Life is an illusion

ಪಾಂಚಲೀ, ತಡೆಯಲಿಲ್ಯಾಕೆ ನನ್ನ  ಈ ಕ್ರೂರ ಯುದ್ಧ ಮಾಡದಂತೆ? ಬೇಕಿರಲಿಲ್ಲ ನಮಗೀ ರಾಜ್ಯ  ಹೋಗಲಾರೆ ರಸ್ತೆಯಲಿ  ರುಂಡ ಮುಂಡ ಕೈ ಕಾಲುಗಳು  ಕೂಗುತ್ತಿವೆ  ಮಹಾರಾಜ ಎಲ್ಲಿ ನಮ್ಮ ಪ್ರಾಣ  ಕೂರಲಾರೆ ಸಿಂಹಾಸನದಲಿ  ಮುತ್ತಜ್ಜನ ಶಯ್ಯೆಯ ಬಾಣಗಳು ಚುಚ್ಚುತ್ತಿವೆ   ಯಾರೋ ಅಳುತ್ತಿದ್ದಾರೆ  ಅಮ್ಮ ನೋವೂ  ತುತ್ತು ಅನ್ನ ಉಣಲಾರೆ  ಅಪ್ಪ ನನಗೂ ಎನ್ನುವ ಮಕ್ಕಳು  ಎಲ್ಲಿ ಎಲ್ಲಿ ? ಬರೀ ಭ್ರಮೆ  ಭೀಮಾರ್ಜುನರ ಬಳಿ ಹೋಗಲಾರೆ  ಅವರ ದೀನ ನಿಶ್ಶಬ್ದ ಅಳಲು  ನಮ್ಮ ಮಕ್ಕಳೆಲ್ಲಿ ಅಣ್ಣಾ  ಹದಿನೆಂಟು ಅಕ್ಷೋಹಿಣಿ ನಿಷ್ಪಾಪಿಗಳ  ಹತ್ಯೆಯ ಪಾಪ  ತೊಳೆಯಲಿ ಯಾವ ಗಂಗೆಯಲಿ ? ನೀನ್ಯಾಕೆ ತಡೆಯಲಿಲ್ಲವೇ  ಪಾಂಚಾಲಿ  ಈ ಕ್ರೂರ ನರಹತ್ಯೆಯ ?

 Make me a good person I prayed ever  But HE would not  change his script Some ridiculed Some laughed Many insulted Few feared I cry in my sleep Please save me But HE does not change his script His message "I will change your life iff (if and only if) you change your fear" A little bit of confidence  A little bit of security A lot of empathy Is all I need 

 An old post from March 2015 First of all, I must thank Arnab Goswami. If not for his way of conducting the debate about why the documentary should be banned, and his usual style of not letting others complete their statements, I would not have watched the documentary in youtube. The documentary shows a poor couple from village, who sell their land to fulfill their daughter's dream of becoming a doctor. That is some thing great  about parents in our country. No matter how poor they are, they strive really hard to educate their children and want them to succeed in life. The documentary also shows the Nirbhaya who wants to study and become a doctor so that she can help the people of their village. At the same time, it shows the convicts who feel that, it is girl's fault for going out in the evening, that too with her male friend. If you blame their background and lack of education for such a warped opinion about women, listen to their 'educated' lawyer. He to

She hears him frequently. He even gives her useful suggestions. He consoles her when she is upset. But Ewan is not visible. She has not lit the fire place since he has stopped becoming visible.  She is not ready to tell herself even herself also that he is dead. As if it some how is betrayal. And it will hurt him. She declines the offer by her sons and their spouses to come and stay with them. She wants to stay in her own house. Her and Ewan's house and of course  - Aphinland. Aphinland is the fantasy world she had created in her youth. It is an exciting world with dragons, demons, hexes, weapons, forts etc. She has written many books on this land and sold them.    Her publishers want her to join social network to promote the sale of her books. But she does not need more money. What can money do? It could  not even cure Ewan's tumor. This is how the story goes. What I liked about the book is that it is in large print - soothing for eyes. Or I liked it becau

P.S. : This is an old post. Old when Arnab did not have his own show and was supported by many.  If you watch Frankly speaking with Arnab Goswami - (people call it barely speaking with Arnab ... - rightfully so. He rarely lets others speak. Isn't it his show. Never, ever, never ever can any one else talk.) If you watch this show, you can hear "Congress blah blah blah Rahul Gandhi blah blah blah Rahul blah ....:. So my opinion - Arnabda, if you take Almighty's name as many times as you take Rahul's name, ( and now Nehru's name) you can very well get Moksha and be in Swarga.

