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Truth

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The tragedy of modern day when many of us have no worries of roti-kapada ya makaan is that we don't have role models. We don't have a father figure or a mother figure we can aspire to. Every one seems to have feet of clay.  Take the example of Elon Musk. Before twitter, I read some where that he is this crazy genius, who is inventing one revolutionary technology after another - space travel, electric cars come to mind. Now he has taken over Twitter and facing hate and ridicule every single day.  That could be one of the reasons I am still continuing listening to Experiments with Truth by Gandhiji. He is some one our generation can look up to and idolize.  The Hindi as well as English translation (by Mahadev Desai) are written so well. And the story never appears self-righteous nor dogmatic. The words so sound so honest.  It is down to earth story of a down to earth man who shook the entire nation and the world. And it is the story of a man who is revered and respected all over
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ಸೇಲ್

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ಎಲ್ಲೆಲ್ಲೂ ಹಬ್ಬ ಭರ್ಜರಿ ಮಾರಾಟ - ಸೀರೆ ಯಿಂದ ಚಡ್ಡಿಯ ತನಕ ಗೊಂಬೆಯಿಂದ ಗಾಡಿಯ ತನಕ ೫೦-೬೦-೭೦ ಪ್ರತಿಶತ ಕಡಿತ   ನಾನು ಅಲ್ಲೆಲ್ಲ ಹುಡುಕಿದೆ ಎಲ್ಲೆಲ್ಲ ಹುಡುಕಿದೆ ಚೂರು ಖುಷಿ, ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ನೆಮ್ಮದಿ, ಇಷ್ಟೇ ಇಷ್ಟು ಸಮಾಧಾನ ಸಿಗಲೇ ಇಲ್ಲ ಎಲ್ಲೂ ಸಿಗುತ್ತಿಲ್ಲ -ಸ್ಟಾಕ್ ಇಲ್ಲ  ಯಾವಾಗ ಬರುವದೋ ಗೊತ್ತಿಲ್ಲ  
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Magician's assistant

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 I had read already 3 books of the author Ann Patchett. So I decided let me read this 4th book by her.  Though I sat and completed the book - it did not reach the standards of her other books. The narration is excellent, but the story line is somewhat not as good as her other books.  The magician's assistant is a 50 year old Sabine whose husband, her long term associate and her only true love has died. And she is deep depression and spends her days just lying down. Until she receives an unexpected guest - her lawyer - who reveals a strange secret.  That her husband Parsifal has his family back in Nebraska - a mother and two sisters. And he has left behind some money for them. And also his real name was Guy Fetters.  Sabine is shocked beyond words - he had always told her that his family - father, mother and a sister all had died in an accident. And he would just not talk anything when ever she broached the subject of his parents. Why did he lie to her?  Sabine's parents suggest
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Buyocracy

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 By the time I set the font, its size and also search back the site which has the book I was reading online, I remembered something in the kitchen and ran there.  See, the problem with free sites like readanybook, is they don't bother about prettiness of the site much. So it is slightly irritating to read your favorite book.  Yes, I selected comic sans. I am a boomer.  But this was just an unrelated rambling.  I have yet another enlightenment about democracy. The industrialists pay uncountable millions and buy the politicians. These politicians come to power and pay some millions to TV channels and buy them. And the TV channels do not pay a single penny (or paisa) and buy all of us - the gullible citizens. (Great is the power of jingoism and 'faith') So who is the ruler here ? The industrialists? Money? Our blind faith? Can I call this form of governance   buyocracy?
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Dunki flight

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We are all angry about illegal immigrants - Rohingyas, Bangla-deshis. And in the case of America, everyone else. But do we really know their story? Do we bother to know those? Why would we? We see them as terrorists who have come to destroy our country.  Dunki - a Hindi film is about such immigrants - not from Bangladesh, but from India - from Punjab. Mannu and her friends want to go to London - to earn in 'Pounds' so that they can help to alleviate poverty of their parents. Their dream has its seed from people in their town who have 'havai jahaj' on their terraces. Those parents whose children have gone to UK, put up a plane on top of their terraces. And they proudly tell the success stories of their kids.  And these successful kids, come home occasionally and take away the pretty girls, breaking the hearts of local young men. So these trio want to go to UK. And they come across a kusti coach - Hardy -Hardayal Singh.  Hardy - SRK was one of the reasons I wanted to watc
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What do we fear?

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When a person fears something, he becomes deluded, and is unable to think clearly. Makes mistakes often and as a result, faces further difficulties. So what does one fear? As we progress in our age, and become wise old men/women, there aren't many things we need to fear.  We don't fear the loss of our beauty, as it is a long gone. We don't fear the loss of our youth, again same argument.  We only have to fear jaraa mratyu - old age and death. And of course vyadhi - disease.  But me, I don't fear vyadhi much, because by God's grace, I am reasonably healthy. Except for occasional digestive disorders. And my laptop and phone are filled with remedies for bloating, acidity etc.  I think I fear uncertainty. For example take today - I had sudden stomach cramp. Now I started my endless cycle of thought-process. What might have caused it - did I have slight burning in my tongue as well? Do I have food poisoning? How and why?  Unfortunately these questions are not easy to ans
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Numeric philosophy? Sankhya darshana

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 I was happily writing ashtavakragita translation. Then I went back and saw that my viveka chudamani translation was incomplete and in a bad shape. So started fixing it - most of the work I do is to change colors and fonts and add some links. And reading and confirming that I understand the words and they are typo free.  Then some how I started reading about Sankhya philosophy. It appeared simpler and more non-abstract than advaita philosophy of Shankara.  So I discontinued Chudamani too. And have been currently watching youtube shorts and cursing the day I was born . And when I don't feel great due to any reason, I start to wonder - should I start my reciting again. Like all semi-believers, I try this clutch when I don't understand what to do.  It is funny to be thinking about repeating some prayers verses in an unknown language while trying to understand Sankhya. Because though Sankhya is an astika(accepts the authority of Vedas) philosophy, it does not say there is a God. 
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