If you liked Baghban

I saw this movie la Tete en Friche ( titled in English, My Afternoons with Marguerite). There is this 96 year-old actress acting as a 95 year-old lady left in an old age home by her nephew in a small French town. He is already complaining that he can't afford to keep her there, but the lady is still full of life as she is very well-read  and loves to go sit in the park watching pigeons and reading her books (like Albert Camus's Plague). Sitting one day on her favourite bench, she meets a middle-aged man Germain, who is also a regular there. He comes to watch over the pigeons. He has in fact given each one a name like Thief and Crabster, having closely watched and discerned their personae.

Germain ( enacted by Gerard Depardieu)  is a simpleton but with green fingers. He grows and sells vegetables. He also does odd jobs. Germain was abused as a child and often remembers how he never felt loved by his mother. She also drove out his father, a waster. She is now old and crazy and Germain simply shakes his head in mild irritation during her frequent outbursts when she uproots his plants and screams hell.

Germain was ridiculed at school as he never could read well. But he  has a very likeable child-like nature. Sitting on the park bench on languid afternoons, he is all good-humoured attention as the old lady reads and explains the classics to him. Their friendship develops beautifully as Germain really cares for the lady. One day she brings over a huge dictionary as a gift, and tells Germain how the dictionary is a fascinating journey from the world of one word to the world of the next. But Germain finds the dictionary a tough read, unable to spell words like labyrinth or Anette. He is also unhappy that the dictonary mentions only one type of tomatoes.

The town's social life revolves around a small restaurant, and you can tell that the folks there like Germain for a steady fellow. Germain is also dating young Anette who drives the local bus. They are a sweet and simple couple and Anette wants to have a child.

When the old lady tells Germain that her eye-sight is going down rapidly due to macular degeneration, Germain feels terribly for her, and at Anette's suggestion decides to learn to read to her. He goes to the library, and in a really humorous scene, succeeds in explaining what kind of a book he would like to borrow- not too thick, with a story of adventure, with pictures. Sitting up late in bed, word by word he struggles through the book with Anette's help, and gets to a point when he can indeed read to the old lady!

One day Germain's mother reveals that his real father was not her useless husband but a charming young man. In the next scene Germain comes home to see his mother dead. Sadly bewildered by the turn of events, Germain discovers a photo of his parents in a box of knick-knacks left behind for him. soon his mood changes to astonishment when he learns how his mother had finally been able to express her love in her own way -she had actually saved up her meagre pension and bought for Germain the house they lived in. Doubly happy to know that his girl friend Anette has gotten pregnant, Germain wants to share the news with the old lady. Alas, he finds out at the nursing home that her nephew has taken her away to Belgium, saying this place is too expensive.

The story ends with Germain rushing in a borrowed van to Belgium. He confronts the nephew, discovers where the lady is stowed away in a depressing old-age home, and rushes there to find her sitting like a faded picture in her wheel chair. He simply rushes out pushing her wheelchair, bundles her into the van and drives her back to his world. They are both happy that she can live with him and Anette and he will now read to her her favourite books. Life's truly happy moments are about sharing and caring.

YADA YADA – a call to God

“Hello, God, may I have a word with You please?” India's Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, looks all frazzled and bleary-eyed behind his spectacles as he croaks into the phone.

You see, it's not only Obama who has a Red Telephone on his desk. The Indian PM's office too has one in South Block. This antique phone instrument has in the Mahatma's own handwriting the famous motto of India, “Satyameva Jayate”. The Mahatma gave it to Nehru just before he was assassinated for his unfashionable beliefs. Nehru knew it was a hot-line to God, but actually he didn't care much for the Fellow and did not trust Him too much - not sure whether he would buy Nehru's patented Panchsheela. Later PMs had never till date felt so stressed out as to reach out to God, being quite able to manage the nation and survive wars, government collapses, gold auctions and of course scams.

“Yes, Manmohan, what's it?” God does not seem to be in the mood for a friendly chat.

“You see, God, it's this $40B scam of 2G. Yes I know God, these days everyone talks of 4G, but You should know that in India we have a policy of calibrated progress. So it's 2G that's hurting me, and I am at my wit's end how to manage this crisis and I need Your help”.

“Why, Manmohan, didn't your coalition partner dismiss the whole thing as a purely “notional” loss?”

“But God, only Tamil movie-goers will swallow that bit. Remember I was at Harvard”.

“But then Manmohan, why don't you do what Obama did – he printed a trillion dollars of green-backs and gave it out to all those who were involved in defrauding pensioners and home owners. In fact, you can give 1.77 Lakh Crore rupees in crisp 1000 Rupee notes to your coalition partners”.

“God, this is no time to be sarcastic. Need I remind you that you have promised in the Bhagavadgita that,

“ Yada yada hi dharmasya glanirbhavati Bharata/Abhyutthanam adharmasya tadatmanam srujamyaham!”? Righteousness is in a crisis in India and there is no better time to come down and help me, God!”

God bursts out testily. “Don't quote Me back to Myself! That Gita is one thing I regret the most. All of you down there constantly misquote Me out of context to justify your actions!

“Just the other day I confronted a serial floor crosser of a politician. You know what he said? “Vasamsi jirnani yatha vihaya, navani gruhnati naroparani/Tatha shareerani vihaya jirnani anyani samyati navani dehe!” No wonder politicians travel from losing parties to greener pastures all the time in their politics of convenience, not conscience. They say they only follow my Gita!

''And then there is this billionaire tycoon who goes for Tirupati grand darshan every time he gyps someone of a billion or more, sometimes even his brother, and quotes My words:

“Sarva dharman parityajya mamekam sharanam vraja/Aham tvam sarva papebhyo mokshaishyami ma shuchah!”meaning that I have Myself advised him to forsake all righteous paths and simply surrender to Me at Tirupati and everytime I will absolve him of all sins, so no worries!

“And do you know what the Chief Justice quoted to the public interest litigant about the scams?

He quoted My Gita: “Ishavarah sarvabhutanam hruddesherjuna tishthati/Bhramayan sarvabutani yantrarudhani mayaya!” meaning that it's God alone who resides in everyone's heart and makes people go around doing what they do, through His own maya!”

