Life is an illusion

 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 trying to

 Feeling so much better today. A good nights sleep improves our outlook of life! But what I came here to say is quote 'sari, mundakhogona' (OK, let us move forward) by TV anchor Ranganna -  a very sane advice. By moving forward, or planning this move, we are forced to think about the here and now and how to remove the hurdles in front of our eyes. Instead of lamenting the ways in which we mishandled the hurdles yesterday or what enormous hurdles may await us tomorrow.  Let us forgive and forget and move forward. And face and embrace what ever lemons the life throws at us. They are lemons, not coconuts. They don't break our heads. But sometimes, it feels like life doesn't want us to move ahead. Life loves the confusion and chaos. If there is clarity, there is some type of peace.  Who wants peace? No one.

In search for a post, I googled poetry and kannada poem. First one returned too deep, too cryptic poems difficult to fathom (in under 5 seconds). Second one returned too shallow poems meant for teenagers looking for sms poems. Poems form a large and integral part of our life. We grow up listening to lullabies sung by our mothers. We listen and sing/shout with all our might poems taught to us in our schools. And most of us listen to songs almost always, through out our lifetime. In the good old days, when there were not many modes of entertainment for the common man/child, radio was one of the rare magic boxes which gave us melodies, tranported us to another world.  But now things have changed. Now everything sings - from calling bells, to our phones, to kitchen gadgets, to car horns. We are  frustrated with these irritating music.  But are we really?  Because there is a special part in your brain which listens to music and generates feel good hormone. (Bullsh**t alert. I am making this

 I scrolled and reached the end of my previous posts. So my thaili (bag) is empty. No matter how smart or funny or empathetic I was during that period, all that knowledge has been emptied. Now I have to think of new posts and subjects to write.  Yes, today is the day my state goes to elect its rulers. Or is it sevaks(servants)? So many events happened in the past few months. It is as if the opposition party suddenly woke up from its slumber and decided to give an some semblance of fight.  Or opposition decided it needs to grow a back bone. Dear people, you must have done this work long, long time ago, and you would have saved the nation.  Democracy is a farce in our nation(As British people used to say - we don't deserve democracy). No one is talking, or wants to talk about development. They just talk about revadi - freebies or worse still ills of the other party and leaders. In very colorful language! In  definitely non-parliamentary language.  Yes, I agree with that statement by

Allide namma mane Illi bande summane  - Purandaradasa (Our house is there . I have come here temporarily)  The book is Ignorance by Milan Kundera. And the subject of the book is nostalgia.   The word nostos  means to return. algia comes from algos a Greek word, which means pain. So nostalgia is deep wish to return home. This nostalgia can be many times as bad as real physical pain. You are away from your home, from your people. You remember happy memories and think of good old days you spent there. Yearning to go back, but knowing too well that you can not.  You are far away, and I don't know what has become of you. My country is far away, and I don't know what is happening there. So nostalgia is also ignorance.  But one thing you do not apprehend is, the home is not what it was earlier. Places have changed, people have changed and so have you. The source of your nostalgia is no longer present. The story line of Ignorance revolves around Irena who has emigrated t

My cousin was a toddler - may be two years old. When ever he saw something new, he would declare to his mother - we also should get this for our home.  We never really grow out of this want. When we see something others have, we decide we should own them too.    No, most of us do not stoop so low as to steal the said item.    The object of desire  could be as small as a new type of spoon or as ambitious as a car.  If we are unable to afford that item, our anger automatically turns towards the person who gives us money aka our spouse/parents. Why doesn't he  have  enough money?   Next, this anger turns towards the owner of the said item.  If the person who owns is economically below us - then we will certainly be outraged. How dare he/she buy such a thing? Where does he/she get the money for it? Does he/she steal, cheat or what? I hear many of you complaining and saying you are not such a mean person. "In fact you believe in charity - you give out stuff to peopl

When did I last visit google play store? Must have been ages. I am leaving my coding life behind.  So in google play store, I have published 9 android apps. Not famous, not famous at all.  I started my coding with Kannada keyboard called Lekhana keyboard . This app lets you type in Kannada, Hindi or English. Sounds very primitive and redundant. As most phones now ship with all Indian language keyboards. But back when I started this, google did not have Indian language keyboards.  Any ways, my keyboard has transliteration also and has autosuggest.  Then there was another app called Indian newspapers and magazines - now no longer present. Here is the link from some corner of internet . It had links to multiple papers/magazines of many Indian languages using their RSS feeds.  It was an interesting and amusing - testing the app which showed content in a language I could not read at all.  But then there were plenty of copyright restrictions on RSS feeds. So it was not useful to add the pap

