The 17th Karmapa

Thanks to everyone who took time to visit my previous (500th) blip and leave a comment. I truly enjoyed hearing from you all. And a lot of hearfelt words too, which will be hard to forget. I will definitely respond, but in some time.

The last two days have been somehow quite hectic. Time has slipped away so fast. When we are still, we can make time do our bidding, but when we are not, time does take us for a ride, and having run away leaves us a mocking grin. Time is very sensitive to bargaining. It demands to be ignored. That may be apparently ironical, but it is not.

Sunday, S & I decided to rearrange the house a bit, to "customize" it, so to say. I think it has turned out fine.

The subject of this blip has almost been skipped! I picked this book up on Saturday, about the life of the 17th Karmapa. I had not heard of the author or the book before, but given my interest in Buddhism, this is just what I needed. Not the latest bestsellers, not the award-winning authors, but a quieter book about a place and a people who fascinate me in their capacity for peace, joy and humility.

I think I have to mention a friend SR, who rode his bike all the way from Hyderabad to Calcutta, covering a distance of about 1600 km over a period of one and a half days. And he wrote the most incredible account of the it, complete with illustrations and sent it across. I almost felt rejuvenated having 'witnessed' something that was anything but perfunctory. The words felt so incredibly alive. "I am a biker", he wrote. And that, I shall remember.