I Have A Dream...

A long long tiem ago, when i was just a child, I went to this amazing school, The School- KFI, a school founded and based on J. Krishnamurti's philosophy. At this school we had something called The Drama Festival. Different schools would come over and perform plays, for the enrichment and education of the children. There were themes, and different types of plays. Some were abstract, some were entirely original, others were old plays done before. We had much fun at these drama festivals. It was not a competition but a learning experience, and we would write summaries on the plays, what it meant to us etc. The 11th and 12th grades would perform the plays.

One year, a guy who I was dating, my first ever boyfriend actually, was in one of the plays for the Drama Festival. He was to recite a speech. He told me I'm giving the "I have a dream" speech. I was young and history was never my strong subject.
Me - What?
He- the "I have a dream" speech, its from your America, only.
Me- never heard of it.
He- come on it's Martin Luther King! you should know this, you're American.
Me- Martin Lou the King?? I didn't know America had Kings!
He- I give up! You know nothing Priyanka

At least that's how I remember the conversation going.
It took me a while to learn who Martin Lou the King was... wow I had been ignorant! Or just in the wrong country? I only heard the speech years later when we were learning to unlearn hate, stereotypes, discrimination at an orientation. I didn't know the whole history of the civil war, until recently; My friend Jala encouraging me to attend an African music and dance festival, which happened to be about the emancipation of slaves, watching movies like Django Unchained, and Lincoln have educated me about the history of African Slaves in the Americas, about discrimination, abuse and human rights. Recent events such as the Trayvon Martin murder, have shed light on how much discrimination still prevails today and how this country works. How the world works.

So when and how will this dream come true?
When will we REALLY start educating our children, our people? When will we stop teaching hate, and teaching love?
When will we learn to share?

Breathe

Valentine's Day: Love in the name of profits!

Have you noticed your waist-line grow with every holiday?

Chocolates for Valentines day, Candy for Easter, Candy for Halloween, Candy for thanksgiving and Christmas... In India there are sweets for every occasion. At least someone is making profit.

I'm a huge romantic, or was... but life happens, and one gets jaded about such things. However, doesn't mean I don't love my boyfriend any less. In fact when I love I make sure its 33.3% Intimacy (intellectual, mental chemistry), 33.3% Commitment (trust and loyalty) and 33.3% Passion (chemistry, if you get my drift!) ... lastly (this is my own creation) 0.1% personality/character = 100% True Pure Strong, Intense but Stable LOVE! Actually that's Robert Sternberg's Triangular Theory of Love, which I studied in college. Yes I studied Psychology, anyway this theory made sense to me, and a very good balance between what's needed in a healthy, mature relationship. Definitely read it, if you really want to get out of all the games, drama and bull$!@#.

Love is still a combination of more than just this! It takes a lot of work, acceptance, patience, tolerance, being open to change, caring, sharing, compromising, space, understanding...

Back to Valentine's Day, I just read an article that exposes the truth about this holiday that celebrates LOVE! Read it... Pagans in Rome celebrated it by getting drunk and naked and whipping women with animal hide. Kind of explains rape, violence against women etc. However the sexual deviant side of me thinks... "hmm there could me some "sado-masochistic" fun here! ;-)

Anyway, apparently the Christians came in and saved the day, by changing it into a clothed event, and later it got romanticized by Chaucer and Shakespeare... but of course!
                                           .... And now we have this Hallmark Holiday!


I do enjoy Dark Chocolate, and which girl doesn't like being doted upon every now and then. Yes I still fantasize about my Boyfriend Ryan, riding a black horse, in shiny armor, coming to save me from a bunch of werewolves, and chopping their heads off with a silver sword. massacring them all, like a hero, and then passionately kissing me...
... and then I wake up! Ok it's highly unrealistic, but the best part is being surprised by your love when you least expect it, in good ways, and letting love take its own course. Come to think of it, I'd rather be the one on the horse saving him... sometimes! Times have changed and so have fantasies! Funny how life is!

