Perpetually Perplexed

In western world they have this unscientific "5 seconds rule" regarding food dropped on floor. If it is picked up within 5 seconds, it will be safe and not contaminated with germs. I am certainly not talking about that. Instead I am talking about Mel Robbins 5 seconds rule about overcoming procrastination, avoiding bad decisions and more importantly getting into action mode. According to her famous book by the same title , we all know what is good for us, what we should be doing and what we should not be doing. But we do not break bad habits, we do not go into action mode, because our brain resists any type of change. In such a stressful situation we need to count down 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 and get into action mode. For example if you are feeling lethargic in the morning when alarm rings, count 5 to 1 and then get up. The key here is you are not giving too much time for the brain to think and find excuses not to get up. And once you are up, things will start moving. Y...

ಇದೊಂದ್ ಶಬ್ದದ ಸಲುವಾಗಿ ನಾನು ಈ ಪೋಸ್ಟನ್ನ ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲಿ ಬರೀಬೇಕಾಗಿ ಬಂತು. ನಂಗೊಂದ್ ಮೆಸೇಜ್ ಬಂತು - ನಿಮ್ಮ ಸಮತೋಲನ ಮತ್ತು ಇತರ ವಿವರಗಳನ್ನ ತಿಳಿಯಲು http:yavudoondutinryurl  ನ್ನು ಕ್ಲಿಕ್ ಮಾಡಿರಿ ಸಮತೋಲನವಾ? ಯಾರಿಗೆ? ಸರೀ ಎಣ್ಣೆ ಹಾಕಿ ಟೈಟ್ ಆದವರಿಗಾ? ಹೇಗೆ ಅವರು ಸಮತೋಲನ ನೋಡ್ತಾರೆ? ಆ ವೆಬ್ ಸೈಟ ಓಪನ್ ಮಾಡಿ ಆಮೇಲೆ ಫೋನ್ ಮೇಲೆ ಒಂದ್ ಕಾಲಲ್ಲಿ ನಿಲ್ಬೇಕಾ? ಹಾಗೆಲ್ಲ ಯಾರೂ ಮಾಡೋದಿಲ್ಲ. ಜನಾ ಅಷ್ಟೆಲ್ಲಾ ದಡ್ದರಲ್ಲಾ. ಫೋನ್ ವಿಷಯದಲ್ಲಂತೂ ಸಿಕ್ಕಾಪಟ್ಟೆ ಸ್ಮಾರ್ಟ್ ಆಗೇ ಇರ್ತಾರೆ. ಅದಲ್ಲ ಅಂದ್ರೆ ಇನ್ನ ಹೇಗೆ ಸಮತೋಲನಾ ನೋಡ್ತಾರೆ? ತಲೆ ಮೇಲೆ ಫೋನ್ ಇಟಗೊಂಡು ಆ ಸೈಟ ಓಪನ್ ಮಾಡಿದ್ರೆ ಅದು ಹೇಳತ್ತಾ - "ನೀವ್  ಹಾಕಿದ ಎಣ್ಣೆ ಎಲ್ಲೋ ಡೂಪ್ಲಿಕೇಟ್ ಇರ್ಬೇಕು. ನೀವ್  ಇನ್ನು ಪೂರ್ತಿ ಓಲಾಡ್ತಾ ಇಲ್ಲ. " ಆದ್ರೆ ಸಮತೋಲನ ನೋಡೋ ಅವಶ್ಯಕತೆ ಇರೋವ್ರಿಗೆ ಸಮತೋಲನದ್ ಮೇಲೆ ಡೌಟ್  ಇರತ್ತೆ. ಅವ್ರು ಯಾವ ಧೈರ್ಯದ ಮೇಲೆ ಅಷ್ಟೆಲ್ಲ ಬೆಲೆ ಬಾಳೋ ಫೋನ್ ತಲೆ ಮೇಲಿಂದ ಬೀಳ್ಸೋಕೆ ರೆಡಿ ಆಗ್ತಾರೆ? ಓ ಕೆ.  ಆ ಮೆಸೇಜು ಬಂದಿದ್ದು ಜಿಯೋದಿಂದಾ. ಅವರು ಹೇಳ್ತಾ ಇರೋ ಸಮತೋಲನ ಇಂಗ್ಲಿಷಿನ ಬ್ಯಾಲೆನ್ಸ್.  ಕರೆನ್ಸಿ ಬ್ಯಾಲೆನ್ಸ್. ಸುಮ್ನೆ ತಲೆ ತಿಂದು ನಿಮ್ಮ ಸಮತೋಲನ ತಪ್ಪಿಸಿ ಬಿಟ್ನಾ? ಸಾರಿ.  