“But God, only YOU can make THIS shloka come true: Yada Yada...”

God says with irritation, “Don't go yaDa yaDa quoting me. Do you know the complete quotation at least? The next stanza completes what you recited. “Paritranaya sadhunam vinashaya cha dushkrutan/Dharma samshtapanarthaya sambhavami yuge yuge!”

“I would come down only to save the righteous. I am looking for them and for a reason to come down, but I don't see anyone or anything so pristine that they are worth saving.

“To tell you the truth, Manmohan, I have almost given up. I came as Rama, and I spent most of My time wandering in the forest; there was no improvement in anything. Then I came down as Krishna, and people thought I was there for a dance party. Recently I came down as Buddha and told them to abandon meaningless ritual and meditate, and they simply created an industry to make and worship my statues.

“After my recent MBA, I started delegating. And what happened? All these god-men I sent down are busy buying up prime real-estate, erecting temples to themselves, or cooking up some sacred magic potions, or getting caught on video doing any kind of hanky panky. There are umpteen TV channels showing their tamasha with disco-style bhajans.

“I tell you, Manmohan, go cook your own 2Goose!”

Mahavishnu - a great balancing job

Here at the Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok, just after immigration, before you enter the duty-free shops, you're reminded of the cultural heritage of this region, with a huge golden tableau of Samudra Manthan, coming from the Hindu scriptures describing the churning of the ocean. In India it is believed that this primeval event occured just off the Puri Jagannatha coast in the Bay of Bengal. Across the sea of course is Thailand.

This churning was to acquire Amruta, the nectar of immortality. Vishnu became the Kurma or Turtle who balanced the churner mountain Meru, and devas and asuras tried a coalition effort using Vasuki, the snake, as the rope. The churning produced many great items, good and bad, including the Haalahala poison which Nilakantha Shiva drank up to save the world. And finally, when the Amruta came out, it was cleverly held back from the unreliable asuras or rakshasas by Vishnu. He felt only the good but feeble devas deserved to drink it. For this to be accomplished, He of course had to become Mohini, the ultimate female temptress.
I have also loaded my video on YouTube showing the full tableau:

Kartikeya - an interesting god

First thing : it is Karttikeya. Double t, and it comes from Krittika. The other spellings, Kartikeya and Karthikeya, can be condoned as common errors. Similarly the name Shanmuga comes from Shat-mukha (six heads), and SaravaNan comes from Sharavana-bhava ( meaning one born in a forest of shara grass).

This interesting deity is the darling of people from the South, with many lovely temples and rituals. Every Tamilian home has a Murugan (aaru-muga) picture day wall-calendar and many articles especially cloth-bags with the word Murugan.

This Hindu god is unique. He combines masculine valour, a boyish precociousness and also grace. He is in fact the military chief of the gods, and is considered the God of War, like Mars in Greek mythology (devasenapati). He is esoteric, and hence called "Guha', living in forested hills.

There are several Carnatic compositions of Muthuswami Dikshitar whose chosen deity was Guruguha or Karttikeya. But my favourite is the Todi piece Karttikeya Gangeya Gauri Tanaya, by Papanasam Sivan. It is a majestic composition with alliterative beauty, metrical grandeur, lyrical profundity, and to cap it all, the musical element does, in my opinion, justice to this unique raga which is a challenge to any musician, especially a vocalist. It is a raga that plumbs the depths of the lower notes and sets up edifices at Ga and Ma, with lovely glides along other notes. Somewhat like the glorious mountain peaks inhabited by Karttikeya, with delightful valleys and rivers. The above picture from an Internet website is charming in many dimensions.

Did you know that Karttikeya was born out of the fire, and nourished by Ganga, and breast-fed by six celestial deities called Krittikas (the star cluster)? And in only one stream of mythology was he born of Gauri as Kumara, in the story so well told by Kalidasa in Kumarasambhavam. The rest of the iconography showing him as the younger brother of Ganesha etc. is of popular value.

That Karttikeya is worshipped by forest and mountain dwellers is appropriate, and in all probablity he was the earliest male god in the Hindu pantheon, stemming from early man's idolatry of young war heroes.

Here are links to two great renderings of the Todi masterpiece:

M.S. Subbulakshmi

Lalgudi G. Jayaraman

Now, let me show you the entry under Karttikeya in A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion by John Dowson, published first sometime about the middle of the 19th century and quite well-researched, like most European compilations (for that matter the most authoritative dictionary of Sanskrit is by Sir Monier Williams, as much as other Indian language reference dictionaries are by European scholars!)

So let us join in worshipping this wonderful deity, Karttikeya!

The Flute-player of Brindaban

The Flute-player of Brindaban

Sarojini Naidu

Why didst thou play thy matchless flute

'Neath the Kadamba tree,

And wound my idly dreaming heart

With poignant melody,

So where thou goest I must go

My flute-player with thee?

Still must I like a homeless bird

Wander, forsaking all

The earthly loves and worldly lures

That held my life in thrall,

And follow, follow, answering

Thy magical flute-call.

Bauls sing of the Beloved

I knew about the Bauls from the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. But the experience of reading Osho's words on Bauls was profound (The Beloved Vols. 1 and 2) Here are some of his words:

The Bauls are called Bauls because they are mad people. The word 'Baul' comes from the Sanskrit root VATUL. It means: mad, affected by wind. The Baul belongs to no religion. He is neither Hindu nor Mohammedan nor Christian nor Buddhist. He is a simple human being. His rebellion is total. He does not belong to anybody; he only belongs to himself. He lives in a no man's land: no country is his, no religion is his, no scripture is his. His rebellion goes even deeper than the rebellion of the Zen Masters -- because at least formally, they belong to Buddhism; at least formally, they worship Buddha. Formally they have scriptures -- scriptures denouncing scriptures, of course -- but still they have. At least they have a few scriptures to burn.
Bauls have nothing -- no scripture, not even to burn; no church, no temple, no mosque -- nothing whatsoever. A Baul is a man always on the road. He has no house, no abode. God is his only abode, and the whole sky is his shelter. He possesses nothing except a poor man's quilt, a small, hand-made one-stringed instrument called AEKTARA, and a small drum, a kettle-drum. That's all that he possesses. He possesses only a musical instrument and a drum. He plays with one hand on the instrument and he goes on beating the drum with the other. The drum hangs by the side of his body, and he dances. That is all of his religion. Dance is his religion; singing is his worship. He does not even use the word 'God'.

