Refractive Thoughts

Bangalore – I hail from this city.   The city with nicknames such as ‘Pensioner’s Paradise,’ ‘IT Capital,’ ‘Garden City,’ ‘Pub city,’ and many more has lost its charm.   This is true of most Indian cities, unfortunately.   Do we thank globalization, commercialization, growing pains, our politicians apathy, whatever?   This is the new norm that we accept with our heads down.   This write-up is from a couple of years ago but holds good even today! A study then stated that Bangalore’s traffic-related accidents had reduced considerably.   The traffic department made a claim that it helped being pro-active and efficient.   A tricky proposition that raised doubts in my mind; my postulation goes thus… A report stated that Bangalore residents have better DQ – Digestion Quotient!   Report highlighted the city residents are gastronomically initiated to a variety of cuisine and digest them compared to people in other Indian cities.   Be it the weste...

  ‘No time to die.’   No not the title of the recent Bond movie. Time now for us to put up a united front.   Let’s discuss in a video conference to strategize our next move.   A Zoom meeting will help collaborate to decide our next course of action!   Participants with a dress code for Zoom praised each other for the variations in their appearance, nevertheless the same end result! “Remember we have travelled all over the world into some 150+ countries, and this is no time to accept defeat and lose our battle.” “Even WHO believes that if we come together, we can mate and mutate while there is every effort from authorities to mitigate the risks that we pose them.” “Listen Omicron, you’ve brought our might down…you are a weakling?!   Why did you lose your potency after you invaded the human body to make them sick? They are calling us a flu virus!” “Why do you have to be jealous about my potency?   I doubled much faster than you and I am the h...

  Innovation is the panacea for risk-taking individuals to tackle any challenges. The idiom “Down the Drain” is in usage for a long time and implies to waste something or the means to a futile end.   A water faucet gone kaput which has made it impossible to arrest its wastage or harvest its flow is a good rationale for usage of this adage. Scientists tread the path of research with gusto, though at times their research results in dead ends or delayed results.   Both these situations throw them out-of-balance and make them feel desolate, since they may have to start all-over.   Often their research produce detrimental results too for reasons beyond comprehension and they get branded in the society as anti-social.   Nevertheless, it’s their resilience to take adversity head-on which is an essential element of their success, sometimes a late-stage gain.   They endure and evaluate methods when faced with challenges to prove their hypothesis.   Innovati...

  Earlier this week, specifically on 11-January two years lapsed since I started my blog.   Doesn’t time fly at super-sonic speeds? 2 years – 46 posts – 10,000+ views and some invaluable comments from most of you.   A testament exists in the form of digital footprint of cherished comments that will last a lifetime.   Whose lifetime is a discussion for another day! Each of you have motivated me – your unannounced approval for me to forward the links to my new blogs, the time you took from your busy schedule to read that, and then the time you invested to leave behind a few comments on the blog or sometimes in other social media platforms like FB, WA, LI, that was indeed feedback in real-time. Some of the ones that I enjoyed writing and I received some cool comments include: https://prasharihar.blogspot.com/2020/01/creative-juices-11-jan-2020.html - I started with a great degree of trepidation but then creative juices flowed.  So glad that my procrastinatio...

  Wishing you a very happy new year 2022!   Wishing all of us virus-free days in the near future, but then specifically to you let health-wealth-happiness be bestowed in abundance by the Lord Wishing all of us success and merriment, but then specifically to you let the joy of a win in everything that you set forth be a blessing by the Lord Wishing all of us enhanced bonding and friendship, but then specifically to you let our bridge stay strong as an offering to the Lord Wishing all of us travel into the places we love, but then specifically to you to be able to travel to your family and friends as a gratitude to the Lord Wishing all of us peace and prosperity, but then specifically to you let the inner peace and tranquillity be the light shone by the Lord Almost there, ready to step into a new year it mandates us to shine a little but bright light on the days ahead into the future.   Just so that it augurs well, it is imperative to erase the dark days which h...

