The First Martian

The next great frontier for human space endeavour is definitely to send humans to Mars. Several technical feasibility studies have been conducted, it has been concluded that the single biggest challenge is to protect the humans & their environment from harmful cosmic radiation. If the report is to be believed, the good news is that NASA currently has the technology for executing this project. But the protective shield supposedly makes the spacecraft so heavy, that the fuel requirement makes the project unbelievably expensive and hence financially unfeasible.

Besides, questions have also been raised about the very need of a return trip. The moon landings by the Apollo spacecrafts have often been criticised for being mere symbolic achievements and not valuable scientific experiments, whose learning could be used for the betterment of mankind. Much of this failure has been attributed to the longevity of our stay on moon.

How about a one way ticket to mars ?. Scary it might sound at first instance, there are several reasons, why it might be the best way forward. To understand this, let us consider a parallel in discovery of the New World in the 15th & 16th centuries. Little was achieved, by mere sighting of the new world by the likes of Magellan or Columbus. More remembered, are the fearless commanders like Captain Cook & Don Juan, who set foot on the new world and conquered the locals and established their settlement. None of these guys, left their homes, with any hopes of returning back. May be the situation back home was so desperate, that unknown new world was better bet than the unbearable familiarity of routine existence. May be our lives today are not that desperate, but the growth in population and the competition for limited resources, will definitely create a bleak picture for humanity in the next couple of centuries. You would rather die of solar radiation in mars than from the shock waves of nukes blown by the Americans in the war for control of a last of still in production oilfield.

However, Fear need not be the only motivation. What about the freaky tendencies of human nature?. A generation grown up on a healthy diet of star wars and star treks, would be crazy enough to attempt such risky endeavours. Are human lives more valuable than money?. Mercenaries trade their lives for financial well being of the families in Afghanistan. But yes there is no justification for such unethical acts. But the fact remains, that if given an opportunity, there would be a lot many volunteers. What about old people above 60 or terminally ill patients, do they want to just fade away into oblivion or do something spectacular to leave a lasting impression for generations to come. Read Randy Pausch's Last Lecture, you will know what I am talking about.

Now let us look at how this can be practical. Our existence in mars address both our physical and mental well being. A good understanding can be derived from psychological theories of motivation like Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

First physiological needs, breathing, food, water, sleep, excretion. Since it has been evaluated, that cost of unmanned mission is 10 times cheaper than a manned one. These needs can be taken care of.

Second comes the safety needs - security, employment, resources, property, family & health. A suitable compensation for the participant's family back on earth should address this issue.

Third is the emotional need. To understand this, let us consider the parallel world called Second life. In an increasing virtual connected world, people seek to lead a parallel existence where they can obtain and achieve all the things that they don't manage to in the real world. Many spend more time interacting with online friends than real ones. While being in mars, you might be physically separate from your near and dear. But you can virtually continue to live amongst the same people. If one considers the progress made by the science of virtual reality, I believe setting up such an environment is well within grasp of current levels of available technology to cater to all the five senses like 3D visualization, touch sensors & transmitters, Surround sound, smell sensors & generators and ofcourse taste .

Fourthly, Esteem needs can definitely be addressed as the individual will be celebrated across the human world. Moreover, an individual will also be alive and connected to soak in all the adulation for such an extraordinary acts, which mostly have been the preserve of martyrs. Such a rare opportunity will be motivation enough for many.

Finally the self actualization need, it requires an extra ordinary personality with strong spiritual beliefs to finally make this work. This is one area that never requires a factual justification. Our faith in the known and fear of the unknown, will always prod us to pursue the never has been done before.

Sometimes I wonder if the first martian project would be a reality in my present life. I know I am just intrinsically skeptical like everyone else. but if past history is any evidence, Scientific progress has always stayed a pace ahead of all predictions of even science fiction writers.

I believe there will be a first martian soon. I wish I would be the one.

The Good, the Bad & the Idly

Yes & No .. Yes, this is a review of Quickgun Murugun .. No, it is not a Hindi movie ... No, It is not a English movie .. Yes, It is Tamil movie. Adda paavi! whatisthisisay .

