Sundaram Samskritam

"The Sanskrit language is of a wonderful structure, more perfect than Greek, more copious than the Latin, and more exquisitely refined than either"
- Sir William Jones, Third Address to the Asiatick Society of Bengal

It is very unfortunate that most Indians lack the knowledge of Sanskrit - That means we have a big chest of treasure, but do not have the key to open it :(
A huge amount of literature full of wisdom, exquisite poetry and science is inaccessible to us.

Though my knowledge of Sanskrit is just the tip of the iceberg, typing in Sanskrit, printing out verses of wisdom, etc have been my wishes for quite a long time.

Like Kuralsoft quenched my thirst of Tamil computing, Baraha was the end of my search for a good Sanskrit software, This was created by a gentleman called Sheshadrivasu Chandrasekharan. He started with Kannada - with an aim of sending emails to his mother who did not read English. It was then extended to other Indian languages too. Though some Sanskrit experts say that certain complex consonant combinations are not supported well by Baraha, it suits most of my Sanskrit typing needs.

Baraha integrates nicely with standard Windows Apps like MS Office. It has a transliteration scheme that allows you to type using the standard English keyboard.


Baraha can be downloaded for free here.

Unusual Week

My energy has been unusually high this week. Some unusual things I did:

• Tried (and succeeded partly) to stay consciously relaxed throughout my day - be it at office or home.
• Walked from office to home on 4 days of the week (more than 3 kms distance). My legs did not ache a bit. On Friday, I became more walk-hungry and hence did a round each inside 2 nearby parks before going home. I was a bit baffled when I found myself enjoying the process !
• Got a caprice to try out an interesting idea that sprung in my head, at work in the morning. Finished implementing it on the same evening, which I had thought would take longer.
• Cracked a couple of data structure problems with unusual ease, thanks to the new fresher in our team.

Contrastingly, today(Saturday) was different, still unusual though.

• Got up in the morning and decided to do something serious that I had n't planned at all. Anxiety shot up.
• During the day, I was involved in something that kept me anxious.
• What I had always thought to be my strength - let me down totally.
• Used auto rickshaw and walked very little. Now, its time to go to bed, my legs are aching !

Do I see a pattern ? The first point in each of the above scenarios tells me something...

Tonnes of thought

Patience. Patience.
My mind is alien to this concept.

Restlessness. Hyperactiveness
They are good buddies of my mind.

Well, don't mistake me to be a hyperactive guy. I am among the laziest.
Its my 'mind' that I am talking about.

The constant chattering of the mind. Its judjemental nature. Its sentimental nature. Largely drives my life.

I want more control over my life. I want my mind to simply shut up when I ask it to.

I read this somewhere recently - 'An ounce of action is better than tonnes of thought'. I have promptly added this thought to my thought library. No action yet.

Customer Service sans Service

I get very irritated when I get unsolicited calls from Credit Card / Insurance companies offering their products.

The bad part is that they will not let you speak, but keep telling you how wonderful their product is.

The worse part is that they will not be able to answer basic questions in a sensible manner, and will conveniently hide the fine-print stuff.

The worst part is, the moment you agree to try their product, you are trapped. Then on, YOU have to call them 'n' times for simple things such as mispelt name on the card, unexpected charges etc.

"La La La...Please continue to hold the line. Our customer executives are having coffee. They will be with you in an hour...La La La..."

"Sir, You say that you have placed this request last week, but my computer screen does not show anything like that. It shows 'Flying Objects' screensaver now. I will take a fresh request now and make it high priority. Please call us again after a week. We will tell you the same story again. Is there anything else I can assist you with ? ..."

In software teminology, every rainy day test case will fail multiple times. It will pass after weeks/months, but by then you will be fully drenched.

I am going to collect the phone numbers of these free-credit-card-people and call them one by one. I will tell them this:

" Hello Ma'am,
I am calling from the Bangalore Electricity Board. Based on your excellant electricity usage, you have been chosen for a special gift from us.

The gift is a premium cat-mark-candle. You can use it for urgent light requirements when our services are temparorily down.

Please come to our office in Shivajinagar on 1st Sep 2006 between 10.00 am and 10.15 am to collect the same. Carry your PAN card, Passport and Voter's ID for our verification purposes.

Thank you. Have a nice day ! "

My friend, Gopi Chinnasamy triggered this idea in my mind. In fact, his ideas are far more explosive ! He has posted some nice photographs in his Flickr page.

