Life is an illusion

 There is a phrase called sanyasi samsara ( the family of sage) in Kannada. No, it does not refer to modern day sadhus  (!)  having some kind of family on the side. No, it refers to bachelors taking care of other’s families, often those of his siblings.  This person is having all the difficult responsibilities of a married man without any benefits.  Martha West is not exactly a Sanyasi. But she has left behind her family - saath samandar par - across the Mediterranean. But family does not leave her.  She is continuously caring for Mark’s family - Mark her employer. She is taking care of his schizophrenic wife Lynda and her friend Dorothy. Those two live in the basement of the house in their own world rarely coming up and interacting with Martha and Mark. She is caring for Lynda’s son Francis who is studying in boarding school and is rarely home. Even in holidays, he prefers to stay with Butt’s family in their country house. When home he is very polite, more so towards his own mother. 

ಕಠೋಪನಿಷತ್ ವಾಜಶ್ರವಸನ ಮಗನಾದ ನಚಿಕೇತನ ಕಥೆಯನ್ನು ಹೇಳುತ್ತದೆ.   ವಾಜಶ್ರವಸನು ಯಜ್ಞವನ್ನು ಮಾಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದ ಮತ್ತು ಅವನ ಎಲ್ಲಾ  ಆಸ್ತಿಗಳನ್ನು ದಾನ ಮಾಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದ. ಆದರೆ ನೀಡಿರುವ ಎಲ್ಲ ವಸ್ತುಗಳು ಉತ್ತಮ ಗುಣಮಟ್ಟವನ್ನು ಹೊಂದಿರದ ಕಾರಣ ಸ್ವೀಕರಿಸುವವರಿಗೆ ಏನೂ ಪ್ರಯೋಜನವಾದುವದಿಲ್ಲ. ಎಲ್ಲವೂ ಬರಿ ನಾಟಕ ಎನ್ನುತ್ತಾನೆ ನಚಿಕೇತ.  ಅವನು ಪದೇ ಪದೇ ತನ್ನ ತಂದೆಯನ್ನು ಕೇಳುತ್ತಾನೆ - ನನ್ನನ್ನು  ಯಾರಿಗೆ ಕೊಡುತ್ತೀಯಾ?. ಕೋಪಗೊಂಡ ತಂದೆ "ನಾನು ನಿನ್ನನ್ನು ಯಮನಿಗೆ ಕೊಡುತ್ತೇನೆ" ಎಂದು ಉತ್ತರಿಸುತ್ತಾನೆ.   ನಚಿಕೇತ ಯಮನ ಮನೆಗೆ ಹೋಗುತ್ತಾನೆ. ಅಲ್ಲಿ ಯಮ ಇರುವದಿಲ್ಲ. ನಚಿಕೇತ ಮೂರು ದಿನ ಅವನಿಗಾಗಿ ಊಟತಿಂಡಿ ತಿನ್ನದೇ ಕಾಯುತ್ತಾನೆ.  ಯಮ ವಾಪಸ್ ಬಂದ ಮೇಲೆ ನಚಿಕೇತನನ್ನು ನಿನಗೆ ಬೇಕಾದ ಮೂರು ವರವನ್ನು ಕೇಳು ಎನ್ನುತ್ತಾನೆ.  ಮೊದಲನೆಯ ವರವಾಗಿ ನಚಿಕೇತ ತಾನು ವಾಪಸ್ ಭೂಮಿಗೆ ಹೋಗಬೇಕು ಮತ್ತು ತನ್ನ ತಂದೆ ತನ್ನಲ್ಲಿ ಸಿಟ್ಟು ಮಾಡಬಾರದು ಎಂದು ಕೇಳುತ್ತಾನೆ. ಯಮ ತತ್ ಕ್ಷಣ ಆ ವರವನ್ನು ಕೊಟ್ಟುಬಿಡುತ್ತಾನೆ.   ಎರಡನೆಯ ವರವಾಗಿ ನಚಿಕೇತ ಸ್ವರ್ಗಪ್ರಾಪ್ತಿಯಾಗಲು ಮಾಡಬೇಕಾದಂತಹ ಯಜ್ಞ ಯಾವುದು ಮತ್ತು ಅದರ ವಿಧಿವಿಧಾನಗಳನ್ನು ವಿವರಿಸು ಎಂದು ಕೇಳತ್ತಾನೆ. ಯಮ ಅದನ್ನೂ ಹೇಳಿ ಕೊಡುತ್ತಾನೆ.    ಮೂರನೆಯ ವರವಾಗಿ ನಚಿಕೇತ ಮರಣಾನಂತರ ಏನಾಗುತ್ತದೆ. ಅವನು ಬೇರೆ ಸ್ವರೂಪಕ್ಕೆ ಮಾರ್ಪಡುತ್ತಾನೋ ಹೇಗೆ ಎಂದು ಕೇಳುತ್ತಾನೆ. ಈ ಪ್

