I guess it comes down to a simple choice, really.
– Andy Dufresne, The Shawshank’s Redemption
Get busy living or get busy dying.
I always used to think in terms of projects. But in reality, you will have to CHOOSE to manifest anything that you think. So things I think are not my projects, but the active choices I make.
I stumbled upon a quote from Goethe – “Choose well. Your choice is brief, and yet endless.” This stuck with me. After that night, when I experienced the unexplainable, I experienced that consciousness is real. We all are connected in ways we do not even know. We are that single dust, breathing and pulsating with this Universe. When you think, you send a message to this Universe, lo and behold, it starts working for your choice – may it be good or bad, right or wrong.
To choose, means to think, and to think clearly. It took me lot of time to understand that it is your choice that really matters. What I have right now are my choices – which were made part actively and part in ignorance. These days, since an year, I actively observe my choices.
I want to share few of my choices and my progress with them. For now, I have narrowed down to 7 parts. I wanted to publish them one by one, but that would have been tedious (you should eat a five-course-meal in one go). This is gonna be a long read. So better buckle up with a strong coffee.
Travelling
Bow at Char Dham & 12 Jyotirlinga with My Mother & Father in our own vehicle.
These are my Mother’s wishes. She is a religious person. Good times or tough times, all she did was she did housework and she prayed. They say when your hard work doesn’t work, what works is the prayers you pray. Good times we have has her role. Perhaps, it is only her role, her energies that we are having a good time. She always wished to bow at Char Dham. Since 2019, I took it seriously. I am lucky to take my parents on pilgrimages. Out of those Char Dham, we have bowed at two – Rameswaram and Dwarka. Out of those 12 Jyotirlinga, we have bowed at 9. All have been done since Jan 2019.
Our book of road trips started with the visit to Shree Ganpati at Ganpati Pule. We took a road trip to Ganpati Pule covering almost all the konkan and Tarkarli returning through the famous Amboli Ghat. And yes, we spotted Dolphins in the open sea around Tarkarli. That was a 2500km first mega family road trip. We enjoyed a lot, and we returned in peace.
Travelling is an addiction. Only 1 month had passed by the Tarkarli road trip, the travel bug bit us again. We decided to go to Pachmarhi, Madhya Pradesh on the occasion of Mahashivratri. You have to trek for 5 hours to bow before Bada Mahadev at Chauragarh. It is a deluge of people there. More than 10,000 vehicles visit there on the occasion of Mahashivratri. The whole place is packed with people and energies. I remember visiting Pachmarhi when I was in class 5. So after 18-19 years, we visited Pachmarhi. That trip was an awesome one too. In total we covered 1800km on that road trip.
To be fair, how can you define plethora of energies you find in a paragraph or two? Road-trips, travelling, time spent, those experiences, those scents, those tastes, that feeling of being born again… … … You can’t define.
Then came summer – a no road trip season. Also, with summer, our whole family was caught in an unexpected stupid event. Almost all the summer went by. To get my family out of that pendulum, I arranged a road trip covering 3 Jyotirlinga in Maharashtra. That road trip we remember by the name of Bhimashankar-Bhandardara road trip. We took that road trip in Aug 2019. We bowed before 3 Jyotirlinga in Maharashtra – Bhimashankar, Trimbakeshwar, and Grishneshwar. The weather, the fog, the double rainbow in Bhimashankar were heavenly. We covered around 2500km in that road trip. That was an awesome experience. And yes, our minds refreshed too. By this time, we had bowed before four Jyotirlinga. Omkareshwar was done few years back as our first Jyotirlinga.
