Most recent assignment done by me...

Demonetization - A Slice of History-R2

In our lifetimes we are witness to several historic events. The physical proximity to the event largely determines its immediacy and relevance to us. Being on a high plateau during a tsunami reduces it to so many video bytes; however, even if one amongst our city dwellers had gone holidaying to Bentota, and had to be evacuated from the first floor suite of their beach resort, then suddenly, we are staring at the giant waves ourselves.

On the evening of 8^th Nov. 2016, the Prime Minister announced to the Nation that the 500 and 1000 rupee notes that were in currency up until that moment, were being withdrawn with effect from the ensuing midnight, and, new 500 & 2000 rupee notes would be introduced. This was being done to curb the financing of cross-border terror and to get a hold on black money, both of which largely used these higher denominations.

Doing so, he earned the sobriquet of being the only chaiwallah who could wake up a billion people without serving any chai. What he served was much more potent and reams would be written in the days to come!

September had just seen the end of an amnesty period for IT dafaulters to declare their unaccounted money and legalise it by paying a flat 30 or 45% tax. Coming on the back of that move, this was hailed as yet another surgical strike. Removed as I am from being adversely impacted by either of these - even though the withdrawal of currency notes does have some effect – I am watching the whole episode with a certain degree of righteous mirth, as, all around me, the environment is suddenly injected with reactions of all types.

WhatsApp, which has been the primary aid for communicating with groups, is rife with all kinds of hilarious takes on the situation and I would like to document as much as I can of all that I have been witness to, without any intention of having a pro-active role in the process of prosecution, for I believe these are only initial steps and the noose will continue to tighten slowly & somewhat imperceptibly over time.

It started with something as innocuous as Mahatma Gandhi being imagined to be saying that he got bored looking to the left all these years so now he would like to look right. You see, his image has been flipped in the new notes, and someone remarked he is now looking in the ‘right’ direction. This, coming in the era of BJP, who rival with the Congress that Gandhi nurtured, is something.

Another thing that made me laugh was the collage of 2 images. First the well-dressed Vidya Balan in front of a mirror representing the bank employee as she is preparing to go to work; the second image of the same employee at the end of the workday represented by a disheveled Nagavalli giving you that slant, menacing stare. Such humor is possible only by the unaffected people I guess.

Elsewhere, things had not been so laugh-worthy for some. Common people who typically have a short term view of everything, and being the highly self-centered lot that we have become, took to the streets with 2 main intentions. Some of them suddenly perceived themselves to be criminals because they owned a banned (and more importantly, worthless) substance which they wished desperately to palm off to some unsuspecting recipient and absolve themselves, so that they can be ‘normal’ law-abiding citizens once again. They targeted the cash deposit facility at ATMs, went to petrol bunks with a 1000-rupee note and asked for fuel worth 50 rupees, and did just about anything ‘legal’, either to become ‘clean’ or ‘cut losses’!

The other set of people realized that they needed lower denomination notes to buy milk and bread the next morning, so they went & drained the ATMs and then headed out to the petrol bunks to ‘break’ some more big notes. Those ATMs wouldn’t work for the following 2 days because the banks had to empty out all the old notes and re-stack the machines with the new ones – hence the urgency.

As more details of the scheme poured in, it was evident that there was nothing to panic about, at least for people with ‘legal’ money. Old notes continued to be accepted at many places, albeit for a limited period: petrol pumps, hospitals, trains, bus stations, fair price shops, literally all the places that could ensure a trouble-free daily life for the common man during this period of transition.

Mind you, money coming in at these points would eventually find their way into Government coffers, so this was another indirect method of helping the ‘change’ process. So people started settling down to the next thing they know quite well: stand in queue at various places and wait for their turn, although not always peacefully.

Daily and weekly limits were set for withdrawing cash from ATMs, as also to surrender old notes for exchange at the banks. People stood in queues at all hours, so much so that one wondered, do all these people really spend the entire daily limit of 2000 rupees every day?! Do they always go about spending with big denomination notes? Why this scramble?

The point was, the announcement came on 8^th evening and banks/ATMs were to remain closed on 9^th & 10^th (although some heroes claimed to have got some money out of the machinery even during these days!), when the salaries of the working class would have been credited into their accounts. Pulling out @2000 per day implied repeated visits. Moreover, in many cases they walked out with just 1 new bill of 2000 rupees, and the new struggle was to find ‘change’ for that!

