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...

    On Friday, 22-Mar-2019, my wife, her parents, her paternal uncle and aunt and I set off to Chikamagalur for an extended weekend break. This blog post captures my experience during the break. As usual, I have avoided names of people. Pictures of people are NOT available in this blog post. Please contact me if you want to see group photos.   I plan to upload several pictures . So hopefully, in terms of words, this blog post should be a lot "lighter" than some of my usual long blog posts !   We set off on 21-Mar driven in an Innova. In the journey to Chikmagalur and other journeys in and around the town, one feature was the humorous conversation between my wife's father and his brother. The jokes and funny remarks followed each other. My wife was not to be left behind ! All our journeys were finished in an extremely pleasant manner, with all of us joining in the spirit of fun ! Picture 1: Traffic was lesser than what I had expected on the Friday mor...

I finished reading the book "Adiyogi", released by Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev on the weekend ending 12-Nov-2017. To anybody interested in Hindu mythology and philosophy, I recommend the book. It has been co-written by Arundhati Subramanian. I was curious about the book, following the consecration of the 112 feet tall face of Adiyogi as reported in  http://isha.sadhguru.org/blog/inside-isha/announcements/prime-minister-unveil-112-ft-tall-face-adiyogi-mahashivratri/ . I ordered the book in May 2017 and got around to reading it only in October 2017. The significance of the Adiyogi, Lord Shiva is brought out well. The contradictions we see in Shiva are explored and examined. For example, on one hand he is termed as Bholenath, the simple one. On the other hand, the term Rudra, the "terrible one" is also an epithet for Shiva. On one hand, he is considered as the first yogi and yoga is associated with stillness and calmness ; on the other, Shiva dances the Tandava dance ...