We visited Rameswaram in Dec 2019. A 3700km grand road trip through Tamil Nadu covering some of the most beautiful roads and places (and food too – south Indian food is my favourite). We started with bowing before Mallikarjun Srisailam. Our prayers at Rameswaram were peaceful too. The energies in Ramanathswamy Temple were cosmic. My Mother was in peace there, so as we all were. Because of that road trip, we got to drive on the scenic East Coast Road all the way from Chennai to Rameswaram. We also got to visit wonderful hill stations like Ooty, Coonoor, and Kodaikanal. I must say that Kodaikanal has took the highest place in my heart. We whole family have a dream of spending a month in winter there, just relaxing. The City of Mysuru painted us with its colors on that road trip too. In Mysuru, you should definitely visit the Shuka-vana, the bonsai garden, and the Zoo. (p.s. – do hire the electric vehicle in the Zoo, you’ll thank me later, we thanked ourselves for hiring it.)
Ohh, and one more thing, we spotted an elephant and her baby elephant on the road in the Bandipur National Park. Finding animals in the road-trip is a sign of blessings. In that road trip we covered two Jyotirlinga – Srisailam Mallikarjun and Ramanathswamy Rameswaram. By this time, we have had done one Dham and six Jyotirlinga.
Two small road trips to nearby places happened after Rameswaram road trip. I told you, travelling is addicting. These were below 1000 km.
We did Dwarka in Feb 2020. A 3800km grand road trip through the wonderful state Gujarat. Time when I lit the 220km highway from Navsari to Anand. Nobody had the guts to overtake, I say nobody. How can they overtake a glowing fireball. When we approached cars, they knew straightaway that we were on another level in terms of driving. They knew straightaway that there is no competition. That road was fun. It was like a real world Need for Speed game replica. Our main aim had been the Dwarka Dham, yet with it, we got to cover the whole Gujarat state. I am a foody guy, so Gujarat was my kind of state. We visited Gir National Park, spotted the King of the Jungle, the Lion, in the wild. I told you, spotting animals is a sign of blessings. We went to the birth place of Mahatma Gandhi. We went to Rann of Kutchh to see the Majestic White Desert. When in Rann, do visit Kalo Dungar, it is worth it. I also hit the Top-Speed in the Rann. While returning, we visited the note-worthy Rani ki Vav (take a look at the back of new ₹100 note) and The Sun Temple of Modhera. God, the energies there were awesome. But in all these bonuses, my Mother’s wishes fulfilled. Somnath darshan, Nageshwar Dwarka darshan, Mahakal Ujjain darshan, and Dwarkadheesh Dham darshan – All were bowed in peace. In Dwarkadheesh Temple, my father mentioned my grand-father. He wished if he would have been here. I felt a pang in my stomach. He loved his father, but never spoke it – yet his actions always showed it. This was an awesome road trip too.
What remains now are three Jyotirlinga – 1. Kedarnath Rudraprayag, 2. Vishwanath Varanasi, 3. Baidyanath Deoghar. Two remaining Dham are Jagannath Puri & Badrinath. They are closer too. Time will come.
Road Trips visiting States
I have aim of visiting individual states to experience the novelty and diversity of this country. Some states of India are on a bucket list. This I’ll work on after our pilgrimage road trips.
- Jammu and Kashmir including Ladakh, again
- Himachal Pradesh, again
- Uttarakhand
- Punjab, Haryana, Part of Uttar Pradesh
- Rajasthan
- Odisha
- Karnataka
- Kerala
- Tamilnadu & Gujarat are done in our Char Dham Tour
City street photography walks each of 3 days in selected cities of India
I love photography. I have an itch of visiting individual cities capturing the lights, shadows, and colours of them.
I have not begun this yet. My first priority is my Parent’s wishes. All the travel time I got since previous year was road tripping with my parents for pilgrimage. (Hell lot of time, we spent almost two months combined away from our home.)
The idea is there in my mind. You ask Him, and He will. Time will come.
Visit The Arctic Circle, Europe, Alaska, and New Zealand with My Parents
The Arctic Circle would have happened anytime. Europe, Alaska, and New Zealand would have been queued though. My Mother’s first priority is pilgrimage. Time will come.
