Life is an illusion

I look at my chrysanthemum plant. Amid withered leaves there is semi circle of a flowerish thing unwilling to lift its head. I think who ordered half a flower? Sorry, sorry, I shouldn’t be rude to bhu matha. But why half a flower?  Then I look at how Margaret Atwood describes similar situation. “The orange tulips come out all crumpled like stragglers from some returning army”. Of course pundits are pundits.  Coming back to plants in my garden, I can work with them unlike the narrator in her book. I water the plants religiously, remove weeds grudgingly. And some day I will also sprinkle the fertiliser, I have kept ready. I keep moving the plants from sun to shade and back to Sun. Leave hundred flowers as shown in some YouTube video, at least one or two? Instead I get half a flower?  I think the only way to survive this situation is to plant only non flowering, non fruiting(!) plants.  So that I can say it is (doing nothing is) a “feature” of these plants. (And they have learnt it from m

I could not find any interesting (read comedy) serials to watch. So I sat with “Arrows”. Two scenes were being shown. A man being attacked and his wife being attacked by gangster looking guys.  I could not watch the violence any more. So I switched on news channel. Again there is violence - rather discussion about violence and killing.  In soap opera we know who is the hero and who are the villains. In news channel, we no longer know for sure. Who is hero? And who are the murderes and villlains? In TV serial, we know that it is a make believe world and it is ketchup, not real blood. And the killed man will get up and walk. That does not happen in real life. Whether hero or villain, once killed is dead for ever.  His children are orphaned. And his parents have none to support them.

I happened to read an article in Big think which explained how social media is increasing intolerance because of its “algorithms”. Many millennials in this country and in world over, get their news only from social media. And social media shows them articles which they May click. That is the articles which already agrees with their view point. So they never get to see the other side.  I rarely use Facebook or Twitter. But even YouTube shows me the videos which are critical of the party I don’t support. So left leaning people will lean more towards left( and will be called “urban naxals”). And right leaning people will become nationalist and completely right.  We are seeing this phenomenon already happening here and else where. And what is the solution? How do we overcome intolerance from both ideologies? So today I started watching the “other “ side. I started watching 2019 narrative summit in Republic TV. I took courage to watch that channel because, there were only two panelists, so

I am becoming another Kejriwal. No I did not suddenly complete my IIT at this age. Nor did I leave a lucrative career in administrative services to join the movement with  Anna Hazare. I am just wrapping a muffler around my neck. That is the only similarity. The weather in Bangalore is cooooold. So I am repurposing my old dupatta as a muffler.  By the way, why do we call this a muffler? Why not just neck sweater or neck warmer?  Doesn’t matter the origin of name. It works. You feel warm without actually packing yourself.  This muffler does not get wet when you wash your hands. And you wash hand all the time when you are home. And wearing it, you don’t look like an old person all bent and packed. You look intellectual. Like Kejriwal!

You were reading a pattedari novel, sorry, detective novel. There are multiple deaths and it looks like every one has a motive. Who is the killer? Who is it? You are reading with bated breath. You will not get up from your chair until the crime is solved.  This was your childhood reading. I don’t think any one writes or reads detective books any more. May be the kids nowadays neither have inclination nor patience for such lame books. Does it mean that this genre is lost? Of course not!! I was seeing a similar program in a Kannada TV channel. The narrator had a bomb. All debit cards and credit cards May be banned in another 15 days.  Will there be a repeat of demonitization mayhem? How will people remove money from banks? She went on and on. Only after innumerable commercial breaks and infinite repeating of same sentences, she did reveal that after Jan 1st old cards without some chips May become invalid. And banks will replace your old cards with new ones. So that was one thriller!! You

There is much cliched quote “you can fool all the people for some time. You can fool some people all the time. But you can’t fool all the people all the time “ Proven right! Yet again!

