The Butterfly Effect

A few weeks ago a young woman was out for a bike ride in upstate New York when she spotted an injured monarch butterfly and took it home in her emptied water bottle.

 

She then fed the butterfly rotting pears mixed with water and honey. The butterfly was thriving on the feast and gaining strength but the question remained: What about its broken wing?

 

Enter the internet.

 

Online, she discovered a nine-minute video demonstration posted by the Live Monarch Foundation, a nonprofit group from Boca Raton, Florida, on how to fix a broken butterfly wing.

 

So after a delicate but relatively simple operation the tiny house guest had its wing mended and began to flutter around. Another week and it was now merrily flitting all over the house. While it was warm inside the house, outside it was getting very cold and all its other butterfly brothers and sisters had long ago migrated down to the warmer south. So the next question: How will it make up the lost time?

 

Enter the long haul lorry drivers.

 

The young woman took the butterfly in a shoe box to the nearest trucking station. She stepped into a bar, stared at all the huge burly drivers and asked for a volunteer to take the box as far south as possible to give the butterfly a chance of finding a group to join in the migration to Mexico.

 

If you ever want to feel strange and totally out of place then all you have to do is go into a bar full of truck drivers and ask them to take care of a butterfly!!. Unlikely as it seemed, eventually, a driver from Alabama, on his way to Florida, raised his hand.

 

Three days later the young woman got a call. It was the truck driver. The butterfly with its mended wings was loose in Florida, among other Monarchs on their way to Mexico.

Essense of appreciating beauty

Let me ask you a question. Have you ever thought of what really constitutes beauty?, or more specifically, appreciation of beauty?. On its own beauty is meaningless. Its power comes from the effect it has on you. I recall once going to this wonderful garden tended by this really old man. The garden was this really huge sprawling space filled with incredible sights and smells. Orchids, carnations, roses, daisies, many tropical plants and ferns, huge trees.... it was almost too much to take in. So I walked over to the old man as he sat pruning a rose bed and asked him.

"Is there a spot from where I can really take all this in? I mean, is there some place from where I can, you know, maybe see the whole garden and , you know, maybe get the real essence of all this fantastic stuff that you have done?

He looked up, slowly, locked his rheumatic eyes with mine.

"You really want that?"

"Yeah, absolutely"

So he slowly got up on his feet, reached out for his cane and shuffled ahead.

"Follow me", he said over his shoulder.

We walked past all the beautiful flowers to an isolated corner. It had nothing but a single potted plant in the center with a chair beside it.

"Sit here on this chair and focus on this flower, admire it, see it, smell it, touch it.... and when you are done just whistle. I will take this flower away and fetch you another. The only way to get to the essence of all this beauty around you is to take it one flower at a time."

Essense of being found

There is this little Bar close to where I used to work and often in the evening I would go across with some friends and sit back and chill. It is a lovely place, relaxed, great music, great decor, but for me what made the place special was this young bartender. He was the life of the bar, always ready with a smile, always remembered what you liked to drink, knew exactly when to come over and chat and when to leave you alone. He had been there for a long long time and I often wondered what he was doing in this little place. He was clearly too good for this bar, he could choose any of those upmarket drinking holes where he would have made much much more money that he did here. But day after day, month after month he was always there. The same place, the same smile. What added to his aura was this intriguing talk that once he was just like one of the regular customers. And much like me he liked to come in the evening and unwind. It is said that he had this lovely companion most of the time, an upcoming model. Then something happened and one day he asked the manager if he could move behind the bar. Good for us, really, but still why not move on?

One day I was alone so I chose to sit at the bar nursing a drink and he came over to chat. I couldn't let the chance go so I shamelessly asked him what kept him here. He continued to polish a glass, looked around as if making up his mind, then he turned towards me and said.

"When I was a little boy my mom used to take me to the park. And she used to always tell me, listen son, if we ever lose each other don't you go around looking for me. Just stay where you are so that I can find you."

Essense of being brave

It is said that the Israelites and Philistines were head to head on opposite mountains with the valley of Elah separating them. The two great armies faced each other ready for the battle. While the Israelites had many a brave soldiers, all of them shuddered at the sight of this giant among the Philistines. The giant, Goliath, bellowed fearsomely and called upon the Israeli warriors to meet him one on one in the valley of Elah and decide the battle. Days went by but no Israelite would take up the challenge and the King was running out of options. One day a lad by the name David came to deliver the daily bread to the king and heard him despair about the giant. So David went up to the king and told him that he was willing to fight Goliath. The King was overcome by the lad's bravery and gave him his personal armour. But the armour was too big for the little lad so he left the armour behind and began climbing down to the valley. Along the way he picked up five smooth stones for his sling shot and was ready to meet the giant. Goliath saw David come down and he was enraged that they dare send him such a puny opponent. So he growled like a thousand lions and ran down to crush David. It was a fearsome sight, this huge giant trundling towards little David, eyes all bloodshot, arms spread wide itching to crush, the barrel chest heaving....

