Taj Mahal

I have been to this beautiful place couple of times and as every one finds, I have found it to be a beautiful and monumental place. Now everyone knows that it was built by Shah Jahan in memory of his wife Mumtaz and thus is a monument of love. Yes it is but there is more to it than that.

Some days back I was watching a program on Nat Geo where they were showcasing Indian history and they mentioned that there was a mystic aspect to the Taj Mahal as well which most of the people don't know, the whole design of the main building along with the parks on the two sides and water in the middle have a deeper meaning. Also it was mentioned that Taj was a communion of Hindu and Muslim unity where more than the religion itslef the core of both the religions was given priority.

And while sitting there with Taj behind you and Yamuna flowing in the front you can experience that silence and depth.

The photography inside tomb is not permitted but before I had realised that I had taken one snap which covered some part of mystisism.

When I am with you, how can anything touch you? Come on be brave !

This is a heart touching experience shared by our friends from Mumbai who survived the Taj Hotel massacre.

"Dearest Ones

Jai Gurudev

There are no words to describe what we are going through after our miraculous escape after 12 hours in captivity at the Taj.

There is still a sense of daze & shock, there is fear ( after the continous sounds last 60 hours of grenades and gun firing) even the sound of a spoon falling is alarming, anger & rage at the total breakdown of security and the system , but above all, there is a huge huge huge huge sense of gratitude.

Gratitude to Guruji for giving us another life. As more is being revealed, 4 terrorists were in the kitchen of the chambers , just about 10 feet from the room we were in.They killed the chefs there. There was nothing stopping them from just turning left and come our way. It was almost like some indescribable force was between them and us. Knowledge of living in the present moment and present moment is inevitable was never never before a living reality for us. When they evacuated us after 12 hours, there was blood ,broken glass pieces, grenade remnants all strewn across the corridor outside our room. That's how close they came.

When we did come out and escaped another round of fresh firing at us as we were walking outside the Taj, the 1st call just that moment we got was from Guruji confirming that we were out and safe. It was almost as though He had escorted us out ! I was so shaken , I could barely stand let alone speak and He said to me, "When I am with you, how can anything touch you.come on be brave . Kya darti hai, main hun na "

Throughout the night, Bhanudidi kept calling and smsing us , giving us courage and encouragement. Giving us the confidence that we would be out surely. It seemed surreal then, but she kept telling me to be bold and support others. It was like being scooped in a blanket of grace and love. In every Part 2 course, I have learnt to sleep with a blanket of grace. Believe me, I can tell you with certainity that it was ON us that night


Through the night all of you kept calling us ,smsing us and telling us how much you are praying for us . Our parents,brothers ,sisters,sisters in law, little nephews and nieces from UK.......your voices gave us life & kept us going.

We were giving healing to the bullet hit, teaching deep breathing to some young boys with us to calm them down, teachimg mudras to control bladders to the old, all the while literally hanging on to each other ,holding hands tight and continuously chanting jai gurudev. My tongue continues to move in that chant in a almost pavlovian way even now

Even after we came out, all of you kept calling and supporting us. Hearing the concern and love in your voice was deeply humbling and moving for us. Anna kept refocusing my attention by talking about designing the Mandir for our new home to asking what I cooked ! Each one of you has kept reassuring us . This love is our only true treasure

I have no idea what we have done to deserve all this outpour of your love, concern,good wishes. We are just so grateful to you. It is the strength of your sadhana and sankalpa that rescued 100 of us that fateful thursday morning. As you know only about 8 people have come out alive from the taj after that


Many many people we know, top lawyers,bankers ,leading business heads have not been as lucky as us. They were victims of indiscriminate firing. Dalus son Shaan and daughter Shivanis 4 friends have losts either both or one set of parents.3 of our friends were stuck in Trident and rescued only yesterday morning after 36 hours and are in deep trauma

Writing this is a cathartic experience for me.
Going through this, a jolting wake up call to appreciate the value of every living moment of life, the indispensiblity of spreading knowledge URGENTLY, and above all deeply appreciating the love that surrounds us

We remain in Gratitude to you all FOREVER . Lifetimes will not suffice us to repay this love

Apart from our anniversary, Ajay and I now share a birthday too.Nov 27th

Love from the deepest depths of our heart
Rajita & Ajay"

India Burning ....Who cares ?

This is not Diwali or any other festival where fire is being lit. This is Taj Hotel burning in Mumbai. Not only this whole mumbai is burning, India is burning. But who cares, India has been burning for last 2 decades under terrorism but who cares.
People come and visit our Parliament house with guns and grenades, they come and visit our religious places and hotels with machine guns and bombs. But we are so welcoming that we dont do anything.
If this current attack had happened on US, those responsible would have been taken to task but our ministers and authorities are busy giving useless explanation to media.
This is high time all of us rise together and fight for the integrity and safety of our country and our people.
Let us leave old dogmas and useless values, let's bring out the valor which has been lying dormant within us and care for our nation. Let us show the world that we can accept everything but now it is time for active acceptance were we become the change agents. Let's care.

Independence Day

Independence, have we ever thought what it means, it means experiencing total freedom in spite of whatever activities we are doing and also sharing this freedom with as many people as possible.
One more year has passed by and we will again go into deep slumber within couple of hours of celebrations getting over.

This day when our nation got independence has become a day of vacation and enjoyment for all of us. We send each other messages "Happy Independence Day" et AL, but do we really mean it?
Can we just take couple of minutes from our busy schedule and ponder on what has happened to our nation in last 61 years of Independence, are we progressing, regressing or digressing ?

15th August is not just another holiday or a day to lazy around, it is a day to pay tribute to all those people, even whose names we don't know, who sacrificed their life for our country. Let's get out of this rigmarole of formalities and take some commitment for the coming year. Just close your eyes for a minute and think what this country has given you, what is the current state of India and what can you do to make a difference ?

Are we so useless that we can't make an iota of difference in the society, which we are part of ....
I request you to come out of this sleep, the whole country is being taken for a ride by a group of people who are only concerned about their own interests, if we don't plan a "RDB" Rang De Basanti kinda action sooner, our nation will soon be on verge of going back into pre-independence era.

Let this Independence Day bring a new lease of life in all of us, so that we can work towards building a great nation and bring real prosperity and independence for our mother India.
Jai Hind !!

"Sirf hangama khada karna mera maqsad nahin, meri koshish hai ki ye surat badalni chahiye"

Indian Golden Boy - Bindra

Yesterday morning I switched on the TV just before I was ready to leave for office and what followed was just incredible which forced me to just sit glued in front of the TV for an hour or so, the moment he got on podium and our flag started getting hoisted and national anthem started, it was just out of the world, atleast for me.

This post itself tells what Abhinav Bindra has achieved. I am a total cricket buff and also have interests in lawn-tennis, football, F-1, badminton and TT. For long I was thinking of putting a post on Sachin Tendulkar but due to some reasons it was getting delayed ... and now before putting a post on him I had to put Bindra here.
No Indian has been able to achieve what Bindra has done by getting Gold Medal at Olympics. For some moments I was just blank, which tells what has been the magnitude of this effort. God bless this guy. It was a moment of redemption for India. The global media looked bemused as grownup Indians danced like little children, shedding tears of joy. How can they understand ? This moment ended decades of Olympic misery for India, the world's second most populous nation and a perennial underachiever at the games.

Hope this will result in people taking notice of various other sports in our country other than cricket.