There was a small section of society who could be considered immune to all this in one respect. A petrol bunk owner for instance, who could request banks for lower denomination notes in bulk, to assist in the collection of old notes while going about daily transactions, did not have to line up before ATMs! They could use some for their personal stuff and even help a few acquaintances by exchanging notes without insisting on purchase of any fuel. Being a regular and knowing people helped.

All kinds of appeals emanated on the social media. Please don’t panic. Please appreciate bank employees as they have been under pressure since Modi came to power. Please write all the details of your transaction and self-attest the photocopy of ID proof that you wish to furnish to the bank. Please make way for senior citizens and women with infants when they visit the banks. Please don’t dump your big notes on small unsuspecting vendors. Please don’t start writing & scribbling on the new notes as well. Please buy daily needs and share it with those who have no spare cash. Please do lend what you can spare.

A friend wrote about how the local store offered an open credit to tide over the situation; another friend wrote about how he could get all his daily needs without ‘spending’ a rupee. Trust was suddenly back in fashion. It was as though a parallel, money-less economy could thrive for a while.

What was overlooked however, was that these smart business people devised a simple solution to continue with their livelihood rather than acting uptight and hurting themselves. That way, they did not accumulate ‘worthless’ money in their hands, and left their customers to fend for themselves with their big notes!

Their stock, which was bought mostly on credit, and paid for with unrecorded income sometimes, would continue to move, sell and morph into legitimate money later. So what if the payment cycle gets stretched a little, everyone else in the system would understand and accommodate. After all, when they do get paid, it’d be in new notes!

Others lined up at the banks when they opened, to exchange old notes with new. A funny list of do’s and don’ts was published to help going through this ritual. Take a chair, some sunscreen, a book to read, a flask full of hot tea and so on. A round of appreciation for the owners of new currency and an analysis of its features ensued. Some took the comic route to explain what the new 2000-rupee note could do, including taking selfies and Gandhiji slapping you if you ever tried to bribe someone with that note!

This was based on the news that had circulated before, that this new note had a nano-something which would help track its location, even 120 meters deep underground! In reality however, nothing of that sort really existed and an onion merchant was even conned with a badly made photocopy!

Meanwhile the old notes became objects of derision. An old beggar woman refused a 500 note on a video clip; some showed how peanuts and other foodstuff could be packaged with old notes; some even depicted uncharitable uses in the wash room, and, righteousness returned only when some others said, ‘have some respect, man’.

Soon, it dawned on people that the old notes in fact could be regarded as legal tender as long as the deadline had not arrived. The tea shop put up a sign to say that the old big notes wouldn’t be accepted, while in private the chettah admitted that if the need was genuine, one’s request would be accommodated. A few regular customers could convince shopkeepers to accept the old notes for now, on the assurance that they would come back & exchange them for valid notes once they laid hands on those. Their money hadn’t become entirely ‘worthless’ after all.

On the sidelines, one wondered what everyone would do in a war-like situation when currency just becomes printed paper and cannot really ‘buy’ anything. Loot perhaps?! In comparison, this was peacetime and the inconvenience was nothing.

After all, like someone remarked, is there anyone who doesn’t have even 10 rupees of unaccounted money? If there are, they may be very few. So if this is a struggle against black money, who did create & nurture it all these days? Just think about all those occasions when you have agreed not to insist on a bill, thereby saving on the tax you had to pay. Or the garbage truck guy who wouldn’t even look at you if the ‘monthly’ amount had not been paid.

While all these went on, there was another section which smelt ‘business’. The milder version was to insist that you go for a ‘tank full’, buy some more medicines, and drain less ‘change’ from the shop. Other options were more severe. The simplest of it all was to short change. Offer 4 hundred rupee notes in exchange for an old 500 bill, take or leave. Offer gold at 5k per gram and USD at 100 apiece. The accumulated old currency could always be exchanged through numerous funnels later on.

As people started speculating about the ‘safe limit’ up to which anyone can ‘exchange’ old notes or deposit them into their bank accounts, some got ready to invest in this opportunity; many set up businesses to make ‘deals’ happen; a lot more brought ‘customers’ to them, for a cut of course. The premium would jump 10% overnight, from say 30% to 40% overall. Anything was okay for someone who risked losing all of it.