David waited, and waited, his sling ready and swinging slowly. He waited some more and just when he thought it was right he swung the sling shot and out flew the stone. The stone was aimed perfectly and hit Goliath right in the middle of the eyes. His skull split and the giant instantly fell at David's feet. Dead as a dodo.

Ofcourse all of us know this story but tell me have you ever wondered what made little David take up the challenge that all the other warriors didnt dare? The first thing he did was overcame his own fear. That must have been difficult but once he had no fear the rest was, i imagine, easy. That is how one destroys monsters in our own lives. We first overcome our own fears, we then stand our ground. And then when we meet the monster, our lack of fear allows us to think clearly, allows us to do what we have to do to overcome that monster.

Zen master and the little boy

There was a little boy in a village who lived next door to a zen master. When the little boy turned 14, his father gave him a pony. All the neighbours were delighted and said "how very wonderful". However, when the zen master heard the news all he said was "well, lets see..."

Two years later the boy was riding his pony and somehow fell from it and broke his leg. The neighbours all came together, clicked their tongues and said "how very terrible".

The zen master saw this and all he said was "well, lets see..."

A year later a war was declared and all the able bodied boys were sent off to the front. The boy was spared as he was a cripple. The neighbours were happy for him and said "how very fortunate..."

The zen master saw this too and said "well, lets see...."

So what's the point of my story????

"well, lets see....."

Being Hindu

Last few days i felt good about being a hindu... its seems a few thousand years ago some intrepid hindus travelled far east and spread the good god's word. Far east, really far east, far east like Java, Bali, Thailand and a whole lot of countries in between. The locals lapped it up and made a whole new religion for themselves.

So when a couple of millennium later I landed in Bali I saw around me all those familiar sights of beautiful hindu temples, colourful offerings, joss sticks and diyas. Even the gods were all familiar gods like Ishwara, Brahma, Vishnu & Mahesh.

We went to a traditional dance performance and they did a piece from Ramayan. A few days later we saw another performance, this time based on the Mahabharata. Our taxi driver spoke to us about Karma and how one had to be good right now so that in the next life we came back as humans and not animals. Somehow he got talking about how some religions were not tolerant of other religions but didnt they understand that all religions were mere paths leading to the same destination. Therefore why should one say that this path is better that the other, or why should one have to choose and stick with just one path?.

He spoke with difficulty, English was not his strong point but to me he neednt have spoken at all, his thought have been my thoughts for as long as I can remember, drilled and hard coded in my brain from all those spiritual lectures my devout grandma used to give us each night.

The final surprise was kept right till the end. On our way to the airport our taxi driver inserted a CD into the player. He smiled and said "you will like this" and from the speakers wafted in a melodiously sung Gayatri Mantra!!!

Feeling at home apart there was another reason why I felt good about being a hindu. Twice while haggling over the price of an artifact we were offered a special discount.... "you from India??? you Hindu??? here special special price....

Mousetrap

There was once a mouse who made himself comfortable in a farmer's house. Food was plentiful, there were simply tonnes of places to scurry about and have fun and a nice little hole on the kitchen roof to doze. Things were just fine. The farmer's wife however thought a little differently about sharing her house with a mere mouse. So one fine morning the mouse saw the farmer walk into the kitchen with a mousetrap. He was greatly alarmed and rushed out to seek some help.

He first came across a chicken and pleaded with her "Please, please dear Hen, help me get rid of the mousetrap". The hen was pecking at her morning grain and wouldn't be too bothered. She clucked "ahh hmm.. well its a mousetrap, it ain't no threat to me... you do it yourself please".

The mouse was disappointed but he rushed on and saw a pig wallowing in the mud. "Please please Mr. Pig, do help me get rid of the mousetrap" the mouse tried again. The pig loved his morning wallow and he too wouldn't be too bothered so he grunted "oink umh.. well you see god made me big so that i cant possibly fit into a puny mousetrap. Buddy I got bigger things to worry about so dont bother me with your little problems. Now if you please you are cutting my sunshine".

The mouse just sighed and rushed on. Just as he took the turn around the barn he saw a cow grazing in the fields. "Aha", he said, "now here a true friend in deed". So he rushed to her and asked for help. Now the cow was a gentle creature and knew all about helping others and all that. But you see she hadn't eaten in a while and the grass was really green and juicy. So in a way she wouldn't be not too bothered... right now atleast.