To begin with, let me tell you this is no movie, it is a spoof. Mind It!. Circa 1982, Cowboy the protector of cows tries to protect only veg hoteliers from serving non veg, as under the orders of evil don Rice plate reddy garu. Mindless you might say, but still Mind it!. Who cares, when our cowboy's acting in the entire movie is performed by his two guns - QUICK gun and MURU gun. The various permutations and combinations in styles of firing the two guns forms the crux of our hero's special abilities and accounts for nearly 1 hour of this 1.5 hour movie.

Technically speaking this a double cross spoof movie. First, its a western crossed over into kollywood, with that distinct accent and style like in the 70s. Now you not just spoof this idea further, but make a second cross over into bollywood's mumbai. To be honest, the movie's first half is mostly dedicated to characters resembling Tamil movie stars of 70s and 80s, with hero serenading his lady to some vague tam songs, which most non tams would have rarely ever heard before, let alone identifying with them. Only If they had included a classic crossover tam song, the likes of Apdi Pode Pode Pode, half the audience would have been drawn into a informal jig.

Now the spoofgate does'nt end there. Elevating himself to the standard hollywood fare, the script writer tries to bring in more elements. The villain is a Ghajini lookalike in the first half with his fetish for violent indulgences, suddenly turns into a evil corporate honcho with a Mogambo look alike attire in the second half. Helloo!! Will someone with a dictionary read out the meaning of the word consistency.

Thankfully, the second half slips into some semblance of a story line, however amateurish it might have been. In Rowdy MBA and Matunga mummies, there is a hint of humour snaking its way back into the story. Rowdy MBA is a satire on how consultants armed with MBA degrees hoodwink clients with the GYAN. The sequences involving matunga mummies are the most hilarious, in the search of the one exceptionally tasty dosa preparing mummy.

Yes, there are heroines. Anu Menon aka Lola Kutty trying to do Priya Tendulkar in Hum Paanch. What is Lola Kutty without her outrageous Mallu accent and Gajra fitted attire ?. A damp squib. Thankfully, there is Rambha, the mumbai moll trying to seduce the conservative tamilian boy in murugan. Some credit to the director, for attempting to bring out the cultural contrast between conservative south indian boys and modern mumbai girls.

For a very long time, I have been waiting for a really bad movie to write a review on.

Spare the dosa and spoil the batter.
Can we have some idly instead please!

Ritual Significance

If it is your once a year customary visit to native village temple and also the past 26 outings were really exercises in boredom, while trying to digest the incomprehensible chattering of the mantras and the inscrutable customs associated with the pooja and offerings to the god. All that changed on the 27th visit. As I spent time, thinking about the possible origins of temple rituals. For once, I also paid due attention to the entire pooja procedure, trying to relate mantras to all the Sanskrit, I had mugged up until class XII in the quest of getting a good board rank. It also lead to some very enlightening conversations with elders including my grandmom as well as the purohit. So much so, that I thought it merited a blogpost in itself.

Now, I am completely agnostic to religion & rituals. So I might sound trivial to the high priests of the blogging community. But to the others like me, I hope it would be interesting to read.

Why does every temple in a village has a huge bell just at the entrance to the sanctum sanctorum ?
Ans: Traditionally, the bell rung was to inform the villagers that a pooja is happening, so they may assemble. It was also a message from a visitor to the purohit of the temple, who typically lived in a house nearby, that a visitor has arrived

What are the major steps in a standard pooja procedure ?
The objective of a pooja is to invoke the god to provide darshan and bless the devotees. Three major parts are
1) Invocation
2) Arathi (Darshan)
3) Blessings (Prasad)

Invocation
A major part of the pooja is the invocation. Invocation needs to be accompanied by the wish list, that the devotee wants god to fulfill.

Invocation by cleansing involves abhishek of the idol with water, tender coconut, sandal milk, milk among others, so that god feels fresh enough to make the entry.

Invocation by offering involves offering fruits and flowers to attract the dear lord with the fragrance or the taste of the ripe fruit.

Invocation by singing, this involves the many mantras(Archane), bhajans in praise of the dear lord. Brilliant!.

Invocation by decoration is the best of them all, when the idol is decked in the most beautiful of attire and jewellery (Remember the lord of Tirupathi) to make it absolutely irresistible for his highness.

A few communities have unique as well as sometimes bizzare invocation rituals. These includes the ritual fasting of the jain community to appease the lord through their sacrifice of basic needs and desires to the extreme ones like Thaipusam in some tamil communities which includes body piercing of various forms. Sabarimalai Ayyapa temple rituals are also based on the sacrifice of basic needs concept.

