Perpetually Perplexed

Borrowed(stolen??) from India today "Honesty in politics is like oxygen. Higher you go, rarer it becomes."

idenu, mincha?

Many birds will be flying with me in the evening. Of course I will be walking, not flying. Today I saw two crows flying and I was happy. I knew them by name. Crow and crow. You say lame? Yeah. 

(Husband) was watching yakshagana "Lankadahana". Lanka was the town of Ravana. It was burnt by Hanumantha when he went there in search of Sita and the demons tried to put fire to his tail. I remembered a story about Hanuman and Sita. All the monkeys were eagerly waiting for Sita as they heard lot of accolades about her beauty. When she arrived from Lanka, they were in for a shock. One of them exclaimed "who says she is beautiful? She does not have a tail at all" Yakshagana : a folk art form popular in South kanara and North Kanara districts of Karnataka Sita : The main character of Ramayana. She was the wife of Lord Rama and was kidnapped by Demon Ravana.  Hanuman : A devout follower of Lord Rama. Is a monkey. Helps Rama in finding and rescuing Sita Lanka : The town of King Ravana - said to be current day's Sri Lanka

Bangaloreans, you must have heard about Indian Institute of World Culture's library which has a very large collection of books and costs you next to nothing. You pay an annual fees of some 500  odd  then you can borrow books and magazines and keep them for up to 15 days and return them. Please make a point to visit there and see. But there was one problem. The books will not always be new (how childish complaint) and you do not get recent magazines (which is not so good). The children's section has lot of books on different academic subjects along with fiction. Your children can make use of the library in weekends. But yes, I did find another library nearer to my house and reasonably good (though not very cheap). Yes, there is Just books near my house and today I became a member. I was happily surprised to see the collection of books there, not only thrillers and romances, but classics as well.

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 be...

Today there was a news article saying that a place of worship has imposed a dress code for the people visiting there. (Hence forth, I will not use names, I will try to be subtle, and tactical here because I do not want to get in the wrong terms with fanatics   hurt the feelings of any religion.) The statement given by the authorities says that the people must dress decently. Their attire should not distract other worshipers. What is your take on that, O Almighty? Do you mind if people dress not so decently when they give you a visit? Or will you be distracted as well or may be embarassed?  When you are telling to whomever that " bless this little girl who is wearing uh uh , what was I saying again?". But you are here for thousands of years when the dressing modestly was had a more liberal meaning. When people used to dress in much lesser items. Well anyway if you still feel embarrassed in front of your children, who are being economical in their dresses, you can watc...

Do you ever wonder I always post pictures of flowers, sky, tree etc, but never of any human beings. (As if any body cares!) Many other bloggers keep posting each and every step of their children. Of course when children are babies or toddlers and mine is neither. But the truth is I do not post the photos of fellow human beings because everyone hates me !! (mhp is my own abbreviation for most hated person)

I was on the terrace walking my evening walk. We Indian urban women have to have a maid servant to clean our house, clothes and vessels. Then we have to walk in the evening to exercise our body. So I was walking on the terrace, with the headphone thrust in my ears and some meaningless (which means I did not understand lyrics ) songs playing straight into my brain. Then I looked at the sky, the sky is blushing or is it turning red, from too much laughing. At the futility of my effort (not even 1 nm of my girth would be reduced from my walk).   As I kept looking, sky turned from red to scarlet to purple. Then it gobbled up all these colors and turned a gloomy dark blue. I was left alone with a bird flying high in the sky. Both aimless wanderers. Both bird brained.  As I decided to end this  and come down to earth   house, there appeared in the sky a little star, telling me "don't feel so very sad. mai hun na". I know, I know, it is not a star. It is just the p...

One of the greatest Asian women, Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi has spent almost 15 years in house arrest, many times spending time in prison as well for protesting against the military junta in Myanmar. She was released in 2010.  She was awarded Nobel peace prize in 1991.  She is the daughter of Aung San who negotiated Burmese freedom from British government in 1945 and later assassinated by political rival. Her mother Khin Kyi was Burmese ambassador for India and Nepal in 1960.  Suu Kyi was married to Micheal Aris in 1972 when she was working in UN. But later when she returned in Burma, he was denied entry visa. Even when he was ailing with Prostrate cancer, and many world leaders pleaded for his visa, the Burmese government denied him the visa, instead asking Suu kyi to leave the country and visit him. She did not do so, as she was afraid, when she wants to return, she would be denied the visa.  In 1990 elections, her party won 80% of...