Suddenly all the accounts opened for the poor people had a chance of seeing some real balances. Some small-time co-op bank staff explored whether sanctioned loans could be paid for in cash (old notes of course) by their friends, so that the inflow can be explained. Needless to say, in the silent background, Government continued to collect all the information.

Politicians too felt bad, you know. Many Congressmen expressed that the common man would be unnecessarily put to trouble, something that the BJP themselves had said when Congress had proposed a similar withdrawal during its reign in 2014. Some said more time should have been given, whereas the intelligentsia analyzed that the surgical strike could become as effective only due to its suddenness.

There were accusations that friends had been forewarned, while the general public admired the secrecy that surrounded the production of new currency and its launch. Photographs surfaced of political leaders holding an event to distribute bundles of old notes to village folk (read, farmers), suggesting that they treat it as an interest-free loan and deposit the money into their own bank accounts, to be repaid at a convenient time later on. Disclaimers followed that nothing of that sort did actually happen. Irrespective of that, one wondered where these large-hearted people were hiding when farmers committed suicide because they could not repay loans due to crop failure.

Three weeks and a bundh later, there was a fair degree of acceptance. Rumors continued to float around, analyses were aplenty. On one hand, it seemed that this was just the tip of the iceberg and a lot more was to come, by way of ridding the economy of its ills. For instance the next in line could be a crackdown on gold held by individuals, and then it could be realty holdings. These three are the traditional routes taken by people to stash away excess or unaccounted wealth.

While it seemed that the course corrections were well though-out and being implemented on a need-to-act basis, the naysayers liked to believe that a total rollback was around the corner. The common man however seemed to be ‘with’ this process of change, liked to believe it was all for the good and bore the inconveniences with fortitude. One would like to believe that this was same everywhere – in cities as well as in villages – because there is no hard evidence to think or believe otherwise, although it was said that much of the transactions in rural India happens by cash, and people needed money in smaller denominations to grease the wheels of their daily lives.

On the other hand, we read that demonetization is not a phenomenon occurring for the first time, right here in India, and it has not rid the country of the economic challenges, mainly corruption and the love for creating ‘black money’. So it is surmised that people who know how to generate such wealth, also try to stay abreast of developments in the area of conserving it. When too many people are affected, an extreme outcome – like summarily removing the cause of the inconvenience – is also not ruled out… in this case, all the hate focused on one key person. If that is written, so it will be. Life moves on.

Having said all this, if we, for a moment, consider that this is about removing corruption, let us not be naïve enough to believe that it’ll happen. It’ll morph and adopt, never disappear. For, it’s within us. More on that another day as I am writing this with a self-imposed, perhaps irrational, word limit of 2500. There you are.

Sample content for a pre-school chain

Preschool Children and Independence

The expression of independence and the assertion of individuality are 2 of the most prominent qualities demonstrated by children right from their infancy up to the onset of schooling. If we park aside scientific facts for a moment, the unborn child kicking from inside the womb can perhaps be viewed as an early expression of independence, of the longing to be unbound, or even of communicating its likes and dislikes!

Plainly speaking, preschool is the period before schooling. It is the time when the new-born grows up from its state of acute dependence to a child which begins to explore and express its ability to do things on its own. Here, we could possibly sit back and visualize a replay on the blank wall opposite to us, of all things that made parenthood worthwhile!

Fifty to sixty years ago, newborn babies would not even open their eyes for weeks on end. No wonder then that the youngest child that went to school in those days was some 42 to 48 months old. The child would then spend a year at the Nursery section, and move on to formal school education when it started Class One.

In contrast today, newborns are posing happily for a selfie with their proud mothers just a day after taking birth, looking into the camera with their shiny eyes wide open. Precocious, isn’t it? It is therefore not a surprise that they are given marching orders much, much earlier.

Technically then, preschool is not just the period when the child rules the home; it is now common to see children over 2 ½ years of age leave home and attend some form of daily engagement where they ‘learn’ or ‘receive’ something different from home.

Most Governments have made primary schooling (from Class 1) compulsory and Govt. school fees affordable, with the intention of surmounting enrollment challenges to a significant extent. Pre-school, however, was initially sought more for the convenience it offered to parents– with both of them often working outside the home – and guardians, rather than the benefits it offered to the child. As preschool services are offered by Government and private entities alike, affordability remains a significant decisive factor in providing early education.