Arathi (Darshan)

A temple was essentially ports of call for gods, when they visit earth. The figurines for gods were housed in a inner smaller room (sanctum sanctorum), which is reached through passage through several larger rooms. Typically this inner room, was meant to be a dark place. In those days before electricity was invented, When the Arathi was performed, the light from the lamps ensured, its the only time the devotees got to see idol of the god. This was symbolic of the god giving darshan to his devotees.

Women in India, typically light a lamp in the evening in front of the idol/ photo of the god. This is meant to signify that god appears and resides in the persons house every evening. In the older days, when nights were meant to be dangerous, the presence of god was meant to be a reassurance. Indian women, especially married ones, even to date follow this practice as part of their daily ritual.

Blessing (Prasad)
Blessing typically comes in the form of various things used in invocation. The water/tender coconut used in Abhishek is offered as teerth to devotees, after Darshan. Devotees typically take teerth in two ways - a few drink it and assimilate the blessings in the body. A few others put it on their top of their head, as it expected to seep in through from there into the entire body.

Blessing is also provided in the form of fruits and flowers offered to the god earlier. In South India, if during an Arathi, if the flower on the lord falls off, it is considered to be mighty auspicious. The devotees cause for invocation was definitely bound to come true.

Blessing in the form of Arathi flame is the most interesting. Now the Arathi flame, when performed is supposed to have caught the sight of the lord. So when this is passed around, each devotee passes his hands around the flame of the the Arathi and touches both his eyes. This is meant to permanently capture divine image in the eyes of the devotee.

What is the significance of Turmeric and Kumkum in traditional rituals ?
Kumkum is meant to be applied on the forehead (Sindoor in north india) as it is supposed to ward of the evil eye. So the red coloured kumkum is supposed to have a protective significance. The yellow coloured turmeric is meant signify health and prosperity. In South India, it is customary to offer both colours to women when they visit your home. South Indian women have a practice of first applying the kumkum on the host's fore head, then her own forehead and then to her mangalsutra. Her husband gets the additional insurance cover for free.

Is Vastu shastra based on some rituals?
Now there are so many temples where poojas keep going on and god has limited time. So he has to make a choice. Now this competing scenario lead to differentiation. It is believed that some god come from particular direction(preferably east and north) and prefer to reside in a area of particular size along with convenient entry route. Now this premise lead to an architectural planning principle called vastu shastra. It will tell you which direction to place your entrance door, how big to plan different rooms, where to locate the pooja room, which colours appease the gods better. Vaastu shastra also clearly indicates a modular/simplistic planning without too much creativity. In essence, non angular/circular walls to ensure god doesn't lose his way, while trying to reach the pooja room.

One Ritual, I still havent understood is the concept of Kalash. The steel pot shaped structure, with betel leaves and a coconut in the mouth. Would be glad if somebody could enlighten me on that.

The long & short of it

First, I owe an explanation for the previous post. Well, it was an attempt to write a short & witty post. A touch of Hamlet & hence the Polonius quote,might have been a bit over the top, nevermind. More importantly, for me it was reflection of Facebook/Twitter addiction, that is so omnipresent. Verbosity seems to have gone truly out of fashion. Broadcasting tweets and facebook 'what is on your mind? one liners are definitely the in-thing'. Advantages are many. Well, you dont need to comment, you can simply like a status. If I am not wrong, 99% of blog post comments just mean ' I like what you have written' sort of stuff. Nice & Easy!

Now that should leave me, a 2 month old blogger feeling completely outdated. Yes & No. Yes, coz I am quite tempted to quit this sudden blogging craze and I am just looking for an excuse. No, Coz a blog has so much more to offer. But how ?. Well, to a sizeable bunch of friends I know, blog is good source of alternate reading during office hours.

1) If you have plenty of time to kill, 2) your company IT policy doesnt allow orkut/facebook access, 3) short one liners just arent enough meat for reading pleasure you are looking for.

Verbosity is definitely in, Brevity is definitely out. It also reminds me of a Tam friend's reason for preferring 'The Hindu' over TOI. Given the same level of information content, the sheer verbosity of a Hindu article makes it more satisfying to read.

