History of Flying Carpet - Origins

Before we start going to pre-history of India, it should be noted that modern boundaries of most countries were defined in 20th Century or later and there had been a greater variation in their existence, as we traverse back in time. India is no stranger to it and for completeness of the topic at hand, the history would be included for areas near modern India including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Srilanka..

Written records on History of early India is rather limited. There are records of past termed as "Itihaasa" ( history ) but they seemed to be a blend of actual history and mythology. It is very hard to corroborate the evidence with modern scientific tools. But, there are very good analyzing mechanisms which can help us understand.

Even though various sects of Hinduism do not agree on course of creation and aftermath, all of them do agree on the existence of "HrnyaGarbha" and consider it as a start of existence.

On digging deeper ( literally :) ), we learn that, India as we know today started as Neoproterozoic India as part of Gondawana in Mesozoic Era (~180 Million yrs ago). By Cenozoic Era (About 45 Million yrs ago), Indian Plate started moving towards Eurasian Plate and fit itself onto its approximate current location and this movement started the creation of Himalayan mountain range which is growing even now.

Some of the Dinosaur fossil found in India are found in the following areas,

Kota Formation - with fossils from Lower Jurassic period
Lameta Formation - with fossils from Upper Cretaceous period, Rajasaur being significant species found
Maleri Formation - with fossils from Upper Triassic period
Shivalik Fossil Park - with fossils from Pleistocene period

There has been a lesser finds of dinosaur fossils as the archeological society has been active only in last century as well as due to wider land use in plateau to support burdgeoning population.

Homo Erectus arrived in India during Pleistocene Epoch (~2 Million yrs ago) and some migrated to other parts of South Asia. But, these were not the final residents of the subcontinent.

Finally arrived the thinkers!, the Homo Sapiens in about 50,000 to 70,000 BCE. Here starts a colorful story of how a collage of thoughts was created.

As menioned in the previous post, the philosophical history of India starts about 4000 years ago in about 2500-1700 BCE. In the early days of India, it was crimnal to write down literature(but we do have some interesting exceptions). So, most of the knowledge was shared orally. When the old thoughts were written down finally in later years, there had been many influences of later day philosophies and what we have today is a current intrepretation of old thoughts..

This nature of re-defining assumptions based on current problems is very true to modern day theists as well. Sometimes, it just is little weird to find self-proclaimed godmen to explain their yogic techniques with quantum theory and electromagnetic wave theory, to appeal to growing literate mass.

In this series, I would like to include philosophies of all Faiths that had an Indian Flavor added to them on reaching subcontinent shores. i will add them chronologically as they got rooted in Indian hearts.

In the next blog, To understand older philosophies in India, we will travel out of the subcontinent and head towards middle east asia where the first known Hindu literature was drafted.

History of Flying Carpet - Prologue

I like to read History and Philosophy. Specifically, I like to learn history in general - Big Bang Theory, Evolution, Early history, Antiquity, Medieval Ages, Modern Era, World Wars, Cold war, to present day jasmine revolution..

In my quest to learn the anthropological and philosophical origin of India, my journey through available literature had been very fulfilling. I want to document a summary of my learning through a set of blog posts. I would like to present them as facts and exclude any opinions in them, for a historian should never blend facts with personal perspectives. Also, i find myself as a student, yearning to learn more about the world i live in and often perspectives/beliefs tend to segregate us. Lastly, Life is too short to quibble over opinions & beliefs.

Even though, I have named this series "History of Flying Carpet", as a parody on earlier occidental perception, quite a lot of our understanding on Oriental philosophies should be attributed to unbiased reports from western scholars. The use of Linguistic, Archeological and Scientific tools that these scholars have provided us, are immensely helpful in understanding the culture in all perspectives. For e.g- Archeological society of India was well-trained in the craft by British comrades who helped in ground breaking discoveries like Indus Valley Civilization, etc.

The present day learning in the western world has most of its origin from Greco-Roman principles which were well preserved by Moors of Iberian peninsula in Arabic texts after the end of Roman Empire, until Crusaders translated them back to Latin. The stability in the post-world war era has given us opportunity to stand up and look back on the orchestration of events that brought us to this point and help us choose our path ahead.

In the next post, i want to start my exploration of early philosophies of India. Ironically, even though these tenets are often attributed to Hinduism, they differ quite a lot from the current understanding on Hinduism. Evaluation of these offer better understanding on the evolution of Hinduism and transformation in India as a sub-continent, due to its influence.

Stay tuned for next post --- History of Flying Carpet - Origins :)

Miss you appa..

its like being in a dark forest and Sun has set with no light around.. we knew it would happen but its painful nevertheless.

realize now that Dad was the Axle.. nothing seem to move around now.. we are stuck in a quagmire.. its both, we cannot move and do not want to move, fearing we might leave him behind.. our eyes still search him inside the house.. every time we lock the door while leaving the house for an errand, it still feels like somebody is left behind..

Life looks little distant in a suspended animation.. wonder will there be moments of satiating happiness anymore.. would our happiness ever be complete.. he had a very low threshold of expectation to keep him happy, extolling even a simplest achievement.. any achievement would always be incomplete henceforth..

He was there for us at every moment.. every time our steps wavered, he was there to steady our course...

Earliest memory i have of him was the day he left me at kindergarten and came back to pick me up later in the day.. i wish i could have just that one moment re-lived.. Our minds are filled with his images at various stages in our life, the one image i wish to forget is that of his cadaver..

cant we circle back in time to re-live the past.. i feel we missed telling him so many things in past, we missed asking him so many things in past..