There is a great Baul singer, performing and travelling a lot these days, Parvathy Baul. She is one of rare female Baul singers, and has a presence that locks you in. This You Tube video is a good one:

then, there is an hour-long interview, very well done, in English. You can watch this, and please don't mind the marketing clutter around the video. It is a good interview that brings out the authentic Baul singer that she is.
One final word. When asked how she handles people who want to surrender to her and wish her to lead them spiritually, she shrugs off that onerous responsibility... she says she's after all a singer. That is the reality of life. There is no "One", whether a musician, a dancer, an artist or a master, or a self-proclaimed guru, to whom you can surrender and hope to move ahead. Finally your guide is within yourself.. at the centre of your being, and not at the circumference which is our sensory world. But surrendering to anyone or anything is a vital first step... it cuts off your head!
Here is the video interview link... and happy watching!
http://video.webindia123.com/interviews/dancers/parvathybaul/index.htm

Winter in Finland - music that cheers

I watched last night a wonderful DVD produced in Australia, capturing Vivaldi's Four Seasons on video with great musicians performing the respective portions in Japanese spring, Australian summer, New York's autumn and Finnish winter.
The music and the filmography leave you with wonderful imagery. But I was most impressed with the music performed by a young violinist Pekka Kuusisto in a warm farmhouse in the middle of winter.
I was lucky to find two You Tube clips of the Winter scene... so here you are, and I give the one with the folk song!

Sea Lions and Orchids - Singapura!

Here are two videos we shot in the Orchid Garden and the Singapore Zoo... beauty and the beast - both thrilling!

The signs of human nature

+ - X ÷=

Have you thought of this - the entire gamut of human evolution and spectrum of human emotions can be depicted using the basic symbols of math!?

+ The Book says that God created Adam. Adam was lonely, and so God made Eve. They fell in love and the rest of mankind happened. And that love was surely a positive, additive, collaborative, communicative phenomenon. No wonder it was exactly what the PLUS sign says. And then the community organized itself in its activities, the most significant being prayer and religion. That profoundly influenced society and eventually controlled it. No wonder PLUS is the Greek Cross!
- The first effect of organized religion was to categorize believers and non-believers. That created distance between any two men more emphatically than anything else before. Now came a distance between two people which was not visible, but which was conceptual. That distance became the first major negative influence on mankind, the symbol of distance and reducing the total of happiness, emphasizing differences rather than commonality. That is the symbol MINUS...
X Then men organized themselves into groups, clans, countries and fought to expand their group or clan or country. They crossed swords and hoped to multiply their own at the expense of others and grow more powerful. Nothing can describe this expansionism better than the symbol X. MULTIPLY or die it was!
÷ Once wars were fought, they ended when there was a victor and a vanquished. The Victor ruled over the vanquished, and that was the most divisive social structure of high and low. That cannot be better symbolized than the symbol of DIVIDED BY ..
= Finally came the peace-makers, who went around saying everyone is equal and let there be peace. The EQUALS sign is very significant.... two equal lines, that never meet......



Thus has mankind moved through the signs.... Five signs that tell the story of man.

Happy Deepaavali!

Happy Deepaavali! May your life be full of light and delight!

The Sentosa Songs of the Sea, full of light, laser, fire, fountain, laughter and music made our Deepaavali!

(Photo by Sumana Sachi)

Sleeper - Hilarious robotics by Woody Allen

Enthiran, bless Rajni, has whetted my appetite for robotics! If you want ribtickling HomoRobots, you should watch this 1973 movie by Woody Allen. He not only spoofs all Sci-Fi Robot movies, he anticipates by some 4 decades the kind of meaningless robot tripe that we would pay good money to watch! The only thing a greatly intelligent movie-maker like Woody Allen does is challenge our sense of what is right, but not what is stupid.

This movie shows a man who was accidentally frozen after a failed surgery in an American hospital and revived with 2173 technology and lands in a world of chaos not very different from our crazy police states of today!
If you go to the Youtube site, you can find lots of clips of the movie in a sequence. Thanks to Shinjikun2009!

Idli Suprabhata

Oh heavenly damsels clad in perfect white,

Your roundness adds more joy to my anticipation.

However many I eat of you, I want some more.

A profound satisfaction follows each bite.

Chutney especially fresh, dished out at pre-muhurtham breakfast is best,

To dip you in before the lovely swallow.

It seems God wasn't done with just creating the world's favourite food, rice.

For higher mortals like me he wanted to add shape, taste, and the ferment of anticipation.

Thus came about you angels fluffy and white

Ready to plunge and plunder the fire in the belly.

Idli, your'e matchless. Pity the dough-nuts, burger-freaks and leafy six-inchers.

With or without accompaniment, singing your morning prayer brings me bliss!



Yaa Devi...

Ultimate music, ultimate bliss, ultimate grace

Today, Goddess Saraswathi has conferred her ultimate grace on me. Ever since the sixties, I have been recalling a wonderful  Bhairavi alapana played by the maestro Lalgudi Jayaraman. I have spoken to many about it, and have searched here and there without success for a recording that harks back to that experience.

Like a Chatak bird, who waits to savour the Swati rain drop in autumn that becomes a pearl, I have waited. And today, Swati Solutions have delivered to me the album "Fourmost" (kalakendra.com) brought out to celebrate the maestro's 8oth birthday.  The four CDs are supposed to represent the best sample of his musical genius.

And the very first item on it? His Bhairavi alapana that I have been craving for!


I urge you to buy this CD set and listen to it. I have just heard the Bhairavi. And that is enough to show what else is in this treasure chest. Lalgudi Jayaraman in this Bhairavi alapana has produced the ultimate music, ultimate grace, and ultimate bliss. He is like Dattatreya, born of Vishnu's grace. Brahma's creativity and Shiva's prowess. He is the synthesis of  Bach's grandeur, Beethoven's virtuosity and Mozart's melody. He is the dear child of Bhairavi, frolicking in her courtyard, and delighting her in wonderful ways. Bhairavi's ultimate benediction is here.