Second reason, you can't post pictures in tweets/status msgs. If you do upload an album, you can't storyboard them into a nice read. Blogs score again!.

Third & the most important reason for me, It's about addressing a select audience. Readers would visit your blog, purely out of their own self interest. Status messages might seem like forcing your point of view/thought on an unintended audience.

Blogs I have seen, over a period of time tend to get biased towards one particular area of interest/subject. Book reviews, Movie reviews, Football/Music blogs, Stock market views among others. In my personal opinion, what brings me back to a blog, is sheer anticipation of what topic next ?. As long the blog has personal touch/opinion/viewpoint, I am sure I would keep coming back, however mundane/trivial some of the posts might be.

Personally, the day I get repetitive & have little new/different to write about, I would like to quit.

And the Animals strike back ..

As the Swines in Mexico decide that it’s the most opportunistic time to strike back at their more prosperous neighbours, little did they expect, that average Mexican Senor would become the unintended target.

Even as Swine flu/SARS over take recession /TARP as the most searched key words on google, I am reminded of boars in George Orwell’s Animal Farm. “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others”, proclaimed the Old Major.

The banner of revolt was first raised by the Mad cows of Europe. The uprising was brutally culled, even if it meant Mcdonalds had to redesign their menu and the favourite steak was off the standard British lunch fare. The cows licking their wounds , soon realised their folly in understanding the global food chain.

Like the complacent US software developer of the 80s, they did not realise that for every cow in Europe, there are two chickens volunteering for a slaughter in China. Even the Chinese govt.’s once chick policy per cock and hen, still left enough chickens available for slaughter, that can feed the entire African population for the next 100 years.

Globalization had already arrived, but the cows came home late. As dumb as they cows may be, there is always the one smart red bull, who by sheer destiny or a genetic experiment gone wrong was born intelligent. For him, reaching out to the far east was very easy. He registered himself on Baidu/Qzone, the most popular social networking site in china. A community he started, within a matter of hours attracted a million chickens eagerly waiting for a channel to express their suppressed freedom. The banner of revolt was raised again, the chickens started a LONG MARCH from their pens/pickets to the KFCs directly, while surpassing the greedy middle men. Lured in by the abysmal low price offered, KFC bit the bullet. Little could they see of the SARS/bird flu lurking beneath dangerously . Soon the word was out, "Chinese chickens are more toxic than Chinese toys". Now that toys and chickens were out of equation, Chinese economy was forecast to decline by 10%. But Iron Fist of the communist govt. eventually prevailed and the brave chickens of the Talumein soup were all martyred. Few had noticed, the resilience and the rebellion was already silently brewing among the most wretched of the lot – PIGS.

In the meanwhile, Indian govt. hailed the success of their DECOUPLING THEORY. They claim, Indian food chain is highly decoupled from the global food chain. We neither consume any beef to give the mad cows any semblance of a chance nor do Chinese chickens ever possibly land on an Indian plate, due to the 200% anti dumping duty imposed on Chinese food imports. All the ones being smuggled through north east and Nepal usually got consumed even before reaching the main land.

Now coming to the crux of the problem, a recent study by WHO has listed Indian pigs are the most unhygienic among pigs across the world. With the war, now shifting to pig front and having already taken a size able human toll in Mexico, its not long before the Indian pig shows its ugly face.

While the pigs across face the wrath, it is also time the pigs among men to take the beating. It wouldn’t come as a surprise, if feminist organisations start a rally against the male chauvinistic pig , as the main perpetrator of the malaise that affect the Indian society. As I say always, to each(animal) his own.

But it’s the Chinese year of the DOG. The dogs are rocking across the world. Whether it’s the SLUMDOG at the Oscars or the UNDERDOG at the IPL in South Africa, the dogs are soaking in all the attention. While BO replaces BUDDY at the white house, the hutch pug has decided to work only 6 months a year, hence not to be seen at IPL this year.

As they also say, every dog has its day.

Jane Fonda Revisited

Jane Fonda . who ?.

Oscar winning Hollywood actress . Right!. That's a correct answer!

Aunt of actress Bridget Fonda & Daughter of equally popular Henry Fonda. Even Better!

Flag bearer of Aerobics/Fitness revolution in US in the late 70s. Perfect! 5 bonus points for this one :).

I so much wanted to write a post about an activity close to my heart. Fitness!.