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We read about heart wrenching stories of suicides and we tremble with unknown fear. There are 24 hour suicide helplines in major cities. If you are facing any problems or going through depression or any other problem, you can call these numbers and talk to the counsellors. These are some helplines Roshni  ph  +914066202000 COOJ Mental Health Foundation  Ph +918322252525 Sneha foundation Indiia Ph + 914424640050 Vandravela foundation Ph +18602662345 Connecting...     suicide prevention helpline for youth Ph +919922001122 Sahai foundation Ph +918025497777 And each city will have many psychological Counseling centres- few are free of charge. In Bangalore, the free Counselling centres I know are  Prasanna Counselling center Ph 08026608926 Banjara Academy Ph 8861792260 Samadhana apta salaha Kendra by Dr C. R. Chandrashekar Ph 08033085401 Please add more centres you know of in the comments.  Don’t for a moment hesitate to take help when needed. Your life is precious. Don’t lose it. 

It IS dark everwhere. People are stumbling. They can’t see any thing. And they are scared. Fear makes them do stupid things. No one can see any one else. They are still walking. Stumbling, yes but still walking. Nobody knows where. But this too will pass on. Soon it will be morning. Sun will shine light on every thing. And with the darkness gone, people see sense and will stop behaving like children. And everything will be alright again.

When Kauravas and Pandavas were learning archery, there was a competition. Students were supposed to hit the eye of the rotating fish looking at its reflection down below in the vesselful of oil. And Arjuna tells, according to the story, that he can see nothing but eye of the fish. So are our politicians. They have one aim and only one aim- the elections. Whether in power or waiting for it, all their actions, talks and plans are aimed at one and only one thing. How many votes do I get from this? It is the fault of us - the citizens we vote more for the caste or religion based divisive agendas. We do not ask them what do you give us - we ask them what do you give me. We fall prey to populist agendas instead of developmental agendas. We do not ask them how do you plan to alleviate poverty, unemployment, under employment, what are your plans for agriculture, civic facilities. Even though we know that a politician has his own interests in mind, we chose to ignore it. But some times we wake

I had just finished reading the book. And as usual was finding it hard to fall asleep. Then the dog started barking. Normally the strays in our road bark whenever they see a stranger. So I opened the side window and one dog walking on compound wall. Then I went to front window to see whether anyone was there. A man clad in shirt and shorts was standing in front of our door with some light coming out from his hand.  Is he using torch to look through our gate? Is he trying to take Photo/video of our house? Who was he and what was he doing?  Alarmed I just switched on the outside light. He casually walked out of our street. Looking backwards. Now the question is who was he and what was he doing? May be my dear friends/neighbours will be able to tell.

Turns out I still know how to read. Even the printed books where I can’t zoom the letters or increase the brightness. I started reading “the childhood of Jesus “ by Coetzee. Why is the title of my post say only childhood? May be I am more afraid than I admit. The book is about a man and a child in a strange country. They are immigrants there and they hardly know Spanish spoken there.  Which country have they gone to? Mexico? I don’t think so. Because they travelled in a boat. Pakistan? Don’t think so either. People in the new country are so nice and good natured. Not at all “terroristy” ;) Everyone supposes that Simon is the father of the child -David. But that is not true. He met the lost child in the boat. He wants to find David’s mother and reunite the mother and son.  He has no idea how does this woman look like. In the meantime he looks after David as a mother and father.  After initial difficulties they are given a tiny apartment in this new country and Simon works in the port as

I was watching one of Burkha Dutt’s interview. This time it was with Twinkle Khanna and Pad man -Arunachalam Muruganantham.  Read his Wikipedia page here. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arunachalam_Muruganantham Muruganantham who is a high school dropout has invented a machine which makes low cost sanitary pads. He has won Various awards for his innovatiion and also a Padmashri award. Now he sells his machines directly to women’ s self help groups with the help of ank loans. The women can learn operation of these machines in as less as 3 hours time. The inspiration for his invention was his wife. His wife like thousands of women in India was using a rag for menustral blood. Shocked, he bought a pack of sanitary pads for her. But it was so expensive. He decided to make sanitary pads himself.  As no one was willing to give feedback on his product, Muruganantham wore it himself with a bag of blood with a tube tied to his waist. He wore the pads for two weeks. This in our country where me

