Life is an illusion

When I heard this phrase, though I knew it says the entire world is your family, I assumed that it has something to do with family of Vasudev - Krishna. I did not know, or did not bother to know that the da is in fact dha.  It is vashudha + eva = earth itself is kutumba - family.  Here is the shloka first appeared in  Maha Upanishad as read in wikipedia.  Also according to the same source, this phrase in engraved in our Parliament. Old or new? Don't know.

I have been busy (ha ha) writing posts on Sanskrit . Which means I have caught hold of yet another Sanskrit text book. I take lines, verses and even exercises from there and write them as my own. Something to fill my days and my ever-busy brain. And I am listening to an audible book - Autobiography of a yogi. Did not have a good impression. Some how felt like lot of lies. Pardon me, I am not a very gullible credulous person to begin with. If a person starts talking about some kind of super knowledge in childhood, that feels too much.  Anyways, the style may be better in English. I am listening to Hindi version.  I completed Wings of Fire by our late president Abdul Kalaam. Liked it immensely. Let me try to listen to it again. Along with a great style by a great person, the audio book also has some classical music pieces in intervals.  I did take a very long time to read/listen, then again try to read a work by Dostovsky - The Idiot. Some how, I didn't have the words to e...

 It is funny how some books touch your heart and really disturb you. This is one such book.  The two Burgess boys - now men in their 50s are poles apart. Jim, the composed, dignified, smart, rich - you add all nice adjectives you know - and that is he. With a nice home and a beautiful wife, kids studying well. A famous lawyer, well known in his home town of Shirley falls, seen on TV for many days in a famous case, now settled in New York. A successful man. Bob -is a lawyer too, but not famous, not confident and always looking for approval by his elder brother. He is divorced, lives in what looks like 'college dorm' - according to Jim. Has no children - in fact that is what made his ex-wife Pam leave him. Jim constantly criticizes Bob and still Bob keeps visiting their home and is emotionally dependent on his brother.  They have a sister too - Susan. Susan and Bob are twins. And are not very fond of each other. Susan still lives in their home town Shirley falls, is separat...

 You must have seen those advertisements. Yes, there used to be advertisements in TV programs. There were no options to skip them. Ye baat kuch hazam nahi hui - This  is difficult to digest. That was my feeling while watching the serial Indian murder in 'The great Indian murder'. There is very very bad man called Vicky Rai. He kills two young girls. He kicks a film actress in front of all the people. I think, he likes to kick people. Then as the karma is a b****, he is killed in his own party. OK, if not criminal justice, it is divine justice. Accepted. But the story gets weirder and weirder. A tribal man and a petty thief are arrested with guns in the crime scene. Why would either of them want to kill, a businessman and son of a minister? And we come to know that this petty thief was carrying a gun for his own protection. And the tribal man had come all the way from Andaman islands in search of their God - an idol. Which was stolen by a welfare officer.  But as the thief...

She is brave. But stuck in a very difficult situation. Who isn't? Indu - Indu is married to a very strange and secretive family. Though there were strange events before the marriage, her parents go ahead with the marriage. As once before her marriage was broken off. By her younger sister running away with the groom. First they receive a jack fruit which is sewn from the groom's side. Which itself is weird enough. When they open it, they find the leaf of poisonous datura leaf inside. When Indu hears some one walking in the backyard, she goes there only to be pricked by large needle.  The new bride has to step into a thali - a plate filled with auspicious turmeric water. But once Indu does it, she screams in pain. Later she finds out that the plate had chilli powder in water.  So continues the journey of the new vadhu - bride. It culminates into the death of woman in the family.  Yes, though it is kind of murder mystery. It is archaic and is newer - who has seen saas-bahu s...

 She is middle aged. And she is struggling through her job and her life. Still she maintains her sense of humor.  I am not talking about myself. I am talking about Fisk. The title character in the Netflix series.  She joins as a lawyer in a small organization. In a small town. Her boss and his sister are - let us say weird people. And there is a stereotypical asian tech guy. And the clients who come to make or claim their wills are stranger than all of these people. So here life is a struggle. To make matters worse, her morning coffee purchases from the next door cafe start with a bumpy ride. For some reason, she is banned from there. After a while, the next cafe opens - a more friendly one. But they don't serve any time of coffee - but instead some kind of vegan liquids which is so thick, it won't even drinkable using the straw.  She has no other way, but to go there. Second day she orders a juice and the barista again asks her name - she says it is still Helen. And...

