Refractive Thoughts

A 3-year journey, expected to end on a high note in October 2020, by quirk of fate was cut short exactly 24-days prior to the logical end.   November 2017 is when I embarked on a new regimen, committed to a 100% adherence every single day no matter what – rain or shine, to improve my fitness with a commitment to maintain good health.   The daily goal read 15,000 steps, and 120 minutes, and 600 kcals burn, and a distance coverage of 12 kilometres.   Oh, I love my WALKING! Walking has been a blissful experience where every step has helped me to connect with my inner self.   The birth of many a new idea, taking shape to mark a logical boundary, filling up of the parts within that boundary for perfect synergy, and the plausible next steps to implement the idea poured out as I varied the pace and intensity of steps.   As I huffed and puffed to climb the gradient to challenge the heart to its medical limits, and as I raced down the gradient I could sense my ideas go...

In a corporate world most have known MoM as Minutes-Of the-Meeting, whereas my in-laws debut experience to watch one of their favourite kannada movie at the multiplex theatre was not in any way inferior since it entails a narration in its minutest detail! Narration here is 8-10 years old during the early days of Online booking on PVR’s website to watch a favourite movie at a nearby Multiplex.   My better-half and I were committed to offer our in-laws the entire nine-yard knowledge – the stereophonic acoustics, an out-of-the-world experience with most comfortable seats, and a sense of satiated feel with a tub-popcorn and a large-drink.   This is quite an indulgence marked with an ensemble of a meal at our favorite restaurant, followed by the movie magic, topped with a cone ice-cream during our drive back home. Our in-laws visited us often and the plan was for them to have a movie experience at the Forum Mall in Koramangala in Bangalore.   The lead up to the event was ...

  An accidental encounter with a quote, motivated me to write this piece – a profound one from Eli Khamarov, a famous writer from England “the best things in life are unexpected, because there were no expectations.” Serendipity, if you will, from my childhood days - the close encounters that I experienced, through this write-up is my effort to relive those unexpected moments.   If I caught their shadow, a brief one notwithstanding should sprinkle a little intelligence and value into my life.   These legends are a household name in Karnataka and their works have defined milestones in Kannada literary world.   DVG – D V Gundappa a stalwart among Kannada writers, produced the most notable work titled Mankuthimmana Kagga; he lived in Basavanagudi and the street where he lived was named after him.   My childhood formative years around 1970-75 were in this neighbourhood – a stone’s throw was my grandmother’s place on East Anjaneya Temple road where I returned from...

 " Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.” – Mark Twain, author “And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” – Abraham Lincoln, US president Popular reference as ‘Born Day’ is in vogue.   Delve into the matters, and you will find people attach great significance for two dates in their life - the Birthday and the New Year’s Eve.   It is as if a Call-from-Above on these two days that people issue a manifesto, like a politician just before the elections, with a corpus of resolutions to discharge an enhanced and purposeful life; among other things, to eat healthy and exercise better that mandates a highly regimented life.   No great test to the grey matter to measure the validity and sustenance, as resolutions fade into oblivion very soon. Age is just a number and it is all in the mind, is a strong belief of the Twain’s clan (mind the above quote).   Fair logic, there is no need ...

Often, I remember the days when as kids we played a game called ‘statue.’   Between two friends, the first one to say ‘statue’ to the second transformed the latter to freeze in that moment, and it lasted into eternity.   Unfreeze was only after the first friend allowed a break!   Modern times present a variation where waiting lines freeze in an eternal state like a mass spell of magic!   Admission lines to schools, counselling for professional courses, marriage hall formalities, and a few more test one’s patience, on the flip side though.   On the positive side, it offers an opportunity to be human once again and a quick chance for collaboration! Marriage halls create a waiting atmosphere and are a natural abode for gossip.   Eavesdropping is then akin to a rush of adrenaline.   Like it matters - “Do you know if this is arranged or love marriage?” to “How did the groom’s father manage this ostentatious wedding with his paltry government salary, did h...