Loving your Job

SWill I ever truly love my job ? Should I ?

Five years in the IT industry have made me realize that work is just work.
The fire that burned in my belly when I was a fresher is no more.
There was a time when I admired mere source code. Now that illusion has dissolved.

I get thoughts about making my favorite hobby my profession - Composing music, which is the most satisfying thing I have done in my life.

Practical difficulties aside, will a hobby remain enjoyable when it becomes a job ? Will it not change to an exhauster from being a rejuvenater ? Will creativity survive when deadlines loom ? In such a case, I will have to ensure that my creations are liked by others too, which is not necessary when it is just a hobby.

Similar thoughts have been blogged by Anjana.

But then, there are people like A R Rahman, who are like creativity-factories - delivering with a punch every time. Touching the fan's heart every time.

Probably, I should make living a hobby.

Friends are Angels

I am my friends.
That is only slight exaggeration.

My friends influence my life very much. My interests, my ideas, my choices in life - all have been touched by my friends'. To me, friends are angels who are there to make me smile, who don't expect much in return, who make life a lot lighter than it is.

Friends are gifts from the divine. We don't realize this most of the time.

I strain

Things I need to do.
Things I want to do.
Those I hate to do, but need to do.

Things I did right.
Those I did wrong.

What I think I am.
What others think I am.
What others think I think I am.
What I am.

What I want to change.
What I want to retain.

These thoughts.
flood my mind.
Always.

May I relax ?
May I forget myself ?
Please...

How to name it ?

SModern Indian society is going through an interesting phase in the area of child-naming.
Suddenly realizing his/her global identity, the young Indian parent is breaking traditional conventions while naming his/her kid. Trying to find that perfect balance between modernity and tradition, he/she hopes to build a great brand for the offspring in the society.

Some seem to exercise creativity at dangerous levels when synthesising new names. Some seem to be fascinated by uncommon Sanskrit names. Some want to make sure that the name sounds cool in school, college, corporate, parties, international airports and the other side of the globe. Should I mention the numerology craze that garnishes the confusion ?

While taking too many factors into consideration, the cultural/geographic identity of the kid is sometimes lost in the process of naming. For example, the craze for chic Bollywood style names among some South Indians robs the Southern identity totally.

Anirudhdh. Beautiful name. Krishna's grandson in Mahabharata. But, who would imagine that this is the name of a Tamil kid ? Well, it is.

It is debatable whether we need to preserve regional identities within a nation. I think India's richness is largely its diversity. Each region has undergone cultural evolution over millenia. Trying to crudely mix them all in a big culture pot to create uniformity is outrageous.

An easy way to retain the Tamil/Mallu identity while picking up fascinating Sanskrit names is to suffix it with 'an'. Anirudhdhan ! Well that looks definiely Tamil/Mallu ! Does it sound old fashioned ? I pity those who consider their ancestors an inferior lot. For girl names, we don't have such an easy suffix algorithm, but there are plenty of Sanskrit names used predominantly by South Indians. Pure Tamil names are on a decline these days. A former colleague of mine was very thoughtful and mature when he was particular in giving a pure Tamil name to his daughter.

I am talking more about South Indian names because I am a South Indian who knows more about South India. I believe these things can be easily applied to other regions to India too.

I can't help but wonder at the name of my close friend - 'Devanathan Varadarajan'.
What A Punch !

Creativitea

Most activities that I enjoy doing seem to have some scope for creativity.

Each time I lay my hands on my musical keyboard, I seem to play a different tune that I have not heard anywhere. I cannot say all of them are good ones. In fact most ones are not. My brother calls it plain randomness.

I am mad. Now I am switching between writing this blog and another one. I am unsure which one I will finish first. What should I call this state of mind ?

Each time I cook Sambar, I can't resist doing something crazy. Once I made it with carrot, radish and beans. Tricolor. It did not taste bad.

When I play carrom, I often miss easy shots. When I find the possibility of a new kind of shot, I can't help not attempting. Sometimes when I succeed,I fly. My friends call it fluke.

Sometimes, when the mind wants to be creative, it ends up being restless.
Sometimes, when the mind is calm without any desires, creativity flows out like Ganga.

Maybe, creativity is my cup of tea.

Cooking - with love

I started cooking.
When I had to.
When I was sore of eating hotel food.

My friend used to say.
Food made for money will not contain love.
I think he is right.

I started cooking.
I discovered a new pleasure.
A great way to unwind.
After a day of monotony.