Accordingly there are many options within this space, carrying different labels and offering varied benefits. There are instances where 3 to 5-month old infants have been handed over to informal caretakers, operating mostly out of their homes and calling themselves as ‘babysitters’. Few other titles we come across are crèche, daycare, play home/group and child care agency.

Preschool children could sometimes spend as little as 2-3 hours away from home. Despite the short duration, this outing trains them in a few vital ways, ranging from basic hand-to-mouth coordination to taking care of themselves (such as opening their lunchboxes, eating & drinking without creating a mess, and storing away their belongings), interacting with others, learning to speak (including many new words) and sing, toilet training as in informing the caretaker of their need to visit the washroom, wishing elders and peers, offering help & support, and other such things. It acts as a preparation to formal schooling that is imminent in the near future.

Preschool is the term commonly used in the UK & the USA for an institution that fulfills the educational requirements of infants in their early childhood, i.e., children of age between 3 and 5 years. Also called the kindergarten or nursery school in other places, it is the establishment that provides for the learning needs of children before they move on to primary school.

In fact, given the faster evolution that is observed in the newborns and infants today, coupled with the urban/semi-urban phenomenon of single-child nuclear families, parents often tend to give up on controlling or disciplining their wards very early on and quite often have to resort to cajoling them.

This being the situation, the pre-school becomes an important – and in a few cases – the first-ever place where (or the first instance when) the child receives an instruction (or a set of instructions), which the child, removed as it is from the familiar and reassuring surroundings & faces at home, instinctively recognizes and comprehends as non-negotiable. It is simply to be followed or complied with, however gently the instruction may have been given.

Pre-school thus becomes an important place where the child learns that compliance plays a significant role in being accepted and appreciated; it is a very valuable lesson in social behavior that is being reinforced at this stage.

Could it be a coincidence that when fish swim as a group, maintaining comfortable distances between each other, and yet pursuing a common direction – perhaps an objective as well – it is referred to as Schooling!

While this is happening, there is an equal and opposite reaction welling up inside the child: resistance. The need to break away from regimentation, the necessity of self-expression, the yearning for independence.

Just as humans are innately inquisitive, children too are supremely intelligent at an instinctive level. They can make out when they are being led into a situation which they do not relish – they rebel. It is perfectly human to rebel against authority and restrictions.

All this is not universal, however, as every child is unique. Some children could be naturally docile and consistently earn compliments like ‘good’ and ‘nice’ from the elders. Perhaps at some level, they have construed that this is the only or ideal way to earn brownie points, which can then be redeemed for goodies of their choice. On their part, parents too may be concerned about possible physical harm to the child and its attendant stress on their resources. Hence, they may try to condition the child to remain ‘good’ and ‘nice’.

However, a considerable number of children view it differently. To them, independence is of paramount importance. There may not be much clarity at this point about whether they seek to be free from control or even supervision. Yet, they recognize that compliance comes very handy in negotiating independence of whatever degree with the elders! Obey first, and the associated rewards can be worked out later. Thus, their obedience is governed by an objective!

This discussion could, in fact, set us thinking, we are talking about children who are less than 5 years old…. how important is independence to preschool children? What if it is not given? The very next instance, it occurs to us that the denial of independence – or call it freedom, liberty, autonomy – quite simply impacts the self-confidence of the child. How would we like it if the child continually seeks help, looks for guidance, waits for an instruction or expects approval all the time, before & after every activity? Rather than being obedient, the child is now subservient.

However, the expression of freedom or independence by a child is not dependent on whether it attends preschool or not! The question, ‘What if it is not given?’ is purely an adult premise. In the minds of children, there is no such need for gaining independence. It is theirs; that is why it is called as a birthright. So children will take it, assume it.

In this context, the teacher has to assume the accountability for managing the independence expressed differently by each child in such a way that no confrontation occurs amongst them. Children must be made to comprehend that Independence comes with an innate responsibility to display, practice and imbibe civil behavior.

While children’s natural tendencies are not to be curbed entirely, it may not be practical to allow their free expression either. The teacher may have to use suggestions and gentle persuasion to channel and guide their attention & energy in a positive direction. To the layman, the Montessori system of education seems to be a very efficient method of managing the sense of independence expressed by preschool children.

