Life is an illusion

 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 and could levitate above

 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 help for this. It ap