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.