My Perspective

I developed a multiple choice game as a web app. One can learn the meaning of verses from Patanjali's Yoga Sutra written in classical Sanskrit language. When the player finds the correct meaning of the verse they will see the time taken and number of guesses they needed.  This game can be played either on a desktop or a hand held device. https://pd2.github.io/patanjali-yoga-sutra/

I developed a combo "wordle" + "Hangman" like puzzle as a web app. One can test their grasp over Vishnu Sahasranama in this game. The player has to guess one of the names of Vishnu as listed in the Sahasranama based on the English meaning that is revealed as a clue. All valid guesses are the names of Vishnu. One can use hint shown in Hangman style. This game can be played either on a desktop or a hand held device. https://pd2.github.io/sahasranama/ My school mate had provided the link of my Vishnu Sahasranama based wordle game to the Head mistress of a Vishnu Gupta Vishwa Vidyalaya, a Gurukul in Gokarna where his daughter studies. He told me that the HM used it with the students to make them aware of Vishnu Sahasranama and she had also conducted a quiz using my game.  I am so glad that my game is being used for real in a school.

I developed a hang man style game as a web app. The challenge is to identify the tree by clues in the form of pictures of its bark, bud and leaf. Upon each unsuccessful guess of a letter, a new clue is revealed as pictures with the final clue being the Latin name. When the player correctly identifies the tree, they will see the time taken by them. One can learn more about natural history. This is supported on both desktop and handheld devices.  Try the Tree-ID game here -  https://pd2.github.io/tree-id/

D V Gundappa (or DVG as he is fondly known as) was an Indian writer, poet and philosopher in Kannada-language. He is one of the stalwarts of modern Kannada literature. He wrote "Mankuthimmana Kagga" which literally means Rigmaroles for the common man. On the occasion of Kannada Rajyotsava, I'm launching my gamification of the entire 945 Kagga poem collection. The goal is to make Kaggas accessible to the newer generations who are addicted to their smart phones. Game Design: I show the Kagga in Kannada text and its meaning in English (for maximal reach). Next I present the Kagga by jumbling up its 4 lines transliterated in English. The player is expected to put these 4 out of sequence lines into the correct order. The clue is its English meaning. The metrics are the number of tries and time taken to get it right. Is the game interesting enough to you for spending 2 mins daily to learn the Kagga? #KaggaGame I learnt the meaning of Kagga no. 1 in 37 sec at  https://pd2.github...

I developed a web game on vibhakthi pratyayas (noun declensions) in Sanskrit language. Here, I gamified Sanskrit based rules of grammar for declining nouns as a sorting puzzle of the Shabd table.  This game entitled 'Shabd' has all three genders, all types of word ending, both for nouns and pronouns. I have included 40 Shabd tables in all. Check your memory on राम shabd below. I learnt the #declension of Masculine word ending in 'a': "Rama" Sanskrit for "God" in 71 sec at  https://pd2.github.io/shabd/

My gamification of Bhagavad Gita as a typing web app received an Honorary Mention in the category "Made You Learn" for the 2023 'Last year on Glitch' roundup awards by Glitch.com. This project aims to popularize Bhagavad Gita in the younger generation through gamification. Link to the award announcement:  https://glitch.com/discover My game was first featured in Glitch's monthly newsletter in Nov 23 linked below. https://blog.glitch.com/post/november-2023-on-glitch-challenges-and-self-reflections/ Link to the game:  https://gita-typing-game.glitch.me/

Here is my latest simple web game based on searching a word in jumbled up letters. Your challenge is to search for English names of the yoga poses (asanas) in a grid of letters. This is a fun way to think about the different poses that each asana makes. Just like the Aasanas themselves, the English words, that the pose represents (object), can also be in horizontal, vertical, or diagonal, either forward or in in reverse order on the grid. You can solve the #YogaPose search in a letter grid game to learn about 5 Asanas at Link:  https://pd2.github.io/yoga-pose-search/ Please give me your feedback as well as your ideas for a small fun game that I could work on next.

