Perpetually Perplexed

An year ago, there was a lot of protest in our country by writers and other creative people. Protesting against growing intolerance in our country, the deep divide in secular fabric of our country. Protestors protested a lot. Were called chamchas of opposition party, were called pseudo intellectuals and all other names. Today I saw some one suggesting that the 'award wapasi", the writers returning their literary awards as a symbolic protest against the government is plotted by our neighboring countries. Great!!. Anyways. Nothing came of it. The tolerance limit of our people did not increase. And people said that this protest stopped after Bihar elections - suggesting that all this was ruse to defeat ruling party in the said elections. But now look at the situation. The entire world has become one intolerant entity. If we look at the leader of America, our own people look like saints. And the brazenness with which this leader is going on with his poll statements is really

I know i have blogged about this poem earlier. But the poem is so great .. it  says so many things. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings The free bird leaps on the back of the wind and floats downstream till the current ends and dips his wings in the orange sun rays and dares to claim the sky. But a bird that stalks down his narrow cage can seldom see through his bars of rage his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing. The caged bird sings with fearful trill of the things unknown but longed for still and his tune is heard on the distant hill for the caged bird sings of freedom The free bird thinks of another breeze and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn and he names the sky his own. But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing The caged bird sin

First the funny one.  My phone was messed up and I was trying to fix it. So what is new in it? The new aspect here was I was unable to do anything in the phone because it kept on asking my gmail credentials and was not happy with the ones I provided.  So I had to take the ultimate course - talking and taking the phone to service center. I asked for the directions. And the helpful customer service rep. told me that it is near one Sai kiruba hospital. I asked again " Sai ...". She reiterated "sai kiruba". I said OK and wrote down the address. Given the state I was in, I could not make any jokes on it. I assumed it is one of those special deities Kiruba. May be I only know kuruba, kirata. Once I landed in the location of service center, I realized the hospital is SaiKripa Hospital. Today when I glanced at the paper in which I had scribbled down the address the realization struck me. The north Indian lady had told me kirupa - their version of kripa. I laughed

I, Too Langston Hughes , 1902 - 1967 I, too, sing America. I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes, But I laugh, And eat well, And grow strong. Tomorrow, I'll be at the table When company comes. Nobody'll dare Say to me, "Eat in the kitchen," Then. Besides, They'll see how beautiful I am And be ashamed— I, too, am America.

When will men and women in this country and  else where feel safe again? OK. OK. When will I feel safe again? To go out of the house? Not to pubs to drink. Not to smoke, but to do some shopping. To do get some repair work done. When will I feel safe again? Will I ever?

Why Sanskrit now? What happened to C++? Have I turned pious? Or still continue to just eat "payas"? Given the fact that our people keep broadcasting how Sanskrit is like a programming language, it is an understandable transitions. Or may be I am trying to find roots - so that I should no longer be hanging by the thread. Let me tell you a similarity. Sanskrit is as tough as any C++.  But may be if it is really mother of all languages, learning it is always a good "time pass". There are so many similar words between Latin (or Greek, I am not sure) and Sanskrit.  Look at all these words. Father, Mother Brother, Pitru, Mathru, Bhratru And the numbers dvaya - duo thraya - three dasha - deca saptha - septa ashta - octo Can we find such connections between any two languages if look hard enough. I am not sure.   

I happened to come across a shloka  like this ( in Quora!!) रामो राजमणि सदा विजयते रामम रामेशं भजे रामेण अभिहिता निशाचरचमू रामाय तस्मै नमः रामान नास्ति परायणं परतरं रामस्य दासोस्म्यहं राम चित्तलया भवतु में हे रामा माम उद्धर OK. I might have broken some sandhis here and there. So what is so great about this shloka? If you think that I will say "reciting this thrice a day will make your life easier", you are wrong. I have been reciting it for more than 5 years and my life is anything but easy. There is some thing unique in this shloka. It has all the 8 vibhaktis of Sanskrit - akaaranta pullinga. raamaha , ramam, ramena, raamaya etc. A nice way to remember the grammar. And an added bonus of "punya" acquisition.

Satire  A form of literature or wit using sarcasm to expose vice and folly.  I have started looking up satire instead of jokes. The reason is obvious. Jokes most often are too stale, or too lame or too adult (euphemism for vulgar).  And you do get tired of seeing the same demotivational posters or aunt acid quotes. So satire. Satire most often is political. So it will never be "old". And in these times, when people are a little bit scared to express their opinions - rightly so, but can not keep watching injustice after injustice, satire can help them out. I liked Onion site a little bit. Was wondering if there is such Indian site. And found " faking news ". It is surprisingly good. Let me give you some headlines as a sample. Man extends his holidays by a week to answer all WhatsApp greetings received on New Year Facebook to add 'Seen but ignored' feature that will show list of people ignoring your posts Petrol and diesel prices hiked to en

I try to read some thing from Onion. My no-scripts plugin shows all these unnamed sites trying to run "Scripts". Which are these? Why are they here?

Another new day, another new term - demockeracy . Yes, the state in which we all are. Yes, it is the rule of the people - which people? - for the people - which people? You analyze and answer these questions.  

tikinter is not a word from one of foreign languages I am learning. It is a graphics module in python. Which I am trying to experiment with. Few months back I used to look at all scripting languages with disdain. "They do not even define their variables". And they are for web developers. But apparently python is different. Every one is talking about it. Or in it. So I joined a coursera course in introductory python and successfully completed it. Because it was free course? Does that mean I will post its certificate in Facebook. No.  a) I get a certificate only by paying 4000 rupees. We Indians do not believe in paying for internet knowledge. Paying for wifi connection is more than enough. b) I have deactivated my facebook account and will be deleting it. Again. I also installed a solo learn app for python in my phone. It is quite good. Again I do not expect them to return the favor. :) When I was searching for python learning videos in youtube - thanks all to Jio,

I learned  a new term today from the newspaper.  Post truth. We know about truth and lie. But post truth is the one which becomes a truth if a statement is repeated again and again and again ...and forcefully. By many, many people. I think this is used extensively in the current  scenario.

Forty years ago..... Now I am sounding exactly like those old people who will tell all fairy tales from their child hood, romanticizing them and always ending with "kaala kettu hoyitu". No, I am not going to say that. Nor do I say that our country was better - it is financially much better now. Forty years ago, when I was studying in school in remote village, there would be class debates with topics such as "Which is better, village or town". I don't think the kids now a days can relate to these topics. Not even in remote villages. If at all there are schools in villages and if there are kids in  those schools. But my point is, we should have debates in our schools - not on trivial topics. Does not matter if mom or dad would write the speech for children, and kids just memorize and utter them. But debates needed in the schools should be on contemporary topics - how do we reduce unemployment in our country, how do we handle the imminent water crisis in our c