I can experiment.
With colors - of vegetables.
With aromas - of spices.

When crazy experiments succeed.
The joy is unexplainable.

One hour to cook.
Fifteen minutes to eat.
That does n't put me off.
I relish both.

Food made at home.
With lots of love.
Has no comparison.

I am glad I started cooking.

Joy of living

S'Sumeru Sandhya', an evening of spiritual music, philosophy and meditation in Chowdiah hall, Bangalore was much more than I imagined. Conducted by senior teachers of the 'Art of Living' foundation, the event was as modern as it was traditional. The Kurta-clad teachers connected effortlessly with the predominantly young urban audience by singing Bhajans with the electric guitar and answering spiritual questions in a light manner with plenty of humour.

It was amazing to hear the Bhajans with a rock music flavour without losing its true Bhajan-spirit. What was more amazing was the response from the audience that included college students, young BPO and software employees. Lot of them were dancing and singing along ! They asked questions that really mattered to them like friendship and love. And they got answers with a spiritual dimension. There was a guided meditation session too, which was similar to the one in the 'Art of Living' 3 day corporate course.

The philosophy and practices of 'Art of Living' derives largely from Vedic/Vedantic thought with some Zen/Buddhist ideas, though no particular religion is emphasised. The focus is on happiness and love.

More than anything else, the event made me realize that today's youth is willing to live a life that is happier and healthier than what the society and their jobs offer them. 'Art of Living' has the potential to become a great spiritual movement of this century teaching millions the beautiful art of joyful living.

Masala Chai

A new flavour is spreading across the continents. A poor third world country is slowly emerging out of the globe. An over populated, over polluted land in South Asia is starting to make an impact in the global society.

Many things Indian are entering the lives of the world citizen in a big way.

Yoga is changing the way a person thinks of health and wellness. Indian food is probabily the next big exotic cuisine. Indian music is a breath of fresh air in the world of grooves and loops. Indian spirituality is giving refuge to people injured by the tsunami of materialism.

My return trip to India after a month's stay in Chicago made me experience this new India phenomenon in subtle ways.

I was heading to the O'Hare International Airport, Chicago in a cab. The cab driver started a chat with me which went like this:

Cab Driver(CD) : Are you going to india ?
I : Yes, to Bangalore.
CD : Are you into computer business ?
I : Yeah.
CD : Your country has got the best school for that in the world !
(I was on the floor now)
CD : I saw that in a special TV program. I don't remember the name of the school.
I : Are you talking about IIT ? (I knew he was)
CD : Yes, now I remember !
I : Thats the Indian Institute of Technology (I was flying now)
CD : They said everyone who comes out of that school is really smart.

After reaching the Airport, I headed towards the Lufthansa counter, already thinking about blogging this incident...

Later, after a long sleepy flight to Frankfurt, I boarded the connecting flight to Bangalore. Around half the passengers if not more were Indian. Quasi-Indian food was served as expected. Then came the surprise - A flight attendent was serving 'Masala Chai', trying his best to pronounce it correctly ! I was delighted to the core.

A European airline was operating a flight to India and was offering an Indian beverage to please the Indian passengers. This thought made me fly in flight. This is no act of plain courtesy - it is business.

Every big company wants to do business in this 'poor' country. A natural consequence of this is the global recognition and acceptance of things Indian.

After centuries of slumber, India is waking up. And making an impact.

Puja Room

The idea of a Puja Room is a powerful one.

Spirituality is more about 'experience' than 'understanding'. Ancient Indians have invented many instruments to help us experience the divineness in us. One such instrument is the Puja Room.

The first whiff of a divine experience can brush us only when we go beyond the materialistic mundanity of daily life. A Puja Room can do wonders to reduce the incessant flow of mundane thoughts into our minds through the five gates called senses. It does not exactly shut out all senses from the mind but presents the mind with a relaxing ambience by engaging each sense with a not-so-mundane thing.

The eyes are the most abused of all sense organs. In a Puja Room, all the eyes see are pictures of Gods, and the offerings to the Gods in forms like flowers, lamps and incense smoke that calm down the mind by reducing the visual data it needs to chew on. A dark room or the eyelids may not be sufficient for this purpose because they offer great scope for visual imagination that demands processing, that is equally stressful as real signals.

