These are a couple of articles that I wrote (in 1999) for Environs—the in-house magazine of C-DAC, Bangalore. These were planned to be part of a series called Musings. Unfortunately, the re-launched version of the magazine could not exist beyond a couple of issues.
Musings #1
This is the first of two articles published most probably in the Spring of 1999. The other day in our cafeteria, I mistakenly entered into a conversation with certain “diggajs” in the field of the occult and the mystic. The conversation, as it inevitably does in these situations turned to the Zodiac-those 12 strange shapes in the skies which surprisingly seem to rule over the destiny of five billion plus souls on a small planet at the fringe of the milky way. One wonders what is it about the human race—a simple yet complex bipedal form made out of an agglomeration of Carbon with other elements that makes it think that it is the center of all existence? Hell, we aren’t even at the center of the universe! One feels that a reading of Douglas Adam is essential for the human race to shake itself out of the reveries that…
Musings #2
This is the second of two articles published most probably in the Summer of 1999. Hi, Folks! So, here I am back again. In the last issue I managed to scrape through my stuff through the hawk eyes of our esteemed E-in-C, simply because the venerable lady was not around. I might not get so lucky this time. But, anyway, a promise is a promise and I have to keep it. So, perforce I have to jot down something. Here goes … At the outset, we in the Ed. Board of Environs are taken aback at the cold response to the first issue of the re-launched environs. We had hoped for a few bangs but merely heard whimpers, many of which did not even make it to the Ed. Board. Just one entry for the quiz and two for the crossword! Not a single Letter to the Editor criticising our…