Why do I feel so happy when some one criticises him? Who am I talking about? You guess. That way, people in public life have more haters than we common folk.  We - the people will be hated by subordinates if we have any, may be by mother in law, and if son is married, by daughter in law. And of course neighbors.  But politicians, actors, singers get a very large number of fans and equal number of haters. Poor things their entire life will be spent on worrying “why do people hate me”? If they worry. A few years ago, we did not know and did not care at all about politicians. We just had one opinion about them-  that they are corrupt. Now they are new heroes whose actions are real! They Catch naxals, sorry bad people, remove corruption (!!!!), help poor people and work 24 hours a day to make our country great. Because of this, now we all have strong political opinions and have been categorised as people who admire a party and terrorists/naxals :)  So coming back to feeling happy, like we

I watched this film day before yesterday and it has disturbed me a lot. It is the controversial “Udta Punjab “. The censor board had suggested 89 cuts I believe. And there was huge outcry and so on. The film is about drug menace in the state of Punjab. Tommy Singh is a pop singer very famous. He is a drug user and his songs glorify drugs. One day he is arrested because the government wants show that it is taking action. But it can not touch the dealers with political patronage. In the jail Tommy realised how bad influence his songs have been when he realises all the fellow inmates are his fans and one of his fellow inmates tells that he killed his mother when she denied to give him money.  He wants to correct his mistake. In his next music show, he starts preaching them. But the audience want songs not a lecture. Angry Tommy urinates on them and then flees the scene chased by angry mob. Here he meets Bauria. She was an athlete from Bihar. But was forced to work in fields. There she get

What is wrong with me?  Or should the question be what are wrong with me? Physically, mentally and emotionally? But aren’t mental and emotional problems mean the same? Or do they? In Kannada, mental means some thing is wrong with you, mentally. Emotional normally means “my eyes welled up” ( which never happens with me) Ok. What are wrong with me? My feet and my knees are wrong, to start with. They think they are aged. I keep convincing them that you are as young as you think you are. But do they listen? It is as if they are deaf. Some times shoulders join the team because they are jealous of all the attention these low-ly limbs are getting. Then emotionally - I feel upset sometimes. And keep binge eating and watching. This upsets my digestion which makes me feel worse. And the loop keeps repeating. I write all these up as if it some juicy gossip and then complain when someone asks me if I am alright. Everyone has children who can read blogs. Especially when I publicise them in social m

Today I have published my new app C Quizard. This is an app with a large collection of C interview questions This app is the updated version of my earlier app C interview questions  App has 300 Mcq and 300 coding and descriptive questions. All questions have solutions. There is also a small quiz with random questions you can take any time. At the end of quiz, a graph showing your performance in various topics So if you are preparing for your first technical test and interview, search no more. Download the app   https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hegdeapps.cquizard

We went to Banavasi the other day. This could be our 10th visit to this temple town. And I was like "aaaahh , yawn" But then I opened my eyes and saw the first thing - the elephant at the entrance of the temple. Wow, it is marvellous. The stone sculpture is so beautiful. Then I realized this is not a temple built last year, or last decade. This temple is almost thousand years old.  It was built by Kadamba kings. Kadambas Kadambas were the first "Kannada" kings to have established a large kingdom. Their official language was Kannada! Did you know when the kingdom started its rule - it was around 320 AD!!! Mayur Sharma - said to be a Brahmin established this kingdom. They ruled for around 300 years from Banavasi and then Chalukyas overthrew them. But the branches of Kadamba kingdom ruled from Goa, Hanagal and Halasi for another 600 years.  The famous poem by the poet Pampa “Mari dumbiyagi men kogileyagi huttuvadu Banavasi deshabille. arankusha