So she mooed "dear dear mouse, life is such you know. God throws us all challenges and wants us to take them on so that we can become strong. Now if one kept asking for help with all the challenges then wont that spoil God's great plan. Come on, help him out, that mousetrap is your problem, deal with it. Now run along please"

The mouse was tired of running around trying to get help and in any case everybody seemed to tell him that this was his problem. And weren't they right too. After all how can a piddly mousetrap ever be a threat to them. Mousetrap was made for trapping mice. Period. So he decided to do something about it himself. He thought and thought all day but couldn't find a way to get rid of the mousetrap. So very tried and scared he crept into his little hole and went to sleep.

Around midnight when all was dark and quite the farmer's wife suddenly heard the mousetrap spring shut and with a whoop of delight she rushed towards the kitchen to see her mouse caught. It was very dark and therefore she didn't see that it was not a mouse that was caught but a snake's tail and the snake, mad with pain, went straight for her leg and sank its fangs in. She screamed and that brought the farmer with a light and that was the end of the poor snake. Now the farmer ran to get a doctor who came rightaway and did all he could to save her.

In the morning the doctor asked the farmer to get something for her to eat as she continued to be very weak. So the farmer went out, caught hold of the chicken and made some nice chicken soup for his dear wife. That day all sorts of relatives and friends and friend's of friends kept dropping in to check on his wife. Now he was a good host and would hear nothing of not taking any trouble and so he got the pig butchered and had some nice ham and bacon and sausages for the guests to eat while he faithfully served his ailing wife. But all his efforts were in vain as the wife soon passed away. So now the farmer had more relatives, and more friends and all sorts of friend's of friends and who all not, all came to sympathise and be with him at this difficult moment. Well, he was still a good host and there were so many more people to feed so he took the butcher aside and pointed him towards the cow. And soon enough there was ample beef on the table for all to eat.

In the evening when everybody had gone and the farmer was sitting alone at the kitchen table shedding a few silent tears he saw the offending mousetrap. He was furious, "Curse the day I got this in the house" he bellowed and taking the mousetrap in his strong bare hands he crushed the contraption into a mangled heap of wires and spring. He then threw it away and went straight to bed.

The mouse saw all this from his little hole and wondered what to make of it If the mousetrap was meant only to kill a mouse and no one else could be bothered with it then how come because of it a snake was dead, a chicken was dead, a pig was dead and so was a cow.

Its because in this lovely land of ours all of us are linked to each other. Their problems are not just their problems, and just because we aren't a part of the problem, and probably would never have those problems ourselves, it doesn't mean that we don't have to try and help them.

The new age mousetraps:
Road Rage
Domestic Violence
Physical Abuse
Drug Abuse
Ozone Hole
Green house gases
Electric bulbs,
Racial discrimination,
Terrorism in the name of religion,
& tonnes of stuff like that.....

Earth Hour

March 29th saw several cities all over the world observed the Earth Hour. As part of the Earth Hour respective city administrations switched off the power in their cities and banned all traffic movement for exactly an hour from 8pm to 9 pm. It was hoped that this would generate awareness among the masses about global warming. India did not participate in this initiative but some schools encouraged students to write something to commemorate the event.


Here is what an 11 year old girl wrote:

Come March 29th as the clock strikes the 8pm hour,
some good folks expect us to shut off the power,
they want us to use the heat of the hearth
for all these electrical bulbs are overheating our earth.

We all bitch about all this pollution in the air
yet merrily buzz about in our cars without a care.
'There's way too much global warming' we all fuss,
Hey, Chill it Bro, all this is just because of us.

Astronomers cant see much of the outer space
because of all this crazy dust and haze,
our cities are at night way too bright
so we kids never get to enjoy a starry night.

Dear people, lets all work together to fight this pollution
and the Earth Hour is just a small step in that simple solution.
So please, please my fellow friends, stop all this worrying about,
lets do our bit and this pollution is gone without a doubt.

Aakanksha J.

Essense of Being.

Zen masters lived such simple lives that often it took a second glance to seperate the masters from their disciples. One such zen master, Kam-ban, dressed so simply that most of the times people mistook him for a common mendicant. They would fill his bowl with leftovers and then send him on his way. Had those people known who he really was they would have certainly invited him in and treated him like an honoured guest. Kam-ban did nothing to let those people know who he was but once alone in the forest he would often utter a word or two of such brilliance that the trees would seem to sway and stoop in admiration.

Koji was a bright student of Kam-ban. He was very protective towards his master and sometimes got into a fight with people who he thought did not accord proper respect to his master. Kam-ban would then rap Koji's knuckles with a stick and remind him of his vows.

Once Koji and Kam-ban were going through a forest and came across a waterfall. Both decided to stop and rest. Koji fell asleep for a while and when he woke up he saw his master standing at the very edge of the waterfall and much to his horror he saw his master slip and fall down the precipe. He screamed and rushed down to help his master. When he reached the bottom he saw his master calmly emerge from the pool. Koji admonished his master for stepping so close to the edge. Kam-ban calmly replied, ' the edge of the waterfall holds no fear for he who falls with the fall and flows with the flow'