Perpetually Perplexed

Durga Nagpal reinstated with ‘full honours’, inquiry called off ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nonsense, says Rahul Gandhi about ordinance shielding criminal MPs. "What the hell!" responds BJP ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Aam admy party said it has so far received over Rs 12 crore as donations from cross section of people and most of them are the first time donors to a political party. -------------------------------------------------------------------------  Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani teen shot by the Taliban, talks to Harvard audience Note : I wanted to high light the these stories as I felt the need to share the positive elements in the news

We have people who do not know what to do with their times and hence with their lives. We also have people who do not even have time to breathe properly. 3 rich girls so bored with their lives go in search of fantasy lives and land up with 3 equally rich and equally spoilt brats. Only to be murdered brutally and their scalp cut by these boys. A middle aged University professor has lost his wife and his direction and is begging to join their club. Why do such intelligent people fall for such traps? And he pays the price with his life.  OK, the story happened in US of A not our Bharat. And also it is part of "Fury" novel by Salman Rushdie. That does not stop you from feeling for all these people. What is wrong with their and ours also, society which drives our youth to the path of horrid crimes? How does one orient their energy and intelligence in the right direction? And who does this almost impossible task? How can media play a role in it? So one wants become prasidha ...

Saw a poster near Corporation. Similar in message but different image of Ganesha Thanks to http://bikesansar.wordpress.com for the image.

Nana patekar ऊपरवाला  देख के  शरमाता होगा कितनी खूबसूरत चीज बनायी थी इंसान देखो सब के सब कीड़े बन गए  हैं

How do we remove the hostility between two groups? Give them a common enemy and a common task which involves defeating that common enemy. This was the solution given in our class today. But I am not able to understand how to put it into practice. Between Hindus and Muslims, us and them, in our country, the common enemy is politicians. But try telling it to these warring people. My own husband says yes, the enemy is Congress, but BJP is not pseudo secularist. It is there to protect us and show them their place etc, etc. It is very easy to divide, but very very difficult to join what is broken. Our India, India for which our fore fathers fought - but with non-violence, for which Gandhiji fasted innumerable times, is needs some kind of fewi-kwik. To join the cracks of religion, language, class, region. And a leader like Gandhi who will convince the people that our country needs this binder.

Malik Solanka is angry, furious with everyone, with himself. So angry that one night, he finds himself standing with a carving knife next to his sleeping wife and 3 year old son. He is scared of himself. He is afraid he will hurt his family. So he flees. He leaves the country and the continent. He tries to forget his past and start a new life in America.  But here too, he sees rage everywhere.  Eddy was ten years when his mother coaxes his uncle Ray to leave forest and come and live with them. Ray was living in the forest thinking others are not safe from him. Eddy's mother, Judy takes little Eddy to forest and tries to convince him to come back. Finally Ray comes back and abashedly tells Judy that there is another reason behind his home coming. And her name is Carole. Tobe, Eddy's drunkard father started guffawing saying didn't Carole had enough fun with us that she had to go and bring you from the forest. Ray's face becomes ashen. He leaves the house, and shoot...

Most people( including me :) ), talk about politicians as if they are the root of all evil. But do we ever notice the good politicians who try to help people? Kimmane Ratnakar, Karnataka minister from Tirthahalli was traveling from his native town to Bangalore. He noticed a car sinking in a lake near Beguvalli. He jumped into the lake along with his guards and saved the family of six in the car. The car belonged to Uday, an electrical goods shop owner. Uday says it is like a rebirth to him and he does not thank the minister enough.  

Now it is evident that, the police did not do anything to stop the rioters. No, not because of laziness of police, not even because they were corrupt. Because they did not have any clear instruction from the government. If they wanted, the police could have stopped the mahapanchayat from happening. They could have stopped inciting speeches from various politicians. Now how do you expect us to vote for you in the next general elections Congress : You did not take any action against the state government for its inability to stop violence. You did not even reprove the state government. SP : You let the violence continue for a week without taking any action against rioters. You did nothing to stop the violence spreading to entire district. Only thing you did was blaming BJP. Even after knowing the names of politicians who gave hate speeches there by escalating the violence, you did not make any arrests. BJP : Your leaders were actively involved in adding fuel to the fire in this s...

Quote courtesy : lefunny.net

In our country, each state has a government, which is supposed to protect the citizens, rule them and regulate the law and order. Should we be having at least 3 governments, one for hindu citizens, one for muslim citizens and one for christians, each one governing AND PROTECTING the respective people. If we look at the events in Muzaffarnagar in UP, that seems to be need of the hour. The political parties are playing with lives of people. They can only see the election coming in 2014. And they want to polarize people, no matter what is the cost. Again my doubt is,  what is happening in Muzaffarnagar is not sedition?   Why are all those involved in spreading the hatred among people, not arrested? If they are not arrested, how are we sure that they will not use the same mode all over India? Are we willing to have  that kind of violence in every city, town and village ?