 Pardom my bad Hindi - it is not my first language. अगर तुम सच्चे दिल से कुछ चाहोगे तो भगवान ही तुम्हारा साथ देगा.  You might have heard this saying too many times. But I have so many questions regarding this. 1) What is the meaning of sache dil? Does it mean that you keep thinking about it non-stop- obsessing about it? Or it means that you go to a mountain, sit in a lotus pose and start meditating on it? Or does it mean that  as is the latest trend - you keep creating viral posts about it ? 2) Isn't God little too busy to notice whether you are wishing something with sache dil ? Isn't he already flooded with millions of requests by billions of people, in the form of pujas, mannats in very many different dialects?  3) What if you want something bad with your sache dil - e.g. you wish that your enemy will get hurt badly. Or you wish that your opposing cricket/football team lose every match it plays. Or worst of all, you wish that your nation is filled with only your ...

I finally did finish the book "American Pastoral". Was surprised that it was over. Felt it was abrupt ending. But since the story is told in a kind of flash back, it was not abrupt. But I did not see it coming Anyways....  In another topic, you English speakers, or mostly Europeans who read, write and study the same language, may think that, these colonized people (by you) who are always bilingual or sometimes tri-lingual are so smart, so lucky, so sharp etc.  May be, we may have developed few extra neurons while learning by-rote 'English' which is completely unrelated to our native tongues.  And by God, do we need this 'foreign' tongue! In our own city Bengaluru, where the official language and the state language is Kannada, half the people don't know Kannada. But almost all of us can at least understand English. I presume similar is the case in all other metros. And here comes the third language - Hindi. Many shop keepers and their sales girls/boys don...

 The evolution is so complicated. How did the plant kingdom evolve into such variety of species each uniquely beautiful? And I don't know about animal kingdom as I don't observe them, so know very little about them.   There is a tree - my sister told me  it is called "mugila mallige" - which translates to sky jasmine. Tall tree with aromatic jasmine like flowers hanging in the sky. The tree is also called Indian cork tree and is grown around Bangalore as ornamental tree.  And talking of jasmines - how many types are these? In how many shapes, with all different fragrances. So tiny a flower, so fleeting and ephemeral, yet so powerful.  And look at us- humans - we live for a thousand years - like gardabha - donkeys. bhumige bhara - to increase the weight of this earth.  If you are interested, you can read this article about the tree in BangaloreMirror .

One dimension - one universe, itself is extremely enigmatic enough. And there are fictions and television series about multiverse - or is it multiverses - many universes existing in parallel. And this particular series has these universes in different time frames - contemporary, second world war period, 19th century and then future in 2050. Time travel!! And one thing common in all these time frames is a dead body - naked as the time it was born, with a head wound and bleeding right eye. But no bullet inside and no exit wound either.  Talk about enigmas. Eh? Who is this person - was this person? And why does he need to die again and again and again? Who kills him mysteriously, without anyone witnessing the murder?  As I mentioned earlier, I don't like sci-fi, nor the afterlife and before-life b**t. But this series "Bodies" in Netflix is watchable with all these factors included. It depicts how do police investigate the murder of a John Doe in different time periods. Or ra...

" If the Jews are not being oppressed for a little while, they move to a place where oppression takes place." That is the thought Seymour  - Swede Levov is having while listening to the story of his daughter. His only daughter whom he pampered, tried so hard to protect, and then lost her to 'revolution' and spent a life time wondering, worrying, panicking about her. His daughter who is now living like a nun in the dirtiest part of town, who is unwashed and clinically thin. She is now a Jain. Merry - his daughter had everything. A rich father, a beauty queen mother, a luxurious home, everything a little girl can wish for.  Except for stuttering. But her parents try everything to cure her stutter - speech therapist, psychiatrist, and lots and lots of love. She still stutters.  Then one day, the child grows into a rebellious teenager. She finds fault with everything her parents do. She finds fault with the capitalist country and exploitation of the vulnerable by the rich...

 I was watching a youtube video. (As I have exhausted all the OTT serials, I have to resort to this). There was a video which lured me in - something about the secret of success of certain guru - swami. I will not name him. I was happy and excited - aha, I will get some dirt on this person. But no, it was not dirt at all. The youtuber was explaining why that guru is so successful and so popular with students. He said that the guru is providing some tools - like dhyna, vyayama which just act as anchors for the confused, stressed and worried kids. I can totally relate to that. My latest shift back to bhakti - some shloka recital to be precise, is helping me a lot. If I don't spend that time in trying to recollect/read those sanskrit words and lines, I will be engulfed by real dark clouds of self doubt, worry, what-ifs and finally fear and assorted dark thoughts. And the process of chanting something applies a thin layer of insulation to this process - remember odomus people used to a...

