Who are we ?

Last month i got a call from my class mate in SJCE. He was Deepak from our batch. He had taken a sabbatical from the job and was exploring a suitable space to put in his talent and give shape to his dreams.

After a couple of meetings, I did the TOT (Transfer of Technology) of the namma cycle application at his home in JP Nagar. I was under the assumption that Deepak will atleast take a month to complete the app. But i received a intimation that he has almost completed the app, but was stuck in a place.

I went to his home and fixed the issue in a matter of minutes and straight went to sleep at his home. By the time I woke up ANDROID APP For Namma Cycle was ready.

This event brought me two questions into my mind . Who are we ? What is our relationship with the world and the people in it ? How many college friends do we meet again and do some meaningful work ?

Corporate Kind of Jobs also build relationships, but they are very transient and there is hardly space and time to nurture  relationships in corporate sector.


Professional Education especially should focus on these kind of social relevant work , for they also build relationships and make you feel you are not alone in this world.

Because we were separated soon after the college and never got a chance to interact and discuss.

In the meanwhile, Namma Cycle Team was looking for a ANDROID DEVELOPER who would just complete the app that Deepak did for us in a short span. He arrived like a Devata and finished his job like a Devata.So by giving part of us and sharing what belongs to us we become Devatas.

Life Of Pi - Name of "PI PATEL" -The Major Blunder in the Story Line

I was really thrilled to see the "Life Of Pi " movie in the theatres. I  went twice to the theatre taking my sister and my cousins kids. Point being you enjoy when the kids enjoy. I really enjoyed the colorful shots in the movie.

But One thing which is typically "UNINDIAN" in the entire movie, is the naming of the Boy after a swimming pool in Paris. Indians generally do lot of researching and consulting  before naming their children.  They read books written by Maneka Bandhi. Parents of the newly born request all their friends and relatives for a wonderful, beautiful name . They give clues and riddles and lot of pointers to the most appropriate name. I still remember my Sister calling her friends and asking for a name that starts with letter 'SU' etc. And some of the kids started giving names like 'SUSU' :)

Also if the name happens to be lengthier to pronounce, they trim it and make it sweet. My Cousin has named her Son Siddharth but always calls him 'Sid ' or 'Siddu'. So venkatesh becomes venki. Subramanya becomes 'Subbu'. 

Another wonderful aspect is the place where your father belongs is added to the name. Kuppali Venkatappa Puttapa is a great poet from Karnataka. He was from Kuppalli near theerthahalli. I wish they also add the name of the river, so that the land and the river from where you come can be recognized immediately.

Infact Alwars, the Tamil Vaishnava Saints ask people to name their kids after Vishnus names, so that they will remember the supreme while addressing the kids. The act of remembrance and calling god is thus made part of your life and devotion is woven in the naming part of life. We carry this name till death and it has a special significance for us in our lives. 

Secondly, it appears to me that Indians are lovers of truth. I have come across lot of names with the prefix 'Satya' like 'Satya Murthy' 'Satya Narayana' 'Satya Swaroop' and whenever i went to west i would look into Telephone Directories and search for names starting with 'TRUTH' and i found only 2 names like NATASHA TRUTH, ANDREW TRUTH. And do the same exercise in the BSNL directory for Satya, you will find atleast a 1000 names.


I have the name 'Murali'  (which means flute) because i was born under rohini nakshatra or star. And Sri Krishna also shares the same star and infact my mothers brother were made to undergo pacification ritual so that i do not trouble them when i grow up. I also learnt to play Flute in later part of my life.

Typically, if the family has inclination towards Vishnu his name will be one of the 1000 names of Vishnu. If the family has 'Home God ' as Karthikeya - the kid will get one of the 1000 Subramanyas names.

In case a female is born, Lalita Shasranama or such other books are referred and the name is chosen.  

So naming is specifically linked to the Star under which you are born  and your 'Home Gods' Name or Gurus Name and not the name of a Swimming Pool or a Hotel in Paris.

Anyone having such strange western names or who might have come across people with strange names please do let me know.