 When I was buying few books of Shlokas (Hindu verses praising God/s), I used to see the above sentence on the books and used to wonder why would anyone print the contents of the book in such fat letters. Now don't start asking, why would I, the little bit atheist, and a person who always makes fun of God and his believers, buy a book of shlokas. The book was for my mother in law. OK, I may be a semi-atheist, but I am certainly not a liar. I bought these books for myself. I don't know whether  reciting many verses of Sanskrit, whose meanings I do not understand, will help my well-being. But nevertheless I give it a try. So I used to wonder, why would the publishers print the book in large letters. Are these printed thus, so that God from wherever he is can read them and gloat about his praises? I don't think so. He must be above all this. Especially so, when there are so many people all over the world, who are ready to work for him, till the last drops of others their...

Her name is Nethra. She is in her prime - twenty five years, though she is as thin as a school girl. In an age where she must be savoring all the good things life has to offer, she is lying in a hospital bed, attached to a dialysis machine. She travels two hours in the morning, reaches this hospital and gets dialysis done and goes back home in the evening with her brother. She has no hopes about her future. She must spend her entire life in this way, visiting the hospital twice a  week for her dialysis. Why can't she go for a kidney transplant? Because none of her near-ones are willing to donate the kidney and buying a kidney cost 20 to 30 lakhs. She can't even think of that kind of money what with working class family and every one except her elder brother, being alcoholics. We Bangaloreans pride ourselves for our techies who can be seen wherever we go. Can these techies do something about people like Nethra, some kind of machine which can be implanted in the body to clea...

I many times get a mail asking how to write ottakshara in Kannada or arkavattu in Kannada keyboard for android phones. In order to explain I have to write answer, I will have to open blogger and change language to Kannada and type there. Some how my gmail has stopped showing language options. I downloaded my own qt application for kannada keyboard for windows. But not anymore I have found a better way now to type in Kannada in windows 7 First go to - Control Panel-  Clock Language and Region and select Region and Language and select the tab    Keyboards and Languages You should see a screen like this Click on Change Keyboard button  Now in the next screen you with existing languages and keyboards. Select the Add button   In the add Input Language screen shown below, move down and select Kannada as shown. You can optionally select Hindi also. Once Kannada is enabled, you should select a key sequence to change to Kannada and back t...

You try to read Sartre, you do not understand anything, OK, understandable. You read Jiddu's books and you are completely lost, instead of being enlightened. That is also OK. Gunter Grass books drive you completely confused and then blank. OK, that too is acceptable. But if you are confused after reading a thriller, some thing is seriously going wrong with you, lady. Buckle up. Said me to myself, after reading Calcutta Chromosome. But no, I have not understood the book  and I do not want to read it again. You all know how busy life I lead. Who is this Mangala Bibi? Is she an illiterate village cleaning woman cleaning the home of the researcher Cunningham in the 19th century? Or is she the researcher who finds out avian version of Malaria virus plasmodium and finds out how this can cure syphilis? Is she responsible for the invention of mode of malaria transmission by mosquitoes by Ronald Ross? And who is Antar, the Egyptian living in 22nd century? Why does he want to know abo...

Ellunde recipe (Sesame seeds sweet ball ) Take a pan, a thick pan. Wash it with water  and then keep it on stove. Once the stove is dry - (did you ignite the stove?), keep pouring sesame seeds to the pan, until your outer voice (as opposed to inner voice) says "that is enough". Roast it till seeds turn slightly reddish. At least some of them. Now add liquid jaggery to the pan. You do not have liquid jaggery? Close this window and go back to facebook. Add liquid jaggery to the pan, again until your outer voice asks you to stop. Keep mixing until the smell changes - yes, not the color. Until you get a very mild jaggery burnt smell. Remove the pan from the fire. And wait for 10-15 minutes. Keep checking if the ellu-bella mix is not too hot to touch. Once you can touch it, take a spoonful of mix in your palm and try to roll it into a ball. Wait till the hot sesame seeds burn your hand and also stick to your hand. Do not run to sink to wash off. Keep rolling like a brave girl...

There was this article in TOI saying unlike Christianity, Hinduism does not advocate celibacy for spiritual leaders. The rishis in vedic period and people like Ramakrishna Paramahansa were married but still in spiritual path. May be that is a valid point. But what is wrong is  quoting this in the context of Asaram.  Hindu rishis were married to one person, not acting like a sanyasi, and taking advantage of women who believe them to Gods. And certainly they would have been aghast at the very idea of abusing a fifteen year old. Does the article justify Asaram's heinous crime. I feel newspapers and other media should be careful about what they say and also what they imply.

Flash back to early 1990s: I had a friend. Yes, in those days, I too had friends. Her name is, well I don't remember her name. It will come to me. I remember she was very fair. Too fair like a north Indian. She would say "The vegetables are so very expensive. So most of the days, I cook different pulses - (kaalu) instead of vegetables". Yes, they were expensive. If I shop for Rs. 10, I would get vegetables for only 3 days. And I did not forget a 0 in the above number. I would shop for Rs. 10 and buy vegetables for 3 days in a near by shop. Now give 10 rupees note a kid and he will retort "What do you get for 10 rupees" Flash back to early 2000s: My neighbor, a good old lady who would talk non-stop, crib about husband, in-laws. She would send her retired husband to buy soppu ( leafy vegetable) each morning. He will buy it for 10 rupees and she will make sambar for the entire family. Today: I went to Reliance. Supposed to be cheaper than street vendors. I bro...