Dear John,

I returned from India today. It was a very refreshing trip, and I am glad I could get the time with the extended family. I mentioned I was born in Ujjain, which is a big religious and historical landmark for India. I am not very religious, but a complete devout towards culture and history. So in that sense Ujjain becomes special for me.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ujjain)

I wanted to take the Samstone to some very special place. I found that special place to be the Harsiddhi Temple in Ujjain. It is one of the 51 Shakti_Peethas (Shakti Peetha = Home of Energy).

You need to read the story. In someway you will see the connection on why I want to take samstone here.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakti_Peethas)

In the photo, you will see a tree from Banyan family, and some threads tied to the trunk. In the background, you see two black pillars. The popular belief is that if you have some pending wish, you tied a thread at this tree and pledge something. When the wish gets accomplished, you return, and light a lamp at the pillars (you can see the placeholders on the pillars for lighting lamps).

The pillars are not originally black. They become black due to all the carbon layers from the oil lamps. (which means apparently a lot of people are getting their wishes fulfilled 🙂 To me, these threads are nothing but hope. And Hope is a very powerful tool, perhaps the most important tool.

By placing the samstone next to the Banyan tree, I get a feeling that Sam is protecting people's hopes.

 Regards,
Neeraj

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Neeraj Sharma