Chronicles of Nikhil Baliga

Swami Nikhilaananda once heard: "Opinion is like an a*** h***; everyone has one" And now I really am beginning to believe in this quote. My friend once stood up in class and in the middle of a debate loudly said - "Opinion is like an arse hole, everybody has one" While this may sound inappropriate in a class, a debate or in any public podium (such as this too) it definitely has a point to drive across. I usually have medium long hair and a moustache. The moustache gets trimmed often, and the hair gets trimmed often, but seldom do they coincide. I had been getting suggestions to remove my moustache completely; I thought one fine day, that day, when I had really too long hair to manage, that I need a hair cut badly, and after the hair cut that I returned home and I decided to get rid of my moustache. Fine... Next day in class, there was a large number of pointing and laughing. Why? Short hair and no moustache at the same time means that people saw a relatively large d

Swami Gulagulaananda said: "The world is a stage, and you are the actors... So act; Be not a puppet" How many of us do what we know, do what we understand, and do what we don't understand but yet know. We know many things, how to do what we do, but not all of s understand what exactly is the reason behind it. And the typical example I would like to quote for this is the rites of Brahmins, the practices of Hindus... Many people denounce the things done by the people of yore, our ancestors, saying they used to believe in superstitions, blind belief, etc. That they used to do things without understanding. That's not true, and I strongly disagree with it. The people who originally started out with the customs, traditions and practices were not fools, were not idiots - Au contraire, they were brilliant, people of superior intelligence, and the people who denounce it without understanding it are the morons. Let's see a couple of examples. The early Hindus used to wake

Baba Gyani Triviani claimed: "If thy future can be read; If tomorrow can be said I shudder to think about the predictions of morrow If today thou just lay here dead" Do you believe in future being read? Or personality analysis... Crystal balls, handwriting, tea leaves, palmistry, face reading, solar and lunar charts, DOB, etc. A fantastic concept. If this science was actually true, and was perfected, then there would have been a large number of advantages. You could predict terror attacks, disaster due to tsunami and other natural calamities could be avoided (in terms of life I mean), disease, death, financial future, academic (for students) etc. But I suppose this is not perfected as of now. Even if done, is known only to a very select few, the elite... whoever they are. I recently took a handwriting test online (on web tickle - you can find this site by running a Google search). Anyway, their test was the standard handwriting analysis... since it is an online test and I

Swami Gulagulaananda propounded: "There's no difference between an idle threat and a barking dog - both make noise, and neither hurts" We had a wonderful occasion in our college where those who got First Class Distinction are honoured with awards - Rs. 500 worth book coupon and it's a really good incentive in a way. But here is a rather funny incident that took place. Before they actually give us the book coupons, we have to listen to speeches - That's right, plural. Now listening to a crisp speech that has a lot of stuff in it is definitely a pleasure to listen to; it's over soon, and you are enlightened too. However, after the crisp speech, we were supposed to leave because subsequent speeches weren't going to be as good plus we had to urgently leave. Here, by we, I mean, my friends and I... So, we, who were seated in the first floor balcony of our auditorium decided to move out, and when we reached the door, someone suddenly slammed the door shut fr

Swami Gulagulaananda believes in: "MunDe maduvegey noorenTu viGnagaLu" For those who don't know the language Kannada, it literally translates to "There are 108 obstacles for the marriage of a widow" Now people, don't go directly into the meaning of what the quote says. It only means that when you are doing something, you come across problems. Sure, it is but natural. But have you ever done something where the problems never stopped coming and have been present all through the journey? Sure you would have, at least at some point of time. The one that I remember most is the most recent of them all, and that is our robotics project for Shaastra, the IIT Madras fest. We had problems right from the start till the end, and the array of problems is really random and miscellaneous. Unbelievable - And the number of things we learn in the process was also quite decent, and so we didn't mind it (well, now I can say it - the ordeal is over ) When I had to write

Baba Gyani Triviani proclaimed: "Fire and wind, elements of nature The moral of this quote makes you mature People big and small, value only stature When fire is small, the wind puts it out When fire is a blaze, its growth hasn't a curvature" Sure, the stanza above doesn't rhyme, nor is its construct proper - but the message is still really valuable. And this is something that most people have noticed around you - If you are a small fish, well, nobody really notices you. And if you are a big hotshot, *Boom*, suddenly people appear out of nowhere shaking your hands, offering you their seats, and doing out-of-the-way favours for you. And "the" people know how to move and push their weight around, whom to mingle with and with whom 'connections' are to be maintained. Frankly speaking, I have always felt this to be a big sham. Now don't go about passing comments - "Hey this guy must be one of those who gets pushed around, or maybe might