You find me saying this so often. It means "let them do what ever they want" Now whom do I say it to? In what context? You guess it. Earlier I used to worry A LOT. What if this happens? What if next this happens? What if he does this? What if she does this? Then what will happen? And so on. The thought process will go on for a long time - like a train which has escaped its tracks. Now I have decided. No more. ಏನಾರೂ ಮಾಡ್ಕೊಳ್ಳಿ. I really don't care. Because caring and worrying has made life more complicated that it already is. So. Now I am trying really hard to apply the same rule to the political scenario. Let them do whatever they want. Now, you are wondering, is my life less important to me than politics? No, not exactly. But I have realized that there isn't much I can do with the former. Or is there? Even in politics, the more we tell people that their choice is wrong, more they convince you and themselves that their choice and their leader is right.

I have been spending last few days browsing online shopping sites. Endlessly. Not that I buy many things. On other days, I would spend most of my time watching youtube videos and watching repeated TV shows. Why? Because my belly is filled. And I don't know how to use the resources with me. Or I don't care so much. So now I am asking this question to myself, my fellow countrymen and women, our media persons and our politicians.  Do we ever think what we can do to stop these children from breaking their backs instead of playing and going to school?  Do we think what makes this old fragile woman to labor for just to earn two meals a day?  What about these kids? They do not have their own rooms filled with toys, books and other stuff. Their house is this cement pipe.  This girl is picking rags so that she can earn few rupees by selling it and that money will help her parents. Who will help her family and her? When we hail an uber or an ola just

Some background: We all have heard about how God came down on earth and gave these commandments to people. Some people say it was given to the people through Moses. But what are these commandments? They are normal moral values. Like respect your parents, do not steal, do not lie, do not commit adultery, do not covet other's things etc. But the first one is "I am your Lord and you will pray only to me". This looks like a child's command to me. May be the Lord was a child at that time. Who knows? We have forgotten to obey most of these commandments except for the first one. We lie as if it is our second language. We cheat. We covet - if we don't the advertises will go out of business. We may not kill or commit adultery. At least not all of us. But now we have been given one more commandment by our government. Which is you shall not question. No, not your parents, not your God, but the Government. Those who work in Universities funded by UGC can not spea

Ha, the title tells you that it will be a comic retake on Jane Austen's classic "Pride and prejudice." That was the impression I got when I started watching the movie  on TV. Who does not like a Victorian lifestyle with a sprinkle of 'undead'? And my impression was strengthened when the narrator said that " the rich sent their children to study in Japan and wise sent them to China." Even in this movie, Mr. Bennet has 5 daughters of marriageable age but no means to marry them off. So his wife is always on the look out of rich 'matches' for her daughters. So far, so good. But where do zombies come into picture. Narrator also says that Zombies or undead are always attacking the humans which makes it necessary for people to be always armed and well trained in sword fighting. Even girls!  Yes, the all five Bennet girls are very good fighters and have swords and knives with them always. Now the story line continues in this manner. The arri

