Must-see Documentary - Man on Wire...

...should actually be phrased 'Man on Fire' - the fire of determination that is; and the indomitable will to do what you want no matter what. The documentary film directed by James Marsh 'chronicles Philippe Petit's 1974 high-wire walk between the Twin Towers of New York's World Trade Center. It is based on Philippe Petit's book, To Reach the Clouds, recently released in paperback with the new title Man on Wire'.(source Wiki)
In the film Philip says "It was impossible...that's why I had to do it". There are 2 profound aspects in the film. One, the triumphant will of Philip, and two, his post-walking "success-story" as a human being and the impact on his friendships/love(though not depicted much). This is something to watch out for because the current knowledge about the WTC changes the way you see the film.

Ukranian Folk dance - Hopak!

One more folk dance from Ukraine..check the movements..and how well they are synchronized...and the music is so lively...for more check the internet world..

Hopak (Ukrainian: Гопак), also referred to as Gopak, is a Ukrainian dance. It is most often performed as a solitary concert dance by amateur and professional Ukrainian dance ensembles, as well as other performers of folk dances. It has also been incorporated into larger artistic opuses such as operas and ballets.

The Hopak is often popularly referred to as the "National Dance of Ukraine".

for more click here

thanks to Technology and the Internet and Wikipedia...for their services to humankind!!

A Part of the Whole -3 - carefree spirits..

the carefree spirits know not or think not about the mysteries that surround them...
but the bliss is worth..and an infinite lives can be sacrificed for its sake!

what kind of feeling is this?

what kind of feeling is this?
am i feeling lonely..amidst all this love in the universe?
when all begins for me and ends in me?
every flower blooms for me..
and every time my earth moves with life..
i ought to be overwhelmed at the immense perseverance it endures..
but here i am..feeling lonely?
no...no..i need to come out of this..and accept the life that is given to me!

TIBETAN UPRISING...for PEACE!

Dear Friend,

The time has come for me to go to Tibet again. Last time when I went to Tibet in 1997 - after my graduation - I was arrested by the Chinese authorities, beaten up, interrogated, starved and finally thrown out of Tibet after keeping me in their jails for three months in Lhasa and Ngari. I walked to Tibet, on my own, alone, across the Himalayan Mountains from the Ladakh. Eleven years later, I am walking to Tibet again; this time too, without permission. I am returning home; why should I bother about papers from Chinese colonial regime who have not only occupied Tibet, but also is running a military rule there; making our people in Tibet live in tyranny and brutal suppression day after day, everyday for fifty years.

The Year 2008 is a huge opportunity for the Tibet movement to present the injustices the Tibetans have been subjected to, when China is going to attract international media attention. I am taking part in the return march from Dharamsala to Tibet, that is being organized as a part of the "Tibetan People's Uprising Movement", a united effort put together by five major Tibetan NGOs: Tibetan Youth Congress, Tibetan Women’s Association, Gu-Chu-Sum Movement of Tibet (an association of former political prisoners), National Democratic Party of Tibet and Students for a Free Tibet, India.

The march will start on 10 March 2008, from Dharamsala, the capital of Tibetan exiles and will pass through Delhi and then head towards Tibet. Walking for six months, we might reach the Tibet border around the time China opens the Beijing 2008 Olympics (August 14-25). Presently it’s too early to approximate at which border point we would be crossing; Tibet and India share a border that runs 4,075 Km along the length of the Himalayas. We might choose any point, or even multiple points. We’ll see the situation. I know there had been similar attempts in the past, but this is 2008, and I have seen the organizers working extra hard with strategic planning, taking care of every minute detail, and the best thing is that we have all the NGOs working unitedly for the common goal. This unity is our strength! I do not know where we would end up, that’s why I am giving away the little collection of books (my only possession in life) to a library at is being setup in McLeod Ganj, Dharamsala. My friends: Lobsang and Nyingje (who served in the Indian army as part of the Tibetan battalion) are also giving away their personal belongings; committing themselves for the march. Of course the Indian police will do their duty; the Chinese army at the Tibet border would be overtly enthusiastic. Since we are leading a peaceful march, with absolute commitment to non-violence, I do not think anyone - either from Indian authority or Chinese - would impose themselves on us.