Swami Gulagulaananda says: "As you sow, so shalt you reap; But the farmer should be blamed for the crop so cheap" [Cheap here means low quality, not low price] I had been to IIT Madras recently to attend their technical fest "Shaastra". I had heard a lot about IITs, but this was the first time I was visiting one. The IIT campus is really large - well, the campus is three kilometres from the main gate of IIT; there are deer on the campus freely roaming around along with students; and they use electric buses to move from one place to another. I was really flabbergasted - that's the only word I can use here, because of the stark contrast between the IIT and my college which ranks number two (some say one) in my state - my college campus is smaller than the boys hostel area of IIT Madras !!! That's right, you read it correctly... I was just standing there looking at the hostel buildings, each one looks like the multi-storeyed apartments in Bangalore city. And

Baba Gyani Triviani believes in the following: "The brightness of a lamp does not diminish by lighting another " One day, a teacher in our college comes to our class and we all suddenly become silent - we recognised the teacher, she was the one who had asked us many difficult questions in our viva voce in the previous semester, and we were wondering why she had come to our class. Then she started speaking, "There are a large number of schools that do not have the facilities to teach their students properly and make them understand, and most of these schools are government schools. Here, the students come from a poor background, and since the standard of education in these schools is also low, they end up suffering. So, our college is taking an initiative to teach students of such schools the basics and fundamentals of science, which may seem trivial to us now, but something that they are struggling to understand. So, we have started something known as 'Community Deve

Swami Gulagulaananda says : "Some things change not, take for example these mice; They are household pests, blind or otherwise" Some felt it was funny, to be frank, it did not tickle my funny bone. I'd been to a function organised by aunt where a large number of people had gathered... And some person walks up to my aunt and asked her about me and if I was ready to get married - Ok... Now for those who don't know me yet, I am still a student, and definitely not one who looks like someone ready to get married. I just laughed when my aunt told me this. Well, don't say -Aww come on, mistake do happen. But the very same thing happened two years back, Aarrghhh.... I was two years younger, and people are probably unable to distinguish. I told this to my best friend, and she said - You know, I think when they look at you, they get impressed because you look well behaved(Me: ), and as an added advantage you are house-trained (Me: ) ok ok, she was kidding alright but I defi

Baba Gyani Triviani says : "If someone WANTS to make time for something, they'll somehow manage it - and if someone does not want to, then they'll find themselves very busy and occupied always" And how true is that? Well, you might have noticed this everywhere. A kid has to do his homework when asked to run an errand, but till be free when his favourite programme is showing on TV. A reunion of all seventh standard classmates was organised yesterday, and mind you - I really appreciate the effort... The class got shuffled in the transition from seventh to 8th. And then people got scattered after leaving school for a pre-university college and again got lost when we joined our degree colleges. And it was definitely a mammoth task to gather all these people on one day. It was very well managed and organised by the three muskteers (Anil, Athrey and Shubha) but what was wonderful is that people did come to meet up. But then again, we managed to invite just twenty five, that

Swami Nikhilaananda says : "Shun thy ego, free thy soul... Before your conscience pays a heavy toll" This is something I experienced myself. I'd a friend in my Pre-university college, and we stopped speaking for some small petty trivial reason. Both of us had an ego-problem, both waiting for the other to come up and speak... And this never happened. And this is how we both stopped speaking to each other, and we left our college and went ahead to our own engineering colleges. I had thought many times about the good times we had had together, the things we used to speak etc. But still, it was the ego that was preventing anything good from happening. And after one and a half years, I as speaking to my guardian angel (now don't ask me who that is...) and she says - "If your friend means that much to you, then why are you being so egoistic? Go ahead and call her..." I listened to her, but did not pay much heed to it, neither did I pan to put it into action. But y

Swami Nikhilaananda says: "Love is in the air, love is everywhere; But unless everything is fine, you'll always lose your hair" Have you been in love? Oh, now don't tell me you love your parents, siblings and friends - I do mean the romantic kind. How many of you feel it's really worth to be in a relationship. I know a coupe of people who believe that it's really great to be in love. And then again, I know some who feel that being in a relationship is a big waste of time - that it's a block and hindrance in your career... One thing I love about me, is the large number of people I know - that too, the variety. I know nerds to punks, hopeless romantics to stone hearted analysts, and a couple of confused people. I just took a random poll, and asked people what they feel about relationships and love. I got marvelous answers, and here are some of them... I am marrying only because it's a part of the rules of the society I am marrying because my family name