ಬೆಳಿಗ್ಗೆ ಎದ್ದು ರೂಢಿಯಂತೆ ಟೆರೇಸಿಗೆ ಹೋದರೆ ಅತಿ ಸುಂದರ ದ್ರಶ್ಯ ನನಗಾಗಿ ಕಾಯುತ್ತಿತ್ತು. ಬಣ್ಣ ಬಣ್ಣದ ಹೂವುಗಳು ಚಿತ್ತಾರ ಬಿಡಿಸಿ ಮುಗುಳ್ನಗುತ್ತಿದ್ದವು. ತಕ್ಷಣದ ಇನ್ಸ್ಟಿಂಕ್ಟ ಓಡಿ ಹೋಗಿ ಕ್ಯಾಮರಾ - ಕ್ಷಮಿಸಿ  ಮೊಬಾಯ್ಲ ತರೋಣ ಎಂದು. ಇದೂ ಕೂಡ ಒಂದು ರೀತಿಯ ದುರಾಸೆಯೇ!  ಪ್ರಕ್ರತಿಯನ್ನು ಸಹ ಹಿಡಿದಿಟ್ಟುಕೊಂಡು ಜಂಭ ತೋರಬೇಕು ಎನ್ನುವದು! ಅಥವಾ ನಮ್ಮ ಸೀಮಿತ ಭಾಷಾ ಚಾತುರ್ಯದ  ಪರಿಣಾಮ. ಇದನ್ನು - ಈ ದೈವೀ ಸ್ರಷ್ಟಿಯ ಕೌತುಕವನ್ನು ನಮ್ಮ ಲಿಮಿಟೆಡ್ ಭಾಷಾ ಜ್ನಾನದಿಂದ ಹಿಡಿಯಲು ಸಾಧ್ಯವಿಲ್ಲ. ಕನಿಷ್ಟ ಚಿತ್ರದಲ್ಲಾದರೂ ಹಿಡಿಯೋಣ, ಎಂಬ -  ಭ್ರಮೆ. ಆಗಸದ ತಾರೆಗಳು ಕೆಳಗಿಳಿದು ಭುವಿಯ ಅಲಂಕರಿಸಿದಂತಿರುವ ಮಲ್ಲಿಗೆಯ ಸಂಭ್ರಮ. ನಾನು ಇನ್ನೂ ಚಿಕ್ಕವಳು ಎಂದು ಜಂಭದಿಂದ ಕೆನ್ನೆಯುಬ್ಬಿಸಿಕೊಂಡು ಕುಳಿತಿರುವ ಗುಲಾಬಿ, ಹೂವ್ಯಾಕೆ ನಾನು ಮೊಗ್ಗನೆ ಪೋಣಿಸಿ ಮಾಲೆ ಹೆಣೆದಿರುವೆ ಎನ್ನುತ್ತಿರವ ರತ್ನ ಗೆಂಟಿಗೆ. ಎಲ್ಲವೂ ಕೇಳಿದವು ಒಂದೇ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಯ  - ಈ ದೈವೀ ಸೌಂದರ್ಯ ಸಿಕ್ಕೀತೇ ನಿನ್ನ ಮರುಳು ಮೊಬಾಯ್ಲಲ್ಲಿ ?

ಬುದ್ಧನಾಗಬೇಕು ಅವನು ಕಾಣಲಿಲ್ಲ ಯಾವುದೇ ಕಷ್ಟ ಮುಪ್ಪು ರೋಗ ಸಾವು ಪರರ ನೋವನು ನೋಡಿ ಬುದ್ಧನಾದ ಅವನದೇ ಸಂಕಟವಾದರೆ? ಬುದ್ಧನಾಗುತ್ತಿದ್ದನೇ? ಕ್ರುದ್ಧನಾಗುತ್ತಿದ್ದನೇ? ಬುದ್ಧನಾಗಬೇಕು ಅಳುವು ವಿರೂಪ ಕುರೂಪ ನಿರಂತರ ಅಳುವು ಕಿತ್ತುಕೊಳ್ಳುವದು ನಮ್ಮ ತನವ ಮನವ ಒಳ್ಳೆತನವ ಆದರೂ ಬುದ್ಧನಾಗಬೇಕು ನೋವಿಲ್ಲದ ನಲಿವಿಲ್ಲದ ಚಿಂತೆಯಿಲ್ಲದ ಅನಂತ ಆಕಾಶದಲ್ಲಿ ಲೀನವಾಗಬೇಕು ಬುದ್ಧನಾಗಬೇಕು ಹೇಗೆ? ಹೇಳಿಕೊಡಿ ಒಂದಿಷ್ಟು

