Changes in the course of my life

I was reading this post by Vijay Varadan about how he closed down his game development studio about less than a month ago, and how he is dealing with giving up something he held very close to his heart.

Which brought me back to, well, myself. Since the time I joined school as a 3 year old kid, I have always been working on or towards something. The workaholic DNA inherited from both my parents meant that even during the summer holidays during school/college, after the minimum obligatory lazing around, you would find me pottering around with some hobby or the other, if not anything else.

For a soul like one described above, it is a very crushing feeling to wake up to deal with a routine that looks like this -> No office, no class. Just wake up, cook your food, clean up your surroundings, take rest and get back to sleep in the night. But, I did, I took the leap and quit my job at Jombay in early May due to climbing health issues being the top reason for the decision. My funda was simple - from my persistent visits to the doctor's clinic, I realized I dont have eternity to live my dreams and ideals and that Life is Short. Yes, we read it day in and day out, but it strikes you like a lightning when it happens in real life. Dont worry reader, I dont have any terminal disease or cancer or something, it is my thyroid gland that has landed me into this state of introspection.

So that's it. I quit the one thing that I was doing reasonably well among a lot of my endeavours. It is going to be 4 months now, and I realised these things about myself --

1) I am very bad at selling anything that I have created or belongs to me. Sales is  very tough art and people working in sales should be treated with absolute respect.
2) Programming a computer day in and day out has made me friendlier with machines than people, in short I had forgotten what it was to be a human being. To sense what is going on around you. To trust the being in front of your eyes, and just ask a question.

I also went back to my drawing board to see what else was there that defined me, that could still be pursued while attending to health matters and the answer was clear. How many times I had mentioned this in my 'About Me' introductions, but I had gone blank when push came to shove. Sanskrit. Yes, I am now pursuing an MA in Sanskrit at Pune University followed by a study of linguistics.

I haven't written any code since May this year, not that I dont want to, but just that I want to take a break. And anyway, my mind is so wired around programming now that even though I dont type out the code on a screen, my mind keeps working out algorithms one way or the other, so this break is only for the hands and eyes. I have stepped up blogging(more to record experiences), outdoor activity, photography and this thing called hanging around with friends just like that for sheer fun, basically anything that will revive the human in me.

The Mister, as always, has handholded me through this entire decision, and now enjoys unparalleled attention, now that gadgets have been given a secondary state in my life.

So that is about it, I am now a programmer on a sabbatical who is pursuing an MA in Sanskrit.

Visit to Sangam Mahuli and Nana Phadnis Wada

I have been living in Pune for 4 years now. But I haven't travelled to nearby places much. Last week I had the chance to take a quick outing to a few places around Wai and Satara. 

It was a day trip where we left at 9.30 from Pune. We visited Sangam Mahuli, Dholya Ganpati and Dakshin Kashi Vishweshwar temple in Wai and Nana Phadnis Wada at Menawali, and were back in Pune by 5. We spent some time just soaking in the serenity of the place at Sangam Mahuli on the banks of the Krishna River.

Here are some brief photos from the trip 

Sangam Mahuli Shiva Temple

Side view of Same temple

View of the river stream near Sangam Mahuli Shiva temple.

There are many temples along this bank within a short radius.

The back entrance of Nana Phadnis Wada leading to the Ghat.

This is a famous location, and preferred as a film shooting location.

View of the Ghat behind Nana Phadnis Wada

You can read a detailed blogpost about these locations here 

#BlogReview - ChayaChitrakar

Conversations. I love them. Be it serious and structured or random and free-wheeling. I feel that is the best way to bond with people and make friends with them. And many times, some of the best ideas come during such exercises. 

But alas, in today's world, Conversation is a lost art, and that is what attracts me to the world of blogging. There is a wide network of people who are happy to share their thoughts and looking forward to hear your own. Here is a blog that I regularly visit - It is called 'ChayaChitrakar' - It has a really simple funda - every post is a set of 3 images around a topic or a theme, with a short comment about it in 3 languages - English, Hindi and Italian. The blog author, a medical doctor from Assam, posts pictures of such wide range of things, and yet not to heavy on the mind, it is always refreshing to go through his posts. I always look forward to reading his posts each and every time. 

Humour - A Way of Life

That Humor can be a way of life, was a revelation for me. And I was introduced to this refreshing new world order by none other than our very own R K Narayan.