Inspired by Gandhi’s Salt March, even if they did try to stop us, we are not stopping. For how many days can they jail us for just walking peacefully? And why should the Indian government stop Tibetan refugees voluntarily returning home on foot? In the past I have climbed buildings to shout for freedom, thrown myself at the Chinese embassy gate in New Delhi, spent months in jails, got beaten up police, fought court cases, but I never lost the dignity of the struggle: my believe in Non-violence.

The March to Tibet will be non-violent; it is a sadhana, a spiritual tribute to the truth and justice that we are fighting for. This is our Long March to freedom. And on our journey home, we will cook and camp in tents on the roadside, there will be the marchers and the support marchers, the kitchen team, logistics, media and the medical team. There will be dancing and singing, and theatre and film shows on the road as we take this long journey home. Dear friend,Here is an opportunity to join a historic non-violent freedom struggle, a people’s effort to win freedom for a country that remains subjugated even in 2008.

I request you to join us, support us in whatever ways possible. We need people to know about it, so spread the word. You can walk with us, as we walk for six months, maybe you can join us for a day along the path, even one hour, or for a week, months as a supporter. Schools, colleges and even whole town can walk with us.

We need volunteers, media people, writers, photographers, bloggers can help us. We need nurses, cooks, technicians and your prayers. Ever since the march was announced on 4th January 2008, Tibetans have been talking about it; it’s a major discussion in the refugee camps. Recently the organizers launched the entry form. And I heard people are slowly getting themselves registered. You too can register your volunteer online.

For more information please visit: http://www.tibetanuprising.org/ For enquiries email the coordinators: Lobsang yeshi <lobsangyeshi2006@hotmail.com> or sherab woser <sherabwoeser@yahoo.com> Join us.

Tenzin Tsundue

Dharamsala

A Part of the Whole -1

A moment captured - of the wild - on the way to Melur, a place in Madurai, TamilNadu...this place is called AzhagarKovil...the palm trees, the sky, the rock, the grass....co-existing...where is my place in all this?? I wonder if I have alienated myself from all this...what do you think??

Passion..Passion..Passion for life through music - SURAJ MANI

How often do you get to see a friend being passionate about something and pursuing it like it were the very thing that gives life?

well...i have been fortunate enough to have a friend for around 17 earth years...who breathes music and spreads the love for life through his passion for music..though i have not had the opportunity to listen to any of his concerts lately...i know i have been there personally, each time..and witnessed his unconditional love for humanity and every single thing about this universe -- which he reveals through his music!

Let me introduce Suraj Mani...passion flows in every bit of his compositions...

here's one example...this is one of my favorites from the album INSANE BIOGRAPHY..you can download the songs from his blog..

Questions
Is time not an illusion?

Why does that sound so insane?

I’ve seen my life just turn to moments Snapshots in pain
Now I cannot, live the present

And it doesn’t take too much to blur these lines

So why can’t I learn to accept,

The past is what you leave behind
Questions dipped in poison

Burning with seeds of doubt

Helpless I turn to the heavens

But the silence is still too loud
Will I ever burn these bridges

I’ve built so strong and so sure

Or bound by my need for them

Will I linger by these shores
Questions dipped in poison

Burning with seeds of doubt

Helpless I turn to the heavens

But the silence is still too loud
I watch the shadows play with my mind

Weary ghosts that will weaken with time

And I know that one day I will find the answers

That there’s reprieve for the blind
Questions I will not fear them

Though I’m still so full of doubt

Searching for the answers

In the echoes of my shout
Is time not an illusion?

Why does that sound so insane?

I’ve seen my life just turn to moments

Snapshots in pain

for more on Suraj's compositions...go to http://surajmani.typepad.com/

Also visit his website www.motherjane.net

where you can download songs from his first album INSANE BIOGRAPHY

A POSITIVE PEOPLE'S NETWORK

What does being Positive mean to you??
If you were to say something positive to a fellow human being, what would it be??
Do you think staying positive makes a difference? If YES, why?? and If NO why??

These are some of the questions we intend to ask anyone we see...anywhere..
give it a shot, ask people what they think about being positive and take down a few answers and post it to us...
We are in the process of starting a network of people who will come together and spread all the positivity they can in this largely chaotic and negative world where a majority of us still struggle for basic things like food and shelter...and where more than a normal majority struggle just to stay positive and Happy!
join us in this venture of making this world and universe a positive place to live on!!