I am impelled to recite:

Sarvamangalamangalye Shive Sarvarthasadhike  

Sharanye Tryambake Gauri Narayani Namostute!

Glory to the Mother! Glory to Lalgudi!

Osho on Pain

This is an extraordinary talk. I want you to listen to it in a quiet place with no distraction. It can be life-transforming. Osho is talking about pain. He begins thus, in response to a question on how to face physical pain towards the end. The questioner says that he knows how to deal with psychological pain, but is scared of physical pain.

PSYCHOLOGICAL PAIN can be dissolved; and only psychological pain can be
dissolved. The other pain, the physical pain, is part of life and death; there is no way to dissolve it. But it never creates a problem. Have you ever observed? -- the problem isonly when you are thinking about it. If you think of old age you become afraid, but old people are not trembling. If you think of illness you become afraid, but when the illness has already happened, there is no fear, there is no problem. One accepts it as a fact.

The real problem is always psychological. The physical pain is part of life. When you start thinking about it, it is not physical pain at all; it has become psychological. You think about death; there is fear. But when death actually happens there is no fear. Fear is always about something in the future. Fear never exists in the present moment. If you are going to the front in a war, you will be afraid, you will be very apprehensive. You will tremble, you will not be able to sleep: many nightmares will haunt you. But once you are on the front -- ask the soldiers -- once you are on the front, you forget all about it. Bullets may be passing and you can enjoy your lunch; and bombs may be falling and you can play cards.

The talk has worked on me. I have posted it in its entirety here. This is one of his talks from the series on Buddha, titled "The Discipline of Transcendence".
Part 1 Psychological pain
Part 2 Psychological Pain

Worshipping the Mother Goddess

Now is Navaratri, I started the day reading an email from a devout Upasaka of Devi Akhilandeshwari and Lalithamba. I am ending the day after listening to a lovely rendering of Lalitha Sahasranama by Smt.Vani Suresh, who readily sang this for us impromptu in front of her lovely Navaratri doll arrangement a few years back. Listen to the rendering below and see her mastery of music and Sanskrit. She is a close friend of my better half  Rathna for over 50 years.

Lalitha sahasranama by Smt. Vani Suresh

Endhiran - what fun!

I saw Endhiran. It's in 2D, but I can say it's 4D in fun! It's proved to me beyond all doubt that Indians love mythology and also mythology can do with a bit of technology like robotics and animation. I will not be a spoilsport and tell you the gripping story. I will just list a few things about Endhiran:

1. Rajni doesn't disappoint. I quite liked him and Ash. In fact the movie shows that there are a very small number of people irreplaceable in India like Rajni and Aishwarya.


2. The movie story line borrows heavily from Hindu epics with characters like Raktabijasura ( this is Navaratri time!) and Bhasmasura. However it is a true original.


3. In fact Chitti Chitti Bang Bang movie has copied the idea from Endhiran. You may wonder how, but you see Endhiran (his name is Chitti and he goes bang bang) defies the concept of time. For example the robot can instantly manufacture clones of himself and endow all of them with super programs which can be used in a cloud computing mode.


4. Rajni is called Dr.Vaseegaran. That is perhaps derived from the Sanskrit word Vashikara, which means a Captor. Like Ravana. But then it's not Rajni, but the robot-who-goes-bad Mr. Endhiran who becomes a Ravana. He falls in love with Ash and steals her from Dr. Vasi.


5. Endhiran is not your ordinary everyday robot. He has supersonic speed, super strength, and also SUPER magnetism (and speed 1 TeraHz and memory 1 ZettaByte- 10^21B). He can act like a 10 tesla magnet and attract large quantities of metallic objects. His preference is for machettes used to chop coconuts (he chops policemen's greedy palms).


6. Aishwarya is simply superb. Even a small nut will fall in love with her. Then why not a super robot? In fact he plans to produce robo sapiens after marrying her!


7. Even Endhiran will have to negotiate. But only with Madras mosquitoes. They tame him by reminding him of their powers of mass destruction which far exceed his capacity. They are also indestructible, and have fancy names like Rosalski.


8. Any resemblance to Toy Story 3 (robot gone wrong) and 3 Idiots (complicated delivery) is purely coincidental. If you want to know how to correct with your bare hands a wrong foetal presentation, read here.


9. It is no longer fashionable to say to a woman, "I love you." Better say, "ÿou're my wasabi".


10. You can make a full love song with words that rhyme with Kilimanjaro and Mohenjadaro. (No, they don't show scenes from these places. They use computer graphics for scenery).


11. If you thought all Bollywood dances show lots of men and women dance like robots think again. They ARE robots!


12. Robots will overtake India. They will build the next CWG stadia and stuff in time, without corruption, and without 1000% cost overrun. You see, we have the best software folks in the world like Vaseegaran!


13. However, we still need to solve one problem. Robots need electrical power. And once the power is cut, they fall down almost dead, but thank God we have lots of Amabassador cars stuck in traffic jams in Dr. Radhakrishnan Salai, T. Nagar and Nungambakkam High Road. The robots will rush or crawl and snatch power from their batteries!


14. Finally: some things never change. Sanskrit words mutate themselves so cutely in Tamil. Yantra becomes Endhiran!

Hanuman

This is Balinese Hanuman. I saw him first in an art store when I went to Jakarta. Later Niranjan and Meghana (my son and daughter-in-law) presented him to me after going to Bali for their honeymoon. The one I had seen first was black in colour but this one, showing the natural wood grain, is even more powerful. This is how he sits in my showcase. He has been meticulously hand-carved and never fails to stun the first-time viewer.

Hanuman is the ultimate creation of a poetic genius. He comes a close second to Krishna in his timeless appeal to me. In fact, Arjuna and Krishna have him on the chariot flag listening in on Bhagavadgita! And there can be no worship of Rama without Hanuman.

I give you ten points of why I love Hanuman:

1. He is the epitome of valour. He is totally fearless.


2. He is the epitome of devotion. There is no better example of a devotee with Ananya Bhakti.. Ananya here means nothing else exists for him except his God, Rama.