All my life I have been thinking "what will she think", "what will he think", "what will they think" etc.. Yes, that is called worrying about other's reactions. And it has not served me well. Though I have been thinking so much, I rarely understood what I am thinking. But my mother used to say   ನಿನ್ನ ನೀ ಅರಿಯದಿರೆ ನಿನಗೆ ನೀನೇ ಅರಿ Ha, you know something friends, my ubuntu language switch works much better than the kannada transliteration tool provided by blogger. OK, what the above Kannada saying means is "if you don't understand yourself, you are your own enemy (ari)." Yes, I have been doing this all my life - being my own enemy. Not standing up for myself, not taking responsibilities of my deeds and misdeeds and so on. So I have decided to understand - especially when I am upset, I am boiling, my head is exploding, to analyze myself. What am I thinking and why? Why does that make me so angry or worried? Lekhana Keyboard Fo

I am an insomniac. Have been for quite some years. What I have observed lately is listening to some audio lets me fall asleep. Doesn’t matter what that audio is. It can be some spiritual audio or technical or even Ted talk. The question arises- what is the reason behind this phenomenon? We all have so many problems- unsolvable, unfathomable and some times completely non-existant. We think and worry and dissect and imagine so many scenarios endlessly.  These demons attack us so much that it is unbearable. What an audio does is it tells us that there is a world outside of ourselves too. And our minds calms down and invites sleep. Many of these self help books and articles keep telling us that we have to reserve some “me” time. Let me tell you something else - we need the opposite. We need to reserve only an hour a day as me time and the rest as “anything but me time”. Do you agree?

I have published my third Kannada keyboard for Android phones - which is called Lekhana keyboard. This keyboard has some wonderful features like ease of use, ability to switch between keyboards in single click and transliteration. Transliteration is the process where you type using English normal qwerty keyboard and the letters are converted to Kannada. So the idea is, the keyboard is convenient for people who prefer English keyboards for Kannada and also for people who prefer to use Kannada letters to type. Another feature which is not found in many other keyboard apps is ease of writing ballis like ಕ ಕಾ ಕಿ etc. You just type ಕ and the entire balli appears in a window. You have to select the required letter. No need of searching throughout multiple screens. Ottakshara typing is also easy. In qwerty keyboard to type ottakshara, you just type first letter followed by second letter. To type  ಕ್ಷ  - you have to type k followed by sha. To type ತ್ರ --you type t followed by r.

The problem is we have given key to our life, our happiness and almost our existence to these electronic things. If any one gets hold of the key, they can make or break us. Why would they make us? They will break us. I made much fuss and cry few months ago about losing my developer account and my blogger account. In vain. Nothing happened. I did not get back my account. Nor could I find out whether it was hacked or not. But last fortnight I noticed that one of my apps (from same developer account) - which is no longer in my control, was no longer available in google play. I was upset, worried and lost. Then I recovered and "moved on". Today I saw that all but 3 of my apps have vanished into this air. Just like the song ella mayavo, prabhave ella mayavo account mayavo, app mayavo kannu muchchadenu ella mayavo Now from the proud owner of 7 apps, I have been reduced to a budding programmer of 4 apps. Bear with me, friends, I will build back my life and take the k

Bech is middle aged writer who hasn't written anything significant for a long time and has realized that now that he is not writing, people are finding greatness in him and his works. So he happily attends college symposiums, seminars etc. all around the world. That is the story so far (what I have read) of the book "Bech is back" by John Updike. I should have brought one of his Rabbit series instead. But as usual, I read about him in Wikipedia after bringing the book.  But, I am reminded again and again how weak is my vocabulary for a person trying to award winning authors. And I am also reminded how little attention span I have when I try to read without skipping his sentences which span 5 to 6 lines. So far I like the book. Almost.

