Idle musings

    In the beginning of August 2022, I was infected by a viral 'flu. It tired me so much that I had to sit down after brushing my teeth to regain my strength ! Following this, my wife also fell ill during the time of the Ganesh Chaturthi festival. Both of us took antibiotics to recover. The fatigue lasted for a couple of weeks for both of us. Since the last couple of months, we had been discussing about taking a break. As we recovered, I decided that this was a good time for a break, anticipating more work in the last quarter of the year. We talked about various destinations and finally zeroed in on Odisha.  My reflections on the trip follow.     NOTES: 1.) The hyperlinks in this blog post provide more useful information.     2.) I have not specified names of people and hotels, etc. in this blog post. Even the photographs are of a generic nature.     I consulted a friend from Odisha for tips about visiting Odisha. His reco...

    For more than 20 years, I have been writing quotes to begin the working week. My working week begins with some time dedicated to find the quote. I like to ascertain the source of the quote and the context in which it was made, as much as possible. Often, while reading the quote, I am struck by its insight or relevance to today's time or to my life, in general. On Twitter and LinkedIn, these quotes can be found by searching for the hashtag #onmywhiteboard. On 12-Jul-2022, NASA's James Webb telescope delivered an image of a galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 whose light emerged 4.6 billion years ago, available at https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2022/nasa-s-webb-delivers-deepest-infrared-image-of-universe-yet for viewing, a historic image. On 18-Jul-2022, I searched a quote that that would suit this historic event and finally selected this quote: "You and I are all as much continuous with the physical universe as a wave is continuous with the ocean. The ...

    For now, the cloud of the SARS Cov2 pandemic seems to have been dispersed. When I go out for walks with my mask on, I see people without masks look at me strangely. In my mind, I hear them say: "Look at this character, he still wears a mask !" The mask feels uncomfortable and it is off from my face more often than it used to be earlier, but I do keep it on in crowded settings like when I am in public transport. With cases in double digits in Bengaluru, a long weekend made me look for a good movie to watch in the theatre. On 16-Apr-2022, my wife and I went to a multiplex for the first time after two years, to watch the Kannada movie "KGF: Chapter 2". The rest of this blog post presents my view on the movie.     My summary: some movies are meant for the big screen. If you are an action buff, watch "KGF: Chapter 2" (I will call it KGF2 in this blog post from this point onward) in a multiplex/ theatre.      https://hombalefilms.com/movies/kgf...

WRITER’S NOTE     After a long time, I have completed a story that has taken around 7 months to complete! Even by my own leisurely standards of writing, that is a long time! I request readers to let me know how you feel about the story. If the feedback is positive, I may write more. If the feedback is critical, I may write even more also (please don’t reduce the criticism for this reason!)! At 6800+ words, this may qualify as a long short story or a short novella!     When I read this story, I can pick out many points to improve. Still, I feel rather proud of this story. I hope you also like it. THE HEIR OF CHANDRANAGARA     The king of Chandranagara, the dark and strong Bhaskara looked worried. His long, bearded face with its narrow eyes and pointed chin showed the concern. His prime minister and friend the priest Govinda noticed it and contemplated on how he could find out what was worrying King Bhaskara. Govinda quickened his pace....