3. He is the ultimate diplomat. He handles the most tricky situations in Ramayana with incomparable aplomb - be it arranging the friendship pact with Sugriva, tiding over Sugriva's tardiness in discharging his side of the deal-of searching for Sita, or in finding out Sita's hide-out, or breaking news to her of Rama and vice-versa, or of tackling Ravana.


4. He is the ultimate action hero. He is totally focussed, and totally dependable. There cannot be a better example of this than how he brings Sanjivani.


5. He is the eternal worshipper. He is in constant chant.


6. He is the best listener. In fact Rama remarks, when Hanuman meets him and Lakshmana in disguise in the forest, how astutely he questions to find out about who they are.


7. He is intelligent. He works out how to prepare the ground for Rama's attack, by instilling the core of fear in the whole of Lanka and Ravana,when he is in Lanka


8. He is the only powerful hero who did not seek anything for himself. He does even better than Rama here.


9. He is totally egoless. He is the personification of someone living on this earth as a realized soul. Doing his duty totally out of love for all creation.


10. He is the most positive hero. One can never fail to be inspired by him... he has not a grain of negativity.

Jai Hanumaan Gyaan Gun Saagar!

Photosynth - a new way to look at photos!

Note: Play around with the controls. You can see both sides of the horse (choose 2D View and flip to the other side).. and also try the point cloud. It shows amazing colours!

Railways - the Arteries of India

Last night, in a chaos of colour and sound, the Commonwealth Games was inaugurated in New Delhi. Much as everyone expected, India's colours, culture and scale were truly evoked in the spectacular. And sure enough, when they wanted to show the kaleidoscope of Indian life, they used the tableau of a train winding its way slowly and colourfully, as in this picture.

Interesting that my weekend, filled with reading about Indian Railways, should end in this finale. The book I read is well written and comprehensive. Changing Tracks by V. Nilakant and S. Ramnarayan is about how Indian Railways made a dramatic financial turn-around  by conceiving and implementing  various strategic and major operational improvements and in the process made a cash surplus of 20000+ crore rupees in 2008, vastly different from their position of near bankruptcy in 2000. Various management pundits had suggested radial restructuring and privatization as well as fare increases. But the organization found leadership and commitment in Lalu Prasad, a savvy minister, and his Officer on Special Duty Sudhir Kumar. Lalu reinforced Railways' commitment to the common man. Sudhir Kumar assembled talent to go about executing a vision of a turn-around that should be the envy of any large world-famous corporation.

The authors are to be congratulated on a brilliant book. I give below pictures of the book and sleeve notes so you can quickly read what the book is about. At Rs. 399, Harper Collins have brought out a book that is a MUST READ text book for any Indian engineering or management student. 

I just give you some facts which fascinated me.

1. In 2007, India had the largest railway, ferrying 17 million passengers every day over 695 billion passenger kilometres every year!
2. Indian Railways employs 1.7 million people and supports 1.1 million pensioners.
3. The average fare in 2002  per passenger km was 0.55 cents (US) vs. China's 1.25 cents.
4. In 2000-1, accidents per million train km were 0.65, compared to 0.65 in Japan and 0.91 in Germany.

So Indian Railways is the largest, cheapest and one of the safest train systems in the world!

Some beautiful "human" stories in the book.

• Vivek Sahai, AGM, Western Railway and his crew restored the Bombay trains within 12 hours of a series of coordinated terrorist attacks in seven trains at 6:30PM (peak hour) on 11 July 2006 that ripped apart trains, cluttered the tracks and killed hundreds. It was an incredible act of engineering and commitment to fight all odds to restore life and the six million commuter traffic within hours to a city dulled by death and destruction. Sahai must have remembered Hanuman's heroic act of bringing Sanjeevani.
• When India was cut up during partition, Sardar Patel was keen to restore rail links to eastern Indian states like Assam. He gave a free hand to Chief Engineer Karnail Singh, who achieved the impossible task of building 700 km of track in malarial jungles with 635 cm of rainfall and several major rivers, by working on a war footing with 15000 workers (brought in from all over the country) within 18 months.
• At the behest of PM Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, the Railway Board Chairman Gujral ran 200 trains (during an illegal railway strike period), to transport a few lakh party workers overnight to arrive in Delhi for the political rally, He asked and got in return one favour too... everyone bought a ticket!
• Lalu wanted a Garib Rath, a poor man's A/C train. Sudhir Kumar took the challenge and designed and built with the best talent in Railways a train within EIGHT MONTHs with design and build quality to rival Tata locomotives. The train could carry 1920 passengers at a third  of  the COST of Rajdhani Express. An impressed Lalu told Sudhir Kumar, "Aapne to kamaal kar diya, ji!"

Congratulations to Prof. Nilakant and Prof. Ramnarayan!

(click below to see large in separate window)

Crumbling Faith

This Buddha is half gone but still holds his peace. Who's disintegrated, he or me with my crumbling faith in the Beyond?

Gopala Gokula Vallari Priya - Tulsi Bhajan

This song has been tuned and sung inimitably by Balamuralikrishna in the Hindustani raga Shyam Kalyan. My day began listening to his song, from a concert recorded in Bombay in 1963, accompanied by Lalgudi Jayaraman and Umayalpuram Sivaraman.

I give you the Audio here:

Gopala Gokula Vallari Priya

The words of this Tulsidas bhajan are sweet:

Oh Cowherd, you love the gardens and creepers of Gokula. Equally are you the beloved of all cowherds and calves! I am blessed to worship your feet, a feat difficult for even gods and sages.

Your dark mein is delightful; your gait is lovely. You're always giving joy to all, and putting them in your charm.You liberated the conch demon with your blessed vision. You're childlike in appearance, but so virtuous and kind!

Your curly tresses, your lovely mark on the forehead, your moon-like face all steal my heart, much like you banish my troubles. You love to roam in the Brindavan, oh gracious Shyaam! - Tulasidasa

Singapore - my fascination continues

When Tan Tock Seng Hospital, a large public hospital, did a good job of treating SARS victims, it received 8000 spontaneous 'thanks' cards from people all over, like this one from a Montessori school.. What a virtuous cycle of public good...

