Communication Gap

One thing I ve learnt during my research work is that we need define the important words or concepts to give the complete context. It is quite common that knowingly or unknowingly, certain terms can be understood or interpreted in any which way by different people.

For ex:
1.If a person A says, we should unite to fight terrorists without labeling them good/bad, person B feels that A is cornering  a section of humanity and hence feels insecure.

2.If A tells he won't tolerate any anti-nationals impeding National resurgence, then B feels personally offended and thinks of A as Intolerant.

3. If A tells he would make the country a Jagad Guru, Person B feels that A wants everyone to fall to his feet, surrender and accept his supremecy.

4.If A tells Country is progressing and will reach its goals soon, person B feels that it is time to hit back at certain community just as retaliation/defence mechanism.

5 If A tells, we ll stop foreign funding for anti-national activities, person B feels his wallet is going to be hit badly and calls it as foul play.

These are just few examples where, what was said and what was understood has significantly different meanings.
By defining these terms and clarifying the vision, we can definitely correct/influence person B's thoughts in case he had unknowingly mistook the messages sent by person A. There is scope for dialogue and constructive feedback and action.

But, if Person B knowingly mis interprets person A's messages consistently, nothing can be done to correct it.

It is easy to wake up a person who is sleeping. But nearly impossible to wake up a person who pretends to sleep.

Communication Gap

North Karnataka Trip 2007 - Part 4

25th 
Today was an enlightening experience, though I got up late, after breakfast, Amrut anna took me to Ramakrishna mission. I was thrilled by the calmness which was there. I felt dwarfed in front of them. I bought few books which could only help 'me' and do nothing else. Then I went to Hbli to Veena atya's home, in the evening we went to Monnanna ajja's home. Met Kavak ajji. She was reasonably in good health but with some hearing problems (which is bound to occur during this age)

In the night, Gauri akka showed me all the famlily photos and explained to me each and every relatives name and their relation... Before that I was ashamed not knowing much of it.

North Karnataka Trip 2007 - Part 3

23rd
This was a wonderful day, we went to Mills at about 1130 AM. Vishwas anna showed us working of entire mills. It was awesome to see things practically getting done. It was a wonderful experience. We walked across the bridge, took some photos and returned back home. In the evening, went to Sunil mama's home, then to dine at Jaya aunty's mother's home. It was a heart warming experience.

24th
Today, I bid farewell to JAyq qunty, Dalal uncle and Murgendra, Soumya and Anusha. It was a wonderful stayover.  I am not sure if I would be happier even if I were to stay in my own house! Lol..

I left for Dharwad, reached Dharwad at 1 15 PM. Then in the evening went to Seenanna ajja's home. Kummi anna had called, I spoke to him. He is once person I will always look up to for some inspiration. Dont know much about him, still he keeps inspiring me....

North Karnataka Trip 2007 - Part 2

22nd

• This is a day to remember in my life
• Though we were late to start the journey, once it began, it was one of the best of my  lifetime as of now
• We went to Hudkal dam. It was filled with large amount of water. They didn't allow us inside the gate to stroll across the dam, but I took few photos. It was great sight.
• I saw the statute of Mr Neeravali Tagna Balekundri and what his vision was, in all the display!!
• From there, we went to "Godche Malki" falls. This falls can rival with any other in the world, i tel you! This was really a great sight and a privilege to stand about 5-10 feet beside it.
• I was stunned by its beauty and did not have any words to describe it. Whatever I say is really very little.
• I decided here that sometime in future, I will bring all my loved ones here to visit this place. :)
• From there, we went to Gokak falls, with light disappointment because of lack of water in it. The dam hadn't filled. So, they wouldn't let water in it. We also wanted to walk across the dam. As it was sunday, it was heavy rush and thought of going the next day
• Then we went to temple beside it and from there we went to Vishwas anna's home, a lovely big house with all facilities and security. We had tiffin and tea there and were on our way back to home
• Vishwas anna promised me that he would show us ( me and Veeru)  the working of the Gokak mills.
• We were over joyed by this and came back home very happily :)

North Karnataka Trip 2007- Part 1

I dont remember which month exactly it was and I have not noted it down as well. You may not follow some of the things. Its okay :) it is because most of below was written sort of note-to-self kind of mode :)

19th Night 930 PM

• Left Bangalore for Gokak

20th Morning 8 50 AM

• Arrived at Gokak
• Weather is bright and Sunny
• Uncle had come to pick us up
• This day was Gokak Bandh
• Took rest
• Had been to Kalahalli Uncle's home
• Then went to Lakshmi temple (Grama Devata)