Shiva Sutra, also known as Akṣara samāmnāya, it refers to a set of 14 aphorisms devised as an arrangement of the sounds of Sanskrit for grammatical exposition by Pāṇini. I developed a web app to make it interesting to learn Shiva sutra. Your challenge is to arrange the tiles,  with either aphorisms or aksharas (alphabets), of this sliding puzzle in the correct order. As a clue you can listen any number of times to an audio clip (from Matheson Trust) reciting the Shiva sutra. In the process of solving it you would implicitly memorize the sutra without realising that you  are, which is the idea behind this game. You can use Devanagari, Kannada, Telugu or Latin based IAST scripts in this challenge. You can share your results the number of moves it took you to solve the sliding puzzle and the initial arrangement of tiles as a matrix of coloured squares. 🟧🟩🟨🟧 🟨🟩🟥🟧 🟧🟥🟩🔴 🟥🟨🟨🟩 Reference : [1] Shiva sutra sliding puzzle  https://pd2.github.io/shiva-sutra/

Yoga, the ancient Indian discipline for physical exercise, has many benefits to the body and even one's mind. In this day and age with bulging waistline and sedentary lifestyle, Yoga assumes even more importance for our health and wellbeing. In my attempt to create more interest in Yoga among the newer generation, I created a web app that presents a jigsaw puzzle made out of a yoga pose.  In this game, the image of an Aasana is cut up into 12 tiles and presented on a grid in a random order. The player needs to swap the tiles into the correct order to solve the puzzle. A clue in the form of the equivalent English name of the pose is also shown. Upon solving the jigsaw, the player is presented with details of that particular Aasana like level of yogi / yogini to practise this, and few benefits of doing the Aasana. Here is the link to the web app: https://pd2.github.io/yoga-jigsaw/ Do you find it interesting to play and learn more about the various Aasanas? Please give me feedback on ...

'Bhagawat Gita' (also 'Bhagavad Gita') is the holy sacred book of the Hindus. The verses or shlokas are written in Sanskrit language which is the oldest classical language from India. However, this language is not popular among common folks. So learning the sacred verses is quite hard. Yet, this holy scripture has something to offer to us in the 21st century. It is considered an influential management book by many leaders.  So I was wondering on how to make it interesting for younger generation to engage in learning of this holy book. Then I hit upon an idea to gamify learning of these verses. How about a game of typing but the text are the English transliterated Sanskrit verses from the Gita. I developed "Bhagavad Gita Typing Game" as a web app to enable wide reach across device types (desktop, mobile, tablet) yet be OS agnostic. Now one can practice their typing skills on a verse from the Sacred book. Thus learning both the sacred text as well as practising ...

My friend Sooraj Kumar and I have developed an android app for guided meditation and mindfulness http://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wistler.dhyaan Our app is titled "Dhyaan" which stands for meditation in Sanskrit language. It consists of three sessions guided by an experienced Buddhist chaplain: first is the Body scan, followed by focus on Breath, finally Loving Kindness. For some folks silence can be distracting during meditation. So our app allows playing a background sound like sound of calm ocean waves, or a soothing rain, a lazy stream or even a soft meditative music. Hope you find our app useful. Please review the app and share widely.

Graduate Record Examination (GRE) score is essential aspect of graduate application for admission into postgraduate and doctoral programs in United States, and Canada. However, a pertinent question arises as to whether the GRE score can predict ability of the applicant to succeed in their doctoral studies? I recently came across a systematic study [1] which tried to answer this question. The summary of their key findings are below

Prof Andrew Ng, former faculty at Stanford University, provided good insight on what the graduate student admission committee looks for in a personal statement (also known as statement of purpose) from a applicant on his website [1]. The overall points raised are also applicable to any SOP not just for university admissions. I made a summary of the points raised for my personal use (and hence the first part is written in first person). I felt that I should share it on my blog for others who might find it useful. Here are my notes on the how to write a SOP and more importantly what not to write in an SOP for a graduate application. Previous relevant experience Discuss small number of relevant projects Role in the project Specific work Insights I had, experiments and outcomes Result - publication, award, impact Briefly mention a