Life of Pi

An extraordinary novel about a Pondicherry zoo-keeper's son who loves his idlis and coconut chutney, shipwrecked and floating at sea and surviving in a 26 ft. life boat along with a tiger for 227 days. The Canadian writer Yann Martel has taken the idea from a Brazilian novel, and turned the idea into a story as colourful, fascinating, and thought-provoking as the sight of a Royal Bengal tiger.

The book is un-put-downable. No wonder it won the Man Booker Prize, and has sold 7 million copies. There is a pictorial illustrated version, and you can see samples here.

Here is what reviews said:

Chinese Garden Pagoda this morning

Chinese Garden Autumn Moon Cake Festival

iPhone photos in a walk-around witnessing the triumph of human imagination ushering in autumn in sweaty Singapore with lanterns and moon cakes Chinese style. The warrior metal statue is in fact on Orchard Road but belongs in spirit to the Chinese Garden.

Lalgudi 80 : Unforgettable moments

(click to view larger- shows expressions better!)

Lalgudi 80 on Facebook

Obeisances, Oh Maestro!

Congratulations to everyone who celebrated the birthday of this extraordinary musician, Lalgudi G. Jayaraman, who turned 80 on 17 September. There was an excellent webcast direct from the Chennai Music Academy spread over two days with wonderful music and presentations. I share with you this recording from the webcast, which shows the calibre of the people who participated. The music features Bombay Jayashri and Vithal Ramamurthy (violin), who presented 3 compositions of their Guru Lalgudi G. Jayaraman.

Blessed are we all to be in this day and age to enjoy this wonderful gift of God.
Bombay Jayashri sings 3 Lalgudi compositions

Totally HIlarious - Do You Have a Bullshit Job?

Stanley Bing, who has given many a laugh to readers of Fortune for some years, has written this side-splitting book..

100 Bullshit Jobs ... And How to Get Them

Here is a sample about the Food Critic.... and there's stuff too close to what you may be doing...Visit his blog

Wisdom and the Face of Death

The theme of death continues. It is not an obsession, but a theme much encountered in the last few days. The sudden death of a 40-year old colleague... and the New York Times Interview of Mentor Minister and the architect of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew. Titled "Days of Reflection", the interview shows what thoughts and meditations keep the senior statesman of 87 occupied. He is still busy. He is still advising people on all matters of nation building. And he also thinks of the approaching end.....


I saw today a movie on Confucius. I continue to marvel at the stunning visuals, haunting music and intimate insights into the human saga that Chinese movies are made up of these days. I give you a clip from the movie, showing Confucius, banished from his kingdom for being too sagely and peace-loving, and wandering without food or shelter with his small set of disciples. The man is suffused with humanism and takes a moment to live in the world of music...it elevates everyone from their sad predicament.

Come, watch this clip:

The Death of a Zen Master

Osho talks about death in  "Vedanta-Seven Steps to Samadhi":
... Because only waves are born, the ocean remains the same. The many are born, the one remains the same. You are born and you will have to die; hence the fear of death, so much fear of death, but the Brahman in you is unborn and undying. Everyone is afraid of death. Why this fear? And nothing can be done about it; only one thing is certain in life, and that is death.
It is said of one Zen master, Tojo, that he remained silent his whole life, he would not speak. When he was a child it was thought that he was incapable of speaking, but he was so intelligent that sooner or later people realized that he was just keeping silence, he was not dumb. His eyes were so radiant,
intelligent, wise; his behavior, his actions, were so intelligent that people became aware that he was simply keeping a deep silence – maybe continuing some vow to remain silent that he may have taken in his past life. And he remained silent for eighty years.
The first and last statement he made was on the day he was going to die. The morning he was going to die, just as the sun was rising, he collected his followers – many had started following him. He was not speaking, but he was living something, and that living something became so significant to those who could understand that there were many who followed him; many were his disciples. They would just sit around Tojo, they would just be in contact with his silence, and many were transformed.
He collected all his followers and said, ”This evening when the sun sets, I will die. This is my first and last statement.”
So somebody said, ”But if you can speak, why did you remain silent your whole life?”
He said, ”Everything else is uncertain, only death is certain. And I want only to speak about something which is certain.” Once born, death is certain; everything else is uncertain. Why is death so certain? Nothing can be done about it. Science may help to prolong life, but death cannot be destroyed, because it is implied in the very phenomenon of birth; it has happened already.
Death is one pole of the same phenomenon of which birth is the beginning, the other pole.

Osho: Why Jews have the most jokes

Osho is talking about laughter. He says both laughter and boredom are the signature of intelligence. He says the Jews have the most collection of jokes. And he points out that they have also won the most Nobel prizes.

I go and check.

This is what I find:

JEWISH NOBEL PRIZE WINNERS
JINFO.ORG

At least 180 Jews and persons of half- or three-quarters-Jewish ancestry have been awarded the Nobel Prize, accounting for 22% of all individual recipients worldwide between 1901 and 2009, and constituting 36% of all US recipients during the same period. In the research fields of Chemistry, Economics, Physics, and Physiology/Medicine, the corresponding world and US percentages are 27% and 39%, respectively. Among women laureates in the four research fields, the Jewish percentages (world and US) are 38% and 50%, respectively. (Jews currently make up approximately 0.25% of the world's population and 2% of the US population.)
Chemistry (31 prize winners, 20% of world total, 28% of US total)
Economics (27 prize winners, 42% of world total, 56% of US total)
Literature (13 prize winners, 12% of world total, 27% of US total)
Peace (9 prize winners, 9% of world total, 10% of US total)
Physics (47 prize winners, 25% of world total, 36% of US total)
Physiology or Medicine (53 prize winners, 27% of world total, 40% of US total)
See also data on "other Nobels":
Jewish Recipients of the Kyoto Prize (25% of recipients)
Jewish Recipients of the Wolf Foundation Prize (34% of recipients)
Jewish Recipients of the US National Medal of Science (38% of recipients).

Brilliant PM of a brilliant country

The Perfect Carnatic Song

In my opinion, this song in Carnatic music is THE PERFECT ONE. It has lyrical beauty, the typical sentiment of a devotee, and focusses on one theme.. grace. It is set to one of the loveliest of ragas. It sounds too good to be true... just listen and you will agree!

