Life is an illusion

 A J Fikry - how do I even pronounce it? fikri? fikai? And what type of a name is it? Currently reading "The storied life of A. J. Fikry". And liking it too. May be it is a cliche of a widower feeling so depressed in life that he wants to destroy his business and himself. And finding a little girl to take care of and thus reigniting the kindle of life. One day Fikry hears some one crying when he comes back from his running. He searches all around and finds a a little child sitting in between racks of books. But who leaves a child in a book store - in this day and age when book stores are as outdated as clocks, calendars and movie theaters. And who leaves the door unlocked in this day and age? So a hapless mother, out of her wits' end sees an unlocked door and leaves her child inside. But the note attached says "I want my daughter to be brought up in a place surrounded by books".  But Fikry - a rational man does what anyone in that situation would do. He takes th

I know this sounds really childish. Or aimless work. But still I do have some quiz questions on triangles and their properties . If you want to go back to childhood or to showoff to someone about your geometry prowess, try this simple quiz.  And my work with Ashtavakragita is progressing. At snail pace. But progressing nonetheless. Having a physical book beside me seems to help and motivate me. But mani mani, right. When all of these works of mine do not give any monetary benefit, am I supposed to be spending money on these projects? I or any one else may never read these books later.  Blogger you must know is not a very helpful platform for any kind of UI improvement. For creating a simple table creation, you will have to resort to HTML. But if you have a Sanskrit shloka in one column and its meaning in the next column, it is easier to read, re-read, re-read and understand a little bit. So I am trying to change all my other Sanskrit shloka posts into table form - one post at a time.

 What is Ahaan - An exclamation you make when you are trying to be polite to a speaker? Ahaan, OK, OK...? No, apparently it is a name. Name of a rich shahzada who is going to inherit a very large business empire.  That's not my only grouse about the HotStar serial "Karmma Calling". Who uses double mm in Karma - this is not an astrology believing Bollywood star's name.  No, my grouse is not about the name of the serial either. It's about ending of the disappointment followed by rage. I was on edge after watching a murder in first episode and watched patiently remaining 6 episodes , just because I wanted to know who murdered the victim. (No spoilers here.) Only to watch the season ending without giving any clue.  Now who was the murderer, what was the motive? So I am left to wait patiently until they broadcast the second season. If there's going to be one.  But the lead actors are not bad to look at and the Karma has acted reasonably well. So has Raveena Tandon