A long journey - 450 odd kilometers on Indian roads is not a comfortable one. But a colorful one. Leaving the malnad - the hilly areas where yesterday's festival (Ganesh Chaturthi) is a major festival, we could see people crowded in the bus stops. Saying perhaps "My spouse could not get a leave. But as they bring the idol in here, I had to come. I need to go back as tomorrow son is having an exam" etc. But a hundred kilometers to the north, the narrative is completely different. People there had to fight their daily struggle with water. People carrying carts filled with water pots could be seen here and there. Festival or no festival, one needs water - at least drinking water. But last few days, there are rains all over the state. Hope it brings some respite to these people who are struggling drought for the last 3 years. Even today it is raining heavily in Bangalore. In fact, all through our journey, we were being chased by dark ominous clouds. Ganesha pendals i...

I was watching "This is Us", a tv serial in Star World about the struggle of a family of twins and their adopted brother. And I realized that I am not feeling the usual unhappy feeling (hating myself, hating the serial etc. might be putting it very strongly). I am feeling calm and peaceful instead. Then I realized the reason for this feeling is a) this is a new episode which I have not watched earlier. Yes, that's all. But when I switched channels and went to Zee Cafe which was airing "House of cards" which was also showing a new episode - the calm went away like so many people who antagonize the Underwoods. This has to do with the storyline - the story of a cunning, ruthless politician couple who can go to any extremes to get power and stay in power. This may be much more realistic than most soap operas shown today. But it is disturbing. A lot. Because you want to believe in goodness of people. And you want to believe that it exists. And you do not want ...

I was supposed to have finished not only collecting questions, but writing solutions to all the questions by now. But I am no where near that. I am supposed to worry about why does shell sort use insertion technique. Why not just swap the elements when they are out of order? But no, instead I am thinking what is happening around me? When does this saga which started with my birth a dead animal going to end? You don't know the story? If you do not know, it means you are not a resident of our 'hood and so probably you are not reading this post too. One fine morning - it was a saturday July 30th, there was a terrible stench. When we went outside, we saw that there was a dead animal lying in the middle of empty site next to our house. How did it come there? Was it dead and then brought there? Or did a snake bite it? I am not sure. So we did the only possible thing we could do. We called mahanagara palike and complained. Luckily enough they did come, they saw the carcass an...

He makes his own rules                      - for everyone Judicial system in India           Arnab Court                    Supreme Court                           High courts                             Local courts

image courtesy : google image search :)

That is the question! I put all these under same post because all these are borrowed from internet. So a single disclaimer.

Before I wrote this post, I wrote and posted a C post about recursive functions. Not because this post is in anyway related to recursion or to towers of hanoi problem. Because I was slightly apprehensive about the topic of the post. There was fierce discussion in Republic channel about article 35 A. When there isn't? And the show host and the channel owner was saying 'no, it is not' repeatedly, aggressively and with all the conviction in the world. And his counterpart was explaining something about what happened during accession and how the maharaja put condition before Kashmir became part of India. I remembered my nephew's remark. He, a typical generation Y kid, was saying all these news channels need to be banned. Because they broadcast biased news. I agree with him to a large extent. Though the news in most news channels may not be biased, the analysis are biased. And the show hosts of these channels say their analysis with so much courage and conviction. ...

This is one of the famous temples in Bangalore. The temple complex is quite huge and again the temple is constructed on a rock. I knew it was Saturday and I knew there will be a crowd. But the crowd was much much larger than expected. The queue started right from the place where you need to leave your slippers, it continued to the Ganesha temple, which I think is at the ground level and then it continued on marble steps to the main temple. Even inside the temple we were marched around the deities. No time to breathe too - unless the queue is not moving. Not my cup of tea? OK, some how I liked this devotion today. Last time, I had stood in such a large queue in a temple was 17-18 years ago, in Muscat. There on Shivarathri, there would be serpentine queues in front of the Shiva temple growing and filling the roads. If not direct heavenly abode, can I expect at least a reservation of a seat "there"for this queue? smiley face, smiley face. The main temple has shiva lin...

Having visited Maruti mandir in Vijayanagar which is a modern temple, I did some research on next visit. This Someshwar temple in Ulsoor was said to be thousands of years old. The moment I got down from Ulsoor metro station, I felt I am in another place. A smaller town, slightly calmer but not cleaner than Bangalore. The temple is hardly 5 minutes walk from the station. The outer dwara gopura was temporarily covered with dried coconut leaves. But the walls themselves had such nice carvings. Once you enter the courtyard, there are many smaller temples in the periphery and a what looked like a brass Nandi with its own gopura. The temple has very large open mantapa with 48 stone pillars each with intricate carvings. According to wikipedia these carvings represent various scenes like Ravana lifting a mountain, Girija kalyana etc. Many pillars had sculpture of a man riding a lion. Internet told me that this temple is in Vijayanagar model. And some of Gods ...