A person’s fascination for 2-wheelers can remain dormant but can never fade away.   In my case, I can be ensconced in a technology-laden luxury 4-wheeler, but my eyes instinctively tracks a new 2-wheeler that whizzes past to drool at its looks and marvel at its design!   The day had arrived in my life to buy a new scooter for my daughter.   At the dealership as I researched a surfeit of choices, I drifted into a stupor… TVS-50 moped with its stunning looks was first introduced onto the Indian roads around 1980.   A narrow menu of scooter and moped choices had made teenagers yearn for more, but our succour resorted to posters and images in auto-magazines.   Mopeds Suvega and Luna ruled the roads though limited in number; the launch of TVS-50 created waves.   Novel technical design aspects in this moped – start clutch, choke, an off button, a new seat-design and a few more - made it attractive for the young generation. We friends had stepped into ou...

A katte in the front porch was the first to take shape before even our home was designed!  Katte is a word in Kannada language.  In its slang avatar, it’s reference is to an elevated platform like a bench from olden days built in front of the houses so that family and friends sat down together to chat; while in a more formal avatar, it refers to a platform or a stage to launch activities, also built as barrier walls to rivers and ponds.  In villages the panchayat - a village council, sat down to discuss politics and triage local disputes towards final settlement with its reference as katte.  In the 1970s our grandparents lived with us.  My grandfather had fought for our freedom struggle, was in his 80s and sat down with friends at a large katte in the evening hours for extended discussion on all topics under the sun – from the esoteric like Vedanta philosophy to the mundane ones like politics.  Others too had participated actively or indirectly in fre...

A unique and holistic experience that entails an ablution with application of oil to the head and body for pronounced health benefits….. It is a jiffy world in our fast-paced life.   Present day youngsters apply a little oil to their hair, jump into the shower, run the hot water from solar or geyser, use a variety of shampoo and conditioner (inspired by celebrity endorsements) to wash off the oil, quickly attempt to blow-dry the hair, and run out of the house with a wet-look hair!   An experience of today that fades in comparison to the elaborate ones of yesteryear cherished by my generation. I grew up in Mysore during the 70s and 80s, the pre-and-post preparation for an oil bath was an exquisite process.   Initiated with a massage to the scalp with warm castor oil, our grandma recited prayers to invoke the Lord’s blessings on us children; the application for the rest of our body followed and the rubdown helped our skin to absorb for enhanced glow and related b...

June marks the International Cancer Survivor’s month; exactly one year ago on 10-June was my beloved mother’s surgery to remove a cancerous growth.   By God’s Grace she is a survivor today and in good health now. Last year around her surgery schedule, a lot of time was spent at the hospital premises for tests, doctor reviews, therapy sessions, hospitalizations, and post care.   As I watched a sea of people of all ages, my perception changed; now I apply a different set of lenses when I look at things around.   At the hospital, there were a variety of faces - some sad, some very anxious, some perplexed, some writhed in pain, some heaved a sigh of relief, and some with a sprightly smile to hide the pain.   Things have quite a different meaning now! In the cancer hospital cocoon, it is natural to see many tonsured heads.   My mind froze in time and wandered a bit to surface the many facts that were deep etched in its crevices.   Head tonsure is con...

Albert Einstein quote: “A ship is always safe at the shore - but that is not what it is built for.” Our car we proudly flaunt on purchase day; we then shudder to drive out due to intimidating experience on our perilous city roads. Forget the Monday blues, one fights the daily blues of driving which sapped our energy. I vowed to formulate a method to this madness, if you will. Theme Driving. A theme for the driving day to keep our mind focused and away from potential road rage incidents, can range from politics to the esoteric. My mind decided to research - why is the decibel level high on our roads? At a signal behind a lorry I had my moment of enlightenment. “Sound Horn, Ok Please!” has prompted people to honk incessantly and in reverberating tunes. I started to observe what is written behind vehicles, mostly in Kannada in our own Namma Bengaluru. With my attempted crude translation to English, the most common one read “Stop your histrionics, speak in Kannada” – a diktat to sp...

This Albert Einstein quote says: “I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots.” I have worked in the IT industry for many years and for a decade worked for the largest technology company in the world.  When I worked there, there was a time period during which the corporate policy did not permit us to bring in phones with cameras into the workplace.  Even if we did, we had to seek written permission to click photographs inside the premises.  This was a safety measure to protect our client’s data confidentiality. The world has indeed progressed at a fast pace and technology is now ubiquitous.  Driverless cars have become a reality!  World in the near future will fully accept the sensor technology, otherwise referred to as the IOT world with devices, vehicles, appliances, homes, and a few other items networked and connected with embedded sensors, software, electronics, even analytics to dra...

