My Perspective

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.

'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 ...

Here is the basic tenet of Hinduism: Irrespective of our nationality, race, ethnicity, caste, creed, we (the entire world) belong to one big family. If one believes in this philosophy then it does matter which country's citizenship they have, they are a part of this big family.  Such a mindset enables us as a species to tackle global problems like climate change. Previously such an approach has been shown to work for instance when the world came together to tackle ozone layer depletion due to CFCs. So let us embrace this philosophy in its entirety. Sanskrit Shloka (couplet) : अयं निजः परो वेति गणना लघुचेतसाम्। उदारचरितानां तु वसुधैव कुटुम्बकम्॥ Transliteration : ayaṃ nijaḥ paro veti gaṇanā laghucetasām। udāracaritānāṃ tu vasudhaiva kuṭumbakam॥ English translation : This is mine, that is his, say the small minded, The wise believe that the entire world is one family. Kannada translation : ಇದು ನನ್ನದು, ಅದು ಬೇರೆಯವರದ್ದು, ಇಂತಹ ಯೋಚನೆ ಸಣ್ಣ ಮನಸ್ಸಿನವರು ಮಾಡುತ್ತಾರೆ. ಉನ್ನತ ಸ್ವಭಾವದ ಜನರು ಇಡೀ...

Have you heard of "Tragedy of the commons"? In the context of Diwali, 'Tragedy of the commons' can be interpreted as that if each person or family does what is best for themselves (bursting fire crackers) even if it is bad (pollution) for the common resources (atmosphere) then the long term outcome is degradation (air quality) of these common resources. However, supporters have argued in the Supreme court of India that bursting of fire crackers is a religious activity. Hindu light the way to heaven for the forefathers to return back. So any suggestion to the effect of avoiding fire crackers is seen as anti-Hindu religion. The only solution to this conundrum is self restraint - it is essential to preserve the air that we breathe. Don't forget the millions who died gasping for a breath of oxygen during the pandemic. Diwali is a festival of lights not sound. Avoid bursting crackers for the sake of our environment.   Happy Deepavali or Diwali!

It is clear to me that adopting a purely plant based diet is essential to reduce carbon footprint [1] of our species. However, given the popularity of food from animal sources like dairy, poultry, meat and fish, it is hard to think of a way to bring about this large scale societal change. Here is my idea. Many centuries ago, contrary to popular belief, Hindu brahmins were