Coming to the Naming Ceremony of Muslims . They also follow a similar process. They refer to the 100 names of Allah described in the Quran.
For example i would like to mention some of the names which we hear so occassionally -
Raḥmān The Exceedingly Compassionate, The Exceedingly Beneficent, The Exceedingly Gracious

Malik

The King

Ġaffār

The Repeatedly Forgiving

-Kabīr The Great

Muslims are allowed to use the 99 names of Allah for themselves but should not put 'Al' at the front of them - WIKI.

And for the Author,Yann Martel who spent some time roaming around India, without discovering how we Indians get the name and just to Imagine that Indians are dumb and clueless about naming their children, I would want the Author to visit some naming ceremonies and discover the truth himself.

Till then i would want the readers to tell me what Yann Martel means ? Probably a  Hotel in PARIS.

I met few friends from Copenhaegan and most of them do not know the meaning of their names. And i was really surprised by their ignorance of the source of the names.

I gave a search for '  martel hotel paris ' and i found lot of hotels with that name. Now i know why he gave the name of a swimming pool in Paris.

Meeting a friend after a long time - VP of SAP Labs

Last month i got an invite from Prof. Sitaram to attend the Indo German Symposium on smart cities.

Mr. Neumann, SAP AG and President, Indo-German Chamber of Commerce spoke about the wisdom of Upanishads in his opening address.

I was seated in the second row waiting to speak to him and as i turned back i saw Venkatesh a past colleague of mine. We worked at IMR for almost 1 year. He was quite unassuming and was with the President of SAP Labs all the time.

Later during the tea break we exchanged pleasantries and i was teasing him, for he is a chain smoker. I came home and checked linked network to discover that my friend is the VP of SAP Labs at a young age of 30+.

That was very surprising and he is a humble man with focused action and thinking. I wish him the very best.


 

We need 100 roaring Narasimhans - An Evening and a Night with Dr. Narasimhan

Last month our Kindarajogi Team in association with BakPackers team organized a Nature cum adventure camp for kids in the age group 5-15. Idea was to expose them to the nature and the life beyond the city.

I suggested that we should have an expert who can take the kids on bird watching and also show some forest diversity. All of us agreed that we need experts, but the question was - Can the experts speak in the language of the kids ? Obviously NO.

That is when i remembered Dr. Narasimhan, a man who is full of love for all life that travels towards the sky - from birds to stars, from trees to plants.

He took the trouble of driving 90Km from Virajpet to Somwarpet and was there at the right time to show the stars and expose them to  sky watching.

He showed the various plants and trees to the kids. The kids were thrilled to know there exists a  plant, whose leaves act as Mosquito Repellent. They carried the leaves to their rooms. And  next day morning all of them came and told me that no mosquito had the courage to enter their room. They wanted to take the plant to their homes and the plant generated curious interest in botany as a subject.

Our education first gives the theory and asks the students to find out the practical use of the theory which we never find out. So all the knowledge goes into drain . And botany as a subject makes it so boring to study plants even though the plants are so interesting. I had a teacher who taught botany and wanted us to remember complex names and terminologies - like scientific names of all plants, parts of a flower - gymno sperms etc. Never did she take me to a plant and showed me the beauty of the plant and the utility of the plant in a simple way. I always used to disturb her class bcoz the way she taught botany was so boring.

I think this is the right way to teach the botany - take a plant like mango and give the fruits of mango to students and ask them to find all info about mangoes. I am sure that students will do it no time.Ask them to identify all the street trees and they will have knowledge about trees and the birds that visit the trees.

Dr. Narasimhan had come with meticulous preparation with all seriousness carrying his laptop and the projector. But the sky was not so clear and hence sky watching was done on the computer using a software which is similar to Stellarium.

He started talking about identifying the constellations and how the stars are formed and the students were thrilled and were full of attention for 1.5 hours and were asking lot of questions.

He showed the solar system and all the position of the planets in the sky. The moon surface was also shown.  Students got to know about light years and the whole universe appeared to be a thing full of mystery.

The evening ended with Dr. Narasimhan showing the orchestra of the fire flies in the dark night.

Dr. Narasimhans effect on kids :

1> Next night all the kids were looking into the sky and were talking about constellations/ planets etc.

2> They were looking out for Fire Flies and were observing the lighting pattern of the fire flies.

This is what an Educator has to do -

1> communicate the knowledge in a way so that the children appreciate and do not feel shy to ask questions.