Audio File : RK Srikanthan

Audio File : Bombay Jayashri

pAhi shrI girirAjasutE

Abstracted from: Compositions of Shyama Shastri, Subbaraya Shastri & Annasvami Shastri by Sangeetha Kalanidhi T. K. Govinda Rao, published in Chennai 1997 (No. 31).

Raga: Anandabhairavi / Tala: rUpakam / Composer Syama Sastri

P: pAhi shrI girirAjasutE karuNAkalitE padasarOja manusarAmi tE amba

A: dEhi matEranupamagatim mE EkAmrapatisudati sati tEjasA atulita divyamUrttE lalitE atilalitE

C1: dEvi purANi nigamavinutE prItiriha vasatutE mAnadE anudinamajitE yudhi jitEndra vimatE dEvAvirata kRta nutE kAmakOTipITha gatE dInajana nikarE bhuvi paradEvatE sucaritE

C2: nIpavanI paramanivasanE namra jagadavana nEtri janani kanakavasanE jhaSavishAlanayanE gOpayita sukavijanE pApa tApa khaNDana nipuNE kuntaLa vijita ghanE ghanajaghanE kalAvati ratE

C3: kAmitadhAtri kamalamukhi kAmAkSi akhilasAkSi kAmarati kAma shubhaphaladE dhRta sugandha ghanalatE shyAmE adya bhava mama mudE shyAmakRSNasadvaradE shyAmaLE AshritaratE viditagatE sadA iha varadE

My translation:

Oh Daughter of the King of Hills, Mother, bestow thy grace on me, for I just follow in your lotus steps....and grace is your very nature!

Mother, also give me wisdom, you pearly-toothed consort of Siva(Ekamreshwara), unmatched in effulgent form, divine Lalitha, ever-so-pliant in feminine grace!

You're primordial, worshipped in scriptures, and once ended god's quarrels too, oh unvanquished one! May your affection be with me here always....just enshrined as you're in Kamakoti Pitha, uplifting all poor souls.

You're the Purifier, Mother! Your eyes are filled with love for all creation, those large eyes that recall beauteous fish.

You're the inspiration for great poets, you're adept at destroying infernal misdeeds, you're a lovely one, with such splendid hair and figure!

You fulfill our wishes, and you foster passionate love amongst us. Oh lotus-faced one of dark mein, oh one swathed in golden robes, holding a fragrant plant in hand, grace me just this instant! For you're ever and ever grace personified!

Yin Yang and Zhang

You see recently posted a piece of my art. It is titled Yin Yang and Zhang*. It shows how man is an eternal cauldron of creativity with left brain logic and right brain art and how the whole creative process causes a Zhang in his being. iPhone 4 is good for this process. Let me show you another piece of my art:

The Fire of Life

It took only a couple of minutes of finger painting on this retina display touch screen. I have a slew of applications all about photography and art neatly assembled into groups. Incredibly this chalk and charcoal art app called Doodle Buddy makes a charcoal scratch sound as you slide your finger=virtual chalk over this incredible glass=slate! You can even imagine the rough contact between slate and chalk as you see the grainy lines. And you can smudge and blend colours too. Enjoy!

* Zhang - if you're like me, you would like to look up what zhang means. Come on, Lah, it is there just for rhyming!

iPhone 4 Photos

iPhone 4 Miscellany

Went to Bangalore. Auto fares are up 30%. In return you get foul-mouth and pick-pocket drivers. Trained in Chennai I believe.
Came back and bought an iPhone 4. Amazing display better than the human eye can see. Great camera HD. Am blogging now from it.

Yin Yang and Zhang ( iPhone art)

When he comes.

This is a highly evocative poem of the Vishwa Kavi Rabindranath Tagore:

The night darkened. Our day's works had been done. We thought that the last guest had arrived for the night and the doors in the village were all shut. Only some said the king was to come. We laughed and said 'No, it cannot be!'                It seemed there were knocks at the door and we said it was nothing but the wind. We put out the lamps and lay down to sleep. Only some said, 'It is the messenger!' We laughed and said 'No, it must be the wind!' 

There came a sound in the dead of the night. We sleepily thought it was the distant thunder. The earth shook, the walls rocked, and it troubled us in our sleep. Only some said it was the sound of wheels. We said in a drowsy murmur, 'No, it must be the rumbling of clouds!' 

The night was still dark when the drum sounded. The voice came 'Wake up! delay not!' We pressed our hands on our hearts and shuddered with fear. Some said, 'Lo, there is the king's flag!' We stood up on our feet and cried 'There is no time for delay!' 

The king has come - but where are lights, where are wreaths? Where is the throne to seat him? Oh, shame! Oh utter shame! Where is the hall, the decorations? Someone has said, 'Vain is this cry! Greet him with empty hands, lead him into thy rooms all bare!' 

Open the doors, let the conch-shells be sounded! in the depth of the night has come the king of our dark, dreary house. The thunder roars in the sky. The darkness shudders with lightning. Bring out thy tattered piece of mat and spread it in the courtyard. With the storm has come of a sudden our king of the fearful night.

Osho, the mystic, interprets this poem thus:

A beautiful poem by Rabindranath Tagore, "The King of the Night".... There used to be a very huge temple, so huge that there were one hundred priests to worship the statues of gods in the temple. One night the chief priest dreamt, and the dream was such that it made him wake up -- he could not believe it, but he could not disbelieve it either. 

In the dream he saw God himself saying to him, "Tomorrow is the fullmoon night. Clean the whole temple, get ready -- I may come any moment. For thousands of years this temple has been calling me, but the call was professional; hence it was not heard. Your call is not professional. You are the first chief priest in this temple whose heart is full of longing, full of prayer, full of waiting. You are not simply doing the rituals, your whole life is in it. So don't forget: tomorrow I am coming and I am giving you an advance notice, so that the temple is ready to receive the guest for which it was made many, many centuries before." 

It was difficult to believe that God would speak to him -- he is nobody, he does not deserve it. On the contrary, he has so many weaknesses, so many frailties which every human being is prone to... but on the other hand, how to disbelieve? The dream was truer than our so-called true life. 

