Journey of Realisation Part: 1

Approximately one month ago, my batch mates and I were on a trip to the most popular country, Egypt. We spent almost two weeks mainly at Cairo city. After being in UK for quite some time, staying in Egypt was something different for me. Thus, in this piece of writing I would like to share my traveling experience to Egypt.

Way of living in Egypt – Poor are getting poorer and Rich are getting Richer

If I were asked, how was my trip to Egypt? I rather say it is meaningful instead of saying enjoying. I was touched by seeing the way people live there. According to a source, almost 15 million Egyptians are living under poverty line. Adding to this, when the world food price rose recently , the suffering of the people increased more.This is something sad to hear about. Kids sitting in the streets bagging for money. According to a middle class Egyptian family, after the food price have risen , there need to cut off vegetables, meat in their daily food. Their are only afford for lentils and rice for their meal. As mentioned by the World Food Program, most of the Egyptian people are lacking in nutrients as they have cut down the healthy foods. Hence, this will cause a lot of health problems eventually. Maybe as I am in UK, I have not realized the impact of the rising food price , but in Egypt, the citizens are suffering. Besides that, one of the typical foods in Egypt is a bread called “Irish” (not very sure about the spelling.). I tried eating it, but did not enjoy it. No matter which part of Egypt you travel, you can get this bread easily. However, for the Egyptians, this bread is a basic food. To reduce the burden of the citizens, there are certain bakery shops, where this bread has been subsidised by the government. For instance, in normal Bakery shops, one loaf of bread cost 10sen, while in subsidised bakery shops, one loaf cost 1sen. So, there will be a huge crowd in front of the subsized bakery shop. Normally, people started queuing from 6am and might get the bread after 3 to 4 hours. Recently, there were 16 people died when queuing in the line. I was really hurt when I heard about this. Just to get a basic food, there are struggling !!!!.

Me and with Bedouin brother. I was totally
shocked seeing him with barefoot and sitting
alone beside the road in such a hot weather.

This is how people there sales
bread " Irish". It's common

Subsidized Bakery shop.People are queuing to get cheapest bread.

Architecture

Apart from observing the living atmosphere there, another aspect that I observed was the architecture. I realized most of the building there have some similarities with the western type of buildings. The pictures below will show you.

Above pictures :

1st: Egypt and 2nd: Paris. As you can see, the window patterns are almost the same.

Above pictures :

Even here, it is pretty obvious that the building patterns are the same. The first picture is taken in Egypt and second picture in Belgium.

Aggressive men

Imagine, in two weeks, I have seen roughly 4 fighting scenes. These Egyptian guys are a bit aggressive and easily get to their nerves. Hahaha. Well, just look at the picture below.

TO BE CONTINUED

Motivated again!!! Being consistent is the toughest part

Lately, I haven’t updated my blog as I lost my motivation towards it. I can’t get any idea what to write which left me with a blank page. Adding to this, after coming back from my Egypt and Spain trips, I was really de-motivated to update it. However, today, something has inspired me to write and to be active again. As I was surfing the internet a few hours ago, I spotted some of my friends’ blog. Gosh…!!!..It was totally amazing how they have updated their blogs. One of them, as he is good photographer, uploaded the pictures he has taken and edited using Adobe Photoshop. The outcomes of the pictures are simply superb. To be frank, I can’t stop browsing his beautiful pictures.

Besides this, another friend of mine, in his blog, he has written about the wonderful reminisce back in IPBA. His writing brought me back to IPBA for a moment.

And there are lot of my friends who have started blogging. Even in Marjon, I think majority of my friends here have their own blog. Some are being secret and some are not.

Looking at my friends’ blogs really inspired me a lot.

Well, I’m a practical person, but some time I do believe in Numerology. One of my weakness as stated in the book was inconsistent which I do agree with it. : ). No matter what I do, I lack in being consistent. For example, in blogging, easily get bored I guess : ). Well, sometimes I think it is good to get bored easily because it urges you to try other sorts of things.

Guna

Mahamrityunjaya Mantra

Mahamrityunjaya Mantra is a famous mantra in Hindu veda.

Mahamrityunjaya Mantra (maha-mrityun-jaya), also called the Tryambakam Mantra, is a verse of the Yajurveda (TS 1.8.6.i; VS 3.60) addressed to Tryambakam "the three-eyed", identified with the Hindu deity Shiva. It's literal translation is the Great Death-Conquering mantra. It is a mantra that has many names and forms.

It is called the Rudra mantra, referring to the furious aspect of Shiva; the Tryambakam mantra, alluding to Shiva's three eyes; and its is sometimes known as the Mrita-Sanjivini mantra because it is a component of the "life-restoring" practice given to the primordial sage Shukra after he had completed an exhausting period of austerity. The Maha Mrityunjaya mantra is hailed by the sages as the heart of the Veda. Along with the Gayatri mantra it holds the highest place among the many mantras used for contemplation and meditation.

The mantra reads (IAST transliteration):

tryambakaṃ yajāmahe sugandhiṃ puṣṭi-vardhanam

urvārukam iva bandhanān mṛtyor mukṣīya māmṛtāt

In the translation of Arthur Berriedale Keith, 1914):

"To Tryambaka we make offering, The fragrant, increaser of prosperity;

Like a cucumber from its stem, From death may I be loosened, not from immortality."

Grammatical analysis:

• tri-ambaka-m "the three-eyed-one" (accusative)
• yaja-mahe "we praise" (1st pl. middle)
• sugandhi-m "the fragrant" (acc.)
• pusti-vardhana-m "the prosperity-increaser" (acc.)
• urvaruka-m "cucumber" (acc.)
• iva "-like"
• bandhanāt "from attachment" ("from the stem", ablative)
• mṛtyos "from death" (ablative)
• mukṣīya "may you liberate"
• mā "not"
• amṛtāt from immortality (ablative)

There is a parallel formation mṛtyor māmṛtaṃ gamayeti/gamaya iti "thus lead me from death to immortality" in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upanishad 1.3.28 (se asato ma sad gamaya) with amritaamritat as ablative rather than accusative forces the interpretation of ma as "not" (and not "me") and leads to the rather stilted translation by Keith given above. (immortality) in the accusative; having

Taken from wikipedia.org.

Public Transportation

These 2 years of my stay in England, many things that I have explored and learnt. Being in this British culture, one thing that I have learnt from them is Punctuality. These people are well-known for their punctuality. As all of us are well aware, when we talk about Malaysian punctuality or Malaysian timing, normally we will add extra 30 mint. As I was born in Malaysia, I'm also infected by this decease as well. However, I have tried to change my self to be on time. Well, some time I succeed to be on time. Still trying!!!...

Well, one aspect that we can look at when we are talking about English punctuality is their systematic public transportation. The buses here are really on time. In fact, each bus stop has one digital screen on top where you can view what time the bus is approaching the bus stop. When the first time I saw it, I was shocked and wish how good if Malaysia's public transportation can have such a systematic approach like this.

The screen indicates what bus is approaching and the time as well.














It is really convenient for the public when they know what is time the bus is approaching because they are able to make a good planning. No need to waste time waiting hours for the bus !!!!.








There are two bus companies running in Plymouth which are City bus ( in the picture ) and also First bus.












It shows the route the bus takes





Guna