  Famous poet William Wordsworth in his poem “My Heart Leaps Up” wrote “The Child Is Father of the Man.”   It implies that if any experience in adulthood is similar or same as that in childhood it makes it a better experience given the journey through life stages. Human beings are essentially a final product of some balance of nature and nurture components, the underlying substrata of the vast and ever-growing field of psychology.   The debate goes on, like they say till the ‘cows come home,’ as to which component has a stronger influence to shape an individual in later years.   I have no formal education in psychology but a fleeting interest to dabble into a few articles and form my opinion. My take is that in early years one’s genes shape an individual until they experience certain life-defining moments which harden their personality.   Destiny then defines their travel into the deep years of age.   A proverb in kannada which when translated states th...

Opened the book; his autograph brought fond memories given his new role… The World is Flat is Thomas Friedman’s prize winning and popular book where the opening line reads: “No one ever gave me direction like this on a golf course before: ‘Aim at either Microsoft or IBM.’”  This book was published in 2005 and pure coincidence that I worked for IBM, then in my 3 rd year and my work location was Embassy Golf Links office on Intermediate Ring Road in Bangalore that is called out in that line.  A good read that dealt with a contemporary subject of outsourcing of IT services work from USA and other countries and successfully delivered by the Indian knowledge talent pool.  Bibliosmia or book-smell is what I yearned for as I waited to lay my hands on this book.  Same year 2005 on Christmas day, I purchased this book at the airport bookstore enroute my return flight to Bangalore.  The last line of a section on page 5 read “‘Honey,’ I confided, ‘I think the world i...

Albert Einstein quote: “Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile” You lighted our lives to annihilate the darkness of our ignorance You showed us the path of noble virtuous living to tread this life of thorns You lived life as a shining example to others who sought to emulate you You remained an unsolved puzzle despite your completeness   Eulogy to my dear father Somanna on his 1 st anniversary On this day of Deepavali in 2021, today November 3 rd is exactly one year since Somanna left us in his mortal body.  Just the way the festival of lights Deepavali signifies peace and joy, and good vanquishing the evil, Somanna instilled in us a deep sense of morals and principles in both within the family and outside.  In one sense, it appears that Somanna has not left us since he lives on within us every second of the day.  His voice reverberates the four walls within our home, his lively conversations enliven our today’s conversation, his magnetic ...

Connoisseurs of the cult of alcohol consumers have vouched and hence rationalized for they have been a stickler to their drink.  Once told that wine is one among the many vices, he quoted from the medical encyclopaedia that the antioxidant in wine is what has kept his heart racing for the drink – “It cures Hypertension” is his quick rhetoric. His belief indeed is that wine is divine; his artistic talent to sing paeans for the benefits has kept him honest, to the drink though! Shaped or old-fashioned glass when it appeared in front disappeared in a whisk. The ardent fans of whisky affirmed their faith that the drink helped to overcome stress, considered to be the leading root-cause that runs riot in many an ailment and keeps the medical fraternity on their toes. Newfound benefits of whisky are linked to weight loss; he ran to the gym with gay abandon and terminated his membership to drown in ecstasy now or sorrow later. A single or double malt is purely a matter of convenience! T...

Anchored - How can I be?  I’m not a vessel floating along the waves on a pristine river or a raging ocean to prevent further drifting by anchoring me to a firm bottom.  A half-a-century ago my parents could’ve chided me for a surfeit of mischiefs and enforced ‘grounded’ to punish me; or into the future a non-existent ride since I’m not yet a picture frame to be nailed for posterity, and hence remain unanchored.  Last but not the least, I do not have the exposure or the experience to anchor a television show, more so as a news anchor to pull off a mesmerizing effect on my audience to impinge their mindset. My story of an impingement is of a varied stance.  The twists and turns to my narration will reveal the truth, but until then I need your patient read.  The patient state into which I made a grand entry from a good healthy predisposition is the driving force for my story.  Three months ago, a little niggle in the right shoulder made me believe that I can s...