Flashback to 10 years ago!. I was nothing more than a mildy overweight lazy kid, who had the stamina to play little except may be a game of Cricket or may be TT. Swimming beyond one length of the pool was a daunting task. Running was restricted to a short sprint of not more than 100 m. Growing up in a big city, with an excessive academic orientation, forces you to compromise big time on a physically active life. Hostel Life at Engg. College Campus is somewhat better, but by now you have grown a little too cozy with your lazy self to make an effort to improve. All this continues, until one fine day at the end of long working hours in an IT company you complain of back ache. Your in house medic diagnoses it as RSI (Repetitive Strain Injury), and recommends a compulsory fitness regime. Now that's what i call inflection point.

If you are one of the lucky ones working in an MNC with an awesome in house gym, you are blessed. Others might crib of the high monthly fees and travel time to gym everyday. I am sure in the first two months, you would think of quitting every single day. May be you even actually quit a couple of times. But you are back again, for the hard work of exercise is still preferable over enduring a painful back ache.

While you start off with modest stretching exercises for the back, but you are soon drawn by towards the omnipresent TREADMILL. This sudden love is something i have seen in so many people and still fail the fathom the reason behind it. and then the treadmill changes your life foreever. As you graduate from your 5 kmph for 15 min to a running at 10 kmph for 45 minutes, you build amazing stamina. This doesnt come easily, might take anywhere between 4 - 6 months to achieve. But you seem to start liking this new feeling, that you lose your penchant for quitting. In fact, you start feeling restless, every single day you miss your exercise. In fact scientific evidence says, that exercise releases adrenalin into the body, which creates the sense of well being. Now you can be classified as a fitness addict.

As you loses multiple tiers of fat that encircle your body at ever available girth, you start craving for more. Now you start eyeing a more muscular physique. Now you have the stamina for doing weights, so there is not much stopping you. except that if you are pure vegetarian (egg is non veg) like me, muscles take their own sweet time to develop. While eggs and whey protein are preferred dietary supplements, a veggie has to make do with plenty of dry fruits, bananas, soya and sprouts. It always helps to have a supportive mom/grand mom at home, to understand your nutrition requirement. As a bachelor staying alone in a big city, good nutrition is one big handicap one has to live with.

While the perils of working out are limited to occasional injuries that may put you out of action for a few weeks, you are back to your best in no time. The positives are innumerable. Besides, showing off a fit body, you are that much more capable of performing strenuous physical activity like playing soccer, trekking, running marathons etc. Physical exercise is also recommended for a stressed out mind, combined with meditation. Now coming to meditation. After reading about a hundred different forms of meditation, I felt the most effective one is the simple breathing exercise. no seating posture required, no locational constraints, not thought constraints. Just slow down your inhaling/ exhaling to three times your normal duration, while closing your eyes. Continue this for 15 - 30 mins.

Talking about a few fitness impediments, I faced while in Mumbai. I have realised that, eating out often throws our diet out of gear. While north indian masaledar food tastes amazing, its spiciness ensures you consume very little sabzi and more carbs (roti/nan). Also the excessive use of alu in food, just adds more carbs at the cost of other nutrients especially fibrous vegetables.

Now what happens is, the excessive carbs all get converted to fat and add your bulk. I call it the MOM'S PARADOX. While mother's expect their kids leaving home to grow leaner because of lack of quality food, their kids actually put on more weight eating junk away from home.

Instead of only carbs, if vegetables were consumed, only a part of them would be absorbed, while rest would help in easy digestion. Ideally, fruits would be best supplement to carbs, as they do provide plenty of minor nutrients in addition to providing the fibrous alternative to a carb rich diet.

Another question that I have been asked by many, what is the ideal jogging/running technique ?. Some complain they exhaust very quickly, others crib that its a boring and monotonous activity. My solution would be simple. If one runs at what is called as breathing speed, you can run any distance as long as boredom/mental exhaustion doesn't catch up with you. Breathing speed, I would define as the speed of running/walking at while you continue your normal breathing and not increase it. Well, this would be as low as 5 kmph ( normal walking speed) and as you build your stamina it increased to say 8 kmph in about 6 months. My breathing speed is about 10.5 kmph and that's the average speed at which i complete my half marathons, which last nearly 2 hours. Now to beat the mental exhaustion/ boredom part, It requires tremendous will power. a few like listening to their ipods, a few others hum songs as they run along. I recollect fond past memories, which keep me occupied during the run. Another simple method helps a lot, while running always look down, not ahead. This ensures that you are not too bothered by how far, your actual destination is, while you focus on continuously build the rhythm.