We could perhaps put things in perspective by borrowing a few of Kahlil Gibran’s words from ‘The Prophet’. Speaking about Children, he says,

Your children are not your children.

They are the sons and daughters of life’s longing for itself.

They come through you but not from you,

And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

I have cherished a fond thought over many years. Just as they say that God could not be present everywhere so he created mothers, it is also a fact that one cannot repay his/her parents’ debt completely during their lifetimes – a realization that probably dawns a trifle late for many of us – and that is why God gave children. Whatever you provide, you owe it to them.

These last few words may seem a tad philosophical in the here-and-now world that believes in tangible things to a great extent. But then, in the name of experience, do we let the child burn its fingers in a fire?

An assignment I wrote in 2011.

Fire in the workplace, run, run, run!

 

Action-packed computer games and fire safety, two seemingly opposite ends, came together to complete the circle of experiential learning when scientists doing research at Durham University experimented on how to use these games to bring about awareness on fire safety among people who work in factories and office buildings, besides helping them learn how to avoid or minimize fatalities as well.

 

Building upon the base programs of games now sold in the market like Doom 3 and Half Life 2 and creating entirely unreal universes consisting of almost real structures, Durham experts explained that these could be used to teach fire drills to office goers and factory workers alike, which could potentially help to get buildings cleared of people during fire accidents.

 

It took one software developer all of 3 weeks to replicate a present-day structure in third dimension, add fire and smoke effects to create the semblance of a fire in the building and show 3 different possibilities of moving people to safety during such an emergency. Durham scientists opine this time frame is remarkably shorter and this option much more economical to use than what it would take to develop an all-new program or continue using the virtual reality presentations now being employed.

 

An article put out by the Fire Safety Journal about these studies explained how fire scenarios could be recreated in a virtual structure to pinpoint the potential fire challenges inherent in the building plan, make people aware of best practices in fighting a fire and develop their confidence about saving themselves and others during a fire.

TEACH ME HOW TO WRITE

A couple of days back, a colleague of ours who works closely with our MD, came to our workplace and said, ‘you guys are the Corporate Communications team, teach me how to write’. After the initial bantering about him trying to take away our jobs, we said sure, why not.

Then I asked him, ‘what do you want to write about?’ He said, ‘whatever you guys do often… you know, communicating within the office and to outsiders as well’. I surmised that his interest was in writing brief letters, mails and perhaps minutes for meetings.

So I told him, ‘great, we can start right away. For today, I’ll give you 2 points.  These are the most fundamental things which you need to internalize. So keep them with you and look at that note now & then, till it’s gotten inside you. It’ll form the basis of all that you may write in the future’.

He pulled out his mobile to make a note and I told him this:

1.       Everything has a story.

2.       Every communication must sell.

Sounds simple isn’t it? Indeed it is, because everything we write has to comply with these 2 things to start with, and the finer aspects can come later.

However my friend was not too sure so I had to explain this a little bit more in detail.

First of all the ‘story’ part. By that I meant, the communication must have a definite structure. You have a beginning & an end, and a pithy part in the middle, which is rightly called the body. To anyone who comes to me with a request, I usually ask this: give me the beginning – meaning, the background for this particular situation or let’s say the history, and the context, or, the part that tells you ‘who is saying to whom & why’ – and also the end – meaning, what is the core communication that you want to pass on, or, what is the action that you want to initiate. The rest I can take care, which is why you have come to me.

So I gave him the example of a movie. It starts at some point in Time when certain things have already occurred and set the stage for this tale to unwrap. Then there is drama, a lot of it. And finally there is the climax, after which you go away with some message. This is what any other communication is also supposed to do.

Then comes the ‘selling’ part. This is perhaps easier to understand and accept because we have already seen in the previous section that you take away a message with you: that message is the product which has been ‘sold’ to you! 

Thus, indeed, every communication must sell what was intended to be conveyed. Now, ‘buying’ does not happen by coercion, it is voluntary. Hence we are to understand that the communication should be so effective & compelling that the reader agrees to ‘buy’ it, or go along with it. We could say, this deals with the presentation aspect, or the manner in which the message is placed before the reader, ultimately prompting him to take the action intended by us.

Our friend bought this story and went away happily.

The 2nd assignment: Road trip from Manali to Leh

Road trip from Manali to Leh.

