only after repeatedly making shoes in a goal oriented manner, after knowing how shoes are made. One cannot just begin making shoes without a goal, a shoe, in mind. Goal orientation is very much part of understanding the process itself and the learner's evolution. With considerable practice, he will embrace the process for the love of it. The process then becomes the goal.