There are so many thing i wanted to do, ask all his childhood stories, his mischiefs and achievements.. write it down.. write down every experience he had, good-bad, pleasant-painful, elating-embarrassing.. write down missing moments from past years when i was not around him... write down every experience we had together with his perspective.. record his voice speaking everything , common words, uncommon words, his usual repertoire.. record his picture in all his favorite clothes... record every cherishing experience we had together..
it feels like our whole past with him was just a rehearsal.. we wish we had one more chance..

he is gone.. we did not lose a father, we lost a part of our self, making us incomplete.. aeons of time and galaxies of worlds cannot replace this loss.. we still wonder how life would be henceforth.. it still feels like a prisoner with weights on his leg dragging on.. hope we find peace that unlocks this weight someday..

Dad we miss you..

Ranges, Mountains, Hill, hillocks ….

They stand high, They stand tall. Its been hard for sky scrapers to match their grandeur..

They stand as we pass, silently observing, with wisdom that only comes through ages of ruminations. These are those super structures that we interpret as part of the landscape and tag it as something that had existed and would exist. but , as with anything that we see as permanent, mountain too has a life-cycle.. it was born, it raises high among its peers, touches the zenith and slowly erodes itself to oblivion.

Be it a tectonic shift or a wizards hand, Mountain was a level land before, the one that farmer conquered and domesticated, that emperors wanted to own, that an average human desire to earn, transformed slowly but steadily. learning to adorn itself with nature as it grew, provide and protect the flora and fauna, climbing to new heights. Even wearing a white cap of serene beauty.

Unlike other nature’s wunderkind’s , mountains take hold of you on seeing it in close quarters.It starts with deafening you by barometric pressure changes. Then fills you with all colors, ever changing with seasons, as a visual treat. Comforting chill hugs you bringing you even closer to your loved ones ;).  It does not scare you, make you fear of survival but amaze with diversity in nature.

Mountains may provide shelter for lesser number of fauna when compared to ocean, but doesn't stop in publicizing its marvels. Ocean looks very desolate from surface where as, even it were to be a lone panda, mountain amplifies even the noise of a fumbling occupant.

Randomness is ranges prove that variety in life can still have a commonality in its mission. Its the right attitude that while keeping our heads held high ,can bring happiness not only to self but to others around us as well.

Time – Paranormal!

i had heard people quoting time flies, time waits for none etc..  it sounded rhetoric. but, i guess i have reached a state where i will acknowledge it whole-heartedly!!!

This whole blog may sound rhetoric on being the first one this year.But, i did hit a “w00t”  moment with this. I have heard the adage - “Penny wise Pound Foolish”.. i don't know if there exists , "Day wise Year foolish”.  i can understand how days are moving.. how they are transforming me , my life, my surrounding.. but, “Years”.. hmm..

I consider myself a calculated risk taker.. i had at least professionally taken some “risks” that had taken me to different state of existence.. i did enjoy the changes and transformations i had to go through due to the decisions/choices i made.

But, when it comes to smaller things, hmm… For e.g. If i go back to a restaurant , i prefer to order the same dish as before for fear of getting something unpalatable… it does limit me from trying new things.. Fortunately, this is where , my better half has helped me improve.. but, to introspect, this does fit in my previous statement of adage.

Paretto principle – is that what governs this.. [At least this is filibuster proof .. chuckle :) ]

I do see a pattern.. we live our life ready made for an Biography ( if we are that lucky ;) )… Different Acts, different chapter, protagonist remains the same,(there is always a better half ) , environment changes , expectations changes, the definition/meaning of accomplishment changes.. but ironically the pain of failure remains the same…

ACT II

I never understood why some classics had ACT’s.. i always thought probably the author wanted to give an excuse for the reader to take a break..

But, here i am , proposing one :)

It had been such a transforming phase, all X-men would have been flabbergasted looking at what i had been through.

Metamorphosis! may be.. i see i am what i was, but on the whole my life is different. have moved on to believe in a new arithmetic 1 + 1 = 1!

There is a new brain to pick, new perspective to contemplate, new dreams to be desired, new quirks to be smirked at :)

What i love the most is the opportunity to re-live the best moments so far … with desire to share better moments in future..

i would like to suggest to ye bachelors to be brave and take a step, its transforming multi-dimensional!

I hear rhythmic notes...

I keep hearing rhythmic notes .... let me close my eyes (and the media player) and concentrate bit more... ya i do hear it now... interesting , it does sound like something humans call as clanging - a sound made by a finely wrought metal when struck with force... in short, bells.. hmmmm.. the bells have unique identity on their own.. they announce something, dont they!.. they grab ur attention and present you with an information.. hmm .. wat could this bell say? let me hear more clearly...

Aha! it says there is an union very soon of two willing minds.. well thats lots of words.. i dont have such huge memory or vocabulary.. let me listen again... yay!! it told my name ... it said Balaji Gururajan ... its mee mee mee.. Narcisst in me is shaking hands with Venus.. but wait why Venus!! let me hear again... SShhh people! dont make noise... i hear prosperity... i heard "Sri"... but dude wats with venus??? SShhh...

Wow.. congrats me! hee hee :) i heard "marriage" "Balaji" and "Sri".. ppl word is out then .. it is my wedding bell and would get louder as we get to June 11,2009.. Epicenter being Coimbatore , India... Please plan ur vacation and start working extra hours to save some time to be off and gift me generously hee hee :)

But, wats with Venus? Sshh.. u idiot go figure it out :)