Swami Gulagulaananda preached : "The wheel of time spinneth for sure, control your speech, action be sound; or glue the tables or nail them to the floor before they just turn around" How many of you have experienced this? You see someone in some kind of mess, or you try to show off - and some time later.... Bang! You are in that situation yourself! Well, some may compare this to "Pride goes before a fall." Somewhat similar... I had been to Jog Falls some time back with my friends, and when we descended to the bottom, we found that our trip till then was nothing much but a little energy sapping, and that our journey was not complete till we reached the tip of the rocks just below the falling water, and that all the stepping stones till there were nothing more than algae and moss covered slippery rocks... One of my friends slipped on the rock, and fell down on the ground, when suddenly an old man came and started passing comments, and said that we ought to be more car

Swami Nikhilaananda says : "It's better to keep your mouth shut, than to open it and project your ignorance and foolishness" I had been to the Air show recently with my friend Aditya Padaki and his family. I was just walking around the ground there, checking out some stationary crafts and their details, when I jeard my name being called out - "Nikhil!!" I turned around, and saw a tall guy looking at me standing there with his friend. I looked at him, but was unable to recognise him. He introduced himself as Karthik, and I was still looking at him - Then he said, "Karry?" And then all bells rung at once... It was Karthik "Karry" Iyengar, the famous guy... Well, I have spoken to him many times on Orkut, but had never met him personally, well, he had come to my college once, and I had recognised him then... Maybe now, after the marvellous airplanes and their stunts, my brain was numb. Anyway, I started my conversation, but I was still numb, a

Baba Gyani Triviani said: "Talent Without Hard Work Is Spiked Success" Swami Nikhilaananda said: "Consistency, and not inspiration nor perspiration, is the true mark of success" Are you a person who believes success can be achieved by hard work, who belives - success is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration? Or are you the person who believes attitude is the path to success (a+t+t+i+t+u+d+e=100)? Or if you believe that it's the inherent talent in you that leads you to success, then you are not alone. There are different kinds of people around you, different people believe in different things. I, for one, used to work at the last moment, while my friends used to slog it out, while we had to write exams. Some used to study a week before, and some like me, used to study a day before the exam. We considered ourselves to be the smart workers... Ultimately, we all got comparable marks - but this trend did not last long. When we crossed school, and entered pre univers

Swami Gulagulaananda said: "Barking dogs seldom bite, but a cornered dog shalt surely" Have you ever chased a small dog? When you run after the dog, the dog puts its tail between its hind legs, and runs. Runs fast anywhere it finds space. But have you ever driven a small dog into a closed enclosure? Somewhere where it can't escape or run any further... Where it can see walls on three sides, and you on the fourth. Well, don't try doing it. When the dog realises that it does not have anywhere else to go, then the dog will turn around and gnash its teeth and make a threatening growling sound. If you don't let it go away freely, then getting 16 injections will be the next in your agenda. I don't think I need to say more about this. When you push a person, although very meek, to a state where he does not have any place to go, he won't wait there and stay till you squish him. He'll strike back with whatever he's got. And that ought to be remembere

One fine morning I stood in a line, Strong man cut in and said it's fine, I said it isn't, I raised my tone, He held my collar and broke my every bone. I learnt my lesson, I learnt self defence, Strong man cut in, and said no offence, I held his collar, it's now or never, And that's the very last thing I remember. I learnt my lesson, and this's another time, Strong man cut in, I stood like a mime, He turned around his biceps overgrown, Punched me hard, and broke my every bone. I learnt my lesson the moral is straight, Life's a bitch and you are its bait Winner is he, who decides to chuck, The moral is though, that life does suck. - Baba Gyani Triviani

Another set of verses, may not make much sense at the outset, try to follow the words and let your brain to wander and reach the deepest of thoughts... It means a lot if you try to understand it from your heart - especially if your wife's cheating on you Wretched Life, Wretched Wife Glimpses of joy, a mere mirage An illusion hovered beyond my reach; The titillating, the dream, the vision et al Made me bend, beg, bow, beseech... Heart of diamond, pure and precious Valued far beyond all worth; But though so pure, I am so sure Diamond's the hardest found on earth... The couple of verses above speak volumes Think what it means to you; Act right, for the gold to hold you might be lost Leaving in your hand, the fake, the new... Ignorant is he, who knows not the value of what he has Runs after something new; But old is gold, and few is new And soon he joins the foolish crew... Wretched life, wretched fate Don't go looking for some hate; For, your soul mate may be great But your

