Maharishi and Tat Wale Baba

Tat Wale Baba was a dear friend of Maharishi. Watch the video below to hear some words of wisdom uttered by Tat Wale Baba in presence of Maharishi for students of Maharishi in Rishikesh, in the 1960s.

Part 1 above and part 2 below

PARIS

VOLUNTEERING IN FRANCE

Baking sour dough bread and quiche, every Friday’s in the traditional wooden fired oven.

In the Autumn of 2010, I traveled to a remote part of Bretagne, France, to volunteer on an organic farm.

My father and I used to watch Tour de France, every year on TV. And they used to show the French country side from a helicopter. And my father and I used to be like…”wooow, so beautiful!!! What a country!!!”.

And that’s the reason why I decided to visit the French country side. Moreover, I also wanted to experience a foreign culture, language and cuisine, having lived all my life in Bombay. The only exception was our yearly visits to my village in Maharashtra near Goa.

In the Autumn of 2010, I traveled to a remote part of Bretagne, France, to volunteer on an organic farm.

My father and I used to watch Tour de France, every year on TV. And they used to show the French country side from a helicopter. And my father and I used to be like…”wooow, so beautiful!!! What a country!!!”.

And that’s the reason why I decided to visit the French country side. Moreover, I also wanted to experience a foreign culture, language and cuisine, having lived all my life in Bombay. The only exception was our yearly visits to my village in Maharashtra near Goa.

The fire behind is the oven. These volunteers are from Canada, Quebec and England.

My family has a farming background and my father is a passionate organic farmer. So, it’s not a surprise that I decided to volunteer here.

We used to start our day by milking the goats and flipping the cheese in the cheese room. Yeah, we made organic goat cheese (fromage de chèvre).

Volunteers from Denmark and Belgium, flipping the cheese.

Jean-Yves, the farmer (in pic. below) used to sell this cheese, in weekly markets around Bretagne. And we used to accompany him sometimes.

Jean-Yves at a weekly market, selling olive oil, jam and cheese.

So, after the cheese making, we had breakfast. Breakfast was mostly home-cooked sourdough bread and goat cheese, butter, jam, apples ( from South of France: Michelle, Jean-Yves wife, had Apple trees in Southern France).

The road leading to Jean-Yves and Michelle’s house and the farm in Kerjean

After breakfast we used to go to the top of the house to insulate the attic/ roof with fiber glass. This was fun!

The insulation was for the winter snow.

Jake from England, insulating the attic with fiber glass.

Mathieu from Quebec, working in the attic.

Every Friday’s, we used to bake sourdough bread and quiche, in the traditional wood fired oven, which used to stay warm for few days after it was heated for baking.

The bread we used to bake used to last us for a week. A neighbour used to also come with his two young girls to buy the freshly baked bread.

Jean-Yves mother, Mère Teresa, used to live near by. She had a big house and the volunteers used to live in her house.

Mere Teresa, loved cats…and was a lovely, jolly person!

That’s the big house we lived in.

Photo op. before dinner.

Marathon The Endurance Test

Guzzling down 2 litres of water, and visiting the temporary toilet, installed in the Azad maidan has become a pre-marathon ritual (on the morning of the Marathon). This year wasn’t much different. I remember having a laugh with 2 international girls,standing outside these toilets, about 3 years back : when I asked them 2 never enter one of those (was just thinking loudly, at that time). Here I was, repeating the same thing, for the 4th consecutive year. This time though,I managed to puke on the elevated platforms of these mobile restrooms,before entering that hideous place. At-least, this year I started the Marathon, when the starting-gun -was-fired. I was happy for that, but as always without any warmup, and that worried me a bit. The start to any Marathon is always good, to say the least. The weather’s cool, and everyone around is excited, when suddenly it begins, and u start running.Hell, is there any joy as good as running? God knows! So this year again wasn’t much different. Or was it? Yes, a bit: there were less spectators watching, and surprisingly I was ahead of much of the pack. I took the first U turn at the NCPA, and came across that familiar old feeling: seeing the early morning joggers running, walking on the side path on Marine lines:me waz wondrin , as always:’why don’t these ppl take part in the Marathon?’. And then came the first water point; I had made up my mind to drink water every 20 mins. But hey, I never pass-on an opportunity to pour water over my head, and it reaches right to the sole of my feet, cooling down every thing in between. And, this time around, to my huge surprise there were sports drinks provided; god I have never drowned so much Lucozade down my throat. So all-was-well for the first 5 – 6 kms, as always. But then the fact that I had NOT ran for the past 2 weeks, would have a bearing on the remaining 36 kms. This time, atleast, I had no sore knee to bother about, and I had actually run 21 kms (half marathon distance)in a practice session. Focus for me, was very important during this Marathon, and did not want to loose a second on things like appreciating the cheering spectators and cheer them back again. I had made up mind to just keep running…So as a result, the only breaks I took were for taking a leak on the roadside. You always feel humbled, when fellow runners start running past you. And u feel more humbled,when people who look half fit compared to you, start surging ahead of you. I felt a bit better, when we caught up wit the half marathon runners (who had started their race in Bandra). I was overtaking them like crazy, must have overtaken hundreds of these half Marathon runners. But it was mainly due to the fact that: most of them could never run 4 kms at a stretch. They were seriously unfit for this kind of an undertaking, and hence I realized that I shouldn’t take perverse pleasure in overtaking these poor blokes. Marathon , like I have mentioned last year, is more of a mental game than a physical one. This year , at-least I did not have to endure bleeding nipples due to continuous chafing of the wet running vest. But my knees and the groin area hurt like hell! So, the best strategy to apply: is to simply ignore the pain and just keep chugging on (it hurt more, if I tried to walk). And after running for about 25 -29 kms, you go in a kind of trance: where you start enjoying this nerve-wracking pain, it feels as much a part of you as any other feeling of joy you ever experienced. And when you hit this state of trance- they have a fancy word for this : ‘the zone’; whn u hit this state of trance-u can go on for ever; I can run a hundred miles in that state of trance. The only problem is that it does NOT last that long! This Marathon gave me something unique, though. At the fag end of the race , for the first time: I got this feeling of exhilaration- of Euphoria. Well, it wasn’t exactly exhilaration or Euphoria. Was basically like: u feel like crying (like a small, innocent child) but then it suddenly gives way to a big broad smile- coz u realize something (some feeling in ur heart-of-hearts:deep inside). I can’t really describe this feeling. It’s a real overpowering emotion. *
Ok, so basically here is what I learnt this time around: the bottom line: 1. The first code of Boy Scouts: “Be prepared” You might be prepared physically for a new/any endeavour , but you have to be “mentally prepared” for it. And here is where the girls score over the guys, I think. 2. “Super focus in life is super important”- if you want to achieve anything worthwhile in this life. There are just too many distractions in this world to keep you busy. Stay focused! 3. “Persistence pays” It’s obvious , isn’t it?
PS: I am happy I finished the Marathon in under 5 hours: which qualifies me for the Comrades ultra-marathon (89 kms), in South Africa.