ಕತ್ತಲೆಯ ಮಬ್ಬಿನಲಿ  ಕಾಣುವ ಭೂತಗಳು  ಬೆಳಕಿನ ಹೊಳಪಲಿ  ಪುಟ್ಟ ಏಂಜೆಲ್ ಗಳು    ಮತ್ತೆ ಕತ್ತಲಾಗುತ್ತಲೆಲ್ಲ  ರೂಪಾಂತರ ಈ ಭೂತಗಳಿಗೆ  ಮಂತ್ರವಿಲ್ಲ ತಾಯತವಿಲ್ಲ  ಓಡಿಸಬಲ್ಲ ಮಾಂತ್ರಿಕನಿಲ್ಲ    ಒಮ್ಮೆ ನೋಡಿದರೆ  ರಕ್ತಬೀಜಾಸುರನಂತೆ  ಮತ್ತೊಮ್ಮೆ  ಕೊಳ್ಳಿ  ದೆವ್ವದಂತೆ   ಯಾವ ದೈವದ  ಅವಕೃಪೆಯೋ  ಯಾರ ಶಾಪದ  ಉಸಿರೊ  ಬಿಡಲೊಲ್ಲದು  ಒಯ್ಯಲೊಲ್ಲದು  

 ಆಡು ಹುಲಿಯ ಆಟ  ಬೇಟೆಯ ಚೆಂಡಾಟ  ನೋಡಲು ಎಷ್ಟು ಚೆಂದ  ಹುಲಿಯು ಆಡನು ಹೊಡೆದು  ಕತ್ತನೇ ಕತ್ತರಿಸೆ  ವಾ ವಾ ಎಷ್ಟು ಶೌರ್ಯ   ಆಡು ತಿಂದ ಹುಲಿ ಇತ್ತ  ತಿರುಗಿ ನಮ್ಮೆಡೆಗೆ  ಬರಬಹುದೇ? ಛೆ ಬರಲಿಕ್ಕಿಲ್ಲ  ಅದು ನಮ್ಮ ಹುಲಿ

 Power hungry, powerful people have taken over the power of social media.  Which is causing wide spread schism, intolerance and hatred in the society.  Agree?

 

 

 ಸಂತೆಯೊಳಗೊಂದು ಮನೆಯ ಮಾಡಿ ಶಬ್ದಕೆ ನಾಚಿದೊಡೆಂತಯ್ಯ ? ನಿಜ. ಹೈವೆ ಪಕ್ಕದಲ್ಲಿ ಮನೆಮಾಡಿ ದಿನ ಬೆಳಗಾದರೆ - ಬೆಳಗಾಗುವ ಎಷ್ಟೋ ಮೊದಲೇ ಗಾಡಿಗಳು ಪ್ಯಾ ಎಂದೋ ಪೆಪೆಪೇ ಎಂದೋ ಕೂಗುತ್ತವೆ ಎಂದು ದೂಷಿಸಲಾಗುತ್ತದೆಯೇ? ನಡುರಾತ್ರಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ವಾಹನಗಳ ವ್ರನ್ದಗಾನಕ್ಕೆ ನಾವು ಶತಸಾಹಸ ಮಾಡಿ ಬಾರಿಸಿಕೊಂಡ ನಿದ್ರೆ ಬಲಿಯಾದರೆ ತಪ್ಪು ಯಾರದು? ರಸ್ತೆಗೆ ಇಳಿದು ಅವರನ್ನು ಅಡ್ಡಗಟ್ಟಿ ಅವರ ಬಾಯಿ /ಹಾರ್ನು ಮುಚ್ಚಿಸಲಾಗುವದಾ?  ಪಾಡ್ಕಾಸ್ಟ್ ಕೇಳಿ, ಯೂಟ್ಯೂಬ್ ನೋಡಿ, ಕಡೆಗೆ ರಾಮ ನಾಮ ಸ್ಮರಣೆಯನ್ನೂ ಮಾಡಿ, ಮುದ್ರೆ ಮಾಡಿ, ಅನುಲೋಮ ವಿಲೋಮ ಇನ್ನೋಂದುಲೋಮ ಮಾಡಿ, ಅಂತೂ ಇಂತೂ ಬಂದ ನಿದ್ರೆ ನಾಶವಾಯಿತಾ ? ಪಾಪಿಗಳು, ಪಾಪಿಗಳು. ಮುಂದಿನ ಜನ್ಮದಲ್ಲಿ ನಿದ್ರಾಹೀನತೆಯಿಂದ ನನ್ನಂಗೆ ತೋಳಲ್ತಾರೆ.  ಇನ್ನು ಧೂಳೋ , ಕೇಳಲೇ ಬೇಡಿ. ಮನೆಯ ಪ್ರತಿ ಕೋಣೆಯಲ್ಲೂ ದೊಡ್ಡ ದೊಡ್ಡ ಕಿಡಕಿಗಳು. ತೆರೆದರೋ, ಧೂಳಿನ ಪ್ರವಾಹವೇ ಬಂದು ಬಿಡುತ್ತದೆ. ಯಾವ ಸರ್ಫೆಸ್ ನೋಡಿದರೂ ಒಂದಿಂಚು ಧೂಳು.  (ನಾನು ಈ ಧೂಳನ್ನು ರೀ-ಸೈಕಲ್ ಮಾಡುವ ಪ್ಲಾನ್ ಹುಡುಕಬೇಕು, ಬಹುಶ: ನನ್ನ ಗಿಡಗಳಿಗೆ ಮಣ್ಣಾಗಿ ) ಶಬ್ದಕ್ಕೆ ವಾಪಸ್ ಬರೋಣ.  ನಮಗೆ ಮನೆ ರಸ್ತೆಯಿಂದ, ಬಸ್ ಸ್ಟಾಪಿನಿಂದ, ಮಾರುಕಟ್ಟೆಯಿಂದ, ಶಾಲೆಗಳಿಂದ, ಆಸ್ಪತ್ರೆಯಿಂದ ತುಂಬಾ ಹತ್ತಿರವಿರಬೇಕು. ತಲೆಗೆ ಒಂದೂವರೆ ವಾಹನವಿದ್ದರೂ ಕೂಡ. ಆದರೆ ರಸ್ತೆಯ ಶಬ್ದಮಾಲಿನ್ಯ, ಪಾಲುಶನ್ ಬೇಡ.ಅದು ಸಾಧ್ಯವಾ?  ಇದು ಪ್ಯಾಕೇಜುಡೀಲ್ ಮಾರಾಯರೆ. ಅನುಕೂಲ