The Speeding Train Walking along a railway line were two pals One was Clark and the other was Charles; Approaches a stranger, gives them a dare Stand in front of a speeding train without a care... Says Charles to him, you ought to be insane The train would kill me, the stander is inane; For I believe in prudence and not raw guts my dear And I have found that I live longer this way no fear... Ah so you are scared, why didn't you say so before snide was the remark, the stranger laughed with a roar; If you call fear as prudence then you are the one at fault If standeth anyone there, I'll clear away my vault. That was enough for Mr Clark, he jumped, and thought no more Approached a speeding train from front, the stranger impressed to the core; The train rammed into Clark, but Clark moved not an inch And at that moment did the stranger at once in his belly feel the pinch... Giving him a million pounds the stranger walked his way Charles turned to Clark and said, today's your lu

Swami Nikhilaananda recollected an old byword: "I cried for shoes, till I saw a man with no feet" Most of you might have heard this famous adage... Why am I mentioning it here? Well, it's most relevant because, my friend had asked me to read an entry from a blog - http://360.yahoo.com/rmourya1 the title being " Can you make a difference ?" And the entry is similar to a story which I would have written to strengthen a proverb. Do read it. And continue after completing reading that article. But I have got something more to say about it myself. A lot of us suddenly realise things, truth dawns upon us... A bulb glows above our head when we see real life incidents. But as Gyani Triviani always said - " Realisation is only half the journey ". How many of us have realised, and then made grand plans for the future... But till now not achieved anything? How many of you, after reading this are muttering - "You just wait, give me time. I'll show

Swami Gulagulaananda said: " Words are like arrows - once fired, cannot be retrieved " Another great quote by the legendary Saint. Often in rage, we tend to say a lot of things which we regret after the effect goes off. You tend to insult and humiliate your best friend, say a lot of harsh words - and then when you think about your actions, you feel embarrassed and then you repent. A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one. Friends are very rare jewels, indeed. They make you smile and encourage you to succeed. They lend an ear, they share words of praise and they always want to open their hearts to us. Anger clouds minds - even the best among all. And the words at that moment must be controlled. We should never blurt out things - often many secrets are revealed, you might have seen instances like these in courtroom dramas, or books or even witnessed such things in reality. People also tend to debase others - calling insulting names to handicapped or passing remarks and

Swami Gulagulaananda advised: "Think not thou art elite, for thy head is below His feet" In the spiritual or religious sense, it says that you might achieve wonders - But you won't be able to match your glory with that of God. Here's the practical explanation. Everyone thinks he's the best. But in life, you might have seen that everytime you see someone good, someone better turns up... Sooner or later. If you see a student has scored 96%, someone else has scored 98%, and someone else 100%. But if you think the student with 100% is the best, then you find that he's the topper in his school/college/university. There are thousands of such universities, and someone better might be there; somewhere else. So, we need to remember in life that whatever we achieve is not the ultimate destination - Someone might, if not surely, beat us. So, when we know this to be a fact, being overly proud or vain or haughty serves no purpose. We can also understand the veracity

Baba Gyani Triviani said: "Marriage is not difficult, if one of the two shalt kneel and apologise for mistake of either" Here's a small set of verses; Not intellectual in construct or wordings - But definitely sends across a message. Read, smile and understand The following is an original by Baba Gyani Triviani - Although he regards to his own work as "tripe" in the verse, he recommends a reading, an understanding... Marriage Trends Oh If thy spouse, Shalt all day grouse... Pack thy bags, And leave thy house; If the roof is thine, Say the house is mine... Chuck the spouse out, And thy life shalt shine; If both are soft, The bond'll soar aloft... It'll survive even if Thou shalt work in a croft; If neither'll bend, As lately is the trend... A breakup it'll lead to; For themselves they'll fend; Now thou might laugh, Make fun, Or ridicule... Whilst thou undergo this Thou shalt feel like a mule Or an ass even, a donkey or a fool Ends like t

Swami Nikhilaananda said: "Words for the biased mind, is like straightening the curved tail of a dog... A waste of time till you cut it off to end the ordeal" A great quote to be remembered for all eternity. Have you ever given advice to a person who refuses to even let you speak? Have you ever argued with a person who does not even listen to you, or even if he/she does, refuses to accept it as true - or even consider it true for a moment, with the sole viewpoint that they are right and that the probability of you being right even remotely, is simply zilch... Instead, they keep talking about their points, and don't pay attention to you. I have seen many such people, people with just mouths and no ears - they just speak, and seldom, mostly never, listen. I happened to speak to a friend of mine recently, and arose a topic where we had a difference of opinion. I was trying to explain my viewpoint to him. Unfortunately he had an opinion already formed, a pre-formed notion