2> Create the space in the young mind to inquire about the world around us which we seldom pay attention or even look into .

3> Have a wonderful sense of childish humour so that children can laugh with you and also learn with you.

4> Walk with them holding their hands and also make them your best friends.

BTW, i made lot of young friends who keep calling me "mama - when r u coming to my home ?".  All of them (Siri, Amrutha, Ananya, Yeshaswini ) are so intelligent and have a wonderful memory. A song that was taught only once was memorized in no time and it was their on their lips all through the journey.

As soon as they got down from the bus the eagerly awaiting parents asked them what did u  learn  in the camp ? Immediately they started singing the song.

After returning from the hills i had to go to their house and entertain them.

Dr. Narasimhan was kind enough to hand us two copies of his "Feathered Jewels of Coorg" to be given as prizes for the best performing kids. This is the best book on birds  for Kannada speaking people, as the language used is very simple and is quite natural.

My chinnu friend, Yeshaswini was given the book as she could identify 20 birds. (Girl in sea blue T shirt on the left)

I took them to a near by forest near valley school later. They made their Moms serve good lunch for me.

I would say if people in the Professional Work can put 1 day in a week to be with the kids and share them whatever we know or take them for a walk in Lalbagh and talk about general things that would go in making them sensitive and mature people when they grow up.

So we need 100 roaring Narasimhans and definitely not 100 more universities , not 100 more departments,  not 1000 more Phd Professors !!

The best thing of the trip was Dr. Narasimhan is my best friend and I will keep going to the hills again to be with him for learning the wonders of nature.

You can have a look at the photos here :

In the Tunnel of Time

I was just revisiting all the books that i had read in the last decade. Iam also going to write about the authors who have written the book. Whenever i read a book and I feel that the book has enriched my life, i go and compliment the author of the book saying the book has really given me a new perspective.

In the course of my random wanderings, i had read this book "Tunnel of Time by RK Laxman". I wanted to meet him but did not get an opportunity to meet him. He came to bangalore to inaugurate a cartoon exhibition in bangalore. I met the organizers of the exhibition and found out that he was staying in the hotel near MG road.
The host for RK laxman had fixed an appointment with RK laxman and i was on time and RK laxman had just finished his breakfast.

He was chatting with everyone, as many of his friends had come to wish him. Later i was given a time of 10 mins to ask him questions. I had thought that since RK laxman had observed the political scene he would have had a vision about a alternate political philosophy than the current system.

I asked him , 'Sir, You have observed the nuisance of the modern day politics, do u have any political vision that can provide a more mature leadership for the country. '
The reply was, "You are stupid. That shows you have no idea who iam ? You have not gone through my work. I do not think my cartoons ".

The reply was very blunt. I did not know what next to ask for. I silently moved besides his wife and sat on the sofa. Then i showed my other questions to his wife,
1> How does he get to be creative each day ? What is the state of his mind when he is creating a cartoon ?
2> What motivated him to be a political cartoonist ?
3> About his love for Ganesha and the crow ?
I had some more questions, but i was afraid to ask the same. His wife asked him not to be so rude to young people like me. So he said "Go on ask me the next set of questions"
1> How does he get to be creative each day ? What is the state of his mind when he is creating a cartoon ?

>> My state of mind is empty and I search for the cartoons everywhere in the road, in the shop, in the office everywhere i find my common man. I do not make an effort and i'am not even self conscious about my creation.

2> What motivated him to be a political cartoonist ?
>> During those times there was no one in this space and i asked my self "Why not ?".
3> About his love for Ganesha and the crow ?
Ganesha i see him everywhere.. and in everything.. crow is very intelligent and understands human beings better...and it puts up with us.
He finally asked me "What do you do young man ?"
Sir I promote cycling ..
"Bicycle ??"
"Yes Sir .. Good work.. we need more cycles"
I had carried his cartoon which spoke about too many cars on the road with no space for walking. I requested him to make some more cartoons with bicycles and the common man.

He asked his wife to give me the address of his residence and asked me to write. But few days later I read the report that he was not well. So did not write to him for the cartoons.

