Idle musings

   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...

It was a small article in Bangalore Times available at https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/from-rome-with-love-caravaggios-50-million-painting-debuts-in-bengaluru/articleshow/121836107.cms that made me curious. A masterpiece from an Italian painter is coming to Bengaluru: that was something interesting. What does a painting worth $50 million look like?! I don't know if (or when) I will travel to Italy to see works of the Renaissance artists. Here is a famous painting from there that was available here. Mentally, I decided that I would go there during the weekend and use the opportunity to see Caravaggio's painting "Magadelene in ecstasy". On Sunday, the day was ideal for walking: the temperature was in the mid 20s in Centigrade, the sun played hide and seek with the clouds even during the morning and afternoon and I overcame my "take it easy, it is Sunday" mood. By 11:50 a.m. or so, I was at the ticket counter of National Gallery of Modern Ar...

"Mangana kayalli manikya kottange" is a Kannada phrase that literally translates to "like handing over a gemstone to a monkey". The Hindi equivalent is "Bandar kya jaane adrak ka swaad". Its literal translation is "What can the monkey know about the taste of ginger". Both these phrases are about experiences that appear to be beyond the capacity of one's limits, in this case the monkey's! I felt a lot like the monkey/s in the phrases when I booked tickets to the Mahindra Percussion Festival 2025. My knowledge about percussion, drums and classical music in general is minimal - at best! That did not prevent me from reserving two tickets on Sunday, 02-Mar-2025 though. I wanted to experience the percussion festival for myself. My wife and I reached Prestige Center for Performing Arts early, drank coffee at the Food Court in Forum South Mall and collected our wristbands for entry into the auditorium. What we saw was that there were many familie...

    On work, I had an opportunity to visit Israel from 07-Jan-2023 to 15-Jan-2023. My impressions about Israel, Haifa and Jerusalem follow.     The voyage began with a meeting between a colleague and I in Bengaluru airport. The crowd was something that surprised both of us. The check in counter and the security check both took quite a long time. The queue was long in immigration also, but it moved quickly.     In Abu Dhabi, I met a friend and three of his colleagues, who came from Pune, taking the flight to Abu Dhabi from Mumbai. One of them had visited Haifa, the city where we were all headed. Haifa is a coastal city with a lot of history as indicated in https://www.britannica.com/place/Haifa . The journey from Tel Aviv airport to Haifa took about 90 minutes. We could see banana plants cultivated under plastic covers (seemingly) on the drive. Some of the places evoked names of Israeli people: I saw a board indicating Netanya. I can imagine t...