21st

• A cloudy day it was. Thought it would rain. But it never did!!
• Went to Bazaar with Veeru
• Had been to Janata hotel, had fruit salad and "Mix"
• Evening-had a look at Veeru's home
• Night- we went to Hetel Anmol and had a nice meal!
• Really enjoying here
• No tension whatsoever, slept 3-4 hours in the afternoon, it was ages befor I did that before this
• Felt I had peace of mind here
• To be frank, I am having "0" remembering of bangalore except that I am missing chatting and fighting with Chaitra (my little sister)
• Read few works of Vivekananda and Abdul Kalam to understand their perspectives, felt Kalam's was a bit better (Practically realistic)
• But would like to fulfil both of them!! I Shall do it.
• Just got hints that what I wanted to do these days was indeed the need of the hour, and I should work far more harder and earlier that I intended to.
• For this, I will need to sacrifice a bit, a bit more than I would have liked, but its all for a good purpose. So, I think I should do justice to myself
• my country, my family -both are important to me now. And also to reach nirvana. 

A trip when I was 18, that shaped my life!

Sometime during the year of 2007, I went on a trip to few places in North Karnataka. I was accompanied by Veeru during the first leg of the journey to Gokak. Rest of the journey, I went from one place to another on my own.

The reason this trip is so important is because, during this journey, I spent some time gathering my thoughts which has had a great deal of impact on how I turned up in the next few years.

To my pleasant surprise, while cleaning home today, I happened to get hold of a bunch of neatly stapled sheets of paper (12+ sheets back-to-back) of size around 4"*5". I had totally forgotten that I had written a a mini-diary for myself during those days and was curious to read it :)

Once I started reading it, I felt so nice that I was able to find this long forgotten treasure.  To my young friends out there, do travel! It helps you shape who you would be later on in your life :-)

Will be sharing day-to-day account that I read so that it will never be lost again! Most of it are in form of brief note-to-self. May be soon, I can write in detail about them. Read and understand what was going through Varun's mind when he was 18 years old. 

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

SIT Tumkur - Sweet Memories

Although Siddaganga Institute of Technology (SIT), Tumkur is not a college that went for engineering or masters, I have profound memories of this institution :). Being inside SIT is a calm and enriching experience. SIT is known for its hospitality and I am happy to say that I have experienced it each and every time I have been there.

My first visit was as part of MSRIT Chess team back in 2008. It was my first university level competition and I was super exited about it. Learnt a lot during those days and was introduced to the genius of Bobby Fischer by Abhishek and Suhas. :) Learnt from awesome game play of Inchara! Made lot of friends :) and, I did manage to win the only match I played :D. Overall, it was very exciting and enriching experience. Later, I revisited for VTU Chess team selection and had a challenging time where I went thru a steep learning curve. :) Each of these two times, we were taken care by the college very well memories still run fresh in my mind!

 After a gap of 4 years and 2 degrees, I revisited SIT for presenting a paper in an International conference. It was professionally organised and I learnt a lot during this 2 day event while staying at the campus itself. I met few other research scholars and professors who were working on various research areas.

Association with SIT did not stop at that. SIT, recently got autonomous status under VTU. As part of their M.Tech curriculum, they introduced a component for evaluation by industry experts so that they get industry perspective and mentoring. I was called upon as one such industry expert and was given task of mentoring and evaluating 7 projects. This evaluation happened in 2 stages; first one was mid-term evaluation and second evaluation was final evaluation. This was the 4th and 5th time when I visited SIT. Last two were by far the most challenging and most important visits for me. :) I always look forward to my next visit to SIT, when ever it may, whatever may be the occasion. It will always remain a place, very close to my heart.

A holistic approach to education

I listened to Dr K V Acharya Sir when I was 16 year old. Those words still reverberate in my ears. He is one of the persons who has sub-consciously shaped my personality and the reason I spend time on national awakening activities.

Sir, also introduced me to Bharatiya Shikshan Mandali - An organisation that works towards ensuring education be a holistic personality development of students in context of national resurgence.  As Value based education is my prime area of interest, I attended several meetings and discussions as part of BSM. Since couple of years or so, I even became a life member in the organisation assuming higher role as well are responsibilities. Early in 2014, we organised a national conference on "Education- A National Mission" to mark 150th Birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda. Since then, I personally have thought about it  from different perspectives. Such a meaningful title it is. Yes, education is a national mission. It continues to be.