My recent medical procedure provided a whole new perspective and a different meaning to the word ‘single-handedly.’  A typical dictionary meaning suggests it’s something done without help from anyone else or unassisted by others.   For me it meant that I could not use my natural right hand for a period of up to twelve weeks.   More of this later! The trigger to write this article came from another angle – 13 th August is International Lefthanders Day.  In the Indian context, up until the 1980s all children with a natural tendency to use their left-hand were punished and ostracized for it was considered a bad omen and a taboo.  What?! Hockey is our national game.  Despite recent achievements by the hockey team – both men’s and women’s at the recently concluded Tokyo Olympics, India is a diehard cricketing nation.  A singular event that changed the face of cricket for our country was the 1983 World Cup.  Kapil Dev marshalled his team with motiv...

  A million-dollar question – does the year always pass at breakneck speed?   This sequel article is about an event-filled year – tragic or celebratory marked by specific events on a particular day.   Events had unfolded on their own.   A new dawn as the dazzling sun shone as I experienced the experiences.   I realized that peace and happiness is within! Mark Twain unabashedly took note when I used his quote "Age is an issue of mind over matter; if you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter” in my first article and unleashed a tsunami of events to test my mind endurance.   Did I pass with flying colours?   Honestly this year that went by was more black-and-white than colours. I started with gusto right after my 2020 birthday celebrations with a regimen that put my younger years at shame.   An early wake-up to accommodate an hour of Yogasana, followed by 30 minutes of meditation to keep the mind both tranquil and singular-focus, punctuated by icing-on-t...

  The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision...Helen Keller A profound statement from one of the greatest advocates for the blind.   Blessed with extra-sensory capabilities, she and others overcome their visual challenges to be a boon to humanity.   With our eyesight intact, we have many a lesson to learn. During my decade-long stint at one of the largest Information Technology MNC, my coworker on the floor moved around a maze of cubicles with utmost certainty.   He never used the White Cane - a device that is an able ally to manage basic movement by scanning the surrounding for any obstacles, within the four walls.   He covered good ground to reach the restroom, but never faltered.   On the contrary he put others at shame with the immaculate way he went about his job.   He always washed his hands with soap at the wash basin, and never knocked off a person accidentally. My business partner and I visited a home for busines...

  Virus to Vaccine and Vivid memories of Vacations from the past… Vacation was the most cherished endeavour in the pre-Corona days.   The details that went into planning by the family members or a friends’ group was both fun-filled and exciting, nonetheless sometimes even excruciating than the actual event.   A keen eye and ability to pay attention to minutest details victimized a person relegated to be made the scapegoat to don the coordinator’s role; a contrasting character rendered many in the group stranded at crucial juncture in precarious situations. Virus swamped us from the beginning of 2020.   Many remarked that the pandemic was expected to last only a few months and lockdowns would break the community spread.   An anti-climax of sorts – to draw a parallel the fans expected a 4-hour T20 cricket game, while it turned out to be a never-ending game much beyond the five-day test match.   Nothing classical about this onslaught, which has venomously ...

Never a pretty sight to witness and study the under-belly of an 18-wheeler truck when it is in motion! Feb 18, 1994 – in USA traveling in a car in Texas from a small-town Beaumont to Houston on highway I-10, I caught a glimpse of the under-belly of a massive 18-wheeler truck.   Master Hirannaiah’s “Lanchavatara” was playing in the car, as my friend and I drove amongst well-disciplined drivers.   The master in his own inimitable style delivering intertwined ocean of words, a’ la vehicles movement into and out of the highway, kept us entertained as we were immersed in this kannada narration and ruminating on the same! Our car was cruising along in the middle lane when suddenly two nerve-wracking swerves, first to the left and then to the right perched us stationary in a precarious position, perpendicular to the flow of traffic.   I could see two approaching ‘semis’ one behind the other – monster trucks a very common sight on US highways.   One, they have an overwhelmin...