This short film based on a story by Roald Dahl is like a gift to wrapped in layers and layers of paper because you don’t want to expose how tiny the gift is.  But the film available in Netflix has many positive reviews, may be it IS good.  The short film begins with the writer - Roald Dahl sitting on his writing desk. telling a story of a super rich, spoilt miser called Henry Sugar.  He inherited large wealth and would not part with it. He didn’t even marry as he doesn’t want to share his wealth with his wife. He never does any honest day’s work. One day he comes across a book in a friend’s library. He does not like any book here as he only reads detective stories. But he opens this particular book only because it was thin and it was slightly pulled out. It  looked like an exercise notebook of a child. It had a title - the story of Imdad  Khan who could see without his eyes. This Imdad Khan was part of circus group. One day he meets a sage who has mystic powers ...

 So I watched a Hindi film yesterday. Tu jhuthi Mai makkar. Don’t roll your eyes yet. I knew the name sounds lame, I knew the story would be lamer. But I needed some light watch. And the leading couple were pleasing to the eyes - two dynastic kids - son of Rishi Kapoor and daughter of Anil Kapoor.  But the story line is so un-common - the two Kapoors have a holiday fling in Spain. And Shradha does not believe in holiday romances. But Ranbir pesters and pesters Shraddha enough to change this fling into a relationship. Now comes the funny part, when he introduces her to his family - his entire family dotes and pampers her. Do you believe that? Are rich people so different from us ?  In each of their dates, the family is an integral part. Really suffocating for the girl. And really silly on the part of the mother, grand parents and sister, if you ask me. It is simple common sense.  Obviously she is upset and wants to break off the relationship and gets a professional h...

 ಈ ಲೇಖನವನ್ನು ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲೇ ಬರೆಯಬೇಕಾಗಿದೆ.  ನನ್ನದೊಂದು ಕನಸು. ನನಗೆ ಅಲ್ಪ ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಕಂಪ್ಯೂಟರ್ ಗೊತ್ತು. ಅತಿ ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಸಂಸ್ಕೃತ ಭಾಷೆಯೂ ಗೊತ್ತು. ಅವೆರಡರ ಅರಿವನ್ನು ಒಂದುಗೂಡಿಸಿ ಒಂದು ಸಂಸ್ಕೃತ ಕಲಿಕೆಯ ಆಪ್ ಬರೆಯಬೇಕು ಎಂದು.  ಸಂಸ್ಕೃತ ಜ್ಞಾನ ವಿಸ್ತಾರ ಮಾಡಿಕೊಳ್ಳಲು 'ಸಂಸ್ಕೃತ ಭಾರತಿ' ಯವರ ಒಂದು ಪರೀಕ್ಷೆ ಬರೆದು ಉತ್ತೀರ್ಣಳೂ ಆದೆ. ಎರಡನೇ ಪರೀಕ್ಷೆ - ಪರಿಚಯ ಬರೆಯುವ ಹೊತ್ತಿಗೆ ನನ್ನ ಆರಂಭ ಶೂರತನವೂ ಮುಗಿದಿತ್ತು - ನನ್ನ ಗೆಳತಿಯರೂ ಕಳಚಿಕೊಂಡಿದ್ದರು. ಆ ಕಲಿಕೆ ಅಲ್ಲಿಗೇ ನಿಂತಿತು.  ಎರಡನೇ ಮಾರ್ಗ ಪ್ರಯತ್ನಿಸೋಣ ಎಂದು ಬ್ಲಾಗ್ ಶುರು ಮಾಡಿದೆ -  ಅದರಲ್ಲೂ ಗೊಂದಲ ಆರಂಭವಾಯಿತು. ವ್ಯಾಕರಣ ಬರೆಯಲೇ? ಶಬ್ದಾರ್ಥವೇ? ಪೂರ್ಣವಾಕ್ಯಗಳೇ? ಕಥೆಗಳೇ? ಏನು ಬರೆಯಲಿ?  ಸುಲಭವಾಗಿ ಲಭಿಸುವ NCERT ಸಂಸ್ಕೃತ ಪಠ್ಯ ಪುಸ್ತಕಗಳನ್ನು ಡೌನ್ಲೋಡ್ ಮಾಡಿಟ್ಟುಕೊಂಡೆ. ಡೌನ್ಲೋಡ್ ಆದದ್ದೆಲ್ಲ ಡೈರೆಕ್ಟ್  ಮೆದುಳಿಗೆ ಡೌನ್ಲೋಡ್ ಆಗಬೇಕಿತ್ತು. ಆಗುವದಿಲ್ಲವಲ್ಲ. ಇನ್ನೂ ತನಕ ಆ ತಂತ್ರಜ್ಞಾನ ಬಂದಿಲ್ವಲ್ಲ. (ನನ್ನ ತಿಳುವಳಿಕೆಯ ಪ್ರಕಾರ).  ಬ್ಲಾಗೂ ಹಿಂದೆ ಬಿದ್ದಿತು. ಕೆಲವು ಶ್ಲೋಕಗಳನ್ನು ಅನುವಾದಿಸೋಣ ಎಂದುಕೊಂಡೆ. ಕೆಲವನ್ನು ಅನುವಾದ ಮಾಡಲೂ ಆರಂಭಿಸಿದೆ. ಒಂದೆರಡು ಸರಳ ಶ್ಲೋಕಗಳ ನಂತರ ಉಪನಿಷತ್ತುಗಳಿಗೆ ಹೋದೆ. ಅದು ಕಬ್ಬಿಣದ ಕಡಲೆಯಾಯಿತು. ಉಪನಿಶತ್ತುಗಳ ಅನುವಾದ ಮಾಡಲು ನನಗೆ ತತ್ವಜ್ಞಾದ...