Sounds that produce every perceivable emotion and more are routinely generated in our society that make it hard work for the ears. Silence can be good, but the omni directional ability of the ears to grab noise is quite a challenge. Chanting mantras is often the first things spiritual that a child is taught to do in Indian homes. It relaxes the mind by making the ears stick to what the tongue produces, not realizing that the producer and consumer are one. That the knowledge and the knower are one is a more serious subject though.

The nose is happy with the incense and the flowers. These are sufficient to block the aromas from the kitchen that it excessively relishes. The tongue is anyway busy with keeping the ears busy. Wonderful-tasting Prasadam in small quantities does help though. The skin often plays to the tunes of the other senses. The others being quite calm, all it needs to keep it relaxed is a set of loose comfortable clothes and a sitting mat.

A Puja Room does not give instant self-realization, but does create a wonderful ambiance for those who seek a spiritual journey without going to the forest.

Soft Tamil

A Tamilian, I did schooling in English medium in Kerala, learnt Hindi and Malayalam as additional languages. I read and write these three languages better than my mother tongue - Tamil.

But, I feel truly at home only when I speak Tamil !

I sometimes feel sad that I have not given my mother tongue its due importance in my life. That I have almost entirely ignored it while running the rat race of survival. That I cannot read a Tamil newspaper as comfortably as English ones. That I do not know even a dozen verses from the great Thirukural. That I have to send emails to my relatives in the language of the British.

This feeling has lingered inside me for quite sometime. That is when I came across Kural Software, which helps one to use Tamil seamlessly for common tasks with a PC. Using the Standard English keyboard and with very basic knowledge of the Tamil script, I send mails, chat and even type down song lyrics in Tamil, all this with the same ease and speed as with English, after Kural blessed me! The experience was like a wish getting magically fulfilled in our folk tales.

Emailing in is a pleasure when you can type down your thoughts without any translation !

Chatting in Tamil is almost like real Mokkai !

Tamil gives word processing a new meaning !

Next on my wish list is getting such a good software for Sanskrit. There are a few that I came across, but I did not feel comfortable enough with any of them.

Mummy Tongue

Indians are the best non native speakers of English in the world.
This has had a role to play in Indians grabbing a large piece of the technology cake.

Every Indian parent dreams of his/her child speaking flamboyant English. This has resulted in people like me, who can read, write and in some scenarios speak better in English that my mother tongue ! Once an exception, this is slowly becoming the norm in the urban Indian middle class, atleast in the south.

Language is one of those aspects of culture that are highly resistant to change. With the right pressure, it may take only a couple of generations to significantly change the food habits or dressing style of a culture. But language will largely persist in more or less the same form.

300 years of political and economic dependence on the British has left the Indians obsessed with English. People from my grandpa's generation take pride in their English speaking capabilities even though they are the ones who witnessed the freedom struggle India went through.

Our language has changed.
Many of us have stopped writing in our mother tongues altogether. Many of us don't read much either after school. We try our best to speak in English where ever possible in the society. Personal communication like letters and email is almost totally in English.

All the above hold good for the urban middle class and above. Don't worry, the lower classes and the village folks are trying their best to imitate the so-called educated people.

We should be grateful to English for helping us earn our bread and butter, oops! sorry, rice and sambar. But should we not stop there ? Why are we crazy about English ? Why do we yearn that our children's first spoken word be 'Mummy' ?

Subtle sounds

Come away with me - the album by Norah Jones that got 8 Grammies.

I picked up the cassette hesitantly from the shelf of the music store. The hesitation stemmed from the fact that I had not listened to any of the songs before and that it was not popular at all among my friends.

My motivation to pick it up was partly the multiple Grammies and the fact that Norah was the daughter of the Sitar maestro Ravi Shankar, long estranged.

I asked my Walkman to sing the songs of the album with its best abilities. It did. Or did it? I was confused at best. I asked myself - What is this Grammy business all about?

It seemed that the voice was crooning to her self, giving no thought about the listener. The lyrics sounded like old English poetry. The piano and guitar played like they were asked to whisper. The drums were just loud enough for me to hear.

Yet I did not feel badly bored. There was a feel of dull freshness. I kept listening to the album occasionally, each time wondering if I was missing something.

After a few weeks, the songs started growing on me, very very slowly. That is when I started noticing the subtle sounds that I had completely missed before. I realized that the album was not composed with an intention to make it a big hit. That explained its lack of the so-called catchy tunes. It did not promise instant gratification. It had the least commercial flavor I had seen in today's music scene.

My insensitive ears were too dull to pick up the subtle melodies. They had grown numb after routinely listening to pop and hard rock.