 This Someshwar temple in Ulsoor was said to be thousands of years old. The moment I got down from Ulsoor metro station, I felt I am in another place. A smaller town, slightly calmer but not cleaner than Bangalore. The temple is hardly 5 minutes walk from the station. The outer dwara gopura was temporarily covered with dried coconut leaves. But the walls themselves had such nice carvings. Once you enter the courtyard, there are many smaller temples in the periphery and a what looked like a brass Nandi with its own gopura. The temple has very large open mantapa with 48 stone pillars each with intricate carvings. According to wikipedia these carvings represent various scenes like Ravana lifting a mountain, Girija kalyana etc. Many pillars had sculpture of a man riding a lion. Internet told me that this temple is in Vijayanagar model. And some of Gods in the pradakshina had some Tamil names too. Facing the idol is a very large brass Nandi.

 Today I finally had my jnanodaya - I realized why men like - love their vehicles and are so passionate about it. Men love to have their daily dose of adventure. A vehicle gives it to them. Sitting on it, they feel they have super power, they are invincible. Not only that. Riding a vehicle on Bangalore road gives them real adventure. They have to cross hillocks. People call them man hole covers. They come across sudden obstructions. And they have to avoid the wells. And if they are lucky enough, they have to ride through the rivers. Rivers on the roads if it has rained heavily. Luckier ones get to swim in rivers, if they are unable to locate a drain in overflowing roads. For the aggressive types, there can even be verbal duels with extreme invectives. Sad thing is there can not be sword fights.  So if this is not adventure sports, what else is? I am sure men and women on moon will be wondering why do number of craters keep growing on this planet. And why some times t

 There was once a king. He used to visit a barber to get his hair cut. Barber noticed that king's ears are donkey ears. Or at least they looked like donkey's ears. When king saw barbers eyes fixed on his ears, he glared at him and threatened "If you tell it to any one....". King did not need to complete his sentence. The poor barber understood and kept quiet. But how long can a person keep such a secret? He started getting fatter day by day. When a friend asked him about his weight, the barber told him that he has a secret which he can not tell to any one. And the secret is growing bigger and bigger in his stomach and he is getting fat. The friend had a suggestion. He told the barber to go to woods and tell the secret to a tree. The tree won't talk. So the secret will be safe. And the barber has it out of his chest. So the barber agreed and went deep into the forest and selected some tree and told it "king has donkey ears". It so happe

 For few days I have been thinking about this. OK, now you realize this is going to be one of those I, me and myself posts. So it is. I have been thinking about what are the portions of my 73 kg weight? And I am not talking about scientific blood, muscle, bones etc. I think around 30% of my weight is fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of the unknown and of the partially known. Fear of sounds and sights. Fear of future, fear of present and fear from the past. So fear is the major ingradient here. Next comes guilt. Around 20% is guilt. Guilt of missed opportunities, guilt of having wasted my education, and wasting my capabilities. Guilt of not having done anything good for myself. Guilt of not being a good daughter, a good bahu, a good wife, a good mother. The rest is all anger. Anger towards everyone because they are being cruel or at least indifferent to me, anger towards  semi-believed God and anger towards self. As my anger, my guilt and my fear increase, so does my

 When in Rome, do as the Romans do. But in Kannada we have another proverb which is slightly derogatory. ಒಕ್ಕಣ್ಣು ರಾಜ್ಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಒಂದು ಕಣ್ಣು ಮುಚ್ಚಿಕೊಂಡು ಓಡಾಡು. "In a country full of one eyed men, walk with one eye closed." Wikdipedia showed me a list of similar proverbs in so many languages of the world. Which means, this is a universal concept. Why? Why should we conform to the common customs of the people? Or to put it crudely, why should we behave as a sheep in a herd? Is it because people do not like "others". They detest (slightly) others who do not conform to norms. They detest (strongly) who defy norms proudly. Most often their question is "Who does he/she think himself/herself to be? How dare he/she act like this?" OK, ok. If this norm is something "right", something your value system agrees upon, you can follow the norm. But what if you disagree? What if your value system says the path of everyone is wrong? Let me go to

 Pinterest not only has funny memes and quotes and lists for quick fixes (drink this and in one week you lose 10 kgs! Ha ha!). It also has pins of these amazing, wonderful painting and sketches. Bless these individuals for painting them and sharing them with us. When there are beautiful contents, you can expect funny drawings too. Here is one for you. Monolisas can be like us too.