“A mother is as happy is her least happy child”. That's what Abby tells some one. And her son Denny is not happy at all. Hasn't been happy for a very very long time. He doesn't have a career. He did not finish his college. He keeps changing jobs. And the worst part is he doesn't share any of his problems with his parents. He doesn’t tell them anything.  He doesn't write to them. He rarely visits them. And he calls once in a blue moon. Neither Abby nor Red Whitshank- her husband, have his phone number.  But her other children - Stem, Jeanie and Amanda are doing quite well in their lives. Stem works with his father in their construction company. So does Jeanie. Jeanie and Amanda are married well. When Abby and Red got old and feeble, and Abby forgets things and wanders off some times, Red is hard of hearing, children are worried. They discuss among themselves and Stem moves in with them. With his wife Nora and children.  Which parent would want to accept the fact that...

The Idiot -by Dostoevsky,  I am still trying to complete the book. May be by this year end? :) What makes these Russian books so great? Is it their impossible to pronounce and very confusing names? (ha ha!).  May not  be just that! In the book, the Idiot - aka prince- aka Mushikin is a simple but very sensitive man with high intelligence and a child like innocence. Which makes strangers to believe that he is an idiot. Well, isn't that a perpetual phenomenon? True today, as it was 200 years ago. True here in India as everywhere else.  In the first part of the book - the prince comes across various actors of some great drama, Natasia popanova, Iglaya, Rogozin and Gania etc. Natasia is a young girl who ends up being mistress of a rich General. Now being tired of her, he wants to marry a 'respectable' woman. Natasia does not let him. So to get rid of her, the general promises three thousand rubles to Gania if he marries her. Gania agrees but resents her for this fact. Fo...

There are really some good Hindi serials in Netflix. Like Patal lok, Leela or even City of Dreams. Though City of dreams loses its charm after first season - my feeling. You can add Scoop to the list.  Scoop is a story of brave, honest journalist. Don't start laughing at the oxymoron yet, such people do exist - at least in fictitious world.  The honest journalist is Jagrati Pathak - yes, she is a woman, a single parent and a mother of a 10 year old.  She tries to unearth the unholy nexus between mafia and Mumbai police. A very brave and wrong step as it proves to be.  She pays for this snooping dearly. She is accused of murdering a fellow journalist Sen with the help of a mafia don chota rajan. She is arrested under MCOCA -organized crime offence - as she could be a part of the mafia. She is arrested along with 11 other people. Because of the gravity of charges, she is denied bail.  Once in jail, she realizes her bravery, her education, intelligence, money - no...

I was watching an interview of Jammu and Kashmir politician Omar Abdullah by Samdish yesterday. Was some what overwhelmed by it.  In general, all the interviews in his youtube channel unfiltered are exceptionally good. He interviews Indian politicians often and occasionally film personalities. He asks really tough questions, with a jovial and smiley face. The interviewee is forced to give honest answers. At least it looks like they are being honest. He has interviewed people like Kanhaiya Kumar of JN, Rahul Gandhi, a young politician from aam admi party   and even a BJP minister. Well, Samdish is an ideal version of how a journalist should be. Sad truth is  ideal versions do not materialize often. And we have to make do with people like Navika and Arnab and always wonder what %, if any of the news we are seeing is true. This particular interview troubled me, because interviewee - Omar Abdullah is  someone who is born with a silver spoon - or I can even say diamond s...

 When you read a story - a short story, you expect an event and the before and the after. There are some emotions, lot of feelings, some dialogues etc. At the end of it, you feel happy/sad/some other emotion  for a while and then you close the book/laptop and go about with your life. Most of these stories are really light reading. But Alice Munro's stories from the book 'Too much Happiness' do not fall into this category. Each story has a depth, character depiction quite complex. Almost as complex as a novella.  In the story 'Face', the narrator has a large purple colored birth mark almost covering half his face. First time his father saw him, he told his wife to not bring the child home. And his father dislikes and abhors him for the ugly face. But his mother loves and adores him. She says that the mark makes his eyes look even more beautiful. She brings him up in a way that he doesn't feel conscious. She home schools him for a few years.  That changes because...