I started listening to the newfound joy more often. When combined with the sights of greenery seen through the window of an un-crowded train, the effect it created on my mind was the most relaxing I had experienced in recent times. Listening to it lying in Savasana was another thing that I loved.

I am excited about unlearning to enjoy noise. I have discovered earthy sounds that are superior to it.

Come away with me. I went away with her.
I have bought Norah's next album - Feels like home. Yes, it does.

Joy of walking

Walking is a joy.

Ever tried to enjoy walking in the roads of so called Silicon Valley of India - Bangalore ?

Walking on roads of this city is a nightmare for people like me who believe that walking a while everyday can offset health problems later in life.

Pedestrians are considered outcast here. They are not even allowed to walk on footpaths which are utilized generously by two wheelers. You know, they even sound horns ordering you to give way while you walk on footpaths !

Traffic signals ?
Well, the traffic signal near my office is pathetic. It is switched off very often during evenings.
And a traffic police with a big belly stands there and controls the traffic. Damn it. He never gives time for pedestrians to cross. Even the signals are set not to show green for pedestrians at times.

Does that encourage people to use signals to cross the road ?
No, jay walking is the joy of walking.

Techies of India ! Wake up. Are you really enjoying the technology that you are creating ?
Realize that life is to be lived with simplicity. Else chaos will consume this mad world.

Let there be peace again.
Let walking become a joy again.

Sky Divine 

Sound feelings

Office.
Post lunch hour.
Productivity level dipping below zero.
Head free from thoughts about work.

My headphone promises bliss with its ability to bring subtle sounds to my auditory nerves. I sleepily add two songs to my Winamp playlist. Both From popular Tamil movies woven by two different young composers.

I hit the play button.

The first song.....
Unakkena Iruppen from the movie Kaadhal oozes sorrow.
My heart starts growing heavy as I listen to the song. Every sound lashes at my heart softly. I continue to listen intensely. to the burning voice. to the aching tune. to the pang of the sounds. The song takes me to the abyss of sorrow.
The song slowly fades out leaving me stained with sadness.

Starts the second song.....
Ennayithu Ennai Kolvathu from the movie Nala Dhamayanthi spills joy.
It transports me to a world of bliss. My body suddenly feels as light as a feather.
The crooning voice caresses every cell of mine. The music covers me with rose petals. The sounds spray nectar on my face. I start to levitate.
The song slowly slips into silence leaving me like an infant that knows only to smile and sleep.

I take a deep breath.....
It all feels so real though I am fully aware that I am only imagining.
My preconceived notions about the nature of these songs also provide extra effect.

Tricks that my senses play on me are sometimes very profound.

Programming Dreams

I wish I could program my dreams.
Like I choose my desktop wallpaper. Like I match my shirt with my pants.

When I go to sleep, I hope I don't dream about work, but often I do. I hope I dream about fantastic things, but I rarely do.
The way I program my life is far from perfect. There are too many infinite loops and unreachable statements. I tell myself that life cannot be perfect. that perfection can be found only in dreams.

But even my dreams are too ordinary these days. Some days, I even forget what I dreamt about and just remember that I had a boring dream. Dreams used to be more creative in my childhood.

Are dreams just hazy reflections of life ?
Does a boring dream only reflect the monotony of life ?

It seems to me that wakefulness is a myth. and that we are always dreaming - either lying eyes closed on bed or while doing other activities.

I wish I could program my dreams.

Mother 'Tongue'

Everybody is born with a tongue.

Our tongues tell us at some point in our lives that the type of food that we got used to eating in our childhood is the best in the world.

Why does my tongue tell me that Curd Rice with Sambar is next only to 'devamritam' (divine nectar) ?

Why does my tongue frown when it tastes the sambar of a state that neighbors my home state ?
"After all, sambar is sambar", I tell my tongue.
"No", it says furiously.

I wonder at this yet another funny trait of the funny being that inhabits the piece of rock that wanders in space around a hot ball of fire - human being !

Man is a slave of his habits.

Going inwards

Most of the time, I think of myself as just me.

Sometimes, in a few rare moments, I get a feeling that I am not just me. That I am part of something bigger, something more meaningful. That is when I forget myself and everything else. There is nothing that fills my mind. In fact, there is no mind at all. There is only bliss.

Some say that this is the meditative state. It does not matter to me. Words are too synthetic to describe certain experiences. A map can never be the territory.