BSM has been working on an integrated and holistic education policy for our country and an initial draft has been prepared. Mukul Kanitkar ji had come to Bangalore in Febuary this year in order to give a presentation on same. I have been given a task of taking this message to people in our region and gather consensus and feedback. In coming months, I would be doing the same. Hope that one day our education policy ditches Macauleian thought and moves towards a more holistic approach makes us responsible sons and daughters of our nation. :)

Disha - One of the Best things that happened to me recently

Disha - A Guiding light (https://www.facebook.com/DishaBharat , http://dishabharat.org/)

About an year ago, Kshama akka called me up and asked me to attend an orientation session for Disha, an NGO that strives for value based initiatives in education. This has always been topic of my prime interest and without any hesitation, i blocked my calendar for the event. Little did I know that - It was one of the best things that had happened to me in recent past. It is an honor for me to be associated with such motivated, focused, learned scholars, humble souls. Soon after that I was called upon for my duty to council about 20+ final year degree students of a reputed college about values in life. This experience   thought me more than I could ever give back.

 


About a month or so after that, RSS organised a mega event called - Samartha Bharatha. I wanted to participate as a delegate and I did participate in the event. Along with that, as part of Disha, we oriented about 130 delegates - perspective nationalist volunteers about Disha's initiatives.  It is great that several such people joined their hands with Disha following Samartha Bharath event. :)

 
After Samartha Bharatha event, Disha continued its work, But I was not able to attend several events because of work schedule and other commitments. Until, Disha along with a reputed college in Bangalore planned to organised a mega event showcasing Value initiatives in institutions of higher learning - key to youth empowerment. We prepped ourselves to be the foot soldiers and committed to a plan and executed it to best of our capabilities. During this course, I came in contact with several renowned academicians (including Vice Chancellors) from various universities  across the country who are doing amazing and inspiring works. Was fortunate enough to get a chance to serve for this cause as part of org

Below video is a testimonial of one of the the students in Shivamogga district who attending Disha workshop. This is what when inspires us to keep walking. :). Disha still continues its tireless efforts and is now expanding its wings, shining a million times brighter than it ever did before. :-) 

Feedback from students of Sahyadri College Shivamogga
Posted by Disha on Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Importance of ಶ್ರದ್ಧೆ

Was invited a guest for  Navaratri - "Music and Dance Festival" event at Sri Vani Education Centre (https://www.facebook.com/varundesh/po... ) by my teacher. This is the school where I studied from kinder-garden to high school graduation. Felt very honored and humbled that I was considered to be called upon as a guest. During my short talk, I addressed the students who performed on the day and spoke about ಶ್ರದ್ಧೆ . Thanks to Setu for capturing this memorable moment for me. :)

Chalkakruti

Participated and won a prize in McAfee Utsav 2014- Kalakruti event smile emoticon Felt really nice getting back to Chalk art after long gap! This was the day when Rohit Sharma hit 260+ in an ODI. The competition was held in cafeteria and i was unfortunately sitting near the TV screen. :P We were given 90 minutes to complete our art work. Those 90 minutes turned out to be when Rohit was batting! :D So, one one hand, I wanted to see the match, on the other, I had to finish the art work on time. With the mediocre tools that I use (Shaving blade, screw driver and a safety pin), a fraction of an extra stroke could break the entire piece. Especially during the end. It was very challenging and exciting and first time i participated in an "arts competition" -never wanted to participate in any before. Participated in this one for fun and also, as it was long time since I had given it a shot :). Thanks to Poshith for introducing me to the world of chalk art :)

Inter-Disciplinary Sciences

Inter-disciplinary research and development is one of the buzzwords today, in both academia and industry. We always make an extra effort to think "outside the box" in terms of not limiting ourselves within boundaries of our domain of specialization. It is a well known fact that there are departments in academic institutions,  setup primarily for fostering inter-disciplinary research. We should be proud of several such success stories. Human Genome project, rocket sciences, computational linguistics etc. For improving the quality of living and for greater good of the world, experts have often shed the invisible barriers that exist between widely divergent domains.

These are not restricted to the sciences but also equally relevant to arts and literature as well. We can find such an example in Sanskrit literature. For instance, the epic 'Mahabharatha' composed by Maharshi Veda Vyasa- A wonderful historical document of the our country and specifically, Bharata dynasty. It consists of close of 1 Lakh Sanskrit verses of 4 lines each. If you ask any scholar in this domain, they would vouch that, this work is perhaps one of the best literary works of mankind.