 Elon Musk buys twitter. Then he disbands it, dissolves it and uses the resources for yet another one of his researches.  Inspired by this, some other billionaire industrialist buys facebook and whatsapp and instagram and dissolves them too. And then all the men, women and children of this planet live happily ever after.

I need a win today.  Do you ever hear a woman say that? As a woman do you ever say that? I didn't think so. All we say is I need to survive today . Yes, survival - in this dog eat dog world or should we say man eat everything else world. Aha, my husband won today. Look at my child! She won today. I have been praying day and night for my son/daughter/husband/grandchild. Why don't you pray for you? Why don't you need a win? Do you also think that you are a lesser mortal because of your gender? You get judged if you don't cook properly. Do you spell the word woman as c o o k? You get judged by how badly you manage the house. You get judged by the way you dress. Why?  Just by being a woman, are you telling the world - see I am here. Please pass on all your comments. I really don't mind being criticized.  And kartavya - I think this word also spelled as woman.  And the best thing is - you believe in all these crap yourself. And you tell yourself I don't deserve to wi

 SriLanka is facing the worst economic crisis. And people want to bring down the government. Imran Khan - the Pakistani president faced a no confident motion, tried to give an emotional speech, and try to escape. But could not.  In Ukaraine, Russia has waged war on it. Just because it dared to join NATO. The war is not showing any signs of ending soon. Many countries have imposed economic sanctions on Russia. NATO and America are trying to help Ukaraine. But not enough is being done. Or they do not want to start the next world war. In the mean time, thousands are dying in Ukaraine.  This helplessness of international community is not new. Afghanistan is taken over fundamentalist, terrorist regime of Taliban, after American forces withdrew. People don't even have basic rights there. And no one is lifting a finger. By the way, where is United Nations and what is it doing? Else where, ministers who are blamed for the death of people are roaming scot-free and are acting as if they were

 I was trying to update my aadhar card. Yes, I know, for a person who stares at the road or empty sky 24X7X365, any outside interaction is a great adventure. I needed my aadhar card to have my updated mobile number urgently. Google told me that it will be done in a Bangalore one center near my house.  Thus began my journey. In the center, I was told that, the tokens will be given only in the mornings - for about 5 minutes - 45 tokens in all. And you can't come later without such a token. But she gave me a useful tip too. She gave me a phone number of Sakala service who will come home and do the updating. So wonderful. I called the number and was promptly told that a "jana sevaka" will visit next morning. And after verifying the required documents he will initiate the updating process.  Wow, such a nice facility! I was thrilled and waited for the representative to come. He did not. But instead I got many, many calls from Sakala agency, asking whether any one came and then

 ನಾವೆಲ್ಲಾ ಚಕ್ರವ್ಯೂಹದಲ್ಲಿ   ಹೊರಗೆ ಬರಲಾರೆವು  ಒಳಗೋ ಕತ್ತಿ ಖಡ್ಗಗಳ ರಭಸ  ಎಲ್ಲೆಲ್ಲೂ ರಕ್ತ    ನಮ ಕೈಗೂ ಯಾರೋ ಖಡ್ಗ  ಕೊಡುವರು  ಯಾರೋ ಮುಂದೆ ದೂಡುವರು  ಯಾರು ಶತ್ರು ಯಾರು ಮಿತ್ರ  ತೋಚದು  ಯಾರ ಕೊಲ್ಲುವದು ಯಾರ ಕಾಯುವದು  ತಿಳಿಯದು    ಹೊರ ಬರವದೆಂತು  ದಾರಿ ತೋರುವರಾರು ದೂರ ತಳ್ಳುವರಾರು  ತಿಳಿಯದು

 I am supposed to blog things as I am a "blogger". But what do I write about. I know very little about. Almost anything. So I am "borrowing" poems from net and decorating them with some kind of an image and posting them.  Hope you like them too.  Well, too dark? Let us look at this poem by Dunya Mikhail Hoping for a ladder, but getting a snake. Yet again!

