Idle musings

      On Friday 15-May-2026, the newspaper supplement announced blandly that the famous Kannada actor and singer Dr. B. Jayashree and a group would be performing "Saavirada Sharanavva" on Saturday. Both my wife and I are fans of her musical talent. We also knew of her fame in theatre. It was natural that I booked two tickets - after checking with my wife!     The essence of the show was Dr. Jayashree talking about her life and experience in Kannada theatre interspersed with songs from her plays. For a couple of hours, I was transported to the world of theatre. The show was beautiful. The women singers accompanying Dr. B. Jayashree backed her up admirably, as did the men. The accompanying musicians were also good.     In the rest of this blog post, I will be stating what Dr.Jayashree said, but this is only from my memory. I am sure that the words were different. Also, I am translating what she said in Kannada to English. I did not use my mobile phone at...

      Yesterday (06-May-2026), during my post lunch casual browsing, I came across a tweet about Donald Hoffman and his interface theory of perception. As https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9781119170174.epcn216 informs us, the theory is that (here I am quoting from the link) "our perceptions have been shaped by natural selection to hide objective reality .... "     The theory zapped me! What we see, hear, feel, taste and smell may be unreal! So why does the greenery in the park near my house look so refreshing?! The theory has its critics, of course. It is not proven and could be completely wrong. Still, it provides fascinating possibilities.This was the sci-fi movie "Matrix" couched in scientific jargon!     My thoughts went to the concept of "maya", https://www.britannica.com/topic/maya-Indian-philosophy introduces the concept well. Here also, there is the idea that the world is unreal! The parallel struck me.     I read abo...

     It was a Thursday evening. My wife had left my mother at my aunt's place. "Shall we go to Ooty or Wynad this weekend?", I asked. "Are you  joking?! There is no way we can get accommodation during the weekend!", was her spontaneous response. As always, she was right. The hotels that looked good in Wynad were all booked. Udhagamandalam (the newer name of Ooty, a hill station in southern India) had more options, but here also the popular hotels were all full. I did some more browsing to check about transport since I don't drive much. I found a KSRTC bus that left Bengaluru at around 7 am and reached Udhagamandalam at 2:30 pm. "We could go to Ooty", I informed. "Now you tell me! I am supporting a summer camp in April. I thought I could plan activities during the weekend. Let me see, I will tell you tomorrow.", my wife said in a tone that brooked no argument! I silently nodded and agreed - it was the wise thing to do!     I took the Monda...

 MY FAVOURITE BOOK IN 2025     The end of 2025 is near and 2026 looms large. At work, there is an annual shutdown from 25-Dec-2025 to 31-Dec-2025. It has helped me relax and think about the books I read this year. I have a long commute to work. During the commute, I usually visit X/ Twitter or I read e-books. In 2025, I read a few books like Kafka's "The Trial" and Homer's "Odyssey" (well before the trailer of the movie by Christoper Nolan was launched!).     I have a habit of writing quotes on my whiteboard and sharing them on X/ Twitter, LinkedIn and mobile applications like WhatsApp every Monday. If there is a birthday of a famous person in a particular week, I write quotes by them, though this is not a rule. While searching for a quote, I like to read the original source of the quote to understand the context behind the quote. In the week of Teacher's Day (05-Sep) in India, which commemorates the birth anniversary of India's former President Dr. ...

  I watched the Hindi movie "Sholay" from beginning to end recently - again! I don't recall clearly how my fascination with Sholay grew. I have a vague memory of stumbling in the dark in the movie theatre, when my father took me to see Sholay in the early '80s. I seem to recall the sound of the train on the screen, but this may be a fake memory. As the movie celebrates its 50th anniversary today, here is a blog post that describes my views about the movie.     What I remember clearly is reading about Sholay, probably in 2000, when it completed its 25th anniversary. There was some print media buzz about the movie. Around this time, one of the cable TV channels hyped up the showing of Sholay for the first time on Indian television. Thanks to the length of the movie and the advertisements on cable TV, I recall that the movie took about 4.5 hours to watch! It was repeated at different times, on different days.    While channel surfing, one movie that made me pause s...

   Imagine being transported about 500 years ago in time. There are some glaring differences in daily life: the electric bulb has not been invented, there are no automobiles. Social conventions are different. The idea of a global village cannot even be conceived. Travelling 1000 km is considered as a difficult journey, which probably took a week to complete. However, trade flourishes much like today, despite the difficulties. The markets contain produces from lands far away. I can think of a seller in the market saying: "These are ordinary pots, but if you want something special take a look at this. It is a pot from China, with blue artwork. Only for you, I will offer it for ...." Imagine being in Vijaynagar, Hampi around this time. What would it have been like?   Luckily, we don't have to imagine. The Portuguese traveller Domingo Paes visited Hampi in 1520. Here is what he had to say about its market: "“The quantity of merchandise which is sold in these bazaars is v...