 Latin words of the day : dies diem - day As in Carpe diem (seize the day) Some people prefer Carpe vinum . :) So you can guess what is dies lunae means. It is day of moon or Monday. Dies Martis (Mars) is Tuesday.  And hodie is today. Hodie non est mihi opus. - I do not have work today. Day in Sanskrit is दिवस or  दिन e.g. अहं प्रतिदिनं पुसत्कं पठामि | I read everyday. (Of course it is a lie) Today in Sanskrit is अद्य   अद्य उत्थाने विलम्बः अभवत्| I got up late today.

 Today is a festival. Which means all men, women and children will forward whatsapp forwards wishing a happy festival to all whatsapp groups.  But yugadi - it is not ugadi. Yuga - you know means a epoch. Adi -means beginning. It is not the beginning of an epoch. But is that of a lunar year. From today a new year starts according to Hindu calendars. At least for some of us. So my only wish is - which I did not dare to put in any whatsapp groups - I should act my age and my gray hairs in these groups. Because unlike blogs, people may read the messages.  So my only wish is this new year - Plava samvatsara - may this new year tell "go, corona, go". And may corona actually go go go.

 I am learning a little bit of latin. When downloading books did not help, now I am watching youtube channel easylatin. In each video, he explains grammar with plenty of sentences. So far it is helping.  e.g. Now I know that Mater filiam amat means the mother loves her daughter. I also know that Miles means soldier. And to make a sentence into a imperative, you just use the verb root  and remove "re" from it . So let us see, how long this goes. And when will it "this too will pass". But if you are a fellow language learner, here is the link to the videos.

 Should I really write this post? About a crime thriller? But I am really disturbed by this series "Ozark" in Netflix and still continue to watch it. Does ends justify means? Does a person has the right the destroy the lives of so many people to save his own life and his family?  Marty - a well established accountant some how gets entangled with a Mexican drug lord Sal. When things go wrong, to save his life, he tells Sal that he can launder the drug money - wash it in a remote town Ozark. As a trial run, Sal asks him to clean 8 mil in 3 months duration.  Marty packs his family and runs away to Ozark with the money. He buys a cafe, a gentle man's club and then even a funeral. He gets caught more and more in this crime ring. Marty tells Paul the preacher that he will build a church for the town. At present, the Sunday prayers are conducted in boats and all the devotees come in boats and are distributed the bible copies. Paul is very thankful for such a generous offer. But

 Sally and Paul descend into Mark's house. Sally does not speak, does not look, just frozen.  What happened was Sally's husband Colin who the authorities suspected to be a spy has ran away. May be to Russia, may be to America or some other country. So now the German refugee Jew Sally had to come to Colin's brother Mark's house. She doesn't know when and if her husband will come back. Mark's house is surrounded by secret service police and journalists  who just want one answer. Where is Colin? Sally tells Mark and Martha that she has some work in her house and runs away in the middle of their protests. Next morning, police call and tell Mark that Sally has gassed herself.  Now poor Paul is stuck with two adults whom he barely knows. He does not ask them where his parents are and they don't tell him. He keeps looking at the windows waiting for her mom.  In the meanwhile the journalists are still outside waiting for any one to come out and answer their question

 Martha West is living a nomadic life in London. She has left behind her family, her children and her previous life in Zambesia and trying to find answers here.  She works as waitress in a cheap cafe, staying as a tenant in the same place and witnesses how the "other half" lives. In her walks into the city, she finds a city unable to wake up from the ruins of the war. And people find it a sin to live a normal life because they say don't you know the war is going on.  But she has to find a job as she is broke. And her friend Jack another waif who is trying to fill the voids of his life with women - unsuccessfully, asks her to move into his building and carry his child. No, she can not.  But another friend Phoebe - or sister of friend Marjory - a fellow communist, offers her a job in an office as a secretary. This work is  some thing to do with liberating the colonies. Which Martha does not want to be reminded of. She declines curtly.  So Phoebe takes her to the place of an