I will have to provide the answers to my earlier quiz , though most of you have found the answers yourselves.  The number whose square is same number is One .  1X1 =1.  (I think that is the only answer) The value of g is 9.81 m/s2. This is the acceleration by which you will fall down if you jump from height. (e.g. fifth floor of a building). Try it once ;-) Hydrogen is the element with no neutrons in its nucleus. It has atomic number of 1 and weight of 1. In its nucleus it has only one proton, but no neutrons The author of War and Peace is 19th century Russian author Leo Tolstoy Published in 1869, this book is considered as one of greatest books in World literature Anna Karenina is another famous  book by Tolstoy Stockholm is the capital of the country Sweden (I honestly did  google only after guessing the answer correctly) In 1757 battle of Plassey took place Siraj Ud Daul and Robert Clive leading East India Co...

I am really running out of ideas to write today. Too much of stumbling and neck pain caused from that. Anyway let me write a set of quiz questions for you to answer. Maths : Which is the only number whose square is equal to original number? Physics : What is the value of g - acceleration due to gravity? Chemistry : Which element has no neutrons at all in its nucleus? English : (should I say literature) Who is the author of the book "War and Peace"? Geography: Which is the capital of the country Sweden? History (Indian) : What was the major event in 1757 in Indian History? GK :  Who is the chief minister of Bihar? And of Uttaranchal? Puzzle : If your son's age is one third your age now, and his age was one fourth of your age five years ago, what is your son's age now? Cricket : Which Indian cricketer has the nick name Jammy?  Entertainment(Bollywood) : In which popular Hindi film had the famous character Basanti? If you know the ans...

Currently I am reading the book with this title by Joseph Heller. The same Joseph Heller who wrote "Catch 22".  It is the story of biblical king David. The book is really interesting. And satirical. See just two examples. God said "Who says I have to be fair? " "When God is not there, you need things like witchcraft, religion and all. " I will add more quotes from the book soon. 

Even our religion is better than yours.  It is such a pity that you have only one god. We have so many. And each one is a specialist. One for wealth (Laxmi), one for education(Saraswati), one for courage, one for trouble (Shani)(!) and so on. Can your religion ever beat that? Image courtesy : The Hindu Note : Idella sumne tamashege. I do not intend to hurt the feelings of any community including mine. Note 2: The moment I posted this and looked into the tag humor, I started getting two scary ads in my blog, one some inappropriate site showing the image of a woman and the other one asking whether the reader wants to know such and such religion. Do the advertisers (or the programs which are written for them) think that just because a person makes fun of the religion, he/she is a pervert or he/she has decided to convert to some other religion? Now I am breathing easy after going to adsense settings and blocking religious or sexual or dating ads. Please remember,  we ha...

God saw that man is getting smarter day by day and ignoring him. God was perplexed. He thought for a while and then gave man a spouse! And man became devout again!