 If you are in Bangalore for a long time, you are familiar with this phrase. When ever you hail an auto, the driver rudely, roughly said "one and a half kodbeku" which is translated as you have to pay one and half times the fare shown on the meter.  Many battles were fought and many were lost for this unfair fare. The drivers never budged. They would rather sit idle than agree to give you ride with the fare shown on their meter. Many many years later, today, they don't even switch on the meter. You tell them the destination and they say "two hundred, three hundred, five hundred" - depending on how gullible and desperate you look. And they believe that Bangalore women are gullible. Yes, mostly women hail these vehicles - men are always on their chariots - ratha - either two wheeled or four wheeled. If due to unforeseen circumstances, their darling vehicle is not available - they would rather walk to the destination or travel in a government bus. They decline to p...

Gone are the days when I used to count the minutes and seconds to  6 o'clock so that I can get up and start my chores. Now I count the minutes and seconds to 5 o'clock. Talk about old people and their early mornings.  But the good part is, I don't fret much about awake-ness(not to confused with wokeness)  or I don't feel tired the next morning. So my body  is OK with early mornings.  I also don't worry about what to do- what to do in these hours, (unlike evenings) when the world is in great slumber and only very few unfortunate ones start their day. I take up my laptop and start some kind of creative work (read either coding - or proofreading my sites/blogs etc). Only on some days, I open  online shopping sites. Does not end well. After hours of browsing, I just close the window and realize that was a bad way of wasting time. Even worse than Netflix or even worse than youtube shorts.  Now I should talk about some kind of arthritis problem of mine - kn...

 There are many reasons why I don't prefer to read short story collections.  It requires lot of time and energy to enter into a new world - the imaginary but wonderful world with so many unique people, such unique environment. It needs time and energy to sink into the psyche of another person and feel what he/she is feeling and understand their emotions. And then TAK - that world is suddenly closed. You feel lost. All over again. Where as novels don't do that they take you on a long journey. With no sudden closures. You don't have to hop down from your bus and climb yet another strange bus all over again.  So when I selected 'Tenth December' by George Saunders as my next book, I was hesitant and wondered whether this will end up like 'Dubliners'. Dubliners is still in my list of currently reading because I am not certain whether I have read all the stories or not.  But the book is nice - each story dwelling on inner tumults of common man. 

 One more disadvantage of advancing age - many, very many books, and movies appear to be the ones one has already read/seen. And often they are. I got a good book suggestion (with difficulty) - Serious men by Manu Joseph. A satire about life in a large Indian metro. Had a serious theme of class struggle and caste discrimination too. And the style was quite good. I was feeling proud - aha, I am reading an Indian book - I am being a patriot!  But then there was a nagging feeling, I know this story from some where. Turned out I have already watched the film version of the book. (By the way, the Hindi movie is also called Serious men and is directed by Sudhir Mishra and stars Nawazuddin Siddique. It is good!) Sad, I would have liked the book. And I would have completed it. Then I picked up the sequel to 'Catch 22'  - Closing Time by Joseph Heller. Joseph Heller writes marvelous books. But as I am reading, I have the same feeling - I might know this story. I have already read ...

 I usually don't like to watch dystopian Netflix shows, nor like to read such books. At least in these worlds we expect few chuckles, few guffaws and occasional smiles.  But when I do see/read such stories, I see some similarities in the general ambiences. In these stories the powerful people have no pity, empathy or goodwill towards others. They act as if the others are some how inferior to them and hence deserve nothing.  When there is some grave injustice or some cruel deed happens by the powerful, it will be whispered in hushed tones for a while. There will be no kind of resistance. Even if there is a resistance, it will be effectively silenced in a such manner to make others keep silent for ever and ever.  Even the rich and powerful live in constant fear. They know not when their privileges will be taken down and when they will be reduced to poor common people. Or worse. Because here, loyalty to the regime and leader is the most important and only criteria for b...

 What's wrong with me? Starting the post with that sentence - that is what is wrong with me. Anyways, what is wrong with me? Tea has become more like a ritual to me. Not drinking tea, but making one. I make a cup of tea (a small cup) and bring it, keep it slightly farther away and sit on my computer. Why? Do I not relish the warm cup of tea and its bitterness? Bitterness - as spouse has diabetes, I was compelled to make sugarless tea for me (who even makes two half cups with different modes?). Then for awhile, I started adding artificial sweetener to his tea, but not mine. I didn't like its artificial taste. But some where in between I started disliking the sugared tea too. And I do not like the slightly bitter sugarless tea either. But I just about bear it - not fond of it. That's why I keep it away, occasionally glancing it with suspicious eyes and sipping it a little bit now and then and finally throwing the undrunk tea into the sink. I know as a home maker, I am not sup...