Kannitverstan by Johann Peter Hebel

A very interesting short story...happy reading...!!
Man indeed has the opportunity every day, in Emmendingen or Gundelfingen as well as in Amsterdam, to speculate, if he wants to, on the inconsistency of all earthly things and to become satisfied with his fate, even though there aren’t many roast pigeons flying about in the air for him. But, through an error, a German artisan in Amsterdam arrived at the truth and its recognition by the strangest roundabout way. For when he had come to this great and rich commercial city full of splendid houses, swaying ships and busy people, his eye was at once caught by a large and handsome house, such as he had never yet experienced on all his wanderings from Tuttlingen to Amsterdam.
For a long time he contemplated this luxurious building in astonishment, the six chimneys on its roof, its beautiful cornices and its tall windows, larger than the door of his father’s house at home. Finally he could not refrain from addressing a passer-by. “My good friend,” he said to him, “couldn’t you tell me the name of the gentleman who owns this wonderfully beautiful house with its windows full of tulips, daisies and stocks?” But the man, who presumably had something more important to do and unfortunately understood just as much of the German language as the questioner of Dutch, that is to say nothing, said shortly and brusquely, “Kannitverstan” and buzzed past.
Now this was a Dutch word, or three if you want to be exact, and means in German as much as “Ich kann Euch nicht verstehn.” (“I can’t understand you.” ) But the good stranger believed that this was the name of the man he had asked about. He must have been an awfully rich man, this Herr Kannitverstan, he thought and went on. Out one street, in another, he finally came to the bay they call there Het Ey, or in German, the Y. There stood ship beside ship and mast beside mast, and at first he didn’t know how he would manage to see and contemplate his fill of all these marvels with his two eyes alone, until finally his attention was caught by a large ship which had recently arrived from East India and was now being unloaded.
Whole rows of boxes and bales were already standing on and beside one another on land. But more kept being rolled out, and barrels full of sugar and coffee, full of rice and pepper and, pardon the expression, mouse droppings too. But when he had looked for a long time, he finally asked a fellow who was just carrying a chest on his shoulder for the name of the lucky man for whom the sea was bringing all these goods to shore. “Kannitverstan” was the reply. At this he thought, Aha, is that it?” No wonder, a man for whom the sea floats such treasures ashore can well afford to put such houses into the world and such breeds of tulips in front of his windows in gilded flowerpots.
Now he went back again and began a really sad speculation in his mind, what a poor man he was among so many rich people in the world. But just as he was thinking, if I had it as good as this Herr Kannitverstan, only once – he turned a corner and saw a long funeral procession. Four horses, draped in black, were drawing a hearse, which was likewise draped in black, slowly and mournfully, as if they knew that they were taking a dead man to his rest. A long train of friends and acquaintances of the deceased followed, pair by pair, enveloped in black coats and silent. In the distance a lonely bell was tolling.
Now our stranger was seized by a melancholy feeling, which never passes a good man by when he sees a corpse, and he stood there devoutly with his hat in his hands until they had all passed by. However he went up to the last man in the procession, who was just then calculating silently how much he would profit from his cotton if it went up ten guldens a hundredweight, gently took hold of his cloak and innocently begged his pardon. “That must have been a good friend of yours,” he said, “for whom the bell is tolling, that you are following the procession so sadly and pensively.” “Kannitverstan!” was the reply. At this a few big tears fell from the eyes of our man from Tuttlingen, and he suddenly felt heavy and then again light about his heart. “Poor Kannitverstan,” he exclaimed, “what profit do you get from all your wealth now” What I will get from my poverty some day too: a shroud and a sheet, and from all your beautiful flowers – perhaps a sprig of rosemary on your cold chest or a rue.”
With these thoughts he accompanied the corpse to the grave as if he belonged to the party, saw the supposed Herr Kannitverstan lowered to his rest and was more moved by the Dutch funeral oration, of which he did not understand a word, than by many a German one to which he paid no attention. Finally he went away with the others with a light heart and ate a piece of Limburger cheese with a good appetite at an inn where they understood German, and whenever he was again threatened by the sad thought that so many people in the world were so rich and he so poor, he merely thought of Herr Kannitverstan in Amsterdam, of his great house, his rich ship and his narrow grave.

Johann Peter Hebel (1760-1826) was a clergyman and educator. He published many anecdotes and didactic tales under the title Schatzkästlein des rheinländischen Hausfreundes (Little Treasure Chest of the Rhenish Family Friend). The book has remained a classic because of Hebel’s narrative power and his dry wit.

Courtesy: http://evans-experientialism.freewebspace.com/hebel.htm