Habituated travelers will tell you it is a combination of factors that leads them to pack their bags every time. Learning about the world and about oneself, making comparisons that deepen our understanding further, taking pleasure in the beautiful things that surround us and sharing them in some manner - all these factors and more play out at different intensities before, during and after travel. The Manali-Leh Road Trip is no exception. However let us try and understand this compulsion through the 3 most compelling factors why I would undertake this trip.

1.       The first reason is to push myself and discover new limits / facets because the Manali-Leh road is notorious for posing challenges and anyone who opts for this route knows fully well that they will be challenged. City dwellers do not often get enough adrenaline flowing, as they go through a predictable routine with little variation. Besides the serious lack or absence of roads in some stretches and natural features creating roadblocks at some places, the weather and the altitude pose serious problems to the most seasoned riders. So obviously, being able to go is in itself some kind of achievement.

2.       This road is not just about pushing physical levels, it is also a psychological test as one goes through situations that do not occur in everyday life. There are decisions to be made without knowing completely whether it is right or otherwise. Some of these decisions may in fact be dependent on the physical condition, yet the question is unmistakably, ‘are you strong enough mentally to take this up?’ This unpredictability, the prospect of being confronted relentlessly, the promise of a near-celestial reward of ethereal landscapes to fill your eyes with – these gratifications are the real rewards that the wanderer seeks, of which ilk I believe I am one.

3.       At the end of the day, a traveler does seek variety. He does not often seek to return to the same destination. Different climes, different routes, different altitudes, different sands to walk on, different cuisines to relish and different lingos to try – these are some things that turn him on. To take these differences in his stride he is prepared to face uncertainty and hardship. The Manali-Leh road trip takes one through different landscapes and weather conditions, not to speak of cultures, languages and food habits. It is an endurance test in many ways which a traveler regularly goes through.

The summary of all these experiences however is philosophical! Road trips do not tend to be single, it is a team effort. However on the road to Leh, one would unquestionably agree that his breath is ONLY his to take. No one else can do that for him! Likewise, life’s journey is also solo in true sense, made enjoyable by many factors around you.

Indeed the paradigm-shifting insight is the true pot of gold on the other side of this (or for that matter, any) journey.

5 Popular Weekend Getaways Around Bangalore

I must tell you that a potential employer wanted this assignment done by me. However I am wary of what happens to these afterwards. So I am presenting the longer version here:

This is a list that can change as we speak, depending on the tastes of the traveller. Our choice here includes adventure, riverside, romance, history & culture and spiritual, sometimes overlapping on each other. So let us go straight to each of them.

Nandi Hills: Situated about 60km from Bangalore, Nandi Hills are both popular and well-traversed as a weekend destination. Time was when people could attempt climbing from the foothills, but not anymore. At 4850ft above the sea, Nandi - said to resemble the sitting celestial bull of Lord Shiva - seems to tell Bangalore: if your air-conditioner is not working, send the people here. For it offers not just great green vistas from the top, it also has a cool weather - if not chilly or wet - round the year. So it is no wonder Nandi is popular across different types of groups. Roaming around Nandi, one can see the good work done by the Horticultural Department. In fact the Dept. owns Gandhi Bhavan here which boasts of having hosted many dignitaries including Mahatma Gandhi himself. There is Tipu Drop, from where Tipu Sultan, the ruler of Mysore State is said to have ordered a punishing nudge to many an enemy. It is also said his steed was so powerful that it could climb down from the steeper side. Then there are shaded areas popular with film & TV serial crews; there is the Yoga Nandishwara Temple which is ancient and has a cooling effect if you have been roaming in the sun for a while. There are more temples, a restaurant and other features being added. Depending on the weather and the company, one can stay atop Nandi for any length of time. On the return leg, a visit to the Bhoganandishwara Temple at the foothills (Nandi village), is a worthwhile visit as it is a great showcase of a mixed style of temple architecture resulting from the patronage of several royal dynasties, and it is a fairly well-preserved one at that.