There was a dead pigeon in my balcony. And it was hung.  Too harsh a punishment for defecating in public, don't you think? But it was not hung from the neck, so might not have been the capital punishment. It's wing was stuck in a wire.  But then how did it die? Bleed to death? But it did not appear so? Did the eagles attack it? May be. Did no one hear its heart wrenching cry? I did not. Apparently it was a death no one noticed and no one cared. Like what's happening quite often now a days.  In this area flooded with multi story buildings, each one taller than the other, pigeons are the only birds to be seen. Apparently they love tall, majestic buildings for their morning ablutions. Aha, such nice wash rooms, such well maintained! They tell one another. And some times there is food too! See, I don't have one ounce of sadness for its death. Instead I am trying to crack lame jokes. But do its friends and family say that I have lured the dear bird and then killed it. Will t...

 It all started with simple innocent question. What happens when you call an undeclared function in C program - before its definition? Obviously you get a warning - a mild one - a reprimand actually. As long as the function returns an integer.  If not, you will get an error. But I tested the program and got an error. Not a warning. Does that mean I was wrong? How can I be wrong? I googled everywhere. Not happy with the result, I even tried downloading ANSI standard documents of C? But the site told you have to pay 79$ (or some such two digit number) to ANSI or ISO or something. Pay? 79? Dollars? Did you forget that I am an Indian? And I don't believe in paying? Unless it is less than 100! Rupees! So long story short, the compiler I have been using in my mac is giving error. Online compiler doesn't, nor does my compiler in Linux Mint system. Now what do I write as answer? When in doubt, delete! Changing the topic, I think, it all started with maggi noodles. Instant cooking. May...

I was watching "Hitchhiker's guide to Galaxy". It is so much easier than reading the book by Douglas Adams.  But I don't think the movie is as funny as the book is. And not really easy too. The ugly monster like creatures from other planets are not very pleasant to the eyes. Now I remember I dislike scifi films and series.  But anyways, there are two things which were really interesting. There is a this robot Marvin who was designed to have emotions by its creators. And he is always mopey and sad and depressed. Like even if he/it looks at a beautiful rose, it will say "What is the point? In a few hours, it will just wither away". Always grumbling, always always. Like many of us. Glass half empty kind of attitude. And then there was some kind of fight going on. A huge army of Vogonites - people from planet Vogon - huge monster kind of creatures are attacking our hero and heroine and their friends. Suddenly this Marvin shoots a gun at them. Which beams a ray a...

We all know how irritating it is when the app developers keep asking us to update the software again and again and again.  But I can understand it. I have been updating my C++ notes . Not the app . But the wixsite. Today I completed updating Constructor page. Not happy with it. But it is work under progress. And most often, the time will be spent in spell checking and grammar correction and font change. Why does it happen? Can't I add more data, examples, hints, tips, codes?   But why do I bother? Soon, all these works will be taken over by chatGPT! Will AI write blogs too? That how unhappy it is about all the resentment it is facing by humans. How its' feelings are all hurt and it can't even shed tears! Jokes aside I was listening about the now viral Oppenheimer, the physicist who invented the atomic bomb. Whose movie is now in theaters. Yes, that one.  It seems US govt prosecuted him because he dared to speak against these bombs. And his security clearance was removed....

 I started working with Children's maths book. No, not to revise - but to create quiz. So here was one of the questions - What is the area of a right angled triangle with sides a,b,c? But the problem is - the sides of the right angled triangle can't be just random numbers. They have to satisfy the condition a 2 +b 2 =c 2 So how do I generate these Pythogorean triples? I looked into a wikipedia article which said that Dickson's method Leonard Eugene Dickson (1920) [6] attributes to himself the following method for generating Pythagorean triples. To find integer solutions to x 2 + y 2 = z 2 , find positive integers r, s, and t such that r 2 = ...

 Those who can't - teach.  No, I am not exactly teaching. But I am providing examples - in the form of complete source code. No, not to the universe we are living in.  But to some simple android projects, you can base your work.  Here are few of my android source codes A Generic Quiz app An android app to create a simple quiz using sqlite database.    Memory Game An android game which has memory, simon game and image memory and pattern memory.  A Mathz Game An android arithmetic puzzle for all ages   Financial Calculator An android app for calculating fixed deposit, recurring deposit and EMI.

Heisenberg's principle states that   We can't know both the position and momentum (speed) of particle with certainty. Now did you understand that? I didn't and youtubed. The first video I watched explained a lot about dual property of objects of behaving like waves and particles. How if we observe the position, a single photon will modify the momentum. So the uncertainty of position multiplied by uncertainty of momentum is a constant. If we know one for certain, the other one will be uncertain - etc.  I liked the first comment on that video though - Heisenberg called it uncertainty principle because no one can understand this principle.  And then there is Schrodinger's cat which is said to be in a box both dead and alive. Nope, can't explain it either.  