 We all have some idea about how harmful oil spills a re. But of course, it doesn’t concern me. My oil spill episode is about oil spilling onto kitchen floor. It was rush hour. I was trying to prepare breakfast, lunch box, tea for my family. And my maid was standing there waiting for me to give bartan for washing. My spouse being spouse was complaining that he is late for work, how long will the breakfast be. If there is a delay, he would rather leave. That’s when it happened.  While pouring oil to its container, I knocked it down. Spilling half a litre of sticky oily cooking oil to floor. I started shouting at my spouse. Enta Madavu. Very tricky oily situation Then I recovered and called Seetha and showed her how to collect the oil in a plate. Once that done, she sprinkled detergent onto the floor and mopped it twice.  She left after cleaning the house and I thanked her. Then I again scrubbec  kitchen floor with  dish wash soap and mopped it. And also mopped the entire house all over

I think the problem with all of us is that we pray to God in a language  most of us do not understand. Does HE understand what we are praying to him?  He must. Or  does he use Google translate? Or G-translate  - G as in God? See, all our holy books - we have so many of them, are written in Sanskrit. Or in Persian or in Hebrew? How many of us can read these books and understand these?  To make matters worse, many of these are in verse. When our knowledge of Sanskrit does not get beyond gachchati gachchataha gachchanti, how can we read and understand these shlokas? We can not. So we do not read. And ask our swamijis and gurus to tell the gist of the holy books to us. They do tell us. May be they understand these books and explain it to us. Without any agendas. May be! In some religions - their scriptures are translated into their own languages. Any one can read and understand. But do we have Vedas in Kannada? Or Hindi? Apparently we do. So says google baba. But google devote

He is a doctor. And is lonely. He does not work, nor talk to anyone, nor goes out anywhere. He is holed up in his room.  He is a  the doctor whose last rites were to be performed by a colonel in the story "Leaf storm" by Gabriel Marquez. Do you empathize with him? He asks Meme- the woman he is living with,  to abort their child. He is not willing to marry her. He is unwilling to treat the patients even in the times of crisis.  But the Colonel empathizes with him and antagonizes the whole village to give a decent burial to this man.  The entire story revolves around the dead body of a man in a dead town.  So is this story also tells us that "we have the rights only for our actions, not its fruits"?

  Did I visit the 80s and click these photos of rural life in our home town? No I do not have time machine,  yet. Watch closely. These are cement models. But they look so realistic.  Shalmala shilpa vana in Sirsi - Chipagi is in the outskirts of Sirsi town and has beautiful like like models of rural life. It is hard to believe that these are not real.  Hope this garden fashioned after Rock Garden in Gotagodi near Shiggavi, will soon have more models.

ಅದ್ವೈತವ ನುಡಿದು ಅಹಂಕಾರಿಯಾದೆನಯ್ಯ ಬ್ರಹ್ಮವ ನುಡಿದು ಭ್ರಮಿತನಾದೆನಯ್ಯ ಶೂನ್ಯವ ನುಡಿದು ಸುಖದುಃಖಕ್ಕೆ ಗುರಿಯಾದೆನಯ್ಯ ಗುಹೇಶ್ವರಾ ನಿಮ್ಮ ಶರಣ ಸಾಹಿತ್ಯದಿಂದಾನು ಸದ್ಭಕ್ತನಾದೆನಯ್ಯ       - ಅಲ್ಲಮ ಪ್ರಭು 

ಅವಳು ಅರಿಯಳು ಅರಿಯು ಯಾರೆಂದು ಬಲ್ಲಳವಳು  ಚಕ್ರವ್ಯೂಹವೆಂದು ಹಿಂದೆ ಖಡ್ಗ ಹಿಡಿದು ನಿಂತಿಹರೆಂದು ಸುತ್ತಲಿಹರೆಲ್ಲ ಶತ್ರುಗಳು ಮಿತ್ರರೆಲ್ಲಿ ಆಪ್ತರೆಲ್ಲಿ ಬರೀ ಭ್ರಮೆಯೆಂದು ಹೊರಬರಲು ಅಸಾಧ್ಯ ಬರದಿರಲು ಅಂತ್ಯ ಕುಗ್ಗಿ ಕುಬ್ಜವಾಗಿ ಮಾಯವಾಗುವಳವಳು ಮರು ದಿನ ಮತ್ತೆಲ್ಲ ಮರೆತು ಮರೀಚಿಕೆಯ ಹುಡುಕಿ ಹೊರಡುವಳು 

The book is Ignorance by Yugaslovean author Milan Kundera. And the subject of the book is nostalgia. The word algia comes from algos which means pain.  This nostalgia can be many times as bad as real physical pain. You are away from your home, from your people. You remember only happy memories and think that those days at home were so beautiful. Yearning to go back, but knowing too well that you can not, and little bit consoled by this, you are in really strange situation. But one thing you do not apprehend is, the home is not what it was earlier. Place will be changed, people  have changed and so have you. The source of your nostalgia is no longer present. This  story revolves around a woman who has emigrated to France from Yugoslavia because of communist misrule there. Now the country has given up communism, as other countries in the 90s decade. So it is safer to return. She remembers a poem where a poet  has quoted that he will wrap all his sadness around himself

