My experiments with Karma

I have been doing a lot of thinking around the concept of 'Karma'. Its really 'Karm' (कर्म) but the 'a' at the end is appended when an Indian word becomes widely used and popular in the west, like with 'Yoga' (really 'Yog').

As a child, growing up in India, one encounters this word just about everywhere, be it sunday morning Mahabharat on Doordarshan that taught me that most famous line from the Gita ('Karm kiye ja, Phal ki iccha na Kar' ), or those morning school assembly songs and of course those mandatory MI/MS (Moral Instruction/Moral Science) classes at school. Even the odd Bollywood film preached Karm.

But of course as a child I had filed Karm at the back of my mind somewhere, together with all the other good stuff I was taught.

Surprisingly, it is in the last couple of years, that I have been drawn to this concept, almost by an invisible force. There is something very attractive about Karm, I think the attraction lies in how simple and easy it is to understand Karm, yet how hard it is to practice it in one's everyday life.

I have started an experiment. If all the bad deeds I do and all the bad thoughts I think are indeed bouncing off the cosmos somewhere and coming back to me, then applying Karma, I should be able to stop this recurring ricochet.

So bit by bit, one thought at a time, one deed at a time, if I was to keep adding to the good Karm scales, all the while making those bad Karm scales lighter and lighter, I should start to feel and see the effects of my experiment in my everyday life.

With any bit of luck, I may not get that Flu this year. :-)

Evolution of the 'Bharitiya Nari (Indian Woman)'

Stumbled across this New York Times article that brought a smile to my face, In India, Women See Boxing as a Way Up . Oh! The journey of the Bharitiya Nari (Indian Woman). The article compelled me to contemplate the long, arduous and obstacle ridden journey of this resilient 'species' of women, albeit in my usual sardonic wry style.

This journey started from the confines of the kitchen, amongst the 'atta and dal', the 'chulha' and the of course the mandatory 'ghoonghat'. When the Bharitiya Nari was not cooking, she was making cow dung cakes, in order to be able to cook.

In between the cooking and cow dung cake making, she also attended to her eight children (two not in the picture). If you are a Bharitiya Nari yourself, you know this isn't all. There are other sundry chores like water fetching and goat milking. But i digress.

Ladies and Gentlemen I bring you to the last picture of this post, Lo and Behold!

Me Like! Me very very PROUD!

Of Beauty Queens

Another 'Miss Universe' has been crowned! Predictably its 'Miss Venezuela', she comes from a country obsessed with 'physical' beauty, a country geared towards this contest like no other.
I am reminded of my teens, when I would employ every trick in the trade to be allowed to watch the 'Miss India' and the 'Miss Universe' contest. I would cajole, fight, cry, beg, manipulate - hell I remember promising my mother an entire week in the kitchen making 'chappaties' in return for that 1 hour of pure escapism. I have even lamented the fact that I was all of 5 feet 3 inches tall, standing 2 inches short of the dream!

Fast forward to now, well out of my teens, F'd by life, Loved by life, tossed and thrown around by life, I choked on my mid morning coffee at work, at the following excerpt from the Miss Universe Official site (http://www.missuniverse.com/info/history)

"These women are savvy, goal-oriented and aware. The delegates who become part of the Miss Universe Organization display those characteristics in their everyday lives, both as individuals, who compete with hope of advancing their careers, personal and humanitarian goals, and as women who see to improve the lives of others."

This is the point at which the flashback to my teens occurred.

I have no problem with lauding and applauding physical 'beauty', grading contestants on the basis of their perfect 32 - 24 - 36 figures ( I am in eternal pursuit of acquiring one myself), just don't insult my intelligence by alluding to the Beauty Queens' 'Humanitarian Goals', and their noble intentions towards improving the lives of others.

Here is my take, for the website, duly emailed to Mr Trump who by the way should also introduce his staff to the benefits of a spell check.

"These women are tall, thin and very good looking. The delegates who become part of the Miss Universe Organization display those characteristics in their everyday lives, both as individuals, who compete with hope of advancing their film and modelling careers, and as women who see this pageant as the quickest and surest way to making their first million dollars."

The First Post

The very first post!
So I have been toying with the idea of writing my own BLOG for soooo long, now I am finally here, staring at blank white space, nervous and apprehensive.

Goodluck! Goodluck getting yourself heard in the noise of the cyber world!

Ahh well, lets begin....why Mal- De-Vivre? Because MalDeVivre was taken, I had to put in the dashes.
I think Mal De Vivre is french, roughly meaning 'The Pain of Living', Or 'The Pain Of Existence'?? Although none of the translation tools on the internet were able to translate this phrase for me, I figured if 'Joie de vivre' meant the 'Joy of Living', then the title of my BLOG pertains to the 'Pain of Living'.
I must give due credit to G, who introduced me to this phrase, its an affliction he suffers from, or so he tells me. The timing of this BLOG is significant, in that it coincides with a period in my life, where I am experiencing a great deal of dissatisfaction with status quo, a great deal of internal interrogation and an inability to make sense of the chaos in my head.
No, its not that time of the month! I have given 'it' time to settle, there is no settling to be had.
So when G dropped this term on me, I wondered, am I afflicted too?