 Jan 11, 2017   Satire : A form of literature or wit using sarcasm to expose vice and folly.  I have started looking up satire instead of jokes. The reason is obvious. Jokes most often are too stale, or too lame or too adult (euphemism for vulgar).  And you do get tired of seeing the same demotivational posters or aunt acid quotes. Hence satire. Satire most often is political. So it will never be "old". And in these times, when people are a little bit (a lot!) scared to express their opinions - rightly so, but can not keep watching injustice after injustice, satire can help them out. I liked Onion site a little bit. Was wondering if there is such Indian site. And found " faking news ". It is surprisingly good. Let me give you some headlines as a sample. Man extends his holidays by a week to answer all WhatsApp greetings received on New Year Facebook to add 'Seen but ignored' feature that will show list of people ignoring your posts Petr

  Jan 15 2017 I happened to come across a shloka ( Sanskrit verse) like this ( in Quora!!) रामो राजमणि सदा विजयते रामम रामेशं भजे रामेण अभिहिता निशाचरचमू रामाय तस्मै नमः रामान नास्ति परायणं परतरं रामस्य दासोस्म्यहं राम चित्तलया भवतु में हे रामा माम उद्धर OK. I might have broken some sandhis here and there. So what is so great about this shloka? If you think that  "reciting this thrice a day will make your life easier", you are wrong. I have been reciting it for more than 5 years and my life is anything but easy. There is some thing unique in this shloka. It has all the 8 vibhaktis (declensions) of Sanskrit akaaranta pullinga. A nice way to remember the grammar. And an added bonus of "punya prapti"!

  I, Too Langston Hughes , 1902 - 1967 I, too, sing America. I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes, But I laugh, And eat well, And grow strong. Tomorrow, I'll be at the table When company comes. Nobody'll dare Say to me, "Eat in the kitchen," Then. Besides, They'll see how beautiful I am And be ashamed— I, too, am America.

 Feb 14 2017 Just when I ran out of ideas to blog about, God gave me one. No sorry, my tablet gave me one. See, I convinced every one and myself that I need a tablet to test my apps and bought a - cheap one. Nothing new in that, I repent each time and each time I buy a low cost, low quality device. This is a micromax tablet - (does it still exist? Apparently yes) the feature which caught my eyes was the salesman's willingness to pay Rs. 2000 my old tablet. . instead of 1500. Ha!  So it is lollipop (android version), has dual camera and dual sim and is INDIAN. I need to be pro-national, right? I repented the purchase immediately. The initial theme was showing very large icons which were not even pretty. But then after some tinkering, I started using it - for playing games and once in while for browsing. But yesterday the tablet died. Or the battery died. And today morning when I was charging, I pressed the power button and lo, it got chinkified. No, not bricked. Ins

Prasanna Anjaneya Temple In Ragigudda  is one of the famous temples in Bangalore. The temple complex is quite huge and again the temple is constructed on a rock. I knew it was Saturday and I expected a crowd. But the crowd was much much larger than expected. The queue started almost from the road, it continued to the Ganesha temple, which I think is at the ground level and then it continued on marble steps to the main temple too. Even inside the temple we were shouted to move fast around the deities. No time to breathe too - unless the queue is not moving. Not my cup of tea? OK, some how I liked this act of devotion(!)  today.  Last time, I had stood in such a large queue in a temple was 17-18 years ago, in Muscat. There on Shivarathri, there would be serpentine queues in front of the Shiva temple, growing longer and filling the roads. If not direct heavenly abode, can I expect at least a reservation of a seat there for this hard, devotional act? The main temple has shiva linga on left

  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 ಯಾರೂನಿಲ್ಲೋದಿಲ್ಲ . ಫೋನ ಹಾಳಾದರೆ ನಮ್ಮಪ್ಪ ತಂದು ಕೊಡ್ತಾನಾ ?  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. ಏನೋ ಬರೀಬೇಕು ಅಂತ ಸುಮ್ನೆ ತಲೆ ತಿಂದು ನಿಮ್ಮ ಸಮತೋಲನ ತಪ್ಪಿಸಿ ಬಿಟ್ನಾ?ಕ್ಷಮೆ ಇರಲಿ .

 He adorned the beautiful flowers with tiny little pearls!

 Here is a beautiful poem about old age by Maya Angelou And this beautiful inspirational image from Pinterest 

 Now things are becoming clearer to me. Neil De Grasse Tyson was explaining the concept of one dimensional motion and 2 dimensional motion.  In one dimensional motion, if there is a slow moving vehicle in front of you, you are slowed down too. But in two dimensional motion, you can overtake that slow moving person either from the left or right and move ahead.  I am unable to do that. a) I am in a one dimensional space which is highly unlikely b) the 2 dimensional space is reduced to one dimension because if I try to move along the y axis, I will be head one colliding with the person coming from the opposite direction, as the road is very very narrow.  So I am moving in an one dimensional space following a very very slow moving vehicle. And  I should be thankful, if I am moving at all. Because more often than not, there will be a vehicle trying to cross the road, or take a turn which makes all of us into stationary boiling (with rage) objects.