In the end I can have chocolates any day... No! Cause I'm watching my weight, and no sugars!! He does makes me feel special every night when we cuddle! And do I really need to feed this consumer based commercial holiday, also once again advertising catering to women's insecurities, also I celebrate my love for me, my love for you, my love for my parents, my love for Ryan, everyday! If you feel that your man / woman doesn't acknowledge you appropriately with chocolates, roses, etc. Then perhaps that is your insecurity. Reflect. However, sometimes it might be tradition between a couple... I remember Ryan told me he loved me 2011 Feb 14th at dinner. It was special but I don't feel it is a necessity to celebrate it. To each their own. I really recommend communication as being the biggest thing if you aren't happy with you valentine. I think mainly valentine's day is about loving, trusting and having faith in love, and letting go of expectations It is just another day!

I've always had mixed feelings about this day! But this is my 3rd Valentine's Day with Ryan. He better have something planned for the weekend ;-) really though I don't care as long as he'll just be mine, and serenade me with the guitar, like he does all the time. <3

Whatever - buy chocolates, buy local, and buy the 3 terabyte hard drive while you're at it!


Happy Valentine's day to you all!


Breathe!



This year I wanted to find a creative way to share my love with all my friends. So this is what I did:

The Religion Competition

Awesome news! The Shiva Trilogy final book is being released on Feb 27th!

(Please read this disclaimer, for I found it very similar to what I would disclaim in general regarding my blog. Thanks! And please note this blog is a thought process in dynamic progress, please check back for edits! Once again this is not to dis anyone, any religion, language or culture.This is just my rambling flowing thoughts and NOT a scientific document. I enjoy reading books.)

For those of you who don't know what the Shiva Trilogy is about, here are a few pointers:
1- The Shiva Trilogy consists of three books: The Immortals of Meluha, The Secret of the Nagas, and The Oath of the Vayaputras
2-These books are based on "Hindu Mythology", from the perspective what if it wasn't myth but it all really happened.
3- Hinduism is a religion followed in India. It dates back to circa. 2600 BC! Yeah it's pretty effing old.
4- Shiva, known as the God of destruction is the protagonist of the story, and it follows his life, trials, love, and leadership.

There are a lot of misconceptions regarding Hinduism, especially because it is such an ancient religion. In fact me thinks, most Indians/ Hindus have no true idea about Hinduism. It is honestly a lot of reading since there are so many different ancient texts (kind of like in Judaism). Recently I began studying my heritage, my culture etc. out of curiosity, and found out numerous things which I had no idea of before. It was not even taught in my undergrad Eastern Religions or Hinduism class (I happened to major in both Psych and Religious studies). I keep reading more about the Vedas and the Gita, having studied the Gita unwillingly as a child, it was interesting to reread it as an adult. Not everything I read about Hinduism sat well with me. Some books said that women must be subservient to men... Guess how I feel about that!  I am yet to find a "perfect religion". And you know what this is why there are so many wars, because everyone thinks their religion is perfect because they do feel so truly about "their" God, Gods, etc. The thing is... it is so hard for people in general to believe, maybe all of the religions are perfect, and perfectly flawed, and I will respect them all, but by doing so this does not hurt my faith in my God.

My adventures through religions, my childhood witnessing of too many "killing in the name of" such and such God/ religion/ prophet/ religious leader, and my cognitive dissonance with certain beliefs of certain religions was enough to put me off all religions and distance myself from it. Instead, I found myself in a very spiritual place, call it new age, hippie-ism, atheism, agnosticism, whatever else you may want to call it - I don't care, where I believe in a higher power (no sex is defined, if it has to be She will be like me), I keep my morals and values, I use my brain and heart, I love and forgive, I respect other people's beliefs, I respect all religions, I try to remember the whole meaning of "Namaste". I'm glad that some of the Western world is slowly studying the history behind Hinduism and Eastern religions and finding true value in it. Yet just because they value it or respect it, or practice parts of it, doesn't mean that they are converting, it's life we adopt, we change! The East learns things from the West.

