Hi,
About this time last night (2:07am) we were watching on our laptops the
documentary The Blair-witch Project shot in 1999, about a witch, which is
supposed to be living in Burkittsville , Maryland, about 30 miles from my
roommate's parents' home and about 50 miles (75 kilometers) from White House in
DC. We went there today and at about 12:22am (just after midnight) we were in
the heart of Burkittsville village. http://www.burkittsville.com/
It was an eerie place. Someone in India cannot imagine the ghostly quiet of
the place. Though the place was spic and span , the roads were single lane even
in the middle of the place - just like an Indian rural hamlet. There was not a
soul in sight. No sound. Not even a car. Not shop open for miles around - for
even the other two small towns we had come through to reach it. No barking dogs
to greet you or cows swishing their tales as in any Indian town/hamlet.
Sound power
I think after Jan 14, 2004 I had tried sound waves to soothe and ward off
danger/evil. On Jan 14, 2004 in the foothills of the Aravali mountain range
I was exploring a new route through the reserve forest . A bearded hermit
who lived in the temple in the heart of the jungle had commented that "Maybe
its a leopard," when the peacocks shrieked and flew up beating their wings
with loud swishing sounds echoing in the V shaped valley. Then my dog Rambo
came in view, which was chasing them. However, it was only later, when we we
were deeper into the jungle that Rambo became terrified. It left all heroism
and crept closer to me, tail lowered and hair bristling. Maybe it had smelled
the leopards, prowling above our heads. We were in the ravine, flanked by the
hills on one side and the sandy badlands on the other.
The sandy badlands had many cuts and turns and I feared that the tawny cats
were waiting to pounce on their choice dish - dog meat. Thus, I had taken out
the aluminum dog bowl which I had brought along to feed Rambo - and taking a
stone started bating on it ward off the danger. Having read Jim Corbett's
leopard and tiger hunting adventure's in the Himalayas , I had realized that
villagers shouted loudly and hit the ground with sticks to frighten the cats
away during night travel. I beat the dog bowl for about an hour or 5 kms (3
miles) till we came to the city houses etc and saw people around.
Two days later I had traveled 800 miles by train to take the Test of Spoken
English at Allahabad conducted online from the US - I got 5 out of 6.
MANTRA POWER
Similarly, when I saw my roommate stiffen, as we turned onto the two-lane road
leading to Burkittsville , and the lonely, dark surroundings, I thought it wise
to start mantra power. I started with "Ram-ji Ki Jai," later shifted to Om
Namaha Shivayah," the the Gayatri Mantra. Even invoked Jesus Christ and
Muhammad. But settled on the Gayatri mantra which is directed at no-one
divinity in particular but towards the invocation of the Supreme Power in
general.
Gayatri mantra continued as we crept along the narrow highway winding its way
across darkened countryside. It is very hard to frighten me but why take
chances. Why not have God on your side. It was just past midnight when we had
turned the corner it was 12:13 am, just past midnight. I would have imagined
people walking about , such a nice, warm, windy night - even in any Indian
village or town. Here was not even a cat or a bird on the prowl.
So Gayatri Mantra (favorite of my ex-army officer father and even the dead
honest police general family friend) to the rescue, which I recited for atleast
30 minutes till we reached the other town again - away from Burkittsville.
Ofcourse, my roommate recited a few times but settled for rock and roll and
even tried to invoke the evil power of Taliban and Bin Laden to beat the
witch!! -- through a Tamil song on his CD "Taliban Alla Alla , Bin Laden Alla
Alla" (which actually means - I don't care if Taliban or Bin Laden are angry at
me). He reasoned that Taliban can beat the witch (implying that Taliban is
eviler than the small time witch). I was trying to reason with him that the
witch can be befriended through love, but why take chances - invoke Gayatri
Mantra to have God on our side.
GPS helps navigation.
more later.
Umesh Sharma
Washington D.C.
1-202-215-4328 [Cell]
Ed.M. - International Education Policy
Harvard Graduate School of Education,
Harvard University,
Class of 2005
http://www.uknow.gse.harvard.edu/index.html (Edu info)
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/ (Management Info)
www.gse.harvard.edu/iep (where the above 2 are used )
http://harvardscience.harvard.edu/
http://jaipurschool.bihu.in/
---------------------------------
Sent from Yahoo! Mail.
A Smarter Email.
_______________________________________________
assam mailing list
assam@assamnet.org
http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