But here are some things from his book "Tunnel of Time"
His childhood is really free with absolutely no control and all his brothers taking care of him. In the school , He draws the cartoon of his teacher - and is caught. In his cartoon he depicts the teacher as a tiger.
Laxman and Bicycles

One of the unique things in his cartoons of yesteryears are the bicycles. He used to go cycling in Mysore, in pursuit of landscapes and artistic structures on the outskirts of the city. He also had a close friend with whom he used to bicycle all around the city. This friend HK had joined the "Bicycle Brigade" to fight for the freedom of the nation. "The group went cycling all over the city shouting anti british slogans and courting arrest" - is what RK Laxman says. I was thrilled to read the contribution of these cyclists from the "Bicycle Brigade" who fought for the freedom of the nation.

Who should be my neighbors

A friend of mine recently wrote a blog, highlighting the neighbors, she wanted in her neighborhood. That made me think about my current neighbors and the choice i have made by staying in the current place. This is not just a wish list, i would really attempt to create the neighborhood in the next few years at least.



Kaveri I would like to have a Sacred River in my neighborhood. Just watching the river flow silently is so soothing for the soul . Apart from this you can watch kingfishers of bright colors diving into the river.

Krishna Temple - Old Hoysala Style My second preference would be a temple of Sri Krishna in Hoysala style, small , yet aesthetic and beautiful. It would be the best place to read a poem of kalidasa or valmiki and get inspired to do some thing new.

Elephant & a Horse Stable
I would like to have either a elephant or a horse stable , so that you can go and feed them and also go for a ride occasionally. Sometimes Bicycle is so boring - especially during some climbs when u r hungry and u want some one to take u for a ride without polluting.

I will definitely have a home besides Kaveri river and also own a horse.


Pradeep, Shreya & Family
A fellow cyclist, we met @ IIMB during a workshop and became very very close. He understands me and respects my stand on many issues. I would not have done much in cycling had it not been for his support and guidance. Whenever i fix an appointment with a minister or a senior IAS officer, he is there to speak with "Perfect English and Perfect Delivery" with full spontaneity. He is our spokesman. I do all the necessary action in the background.
He has a beautiful little daughter,Shreya who can speak pure Kannada, pure Tamil and little english. Well versed in all subjects and expert in giving spontaneous ideas for implementation. Whenever i run out of ideas in business, i just ring him up and he simply dissolves my problem. We will be working on multiple projects in the future like - Tour of Kaveri and Training for Mapping Technologies eventually. He is temporarily in Yahoo , will soon join our company.

Sudhira, Ramya & Family
We call him "Chanakya, DR , Professor". He is one of the young guys to complete PHd with international rankings from IISC. Multidisciplinary personality - Knows everything about birds, remote sensing, system design, physics, operations, ecology.
He is the founder of Gubbi Labs and he simply pulled me to work on cycling and just focus on cycling and nothing else. We have worked for almost 3 years now designing conceiving couple of projects for Bangalore. But he loves his small town Gubbi and setting up a super speciality lab @ Gubbi after getting recognition from Department of Science and Technology. Loves Birds so much that all the people who went to his marriage got a Bird Feeding Nest as a Gift. He meets only very few people , very reserved and very distant from the world. Totally avoids people who are clever and cunning. Ramya is his wife and they just got married in a simple marriage. I would any day want to be very close for the simple reason that life is simple with simple people like him. He chides me for being insensitive sometimes.

Guru & Family
My room mate for 4 years in engineering in Mysore. When i met with a severe accident in my first semester, i stayed in the hostel room close to the college with my mother. Guru was there by my side, daily bringing all the materials to cook and helping my mother to take care of me. I could not even walk to the examination hall as the leg was severely damaged. Guru got my classmates to lift me and carry me on the shoulders to the examination hall (Distance should be atleast 1/2 Km). I used to shout "Ram naam satya hai"..when they were carrying my body in public. He gave me confidence to write the exam inspite of my accident and get a distinction in my first semester exam. We never fought a single day in the four years of our stay. Sharing and Caring is so natural that even now he is always asking about me and checking out what iam doing.

Shiv & Pavithra
He will go all out for enabling kannada in all computers. Absolute hacker is married to a hacker - Pavitra. Totally selfless when it comes to doing some thing for kannada. We will work on producing and building a common platform for kannada literature in urban design, engineering etc. We planned lot of things , but i got busy in cycling and planning , so could not give him my ideas.