Bengaluru- 15th September 2017: There are news from various parts of south India that the epidemic of "Thinking" is increasing, not only in cities, but also in towns and villages. The recent punishments given out by concerned citizens to the so called thinkers has failed to act as deterrent. For the first time in the history of the country, there was a peaceful protest in the city of Bangalore against Thinkers. People were seen holding placards saying "Thinkers go back to Pakistan", "Godless people", "Down with thinkers" etc. Politicians and bureaucrats alike are worried about this new plague inflicting the country. They are of the opinion that thinkers are worse than terrorists. Or they are "thought" terrorists. They cause serious damage to the national integrity and harmony among people. Through their thinking and writing. And worse still, they are inciting other people to think too. And once every one starts to think, th

 I hear this Kannada song in Soundcloud, which has lines    ಅಣು ರೇಣು ತ್ರಣದಲ್ಲೂ ಪರಿಪೂರ್ಣನು ನೀನು     ಕಣಕಣದಿ ಅವಗಣಗಳ ಕುಕರ್ಮಿ ನಾನು  which roughly translates to    you are perfect in each and every molecule    but I am full of defects and am a bad person Some how, the song touches my heart. By the way it is a devotional song and I can not remember how it starts. So this perfect God has created men and women in his form and he made some of them fair skinned, some of them dark skinned, some of them speak one language, some speak another language. May be, he gave one religion to some people, another religion to some other people. So that people can hate each other and in some cases kill each other? Doesn't sound right! At all? If we are his children, if we are his copies - for  lack of better word, then we will not be filled with so much anger and hatred. Just because some other people are different from us? I was watching this serial "Shots fired" and being tro

 People call her Ajji and most people do not know her name. She and her cat live in huge house with large garden. Ajji is probably eighty but sharp for her age. Most of the day, she sits by the window. People say she has 5 children. Her eldest son is in America, her daughter who was in Bangalore has died.  Her children, grand children or great grand children never visit her. A maid comes daily to Ajji's house and cleans the house and feeds her town gossip. This maid Sheenamma is her only window to the world. After Sheenamma goes home, ajji analyzes the news Sheenamma gave, with the cat. She talks to the cat as she knows it can understand each word ajji says. If some one comes to their house offering to pluck coconuts or mangoes in the garden, she sells the fruits to them keeping a few for her self. But one day, the cat dies. Ajji telephones a shop keeper Ramanna (I think his name is Ramanna) "Ramanna, the cat is not moving. It is not eating food. Please send some one". Ra

  God knows is such a beautiful book at times comic, at times sad. Few more quotes from the book. (yes,  I am still reading it.) He (Moses) was as nearly perfect as it is possible for a human to be. He asked nothing for himself and nothing is what he got. "It takes very little to make us (women) happy and more than what is contained in heaven and earth to keep us that way" says Abigail - one of Kind David's wives. " ....My father, the king was mad. Then I realized something worse. The Lord my God was also mad. And when I realized that, I began to weep. My heart was broken and I did not care" says Jonathan King David's enemy Saul's son.  Solomon talks of building luxurious temples. "Isn't that all highly extravagant?...How will you pay for it" Asks king David. "I will tax and spend, tax and spend"  (Now we know Indian politicians have read this one book for sure) "No I have never understood why I've never been your favorit

The difference between crime and public service is more of station than of substance. When I was small, there were many poor people, and rich were the enemy. Now rich are still there, poor are also enemy. Any society worth its salt, will stop itself from self destruction. We are not doing it. So we are not a society at all or we are not worth our salt. Such quotes are numerous in the book and are more and more sarcastic. Gold is a professor and a writer. But in his father's eyes he is a complete Idiot. Father does not leave a single opportunity to condemn his son. And his siblings too are not proud of him because he writes something which they can not understand. So Gold is treated as baby by his sisters. Mocked by his father, step mother and brother. And he still feels hurt because no one appreciates him, not even his children. So far I can understand the protagonist, relate to him and feel sympathetic with him. But when I see that he does not work honestly as a professor, he misg

 There are green activists and there are big corporations. Corporations are controlling everything. They are de-facto government. Rich people of these Corps live in a separate worlds and plebeians live in another world (slum). Green activists are trying to save man from destroying himself and the earth. Their efforts are clandestine because if found, activists just disappear. Because these activists are pose a hurdle to Corps.  Even the church is part of these corps. Priests try to interpret bible words into some thing which benefits Corps. Corps have huge research facilities. And some such places, they have invented vitamin pills which have some disease vectors mixed. People who take these pills fall sick. More medicines are sold. Patients are hospitalized - hospitals run by Corps get more money. So men are plundering other men and the earth non-stop. Then there are pain ballers, who are frustrated, angry plebeians who are  almost psychopaths. Pain balling is gladiator like game where