Let me wrap this up now. Travelling-Travelling-Travelling. I am gonna die like that only. This will never end.
Personal
Deadlift 150kg 182kg (400lb) for 6 reps at ’10% body fat’
The most amazing exercise I find is the king of all, Deadlift. It wrinkles all the energy out of you and fills you with an immense adrenaline rush. I had started deadlifts from 30kg. Today (04 Jan 21), I can deadlift 150kg for 6 reps. I was a skinny little guy who had never lifted anything for 27 years. Since Aug 2018, I started lifting weights. Lifting has become an addiction. The intense high it gives is unexplainable. Pushing – and pulling – weights is amazing. I have invested in my own gym a year ago.
You don’t go to 182kg in a day or a month, you have to build it up. Progressing in lifting is not workouts only. It is a combination of what you eat, how good you sleep, and how you push yourself in the sessions. Your age factors in too. I have been consistent with my routine. I could have achieved the 182kg mark sooner, but the breaks for road trips drag lifting back. I don’t worry though, because road trips are beats of life.
A Yeard
I am always fascinated by a long beard. Long means very wild and long. Stress or business professionalism, whatever you may say, I was not able to grow a good beard till 25 years. But since then, it is awesome. I had given two tries to growing a yeard (yeard – a beard not shaved for one year, but maintained well).
A yeard doesn’t only mean growing a wild beard. It takes lots of self care and self love. For the first time, I grew it for 4½ months. I was going through hell at that time. I knew that I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. But like they say, if you have to survive, you can survive on a thread too. Perhaps, beard was one of those threads. When I grew it, it was soft and glorious and magnificent. I had to shave it off eventually.
Another time I started to grow a yeard was also after a disaster. Things f***ed up, not as much as previous one, but still. This time, my whole family was involved. I was like what the hell man! My lifting was off completely for 3 months. But all I did was I did not shave, and I took care of my beard. I let my beard go wild again. This was my answer to the world, do whatever the f*** you wanna do, here I am, a radiant fireball, come and try kill me, because you can’t. This time, I grew my beard for 6 months. I shaved it off eventually.
Still, the dream of growing a yeard is there. This time I’ll grow it out of a good time, not after some disaster. Time will come.
Handwriting
I am fascinated by beautiful handwriting. If you really ask me, I could fall in love because of the handwriting too. I am a son of a doctor, so you may guess that I am genetically bound for a not so good handwriting. I do give a try, and after some days, I leave the practice. This is happening since previous 15 years. I am so frustrated with my handwriting that I learned speed typing (btw, I can type at 80wpm now). Yet, again, I am going to practice good handwriting again. This time slowly and consistently. I have bought 2 3 lovely fountain pens and few beautiful ink bottles. I have fallen in love with them. Reading, workouts, and meditation taught me that slow and consistent is the key to lasting happiness. When you get happiness from doing something rather than the end goal, that happiness becomes addicting, truly addicting. I still dream of beautiful handwriting flowing from my hand.
Financial Freedom
Money has held upmost importance in my life. I have seen it flowing and I have seen it scarce. But I never disrespected it. I must say I am a miser person, yet I am flamboyant too. I was miser because times were tough. 18-26 was a tough period for our family. I was nothing, doing nothing, left a good education for seeking freedom. Time when I had nothing in hand. At a tender age of 20, I was driving 1000km a weekend, working at full capacity. I never liked that, though I never complained about it, at least before others. I had to. We were drowned in debts. I had to think before spending even 10 rupees. This is not an exaggeration, I had to. Spending thousands were out of question at that time.
I still remember a time when I had to go to Pune for a potential client. This was at the beginning of my business, my own business. No guarantee if he would partner or not. I know how I counted my money for tickets, how I spent my night at my friend’s flat, and how I ate at a roadside dosa shop and told my friend that I am fasting when he asked me to join for food in his tiffin. While meeting the partner, when he asked me to have a fruit shake, I gulped, coz I was scarce on money at that time. That time, I found a new investment partner in Pune, found a life-long friend in that flat, and found some hope too. Times were tough. So I had to be miser.
