Chronicles of Nikhil Baliga

Swami Nikhilaananda said: " He who sugarcoats, sugarcoats for a reason " This has happened not once, not twice... Ok, don't ask me how many times this has happened, for I have lost count. And the problem is, it happens a lot. Either I have gullible sucker written on my forehead, or .... well, it's got to be the gullible sucker thing. The other day, I had been to a mall with a friend of mine, and while I was waiting till my friend got back from a shop, this gentleman who was waiting for his friend to get back decided to begin a conversation with me just to pass time, till they got back. I was getting bored waiting, and so decided to listen to what he was saying. This man spoke very polished English, seemed sophisticated and smart. He began by talking about the weather and traffic, and later told me what he was doing and asked me what I was doing. He told me that he was working at Honeywell. You might be wondering how long this conversation must have lasted -...

Swami Gulagulaananda said: " Before you react to a situation, ensure you perceived it rightly " A very interesting observation that I had is the way in which people react to a situation. Let us assume we come across a situation or topic of discussion where one of, say, two stances can be taken. Now, say this topic of discussion is a pretty widely discussed topic where people normally take one of two sides. When a new person now makes a point that doesn't seem to align with your thought, it is quickly termed as one that is against your view and a defence quickly gets established. These arguments are very interesting, in the sense that debates that follow either digress or dilute. And quite often, extrapolation and judgements are made based on limited knowledge that is possessed. There are quite a few examples for this that I have come across personally. A simple example would be this post where I asked if homosexuality was indeed natural . A quick look at the topic will ta...

Swami Gulagulaananda said: " We are men of words and not of deeds... Like a garden full of weeds " Ok, terrorists strike again. Blasts happen. People die. Others panic. Others in other parts of the country rapidly start tweeting and tweeting more. Then, people go on Facebook and start posting comments about terrorists, asking them to go to hell. Then people comment on those posts, saying that Mumbai will bounce back. Media (News channels) go all hyperactive - Conduct debates after debates. They get Pakistanis and Indians, journalists and generals, ministers and other blah people and get them to talk something big. They analyse. Some time later, people will post pictures and videos.... Few days later, life returns to normalcy - Some people say that Mumbai is city of life, nothing stops blah blah. Yeah, ok, Mumbai sprang back. Mumbai didn't "spring back" - People who died, are dead. Ask their families if they sprang back. Basically, we are so adjusted to this kind...

Swami Gulagulaananda said: " I wonder how people call homosexuality natural" Let me begin by saying that this post is not intended to hurt the sentiments of gay people and/or unhappy people. But I am really curious about the curious (and bi curious) case of ... well, queer people. Let me be honest. I find it rather queer. I am no well learned person, nor have I done research. So, I'll use simple logic - Nature has two types of organisms in higher life... Males and Females. And they are to be attracted to each other, so that they mate and procreate. Attraction is in order to bring them closer, with the intent of procreation. Now, this would mean that it is necessary for attraction to be between the opposite sex. And that's why I find it queer to see attraction among people of the same sex. And that's why I find it unnatural. Next question - If it is was not unnatural, you should have seen homosexual behaviour in at least some other animal as well. If you do find so...

An Appeal to Govt of Andhra Pradesh Petition

Swami Nikhilaananda said: "Google+ is awesome, and will definitely dethrone Facebook" Google finally released Google+ which is Google's response to Facebook. So, is it really worth it? The answer is - YES. Don't worry if you feel this post is biased against Facebook. My focus in this post is to highlight Google+ Ok, how does Google+ stack up against Facebook? First of all, Google+ scores over Facebook for its very clean interface. The font size is decent, similar to what Facebook had till it reduced it. Now its a pain. Google+ also uses a lot of nice animations here and there - something very nice to see on a web interface. With rotating and sliding and swishing movements, it's a little more lively. Google+ notifications look a lot like Facebook notifications. However, one thing that I liked in Google+ is that you can see the notification's target page right there in that pane, without having to switch to that page. Something you have to do in FB. Say two frie...