 It could be my age or this age. Forget books, I don't even sit watching a movie hours together. Nothing is fascinating enough, riveting enough. Blame it on 'seen it all, heard it all' syndrome, blame it on short attention span due to one line whatsapp jokes.  So I surprised myself by completing Roy's book, sitting till post noon. War stories are really disturbing. It makes one question the existence of humanity in this world.  And in worst cases, it makes us wonder are we in any way better than wild animals - at least they kill their prey - for their food. But again those stories belonged to another world, another time. World war, afghanistan etc.  But this book - Arundhati Roy's Ministry of utmost happiness -  is from our country, our people, this present time. And that realization is very very scary. As scary as the news you read some times.  Amrik Singh is an army officer who has blood of many kashmiris on his hands - both militants and civilians. For him it is

 

 

I saw a mobile wallpaper with title  Life has no ctrl z. How true!!! If it were there, what all events in your life, would you have undone? Let us analyse.  I would have first undone me being born. (Do you think this undone should be done by my parents. Anyways)   If I am born , I would have undone doing this meaningless Engineering. Do you ask why. Because that would have helped me in not losing what  little amount of discipline  I had.   I would not have undone my marriage. I have to admit though grudgingly that it is one of the few good things that have happened in my life. Now do you ask, if so why do you quarrel with your spouse, day and night, 24X7 or at least 14 hours. Because it is a tradition, carried on for generations which I dare not break)    I would have undone resigning from x, y and z companies. I have realized that "paapi samudra hokkaru monakaludda neeru" The list goes on in reverse chronological order until today.

 God has infinite names. At least our Hindu God has. And one of them is Kusumakara. I was intrigued by this name.  Kusuma is a girl's name - old style name. Like Pushpa.But  Kusuma in Sanskrit means flower. kara is hand. Kusumakara means one who is holding a flower.  But we thought God was holding this earth.  Why on the earth is God holding the flower? May be to give it to his Goddess (or an apsara, but let us assume that he wants to give it to goddess- his wife goddess, for god's sake.)    Our God might say " As the children say on that planet earth, will you be, er.. my.... er... valentine. I am not sure what this valentine. I assume it is something like priyatama. But sounds more cool. I know, I know what you will say. 'You can't even get a proper gift. Look at all other Gods.  You are so useless'. But you see, I wanted to give you a rose. But all the roses are taken away by the kids. With lot of difficulty, I finally saw a rose in a garden. When I was abou

 You say:  "yadyad karmam karomi tattadakhilam shambho tavaaraadhanam" You mean: See, today I have some urgent work to do. Lot of well.. mundane works to do. See, we mortals need to do these, no matter how trivial these are. So I can't spare any time for praying. Hope you understand. Hey, don't sulk. Tomorrow, I promise I will chant 2 or 3 extra shlokas. Note: यद्यद कर्मम करोमि तत्तदखिलं शम्भो तवाराधनम This line is from "Shiva manas puja" by Adi Shankaracharya. Meaning of this line is- any work I am doing is a salutation to you.

Lula Ann was very black. Ebony black. So black that her mother did not want to touch her. And her father abandoned them because he thought child was not his. One can't blame her mother. Because she really could not understand how her daughter would turn our so dark. And she had face horrified stares from people where ever she went with the child. And her husband, he could never believe that the child is his. He never touched the baby, never looked at her, constantly fought with his wife and finally left her.  Lula's mother didn't want her to call her mom in public, she taught her to call her sweetness. Lula had a terrible childhood. The tragic thing was she would feel happy when her mother slapped her because her mother will touch her then. Her life in school was even worse. Children would throw bananas at her and mock her. Now all grown up, she calls herself Bride and  does not visit her mother, but sends her money. She is confident and  she is successful.  She dr

Subhadra, Krishna's sister is in love with Arjuna. But Balarama, the eldest does not want his sister to wed the destitute Arjuna without a kingdom. Instead he prefers Duryodhana - the future king of Hastinapur.   Subhadra is in love with Arjuna but her brother doesn't want her to marry him. and she has the support of Krishna too. She elopes with Arjuna. And Abhimanyu is their son.   When Pandavas go for fourteen years vana-vasa, pregnant Subhadra stays back with her brothers in Mathura. One fine day Subhandra pesters Krishna to tell her some story. Krishna starts describing future Mahabharat war. The way different vyuhas - army formation)?)  will be arranged by the two enemies. He starts telling about chakravyuha - the most difficult of all. And he also describes the only way for an enemy to enter this formation.    Subhadra is fast asleep. Then who is responding to his story? Krishna realizes that his nephew is listening with intense curiosity about chakravyuh