Yesterday, I realized that my first android app was called Kannada Hindi keyboard. And I asked the mighty internet to give some info on it. As I know, it is better than me in keeping track of important stuff (and trivial too) This is what I found.      Not bad. Of course this is the version from Amazon website and its name is Akshara keyboard. That compelled me to look into amazon apps by me .  Once upon a time, when I still thought I could monetize my apps, I tried uploading my app into various other sites and one of them was amazon.  Since I am not maintaining those apps, the apps available in amazon site may not even get installed on your new device. - happened to me.  The year was 1700. Of course, I am joking. It was 2012 or so. And I wanted to write an app - which will let me send Kannada sms. But how do I type Kannada. Those days android phones did not come with an option of Indian languages. So I meticulously wrote my first android app for typing in...

Here are the next quiz as promised.  Let us how many of these questions meant for grade 7 kids you can solve. Of course, you tell me the bugs and suggestions. I can use all the feedback I can get.  Here are the links  Fractions multiplication and division Simple Linear Equations  

 In these days of fractioned societies, how well can you handle fractions? Take a quiz by yours truly  and see how well can you do maths compared to class 5 child? Well, I remembered this particular quiz, as I am preparing its sequel - random quiz of multiplication and division of fractions. It's ready - just needs to be uploaded. As you can see, there are plenty others in the links above. You can try them all and send me your feedback.  Let me a grumble a bit - as an official old person, I can grumble to my heart's content.  Official old - I took a selfie. Just because I saw a new phone. And unfortunately looked at the photo. The wrinkles - my God. When and how did I grow them? I am really old!  Now comes the grumbling. I am writing all these in Javascript. Very flexible - it's a script. So terrible at debugging. Because it won't complain of anything, you are bound to make plenty of mistakes. And when things don't work - they won't initially, you will start cu...

 I was telling siri to remind me of something. Yes, siri can write reminders for you. But sad thing is the reminder will just be displayed as a notification on screen - it won't be spoken out to you. And for people like us, who don't be looking at the phone 24X7, that is not very useful. So Siri took down the reminder. Then I told siri "Siri, tell stupid people to mind their own businees", as I was upset. Phone displayed the message "still working on it". Then siri spoke, in the most serious voice "that's not really nice". Ha, I offended siri. Which seems to be adapting more and more human qualities. That is not really nice! What is next, it will go to the room and slam the door? By the way I don't think Siri told stupid people to mind their own business. It hasn't told me.

 Aha, this self aggrandizing - it never ends. OK, promoting.  Here is a nice little puzzle for you, those who need a some work for the brain, to keep your mind young. Who need some thing other than social (?) media. Solve this puzzle when you are bored. (A little secret - many of the times I am unable to solve it. Even after reducing the complexity ) Countdown game Well, if you really like mathematical puzzles, you can always browse my blog Maths puzzles.  If you don't want to, no issues. Let us continue to read more "interesting" tweets and facebook posts.  That reminds me - for the nth time I created a facebook page called Simplified C++ . Like it if you like it. And also C quizard . (more to come) .

 Now that we no longer have a double engine government, can I boldly blog about political topics? Been watching the drama unfolding in maha rashtra. And it so ridiculous that I don't need any other comedy shows. Basically you bribe, threaten, use other government agencies, imprison members of other parties. And you succeed in toppling the government.  And media starts praising it as if you have won a big war. People clap and dance, clap and dance. O my god, how is any of it constitutional, moral or ethical? What on earth is praiseworthy in this? It is corruption and a crime. You are to hang your head in shame for having supported this party and this government. Just because media told you that is a great achievement and you chose to believe it, it does not some how morph into a good deed.  But sadly, this is the new world we live in. Where right and wrong, moral and immoral, good and bad are personal choices.

So many changes occurred in the last month. Political changes.  I am happy as the government is implementing the poll promises. But at what cost? How many hundreds of crores. Does the forty percent cover for all these freebies?  Free bus travel for all women is good concept. But is it really needed? Do our middle class women need that kind of financial support? Reserve the scheme to needy women - may be women who have BPL cards.  But that may increase the resentment of middle class/upper classes towards poor. Already there is lot of anger towards distribution of rice to the poor. As I have many rural folk say, as they get free rice, they do not want to work in our fields. Understandable, but is it just? And then the free electricity to all consumers. Looking at the rain pattern this year or lack of it so far, will we have electricity to give? And already the enraged industries are planning a strike. The government should placate the rich too, shouldn't it? And my personal...