ಏನಪ್ಪಾ ನಮಗೆಲ್ಲ ಗವರ್ಮೆಂಟು ನಲವತ್ತೈದು ಸಾವಿರ್ ರುಪಾಯಿದು ಒಂದೊಂದು ಐಪ್ಯಾಡ್   ಕೊಡತೈತಂತ್ ನೋಡ್. ಐಪ್ಯಾಡ್ಅಂದ್ರ ವಿಮಾನದಾಗ ಕಣ್ಣ ಮುಚಗೊಳಾಕಂತ  ಪಟ್ಟಿ ಕೊದತಾರಲ್ಲ.  ಅದ ಏನು ? ಅದಕ್ಯಾಕ ಅಷ್ಟೊಂದು ರೊಕ್ಕಂತ ? ಆ ಐ ಅಲ್ಲಪ  ಇದು . ಕಣ್ಣ ಐ ಅಲ್ಲ. ಇದು ನಾನ್ ಅಂತಾರಲ್ಲ ಆ ಐ . ಹಂಗಾದ್ರ ಇಡಿ ಮೈಗ ಪ್ಯಾಡ್ ಏನು? ಬುಲ್ಲೆಟ್ ಪ್ರೂಫ್ ಅಂಗಿ ಹಂಗ ? ಹಂಗಲ್ಲಪ. ಐಪ್ಯಾಡ್ ಅಂದ್ರ ಒಂದು ಸಣ್ಣ ಕಂಪ್ಯೂಟರ್ ಇದ್ದಂಗ ಇರತೈತಿ  . ಆದ್ರ ಮೊಬೈಲ್ನಂಗ  ಸಣ್ಣ ಇರತೈತಿ. ಕಂಪಯುಟೆರೆನು? ಚಲೋ ಅತು ಬಿಡು. ನನ್ನ ಮನಯಾಕಿ ಬರಿ ಗಲಾಟಿ ಹಚ್ಚಿದ್ಲು. ಲೇಡಿಸ್ ಕ್ಲಬ್ಬನಾಗ್ ಎಲ್ಲಾರು ಈಮೇಲು ಆಮೇಲು ಅಂತ ಮಾತಾಡ್ಕೋತ ಇರ್ತಾರ. ನಾನು ಆ ಈಮೇಲು ನೋಡಕ್ ಒಂದ್ ಚಲೋ ಕಂಪಯುಟರ್  ತಂದ ಕೊಡ್ರಿ. ಅಂತ.  ಇದನ್ನು ಆಕಿಗ ಕೊಟ್ರ ಅತು. ಏ ಹಾಂಗ್ ಮಾಡಬ್ಯಾಡಪ್ಪ. ಇದ ಕೊಡ್ತಾ ಇರೋದು ನಿನ ಹೆಂಡತಿಗ, ಮಕ್ಕಳ್ಗ ಅಲ್ಲ. ನಿನ್ನ ಸ್ವಂತ ಉಪಯೋಗಕ್ಕ.  ನೀನು ಸಭೆಯಾಗ ಮಾತಾಡಾಕ್, ಇದರಾಗ ಬರಕೊಂಬಂದು  ಓದಕ ಅಂತ . ಮತ್ತ ಅದರ ಟೆಂಡರ್  ಯಾರಿಗ ಬರತೈತಿ  ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಹೋಗಿ ವಿಚಾರಿಸೋಣೇನು ? ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಸುಮ್ಮಿನಿರು ಮಾರಾಯ ನೀನು. ಈಗ್ಲ ಪರಪ್ಪನ ಅಗ್ರಹಾರದಾಗ್ (bangalore prison) ನಮ್ಮ ಮಂದಿ ಕ್ಯೂ  ಹಚ್ಯಾರ . ನಾವೂ ಅಲ್ಲಿಗ್ ಹೋಗೋ ಕೆಲಸ ಬ್ಯಾ...

Today there is a new crisis in bhajapa of namma karnataka. Sriramulu has stated he will contest as an independent from Bellary rural constituency. The party is having lot of problems already with former cm just out of prison, MLAs not attending Advani yatra in Karnataka. Don't ask tumhe kya. I have enough problems of my own from sar se paanv tak. But my problems are not blog worthy. So BJP is having yaadvi kalaha. But it is not the sole political party which has infighting. Congress in our state was not able to use the opportunity even when Yediyurappa had to resign, because of similar problem.  But what is this yaadavi kalaha? When people fight among themselves, instead of enemies, it is called yaadavi kalaha. The word has an interesting origin. Once sage Durvasa visited Dwaraka where yaadavas had created a city in the middle of sea . Yaadava is the dynasty to which Sri Krishna belonged. So Durvasa visits Dwaraka. Some mischievous people, bring a boy - I think Krishna'...

Burnet is having cancer. He undergoes treatment from the best doctor in town and recovers. But few months later when visits the doctor again, doctor takes samples of his tissues. And asks him to come back after six months. This continues for quite long time. By now Burnet is sure that cancer has relapsed even though Doctor has not explicitly told so. He sells his house and starts living in a smaller apartment. He starts living like a man his days are numbered. But his health has not deteriorated and doctor gives him more and more forms to sign. When he gets a form which says his cells will be used for commercial purposes, he declines. And thus starts a battle between a common man and a influential biotech industry. Burnet realizes that doctor has sold his cells to a Biotech company called BioGen owned by Rick Diel for millions of dollars. His cells have a special feature of fighting cancer. When he asks for his share, doctor declines. And the irony is doctor wins the case, as the cou...

