Chronicles of Nikhil Baliga

Swami Gulagulaananda said: " Walk the path of righteousness, walk the path alone if you must " "You really didn't have to drive me back home, you know", she said looking at me. I was squinting my eyes to look through the drops that had accumulated on my windshield. It had been raining heavily and my wiper blades seemed to be performing the perfunctory role of sweeping over the glass without doing much in the elimination of the water. "That's not a problem. It's quite late and autorickshaw drivers love the combination of rains and nights. It's rabbit season for them." As I threaded my car through the traffic, guessing half the time, my phone blared out "In 500 metres, turn right". I was wondering what I'd have done if it wasn't for my phone. "Stop the car near that yellow car over there", she pointed. I brought my car to a gradual halt in front of her house. "I had a great time. Thanks. When are we catchi...

Swami Gulagulaananda quoted: " One can wake a sleeping man, not a man pretending to sleep. " "Consensus" is an intriguing concept - It is difficult to get a group of people to agree to something. People who have tried to organise reunions or get-togethers will be familiar with the concept. It's incredibly hard to get people to agree to a date, a location, time - and eventually, some people will backoff nonetheless. Driving of consensus in a group is hard - and it becomes exponentially harder as the number of people increases. It is the same with debates where the two teams have different opinions, and each tries to convince the other. Historically, scholars in India used to travel across towns challenging various schools to understand which school of thought was the best. One of the well-known contests is between Adi Shankaracharya and Mandan Mishra, where the defeated scholar had to follow the philosophy of the victor (Shankaracharya won). What is more im...