Ninaivugal...Thoughts

Writing has always fascinated me. It’s such an interesting aspect of communication; you can pretty much convey anything you want, in any way you want. Even a grammatically incorrect sentence can carry its full meaning. Yet, somewhere along the way, we began mistaking good communication for intelligence. “Oh, he writes and speaks so well.  He must be smart.” Good communication can create a false sense of technical pride. I grew up believing that grammatical precision was the measure of knowledge. But in hindsight, that wasn’t entirely me; it was my teachers. They were absolutely particular that every sentence not only conveyed meaning, but also respected the sanctity of grammar. A misplaced article or preposition could invite the harshest of corrections. Yesterday, my wife and I were talking about writing and as all conversations these days eventually do, it veered toward our kids’ writing. We were laughing over Sahana’s recent schoolwork: a delightful mix of humor, dialogue, and im...

What exactly are the couple goals after a few years of marriage? In the early years of marriage, couple goals meant to hold hands together at the beach, staring deep into the sunset or watching a Netflix series together. Ten years later, it's remembering to soak the lentils and rice for the dosa batter, and paying your taxes on time.  A successful marriage is built on love and thrives on shared responsibilities. So, most of the conversations tend towards what's completed and what should tend towards completion.  "Praveen, did you have a chance to follow up with Akhil's coach on the practice schedule?" "Hema, did Akhil finish up this week's music homework? "Praveen, did you call the plumber? The kitchen sink is leaking. It can damage the wood below." "Hema, did you order the dishwasher liquid from Amazon?"  Obviously, if you have been in a relationship for a few years, and if the dishwasher loading duty doesn't fall on the husband, ...

I’ve often confessed how musically incompetent I am. I have no idea about  thālams  or  ragams , nor even the basics of whether a singer is off  shruti . And yet, music, especially the music of M. S. Subbulakshmi has been a constant companion throughout my life. Every morning and evening of my childhood, MS’s voice filled our home with the  Vishnu Sahasranamam ,  Hanuman Chalisa , or  Suprabhatam . Those slokams reverberating through the walls became part of my everyday rhythm. For my mother, who was deeply religious, devotional music was inseparable from life itself. And though I never grasped the nuances of Carnatic music, devotion seeped into me through those sounds. MS had a unique quality in her renderings. She didn’t just sing, she seemed to be standing in the presence of divinity. When people say a true musician never dies, I understand it. Their body may pass, but their music becomes immortal. For years, I kept a respectful distance from Carnat...

A monthly meetup with my mentor today and we were, as usual, talking about many things.  I told him that lately, I have been juggling a lot of content on Advaita Vedanta.  We were talking about the mind and the pure consciousness, the concept of Brahman and so on.  He told me that it was all interesting and that he was having a conversation with his wife a week ago and was asking her, "What exactly is consciousness?".   I laughed and replied, "David, that's not a trivial question.  That's exactly what enlightened souls spend lifetimes exploring." We both laughed.   We drifted from Vedanta to investing.  He said that he doesn't want to invest in certain companies because for him, there's a line; he doesn't want to invest in companies that don't align with his principles.  I asked him how one even decides where to draw the line.   I admitted that my own beliefs had blindsided me in the past.  I used to think that if I didn't use a product ...

The journey continues At the start, you think you know exactly what you want from marriage. The young boy and the girl are bustling with energy, enamored in the goodness of each other and together, you are ready to face life’s challenges. We did the usual things - watch movies, hang out with friends, celebrate festivals with the community, binge watch shows on Netflix over the entire weekend with just mini-breaks for instant noodles, stay up late till 3 AM, wake up groggy at whatever time you wanted the next day, get to a nearby restaurant for lunch, come back and continue with the show. Of course, add in a few travel trips every year and you have figured out some sort of a routine. But what exactly is a routine? Career happens. Life happens. There is always some sort of dynamic at play. Add in kids to the mix, and the routine changes rapidly. The way kids pull your attention in the early years is something you just cannot account for at all. Whatever you hear from family and friends, ...