Dharmasthala: On the banks of river Netravathi in South Kanara is the pilgrim place, Dharmasthala, drawing huge numbers of devout believers from all over the state and beyond, all the year round. A Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Manjunatha (Shiva) and managed by the Jain Heggade family, it has the special distinction of being the place where disputes are settled, because devotees are quite averse to uttering any falsehood before this deity! Oaths are uttered, marriage vows are taken, and every little development is submitted before the Lord. Thus Dharmasthala and its surroundings have remained the exclusive preserve of the Temple trust, which has constantly developed it by adding lodgings, educational & healthcare institutions, the bathing ghat and many other facilities required by visitors. Bus connectivity to this place has to be seen to be believed - Dharmasthala is the next best connected destination in the state after Bengaluru! Yet the temple authorities have always strived to keep the town as clean and orderly as possible. Free food is offered to the visitors and the conveyor transporting rice bags to the upper floors of the kitchen complex is the only outwardly visible feature that indicates the level of automation employed to serve the huge floating population of devotees.

Mysore & Srirangapatnam: Mysore, the cultural twin of Bangalore lying 140km southwest was the seat of Wodeyar dynasty till the Mysore state was formed under the newly independent republic of India. This state was later renamed as Karnataka, hence many parts of Southern Karnataka are still referred as belonging to the 'old Mysore region'! While this establishes the historical and cultural leadership of Mysore in the region, Bengaluru, by virtue of being the state capital eclipsed much of it in later decades through its stupendous industrial & commercial growth aided by the steady rise in population. Hence Mysore is the sentimental mom's home to many a Bengalurean - virtually every one in Bengaluru has someone from the family living in Mysuru. It is great that way because both places are about 3 hours apart at the most and the connectivity is something to be envied at. So 3 hours is all that it takes to transpose from the polluted, congested, stressful capital to the greener, more relaxed though no longer too laid back, cleaner and pleasanter kingdom. Indeed, with royal references at every turn, you may feel transported to a different time as well! Thus Mysore is a sumptuous package of royal sights, greenery, water bodies, palaces & parks, the evolutionary continuum spanning from the zoo to the hallowed educational institutions in and around the famed university campus - Manasa Gangotri, Chamundi Hills standing as a sentinel at one extreme and the spacious gardens adjoining the KRS Dam, to name the popular few. The narrow by-lanes of the old/inner city hold many preferred culinary spots and shopping places to hold the tourists spell bound. Mysore indeed is a place where you have to reside for a few days and explore in leisure. As a corollary, Srirangapatnam is just 14km while returning from Mysore and was the capital of Hyder Ali & Tipu Sultan. The Adi Ranganathaswamy Temple is the major landmark in this town and there are a few other historical structures as well. This island in Kaveri is also surrounded by innumerable other places of interest, mostly on the river banks.

Bandipur, Mudumalai & Ooty: Beyond Mysore, an important extension for the traveller is the Ooty circuit. As one leaves Mysore, Nanjangud - the abode of Lord Srikanteshwara on the banks of Kapila - appears first by the wayside. Beyond Gundalpet, the Himavad Gopalaswamy hills is a pleasing sight and a tempting deviation well worth the time as well. Onward is Bandipur forest reserve, known for its growing tiger population; besides regularly sighted animals like elephants, deer, wild hogs, wild dogs and bison, Bandipur is also a great place to sight birds. Further up the road is Mudumalai, the sanctuary in Tamil Nadu blessed by water bodies. The elephant camp here is a treat to watch. Here, two options arise in terms of the road to reach Ooty. One is to continue along the same road and pass through Gudalur and Pykara before reaching Ooty. This road passes through tea estates and rises steadily through the Western Ghats. The other route is through Masinagudi which is much shorter and steeper. Upon reaching Ooty one comes across a bustling little town with many hotels along winding roads, all of them filled with tourists. Ooty is a popular hill station in South India, reachable from Mettupalyam through the mountain railway, which is also a great attraction. The neighborhood of Ooty, Coonoor and Kotagiri present many naturally endowed spaces jostling with tea gardens and other cultivated patches appearing to be a part of a picture book. Ooty's climate also qualifies it to be a retreat for recuperation.