MK Pranesh, Praveen Godkindi, Ned
These three flautists are gems in the music landscape. Ned is so passionate about carnatic music that he has started a Carnatic Music Lab in Netherlands.
He comes to india to learn Carnatic Music and during all his stay never wastes a moment . He practices 6-8 hours of playing flute everyday. I wish i had the same dedication that he has for our culture. Also he wants to travel on a bicycle :)
MK Pranesh is my guru. Iam yet to make him happy as far as music is concerned. Busy with too many activities..need to pay more attention to music.

Vani Akka and Vijaya Akka/BHava and Nikita/Pranav/Suhaas
My sisters are very close to me , but they have always stayed very far from my home. One is in vijayanagara and another in NewDelhi. I miss my Bhava very much.
My Bhava is a hero for me from my childhood - be it engineering design, mathematics, management - he is always the best guy. A football player and a athlete - spends 1 hour doing hard exercises.I still cannot defeat him in running and cycling.
He is the Best Father i have seen in my life - absolutely innovative with kids and seeing him teaching kids - science is fun - to watch. He reached the top of corporate sector at a very young age. But i want him to work with us - planing to pull him into our company later. Best All round personality !!! Lucky to have my sister married to him.

My niece, Nikita - i can do some sketching and painting with her. She enjoys painting that she can spend a entire day painting . Her largest painting was atleast 6 ft that took her six hours when she was eight years. Very disciplined and keeps things very tidy and in order ,never loses anything and does not lend anything to anyone.
I need to learn this from her.

Dr Bhat & Y Manju & R Manju
Dr Bhat is my child hood friend. All four of us - R and Y manju, Dr Bhat and myself studied in Chitradurga, JnanaBharathi Vidya Mandira. I should say Bhat & Manju transformed my life. Their friendship made me pay more attention to studies and books. Manju's father had a library for keeping many books on various subjects. I used to borrow them and start reading as a kid.
Those days the Russian Gvernment - MIR Publishers used to supply science/ mathematics books at a subsidized rate. The paper quality was too good and the binding was of superior quality.

We used to do experiments to build our own Telephone System, by stealing telephone handsets from the telephone exchange. Bhat was a Rank Holder all thro' his career. He is now a pediatrician in Bangalore. He was there with me when my father expired.He even accompanied me to the crematorium and held my hands tightly as my fathers mortal remains turned to ashes. In sorrow and In joy he is there. In times of medical emergency he takes care of our family. My sister had a sudden decline in the blood platelet count, due to dengue. He made all arrangements at Wockhardt hospital ICU and made sure that blood transfusion was done in the midnight and my sisters life was saved. Even now whenever i get a fever i call him and he is our mobile doctor.

Y Manju was my very best friend, till he got married. He used to call me once a month from america . After marriage he shifted his family to US - saying India is painful.
He was a gem of a person. we studied Highschool, Pre university college together. Now no phone calls and last time i made a call to him and met him when he was about to return back. He is changed a lot - become a total capitalist.

Lavanya is another good friend of mine, She will share her knowledge on agriculture & sustainable living.
Sheelraj Shetty is another close friend , i met him in Pondicherry during my visit to Auroville to learn sustainable technologies. I have to learn from him Pottery and building mud homes and bit of architecture. He is a senior architect with Chitra Viswanath.


VedaVyasa & His Son Shuka Muni
I can listen to stories of Krishna directly from the author and in this kaliyuga where you get to listen only horrific stories it is a pleasant to listen to krishnas story so that u will taken back into the heroic age in a moment. Now in his absence i read his books and feel his presence in his words. Some words are immortal, Some people are immortal, Some books are immortal..Vyasa is not just a immortal sage.. he takes you also from mortal outlook and makes u immortal.
Another thing about Vyasa is that he never misses the details. Like in MahaPrasthana when Pandavas are quiting the city a dog follows. We all forget about the dog , but at the end, Dog is nothing but YamaDharmaraya, ought to test his son again.



Kalidasa , Bana Sanskrit Poets



Kannada Writers - Kuvempu would be my best friend i presume

I have so many people to add in the list - the list is endless - hence making space in my mind for all these great people who have enriched my life in one way or the other.