But in all that, I always had a dream that a day would come, when I’d earn money, and I’d have time and financial freedom. These days, I am never miser. Never ever I check prices, never ever let my family check prices. On our Road trips, there are no accountings, and no misery. And, I have utmost respect for money.
When I started learning about investing, I found it fascinating that how a single man, doing nothing for whole life, only with his mind, can be one of the richest person in this world. Yes, I am talking about Warren Buffett. He has been my Anchor. By learning from him, I found that he does not make living by buying and selling shares. He makes money by earning the dividends. That clicked. My family was in debt, and I had nothing in hand. For earning dividends, first I had to have my own capital. What better way is there to make your capital, when you can grow your partner’s capital exponentially. Even though my goal was to create my own capital, I wanted to create it with purity. I had read somewhere that people will pay you only when you would work for them with all your energy. In my own hunger of capital, I found another goal, to fulfill my partners’ goals.
These days, I have enough of my own capital to earn enough through dividends for me and my family. Larger goals? Yes, I do have them. I am working on them, now with more vigor and more energy. But not by compromising what I have right now, and not by compromising my people. This project I can mark as complete. I don’t work for anyone other than my people – that is by my choice – and I am humble enough to accept if any of my people leave me too.
My Dream Job
My dream job is to become a servant. By servant I mean, a do-anything-servant for an unknown family. Sweeper, driver, care-taker, gardener, kitchen-chef, helper, valet – any job that a family would give; I would love to serve. I want to be there without them knowing my reality (esp. financial reality). I want to wear rags and I want to eat leftover morsels. I want to crave for 10 rupees and I want to feel rich with those 10 rupees. I’ve even decided how would I earn trust of my employer. I’ll take some gold, tell them that this is my only asset which I don’t want to lose. I’ll give that gold as security to the employer. This may sound childish, but I hope it should work (even if it wouldn’t work, I’ll find another way).
When employed, I want to dream in that time. I want to dream big again. I’ll never fulfill what I dreamt there in my current life, even though I’d know that I can anytime. I’ll try to grab my dreams, only living that life.
This project I want to pursue every year for a month in future.
Me and my family have tasted financial freedom & security recently. We were debt ridden. I mention this often because that experience left a huge scar on me. Good days have come now and with them I want to cherish them for my parents. I want to fulfill their dreams first. Once I’d become satisfied about my parents, I will take the servantship on priority.
Why I wrote this here? I guess I wanted to share. And sure enough, I’ll share my servant experiences too. It may have got years, but it is sure. Life is very long and good things take time. Time will come.
(What have I done for this project till now? Well, at least I’ve bought some gold for the security. Just kidding. I’ve never had gold on my skin for more than 5 mins ever in my life. So the sole purpose of that purchase is my dream job).
Meditation – Stillness of mind
I was the most science oriented person, most rational. I did not believe in stereotypes. I did not believe in things which were not provable. I still am that rational person, but in a different way. First, I did not believe in enlightenment and consciousness – because it was not provable. Yet, I used to practice meditation for my personal peace of mind. One day, after having deaths and rebirths, something happened. I got my proof. Perhaps, this is the only proof I ever needed. There is a higher consciousness. We all are singularities. We all are a speck of that single dust. We all are connected in ways we do not even know. That experience turned me upside-down. That experience humbled me, and I am grateful. Since then, I am meditating as my lifelong, ongoing, never ending project.
If I add anything to this, I’ll mention it with a date stamp. But in near future, I don’t have anything more to add. Though I am sure, things come spontaneously for me. Let us both wait for the surprise!
Till then,
Always Ambitious,
Kill me once more,
and I’ll resurrect once again,
and again,
and again,
Rupesh…