Life is an illusion

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 ...

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...

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 feel...

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...

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 soci...

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 a...