Back in the days of my early teenage years, I used to (still do) harbour very strong feelings for using all things 'Indian' or 'Swadeshi' - when our school history lessons about the British Raj and the freedom struggle were getting freshly imprinted on my mind. I even used to insist to my mother to get me atleast two sets of dresses in Khadi material every year. In the rush of such high-spiritedness, one day, I darted into the school library to pick up atleast one english book, as per my teacher's mandate.  Wandering aimlessly, I kept scanning through the book titles one after the other, when my eyes stopped on the word 'Mahatma' - "Waiting for the Mahatma" said the book title. Relieved to have found some book to do with Mahatma, I rushed off to get it entered in the library register, not bothering to check the author, or the summary of the book, or if it was fiction at all in the first place. That week's 'Library book reading for the week' assignment introduced me to the fact that even Indian authors could write really good quality fiction. As I turned page after page in this book, I not only grew addicted to the storyline, but also to the style of writing in which the whole story was laced with humour inspite of handling an out and out love story set in the era of India's freedom struggle, and yet not diluting the plot one bit.

That was the beginning of my attachment to R K Narayan and his stories set in Malgudi and surroundings. As I read more and more of his books, I realised that looking at the situation with a humourous view point made it easier to deal with life and made life all the more enjoyable. 

I am yet to complete reading all the works of R K Narayan, but the bug of writing and the bug to find something to laugh about even in the most complicated situations has bitten me forever. And reading his books taught me to appreciate the likes of George Orwell, as well.

If I ever become a writer, I would like to be in the league of R K Narayan.

Image Credit - Penguin Books, India

Pune Photography Lovers Group - November Photowalk

Last Sunday, the good folks in Pune Photography Lovers (Group exists on Facebook) had mutually agreed to do a photowalk at Sinhagad Fort. I was also there along with the rest of the group. This is a very nice and helpful community of photographers, and it was a great learning experience about how to attempt Sunrise photography. Here is one picture from my collection of clicks that day -

For more pictures, take a look at this album on Facebook - It is a public album, you should be able to view it without necessarily logging in.

We went up to the entrance of the fort, and took a short hike to a spot where one could click without hindrance from man-made structures. It was a great experience to have the early morning winter wind blow on your face while you attempt to capture Nature in all its glory.

Looking forward to more outings with this group.

Vairagrahana Budhdhi - An Eclipse of Enmity

This article is one of a series of articles that record my notes and observations from the Valmiki Ramayana as part of the “Read Ramayana” Project.  This article is a short note on a trivial yet amusing use of language. 

These days it is not so uncommon to see people around us, and often ourselves, letting out that impulsive burst of anger and/or irritation when faced with an unpleasant situation.  One common example for this would be a drive on today's roads, irrespective of whether we are driving or are getting driven by someone else. Other examples include little things like getting pushed around while in a queue to serious life changing events caused due to factors out of our control.  Whatever be the case, in today's life and lifestyle, not a single day goes where we dont have those feelings of annoyance and dislike.  And when we happen to recount these situations and the people who may have caused them, we end up referring to them as “fool”, “irritating fellow”, “pain in the neck”, etc.  

As I was filing through the pages of the Balakaanda, I realised that similar situations have occurred in the lives of our ancestors, inspite of differing/dissimilar lifestyles.  So how do you think Valmiki would react when he faced something that was really unpleasant for him? Lets find out -- 

While standing on the banks of the Tamasa River, before the Ramayana was to be written, Rishi Valmiki saw two Krouncha birds happily playing with each other; when suddenly one of them  was killed by a hunter.  Inspite of being a sage i.e. a Rishi (one who has attained a certain control over one's mind and senses), this killing of the Krouncha bird affected him so much, that he, almost instantaneously, came up with a unique word to qualify the hunter. He describes the hunter as  

“Vairagrahanabudhdhi” 

i.e. one whose mind has caught an eclipse, so to say, that too an eclipse of such enmity that the hunter so deftly killed the Krouncha bird. 

“Paapaatmnaa krutam kashtam vairagrahanabudhdhinaa | 

Yastaadrusham charuravam kroucham hanyadakaaranaath ||” 

Kanda 1 Sarga 2 Shloka 28 

What an expression that is  - An eclipse of Enmity on the intellect – and this verse was uttered by him in the spur of the moment, it was not a well revised piece of poetry that he 'chose' to write.  A humble salute to Rishi Valmiki for this – if he could come up with such a refined expression even for a spurt of anger anddisgust, imagine the output when he would sit and ruminate and write his thoughts out! And indeed, what an epic the Ramayana has turned out to be.  In fact, it was this shloka (that bubbled in Rishi Valmiki's mind)  that led him to actually pen the epic that is Ramayana. 

Interesting, isn't it?


Image credit : - https://journalofapilgrim.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/eclipse.jpg

Back from a forced hiatus

This blog and the blog author were on a forced hiatus due to connectivity issues.

And now we are back.
Sharing a nice video useful for photography enthusiasts. It lists out 18 lenses that are useful for Canon Camera users - both full frame and crop frame.

Enjoy.