Hello people…I am back after a long hiatus. Well what kept me away was work (needless to say) and a well deserved 10-day break to Igatpuri to attend the Vipassana course at Dhammagiri.
Did I just hear you balk at the word Vipassana and me going for it? Well you aren’t off the mark ‘coz that was my first reaction also. Though I had heard about Vipassana a long time back, I never bothered to find out more about it as I thought it to be another spiritual mumbo jumbo that troubled / religious souls went for and that it wasn’t my cup of tea. Not until a dear friend of mine, RK attended it and strongly recommended that I too give it a shot.
So very reluctantly I applied for ten days leave (an achievement considering that it was my first long leave in 7 years of career span) and braced myself to attend the Vipassana course. Why reluctantly? Because the course had its set of do’s and don’ts; the three most important being - complete silence, only vegetarian food and no form of entertainment (including books). For someone who’s in the profession of communication, a hardcore non-vegetarian since birth and has reading as a hobby these 3 rules spelt doom. And by now you must have guessed that sutta and daru were anyway out of reach 
But I am also human and as curious and inquisitive as ever, I steeled my determination and decided that I will give it a try. After all if RK could survive, I too will manage fine. And now that I am back in the corporate jungle and material world, let me confide to you that those 10-days were nothing but bliss. I surprised myself by breaking several notions about me the most inportant being that I could never stay without talking, eating non-veg, reading, smoking and drinking.
I could…I did…and I enjoyed it. So much so that when I returned to Bombay, speaking felt like a huge effort. While I was there not once was I tempted to read a newspaper or munch biscuits (that I sneaked in with my luggage just in case). And most importantly no mobile phones. I couldn’t call anyone, nobody could contact me and I was lost to the outside world completely cocooned in the idyllic, picturesque locale of Dhammagiri.
Considering that its autumn, most of the trees were shedding their leaves, but believe you me, there was beauty even in those brown leaves that lay strewn around the place, the crackling sound they made every time you stepped on them. The tall palm trees, the light fir trees, the graceful papaya trees pregnant with fruits, the ubiquitous banana trees with huge leaves fanning the breeze and the sturdy mango trees with the promise of juicy mangoes in summer just seemed like a scene out of a novel. Fresh air, fresh food, early to bed and early to rise…I did everything contrary to my present lifestyle. What I began grudgingly is now willingly a part of my schedule…effortlessly…
I will admit though that the meditation part of it was tough since I couldn’t concentrate for the life of mine. My mind seemed to have a mind of its own as it just kept wandering away. Otherwise on the whole these ten days were the best of my life and for the first time I felt totally relaxed and rejuvenated.
My experience of Vipassna will be incomplete if I don’t mention my colleague Melroy who on hearing of the strict regulations almost blurted out “Man it seems more like a whup-ass-now” 
. Whatever it may be the truth is that I am at peace. May all those who I know and don’t know be happy. Sabka Mangal Ho…