I was in my second year of Engineering, and my parents decided to conduct my Upanayanam ceremony. Upanayanam, as I have referred in my earlier posts, is a sacred rite of passage that marks a boy's passage into spiritual learning. Anyway, the Upanayanam was done. After that, I had to begin the trikaala (three times a day) Sandyavandanam - morning, noon and evening. Sandhyavandanam is done by chanting the Gayathri Mantra to foster spritual growth and well-being. It's a way to connect with the divine energy. If you ChatGPT the significance of Sandhyavandanam, I am sure there will be a detailed explanataion of what it means inspite of whatever hallucination you see ChatGPT spitting out.   I was 20. After the Upanayanam, you are expected to do Sandhyavandanam by learning from the elders at home. My father, I have never seen him do Sandhyavandanam. How do I get started? The vaadhyar (priest) who conducted my Upanayanam came on the first day, performed the Sandhyavandanam wit...

The iconic CTR Masala Dosa Bangalore is home to the best benne masala dosas in the world.  I have had dosas in many places around the world, and I keep coming back to the ones in Bangalore.  Even a simple darshini - a quick stand and eat joint - serves a dosa that lingers in memory.  People often debate Karnataka vs. Tamil Nadu dosas. For me, there’s no comparison. Tamil Nadu dosas are fluffy, while Karnataka’s are crisp, thanks to a touch of rice flakes in the batter. That crisp magic keeps bringing me back. Anyway, during the current trip, I made my customary stop at CTR (Central Tiffin Room) .  Malleswaram itself is a place I miss dearly - the bustle of 8th Cross, the street vendors, the old trees lining Margosa and Sampige roads. And there, on the corner of 9th Cross, stands CTR - unchanged for decades.    I ordered my favorite masala dosa. The wait always feels the longest, but once it arrived, I was transported. The crisp golden dosa, the chutneys, th...

Kalady is the birth place of Adi Shankaracharya, the greatest spiritual philosopher of Hinduism.   Adi Shankara was the proponent of Advaita Vedanta - Brahman alone is real; the world is ultimately an illusion.  His ideal of non-dualism unified diverse schools of Hindu thought.  He played a major role in upholding Sanatana Dharma and spreading Vedanta.  Kalady is a quiet riverside village in Kerala, set along the banks of the Poorna river, surrounded by lush greenery and a serene, unhurried pace of life. Its temples, ghats, and gentle landscape create a natural atmosphere of reflection and devotion. When my wife and I had the initial germ of thought about Akhil's Upanayanam, I immediately went to my favorite, Sringeri, a place nestled in the beautiful Western Ghats, and we also thought about Kanchipuram, home of the Maha Periyavaa, a revered 20th century saint of the Kanchi Mutt, and in the eyes of many, a walking God.  My parents were here in the US in early 20...

 I don't know how to say this but our lives are governed by so much perfection these days that it can be pretty frustrating.  Write an email at work, and you suddenly are sending it through AI to make sure that we are dotting the i's and crossing the t's.  The sentence gets reworded dramatically.  It's all so exquisite and perfect.  That original sentence written feels like a hotchpotch of words.  The embarrassment of writing the original gnaws at you.  How could I have written such a bad sentence! The new composition has the perfect diction, tone and grammar with flowery and glittering prose.  Oh, if you don't want that, in a matter of seconds, it switches to a more professional tone.  If not that, it becomes friendly and casual.  If everything fails, it just rewrites into something totally new that you are left wondering what you actually started off with.  Yes, it's all awesome, but in the end, the end product is deprived of some...

There are songs that entertain. There are songs that move you. And then, once in a lifetime, there’s a piece of music that finds you — and never lets go. There was a moment of madness. I went to YouTube just to  feel  “Sundari Kannal.” But you have no chance of finding just the song. You end up losing yourself in the  pangs of nostalgia . How can Ilaiyaraaja create emotions out of  silence ? How does a single violin — just one humble instrument — manage to stir your soul so completely? That breakup scene between Rajini and Shobana… it has more silence than music. But it’s  that silence  that makes you weep. You lose yourself. You find yourself. You are caught in a web — memories, emotions, fragments of feelings you didn’t know still lived in you. They come. They go. And then — the violin. The interlude arrives like a quiet storm. The orchestra is so simple… yet so rich. It’s not loud. It’s not flashy. It’s  healing . But within the healing, there is...