Perpetually Perplexed

I need brain stimulation frequently. And I desperately need it when I am upset or feeling lethargic. And TV is not good. It dulls the brain further. Books may help me but it takes more time. If I am in a hurry and I need immediate mood lift, I can use some games - like word games or puzzles. Peak :   When I first downloaded it, I went all gaga over it. It had good UI, it gave me different set of games each day. There were different categories like languages, math and cognition. But by month end, I would use only word drop kind of game, and since it would not appear each day, I was upset and uninstalled it. But if you are willing to buy the premium version, it is good game for exercising your brain and feeling good about yourself. Elevate :  Well, I have downloaded it yesterday and I am still infatuated at it. The difference from Peak is, here the games appear to be more concrete. For example, you will listen to  a sentence - and the sentence does not appear on t...

I find ads which appear in youtube more intersting than their TV counterparts. Is novelty of the ad the reason? Or is it because ad creators know the chanchala mind of net users and hence put more effort into it. I also should tell something about Kannada ads. If there is an ad in Hindi about product A, the same ad is literally translated into Kannada and is telecast. Which makes it dull and some times meaningless. Are these people well versed with our language or not?  Take the example of "Swach bharat". In Hindi, Vidya Balan says to conclude "jahan soch, vahan shauchalay". And in Kannada ad, she says "elli alochaneyo alli shauchalaya". At least if she had used "manassu", it would have sounded better Out of all the recent ads, the ones I liked are "She touched the pickle" because it tries to eliminate ignorance. The ad I dislike very much is Tanishq, where Katrina says don't get married because your ex boyfriend is getting m...

I like all of us, keep saying that India and its youth are upto no good. But today's news made me realize that  the new India provides opportunities for all and any one can reach their dreams in our Indya. When every kid is busy with their studies, this boy would help his mother make garlands. The boy had to help his parents because his father was an attender and mother was selling garlands. That did not stop Abhilash from topping St. Joseph's college in II PUC with centum in both Electronics and Maths. This college paid his engineering tuition fees. Now he is the topper in Electrical and Electronics branch in BIT and has won 7 gold medals. There are plenty of examples like this. Children studying very hard to raise above poverty. Our education system is not as bad as we think it to be. And more importantly it is not out of the reach of poor. And there are lot of NGOs and other people willing to help a child study. And parents of these children, though not able to pay th...

I bought this book because it was written by editor of Outlook, one of the best English magazines in India. Is it also because recently he has expired? I am not sure. Or is it also because the author is self proclaimed pseudo secularist - at a time when the word - secularism is ridiculed or frowned upon. And the book is really good. The author gives us an in depth view of the world of journalism, media and politics. And the narration is detailed without ever getting boring. Consider an essay about should newspapers be owned by big industrialists. In India and in world over, it is difficult for a newspaper to survive without financial backing of a rich industrialist. Because running a news paper is costly and most often lossy business. Industrialists run this business and in return they expect the paper should support their causes. An editor will always have to struggle between the duty to tell the truth and need to obey his proprietor. Honest editor will often be fired and will ...

Bored of your same old bathroom with same old flooring? How about a 3D floor like this?  How would you like your bed room floor looking like this? I am amazed. When I saw it in Lostateminor , I had to blog about it. Or at least post these images. Spectacular!

I was watching a discussion about demolition drive in Bangalore in News 9 channel. The same demolition drive in which hundreds of families have their houses razed. Governments famously punish the victim. These people who have lost their houses, did not encroach the land. They bought it from the people from layout developers paying a huge amount to them. They have all valid khatas, they have been paying taxes for many years. Now how do they suddenly become illegal? Where do these people go and live now? Would not it be logical to ask the real estate agents  or the government to give them compensation? You can punish the guilty later. First provide rehabilitation for these people. And I heard one point in the discussion. Is it really feasible that, these lake beds after being evacuated of  "illegal encroachers" , will be rejuvenated and become alive lakes? Looking at the condition of other lakes, this seems highly improbable. So dear government, please rejuvenate exist...