He was worried about what he was going to say to the other priests, because they will make him a laughingstock. The temple has been there for centuries and God has never come. But even if it looks awkward, embarrassing, he has to tell them, because he alone cannot clean the whole temple; it is so big, so huge.... 

He woke up all the priests and said, "Forgive me for disturbing your sleep. I am in a dilemma: I have seen this dream...."And all the priests laughed -- because priests are the only people who don't believe in God. They know perfectly well that God is a strategy to exploit people. 

They said, "It was just a dream, go back to sleep." But the chief priest could not sleep. In the morning he said, "It may have been just a dream, but who knows? If God comes and finds us unprepared, it will be such a shame. So I order you, as the chief priest, to clean the temple, to decorate the temple with flowers, with candles. Make it fragrant with incense, and let us wait. Even if it was only a dream, and God does not turn up, there is no harm. The temple needs cleaning, and it is a good opportunity." 

The whole day the temple was cleaned, decorated. Delicious food was made for God, but the whole day passed and there was no sign. And the chief priest was standing at the door, looking far away where the sky seems to meet the earth -- the temple was in a very lonely place -- but the road remained empty; nobody came. 

The day disappeared into night. They were all hungry because they were waiting: first God should be served. And then all the other priests said, "We had told you, a dream is just a dream. Who has ever heard of God coming to the temples? You are very naive, very simple, very innocent. Now let us eat -- we are feeling hungry and tired -- and go to sleep." 

So they closed the doors, and ate the food that they had made for God. And because they were tired from the whole day's cleaning and decoration and preparation, they immediately fell asleep. 

In the middle of the night a golden chariot came on the road leading to the temple. 
 The sound of the chariot coming... and the chief priest was deep down still feeling that God cannot be so deceptive, particularly to a man who has never done any harm to him. He heard the sound of the chariot. He woke up the priests, and he said, "He is coming! I have just heard the sound of the chariot, listen." 

And they were half asleep and they said, "Just go to sleep! You are going mad, just because of a dream. This is not a chariot, this is just the clouds thundering." He was alone. They silenced him. 

The chariot came to the door. God stepped onto the long steps reaching up to the temple. He knocked on the door. Again the chief priest said, "I have heard somebody knocking on the door! Perhaps God has come." And now it was too much. Annoying them in the middle of the night... utterly tired and exhausted priests. Somebody shouted at him and said, "You shut up and just go to sleep! It is nothing but the breeze hitting the doors. No God has come and no chariot has come; it has never happened." They again silenced him. 

In the morning when the chief priest... he could not sleep; the waiting kept him awake, the longing kept him awake. He got up early and opened the door -- "My god!" he said, "He has come" -- because on the road there were signs of a chariot coming up to the door, and on the steps he could see the signs of someone reaching the door. He looked carefully... because dust had gathered on the steps and there were perfect impressions of the feet. It was no one other than God, because the impressions in the dust were ctly the same as had been described in the ancient scriptures; exactly how the feet of God would make an impression. 

With tears in his eyes, he ran inside and made all the priests wake up. And he said "You did not listen to me -- it was not clouds thundering in the sky, it was the chariot of God. And it was not the wind knocking at the doors it was God himself who knocked. But now it is too late." 

This beautiful poem has immense significance. God comes to every heart -- because that is the temple, the only temple -- and knocks on the heart. But you go on rationalizing, and your doors are closed. 

Plastics 'R Us

I spent a lovely Saturday evening looking for some toys for my grand-kids.

I wanted a Buzz Lightyear toy. That was easy- I headed to Takashimaya and visited the Disney section. The second one was extremely hard. You see, I was looking for something totally out of this world - a simple baby doll. Soft and human looking. My idea of a great toy for a small girl to play with: a true "puppen" toy, and something  many cultures are proud of is their doll-making. Something that costs a bit but is a feast of timeless delight to everyone in the family. And such a gift idea seems totally far out in Singapore this day and age.
 
Wikipedia informs me:

Archaeological evidence places dolls as foremost candidate for oldest known toy, having been found in Egyptian tombs which date to as early as 2000 BCE. Roman doll-makers continued to use technology developed by the Egyptians and Greeks, but in line with the artistic sensibilities of their culture, they were constantly trying to make dolls more elegant and beautiful. One doll, found near Prati in Rome, was made of ivory and lay beside her owner who had died at the age of eighteen. Next to the doll was a small box, also made of ivory, containing tiny combs and a silver mirror. The doll had rings on her fingers and held a tiny key, which unlocked the box. Like children today, the younger members of Roman civilization would have dressed and undressed their dolls, and decorated their hair and fingers according to the latest fashions.

And in today's stores, you see shelves lined with odd-sized yellow, pink and coffee-coloured  bears, cats and dragons. Also odd-looking dolls. But not a human-looking baby doll.

If you ask any girl or woman what is her favourite toy, would she name a green monster, or a lizard, or a weird sabre-wielding laser-fitted robot? I am not referring to Buzz Lightyear. He is human enough albeit a nerd, and has been given a lovely persona and voice. But I am talking of all those hundreds and hundreds of plastic boxed toys that line the alleys of today's toy stores.
There are pink bimbo sections for girls, with hard plastic-smiling impossibly curvy stiletto-heeled Barbies, and uncountable speed-and-kill toys for boys. They are black, pointy, ugly, and even the large plastic packages have a huge clutter of markings and blurbs in so many languages including bar codes and other machine-ready markings.
The whole thing looks so far from humans and what humans may like unless we are dealing with totally clueless programmed nitwits reared on the Telly that can think of only plastic joys and toys. Like I saw this Seinfeld episode where the guy wants to buy the game parlour machine on which he once scored the highest score ever and it comes up on the screen as the Top Score with his name... and he wants it moved from the parlour to his home WITHOUT resetting in which case it would wipe out that display of the Top Scorer's name.....

Happy Ending: I did get my soft cuddly doll toy. Finally, after visiting so many stores and rummaging through shelves.

PS: I also found the sales assistants at these toy stores quite mystified when I asked for a soft, non-plasticky human-looking doll. They had not seen or heard of one. Maybe I should scout for "doll" stores.

PPS: Here is my video from the American Girl Place. America! The land which invented all things plastic. But they also make the kind of toys I wanted for a small girl to play with.