Whenever, I meet Europeans, I always envy their physical fitness. As Indians, we lack a fitness culture. Its high time, we develop one especially when we are in our 20s and 30s. If not, the consequences are there right in front of us to see. The increasing number of patients suffering cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, especially if one has a family history of these diseases.

May the force be with you

Now before you question my years of grooming and education in scientifically proven ideas .. you should realise that my post just puts forward a view on astrology - something a surprisingly large section of the society even the educated elite believe in ..

I never was much of a believer all my life .. prayers meant nothing more than a daily routine, an important part of the culture .. that you inculcate from parents and family members .. While you were made to believe that success or failure solely depend on efforts .. bad luck was always the lame excuse of a loser .. Needless to say .. Astrology was as absurd as anything could be .. For me a more acceptable belief at this stage of life was Karma .. a fear of retribution .. justified in very nature of human beings .. hence believable

Well that was then ... as you grown older .. you start understanding life in a much wider perspective .. some things happen / don't happen for no apparent reason .. the quest for the non existent reason and the self denials eventually succumb to the fear of unknown force ... A force that wedges in through every aspect of your life .. and we call it destiny

and then you read .. The Alchemist .. The Secret .. For somebody like me who has read very little all his life, Non fiction and piles of self help books start making sense .. gradually .. astrology .. faith .. religion everything seems connected ..

Now understanding astrology is very simple ... it draws from the understanding that existence is a function of space and time .. each one of us in the world are manifestations of cosmic energy .. which is influenced by the positions of various stars and planets in the time-space coordinates of the universe .. Several key events play an important role .. birth for one is a key event .. based on your location on earth and the time and date of birth .. your coordinate in the three dimensional solar system is fixed .. the life force injected into you at that time is a combined impact of the various forces from all the stars, clusters, planets at the time in space .. that explains the birth star, raashi(constellation) and the kundali (planetary alignment) .. with positions of different planets in the different positions .. now the ambiguity arises in the interpretation of these influences on our existence .. one way is to verify would be through pure statistical analysis .. if you could establish correlation between these parameters to certain characteristics of individuals then .. these predictions are plausible ..

Next major unknown force .. the power of faith .. I believe in the unknown (u call it god) and not in religion .. religion is merely a channel used by preachers to inculcate faith in people .. While religion was born out of circumstances (social,political) .. faith has been universal .. whether it is prayer or heartfelt best wishes ... or even ill luck brought upon by bad omens .. it all leads to the thought espoused by Paolo Coelho and Rhonda Bryne .. that when something is very strongly desired .. good or bad .. the whole world conspires to make it happen .. You might say .. an individual would naturally focus all his efforts towards the singular goal .. But in reality most often, experiences in life make us believe that there is a strange unknown force backing you in ur pursuit ..

Now .. when everything in life goes horribly wrong despite all efforts .. you wonder, worry then you visit the friendly neighbourhood astrologer .. and he identifies it as the ill effects of unsuitable planetary alignment .. the unknown force is working against you .. so what does he recommend ?.. some pooja .. some meditation .. some donations (Charity) .. there is some justification to these as well ...Pooja /meditation are meant to help you gain the power of faith and the confidence so necessary to enable you to overcome the ill effects of planetary alignment .. the charity to some extent is used to offset the effects of bad karma .. sounds fairly logical doesn't it :)

Now why match horoscope for marriages .. while marriages are expected to lead to creation of new life .. the future of the new born is as much a function of its coordinates in 3 - D space - time universe as it is of the parents DNA embedded in the life form .. that would mean DNA is essentially the fingerprint of some of the forces that embedded during the origination of life ..

Well beyond this .. how will job prospects, health prospects are determined by astrology is beyond my understanding ..

I completely feel each one of the explanations is trash .. absolute trash .. but i cant agree or disagree either .. as there is always the unexplained .. until then .. every hypothesis is a plausible interpretation .. astrology is just one of them .. To make it easy, just let go and believe in the power of prayer .. doesn't take much effort .. if it really works then so be it :)

Amen!