My day starts with a deep philosophical conundrum in the morning. Why should I get up? No, no, I am not a teenager rebelling against the idea of getting up, angry at her mom for waking her up. But I find it difficult to understand the purpose. Anyways I do get up and make a cup of tea and take it to the terrace. Where I have some potted plants. Many of which are withering, have ants all around and crying in despair. Yes, I must warn my gardener (me) and tell her to take better care of them. Then I look at the sky. For more than 4 months now, the sky has been dull gray as if even the sky is disillusioned with life and us. After looking at this sad sky, plants do not look so withered and sick. But some days, like yesterday, there were non-gray clouds in the sky, with a hint of pink in them. A nice, nice sky. But they were hurrying some where afraid of me bringing my camera (mobile) to shoot at them. They need not have. By the time I limp down the stairs and climbed them again, not o

Here is the question paper of Pravesha exam conducted by Sanskrit Bharathi held on 19-8-2018 in Bangalore. Hope it helps.

We live in a world where we have so many truths - the television truth, the whatsapp truth, the facebook truth, the newspaper truth - all of which are many many shades of gray. How can the poor little real truth compete with these newer fancier competitors and survive? We live in a world where compassion and kindness are derided as weakness, where cruelty is glorified as bravery, where hatred is masquerading as patriotism. How should we survive in this world and also remain sane? And the one who grandiosely declared that he will "sambhavami yuge yuge", where is he now? Why isn't he taking yet another "avatar" to fix this earth and fix all of us?

I have written earlier that I am learning Sanskrit. Yes, and I am also taking an exam in Sanskrit. Strange but true. Till now, the only Sanskrit I pronounce were the shlokas I would mutter. No I don't give beautiful gaalis and selected adjectives to the God I am praying to while I am praying - though I am entitled to. I don't say "vaktratunda mahakaya", "tell me why should I pray at all. What good you have ever done to me","nirvignam kuru me deva, sarva karyeshu sarvada", "nirvighna, huh, I don't see anything but vighna whatever I do" etc. etc. No I don't do this. Again I am entitled to do it, but I don't. Scold God while praying. But then one day when I was feeling completely disillusioned with life etc. etc., my friend called me and asked whether I would like to study for this exam in Sanskrit. Of course I would be. Any learning which does not involve cooking and cleaning, I would be interested. And if that learning i

Stupid Bug Working computer :)

Well as we all have read that by 2025 Bangalore will face major water crisis, we must at least give a serious thought about water conservation. Please read this article in today's Hindu, where talks about supplying water from river flood plains and creating mineral water zones in forests. https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/scaled-up-solutions-for-a-future-of-water-scarcity/article24575853.ece

Let us look at some hypothetical situation. I write a whatsapp message saying that I read a book called Mithyameva written by Vimudha recently. The book looks really very old. It was in my great uncle's house along with all other old documents, which are kept in peetha and prayed to every year during Saraswati puja. And in that book there is a statement which says 1 = 0  So it must be really true. One is equal to zero. I send this message to few of my friends and acquaintances. They send to their friends and families, their friends groups. Then the message goes viral. So now everyone is discussing it. How can it be true? How can one be zero? It is basic arithmetic. But the person who sent is an engineer who left his job to read our scriptures in Sanskrit. He (it has to be he, how can a Pandita be a woman?) knows both science and technology and our culture. He has read our vedas and puranas. So it must be true. Say so many illiterate and literate people. But of cou

Some how I forgot this. For once I have photos which are not sad photos of sad looking me. But very interesting photos. Shedd Aquarium Chicago I have many more videos of this aquarium which I will be posting in due course. Field museum chicago Well this place is wonderful haven for art lovers. There are so many paintings both from older times and contemporary. And there are statues. The collections are from all over the world. I had tried shooting the names of the paintings also. But it is vain. I don't know any name. But the best museum was Met in New york. What I liked there was a huge collection of marble statues from Greek and Roman civilizations. Many are broken, but the faces are so perfect, as if they are not mortal.  