Shravanabelagola, Belur & Halebid: A round trip from Bangalore to all these places is easily about 500km long, hence it makes sense to start quite early in the morning. As many people do, trudging up those 600-odd steps of Gommatagiri in Shravanabelagola as the first serious physical activity of the day, one might wonder whether they made the right choice. However, reaching level ground after about 500 steps, when one pauses for a breath and looks at the peacefully lying countryside all around and the distinct features of the town below, one would forget all the strain experienced along the way. Standing before the statue of Bahubali and marveling at the peaceful countenance of Lord Gommateshwara, a dialogue can start with the inner self and stay on in muted tones for a long time. It is a great physical exercise and spiritual experience to most visitors. In this excitement, many visitors tend to miss visiting Chandragiri, the shorter climb of 200-odd steps just opposite the bigger climb, yet it is significant as the place where the great Chandragupta Maurya did penance and attained salvation. Moving to Belur from here is a switch of sorts as history and piety comes alive as a celebration when one starts circumambulating the renowned Chennakeshava temple from outside, greedily drinking in the rich sights of the world famous masterpiece of Hoysala architecture, that occupies the vast expanse between the rivers Kaveri & Tungabhadra in Karnataka. It is a treat alike to the accomplished artisan as well as the unskilled commoner who walks in. The inner chambers of the temple also have many intricately carved exquisite details on objects ranging from circular pillars to the figurines on these pillars to the roof itself. It is a feast for the eyes. Around 20km from here is Halebid, whose original name was Dwarasamudra, as it was intended to be the new capital and entry point to the seat of Hoysala kingdom. Naturally, the ruined temples of Halebid display mastery of a greater intensity in the structures that have been spared by enemy raiders during the downfall of Hoysalas. Returning from this trip, there is a great sense of fulfillment through the peek into spirituality and history. 

Introducing you to the world of SU DO KU.

Now you might be wondering what is there to introduce something that is almost a common feature in all daily newspapers. However it is also common to find most people avoiding it! So here’s a re-look.

Sudoku is a number puzzle that is usually presented in a 9 x 9 square. The earliest forms were presented in 1892 & 1895 in France. The present form called as Number Place was published in Dell Magazines during 1979. The Japanese picked it up in 1984 and gave it a new name as well – Sudoku.

In another 20 years, it became known and popular the world over. In fact, in 2010 a 100×100-grid puzzle nicknamed Sudoku-zilla was also attempted. Today there is a whole world of variants, including alphabetical, alphanumeric and grids of different dimensions. For our discussion let us stick to the 9 by 9 variant.

So why should one be looking at Sudoku? Because it is a logic-based number placement puzzle that uses combinations – something similar to the Travelling Salesman problem in Operations Research, an exercise at optimizing resources. It keeps the brain active with the need for logic. One starts noticing patterns that helps in analysis. It teaches patience. Many puzzles have a unique solution and the player starts evolving different approaches every time, a skill that comes handy in advanced mathematics.

What do we need to do to solve a Sudoku puzzle? We need to fill in numbers 1 to 9 in a 9 x 9 grid of small squares, taking into consideration those numbers which are already presented, and finding the remaining numbers such that 1 to 9 occur in whatever order in every row, column and 3 x 3 grid. In doing so, no number should repeat in any row, column or 3 x 3 grid.

Every Sudoku puzzle is like embarking on an adventure. The same numbers go round and round revealing various patterns and combinations, tricking you now, surrendering next, drawing you deeper. It is amazing how just nine numbers can keep you spellbound. Especially those with some exotic tags like ‘killer’ or ‘devilish’ which can drive you to desperation.

The best part is that there is no “How to” on this skill to fill. If you come across a How To guide, don’t even open it! Every puzzle is unique and will open with a unique key, or so it would seem. Besides the aim is to enjoy cracking the challenge, not find shortcuts to finish the race in the shortest time. 

Are Languages Dying?

Just as animal species go extinct, it is found that languages too are disappearing, at an unprecedented rate of late. This is perhaps to be expected because everything is speeding up. However, how would you like it if 3,000 out of 6,000 tongues spoken on earth disappear by say 2100AD?

In fact it is said that there were 300 million speakers of the Russian language in 1990, just before USSR disintegrated. By 2025 this is estimated to come down to 150 million…. Just ten years from now. Knowing Russian was an asset in all of Central Asia but not anymore!

What is more worrying is, history is embedded in these spoken and written words. Alex Haley speaks about griots in ROOTS: It is said that, "when a griot dies, a library has burned to the ground." A griot is a West African historian, storyteller, praise singer, poet and/or musician. He is a repository of oral tradition, just as there are similar roles in other cultures. And much of history had been passed down orally for a long time.

Language, culture, history – all these hold in them secrets for survival of humankind, because generations in the past did not feel as threatened as we do about survival, despite the fact that much ground was still uncovered as far as scientific advances went. Are we neglecting them at our own expense or that of our children?