More interesting aspect of this work is that all verses mathematically follow certain rules. In fact, any Sanskrit poem needs to follow a set of mathematical pattern. This is called Chandas (छन्दस् ). It is one of the necessary condition for any verse to be called as a poem. There are several such Chandas. Mahabharatha followed chandas called  "Anushtup" (अनुष्टुप् ).  Each of the ~4 lakh lines follow these mathematical formula. Shri Veda Vyasa had to be a mathematician, historian, poet, spiritual leader, guru, politician, sage etc. to have composed such a diverse work. Other such examples include music, astrology etc. We can discuss about each topic separately sometime.   

Something peculiar about this Binary Star

If you have attended south Indian Hindu marriages, or seen marriage photo albums, one particular scene would be common across. The groom and bride look towards the sky, pointing hands to a particular direction as directed by the priest who is besides them. This seems sort of funny on the out set. Here are two people, gazing towards day sky pointing at "something" which they obviously cannot see. An outsider may even shrug this as one more silly superstition.

As a kid, I always wondered why the priest was making the couple to do this particular act. When I promptly checked with my elders, I got to know the story of Arundhati and Sage Vashistha. Well, that's a nice story and wonderful to set an example for happy married life. So, the "ritual" has a highly meaningful reason and very romantic as well. :)

Photographer clicks few pics. relatives and friends around would tease the couple and everyone is happy. Most of us, would limit our understanding at this stage itself. Right? But, just take a moment of time, and think about this. Here is a "Binary star" located in a constellation "Ursa Major". Also, there is something very peculiar about this particular stars - Alcor and Mizar. Generally, in a binary star, one star revolves around the other. However, in this case, these revolve around each other. That's where the example for an ideal couple lies. To revolve around each other and not be a one side dominant relationship. Such deep meaning hidden in such simple gestures. 

Even more astounding fact is that these practices have been followed here since time immemorial. For at least thousands of years! So, this is what it REALLY means - our astronomers, identified a particular binary star which is revolving around each other and named it after Arundhati and Sage Vashistha. They did this a LONG time back. We can only imagine how strong our ancestors astronomy knowledge and strengths would be.

There are so many such instances, that speak about the ancient sciences and poetic way of putting it to common men. Most of which, we still feel are superstitions. 

Que Sera, Sera - Whatever will be, will be

If we ask ourselves, what is the one aspect of life that you keeps us on our toes each day rearing to go and what is the one aspect of life that frightens us the most? I would say, that answer for both questions is the same - 'The Unpredictable Nature of Life'.

I find it very fascinating, that each day, each minute is a new experience which we have never felt before.  Each day, we have a chance thrown at us to achieve something wonderful. At the same time, we cant take anything for granted and be complacent. There are always a divine set of parameters that cant be controlled by us mortals. Space-time continuum may not behave in the same way as we want it. One may quote Murphy's law for the same. 

Doris Day, a blessed singer recorded a song 'Que Sera, Sera' (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azxoVRTwlNg) which means - 'Whatever will be, will be' . (Today happens to be her 91st birthday anniversary as well :) Happy Bday Dear Dorris!) It continues to say, 'Future is not ours to see.." Such simple words, yet having very deep meaning. Even may well parallel some of the similar thoughts of Sanskrit philosophy on this topic. 

There a poem in Sanskrit literature that talks about the same topic. 

गत शोकं न कुर्वीत |

भविष्यं नैव चिन्तयेत्|| 

वर्तमानेषु कार्येषु |

वर्तयन्ति विचक्षण: ||

Don't repent over past incidents, nor spend too much time wondering about your future prospects. The wise men are the ones who work purposefully in the present without any distractions.

This thought process attracts several critics who counter - 'Learn from past', 'Have farsightedness', "Work with futuristic goals in mind". But, when one re-reads the verses, he may recognize that it is inclusive of all these, and understood (read between lines).

After all this introspection, the conclusion we reach need not be explained by just materialistic/rational or a spiritual/meta-physical monism but, a sum total of all. 

As thought by Krishna, we need to live in this world like a Lotus leaf, "Grows in water, but never moistened by water". Let us lead a life - "Hands to Work, Heart to God". Above has been explained very well in "Paper on Hinduism" by Swami Vivekananda.

Hello my digital ears! Missed you since long

Well, its been a long time. It always is like that. Post after a long time with a promise to update the blog regularly and then before long, it ll be a long time since last post. :P That's life, i guess.

I missed my digital ears, the one who listens to any thing i say :) the place, where i can virtually look back and understand my thought process and where i went wrong before.

Swami Vivekananda quotes in his speech at World Parliament of Religions - "Child is Father of a Man". Indeed, we learn from our past and that experience alone can teach us to be better person today and days to come.

Varun has come a long way since a teenager who started this blog to a person in mid twenties. A better man than he ever was before.

Best Wishes