Swami Gulagulaananda said: "Don't be the rooster who thought he caused the sun to rise" Well, simple is the quote, and simple is the moral... "Self importance" is a quality which all of us possess. But it's wise to know how good you really are. Everyone thinks he/she is the greatest person in the world - nothing wrong in it. But you should also know your strengths and weaknesses. Everybody cannot be perfect in everything. So, in case you are in a group, and you feel that the group will not function without you, then you are wrong. A small fable, quite old, is here: "An old woman had a rooster which crowed every morning. All the villagers used to tell the old woman - 'If it was not for your rooster which wakes us up, we would still be sleeping lazily and would have wasted a lot of precious time.' Now after some time, the old woman had developed a strange feeling, she thought that the entire village can function normally and smoothly only be

Gyani Triviani propounded: "What use is the flame, whilst the candle lies dead..." I often marvel at the fact that there are people who still claim that people now are selfish, that people care mainly for themselves and don't care about the society or anyone outside their circles, themselves and their family being the centre of the care... I was just talking to my friends, and then some other people - I asked them one simple question: "Assume two people are marooned on an island, your friend being one of them, and the other being a stranger. Given that you can save only one between the two, whom would you choose to save?" The question is quite straight forward, but the answers are quite mixed. Most of them, I don't know if it was because of their feelings that they were being judged or otherwise, told me that they would rather save the stranger, instead of their friend - And why? That's because they are selfless, that they put their own selfish des

Says Swami Gulagulaananda: "To prove a point is like spitting vertically upwards, or throwing a stone into slush.... The spit will land on thy face, and the slush shalt splash on thou" "I am right and you are wrong." "Naa, you are wrong. I am right...." If this has happened to you, then it's normal. Well, a lot of people try to prove points. But one thing we need to remeber, what are we actually going to gain at the end? Here's an interesting incident... Today, I was in the lab to see my friends completing an unfinished experiment. And then, suddenly a small commotion arises behind me. I turned around to see one of my friends arguing with the teacher. What was the arguement about? It's small and insignificant. The teacher had given him and his friend the same marks (1/5) for answering viva - his point is that he answered the question while the other did not, and if that's true, then how did both get the same score? Well, very valid. The ar

Baba Gyani Triviani says: "Aim for the stars... You might reach the moon. But make sure you don't crash into a tree while taking off" A lot of people think they are foresighted and therefore they make plans. Especially students, who would like to be systematic - they plan, make a brilliant time table for studying, and that's all. How many of us make time tables and actually stick to it? Well, I don't. And when I realised I could not adhere to time tables, I stopped making them... This might seem pathetic, but this is true with all of us, atleast most of us. How exactly do we make plans? Plans can be divided into three categories - short term, medium and long term. Long term being something really far away, and short term being almost immediate. Medium of course lies between these two. Whatever be the plans, one thing we should bear in mind - "Always make sure the goals are realistic and achievable" A short term goal such as beating Gates overnight

Swami Nikhilaananda says: "Unsolicited advice seldom carries value, though is gold, is discarded by the fools" "Grammar is the grave of language" - This line was thrown on my face by my friend about two years back because I had this "nauseating" (nauseating for the ignorant) habit of correcting grammatical errors of people. Well, I for one believe in speaking a language as clearly as possible, by following every grammatical rule which exists - There is only one reason for this, and that is because the rule exists. We follow rules because they are made. You might feel "I am a rebel, I love to break rules... Atleast I don't." So, if I used to come across people using incorrect words or words in wrong places, I used to correct them as soon as possible. Now when I say people I mean very close friends only. And many of them feel offended if they are corrected. To err is human, to forgive divine, but to correct them is hellish. Here are some

Hello all, This is a blog which I wanted to write from a very long time, but every time I sat to write, I just used to run out of topics. Not run out of, actually, not a single topic would actually come to my mind. I was thinking of making my blog more like something which has a theme - initally I thought of making it technical, then ran out of techie stuff to write. Then came education, morality, relationship, language etc. Well, after a lot of thinking, I realised some day I would run out of topics if I picked any one topic. So, I thought of doing what Jerry Seinfeld did for jokes - talk about everything. So, just in case you come across a joke in something grave, fret not, it's normal. Three Saints were created by me - Swami Nikhilaananda, the modern saint who propounds the ancient wisdom and knowledge of Swami Gulagulaananda, the second Swami, known for his deep intellect and usage of wacky poetic verses to put across his ideas. The third is Baba Gyani triviani, the s