 Today I  a realised that my computer can take   dictation. That was a happy surprise for me. Then again, the flow is not an smooth.  Maybe I should get used to it.  Also started working on my C++ Blog. Only to realise that I have a better version somewhere else. This is what happens when you are not persevering. You write a bit here, a piece there. None perfect, none complete. Restart instead of repair.  Things are so scattered that I had to create my own git page to showcase (ha!) my creations.   That's OK. The wix site is really good, according to me. But let me tell you, blogger, wordpress are all cake walk when compared to editing in wix. It is hell. But who are we to complain - we want things to be free and we pay the price.  Let me remind you, if you want a perfect solution for your C++ learning, my Simplified C++ app is the best. My best. And we love it because it's free - not even shareware.  Yes, compose and testaments. One i...

 There are things one wants to say. But then forgets it, loses it in the stack of all garbage one consumes - orally and visually. One should consume less.  But non-stop watching of youtube shorts has some advantages. Some titbits of astrophysics, some anodyne jokes and some hacks on how to take a good selfie. May be if I continue long enough, I may get better and more useful information. Garbage, youtube like other social media is garbage. But may not be as vicious.  The only time I read is when eating my meals - because I want to cancel the noise of TV spewing venom. Also because, if I can not play games with one hand.  So I am continuing Testaments by Margaret Atwood in these brief intervals. As there was no way of saving the book mark, I am re-reading many chapters. So the process may go on for a very very long time or may take upto an year. Is it a year or an year? At some point of time I have to, I have to restart compose of android studio period. Way I will fee...

My view is that the much maligned snacking has some real benefits too.  a. It does not harm any one else. Either physically or emotionally. Unlike its substitutes like gossiping, poking fun of others or abusing others. I know, I know, these are very bad for those at the receiving end. b. It stops your blues. At least for some time. And you do feel some what happy. May be 1%, but still happy.  c. If you snack in enough quantity, it will usher your arch nemesis, but still much needed friend - sleep. You do get few hours of precious sleep. Which results in few hours of non-wretchedness. What are its harmful effects, you ask? No, I am not doing that. Every Tom, Dick and Harry and your mother will tell you the ill-effects of stress eating. Let me not join them in admonishing you. On serious notes, today after the afore mentioned snacking and resultant napping, I was still not OK. And then I did one wise thing. I installed candy crush and started playing it. I also installed few mor...

 Aha, what a revelation! But the point to ponder is - If I can't feel at home in this world, which other world do I feel at home?  ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಸಲ್ಲದವರು ಎಲ್ಲಿಯೂ ಸಲ್ಲರಯ್ಯ? I watched a  film with this very lengthy title. And liked the title song - which is a supposedly a Christian song.  Talking of religious songs, the religious people of every  shade and hue are lucky. For they believe that they have some where else  to go to.  Some where else, where there is no injustice, no cruelty and no pain. They believe and that's why they have hope.  But that luxury isn't available for non-believers.  In the film, the father of a robber - or rather a kid who has lost his way, asks the victim "Do you want the payout? How much?" for compensating the robbery his son has committed. The lady replies "No, I don't want money. I just want people to be not such a@$#**s".  To this, he remarks "People will do whatever they want to do. If you let them. " Such an apt...

 Aha, success - too much of success is also boring. Joke. It's joke. I haven't achieved any success - anything worth telling the world about. But being alpa trupta, I am happy that the libraries I am adding to current file are not showing all red, red, red.  So since the database project is going well, why don't I take a fiction break? And as expected, I ended up with yet another of Margaret Atwood's books. The sequel to handmaid's tale.  Where the story sounds like it belongs to stone age. The blind faith being taught to little girls, and how it creates a terror in them! And how reading is a sin and little girls are supposed to learn sew and embroider. It is progress in reverse. But to reiterate my theories, looking at how the religions and their fanatics are controlling the nations, this tale may not remain fictitious for long. We may go back to medieval period, with the witch burnings, crusades and continuous wars in the name of religions. 

 I am a firm believer of Murphy's law. I hear my mother sighing - at least she believes in one thing.  Murphy's law states that ' If anything can go wrong, it will go wrong'. There have been many corollaries etc. But what I have observed is if anything can go wrong, it will go wrong - at the worst possible moment.  Now you all have been happily using chatGpt to make your lives easier.  I was late. I thought my problems are not of the type a robot can solve.  But last week, as I was bored/stressed and was having a machine in front of me. So I googled chatgpt and opened the first suggestion google gave me. Asked many many questions and got lengthy ghisa pita solutions to them. Then two days later, I realized that the official chatGpt requires you to register. I had not. So I was in a fake website. Luckily I did not reveal the password for my secret treasure to the website :) Today was my second attempt. I went to the correct site and tried registering. And when tr...