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Krishna, Dharma, and the Mahabharata I Thought I Knew

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Krishna and Arjuna at Kurukshetra When I was growing up, I used to listen to so many stories from our epics and mythology—whether it was reading Amar Chitra Katha books or listening to my paati narrate tales of bravery and valor, the purpose of the divine, and the importance of adhering to dharma. Stories of Shiva and Vishnu found their way into my life through various forms. As a child, it was fascinating to see the power wielded by the Gods. And the message I took away was very simple: if you are devoted to the Gods, no harm can befall you. The Mahabharata, Ramayana, Nala-Damayanti, tales of Muruga and Ganesha, Draupadi, the Pandavas, the Kauravas—the army of characters was endless. To say they fascinated me would be a big understatement. I have read the Mahabharata many times, through various authors, and listened to many narrations of it. Every single time, I walk away with a new meaning. Kri...
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Meetups

Meetups can be predictable, and also, totally unpredictable and unexpected.  In the Bay Area, we meet people consistently without a planned agenda.  Sometimes, we go to a restaurant and it just doesn't feel right, "How come we haven't met anyone today? What's wrong?" We have really had strange encounters. I had gone to the nearest Indian restaurant with my colleague.  Nowadays, I don't even act surprised when I see someone I know.  It's become a part of life.  I just greet and move on. Anyway, we both picked our stuff and were having our food at the table.  Suddenly, I see someone walk up front, order his food and walk back to his table.  I immediately told my colleague, "I think I know him.  He resembles a guy who was in Boston, but what is he doing here? I don't even know whether it's the same guy." My colleague told me to go talk to him if I was so confused.   I figured I would rather go talk to him, than wonder the rest of ...
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The food challenge

From Wikipedia, an oxymoron is a figure of speech that combines contradictory terms.  I don't need a Wikipedia to get this basic information.  I learnt this in my primary school.  But, life throws many such explanations on a day to day basis and still sometimes, you make the same mistakes again and again. My wife and I are foodies.  My wife always complains that I eat and she puts on calories.  Yeah, yeah, yeah! I watch my weight.  And, definitely, that's not my problem.  But, when it's not your problem, and it's her problem, it means there is a problem.  No question about that. Sample the many such scenarios on a day to day basis. We go to Sprouts (it's an awesome place in Sunnyvale).  You get all kinds of fresh fruits and vegetables.  And, you also have a section where you have the best chocolates, nuggets, almond coated dark chocolates, walnut coated chocolates, and a wide variety of stuffed chocolates with whatever nuts and re...
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The tryst with spelling

Spelling and grammar form the two pillars of any language.  The fact that there is a Scripps National Spelling Bee challenge to test the outrageous abilities of young kids only highlights the fact that the language with all its abbreviations and short cuts, still relies heavily on the correct spellings and pronunciations.  The advent of several portable devices has given rise to a situation where people think that the colloquial usage of certain words is now not an aberration, but the norm. I do have a smartphone just like any other spoilt human being today.  I text people, though not as frequently as the teens of today.  The main usage of my smartphone is to guzzle news reports and feeds, and of course check my email and reply with not-so-long emails.  For the longer emails, I revert to my laptop with keyboard support. I cringe when I see messages like this. ill c u tmrw cos i m bz at prty tnite got 2 do my wrk tday. can u snd me ur notes There is ab...
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India cash and carry, Sunnyvale

Bay area signifies a lot of positive things for an engineer.  I've always dreamt about the place ever since I was in college, and after a few years of learning my wares at the mid-west, I moved to the west coast. San Francisco, Sunnyvale, Cupertino, Santa Clara and so many other small cities signify the heart of the tech population in the country.  Every lane, every street, every building in every corner, houses an engineering setup - startup or a multi-national.  When friends from other cities come over for a visit (which itself is rare when you are in the mid-west), they drool at the sight of these companies. "Man, I need to come here." "This is the place to be, for a techie" and so on. The weather is cool, doesn't get into the extremes, although the winters can be colder than to your liking.  Whatever it is, there is something that makes bay area tick when it comes to engineering.  Being an Indian, unlike in any other part of the US, you would see...
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Taiwan

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Travelling is fun.  There are no two ways about it.  You always pick something new when you see a new place.  My friends, who are on constant business visits to China, when they tell me about their experiences, I wonder how it would be for a vegetarian to survive in a South East Asian nation.  I didn't have to wait long enough as I was sent to Taiwan on a business visit along with a colleague. Taichung, Taiwan I found my window seat on the plane.  Of course, I was expecting a middle aged man or an old lady to find his/her seat next to mine.  That's the way it's always been.  All the good looking girls were seated right behind me or just ahead of me.  Obviously, I was totally surprised, when a young lady walked towards the seat next to mine.  Something had to be wrong, I was sure.  Anyway, the introductions were done.  She was a French girl settled in the US.  Fun company, I thought.  I checked my Lumia 920 for the me...
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India trip - Learnings

Coincidence is a rare thing.  It happens all the time, but unless it is absolutely explicit, you don't realize that there was actually one.  Some of the worst and best things in life are those that happen on the spur of the moment, and somehow, when they seem to be remotely connected, they add a new flavor to the whole situation.  Mostly, you're making a reference to someone, when the same person either calls you the next instant or shows up on you.  You call it a happy coincidence or a comeuppance depending on your equation with the reference. You question yourself occasionally. Recently, I was at a point where I was questioning my beliefs and the whole purpose of existence, presence of God and so on about things which I have no idea of, and which even if I read a million texts, would ascertain none.  I spoke to a lot of people, and most of them have been through this phase or dismiss it as over the board thinking.  Whatever! I am surprised that peopl...
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Contradictions

Recently, we moved apartments.  It neither looks simple nor is it.  As we packed the different, unwanted items that we have accumulated over the years, my wife and I had different solutions for the same problem.  For each and every box that gets added to the list, I had, rather have, a simple solution,  "Let's chuck it.  Why do we need this?", which, unfortunately, is diametrically opposite to the position held by her - "Oh, we can buy a small shelf to offset this problem?" It doesn't require an Einstein to figure out who wins these arguments. For me, the whole process of discarding is pretty simple.  If you don't use something over a period of time, just discard the item.  The philosophy is straightforward and I explained this to her, "See, when we move to the new apartment, let's not unpack some of the boxes.  It's okay if the apartment is a mess for some days.  At least, we will know the items that we are using and those that we ...
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