One day in his last visit, our son suddenly started talking philosophy. "To your prosperity, so many people have contributed directly or indirectly. Don't you think it is time, you people started giving back to the society". That was more almost 8 months ago. And we have not started yet. Because our middle class mentality is always, as long as we don't harm others, or cheat others, we are fine. We earn a honest living, save for a rainy day and that is it. Why do I remember it today? I was reading about Jean ValJean. You remember him from the book/movie "Les miserables". The person who was punished for 19 years of prison for stealing "a loaf of bread". Don't just disregard this by saying that it is a story, from another country, from another era. Aren't there many such Jean ValJeans in our own society? In fact in our country, there are thousands of people who are in prison for many years waiting for their judgment. Yes, of course.

After bhoota, we need to cover bhavishya too. Ok - bhoota kaala is past tense and bhavishyat kala is future tense. And I am writing these without looking into my book because I studied these terms for my Kannada grammar. ages ago. Future tense  is relatively simple in Sanskrit. Because you need to just add "ish" to the dhatu and use the same form as present tense. And I am not talking about Aishwarya Rai wali ish. So bhavati become bhavishyati . likhati becomes likhishyati and so on. Now it is time for some sample sentences. स​: लिखिष्यति    - she will write सा खादिष्यति     - she will eat मार्जाल​: गमिष्यति (not गच्छिष्यति )   - the cat will go ते वदिष्यन्ति             - they will speak ता: धाविष्यन्ति         - they (f.) will run त्वं श्व​: ग्रामं गमिष्यसि  - Tomorrow you grow to village.  यूयं पुस्तकं दास्यथ - You all will give book यूयं लिखिष्यथ   - You all will write अहं प्रक्ष्यामि    - I shall see अहं आगमिष्यामि  - I shall come वयं वन्दिष्यामहे    - We shall

We always have an option. Either to wallow in self pity or get up and do some thing. OK. So here are my Sanskrit knowledge. Past tense or ल​ङ् lakar Past tense of verbs is formed in Sanskrit by adding a prefix of "a" and adding modified dhatus. Let us look at some sentences. Rama went to school.     रामः विद्यालयम् अगच्छत् | Sita drank water.   सीता जलम् अपिबत् | He read the book. सः पुस्तकम् अपठत् | They went home. ते  गृहम् अगच्छन् | Women ate fruits. महिलाः फलान् अखादन् | Boys wrote.  बालकाः अलिखन् | You laughed. त्वम् अहसः | You drank milk. त्वम् क्षीरम् अपिबः | You ran. त्वम् अधावः | You all prayed   यूयम् अनमत​ | You all brought flowers. यूयम् पुष्पान् अनयत | You all talked. यूयम् अवदत | I ate. अहम् अखादम् | I read a book अहम् पुस्तकम् अपठम् | I sang. अहम् अगायम्| We prayed. वयम् अनमाम | We drank water वयम् जलम् अपिबाम | We danced वयम् अनृत्याम | Note that all these verbs are parasmai padi verbs. So the table is here.              

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Have you ever decided that you will change your completely, become more active, proactive, non-self-sabotaging, on the whole a better person? Once you go back home? Now I have realised that I do it every single time, I go elsewhere. And inevitably I do not implement any of these, when I reach home. This is like new year resolution like me For example- currently I am thinking how I will travel my city, blog about it, blog about citizens’ problems, organise my home, and so many other things. But my dark wolf is sniggering. And I hate it  because there is truth in that snigger. Any of you do this “resolutions”?

I have been thinking- we have so many rivers, so much rain fall. But still water scarcity. Why? Is it due to lack of planning? Or citizen indifference? Or because of population? We tend to go with third answer and declare our helplessness. But there must be something one can do. For our future generations!!! In Bangalore, there are plenty of parks. I think it will be possible to construct some very small lakes in each of them. May be the outflow of each of these can be sent to storm water drains.  Rain water harvesting which was said to be compulsory can be implemented. Citizens can be given 2 months time to implement after which a fine of a very huge proportion can be levied on them. To make this more lucrative, government can give some rewards to this - e.g. no water bill for 6 months if you have rain water harvesting. People normally look towards short time benefits. Rain water harvesting must be implemented in apartments and also in government buildings including sc