Somebody from Indiblogger community had written a blog post asking us to google our own blog title. I did that. And even after 14-15 pages, still no sign of poor me. Then I consoled myself. This question is a very profound one. Almost everyone in the universe  faces this question one time or the other in their life time. Even if 0.0001% of them blog, then that would be.... a large number. So it is okay. Then today I had better idea. I googled for hegde blog. Again no sign of my blog any where. How many Hegdes are there. And I should say I was happy to see so many hegdes blog. Last resort, I tried googling why am here with hegde with blog. Yes finally I was able to find myself (!). Good. Google can find me. But seriously I need to find more ways to write better articles so that people would like to read them. So far what I am writings are just ramblings, not stories. So that google can find me!

Digvijay Singh  wonders why his statements trigger controversy

Yes, it is possible and is being done in Saudi Arabia.  Al Qaida terrorists of Saudi origin  arrested in Pakistan, Iran etc are brought to Thumamah a prison/rehabilitation center run by Saudi Government, which is half an hour drive from Capital Riyadh and provided all facilities including swimming pool, gym. In the evening the inmates can play football or learn art.  The inmates have luxurious quarters. They attend various classes including classes on religion which helps them in alleviate the misconception about Islam and jihad. Their families can come and visit them on weekends. The only difference between outside world and inside is the fenced compound. After completing the program, the government pays them monthly allowance of 3000 riyals, a car and a job. This center has successfullyfully rehabilitated more than 3500 Al Qaeda men. We can take this concept and try to adopt it for our Naxalites and other militants/terrorists. Of course we may not have as much fin...

Last two decades our country has seen lot of changes. There are more jobs and much less unemployment. But let us not ignore the negative side of progress. As we are becoming economically stronger, are we changing to callous and almost cruel human beings? Look at two unrelated news items which appeared today. In a government hospital in Murshidabad district of West Bengal, a newborn baby and mother were cleaned with acid, instead of antiseptic which resulted in the death of the baby. The hospital is giving conflicting statements, saying that a cleaner might have replaced antiseptic with acid and saying that the baby was still born. But mother says the baby was born alive and it cried. In another incidence in Bangalore,  a trucker who was carrying cows from Bellary district was beaten and thrown out of elevated expressway by some group of Animal lovers. The truckers was carried to the hospital but died. How can a hospital which is supposed to make us well, cause death? And do ...

Selco a solar manufacturing company from Bangalore is providing school children solar LED lamps and batteries. It has implemented this in few schools in Mandya district. Children can charge their batteries in centralized grids in their schools and use them at homes to study in the evening. Read the article from Times of India  Dear namma governments, you can also start a project similar to this. Will help thousands of children in villages who are suffering because of 6-8 hours of power cuts. 

God has infinite names. At least our Hindu God has. And one of them is Kusumakara. I was intrigued by this name. (I hope intrigue is same as ಜಿಜ್ಞಾಸೆ in Kannada) Kusuma is my husband's childhood friend's wife. Sorry, I was joking. Kusuma is flower. kara is hand. Kusumakara means one who is holding a flower. But we thought God is holding this earth.  Why on the earth is God holding the flower? May be to give it to Goddess (or an apsara, but let us assume that he wants to give it to goddess his respective goddess for god's sake.)  As we can not go there ( with this body at least), and as there will be no live telecast or youtube video, we will have to use our imagination. Our God says " 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 Go...

I was reading first headline of today's paper. Something was not right. India will recruit 11 soldier in China border. Biggest ever expansion. 11 soldiers? And biggest expansion. What is this? I asked husband "11 soldier recruiting, is biggest expansion? How is that?" He told just " ninna kannadaka hakko" (wear your glasses). I did and saw that it is not 11, but 1L- L for lakh. So much for the abbreviation. And thus is my eyesight.

"ನಾನು ಮೊನ್ನೆ ಫೋನ್ ಮಾಡ್ದಾಗ ನೀನ್ ಪೂಜೆ ಮಾಡ್ತಾ ಇದ್ಯಲ್ಲ. ಅಷ್ಟೆಲ್ಲ ಹೊತ್ತು ಏನೆಂದು ಪೂಜೆ ಮಾಡ್ತೀಯ?" "ನಾನ್ ನನಗೊಬ್ನಿಗೆ ಅಂತಲ್ಲ. ಸರ್ವೇ ಜನಹ ಸುಖಿನೋ ಭವಂತು ಎಂದು ಪೂಜೆ ಮಾಡ್ತೀನಿ" "ಮತ್ತೆ ಸರ್ವೇ ಮಾಡ್ದೆ ಇರೋರು ದುಃಖಿ ಅಗಬೇಕ? " Both of these are civil engineers!