 ಮಹಿಳಾ ಕುಸ್ತಿ ಪಟುಗಳು ಕೂಗಿ ಅತ್ತು ಕರೆದು ಬೊಬ್ಬೆ ಹೊಡೆದುಕೊಳ್ಳಲಿ ಬಿಡಿ. ಮಣಿಪುರ ಹೊತ್ತಿ ಉರಿಯಲಿ ಬಿಡಿ. ಹಲ್ಡ್ವಾನಿಗೆ ಸೇನೆ ಕಳಿಸಿದ್ದಾರೆ ಬಿಡಿ. ನಮಗೆ ಅದೆಲ್ಲ ಬೇಡ, ಪಾಕಿಸ್ತಾನದಲ್ಲಿ ಏನು ನಡೀತಾ ಇದೆ ನೋಡೋಣ.  ಪಾಕಿಸ್ತಾನದಲ್ಲಿ ಚುನಾವಣೆ ಮುಗಿದು ಫಲಿತಾಂಶವು ಬಂದಿದೆ. ಪೂರ್ವ ಪ್ರಧಾನಿ ನವಾಜ್ ಶರೀಫರ ಪಕ್ಷಕ್ಕೆ ೭೫ ಸೀಟುಗಳು, ಪಿ ಪಿ ಪಿ ಪಕ್ಷಕ್ಕೆ ೫೪ ಸೀಟುಗಳು ಬಂದರೆ ಸ್ವತಂತ್ರ ಅಭ್ಯರ್ಥಿಗಳು ೧೦೧ ಜನ ಆರಿಸಿ ಬಂದಿದ್ದಾರೆ.  ೧೦೧ ಸ್ವತಂತ್ರರು ಹೇಗೆ ಅಂತೀರಾ - ಇನ್ನೊಬ್ಬ ಪೂರ್ವ ಪ್ರಧಾನಿ ಇಮ್ರಾನ್ ಖಾನ್  ಕತೆ ಕೇಳಿ. ಇಮ್ರಾನ್ ಖಾನ್ ನಮ್ಮ ಭಾರತೀಯರಿಗೆಲ್ಲ ಚೆನ್ನಾಗಿ ಗೊತ್ತು. ಅವರು ಪ್ರಸಿದ್ಧ ಕ್ರಿಕೆಟ್ ಆಟಗಾರ. ೧೯೯೬ರಲ್ಲಿ ಪಾಕಿಸ್ತಾನ ತೆಹರಿಕೆ ಇನ್ಸಾಫ್ ಅಂತ ಪಕ್ಷ ಸ್ಥಾಪಿಸಿ, ೨೦೧೮ರಲ್ಲಿ ಪ್ರಧಾನಿಯೂ ಆದರು. ಆದರೆ ಪಾಕಿಸ್ತಾನ ನಮ್ಮ ದೇಶದಂತಲ್ಲ. ಅಲ್ಲಿ ಮಿಲಿಟರಿಯ ಬೆಂಬಲ ಕಳೆದುಕೊಂಡರೆ ಯಾವ ಸರಕಾರಕ್ಕೂ ಉಳಿಗಾಲ ಇಲ್ಲ. ಇಮ್ರಾನ್ ಖಾನ್ ಅವರಿಗೂ ಅದೇ ಆಯಿತು. ಮೊದಲೆಲ್ಲ ಚೆನ್ನಾಗಿದ್ದ ಅವರ ಮಿಲಿಟರಿಯ ಸಂಬಂಧ ಹಳಿಸಿತು. ಪರಿಣಾಮ, ೨೦೨೨ರಲ್ಲಿ ಅವಿಶ್ವಾಸ ಮತ ಮಂಡಿಸಿ ಅದರಲ್ಲಿ ಇಮ್ರಾನ್ ಖಾನ್ ಸೋತು ಹೋದರು - ಅವರ ಸರಕಾರ ಉರುಳಿತು.  ಅಲ್ಲಿಗೆ ನಿಲ್ಲಲಿಲ್ಲ - ಅವರ ದುರ್ದೆಸೆ. ಭಯೋತ್ಪಾದನೆಯ ಗಂಭೀರ ಆರೋಪ ಹೊರಿಸಿ ಅವರನ್ನು ಬಂಧಿಸಿದರು. ಪಾಕಿಸ್ತಾನಿ ಎಲೆಕ್ಷನ್ ಕಮಿಷನ್ ಅವರ ಪಕ್ಷವನ್ನು ರದ್ದು ಮಾಡಿಬಿಟ್ಟಿತು.

 My introduction to YouTube was some lady from Rajayoga who kept repeating that “tum ek sakshi ho”.  Sakshi - witness, that’s all we are. A mute witness who can’t alter things, can’t judge things, nor in anyway take part in this drama of life.  We witness the new direction our nation is taking. The adharma which is happening in the name of dharma. The mass mania which is being spread using tv, social media and WhatsApp. The religion which is more about exclusion than inclusion, which more about hate than love. We witness the leaders who preach and practice “hodi, badi, kollu” being brought to the centre stage. We see them justifying their hatred. We witness all these and we fear the day when we in a meek voice repeat these war cries.  We witness humanity being defeated and destroyed by nationalism, religious fanaticism. Scientific temper being defeated by glorification of old, orthodox customs.  And I know I am repeating the same thing like a broken tape recorder.

 I am currently reading this book by Ann Patchett. A really intriguing book about the life of doctors, medical researchers and drama and politics around them. Marina - Marina Singh is half Indian - I am proud already - about a fictitious character just because she has a father who is some part of India which is thousands of miles away from me.  Anyways Marina a researcher, and is shocked to find that her colleague and friend Anders has died in far away Brazil two weeks ago. Or may be earlier.  The news came via a postal letter - in this day and age of internet.  And there are not any details about how and why he died. Just the news of and that he was buried there to avoid the complications involved in bringing the body to US.   Unfortunately Marina must be the person to inform Ander's wife. Karen is in shock - and she is incredulous too. If her husband is dead , where is the body? What does tell their three children?  To help Karen find out the details of his death and to confirm t