ಮತದ  ಬಿರುಕುಗಳನು  ತೊರೆವೆ  ನುಡಿಗಳೊಡಕುಗಳನು ಮರೆವೆ  ತೊತ್ತ ತೊಡಕುಗಳನು ತೊಡೆವೆ ಜೀವನವನ್ನೆ ದೇವಿಗೆರೆವೆ ಬಿಡುತೆ  ಗುಡಿಯ ಕಟ್ಟಲು ಭರತ ಭೂಮಿ ನಮ್ಮ ತಾಯಿ ನಮ್ಮ ಪೊರೆವ ತೊಟ್ಟಿಲು Time to remember these golden words by our great poet Kuvempu.

सर्वे भवन्तु सुखिनः| सर्वे भवन्तु निरामयः | सर्वे भद्राणि पश्यन्तु | मा कश्चिद्दुःखभाग्भवेत् । ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥  Meaning:   May All become Happy .   May All be Free from Illness .   May All See what is Auspicious .   May no one Suffer .  

There is usual ugly traffic on the road. On both sides of the road there are noisy shops. The decibel level is reaching the skies. But in the middle there is a tiny park which is very narrow. Hardly 5- 6 feet wide with very few plants and trees. But there are stone benches facing each other, filling the entire park. And sitting on these benches are elderly people chatting with their friends, oblivious to what is happening around them. Do we feel happy for them or sad?

And now for some inspirational pins from pinterest But there is another one, to make you happy. This is a pencil sketch from artstation.com. Don't you love this portrait of a little girl. And it looks so real.

Has wanderlust attacked me? Or it is just boredom accentuated by empty nest? But all the self help articles, all pinterest images tell me to "go outside". Walking in the park gets tedious after a while. And super markets are just not right. Because a) they do not have 'nature' b) they make us more depressed because there are so many things you want to buy, but you don't want to buy after looking at the cost. So where does a woman go then. Hence the early pilgrimage. Now don't tell me this next phrase is sacrilegious. ek bhale maanushi ke devout banake choda!  :) But today it was to be my real passion. Books. Do I read? Do I get time to read anything other than newspapers? But again all articles ask me to read a book. So I am at least making an effort. So I had to return previous book by Margaret Atwood and Anitha Desai and bring new books. That done, I was on my way to metro station (new fad). I saw this chapak  (sampige in kannada) petals on the ...

Gavi gangadhareshwara temple is one of the oldest temples in Bangalore. It is inside a cave - hence the name. The temple complex is on a monolithic rock. On the courtyard of the temple you will notice damaru(drum), trishula (trident) and two  discs, all of which are on stone pillars. The discs are called suryapana and chandrapana and they face each other. And there is a brass dhwajastambha (flag post). Suryapana and Chandrapana facing each other Dhwaja Stambha Trishula Damaru Observe nandi on both sides  The temple is inside the cave and you should climb down the stairs. The height of the cave tapers as you go inside the temple. The pradikshina paths (there are two of them) are so low that you need to bend and walk. Every year on 14th January, on Makara Sankranti, the ray of sunlight passes through the nandi in front of the idol and then falls on the idol. People from all over the state come here to watch this wonderful spectacle. Imag...

No, no. I am not writing a post like those sms or email messages which tell you that you have won 1 million dollars and you need to only send your account number. I am writing a humorous post about how you ladies and gentlemen, can fulfill your dream of shopping till you drop but still spend no money at all. I am seeing this advertisement in comedy central channel about a well known shopping mall which is telling me that "You shop for Rs. 6000, you pay only Rs. 3000 and you get back Rs. 3000." So how much do you spend? 0! right! Why don't you head there and shop for free!!

 I had originally planned to visit Ramanjaneya temple on Friday. But I had walked in the morning and I had climbed what seemed like 100 steps in metro stations. And I don't know what that bus stop is called. More importantly more steps.. kabhi nahi. So I visited dodda ganapathi temple instead. Why Ramanjaneya temple? Am I a bhakt or bhakte of Anjaneya or Hanumantha? No. I am not. Though we have a huge selection to show our piety, I am not particular about any God. If I have to, I will just say as we mortals are unable to imagine nirakara rupa God, we give him/her aakara and pray to them. OK, the reason for me wanting visit this temple is, we go in that road quite often. And each time I think, I need to go there, and climb the stairs and visit the temple. And today it materialized. So today I planned ahead - which is unlike me. I skipped walking. I took my two wheeler instead of metro. But I started late from home and reached around half past 12 and the temple was closed....