  August 28, 2017   ಇದೊಂದ್ ಶಬ್ದದ ಸಲುವಾಗಿ ನಾನು ಈ ಪೋಸ್ಟನ್ನ ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲಿ ಬರೀಬೇಕಾಗಿ ಬಂತು. ನಂಗೊಂದ್ ಮೆಸೇಜ್ ಬಂತು - ನಿಮ್ಮ ಸಮತೋಲನ ಮತ್ತು ಇತರ ವಿವರಗಳನ್ನ ತಿಳಿಯಲು http:yavudoondutinryurl  ನ್ನು ಕ್ಲಿಕ್ ಮಾಡಿರಿ ಸಮತೋಲನವಾ? ಯಾರಿಗೆ? ಸರೀ ಎಣ್ಣೆ ಹಾಕಿ ಟೈಟ್ ಆದವರಿಗಾ? ಹೇಗೆ ಅವರು ಸಮತೋಲನ ನೋಡ್ತಾರೆ? ಆ ವೆಬ್ ಸೈಟ ಓಪನ್ ಮಾಡಿ ಆಮೇಲೆ ಫೋನ್ ಮೇಲೆ ಒಂದ್ ಕಾಲಲ್ಲಿ ನಿಲ್ಬೇಕಾ? ಹಾಗೆಲ್ಲ ಯಾರೂ ಮಾಡೋದಿಲ್ಲ. ಜನಾ ಅಷ್ಟೆಲ್ಲಾ ದಡ್ದರಲ್ಲಾ. ಫೋನ್ ವಿಷಯದಲ್ಲಂತೂ ಸಿಕ್ಕಾಪಟ್ಟೆ ಸ್ಮಾರ್ಟ್ ಆಗೇ ಇರ್ತಾರೆ. ಅದಲ್ಲ ಅಂದ್ರೆ ಇನ್ನ ಹೇಗೆ ಸಮತೋಲನಾ ನೋಡ್ತಾರೆ? ತಲೆ ಮೇಲೆ ಫೋನ್ ಇಟಗೊಂಡು ಆ ಸೈಟ ಓಪನ್ ಮಾಡಿದ್ರೆ ಅದು ಹೇಳತ್ತಾ - "ನೀವ್  ಹಾಕಿದ ಎಣ್ಣೆ ಎಲ್ಲೋ ಡೂಪ್ಲಿಕೇಟ್ ಇರ್ಬೇಕು. ನೀವ್  ಇನ್ನು ಪೂರ್ತಿ ಓಲಾಡ್ತಾ ಇಲ್ಲ. " ಆದ್ರೆ ಸಮತೋಲನ ನೋಡೋ ಅವಶ್ಯಕತೆ ಇರೋವ್ರಿಗೆ ಸಮತೋಲನದ್ ಮೇಲೆ ಡೌಟ್  ಇರತ್ತೆ. ಅವ್ರು ಯಾವ ಧೈರ್ಯದ ಮೇಲೆ ಅಷ್ಟೆಲ್ಲ ಬೆಲೆ ಬಾಳೋ ಫೋನ್ ತಲೆ ಮೇಲಿಂದ ಬೀಳ್ಸೋಕೆ ರೆಡಿ ಆಗ್ತಾರೆ? ಓ ಕೆ.  ಆ ಮೆಸೇಜು ಬಂದಿದ್ದು ಜಿಯೋದಿಂದಾ. ಅವರು ಹೇಳ್ತಾ ಇರೋ ಸಮತೋಲನ ಇಂಗ್ಲಿಷಿನ ಬ್ಯಾಲೆನ್ಸ್.  ಕರೆನ್ಸಿ ಬ್ಯಾಲೆನ್ಸ್. ಸುಮ್ನೆ ತಲೆ ತಿಂದು ನಿಮ್ಮ ಸಮತೋಲನ ತಪ್ಪಿಸಿ ಬಿಟ್ನಾ? ಸಾರಿ.

September 5,2017  Dystopia - is a community or society which is undesirable or frightening. It is antonym of "Utopia" - which is ideal society. We Indians use a term for ideal society - Ramarajya - Rama is the hero of the epic Ramayana. His kingdom was supposedly very good. People were honest. Rulers were kind etc. But again I wonder about Sita did she think Ramarajya was Ramarajya? The fully pregnant queen who was sent to forest because her husband wanted to prove something to his subjects.  Anyways, so Ramarajya. We also have read in our history lessons that Vijayanagar empire was very very good. People never closed their front doors. So there were no thieves, no robbers. Gold, pearls and diamonds were sold on footpath.  But this could have been part of  a book by one of their courtiers - and with enough exaggerations. At least now, we all feel we are in the middle of dystopia. Rulers do not care about citizens. Citizens are petty minded and money minded. Peop

 Sept. 12 2017   I completed another book. But the book is beautiful and sad. The books "Of love and other demons" by Gabriel Garcia   Marquez is quite disturbing. The story is from 19th century and revolves around the life of 12 year old daughter of a land lord (Marquis) - Sierva.  Her father the Marquis is stern and lives in his own world. Her mother Bernarda is a nymphomaniac and detests her daughter from birth. Sierva  lives with the slaves and learns from them multiple African languages, and their customs. One day a rabid dog bites Sierva  in local market. Her father starts worrying about her and takes her to a local doctor. Doctor says she is not having any symptoms of rabies.  There was no cure for rabies then. Thinking that she’s possessed by demons, Marquis takes Sierva to a convent for exorcising the demons . She is locked in a prison there and is bound to her bed by straps. Father Cayetano who comes to exorcise her in this convent, falls in love w