Chronicles of Nikhil Baliga

Swami Gulagulaananda said: “ We all owe a debt to society… You are significantly more privileged than you think ” The soft rays of the morning sun slipped through the blinds and woke up Simi. As she opened her well rested eyes, a smile formed on her face as she looked at the calendar on the wall. Just one more day to go . She looked at the neat array of stuffed dolls adorning a specially created shelf. But this birthday was special and she knew exactly what she wanted. " Maaaa!! Coffee!! " she yelled. A few moments later, her parents walked into her room, beaming at their daughter. Offering her the cup, her mom asked her, " Just one more day for your birthday, Simi beta. What do you want for your present? " This was the moment that she was waiting for. She held the cup between her palms and interwoven fingers and looked at the brown liquid. Then, gushing a little, she said " Ma, Pa, I want the new iPhone X ". At this, her mom turned to look at her d...

Swami Gulagulaananda quoted Animal Farm : " All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others " In the month of January, 2015, there was an attack on the offices of the French satirical newspaper, Charlie Hebdo in which 12 people died. This sparked an international outrage with people everywhere saying ' Je suis Charlie ' (I am Charlie) to show solidarity with the families of the dead as well as the rattled survivors. The cowardly attack was executed by fanatics and is definitely condemnable and deplorable. People on Facebook protested by putting the French flag overlay on their profile pictures. I saw my Facebook feed filled with strong words against attacking freedom of expression, some sharing cartoons of how a pen is mightier and expressed outrage in the strongest of terms. A couple of days ago, there was a deadly attack in Somalia in which 500 people died. There has been no outrage, nobody on Facebook putting up Somalian flag overlays and ...

Swami Gulagulaananda said: “ Teaching ethics to a human being is hard. I wonder if machines are easier " There is an old psychology question that we used to ask as kids: There is a railway track on which trains typically pass on, and another track on the side that is not supposed to be used. There is a sign that indicates walking on the main track is dangerous. Walking on the side track is not a problem because trains are not expected to pass on it. A group of ten young boys are playing on the main track while a lone boy is playing on the side track. You notice the train approaching rapidly and are standing beside a lever that can be used to control whether the train continues on the main track, or switch it to the alternate track. Assuming that the side track is not risky for the train and that you cannot shout to shoo the kids off the tracks because they are too far away from you or do anything else - and given only the two following choices, which would you go for? - ...