It seems the general attitude toward Eastern Religions especially Hinduism they are often looked down upon, considered less real, or generally inferior to Abrahamic Religions. Hinduism seems to get hit the worst because it is taught to be and thought to be a polytheistic religion when in fact ONE true God (Brahman) is the force behind all the other "Avatars". It's always dismissed as a religion based on myths rather than true events, unlike the Abrahamic religions, which claim to be more truer because they have more proof, their writings are more recent, monotheistic religions are more believable? There are many other reasons, in fact the Bible says so in many different verses etc. etc. etc. They always have MORE proof.  However the Bible which most people read from is but a translation and interpretation of the mystical words of the olden days saints scholars what have you, which is same as in Hinduism, Buddhism etc. Whatever! I find all the religious texts highly unbelievable when it comes to truth factors, however they are all nice stories and good guides for people who seek more meaning in their life or something.

What I like about the Shiva Trilogy is it takes the ancient texts of the Vedas etc., and puts them into what I like to call a "Christian" thought process, of let's not think of it as mythology, let's interpret this as if Shiva was really a man. Come on Moses parted the Red Sea and he's only known as a prophet and not God; Jesus turned water into wine and he's only known as the son of God; Prophet Mohammad heard the voice of God and wrote an amazing book, and he's known as a Prophet, not God. With the same premise, let's say there was a strong, hunky, unbreakable guy named Shiva, and he did some major feats as a leader in his time. People looked up to him so much, they equated him to Mahadev (God of Gods), but he was truly just a king. However history, turned this literal, thus making it seem such a man was impossible to have existed. So many stories were interpreted wrong, quite possible. Ganesh was not possible because which man has a head of an elephant? This man does: The Elephant Man. Deformities were something which at the time inexplicable, had to be understood in some way... Ganesh, a good man, with severe deformities, became an angel sent unto earth: We can learn to love those who do not necessarily look like us! All the different colored dirties - Lakshmi - Yellow - Chinese? Saraswati - White - Russian? Krishna - Blue - African? Etc.

Or How about ALIENS! I like the Ancient Aliens (History Channel), version of who are the Hindu Gods or Gods in general maybe. It is a scientific explanation of some sort. It theorizes that maybe Ganesh was a time traveler from the future who they thought was a God! Or perhaps he is an alien thus the different form. Hehehe! (An article which I found very interesting during my research). The fact remains though that sadly at the end of the day such a weapon such as religion can be used for bad or good, or for controlling people. Please be wary of this. In the end we do live in a world where one can believe in anything in the Universe they wish to, from something as whimsical as Unicorns, to God in whatever religious sense, to even conspiracy theories regarding governments. Some may try to find proof others may follow unquestioningly.

Truly, most humans need someone telling them what to do. Very few can just live as is. At work, school and play. Humans also enjoy control over certain things, and need explanations for things they can not understand. We look for meaning in our lives, meaning which we need someone else, or something else like an ancient text which was written through some acclaimed ancient dude who heard it from God or some dude of God's which makes the meaning of our lives totally legit!

Honestly, I am so open to all thought processes, as long as people keep holding the following attitudes "My God is more true than yours", or "My religion is superior and truer than yours", I will be unable to accept than any of them are true. In fact I cry that all of this leads to war, war and more war... terrorism, fighting for land, politics, and worse dirty politics... all in the name of what. Really what? In the end it is all ego... Get over it! Go do some yoga and live and let live! And Stop fighting - You know who you are... just stop war and fighting! In the name of Jesus, Allah, Shiva, Moses, etc. etc. etc. I know you didn't start the fire, it was always burning since the world's been turning, but YOU can stop it! For the love of the Gods or God!

And definitely read The Shiva Trilogy, if just for entertainment... it is the next Lord of the Rings! <3