Palanquin Bearers

Lightly, O lightly we bear her along,

She sways like a flower in the wind of our song;

She skims like a bird on the foam of a stream,

She floats like a laugh from the lips of a dream.

Gaily, O gaily we glide and we sing,

We bear her along like a pearl on a string.



Softly, O softly we bear her along,

She hangs like a star in the dew of our song;

She springs like a beam on the brow of the tide,

She falls like a tear from the eyes of a bride.

Lightly, O lightly we glide and we sing,

We bear her along like a pearl on a string.



-- Sarojini Naidu

Walk Alone

If they answer not to thy call walk alone,

If they are afraid and cower mutely facing the wall,

O thou of evil luck,open thy mind and speak out alone.

If they turn away, and desert you when crossing the wilderness,

O thou of evil luck,trample the thorns under thy tread,

and along the blood-lined track travel alone.

If they do not hold up the light when the night is troubled with storm,

O thou of evil luck,with the thunder flame of pain ignite thy own heartand let it burn alone.



-- Rabindranath Tagore

vital statistics

What's your name?

Maqsood Qureshi



Where do you live?

In an igloo, if it's snowing! Old City nosy!



Define yourself in a few words.

Idealistic. Misfit. Lounge Lizard. Eccentric. Pervert. Scarecrow. Egghead. Skirt Chaser.



A pet peeve?

Profanity.



What do you love doing?

Reading. Hacking. Sleeping. SMS-Sex.



What do you love about Hyderabad?

Its heritage.



What do you hate about Hyderabad?

People: their mind-set.



Dream date.

Aishwarya Rai + Twinkle Khanna + Vasundhara Das



Your dream?

I want to be a pilot.



Favorite movies?

Parallel Cinema or anything starring Dilip Kumar, Anthony Hopkins and Robert Redford.



Favorite bedroom line?

Are you allergic to mosquito-repellents, honeypot?



The wildest thing you have done.

Fantasized about aliens of the SAME sex!



People who have inspired me:

Osho. Charles Sobhraj.



Hobbies.

I'll tell you later.



Your anthem.

I'll tell you later.



What's your favorite poison?

I believe in assisted suicide.



Plagiarized: "Think you have the style, spunk and attitude to be a Rocking Rookie?" --The Times of India

Richard Bach

"A tiny change today brings us to a dramatically different tomorrow. There are grand rewards for those who pick the high hard roads, but those rewards are hidden by years. Every choice is made in the uncaring blind, no guarantees from the world around us."



"Character comes from following our highest sense of right, from trusting ideals without being sure they'll work. One challenge of our adventure on earth is to rise above dead systems -- wars, religions, nations, destructions -- to refuse to be a part of them, and express instead the highest selves we know how to be."



-- One / Richard Bach

Neither belief nor disbelief . . .

"What I am saying is: neither belief nor disbelief is needed -- because you don't know, so how you believe? and you don't know, so how can you disbelieve? When belief and disbelief are both dropped, there is silence. When belief and disbelief have both disappeared, you are open to truth; then you don't have any prejudice, then your mind is no more projecting. Then you become receptive. Neither believe nor disbelieve. Just be watchful, receptive, open! -- and you will know."



-- Walk without feet, Fly without wings and Think without mind / Osho

Question: Who are you?

Answer: Whomsoever you think, because it depends on you. If you look at me with total emptiness, I will be different. If you look at me with ideas, those ideas will color me; if you come to me with a prejudice, then I will be different. I am just a mirror. Your own face will be reflected. There is a saying that if a monkey looks into the mirror he will not find an apostle looking at him through the mirror. Only a monkey will be looking through the mirror.



So it depends on the way you look at me. I have disappeared completely so I cannot impose on you who I am. I have nothing to impose. There is just a nothingness, a mirror. Now you have complete freedom.



If you really want to know who I am, you have to be as absolutely empty as I am. Then two mirrors will be facing each other, and only emptiness will be mirrored. Infinite emptiness will be mirrored: two mirrors facing each other. But if you have some idea, then you will see your own idea in me.



-- Autobiography of a Spiritually Incorrect Mystic / Osho

The 100th Monkey

A story about social change by Ken Keyes, Jr.



The Japanese monkey, Macaca fuscata, had been observed in the wild for a period of over 30years. In 1952, on the island of Koshima, scientists were providing monkeys with sweet potatoes dropped in the sand. The monkey liked the taste of the raw sweet potatoes, but they found the dirt unpleasant. An 18-month-old female named Imo found she could solve the problem by washing the potatoes in a nearby stream. She taught this trick to her mother. Her playmates also learned this new way and they taught their mothers too.



This cultural innovation was gradually picked up by various monkeys before the eyes of the scientists. Between 1952 and 1958 all the young monkeys learned to wash the sandy sweet potatoes to make them more palatable. Only the adults who imitated their children learned this social improvement. Other adults kept eating the dirty sweet potatoes.



Then something startling took place. In the autumn of 1958, a certain number of Koshima monkeys were washing sweet potatoes -- the exact number is not known. Let us suppose that when the sun rose one morning there were 99 monkeys on Koshima Island who had learned to wash their sweet potatoes. Let's further suppose that later that morning, the hundredth monkey learned to wash potatoes.



THEN IT HAPPENED! By that evening almost everyone in the tribe was washing sweet potatoes before eating them. The added energy of this hundredth monkey somehow created an ideological breakthrough!



But notice: A most surprising thing observed by these scientists was that the habit of washing sweet potatoes then jumped over the sea...Colonies of monkeys on other islands and the mainland troop of monkeys at Takasakiyama began washing their sweet potatoes. Thus, when a certain critical number achieves an awareness, this new awareness may be communicated from mind to mind.



Although the exact number may vary, this Hundredth Monkey Phenomenon means that when only a limited number of people know of a new way, it may remain the conscious property of these people.



But there is a point at which if only one more person tunes-in to a new awareness, a field is strengthened so that this awareness is picked up by almost everyone!



This is an excerpt from the book by Ken Keyes, jr. "The Hundredth Monkey."