Reflections

Last week was the annual day in my daughter's dance school. Dance students, of various skill levels and of different ages, performed for over two hours. It was enthralling. I am sure many folks did not understand the nuances and intricacies of Bharatanatyam, but that did not stop them from enjoying the spectacle. There is something in dance and music that captivates people. Albus Dumbledore remarked "Ah, Music, a Magic Beyond All We Do Here!" Einstein had said that he often thinks in Music. Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister exclaimed about one of India's finest singers, M.S. Subbulakshmi - "Who am I, a mere Prime Minister before a Queen, a Queen of Music”.  When I was young, music and dance were limited to film songs coming on Radio and the occasional TV. My parents would play Vividh Bharati's (A radio channel of All India Radio)  நேயர் விருப்பம்  (Listeners choice) every weekday from 8AM to 9AM, not necessarily for the songs, but more import...

 Bennet, Sriram, Siddharth and I come from different walks of life. But last Sunday (30-Oct-2022), we had the walk of our life. A 70K walk for absolutely no reason. This was neither an organised event nor was there any prize to be won. Which makes makes us wonder if there was any reason other than to inflict pain on ourselves and give in to our masochistic tendencies. Or we are just plain crazy people. Most likely, both. The whole idea was floated by Bennet during one our morning runs - should we do a multi-day walk to Chennai, about 350K from Bengaluru. It sounded so exciting that we all said we should definitely do it one day. The safety catch was "one day". This is the easiest way for all of us, humans, to not say "no". Yes, but some other time. And just hope that the "some day" just does not come at all. So, it was all good. However, Bennet is one perseverant individual. He kept reminding and I opined that we should downscale this. Maybe a trip to Myso...

 Life is all about decisions. Should I take this new opportunity or not? Should we relocate to a new location for better job prospects? Should I do the long run or heed to the imaginary injury? Should I join a class to learn something new or am I already stretched too thin? Should I stay away from that delicious cake on the table? Some of these have high impact, life changing in some sense. Some of these do not have that high impact. Some of those affect only you as an individual; others affect your family and friends as well. Some of them are easy, the others pretty hard. However, they have one thing in common - the only way to avoid status quo and move forward is to make those decisions.  All decisions should be consistent with your values, morals and ethics. So, if an option violates your core principles, it is a much easier decision to ignore it and identify the right choice. Such decisions are taken by default and without much cognitive overload. Unfortunately, a lot of d...

 2021 has been a year unlike any other before. The year started with a lot of hope and optimism with the vaccines around the corner and a hopeful end to the pandemic. As the vaccine administration and coverage increased over time, the hope could only increase. And then came the second wave in April/May. I have never experienced such an horrific time in my entire life. People were desperately crying for help in all directions and ambulance sirens were screaming non-stop for two months.  The second wave was even more numbing because it hit people in our immediate circle. It was a stark reminder that human life is just too fragile. I personally lost a fine and young colleague, full of life and enthusiasm, leaving a 4 year old daughter fatherless. Nothing could be more tragic. Lots of other friends and family members needed hospitalisation. Covid after-effects traumatised even after people returned back home. And finally when things started to look up again, Omicron quickly put us...