Heat and light in the shine of the bright sun Vastness and blueness in the peace of the azure sky Ripples and droplets in the waves of the endless ocean Life and the resplendent presence of the brown earth Is you and resides in you Rays of the sun that shines through in its path Reflections and refractions so created in its existence Atoms it excites to infuse the flora and the fauna Shadows cast to create hues of light Is you and resides in you Gleams of blue it glows into the waking birds and animals Balance and poise it instills into life and its beings Peace and tranquility in abundance it bestows upon all Thoughts soar as you gaze into its limitlessness Is you and resides in you Biodiversity that it breathes into and wakes up its life Streams of waves to raise droplets of hope Ideas it advances across frontiers of continents Shallow and deep its true nature Is you and resides in you Magnificence it soaks into the enormous spread ...

‘Chalte Chalte’ is a pyaara geet (sweet song) from the 70s sung by the versatile singer Kishore da in his inimitable style. This melodious tune stays with you for the entire day – they’re called earworms.  A melodious song unleashed at an inappropriate time is like a mistimed elegant cover-drive in cricket that lands in the fielder’s safe hands… The year was 1977; on this day my septuagenarian grandma in-charge of the kitchen handed me a tray with 4 cups of piping hot coffee to be served to family members in the living room.  Tray in my hand and the coffee aroma wafting through I started to hum this tune!  My grandma from inside shouted ‘I warned you to be careful; did anything spill on you and did it burn your skin?  Or did you drop the cups on any family member?’- she was relentless!  For you readers, my grandma did not speak or understand Hindi language, she was unaware of this popular Hindi song, and ‘chalte’ in local Kannada language means ‘spilled!’ ...

For most of us who wade through the snail-paced traffic in the BTM area in Bangalore, and as we dread to approach the (in)famous silk-board junction, it is a way too familiar sight to see a mentally challenged individual planted next to the median.   He extends his right arm to touch the mirror of almost every other car that passes by him.   Sometimes he is clean-shaven and sometimes present in a disheveled manner, but lo behold, there is not a single car that escapes his magic touch.   Each touch gives him a sense of achievement, and then you see peace writ large on his face. When I see him get ready to touch my car, I squirm enough to shut my eyes closed, albeit temporarily.   My peace though in peril when a collage of thoughts crisscrosses my mind – who is this person, who are his family members who let him free, does he know his life is in danger as he attempts to touch the moving cars?   Does he count the number of vehicles that ply the road?  ...

Yesterday: Life runs at a pace that we can refer to as breakneck speed.   Flights to catch so we can reach our favorite travel destinations, may be an exotic one since we want this to be a better experience and erase the previous one.   Before we board the flight there are a few chores to complete in the form of a long to-do list.   To tick off each item on this list, we will need to crisscross the city a few times and even fly to our parents and in-laws in two different cities.   The two of us are headed off to our business destinations in faraway countries for a period of 1.5 to 2 months after we finish our vacation together. This mandates that we complete our annual medical check-up and take a few flu shots; need to update our medical insurance for overseas coverage and this is both cumbersome and a time-consuming exercise.   We need to split up the tasks, need to Google and visit a few sites to get the latest information, call up a few associates ...

Rambo the Hollywood movie, in 1988, in its trilogy till then was a blockbuster hit worldwide.  Stallone in the sensational Rambo role was a house-hold name and elevated to a cult status.  Our own Indian film industry produced its own flavors, with the implicit understanding that anything Rambo brought instant success! Around this time, I interned for a liquor company that had set up its shop in Bangalore.  We were a group of friends tasked to undertake a survey of the retail outlets here to learn the psyche for their soon-to-be launched product(s).  An exhaustive questionnaire and we toiled to cover the entire urban area.  Later, it was my turn to compile this data to put together a comprehensive report.  The company’s marketing team pieced together various promotional campaigns to fulfil the gaps as highlighted in the survey.  I was retained to work for this company with an offer that put a smile on my face.  I had to liaison with an Ad f...