Live like a Tourist!

Live like a tourist!

When I visited my old college after 2 years, I suddenly noticed an intricate detail on the balcony window of the corner building. Even though I have walked this street thousands of times, I have completely failed to notice it! Which made me wonder... what else have I missed walking with my head down? In a sidewalk full of people trying to get by you or a crowd waiting for the pedestrian signal to turn green, can you tell the difference between a tourist and a local? My observation is that people walking with their head down are locals; people walking with their heads up are travelers!

I have met many people who have not seen world renowned tourist sites in their hometown, but have travelled greatly to other places! To youths in Europe, America is “modern, happening, open-minded” country. Whereas Americans believe that living/travelling to Europe is “infinitely cooler”! We often take the place where we live for granted, don’t we?

Travellers get excited about each corner of the city. Their camera click every little details on the building, mail boxes, buses, phone booths, trams, train stations and even the sewage covers on the sidewalks! For travelers, it’s about enjoying the journey, and for locals it’s about getting to the destination as fast as possible. However, if we decide to see our local town with traveller's lens, we can have the best of both worlds. Let's fuel some enthusiasm in the same boring commute and stir some excitement.
Being at a new place is awesome, but there is nothing more thrilling than being able to see the “same-old” thing/place/day with a new light! Did you know that just walking on the different end of the street (ie. right sidewalk, vs. left sidewalk) can greatly change your perspective of the street? Try it!

Diving into Details: at Prague, July 2012

Here is what travelling has taught me so far: 

• Before you decide where you should go, you should evaluate where you are coming from. Only then you would be able to better appreciate where you are/will be. [also true for life...]
• People make places, not the other way around. 
• Travelling is a challenging mission, only a rare few will be able to mentally accompany you. Choose your company wisely! 
• Your camera has seen it all, but have you? Limit your photography temptations, so you can truly enjoy the experience beyond what fits in a 4X6 frame. 
• By only comparing: you waste your time. 
• By acknowledging the differences: you learn. 
• and ONLY when you start noticing similarities... you come to wonderful realizations. 

Next time you take an evening walk in your neighborhood, put on your curious hat and fill your eyes with a sparkle of a tourist. I guarantee that your experience will be close to winning a free vacation package on a remote island! :P
Bon voyage!

The sun rises from the west...

The rise of SANSKRIT IN GERMANY

Have you travelled somewhere, and experienced the discomfort of not understanding a laguage being spoken around you? It's quite frustrating. However, today I am writing this note to share an experience that was beyond frustrating.

Past Friday, I took time off work and attended the closing ceremony of Summer school in spoken Sankrit at South Asian Institute, Heidelberg University,Germany. It was a relatively small event with big undertaking. 13 students from all over the world attended this 2 week long intensive course in spoken Sanskrit.  At the event, they presented long speeches, a sanskrit play, and sang many subhashitas in Sanskrit. The entire program was conducted in Sanskrit.

Now, if I say that apart from 3-4 students, majority of students were NOT from South-Asian origin, would you believe it? It was not some Youtube video, I actually experienced it live. The group of students included professors, professionals from different area, and different religious background. When I talked to students, I learned that for some of them their sole motivation was their interest in this langugae and all forms of wisdom it leads to! And on the other hand, we sit in our homes, our schools and education institutions... and question, why should we learn Sanksrit?

I reached there, the program started and the first presenter was a student from Leipzig University, German origin... read a 10 page long speech...completely in sanskrit. I was sitting there, trying very hard to make sense of it all, but I could only understand it in parts. This moment was beyond frustrating when I realized that this is not German, French, Italian, or English...its *Sanskrit*, it's my own language, and yet I cannot understand it.

When a German person speaks German to me, and I don't understand...I can live with that. But what could be more embarrassing then a German person speaking Sanskrit in front of me, and I do not understand a word of it!!! 

An orthodox christian presenter said this in sanskrit, " Like fruits depend on the tree, and a tree depends on the roots... sanskrit is the root of Bharat, and without Bharat the world will be poor."

Should we sit and wait some more years, we shall see a day when more people of non-south asian origin will be knowing/speaking/studying sanskrit than the people who it absolutely belongs to... but they have massively failed to value it.

I felt more "closer to home" that day, than I have felt in many years!

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Related article: Why Should My Child Study Sanksrit? (Extreamly eye opening article, must read!)